The Nygel recovered and they plodded silently through the valley. It took them until sundown to traverse the cursed valley and they hardly spoke to each other. Conversation was not easy anyway, as two of the group members were practically deaf and had to be shouted at for them to understand what Chihiro was saying. But that was not the only reason for the oppressive silence. Chihiro guessed that on some level they all felt guilty. Things that had been said and done would be very hard to put behind them. Even if none of them was at fault.

Chihiro had never known there was so much bitterness in her sister, or that the animosity between her and the Nygel was more serious than she had first thought. They had both been trying their best to get along with each other under very difficult circumstances, and Chihiro felt ashamed she had not realised how much of an effort they were making. She had simply yelled at them when they had failed to act as she deemed fit. She had been naive; Linca was a land spirit and the Nygel was a water spirit. They were even opposite on an elemental level; the gulf between them was vast.

Then there was her own reaction to Linca's threatening behaviour. She would have never, ever guessed she could harm someone she loved. Oh, she had threatened to bash heads together often enough... but she had actually assaulted her own sister. She even made her bleed!

"Don't feel too bad, girl," said the calm, crisp tones of the sword. Chihiro had not realised her fingers had found its hilt again. "You did what you had to." Chihiro knew the obnoxious sword was right, but it did not make her feel better.

They left the valley and entered a vast plain of dry cracked ground studied with twisted shrubs and bushes. It was noticeably warmer here, but Chihiro guessed the temperature would plummet once the sunset. Bright orange stones and boulders littered the landscape and almost glowed under the last few rays of the sun as it rushed towards the horizon. Linca took off her improvised ear defenders and sighed.

"We must make camp quickly," she said in an emotionless voice. She moved to the Nygel and unwrapped the canvas that bound his equine ears.

"Could you find some food and water?" she asked, again in the same listless tone. "We have to stretch our remaining provisions as far as possible." The Nygel nickered in assent and cantered away.

Chihiro helped Linca pitch the camp. They would have to share the remaining tent. Soon they had a small fire burning and the Nygel had returned with full water skins and a couple of decapitated hares. Not even the smell of roasting meat could make Chihiro rouse herself from her introspection. The Nygel was exhausted and flopped down next to the fire. He was soon fast asleep.

"I am sorry, Chi," said Linca in a small voice. Chihiro sat bolt upright, startled out of her thoughts. Linca had silently sat beside her and they were now both filling the entrance to the tent. Linca's eyes were fixed on the fire.

"It's all right," said Chihiro with a smile she hoped was reassuring. "It was a nasty spell and I..."

"It was not just the spell," said Linca softly. "Those things I said... they were real." The Sprite drew her knees up and rested her chin on them. "I had locked all those mean thoughts I had about you away, but they were still my own." She sighed heavily. Her breath misted slightly; it was getting colder. "I am envious of your happiness," she murmured. Chihiro did not really want to listen to what had motivated Linca to be so abusive, but she found herself intrigued despite her misgivings.

"Why?" she asked simply, also resting her chin on her knees and staring into the fire.

"Because you have what I have lost," Linca replied quietly.

Chihiro listened intently as Linca began to tell her tale; she knew that this would not be a pleasant story.

"I was quite happy as a land spirit," said Linca with a fond smile. "My bond place was a lovely bit of floodplain next to a slow-flowing river. The entire area used to be forest and I had plenty of company from the water and woodland spirits that shared the area with me. It was idyllic, but it all changed."

"Humans?" asked Chihiro. Linca nodded.

"Not in the way you might think," she said quickly. "A small family came, parents and a few brats. They settled and started cutting down trees. The woodland creatures fled. The water spirits and I were furious at first. We made conditions as unfavourable as we could for our squatters. We extended the wintry weather long into spring. The river moved all its fish downstream. I killed anything the humans planted that was not a tree."

Chihiro shifted uncomfortably. The ancient farmers that Linca spoke of had probably perished.

"Then they came to the riverbank with an offering, apologising for angering us. I could tell they were on the verge of starving to death. They prayed to the water and they prayed to the land and told us they had no other place to go... then they offered us their firstborn son as a sacrifice to appease us."

