We played in the water for hours. I started building a sand castle and Diane came to help me. Ace sat on a towel nearby as he let the sun dry him off. He watched us for a while before commenting, "It might have been a good thing that you didn't do much today."

Diane turned to look at him, "And why would that be?"

Ace tilted his head as he considered it, "Do you realize that you went almost an entire day with no run and you don't even seem restless? I had a hard run this morning, sparring practice, and I am already starting to feel restless."

I realized that Ace was correct. The morning after a normal blood donation, Diane needed a morning run, but she hadn't had one today and we hadn't done much either. Diane considered it for a moment before shaking her head, "One more reason to never repeat that experiment. I will be going for an evening run though."

Ace looked amused at her reaction, but did not reply. I grinned and put a stick on my castle as flagpole. It would have to be a life or death emergency to convince her to give blood two days in a row again. It was a lesson she had learned the hard way, but it also served as a warning for any other fired people if we ever managed to get our blood to glow.

I smothered a laugh as I watched Diane's reaction to the new building project being undertaken. Ace was somehow managing to keep a studiously blank face. Either Diane had managed to annoy Kerry far more than either of us had realized or Diane's comment struck a nerve with the nurse.

Regardless of the cause, we were currently watching the first few trial runs being done in our new elevator. Yes, Sanctuary was now the owner of the one and only working elevator that any of us knew about.

It had been less than a week since Diane's failed trial with the chill and Kerry had put that time to good use. Roland had been more than happy to accommodate her request and bring the materials that our architect had specified.

In actuality, the elevator looked more like an elaborate pulley system than anything else. The main elevator cage sat on the ground. It wasn't very big, it had a plastic lawn chair in the far end and enough room for a wheelchair and maybe two people if they crammed tightly together. A very thick cable ran up the face of the cliff to the fifth level and over two pulleys to where the counterweight platform sat.

When empty, the main elevator sat on the ground or would slowly descend if it had been up higher. To work it, the person would get into the elevator and someone of greater weight would have to climb into the small counterweight cage. It would slowly raise the elevator up. Both sections had a brake lever to stop for someone to get off. People on the fifth floor were quite enjoying the easy descent as they just entered the small counterweight platform and let it drop them slowly to the ground.

I noticed that Kerry had a smirk as she watched Diane's incredulous and disbelieving expression. Diane shook her head, still having a hard time believing what she was seeing, "Where was this a week ago..."

Ace broke down and chuckled, "A week ago we were not aware that we needed such a thing. You helped them realize that we have no backup plan if someone was unable to climb the ladder."

Diane made a face at his logic and at the reminder of the event that she wished would just be forgotten. Another blue eyed guy climbing a nearby ladder obviously overheard their conversation as he turned to grin at Diane, "I hear via the rumor vine that Kerry is expecting you to use that thing whenever you donate blood."

Diane raised an eyebrow, "And how did you hear that rumor?"

The guy chuckled, "Everyone on the fifth ridge heard it right from Kerry."

Diane shook her head and chuckled, "Well, thanks in advance for the lift."

I grinned as Diane was slowly caving to the pressure. It looked like Kerry was winning this game after all. The guy grinned, "The fifth ridge is finally getting our own small deck with comfy chairs in exchange for our due diligence."

I giggled as I realized that Kerry had resorted to bribery to ensure cooperation from those on fifth ridge. They probably would have done it anyways since most were fired, but Kerry wasn't taking any chances.

Diane glanced at Ace to see that he was silently grinning at her. She shook her head at him, "Nurses. They wait until you are down and then they get you."

Ace chuckled as he continued to tease her, "You better hope that your blood donation goes better tonight than it did last week. I saw a wheelchair being hauled out of one of the trailers a few days ago."

Diane made a face, "I hope that there are six of them and that they are intended for wheelchair races or some sort of arm strengthening exercise. If I have such a bad time this time, then we are going to have to gather those who were first to be fired and see if we can't trick them into thinking that they have to pull that chilling trick off."

Trick them? Ace tilted his head in curiosity as he focused on Diane, "And how would you trick them?"

Diane grinned at him, "Most of that first group is usually out trading so when they come back, call one over. Have Kerry use some of those funky colored lotions and bandages to make it look like one of their good friends had been bitten. Claim that I am out too far out to hear the bells. Say that the older batch of blood on hand had turned earlier that day and since they had been one of the first to be fired, that they have the best chance of calling up the chill."

Ace smiled in amusement as he played the devil's advocate, "And if they happen to recall that their caravan has several epipens?"

Diane already had a backup plan in place, "In that case, they were obviously from the same blood sample and would have expired sometime that day and no one had noticed yet."

