Chihiro sat by the campfire. Glad as she was for a reprieve from the heat of the day, it was now night and very cold. She shivered and huddled closer to the flames. A blanket was draped over her shoulders. Chihiro looked up to see Linca smiling down at her. The flames of the fire, however, cruelly illuminated her sister's haunted white eyes; Linca was still very troubled. Chihiro smiled up at her regardless. She did not want to change how she acted towards her sister just because she now knew of her past... Linca would certainly be the first one to yell at her if she even tried.

The diminutive spirit seated herself behind Chihiro. The nygel was already sprawled on his flank a small distance from the fire. The water horse really was suffering in the increasingly arid landscape.

"Six days," said Linca in a dead tone.

"Until what?" asked Chihiro.

"Until we reach the Glass Desert," Linca clarified. "After that, how long it takes to get to Haku..." Linca's bottom lip protruded slightly as she lost herself in thought for a moment. "Well, that depends on what psychopath- san does."

Chihiro nodded. Their journey had been relatively straightforward since Claudine's death a week ago. She knew they would not be permitted to go much further without interference from Kenshin. Chihiro dreaded meeting him. She tried to picture in her mind a face to go with the chilling voice she had heard in the darkness after her fall.

She normally imagined something straight out of a horror movie; fangs and glowing red eyes set in a gaunt, bloodless face. But that image of a gruesome monster did not fit the carefully plotted tactics that had been employed against them, nor did it fit the cultured mode of his speech. Besides, his mother was beautiful. Chihiro swallowed her nerves. Whatever face she was presented with, or whatever pretty words he may speak, she would never forget that he was the person that had snatched her mate from her. It was because of him that her arms were branded and she had risked life and limb to cross the spirit world to meet him. Her child had been placed in danger! She would never forgive him, even if by some chance the whole affair had an amicable ending.

She did not hold out much hope of that. Kenshin believed wholly in what he was doing. So convinced was he that his was the right path, that his conviction had almost swayed her when they were alone in the inky blackness of the canyon. But she could not be as cynical as he was about the two world's chances of survival. She believed that humans would eventually reform; they would have to! When the oil ran out and the temperature continued to creep up, they would have to change how they lived; go back to respecting nature before it killed them.

Chihiro had seen a couple of environmental demonstrations on her university campus. Students with placards demanding everyone should "Save the Planet!" It was Linca that had given Chihiro much more food for thought, however.

"The planet does not need saving," she had declared with a shrug. "The planet will be fine. It's humankind and the ecology that need preserving. The planet just is. If everything died tomorrow, life would start again from scratch. It has before; no doubt it will again."

Chihiro understood much better now what Linca meant. If the ecology did crash and there were mass extinctions, then that would have a massive impact on the spirits that embodied nature itself. Spirit kind's numbers would thin in direct proportion to the habitat and organism loss. They would survive, of course, but in much lower numbers. Without them, humankind would suffer. Droughts and famine in some areas, floods and vicious storms in others. With few caretakers left in the landscape, it would soon degrade.

Over 7 billion humans would soon be wondering why they could hardly grow crops or why they caught very few fish... It did not take a genius to work out what would happen. Humankind would survive but in much lower numbers. That was what Linca thought, anyway. But Chihiro had an even more optimistic outlook than Linca. She was sure humankind would reform and adapt before the situation became that desperate. They must be given the chance to change! Kenshin was obviously not willing to take a chance, but she was!

"If we don't change then we deserve our fate," she thought gloomily. "We have the opportunity and technology to change, we just have to see we are not saving the planet, we are saving our civilisation."

"We should travel by night," said Linca, her accented voice cutting through Chihiro's contemplation of the troubles of the worlds. "The pony can't keep travelling in the heat, no matter what he says."

Chihiro nodded, it seemed logical. Linca stood. "I'm going to forage," she said with a yawn. "I have to make sure you and the brat get a nutritious breakfast."

Chihiro chuckled at her sister and the sprite changed into her owl form and flew on silent wings into the darkness. Chihiro expected her back in a few hours, but Linca did not return that night.

It took three days to find Linca. Three days of frantically calling her name. Three days of relentless flying, always scanning the ground and three nights of riding the nygel since her dove form was useless in the dark. Chihiro had not thought it possible to sleep on horseback, but with the nygel holding her on magically, she did just that.

They could not move far from the campsite, in case Linca made it back. Chihiro suspected one of Kenshin's delays, but she could not be sure. Linca could have been attacked by one of the many predators in the area. Chihiro, smelling strongly of dragon magic, was avoided. Linca had no such protection.