"What!" squeaked Chihiro.

"Boris, the river god, was all for drowning the sacrifice. They had just left the child, bound and gagged on the riverbank. Being a sacrifice was obviously not his idea!"

"What did you do?" asked Chihiro.

"I took the whelp under my wing," said Linca with a smirk. "He was only around ten winters old. If I had sent him home, his family may have thought that I had rejected him and then try something even more extreme. He was in total awe of me at first, always bowing and scraping. I gave him random tasks to do—dig a hole, fill it in, etc. Watching him perform my whims amused me."

Linca shrugged.

"I was mean to him. I was still angry with his people. But gradually I began to see him as more than just a pet. He was a person. As soon as I had comprehended that my attitude changed. I let the humans farm my land and their crops flourished. Little Petr was a cheerful and bright boy. He loved to listen to me tell him stories of ancient times before humans. He became my servant. He would work in my garden, cook my meals and even accompany me to the local baths when I needed to replenish my power." Linca smiled to herself. "Being farmed is very draining, especially around harvest time.

"Seasons came and went. Before I knew it, Petr was towering above me. His hair was long and jet black and he had dark curious eyes. He was always asking questions."

Chihiro smiled also. Petr sounded like he had completely endeared himself to his mistress.

"I realised I was being cruel. He was almost full-grown and could now fend for himself. I should not have kept him so long," continued Linca. "I set him free. He did not want to leave at first, but I insisted that he should go. He left eventually. He did not stay in the area. I think he felt that I had rejected him. But a few winters later he returned. He was now fully mature and he had a wife, a beautiful woman with ebony hair and dark green eyes. They had just had their first child, a daughter. Petr had brought her to the riverbank he had been sacrificed on to ask for my blessing. I appeared before the family and obliged, though his wife nearly fainted with fear." Linca chuckled ruefully.

"It was nice to have him back. I had been lonely. Boris, the river spirit, spent nearly all of his time in non-caporal form so I hardly had anyone to talk to any more. Petr and his family settled on a bit of floodplain in my domain and they started their own farm. Little Anya, his daughter, grew up playing in my garden." Linca's white eyes were far away. Chihiro doubted she was even aware that she had company any more.

"I don't know where the time went. Soon Anya had a husband and he had taken over the farm. Petr died in the winter of that year." Linca trailed off for a moment and squeezed her eyes closed. It was as if the pain of losing her companion was still raw.

"It rained a lot that year," she whispered. She then opened her eyes and heaved a sigh. "I retreated a little from Petr's family. They still sought me out to bless children and they sometimes stumbled upon me walking through their fields... But I did not want to try and replace Petr. No one could do that. He had been special, almost like a son."

Chihiro nodded, understanding.

"More time passed. Petr's story became legend, then myth. His descendants still lived on the farm he had built, but more people came. They built a village. These new people brought with them a new religion. Occasionally, men in strange robes came to serve the community. They declared every seventh day that there was one god and if you led a good life by his laws, then you would see paradise."

"Do you mean Christianity?" asked Chihiro.

"Yes," replied Linca. "I was not really bothered by it. Petr's descendants converted, but still left offerings for me on the riverbank. I grew quite partial to the Vodka they provided." Linca smirked to herself. "I was happy, a little lonely perhaps, but content. Years passed with me hardly noticing. Then there was a year with no spring. That was unusual enough to interest me."

"Eh?" asked Chihiro, not sure she had heard correctly.

"I don't know how it happened," murmured Linca. "The sun was weak and watery in the sky, always shrouded in clouds. The snow that fell in the winter was grey in colour for a few days in January and tasted foul. I did not notice anything else unusual until I suddenly realised it was April and there had been no thaw."

Chihiro wracked her brain. It was no good. She could not come up with a reason for the phenomenon. She wished she had paid more attention in her science classes and spent less time dreaming of dragons.