Ace considered the idea as he turned it over in his mind. After several minutes he finally spoke, "Other than tricking the person, the idea has a lot of merit. It might be better to see if we can get them to do it on their own first though. We should mention it to Kerry later tonight."

Diane fell silent as she thought about the idea and how she could explain what she did. I had never managed to make my blood glow and I had tried many times. I wondered if anyone else would manage it. I couldn't see Kerry saying they couldn't try.

We headed towards supper and after that we went to the nursing area. Kerry had already arranged this blood donation and was expecting us. Diane made a face at the chair, but sat down. Diane watched Kerry putting the needle components together by the counter and spoke, "I had a thought..."

Kerry glanced back, "Please tell me that it isn't going to involve me strapping you to a bed in the recovery wing."

Diane snorted, "No, in fact, it may prevent you from having the opportunity to do any such thing."

"Then I am listening."

"I am not sure how long it takes before someone can learn to call up the chill, but what if we tried to get a few of Roland's original group to try? They have been fired the longest, apart from Laura, but I honestly think the only reason Laura hasn't managed it is because she is too young."

Kerry paused as she turned to examine Diane with brighter eyes, "Now that is an idea worth thinking about. I noticed that it took Laura months to learn to control the glow of her eyes when the rest of us managed it even as our eyes gained the ability to glow. But in the meantime..." Kerry brandished the needle showing that Diane's attempt at postponing had come to an end.

Diane sighed and closed her eyes even as Kerry wrapped the rubber band around her arm. It had been a week since Diane last sat in this chair, but this time seemed much more normal. Diane opened her silver eyes, "Now."

Kerry started drawing blood and I once more admired the glowing and shimmering blood. Too bad its glow didn't remain permanent. If it had, I would have asked Diane for a vial to act like a glowing dreamcatcher in my room.

"Stop." Kerry removed the needle as Diane lost her grip on the chill and her blood once more shifted to the more dangerous non-glowing silver blood. Well, it was dangerous for anyone without Heartfire. With so many fired people around, it was a well-known fact that blood that was not red was not something the average person wanted to touch.

A few daring newcomers hadn't quite believed the warnings and had come into contact with the blood of a fired person. Small scratches and scuffs were part of life and such superficial marks usually never even bled enough to make up an entire drop of blood. But it didn't take much blood to inflict serious pain, and those daring newcomers could well testify to that at this point.

I was glad that it wasn't something I had to worry about. I simply had to take care that someone didn't touch my blood if I got a small cut. Thankfully, everyone in Sanctuary was aware of that small detail.

Diane once more put her head between her knees, but she wasn't shivering. Kerry and Ace were also keeping a close eye on her, but it looked like the normal aftereffects of a blood donation to me. A bit later Diane sat up.

She looked tired, but didn't have that utterly exhausted look that she had last time. It didn't stop my Heartfire from stirring protectively as it always did. Kerry grabbed a handful of honey disks and passed them to Diane.

Diane's eyes still glowed in the dim light. Their light was dim as it normally was after calling up the chill, but it wasn't that barely-present shimmer that had been present last time. Diane finished the last honey disk and yawned, "This chair still hasn't gotten any comfier."

Kerry smirked, "And it is never going to." She eyed Diane up and decided that she was good to go, "So unless you feel like spending the night in one of the spare rooms here, I advise you to vacate that chair."

Diane rapidly shook her head at the thought of staying here and struggled to her feet. She glanced at Ace as she passed him and whispered, "If she ever tries to tie me to a bed, break me out."

Ace chuckled, "Before or after you start snoring?"

Diane swatted his shoulder. The fact that she actually connected meant that Ace had let her get that swing in. Not that it had any force behind the teasing swipe. Diane shook her head and walked down the hallway.

I grinned when she glanced at the seats in the waiting room, but kept going. Kerry grinned and went to store the blood. Last time had been the first time Diane had stopped to rest in the waiting area. She had always managed to get to the deck before needing a rest.

The guys on the fifth ridge had seen us enter the nursing area and two were waiting in the counter weight. I opened up the elbow high gate and let Diane in to sit on the chair before getting in and closing the door. Ace had already started scaling the ladder.

Once Diane was sitting, the guys released the brake lever and we lifted into the air. I used the brake lever to slow and stop us at the first ridge. Ace was already waiting there to ensure that neither Diane nor me had our foot fall into the narrow gap between the elevator and the cliff.

The men got off of the counter balance and climbed back up the one level that they had descended. I released the brake lever and marveled as it slowly dropped out of sight.