e of his neck with her muzzle. Her nose was decidedly cold. "I knew I could depend on you, friend Jason."

"I'll always be here for you when you need me, Miaari. I owe you too much to do anything else."

"Remember that those coming with you know that they are to obey you. You are in command."

"It's good you made that point."

"I was abundantly clear on the matter."

"Miaari, thanks."

"For what?"

"For calling me _friend_."

She licked the side of his neck. "A Kimdori knows who is worthy of that title," she whispered in his ear. "Now you must go. I must get the dropship back into space before the sensors again cover this area."

"Alright. Good luck, Miaari, and good hunting."

"Take good care of Kumi."

"We will."

Miaari quickly said her goodbyes to the others, put a single, gentle hand on Kumi's shoulder as she looked down on the young Faey with concern, then quickly and silently left the skimmer. Jason closed the hatch and looked back at the Faey crowded in behind the stretcher. God, this was going to be a mess, but he really couldn't see any other way around it. Kumi was in desperate need of him, and he would not deny her. And he liked Meya and Myra too much to deny them sanctuary with him. Fure, well, he was neutral on the idea of Fure, but given that he was bringing the others, he had no reason to say no to bringing Fure so long as Miaari vouched for him. And since Kumi was in such bad condition, she needed the doctors that Miaari had sent with them, doctors that would ensure she recovered, and doctors that absolutely had to be there if she was going to survive.

In one night, Jason had been reunited with Jyslin, and now he was taking in a fugitive Kumi and her entourage.

What a mess.

                                        * * *

Jyslin, the community could comprehend. After all, she had been his girlfriend, and after what happened in Chesapeake, they could understand her powerful motivation to seek him out, so her coming into Charleston made sense. But Kumi was much more abstract, much less clear, and her arrival with a _pack_ of untrustworthy Faey had put many within the community on edge.

In just one night, Jason's entire life was turned upside down. He was overjoyed and ecstatic that Jyslin had come to Charleston, that they were finally together again. But before he could even properly welcome her, to have the chance to spend quiet, private time with her and renew the bonds that held them together, now there were _more_ Faey in Charleston, Faey that were much more problematic that Jyslin.

And it wasn't that they were out in the city causing mischief, either. All of them had been restricted to the mansion by personal command from Jason, told not to leave the building for any reason. Jason had had Kumi put in a bedroom on the second floor, where the doctors set up all their medical equipment, put Kumi in a special bed they assembled from parts they brought with them, and began a constant vigil at her bedside. There would be one doctor in Kumi's room at all times, monitoring her condition, rotating in shifts. Meya, Myra, and Fure would also attend Kumi in shifts, one in her room at all times, providing a familiar, comforting presence that would help their noble employer in more esoteric ways than simple medicine.

It was impossible to hide the arrival of these strange Faey, because people were still awake at two in the morning, when Jason returned, because of the news and the gossip of the arrival of Jyslin. Jason's departure in his skimmer _again_ was noticed by everyone in town, and so everyone saw it when he returned to the city with unknown Faey, one of which who had to be removed from his skimmer on a stretcher. Luke was the one who disseminated the basics about the newcomers. He told them that the wounded Faey was _the_ Kumi, the one who had basically sold Jason all the Faey equipment they now enjoyed, and that she'd been brought here to hide her from the same enemies that Jason was determined to stop, who were engaging in human slavery.

It was that unfamiliarity, Jason knew. Jyslin, they didn't know, but stories of her gave the people in the community at least an abstract sense of familiarity with her. They'd heard him talk about Jyslin, they knew the history, so there was something there they could base opinions upon. They knew that Jyslin's loyalty to Jason would not be in question. And in a way, Kumi too wasn't much of an issue, since Kumi too was a Faey of which Jason had spoken in the past, a woman that had some modicum of familiarity to the people of Charleston due to her history with their leader. It was the others that was the problem. They were totally unknown, mysterious, and they were _Faey_. They were the very people that most of them had fled into the wildlands to avoid, and now they were out here, with them, holed up in the governor's mansion, literally within spitting distance of Jason. There wasn't any overt acts of aggression, but Jason didn't need to use talent on them to see that they were nervous and a little afraid.

