A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I'v been so busy over the last two months you wouldn't believe. Ok, so I'm working on this story and also the second installment of my angels stories, Heavenly 2 as it were :P Enjoy! Sorry if there's a load of mistakes. This was rather rushed!

Chapter three

'Harper, get your ass moving!' Indi stood, looming over the scrunched up heap before her. 'I want to get on the road before the sun comes up.'

Marco groaned as he felt her foot connect with his back. 'Go away. Go very far away.' He buried deeper into the cover and tried to shut out her voice.

India sighed and pulled the quilt off him amid a grunt of protest. 'Harper, I don't care if you don't want to come with me any more, but I do want my belongings back.' She bundled the quilt into a ball and made to walk off, but found something attached to the end of it. She turned with impatience to find Marco clinging to it.

'Get off.'

'Give it back,' he mumbled, curling vainly around the edge he held. 'Cold.'

She had to fight back a smile. It was strange how a fully grown man, one with a night’s growth of beard shadowing his face, could act as immature as a child in the last dregs of sleep. 'Marco...' she couldn't help it; the giggle escaped whether she wanted it to or not. At least it made him open his eyes.

Her laugh sounded more beautiful than birdsong, and it reminded him of pure, untouched joy as his bleary eyes focused on her. 'Time..?' was the only word he could manage as he sat slowly up.

'Just before dawn. Are you coming or not?'

'You're crazy. What kind of woman gets up this early looking like an elfin maid who's just walked out of a forest?'

She fought not to blush. 'You know,' she remarked mildly, 'that is a point. You look terrible.'

'Thanks a bundle Indi, really.' He stood, stretched and reached for his sword. 'Two minutes.' He ran a hand over his face and smiled. 'I guess I need to shave.'

'You guess?' Indi shook her head. 'I'll be setting up. I'm giving you fifteen minutes, and then I'm going.' She walked out of the clearing, stopping briefly by a pond to splash water on her face. Dana was already hooked up to the wagon, and so Indi went to make sure that nothing would break whilst they went along. And by the time she remerged from the inside, Marco was walking back, Nastari following and trying vainly to eat Marco's slightly damp hair. She had to suck in her breath as the sun came up at that precise moment, adding an ethereal glow to his skin. He looked like a god, standing there in that light, she thought, trying to assure herself that the fact that his torso was bare and gleaming had nothing to do with her shortness of breath. It's the light, it's the light. Ignore the fact that he looks like an Adonis. He's a prat, he's a stupid, arrogant, pathetic-

'Hi. Ready?'

She gulped, fighting to keep her face expressionless. This was getting too much for her to handle. He was gorgeous, he was funny, he was kind and gentle, and there were obviously so many hidden depths to this man that intrigued her. It couldn't go on, the way she was feeling. She needed to hate, needed to remember that he was a selfish, arrogant womaniser before she did something rather stupid. If only he would stop smiling at her like that. Why wouldn't he grin at her?

She forced coldness into her voice. 'Got a problem Harper?'

'You know,' he muttered, eyes never leaving hers as his smile faded, 'I think I have.'

'Back off,' she snapped, using all her willpower to climb up to the wagon. 'And put a shirt on.'

As they travelled in the slowly appearing light, the silence was tense. He was moody, confused with her reaction to him. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could have sworn there had been fire in her eyes when she'd looked at him. But shutters had come down, he remembered. As soon as he'd got too close...

He was annoyed with her too. She had put the hood of her cloak up so he could not see her face, and he could only wonder what she was thinking. Every now and then, she would twitch the cowl, just to make sure her face was hidden.

Marco felt like growling at her.

Indi was far from caring what he thought or what he wanted to do to her. The hood was necessary; she would not let him see her like this. Tears swam in her eyes, and fell now and again. She had no way to stop them, and so simply hid them.

But god! It was happening again. She was letting herself think of Marco as more than a mild annoyance, more even, than a friend. She was letting herself imagine what it would be like to have him hold her, say that he loved her, and that was completely stupid. She refused to put herself through that again. No more emotional breakdowns, no more hurt. No. He would not interfere in her life. He was there as an annoyance, that was all. She would get rid of him soon by just taking off in the night and leaving him.

Every time he looked at her, something stirred, and Marco didn't like it one bit. He'd do better to keep himself apart; emotionally and physically. But he just couldn't help himself. He knew she probably thought of him as a womaniser, self absorbed and a complete prat for attempting to pull moves on her, but he didn't care. He didn't like what she did to him at all, and promised that he'd do his best to ignore it. But Marco had a feeling that it would be easier said than done.