Chihiro reminded herself that Linca had roamed the spirit world for years and came to no harm. She had not thought for one moment that Linca would get into a dangerous situation. Linca was just a lost land spirit, however; she had no great power or ability. Chihiro blamed herself numerous times. They should not have separated! They should have stayed together! She was sure that if Scott or Rin had been with them then they would not have made this error. With this in mind, Chihiro had tried to put together a strategy for finding Linca. She and the nygel moved in ever-increasing circles around their camp, ensuring they returned at least twice a day to eat and rest. Chihiro and the nygel rarely left each other; even when she flew, the nygel kept pace below her, despite the heat of the days. Over time, Chihiro's suspicions increased that Kenshin was involved in Linca's disappearance. The nygel could not find any trace of her scent. Either she had been on the wing for more than 12 hours, or someone was masking her scent.

It was the evening of the third day when the nygel finally found her trail. An hour later, he and Chihiro cantered into an oasis. Palm trees and flowering bushes surrounded a pool of blue-black water that shimmered under the setting sun. The sandy ground surrounding the pool rose in small rounded hills that practically invited visitors to sit on them.

The nygel plunged into the pool. Chihiro knew that he would not have done this if the water was at all impure and she stooped to drink from the pool. She had barely had a mouthful when something shimmered on the water's rippling surface; a white reflection. Chihiro slowly straightened, afraid of what she would see. She looked across the pool. A woman sat there; white eyes and hair marked her unmistakably as Linca. Chihiro felt a rush of relief, but then a flutter of confusion. Something was wrong. She did not call out to her sister; she watched her for a moment.

Linca was sitting on the bank, her toes dipped into the water. She did not have a stitch of clothing on. At first Chihiro thought she was getting ready to bathe, but she could not see the sprite's discarded clothes anywhere. Linca was combing her blue fingers through her white hair and humming a haunting tune to herself. She sighed and looked around her. The white eyes passed right over Chihiro, as if she was not there. Linca sighed again and returned to finger-combing her hair.

The nygel's snout poked out of the water; she could see the rest of him beneath the surface.

"It is not a curse, mistress," he whispered. "There is no magic at work here. She knows you are here, she just does not care."

"What do you mean?" asked Chihiro, also in a whisper.

"I have spoken to the spirit of this pool," continued the nygel. "The land spirit has been touched by a love talker."

Chihiro frowned; she was not familiar with that term. More of the equine head emerged from the water.

"Your sister was enticed here by a Ganconer, mistress," the nygel tried to explain. Chihiro was still none the wiser.

"I don't know what that is!" she hissed.

"It is a creature that kills by stealth," sighed the nygel. "There are very few of them left; I thought they were extinct."

Chihiro lowered herself to the water's edge and sat on the bank, keeping her attention on her sister as she listened to the nygel.

"It takes the form of a handsome male or female human. It is very charismatic and whispers sweet words into its prey's ears. Once it has seduced its target, it mates with it." Chihiro glowered at her sister; somehow she did not think Linca would have been very resistant. She may have even offered herself!

"Once mated with, the prey is abandoned. The love talker carries a drug in its sweat that is absorbed into its prey's skin. This drug is so potent that the prey will want for nothing else. They will not eat, sleep or drink until they are back in contact with the love talker."

"You mean Linca is addicted to the thing?" asked Chihiro.

"Yes," replied the nygel. "She will not move from where he parted from her until he returns. Without him she will wither away and eventually die. Her heart will break when she finally realises her lover has no intention of returning. Only once she is dead will? the Ganconer will return to devour her remains."

"That's evil!" hissed Chihiro.

"It's how it feeds," stated the nygel. "We all have to eat and the love talker does not take by force. If the land spirit had said "no" it would have left her immediately."

Chihiro sighed. There was little chance of Linca ever saying no to sex with a handsome male. The situation had Kenshin's fingerprints all over it. He had found a way to exploit Linca's weakness.

"So how do we cure her?" asked Chihiro.

"We don't," said the nygel carefully.

"What do you mean?" snapped Chihiro.

"There is no cure," he said softly.

"There has to be!" Chihiro squeaked.

"There is not," the nygel said simply. "Your sister has dug her own grave. It will take a few weeks, but she will die."

"That can't be true!" hissed Chihiro as she stood again, involuntarily grabbing the sword strapped to her side.

"It is true," said the sword in Chihiro's mind. "One of the blades that made me has a memory of such a creature. There is no cure for the land spirit. Accept that her death is imminent and don't let her suffer."

"What?" shrieked Chihiro.

"End her suffering; she will thank you in the afterlife."

Chihiro let go of the blade in disgust. That was not something she was willing to consider. She walked around the pool and carefully seated herself on the bank, a respectful distance from her sister.