"The village began to empty. People left, heading south," sighed Linca. "Soon all that was left was the poor, old and disabled. I found myself in almost the same situation I had been in a few hundred years ago. Petr's myth was not forgotten, and the people were desperate. Another boy was left on the riverbank. This one was so weak from hunger and cold that he could not even struggle against his bonds." Linca's face darkened briefly. Chihiro could well imagine the state the child would be in. Winter food reserves could only last so long in a community dependent on subsistence agriculture. With no food and the land they needed to farm still frozen, Chihiro could understand why the village had sacrificed one of their own. They were all doomed anyway, so why not? Even if the myth was just a myth, there was nothing else they could do to try and survive. Their only other alternative was to wait for death and do nothing to try and change their fate. That was just not part of human nature. Humans would do anything to survive.

"Their God could not save them, so they fell back into old habits," said Linca, confirming Chihiro's thoughts. "I think I was flattered in a way; they had not forgotten me! I raided my own food stores and bought supplies in the spirit world, nearly killing myself by crossing the barrier with them. I left the food and took the boy." Linca snorted and rolled her eyes. "If I had known what was going to happen, I would have drowned him then and there!" she spat. "But I didn't," she sighed, her anger ebbing.

Linca fell silent. Chihiro thought for a moment she would not continue. She decided to be patient and let the silence stretch. Finally, she was rewarded.

"I took the boy in," said Linca at last, "thinking I was at last ready to love another human as I had loved Petr. But Taras was very different. He was not in awe of me; in fact, he appeared to view me as a kidnapper. I reminded him that his people had given him over to me. I also promised numerous times that I meant him no harm. I just wanted to take care of him. It made no difference. He barely spoke to me.

"I lived in a cave at the time; there was nothing rough about it though! I had a stove, furniture, carpets... It was more comfort than he had probably ever had! But he continued to sneer at my efforts to try and tend to his needs. My overtones of friendship were rejected outright. His icy blue eyes would snap with fury whenever I showed kindness towards him. He was never rude or impolite but his expression said everything he didn't.

"After a few weeks, I had had enough. I left a hole in the barrier that protected my cave and told Taras he could leave. He was now in full health and there was no reason for him to stay. He refused my offer, claiming I was trying to trick him somehow. Petr had never been as sullen and temperamental as Taras, even when he was in his teens. Taras was only fifteen winters, but I was at a loss for what to do with him. He did not want to stay but refused to leave, and my memories of my dear Petr kept me from abandoning him or forcing him to leave."

Linca looked at the sky and a small, secretive smile crept over her face. "He was a beautiful boy, or rather, he was when I finally convinced him to bathe regularly. He was rather pungent before that. I never really minded the smell of humans, but dirty humans make my stomach turn. He had curly blond hair, as did most of the migrants to the region, and large eyes the colour of glacial ice, but they never smiled or showed amusement. He was as cold to me as the snow. He was a little thin—still from starvation—but I was feeding him good food and he was working in my garden most days, so I knew he would soon fill out again. I could not escape the feeling that he hated me. Those icy eyes followed me warily whenever I was in his presence and he was always frowning. This situation continued for six months and I was lucky if he said anything at all to me in the course of a day." The sprite shook her head at her remembered frustration.

"I came to the conclusion that I really would have to abandon Taras if he was ever to be happy. Once he realised I was not trying to trick him, he would no doubt go his own way. I told him he needed to gather firewood for me and he followed me out into the woods. I changed into my owl form and left him there. I returned to my cave, not even bothering to put my barrier back up. I felt like such a failure! I had always thought I could never replace Petr and yet I now realised I had hoped Taras would become another surrogate son. I decided that it was time I faded from the human world, just like Boris had. I would exist as a true bonded spirit and not take solid form at all. I was sitting in a chair, contemplating all this, when Taras stormed into the cave. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me upright. He yelled at me! I had never heard him raise his voice before! He started to rant at me; I had abandoned him, I was a cruel temptress and dim-witted. Why hadn't I seen how he felt? He taunted me, saying that an all-powerful spirit was supposed to know everything. I let him shout, astounded he was talking to me at all in complete sentences. He had come back to me—why on earth would he do that? I was too confused to be angry at his outburst.

"After calling me an idiot in a number of creative ways, he suddenly grabbed me around my waist and kissed me." Linca's fingers hovered near her blue lips, as if they could still feel the long-ago kiss.