'Is that your village?' he asked as they crested a hill and he saw the very faint line of smoke in the far, far distance. 'We got there quick.'

'No,' she answered shortly. 'That's only a hamlet. We'll be there for nightfall.'

'Great.' He attempted to break the tension and ignore the coldness in her voice. 'Is there an inn?'

'No.'

'Where's the nearest one?'

She shrugged.

Marco fell silent for a moment, tapping his fingers impatiently on the reigns. 'It's very rude you know.'

'What?' she snapped.

'Having your hood up while I'm here. When you have a conversation with someone, you like to see their face.'

'Live with it.' Her voice was low, dangerously low. 'And we weren't in a conversation.'

'Goddamn it Indi!' He reigned his horse in, and before she knew what he was doing, he had jumped onto the wagon and seized her by the shoulders as the wagon ground to a halt. 'Why the hell do you hate me?'

'Get your hands off me!' she growled, turning her face away when he pulled her hood back. 'Just go away.'

Immediately, his voice gentled and his grip turned to a caress as he saw the tracks of her tears. 'What's the matter? Have I done something?'

'Just go away,' she repeated in a wretched whisper, clutching tightly at the necklace at the base of her throat. 'Stop tormenting me.'

'Oh god...Indi. What have I done?' He felt her tense as he slipped his arm around her in comfort. But he kept a tight hold, knowing that she would shift away if he didn't. 'Talk to me.'

It all came spilling out in a rush. 'Why are you here? Why are you following me? Do you want to make my life hell?' When she turned her eyes to him, they here full of anger.

He fought to be calm as he answered. 'How do I make your life hell?'

'You remind me of someone.' This time, she did shove his arm away.

'You're just like him, and he made my life hell just by being on the planet. I'm not going through that again.'

Anger boiled, but it wasn't her that caused it. It was this faceless man who had made her hate him. 'What did he do to you? Who the hell was he?'

Indi brought her knees up to her chest. 'His name was Antoni Bersache. And he hurt me. You act so much like he did. Why he made me his plaything, I-'

'Plaything?'

Indi was silent.

'India...Hang on, did you say Antoni Bersache?'

She sniffed. 'Yes. Do you know him?'

'Oh yes. The little bastard, I'm going to kill him when I get back to the guild-'

'He's in the guild!?' India searched his eyes for signs of lie. She found none. 'He never told me!'

Marco grimaced. 'He's not a musician. He's a harp maker.' Unstrapping his harp from the horse, he took it out of it's case and flipped it topside, pointing out the small gold signature at the bottom. 'It's rumoured that a Bersache harp is pure gold for it's player.' He raised his head and smiled at her. 'But I preferred the one I made with my own hands. I only take this when I travel since it's lightweight.' His smile faded and he took her hand. 'Indi, what did you mean by plaything?'

'He pushed me around a bit, but mostly toyed with my mind,' she sighed. 'He made me believe myself in love with him, made me believe that he loved me.'

'And then he left you.' Marco swore softly, becoming aware that they were moving again, Indi's mare seeming to know where she was going without her mistress's aid. 'I can't believe that anyone could be that cold hearted.'

'He was,' Indi said quietly.

'And I'm not.' Marco held her gaze. 'I'm not Bersache Indi, I'm just me.'

'But why are you here?' she asked, her voice just a little desperate. 'Why are you going out of your way to follow me?'

He sighed. 'I wanted answers, and now I've got them.' He grinned at the look of relief on her face. 'But hey, you're not getting rid of me that easily!'

She managed to smile. 'Great.'

'I was thinking last night. Have you ever heard of the Joy Stone?' he asked.

'No, should I have?'

'No,' he laughed, slinging his arm around her shoulders again. 'It's a very well kept secret.' He felt her shift uneasily under his arm and switched subjects. 'At least I know why you don't like contact. But I won't hurt you Indi, I promise.'

'I can't help it.'

'I know, but just trust me ok?' He squeezed her shoulders in comfort. 'Anyway, the Joy Stone. It's a reflective sphere, turquoise colour, buried deep inside the mountains.'

'Stone? Like my crystals?' her interest suddenly perked up.

'Yes, and that's why I want your help. I'd like you too help me find it, since you'd probably be able to understand it more than me.' He shrugged. 'I'm impulsive you see. I heard about this crystal, and I thought 'well, I might as well look. I've got nothing else to do.' So, will you help me look for it?'

Indi thought hard. 'What's it's crystal name?'

'Huh?'

'God, you're hopeless. Like, Obsidian is called 'the wizard stone' and Hematite is called 'the iron stone.' What's the Joy Stone as crystal?'

