"I don't want to go," she said, sniffling a little. "The room is a little tilty, like it was last night."

He looked at her, "Tilty?"

"One side of the room goes up then down again, like a sea-saw," she said, demonstraiting with her hands.

He raised an eyebrow, "If you say so, Echo." He stood and moved to pull on his boots. "You stay here, then, I will go and get some tea for you."

"Thank you," she said in a little, little voice. She wasn't used to pain.

He stroked her face and gave her a quick kiss before leaving their room and locking the door behind him. He didn't like the idea of Echo being alone, but he knew she needed the tea and she wasn't up for coming along. He went to the kitchen and asked for a mug of warm herbal, specifically chamomile, tea.

Echo felt everything go a little fuzzy and started when the lock jiggled. It was too soon for Trist to be back...She shook her head and the room shifted and suddenly Echo was a fawn again, sitting awkwardly on the bed.

A little girl with a feather duster and firewood came into the room, stopping short when she saw Echo. She grinned, putting the wood by the fireplace and coming over to scratch the little beast's nose. "Hello," she said, picking up the fawn and cuddling her.

"Emma!" a young man's voice said, irritably. He looked into the room and frowned in puzzlement. "How'd that get in here?"

"I don't know," Emma said, cuddling the fawn to her chest. "Maybe the man is some kind of wizard; look what he did to the bed."

"Curtis probably chased it in here as a joke," he countered. "It looks well-fed enough. Not fat but it would be a nice addition to the morning stew."

"No!" Emma said, horrified. "Don't Tarak, please!"

Tarak came and took the wiggling Echo from his little sister. "Now what would that knight think if he came back to find a filthy little wild animal in here, huh? Now clean," he commanded, carrying the fawn out of the room. "Mother's upset enough over Madeline running off with that guy who ran Da through with a sword, the last thing we need are guest complaints."

Emma started dutifully cleaning the room, tears running down her plump little cheeks.

((ARGH! NO!......fine, be that way....poor Echo....))

Trist came back only minutes later with the mug of tea. He stopped when he saw the girl and no Echo. "Where did she go?" He demanded, slamming the mug on the table. "What did you do with her?!"

Poor little Emma looked up at him and shook with fright. "Who?" she asked, barely able to get the word out.

"The girl who was here." Trist stopped himself. If this girl hadn't seen Echo....."The fawn." He tried again. "The fawn where is she? Where did she go? What happened to her?"

"The little deer was...your's?" the girl gulped in a small voice.

Trist nodded. "Yes, she was. What happened to her?! Tell me, please!"

He looked very very angry....when he found out that...Emma took one look at him and fainted thinking about it.

((Oh that's just plain cruel!))

Trist growled something under his breath and turned from the room. He ran back to the kitchen and demanded to know if anyone had seen a fawn. "She is my pet." He told the kitchen staff. "I need to find her before something happens to her!"

Tarak heard the commotion and came out to where the knight was interrogating his siblings. "Can I help you, Sir?"

"A fawn. Have you seen a fawn?" Trist asked him, trying to keep calm. "I need to find her."

Uh...oops. "She's out back," Tarak said, turning quickly. "I'll just be a moment."

Racing back to the butchering room, he found the fawn was gone. Going pale, he stuck his head inside. "Gunder, where's the deer?"

Gunder looked at him like he was crazy. "What deer?"

Trist's hands were clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles white. He paced back and forth, jaw clenched, waiting for the man to come back.

Tarak came back out, face pale. "Sir...it seems as if your deer has..run off."

Trist grabbed Tarak's arms in a grip of iron. "Where is she?! What did you do to her?!"

"I didn't do anything!" he cried, face pale. "It's just gone!"

"Where was she?" Trist demanded, more angry than he had been in years. "Where did you put her? Where is she 'gone' from? SHOW ME!"

Wordlessly, Tarak pointed to the back of the inn, outside a nondiscript little building that could be used for anything.

Trist started for the building, half dragging Tarak with him. "You are going to tell me exactly what you did with her." He gritted out, eyes blazing.

"Look, all I did was tie it there and leave, I swear!" Tarak said desparately.

Trist's jaw clenched, "You tied her? Where?"

"There!" the boy said, pointing to a post by the door.

Trist went to the post and looked at it, trying to find out where Echo could have gone. He looked at Tarak. "What building is this?"

"Does it matter? It never made it inside: I checked," Tarak said, trying to save his hide.

"Check again." Trist growled, pushing Tarak towards the door of the building.

((I'm off to bed. Night, echo!))