"It was like nothing I had felt before. I was not exactly chaste, but Taras's kiss turned my legs to water. He was rough and urgent, but his hold on me was gentle." Linca shuddered and rubbed her arms. Chihiro felt heat rushing to her face.

"He was fifteen!" she could not help protesting.

"They married as young as twelve back then, Chi," said Linca with a throaty chuckle. "Besides, he certainly did not act like it was his first time kissing a woman."

Chihiro wished she could stop blushing like a teenager, but she was shaken.

"We became lovers," said Linca softly. "I had never been in love before and the fact I had fallen so hard for a mere human bothered me. We talked about many things over the next few weeks. I told Taras that I thought it was better for him to live with humans, to be part of their world. We could have lived in the spirit world of course, but once bonded, Taras would have to stay there, which I knew he would not want. If he remained with me in the cave, he would eventually get lonely. Spirits can handle centuries of solitude, but humans are social creatures and need other humans.

"Taras eventually agreed to go back to human society, but he would live close to me. He returned to the village that had sacrificed him, spinning a story about paying their debt to me in hard servitude. He was given land in thanks by the grateful villagers, which he dually farmed. I ensured that he had the best crops at harvest time. His produce became famous within a year. Soon he was not working the land himself; he hired others to do it for him.

"He grew tall and I swear he got more beautiful every day. I saw him every few days at first; there were many trysts behind haystacks and in barns. But as he got wealthier, he had less free time. I knew he was under a lot of pressure and had a lot of responsibility, so I did not get angry at seeing him infrequently. When he turned thirty, they made him village leader and we were lucky if we spent one day a week together. People were suspicious when he would vanish for a day. They remembered well that he had been the property of a land spirit once. They felt embarrassed and guilty for what they had done to him, but he never went into detail about his experiences as a spirit slave. He had also refused to marry. That was extremely unusual. The questions and suspicions wore him down. He saw me less and less.

"I was worried he was working too hard at first. Then I worried that he had finally grown tired of me. He was loving, passionate, and always apologetic for his absence when we were together. There was always the best of reasons why he could not see me. I had no real grounds to object. I was the one who had insisted he be part of the human world. However, when he was gone for a month, I knew I had to find out what was keeping him from me."

Chihiro was sure she could take an educated guess at what was keeping Taras from Linca, but she said nothing. She was having a hard time picturing Linca as naive and trusting enough to wait a month before finding out what her lover was up to. She guessed the spirits personality had changed significantly through the centuries.

"I rarely ever visited the village on my land. It was a small place; there was nothing in it to really interest me. I waited until it was dark, then flew amongst the houses in my owl form."

Linca's voice had dropped to a whisper.

"I saw him with a woman. No, a girl really; she was no more than seventeen," the sprite said in a dead tone. "I saw them through the window of his home; he was hugging her and whispering something in her ear. She was heavily pregnant."

Chihiro winced; it must have been devastating for the sprite to find out her love was betraying her in that way.

"I retreated, like a coward. I abandoned solid form entirely and lived with my land. The earth soothed me. I was tired; it was tired, near exhausted from being so intensively farmed. We decided to cut all ties with the humans. We poured our limited energy into the natural vegetation, withdrawing our blessing from the crops. We did not kill the humans' food, but we would offer no help to it either." Linca smirked to herself; it was not a pleasant smile.

"Taras was soon searching for me, calling my name out in the woods and by the river. He would yell apologies, repeating that he was sorry for neglecting me. He had many commitments at present. In a few months, he would have more freedom."

"When the child was born," muttered Chihiro under her breath.

"Exactly!" snapped Linca. "He clearly thought I would not have looked for him in the village. The crops in the fields were not promising. The harvest would be meagre this year and people would look to their leader to make things right. But without me, Taras was simply a normal man. He appeared to have forgotten that.

