"I struggle with myself again
Quickly the walls are crumblin'
Don't know if I can turn away..."

*Meredith Brooks*
"What Would Happen"

Jimaine didn't really expect him to be waiting where Sharon had said. She was almost certain that she'd get to the trees and find nothing except maybe the scent of brimstone. So she was surprised to see him perched in the upper branches like some particularly fearsome species of monkey.

The object of Jimaine's search, Nightcrawler, looked down at her, eyes blazing in the quarter moon's dim light. "What do you want, Szardos?"

"I wanted to make sure you were all right."

He snorted. "I've had the Madri try to torture information out of me. A little name-calling by a big pussy won't crush my spirit." Jimaine knew he was upset, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he was referring to Sharon's feline nature. All the same, the insult to her friend jolted her into a more pragmatic state.

"You don't trust us, Kurt. That much is obvious. Telling us of Apocalypse's death and the penetration of Avalon was a quite a concession for you. I know it's never easy when the sacrifices we make aren't appreciated. I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what she said. And I do believe you." There was no movement from the tree. Jimaine shrugged, grabbed the lowest branch, and managed to haul herself up into the tree and settled next to him, all with a minimal loss of skin.

"You make a habit of forcing your company upon people, don't you?"

"Blame it on my upbringing. Mother taught me never to take no for an answer."

"Concerning what?" Nightcrawler wasn't really all that annoyed with the witch, but he had snarled at her out of reflex.

"Anything. Everything."

"Considering that the news that I provided concerned the distruction of a large part of your home, you should be clamoring for my blood."

"Why kill the messenger? If we should be mad at anyone, it should be at this Shadow King and at Cain for taking Destiny away from Avalon."

Time to change the subject. "Why did you call me Wagner earlier?" he asked, wondering why he didn't just teleport away from all of them and be done with it. Sooner or later, Hlessil was bound to find out that his story hadn't been totally true. Maybe he already did, and was informing Wisdom while Szardos distracted him.

"Did I? I hadn't noticed." She actually let an affected little giggle slip past her lips. "Well... I told you mother never let me know what her relationship with you and your mother was, so I used to daydream about it. I got the name from a story one of the old carnival men used to tell me."

"My father's family name was Wagner."

Jimaine's smile faded. "When you started to tell me about your mother, I recalled that story. Do you know they are almost identical, up to the point where she jumped from the falls? Perhaps he was one of those in the mob that made things... difficult for her." Kurt shrugged by way of reply, as if he couldn't care less. "I find you intriguing, Kurt."

"Well, that makes one of us."

"How can you say that? You've so many gifts and enough of a mind to use them to your advantage. I'm surprised your ego hasn't swallowed you up whole."

Kurt snorted out a laugh. "I know others that would disagree with you. In fact, I gather that most of them are sitting around the fire waiting for you to return."

The sorceress waved her hand in dismissal. "Like I said before, you don't trust us. So why should our opinion matter?" With an incredibly quick movement, she slipped behind Kurt and put her hands on his shoulders. "Easy," she cautioned as he twisted, grabbed one of her wrists, and prepared to pitch her out of the tree. "I don't carry daggers, so you don't have to worry about one being misplaced in your back." As she spoke, she used her free hand to knead the muscles of his right shoulder.

Only just convinced that she wasn't planning some particularly nasty and/or deadly trick, Kurt released her other wrist. Despite his firm conviction that he was only allowing himself to be handled like this so that Jimaine would stop chattering for a few minutes, he soon found the muscles of his neck and upper back utterly relaxed.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" he mumbled.

"My mother trained me in magical healing, but it's horribly draining. When I made my way to Avalon, I learned more traditional methods of coaxing the body into wellness. Massage was one of them." She paused. "Wendy was a my friend. She was a healer too. Taught me most of what I know about Almost like a sister. Thank you for telling me how she died. It's better than not knowing."

"I'd say you learned well... WHOA!" Kurt found that he'd relaxed too much. When the reminder of his falsehood came up and he tensed, his toes and hands lost their grip on the rough bark and sent him plunging towards the ground. A quick teleport kept him from landing on his face, but didn't dissipate him momentum. He hit the ground shoulder-first and rolled to his feet.

"Bravo." Jimaine scrambled down the trunk to meet him. "I am sorry about that."

"Don't be. I feel much better." It was the truth. The guilt and anger that Catseye's words had stirred up in his mind were much subdued. He turned to tell her something else and found his lips on hers. He jerked away from her before things could go any further. "I told you that I would not be your entertainment on this trip, Szardos!" Underneath his angry words was well-masked but still bitter disappointment. He'd thought that Jimaine might be a friend... perhaps more, eventually... but she was just like Alison and Charlette. Simply curious about what sensations his unusual body could arouse in them, but with no real interest in him romantically.

Jimaine moved away, but didn't seem embarrassed. "I do not seek amusement, Kurt. If I did, I might have asked you to do a few card tricks. I want companionship. Yours to be exact."

"You want to experiment," he insisted, stubbornly refusing to believe that a few day's travel could result her feeling anything beyond curiosity towards him.

"I want you." The statement hung there for a few seconds. "Kurt Darkholme, if you looked as human as I do, I would still want you. I would still want to earn your trust and find a way through that that thorny shield around your heart. I would want to know what made you hate the world and yourself as much as you do and I would show you that the world is not all cruelty and pain." She paused again. "That you look as you do might be to the advantage of my body and perhaps it does make me want to feel your fur against my flesh, but it makes no difference here. " She tapped her breastbone gently.

"I don't think you can understand how I'd come to feel that about you so quickly," she continued. "I don't know if what I'm saying is anything except words to you. But would you be willing to trust me enough to take what I offer: the simple gift of sharing our bodies until daylight?"

Kurt had been studying Jimaine as she spoke. There were no inflections in her voice, no hint of hidden meaning. Her expression was guileless. As far as he could tell, she was being utterly frank with him. And her offer was tempting...

"If we do this, then you'll ask nothing more of me?"

"Well, I'm not going to suddenly act as if I have no interest in you. But I won't pester you for what you're not willing to give. I should hope that I'm not doing that now."

"You're not," he assured her, hoping that the admission didn't sound as sincere as it truly was.

"Well then..." Jimaine laughed gently and pulled him back into a deep kiss. This time, there was no resistance.

To be continued in part 10...