Jason knew that there was work to be done to get things settled down, but it was going to have to wait, because he had something much more important to do... and that was sleep with his future wife.

It certainly had been neither tentative nor strange. It had almost felt as if there had been no time since the last time they had made love, and the act of joining mind and body both had smoothed away long months of yearning and regret. It was intimate, romantic, and everything that Jason had remembered, despite having to be careful not to injure Jyslin's ankle further.

Jyslin certainly seemed to take the sudden arrival of Kumi rather well. She understood Kumi's desperate plight, and given everything that Kumi had done for Jason, she considered it only proper that Jason return the favor. They talked about it the next morning, after they woke up, but before they got out of bed, simply enjoying the state of being together, enjoying the simple pleasure of lingering in bed after waking.

_I think I'm gonna have to do quite a bit of defusing today,_ Jason told her, utilizing the fact that they were touching to send so only she could hear. The doctors had already warned him that there couldn't be any unnecessary or excessive sending in Kumi's proximity, that the mental activity of receiving sending might stir her from her induced coma. Jason had warned Tim, Temika, and Symone, and so the house had become a no-sending zone. _It's too much too fast, I think. Some people are already nervous._

_I'll say it was too fast. Before we could even spend a single moment of time alone together, you bring back more Faey, one of which might be a competitor for you._

_As if,_ he sent with scathing overtones, which made her laugh aloud. _I spent too much time waiting for you to even _think_ of looking at another woman._

_You're such a sweetheart,_ she said, her glowing love and contentment flowing through their communion. _You think she'll be alright?_

_Kumi? She'll be alright, she has three doctors watching her. From what Meya and Myra told me, she took a hard hit, but the blast hit her squarely in the spine._

_Ouch._

_Yeah, ouch, but that actually saved her life. The plasma charge hit bone, so there wasn't as much flash-boiling and the explosive decompression that comes with it. One of those doctors told me that if it had hit her just a hair to the right or left, it would have blown her in half and she'd have been dead. The MPAC took a huge piece out of her back and sent bone shrapnel flying all over her insides, but she survived. I'm more worried about how the others are going to take them being here, though. Some of them are alright with Symone because she's Symone, but don't really trust Faey. I'll have to do some work getting them to accept you and the others. It's already a shock right after Chesapeake, and then finding out about the human telepaths. I'm not sure how they're going to take you and the others._

_I'm sure they'll be alright, love. At least with me, they'll know they have someone who's put her hand in with them, to the end. This is where I belong. This is where I've belonged all along, I was just too blind to see it._

_I don't blame you, Jys. I never did. You had a life, family, friends, and it wasn't my place to ask you to give it up over a suicide mission._

_Without you, I had no life,_ she sent with total honesty. _I would rather have six hours with you than have a lifetime without you._

_I hope to give you more than that, Jyslin,_ he replied. _The odds are stacked against us, but someone has to try. I wish it wasn't me, but here we are. I have to do my best. Odds are, we won't live to see next year._

_Then it will be the happiest year of my life,_ she told him, caressing his face and looking down into his eyes. _There's just one thing I want from you, Jason._

_What is that?_

_That if we have any chance at all, that we have a Faey ceremony as well as a human one. It's going to be hard finding a Templar on Earth, though._

_I'm not comfortable with the idea of being married in a religion I don't follow, Jyslin,_ he sent honestly. _I'm not all that religious, but I _am_ a Methodist, and being married by a priest of another faith is kinda blasphemous. It's putting another god before the one I believe in, and that's a major sin._

_It has nothing to do with the Trinity, Jason,_ she told him. _The Templar can conduct a secular ceremony, because Templars have that _legal_ power. Just because a Templar conducts a non-religious ceremony doesn't make any less legally binding._

_Jyslin. We're fugitives, and you're talking about the legality of a ceremony?_ he sent with an audible laugh.