'Oh, I see what you mean! I think Losat, my tutor, said that it was called Amarvida, or something like that-'

'Amarvida.' Indi's breath escaped her in a rush. 'Oh my god, I know what you mean!' Her eyes were bright, her face flushed and animated. 'You know where it is? Do you even know what it does?' she gasped.

'No, I-'

'Marco, the possibilities are endless! The wielders of the stone have their lives perfected, everything they could ever dream at their fingertips. It's the ultimate! It's paradise!' She let out a slow, careful breath as she tried to calm herself down. 'And you're asking me to go with you to find it?'

'Yes.' Pleased with her amazement, he leaned back and surveyed the sky. 'If it has all those qualities, can you imagine what we could do with it?'

Indi cast a sidelong glance at him and decided to make a joke of it. 'What we could do with it?' she chuckled. 'Do you even know how to bring out a crystal's power Mr. Harper?'

He laughed. He laughed at the fact that she had recovered enough to joke about it. 'I don't, but you do.' He stuck out his hand. 'Partners?' he asked.

She took it, surprisingly without hesitation, and smiled right into his eyes as they shook. 'And friends.'

'Of course.' He saw something at the base of her neck. It was a necklace that he had seem her fiddling with whenever she talked about her past. ‘What’s the necklace?’ he asked.

‘Oh,‘ she brought it out and showed him. ‘Rose quartz. It’s a heart healer, so I wear it because of Antoni.’

‘Wow. Does it actually work?’

She sighed. ‘It’s supposed to.’

He absently fiddled with a bit of her blue hair, then switched subjects again to keep her from descending into gloom. ‘Why blue?'

'Hmm? Oh!' The abrupt change of subject threw her for a moment, but she realised what he was talking about when she felt his hand at the bottom of her hair. 'I don't know. It's just...blue, I guess.' She shrugged, then grinned. 'My parents hated it, and nearly made me cut it off.' The chuckle escaped unbidden. 'I did it when I was sixteen and it's stuck ever since.'

'It suits you,' he remarked. 'Anything else would have looked strange against the black.'

Her grin was swift. 'Really? I was thinking of going green.'

'Don't,' he grimaced, wrinkling his face in disgust. 'You'd look like a witch.'

'Ooh. Scary.'

'Besides, the blue goes with your eyes.'

'Well, in that case, why don't you go green?' she asked with perfect innocence. 'It'd go with yours.'

His eyes narrowed. 'If I wake up with green hair, I'll know who did it.'

Indi just laughed. It amazed her to find out that she felt happier now than she had done since she had left home. And then it occurred to her that she had just, in nearly every way, committed herself to a man for the first time in years.

Oh well.

'Wake up,' Indi said, prodding the sleeping figure beside her. 'We're nearly there.'

They had managed to live through another night without a roof over their heads, and now, on the road again, the early morning light brought Indi's home village into sight. It nestled comfortably in-between two rising slopes and rested precariously on a smaller one. The picture that immediately sprang to Indi's mind whenever she saw this place from this distance was that of the small town wobbling like a see-saw and then falling off on one side. he could just imagine it sliding down a side of the hill like a bobsleigh in the snow.

'Smmnf, huh?' Marco turned his back on her and she shoved his shoulder.

'Bandits!’

'Huh? What? Where?' That got his attention. He snapped awake and looked around him wildly and grabbed his sword. When he realised there was no danger, he scowled and turned back to look at her.

She had to smother a laugh at how grumpy he looked. 'I had to get you up somehow,' she defended, then pointed ahead. 'That's Hilltop, my old home town.'

Blearily, he focused. 'Hmm...nice. Can I go back to sleep now?'

Indi snorted. 'By all means, sleep on your own horse, but not on my wagon. Why do you sit up here anyway?'

'You could say that it's a matter of feeling inferior to a woman when I'm lower than you,' he said mildly, 'but I prefer to put it down to lack of decent conversation when I'm on the horse.'

'Lack of conversation?' she spluttered. 'All you do is sleep!'

'Energy regenerating,' he pointed out.

'My god, you are hopeless. Look, I just don't want you to make a bad impression on my folks. They're very reliant upon first impressions.' She twisted her hands nervously. 'They never liked Antoni.'

'Hey, cool it Indi,' he grinned, yawning. 'It's not like you're introducing me to them as the love of your life and the man you intend to marry, is it?'

'No.' Calming herself, she rationalised. 'No, I'm not. You're a business partner, nothing more.'