"He stopped looking for me at harvest time. I thought that his child must have come. I continued to nurture the natural plant life. Briars and weeds flourished in the gardens and less travelled roads of the village. Ivy began to cover the houses with a haze of green. People began to leave again; the harvest was not large enough to sustain the entire population through the winter. I swore that if a human turned to me for aid this time, I would kill any sacrifice made and change nothing." Linca swallowed, she had been speaking for some time and Chihiro thought her throat must be dry. "I was willing to watch them all starve if necessary, but Taras sought me out one last time. He wandered the woods for hours, calling for me. He camped out overnight and got no sleep. I knew he was weeping in the dark, but in my detached state it did not rouse me."

Chihiro was astounded at the man's audacity. Did he have a death wish? He had already betrayed and angered a spirit. He should have left Linca to her solitude and been grateful he was still breathing.

"By the second day, my curiosity grew. I was interested to see what had made him so bold. Surely he could not defend his actions? At sunset on that day, I appeared to him." Linca sighed and shook her head. "I knew Taras had a temper; I knew the man inside out, or rather, I thought I did. When I saw the rage he fell into, it was like nothing I had seen before. He pinned me against a tree. I was so surprised I did not even think of fighting back! He shouted in my face. He called me evil, a hateful goblin and he was ashamed he had ever loved me. His people could starve because of my petty jealousy and he would curse me a hundred times for every death."

Linca took a shuddering breath.

"I needed to get him away from me. I only meant to push him, but I used too much force... I... I..."

Linca's lip trembled. Chihiro rested a hand on her sister's knee, silently telling her that she could guess the rest. Linca did not need to continue, but she spoke again, her voice brittle and full of pain.

"I put my hand straight through his chest; I tore his heart to shreds with my own fingers... There was so much blood! It sprayed over me, hot and tasting of metal. It soaked into my clothes and turned my skin and hair red. I don't really remember what I did next. I know I left him there; I could not stand to see the accusation in those lifeless blue eyes. I vanished into the earth and buried my conscious mind as deep as possible. It hurt less that way.

"I was roused some days later by the pounding of many feet. I took my owl form to investigate. What was left of the village's population appeared to be on the move. It took my thick-witted brain a moment to work out what was happening. This was Taras's funeral procession. Everyone was walking slowly to the river; the priest at the head of the procession was carrying an urn. Taras had already been cremated." Linca sniffed, as if she wept, but her eyes were dry. Chihiro wondered just how many tears the sprite had shed over this to talk of these events now without dissolving into sobs.

"I followed the procession. I don't remember why or even if I had a reason. Maybe I was curious, or maybe I just felt I deserved the pain. He was dead because of me. I heard those in the procession talking. His death had been blamed on a bear attack. His body had been badly torn up when he was found. I guess something had found him appetising after I left him. They came to the bank of the river where he had been sacrificed all those years ago. The young woman I had seen him with stepped forward. She had a sling around her to bind her baby to her chest. She opened the urn and took a handful of the ash. She sprinkled it on the water and then whispered, 'Goodbye sweet brother...'"

Linca paused to let the information sink into Chihiro's disbelieving brain. Chihiro realised her mouth was open and closed it.

"I never had any reason to suspect he had a sister," whispered Linca. "He had told me he was living with relatives, but never mentioned a sister. When I saw them together, I had assumed... I knew little of human society anyway. His sister obviously had a mate and yet her brother was hugging her... Petr had been the only other human I had known well and he had had no siblings. I had jumped to the wrong conclusion; I was young and very stupid. Even a non-bonded spirit would have known better. But I did not even know who my parents were... I knew nothing of family...I had thought that as Taras was human; his heart could not possibly be constant... Humans were fickle and he was getting older... I was so very wrong..."

Linca stopped talking. Her voice was wobbling uncontrollably. Chihiro was unsure if she should hold her. Linca looked as if she may shatter if she was touched. Every muscle in her small frame was tensed. Chihiro rested a hand on the small of Linca's back and rubbed it slowly up and down in what she hoped was a soothing motion. Finally, after what seemed like half an hour of total silence, Linca stopped staring at the fire and turned to Chihiro.