_It's for me, not for the law,_ she sent primly. _That way, in my own mind, I'll always know that I was married by a Templar, and I'll _feel_ like we're married._

_Well, I guess when you say it like that, it makes sense,_ he acquiesced. _And I don't see anything wrong with it, if the Templar's just gonna act like a justice of the peace. I'm not sure if we'll ever have a chance to find a Templar, but if we can, then we can have a Faey ceremony._

_That's fine, love, I know it won't be easy. Just your approval is enough to make me happy,_ she assured him, snuggling down with him. _Trelle's garland, I've missed this._

_Me too._

_So, what's going to be first?_

_First, you go down to see one of those doctors,_ he answered. _I already told them about your ankle, and they brought a whole bloody Faey _hospital's_ worth of supplies and equipment along with them. There was so much of it nobody had anywhere to sit down in the skimmer except me. I was told to bring you down as soon as you're up._

_Well, let's go take care of that, then,_ she told him.

And they did. After dressing, Jason carried Jyslin down to the second floor, which had been pretty much well taken over by Kumi's people. Kumi was there, and the other Faey had taken empty bedrooms on the floor, and one of the large conference rooms had been filled with the extra supplies. From there, though, they were sent down to the first floor, where they found two of the doctors, the blue-haired woman and the male, Luke, and a few townsfolk busily setting up assorted medical equipment. An examination table had already been built and set near one corner.

"Ah, our first patient," the woman, Songa, said in Faey with a light smile. "Take her over there, if you would, one of us will be with you as soon as we get this thing going."

"Pardon?" Luke asked.

"Oh, excuse me," she said in fluent, perfect English. "I was telling Jason to carry our patient to the examination table."

Jason set Jyslin down on the table, and kept hold of her hand as they watched the two Faey doctors, but what was more important, watched the humans helping them. They all seemed a bit unsettled with being around the two Faey, but the two doctors seemed to understand that, and were treating them with the utmost respect, always careful to ask for help and not to demand it, and being personable without being overly chatty. The two doctors knew what they were doing, Jason saw, and not just from a medical standpoint. Both of them knew how to set up and use their equipment, the male especially, who seemed to be assembling units with a practiced efficiency that hinted that he knew his way around equipment.

Once they were done, the male approached them and did something Jason had never seen before; the male _bowed_. "I'm Doctor Rann. If you're ready, we can examine that ankle now," he said in Faey.

"Surely," Jyslin said, scooting a bit on the padded table and raising her leg as he knelt by the table.

The male unwrapped the bandage Jason had put on her leg, and then commenced with the examination. Much to Jason's surprise, the male inspected her leg first the way Northwood would have done, with his fingers and his eyes. After probing here and there with his long, delicate fingers, he took up a small little device and swept it back and forth over Jyslin's ankle slowly. "There's no crucial damage," he announced. "Just a case of stressed ligaments. A bad sprain," he said with a surprisingly disarming smile. "I can help with that somewhat, but it's just going to take a few days of rest to heal this up."

"That's a relief," Jyslin sighed.

"Let me get what I need, and we'll have you out of here in just a bit," he told them.

Jason watched curiously as Rann, and then Songa, tended to Jyslin. To his surprise, part of their treatment involved injecting some kind of medical compound _directly into the strained ligaments_, using long, evil-looking needles. They did deaden her sensation in her ankle using a topical anesthetic first. After that, Songa lathered her hands up in a clear liquid, looking like oil, and started massaging Jyslin's ankle with expert strokes.

"Exactly what does that do?" Jason asked.

"It's the second part of the treatment," she answered. "The injection is a bio-accelerant that's working in her ankle to tighten and repair her damaged ligaments. That's what those needles were for, to inject the medicine exactly where it was needed. This is a topical accelerant that's working into her skin, and will work to repair the soft tissue damaged when she twisted her ankle. A strain like this is a combination of pulled ligaments and stressed supporting soft tissue. Rann."

"Yes, love?"

"Could you bring some biomolding?"

"Certainly."

"Love?" Jason asked.

"Rann is my husband," she said in English, with a smile. "We met in medical school. After I finished my conscription, we married. We have a small private practice just outside Dracora."

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you two end up here? Why did Miaari bring you?"

"Miaari needed a doctor she could trust," she shrugged. "My family owes her a huge debt. She helped us find a cousin of mine who was kidnapped. Yohne is Eleri's personal physician, so it's only logical that she be here with her patient."