'I'm used to being judged, so don't worry.' With a contented sigh, he lay back and folded his arms behind his head, stretching out as he looked at the sky. 'Scrutiny is nothing new.'

They got closer and closer to the gates, the wagon rambling along at a steady speed, almost completely silent. But as was the way of Marco, he got her involved in an amusing conversation, so that when they entered the town, they were discussing the last names of musicians.

'But don't you find it strange? Being a Harper who's a harpist? Or did you get to chose your last name?'

'No, it's just coincidence.'

'But can you imagine if you were a trumpeter? You could be Marco Trumpet, and that's just wrong,' she laughed.

'Actually,' he remarked mildly, 'I know a trumpeter called Dannan Trumper, if that's any consolation? Oh, and I know a flutist called Alistair Puffir...'

By this time, Indi was roaring with laughter. 'You're joking? God, what name! You got lucky I guess.'

He took her hand and kissed it, winking at her with the uncanny charm that he possessed. 'I'm always lucky,' he told her.

She raised an eyebrow at their joined hands. ’Do you really want to lose that hand?’ she asked mildly.

He grinned, but didn’t draw it away. 'No, I don’t think that’d be a good idea. And by the way, the wagon's stopped, so I suppose your horse knows that this is your house?'

Distracted, Indi looked. 'Yes! Bloody hell, my horse is clever. Oh, and my Ma's probably looking at us right now through the crack in the shutters, so I'd let go of my hand unless you really do want to convince her that you're the love of my life?' She raised another suspicious brow at his laugh, holding it there as he hopped down and offered his hand again.

'Just being a gentleman,' he assured her. 'Just so Mrs Caillou gets a good impression.'

Hesitantly, she took it, and let him tug her down. As her feet touched the cobblestones, a loud cry rang out.

'Darling! You're back!'

Before Indi could register what, or who, had made the noise, a bundle of yellow and red clad woman hurled herself into her arms, smelling faintly of cinnamon.

'M-mother,' she managed to choke out. 'Yes, yes I'm back.'

'Oh, my baby, let me look at you!' Her mother, Elena Caillou, drew her away by the shoulders and surveyed her daughter. 'You've changed my love. You're happy.'

'I've had a long time to get over him Mama,' Indi assured her quietly. 'I'm all better.'

'Of course. And who,' she asked suddenly, turning to Marco, 'is this charming young man here?'

Indi snorted as Marco grinned. 'Charming? Right! This is Marco Harper, an annoying musician from the guild who decided to follow me home.'

Elena's eyebrow shot into space. 'Really?'

'Ignore her,' Marco said, moving forward and kissing Elena's hand. 'She loves me really.'

'Yeah, right, whatever you say Harper,' India sighed. 'Where's Papa?'

'In the kitchen dear. Come in, both of you, where we can talk properly without the neighbours ear wigging.' Her mother waved merrily to Mrs Dassel who was poking her nose out of the window. 'Quickly now.'

Once they were inside and the door firmly locked behind them, Elena smiled. 'Go see your Pa India, he's been waiting to see your face for a long time. And you-' she turned on Marco as Indi practically ran to the kitchen. 'I want to talk with you. Sit!' she ordered, and he sank into a soft armchair. He found himself looking up, more than a little wary, at the woman who towered over him. This is what Indi will be like in twenty years time, he thought, the fact scaring him almost as much as her mother did. In twenty years time, Indi could make him feel so small as Elena was doing now. He cleared his throat.

'I..Ah, Mrs. Caillou-'

It's Elena,' she snapped. 'And I want to talk to you about my daughter.'

'Indi-'

'Is the most precious thing in the world to me, and she'd kill me if she knew what I was doing now. So I'm going to be frank Mr. Harper. What are your feelings for my daughter?'

He was being squashed into a pulp. 'We’ve only known each other a few short days-‘

‘That’s not what I’m asking.‘

Marco tried a winning smile. ‘Of course. Indi and I have a business relationship, nothing more,' he managed to stutter. 'Although I would like to be friends.'

'Good. She's been hurt before, no doubt you've figured that out for yourself, and I wont let another man do it again.' She prodded him in the chest, her eyes narrowing. 'So a business relationship is good, friendship is fine, but anything else...' Elena took a deep breath, calming herself. 'If you end up hurting her, I'll kill you. Understand?'

Marco swallowed, a loud gulp. 'Yes ma'am.'

Elena's face transformed into a bright smile. 'Excellent. Now, let's go find the others. I'll see if I can route out the fruitcake I made yesterday. That is, if Michael hasn't eaten it all already...' And with that, she swept out the room, leaving Marco gaping out after her.