"I knew that I would be in trouble for my actions. My local council of spirits would not be pleased I had killed a village leader. It was not in my nature to hunt and kill, so I could not use my instincts as an excuse. I could have brought my kind much-unwanted attention from the humans. We wanted to fade from their memory and move away from them, not antagonise them. I was lucky something had partly eaten Taras, or I may have been hunted by humans and my own kind. As it was, the elder spirits passed judgement on me. I could have defended myself, explained that it was an accident, but I did not. I felt I deserved it. I wanted to be blamed. I received a year's servitude for killing a human without provocation."

Linca chuckled bitterly.

"One measly year of servitude for committing murder may seem laughable to you, but the council were lenient. I had only killed a single human after all. A year is nothing to an immortal, no time at all really. It was as if they were giving me a quick spanking for being a naughty girl. I would have served for an eternity and though it just... but... but he was..."

Linca's voice finally gave out on her. A dry sob wracked her small body.

"... He was only human..." Chihiro finished for her quietly. Linca nodded mutely and her white eyes were drawn back to the fire. "That's why you were so angry," whispered Chihiro. "Part of you was jealous that Haku and I were happy. The spell in the valley brought that out of you."

"I only ever wished for your happiness," whispered Linca. "But it hurt... it hurt so badly... Nothing helped ease it, not even sex really. No one would look at me the way he looked at you. That dragon's eyes followed you everywhere, like you were some precious and delicate thing he had to watch constantly to stop others from taking. He loves you with his entire soul. Anyone can see that. Three hundred and forty-two years ago, there was a man who looked at me exactly the same way. I killed him and have been living in a purgatory of my own creation ever since." The flames of the campfire spat and crackled. "I know I will never be loved like that again," sighed the sprite. "Or love someone as much as I love him." She then laughed and turned back to her sister. "Not in that way I mean. Loving you is different. I can love my sister and still feel lonely." She smirked at Chihiro. "And of course I have no wish to have carnal knowledge of you."

Chihiro smiled in return but did not know what to say. Where to start? All sorts of optimistic or soothing words popped into her mind. She wanted to offer Linca hope, but reassurances seemed trite. In the end, she settled for...

"I love you, Linca."

The sprite smiled and closed her eyes.

"And I love you, Chi," she replied. "I am so sorry. I don't want to feel resentment, but..."

"I know you don't," said Chihiro softly. "You can stay behind if you like. You don't have to come with me any further."

"What?" squeaked the sprite, staring at Chihiro incredulously. "Don't you dare even think of ditching me!" Chihiro held her hands up, trying to placate the suddenly angry spirit.

"I did not mean that!" she bleated. "I just thought that..."

"You thought wrong!" snapped the sprite, standing. "Nothing has changed. We will get Haku back, you will spawn your brat, and you better be damn ecstatic or I will throttle you!"

Chihiro gaped at her sister, once again struck dumb.

"Now I am going to forage for food to stretch out what is left of our supplies. Just you sit and rest. I will be back by dawn." Chihiro shook her head as she watched Linca stalk away. She knew the sprite was using her outburst to cover up how vulnerable she was feeling after recounting her tragic past. Compared to Linca's history, Chihiro's childhood had been positively rosy. Small wonder Linca had harboured some resentment towards her. Chihiro sighed and began to cook a small portion of rice. Rin would be furious if she knew they had lost what they had been given.

It was strange. Chihiro realised she had somehow managed to surround herself with lonely people; Rin, a refugee from her partner even though she had intentionally forgotten him; Scott, the original "nice guy" who had been the first person who ever wanted to date her. She suspected that dating her had been more to do with being close to someone who was friendly to him in a foreign land and less about her attractiveness... Now there was Linca, who had accidentally killed the love of her life and had been punishing herself ever since. Many years later the sprite had been driven from her bonded land by a nuclear accident and had wandered the spirit world as a non-bonded spirit until she had stumbled across the bathhouse and Haku.

Chihiro's heart seemingly contracted in her chest. He had been lonely too, lonely, bad-tempered and withdrawn until he met her...

What was it about her that drew lonely people to her? Or perhaps it was the other way around? Was she drawn to lonely people because she knew she would be accepted, something she never had been in her own world?

It was a puzzle that would take much more than one night's contemplation to solve.