"Why do you want to stay behind? It's going to get very ugly around here, very soon."

"A doctor doesn't shy away from danger when someone needs her. Your people need a doctor, and now you have two. Miaari explained to me that you're about to start action against Trillane because they're mistreating your people. I see nothing wrong with that, especially since she said you don't want to break away from the Imperium, _only_ from Trillane. I'm not threatening the Imperium in any way by helping you, and I'm fulfilling my oaths as a doctor to lend all aid I can to whoever is in need of it."

"We understand the danger, sir," Rann said as he handed Songa a jar of what looked like petroleum jelly. "But there's a need for us here, and a doctor must fill that need, even if it's dangerous."

"But this isn't your fight."

"Every fight is a doctor's fight," Rann countered. "You are citizens of the Imperium, and it is our sacred duty to render all aid and care we can to any citizen in need. What side you happen to be on doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is that you need us. And since you need us, here we are."

"You're not going to win this fight, Jason," Songa smiled at him as she started applying that greasy substance to Jyslin's ankle. "One thing you'll find out about Faey doctors is that we're even more stubborn than Grand Duchesses. You need us, so here we are, and you're not going to change it."

"We've been studying human physiology, so we're ready for our task," Rann added. "Not that it's really that different from ours. Aside from a few cosmetic differences, our races are almost genetically identical. Bone structure, cardio-vascular, lymphatic systems, they're identical to ours. Some human blood types are even identical to ours."

"I've heard," Jason said.

"We're genetically compatible, too," Songa told him. "Maybe, you and your husband might be the first to bless us with the first child of a Faey and human?" Songa asked, looking at Jyslin with a smile.

"He's not my husband yet," she said, looking up at him. "But we're working on it."

"Well, I guess that leaves me out in the cold," a voice called from across the room. Kiaari was there in the guise of Kate, leaning against the doorway on the far side. She was wearing a black tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "It's good to see that you're alright, Jyslin. When I got word that you defected, I started trying to track you down, but then got called off it. I see Jason found you before I did."

"It was pure luck," she answered. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard much about you."

Kiaari laughed. "The good or the bad?"

"Both," she answered.

"Miaari filled me in on some of what happened," she said as she came across to where the doctors were applying that clear compound to Jyslin's ankle, smearing it on thickly. "How's Kumi?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Jason answered. Kiaari put her hand on his neck, and he felt that expansion that told him that she was accessing his mind in her own special way. "I had to tell some people about you, with Jyslin being here and all. We'll have to tell everyone else."

"That was the best idea," she told him, nodding to him. "It might make them feel a little better about what we're going to be doing if they know I'm out there gathering intelligence, so we never walk into anything blindly."

"Miss Eleri is going to be alright," Rann answered her earlier question. "She was seriously injured, but it looks like she'll make a recovery. She won't be moving around for a while, though."

"Well, that's good to hear," Kiaari said. "Jason, may I talk to you for a few minutes?"

He glanced down to Jyslin, who just nodded and shooed him away. He followed Kiaari outside into the crisp morning air, walking with her as they moved towards the capitol building where most of the records were kept. "I hope they won't be too much of a burden on you," she began. "Miaari really didn't have anywhere safe to put them. She thought this would be the one place where Trillane's assassins couldn't reach her."

"It's alright," Jason answered. "Kumi's a good friend, and I couldn't turn her aside when she needs me. I think we do need to talk about something, though."

"What?"

"Those doctors," he answered. "Kate, is Miaari stacking the deck?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she sent those two here to _stay_. She told me before she was helping because your people had an interest in what was going on here, but I never really thought about it until this morning. Are your people trying to kick Trillane off Earth?"

"What's going on has nothing to do about Trillane," she answered after a moment. "I can't explain it to you without violating a secret, and as you know, we _never_ do that."

"I know, and I respect that."