"Hello, Chi," said Linca dreamily, still staring at her reflection. "Do you have a comb with you? I can't get the tangles out of my hair and I want to look my best for him."

Chihiro mumbled a negative and Linca tutted.

"Pity. I don't seem to be able to use my power at the moment; otherwise, I would not be in such a state. He said he liked my hair..." The fact Linca seemed more concerned by her appearance than the mysterious loss of her power told Chihiro that Linca was not in her right mind.

To a spirit, their magical ability was not considered to be a blessing or a gift, it was thought of as essential. A spirit's power was as vital to them as a limb. If they lost their abilities they were practically considered disabled. That Linca was not in a total panic about the loss of her power meant she considered the loss of her lover as more devastating and debilitating.

"He will return soon," she said wistfully to her reflection. "He said he loved me; he is going to take me to his home. I will be safe there. When I am with him I forget everything else. If I stay by his side I will never feel lonely again." There it was again, Linca called the Ganconer 'he.' She probably did not even know his name. Names had power in the spirit world; many spells relied on knowing a person's name. The love talker was wise not to give his away.

Chihiro bit her lip. The love talker had seen Linca's pain and made her honey-coated promises about taking it from her. She must have been very easy prey for him. Chihiro closed her eyes for a moment. She could not leave Linca alone. Without her power, she was vulnerable to virtually everything! The love talker could very well return to discover something else had snatched its meal. Chihiro thought about moving Linca by force. The nygel could easily overpower her and then they could tie her up and...

"I'm not leaving," sighed Linca, as if reading Chihiro's thoughts. "I am waiting where he told me to. I would rather die than run the risk of missing his return." She said the words lightly but Chihiro knew she meant them. She would find a way back here or die trying. "You should go and find your mate," added Linca softly. "I don't want you here when he returns."

"How do you know he will come back?" snapped Chihiro, losing her temper at last. "You slept with him even though he never even gave you a name? That is not the start of a loving relationship Linca and you know it!"

"I don't need to know his name," said Linca with a chuckle. "He loves me and I can't bear the thought of being parted from him."

"That's not love," growled Chihiro. "That's dependency!"

"Well, you would know," said Linca with a smile. "You will go insane with longing if you are parted from Haku for too long and it is the same for him. I never understood why you agreed to bind yourselves so tightly to each other until now." Linca smiled at her reflection. "It is nice to need someone so much; there is no shame in it, only trust. I understand that now."

Chihiro glared into the water, fuming. She wanted to scream that what the love talker had done to Linca was a million miles from what she and Haku shared. But she guessed it was pointless. The sprite was infatuated and would not listen. Ripples on the pools surface momentarily distorted Linca's reflection. She looked up from combing her hair and fixed Chihiro with a chilling, white-eyed stare.

"I want you to leave," she said again. "I want to be happy and I will not tolerate your interference. You cannot offer me such a thing and your own happiness causes me to feel pain and envy." The sprite was silent for a moment as if to give her words time to sink in. "Leave now, Chi," she ordered firmly, then returned to her reflection in the now still water.

Slowly Chihiro moved away from her sister, biting the inside of her cheek viciously to stop hopeless tears spilling down her face. She was at a loss and had no clue how to proceed. Her quest was vital to the survival of both worlds, but she could not leave her sister. She wished she was harder of heart; that she could prioritise her quest over her family; but she could not. Kenshin must have known this too when he formulated this part of his plan. Her hand tightened on the hilt of her sword and one word suddenly filled her mind.

"ENEMY!"

Without even asking for permission, power flooded out from the sword and every nerve in her body tensed. She experienced the very unsettling sensation of having her body move without her consent. She pivoted on the balls of her feet, turning rapidly 180 degrees, drawing the sword smoothly as she did so. Chihiro blinked; the tip of the blade was now aimed at the neck of what had been sneaking up behind her. It had a roughly human shape that was mainly obscured by the fronds of a low growing palm tree. She could not make out any features in the growing darkness; the moon had not risen yet.

"What will you do?" asked a low, velvety smooth voice that seemed to ooze out from the shape. "How will you handle this challenge, human? How will you resolve this dilemma and not leave a stain on that pure soul you so desperately guard? Can you find a path that allows you to walk away from this unsullied? Whom will you choose to betray? Your sister? Or your mate and your holy quest?"

Anger flooded Chihiro's mind. She felt as if something in her had burst and poured acid into her veins. One word rolled from her tongue, sounding to her ears like the worst curse she had ever heard. Her sword tip wavered with the vitriol behind the word despite the sword still having control of her body.

"Kenshin," she hissed.