"All I can really tell you is that Miaari wants to help as much as she can without violating her word. No, the Kimdori aren't trying to overthrow Trillane. We are helping for a different reason, one that I can't explain without breaking my word. If you're trying to work around to asking me if we're going to send you troops, well, the answer is no. What you're doing is your own affair. Yes, we have an interest in the outcome, but we can't directly interfere. What you do, and how you do it, is up to you. We'll do what we can to help, but it won't be anything large scale, and it will always be from the shadows."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"It's very hard to explain," she told him honestly. "There are several vows and oaths involved that prevent me from telling you enough for you to understand. All I can really say is that we _do_ care about you, and we'll do what we can... it just can't be anything so big that it becomes obvious. Rann and Songa have volunteered to stay because you're going to need them. You can't be without medicine out here, it'd be a death sentence. It wasn't entirely planned to get them there quite this way, but getting you a doctor _was _something that Miaari was trying to organize. She'd been looking for a good candidate when Kumi was injured, and then Rann and Songa kind of fell in her lap. Luck is like that sometimes. Anyway, it's something she could have done because it's something small that she can do, but something that will help you. But she's not going to send, say, a few thousand Faey mercenaries. What you do here, you need to do on your own, without it appearing that you were backed by some rival noble house. That would threaten any ground you gain. It's not a big stretch to think that you might have a handful of Faey with you, because you're a charismatic fellow, and those Faey have a _damn_ good reason to be here," she told him with a quick grin. "But a few platoons of mercenaries all piloting exomechs would just scream that some other noble house was engaging in a covert war to dislodge Trillane from Earth and take it over for themselves. There can't even be a _hint_ that you're getting that kind of support, or it taints everything."

"I think I can understand that. I just don't know what to expect."

"Expect us to help in any way that can't be traced back to us," she answered honestly. "I know this might sound a bit heartless, but it's important that what happens out here happens with your people controlling their own destiny, and making their own choices and decisions. That's why I never _say_ what you should do, Jason. I can only suggest. Whether or not you listen to my suggestions is your own affair."

"It sounds complicated."

"It's _very_ complicated. I hope some day we can sit down and explain what's going on, and why we've done what we're doing. Until then, all I can say, from the bottom of my heart, Jason, is _trust us_. We're not playing with you or using you. We want you to succeed, but we have to let you succeed on your own, with only a little help here and there, with as little help we can give you as possible while helping you succeed... because if you have no help at all, you're going to fail, but if you have too much help, it's going to cause you to lose everything you worked so hard to gain."

"I see."

"There's a very fine line at work here, a line we can't cross. We'll get as close as we can to that line, Jason, that's a promise, but we can't cross it."

"When you say it like that, it _does_ make a little more sense," he said after a moment's thought. "If the Empress thinks that we were backed by some other house, she'd just give Earth back to Trillane, even if we pushed them off."

"Exactly," she nodded. "But if it's clear that a telepathic human trained in Faey technology with a track record of resourcefulness, who has documented access to CivNet and has done business with certain black marketeers in the past, starts a war with Trillane using human soldiers armed in equipment he bought, stole, or built from scratch, it's not going to raise the same alarm flag."

"I think I understand."

"We'll do what we can to make sure you have as much advantage as we can possibly give you, Jason," she assured him. "But we can't go too far. You have to win this war on your own. Just think of us as your aunts who can send you a little extra money from time to time when you're in a hole and the rent's coming due."

Jason laughed. "I'll be asking for money soon, then."

"If we can sneak it to you without anyone noticing, then we will," she said with a nod. "The doctors are something small, and they were something of a windfall anyway, at least for you. After Kumi was injured, Rann and Songa volunteered to remain behind when they found out that your people have no doctor. Those two are throwbacks to the era of the _saishain_."

"Who?"

She looked at him. "The _saishain_ are actually the distant ancestors of the entire Faey medical profession," she told him. "They were a cloistered monastic order who worshipped Aris, the goddess of war and mercy, back when the Faey used swords and spears."

"That seems hypocritical," he mused. "How can a god represent both war and mercy?"

"That paradox is the fundamental nature of Aris' worship," Kiaari chuckled. "The faith had two major sects, the warmongers and the peacebrokers. The _saishain_ were an order that devoted itself to the arts of medicine. They were legendary both for their ability as healers and their fearlessness. They would show up on a battlefield and march right into it, even as it was being fought sometimes, and start tending the wounded. And they never took sides. They tended the wounded on both sides of a battle, often putting them in beds next to each other. It was an unwritten rule that there were no enemies within a _saishain _enclave, only the needy. They never turned away anyone in need, no matter who it was or how bad off they were. The order became so prevalent that special rules of war were introduced back in that age that made harming a _saishain_ an offense that carried the death penalty, and rules that they were never to be interfered with or harassed, even if they were rendering aid to the enemy. The order was devoted to medicine and the dispensation of that medicine to all who were in need of it, and from them sprouted the foundations of the entire Faey medical system. The oaths of a doctor still have roots in the _saishain_ oaths, to do no harm, to never deny healing to the needy, and to never let politics interfere with the dispensation of medicine. Even today, the medical branch is its own entity. The doctors in the Faey military aren't part of the other armed services. The Military Medical Service is its _own_ service, with its own ranks and its own leadership. They're just lent out to military units in other branches, that's all. A doctor's insignia is still the symbol of the _saishain_, a red triangle on white circular background."

"Wow. I never knew that."

"Just one of the little things about the Faey I've found interesting. Their entire society is deeply entrenched in traditions and customs, and the modern Faey have no idea where most of them came from. It's really quite interesting. Anyway, Rann and Songa are definitely throwbacks to the _saishain_. All they care about is the fact that your people need doctors, and so here they are. They don't care about what you're about to do, they only care that there's a need for them here, and so here is where they should be."

"I hope so."

"Miaari screened them. They won't give you away or give up any secrets about you. They are devoted to medicine, and here, they see a place where it's needed. That's all they care about."

"Well, that's something I'll just have to trust you over." He was quiet a moment. "There's one thing that you can do for me."

"What is that?"

"Jyslin wants to be married by a Templar," he told her. "I've already told her that I object to a religious ceremony conducted by someone outside my own faith, but she said that a secular ceremony conducted by a Templar is good enough for her. It would mean a lot to her. I don't expect you to bring a Templar here, but could you find a Templar we could go to, that wouldn't object to a secretive ceremony done in the middle of the night?"

"Jason, I'd be honored to arrange that for you," she said sincerely. "Just find out when Jyslin wants to have the ceremony, and I'll find a Templar to perform it for you. I promise. Congratulations, by the way. I know how much you love her."

"I just hope she made the right choice."

"The only choice she could make was to follow her heart," she answered. "Is that so wrong?"

"Well, when it's _my_ future wife, yeah, it can be wrong," he grunted. "I don't want her in any danger because of me."

"Jason, hon, I see some exciting times in your future," she laughed. "What is Jyslin?"

"She's a Faey."

"Jason, she's a _Marine_," she stressed. "She's been trained to fight, and what's more, she knows Faey tactics backwards and forwards. And when you start fighting, she'll demand to be right there. She won't let you go alone, and to be honest, you'd be stupid to try to make her stay. She's a good fighter or she wouldn't be a Marine, she's a squad leader, which means she has experience leading small units, and if she's a Marine, that means she's in the upper ten percentile of telepaths in the entire _Imperium_. Marines don't get the black armor because of connections, they get the black armor because of ability and talent. She's an asset that you can't ignore, and she'll be the perfect partner for you out in the field. She has too much invested in this to let you do something stupid and get yourself killed."

Jason was quiet as they walked along the grass outside the capitol building. Kiaari was right about that, but part of him _violently_ objected to the idea of taking his wife into combat. He didn't want to put her in any risk. He loved her, and the idea of her putting her life on the line over something that was really not her fight sat wrong with him. He wanted to protect her as much as possible. But... he also couldn't deny the fact that she was a Faey, and in her society, _she_ was the one that would violently object to _him_ fighting. And in the fight to come, having just one more telepath would have a tremendous impact on the chances that they would succeed. With Jyslin, that was four or five more people they could put into a forward unit, and what was more important, the one telepath among them that had extensive training in telepathic combat.

He'd have to think about it, but there was no doubt that even if Jyslin didn't fight, just her presence was go