Darius pulled his right wing in a little bit and rolled over as he let the air force push him down towards the ground. His wings snapped open at the next to last moment, stopping the descent and both feet touched the ground, further stopping his descent to a complete halt as he crouched low to the ground, eyes scanning the clearing he'd landed in for any observers. Alone, he let his muscles relax, though looking at him you wouldn't notice the difference aside from his body standing up as he continued to glance around, hands resting on the hilts of his axe and long-knife. Yep, definitely alone Darius, relax. Geeze, one little encounter with a dead woman and you're all jumpy.

     Slowly the hands dropped away from the hilts of his weapons and the half-avariel's eyes once again scanned the clearing before he set off, this time walking, down a narrow path through the thick trees. He'd hoped he'd never need the gear he'd hidden here long ago, had prayed for that, it seemed it wasn't to be, and deep down he was glad that he'd thought of something like this coming up, and so he hadn't destroyed the items. He'd be here for the night, and then he'd be off again. He wasn't sure if Nite would or was following him, and he honestly hoped she wasn't as the trip would be very dangerous. Still, part of him wished she were with him, at least for company. Ahh well Darius, if she doesn't catch up to you tonight, she won't be able to find you. And she'll only find you tonight if she has the luck of the gods.

     Still, time for relaxing was done, and it was with mixed feelings that Darius came out into the next clearing, this one holding a stream that was wide and deep enough to be considered a river, if anyone would ever come out here and officially call it that, the maps however still called it a stream. It wasn't the river Darius was looking for though, rather, something inside the river. Dropping his cloak and shirt onto the ground, along with his pack, boots, and socks, Darius dove into the freezing cold water. Not giving himself time to be startled he kept swimming right down into the unusually deep river, and over to the other side. He was looking for an alcove in the side, it was just large enough for him to fit through if he wrapped his wings around him, and it was impossible to see from outside of the river.

     Slipping through revealed another, wider yet still fairly small, tunnel that led into a cave that was a large air pocket. Lying in the back of the cave (which was lit by a stone with continual-light on it) was a large bundle, wrapped in oilpaper to keep it safe from the water. It was the package that he wanted, and grabbing it he dropped it into the water and began the painfully slow process of getting it out. He hated this part the time before when he'd tried it, he had to push his lungs to their limit to get it out, and even still it took more than one awkward trip backwards for more air. In fact, for some reason, it took a lot more this time, and he knew it wasn't because he was out of shape, but for some reason instead of the five to ten minutes it normally took for him to get the box through, it took a couple hours, as the box fought every step of the way.

     And so, it was with a great sense of appreciation that the half-avariel, a race that was genetically claustrophobic, broke free of the water into the open air of evening. Several deep breaths were gulped down before the figure dove back down for the box, dragging it up to the side of the river that had his clothes and pack, and shoving it out onto the grass, the soaked winged-elf climbing out right after it, and lying on his back staring up at the sky.
It was at that moment that a familiar face decided to pop into view, as Nite apparently just appeared over him, grinning down at him. "Hiya, what you up to?" she asked in her normal cheery voice.

     "Fulfilling an oath I made a long time ago. How did you find me?" Darius asked, keeping what he was doing as vague as he could.

     "I have my tricks as well as you do. So, if you're fulfilling an oath, why didn't you tell me? You not want me coming along?" Nite asked, her voice getting serious.

     "No, it's not that..it's just.."

     "Just what?"

     "It's going to be dangerous, I didn't want you to get hurt" the winged-elf said, defending his actions.

     "I'm not afraid of danger. I thought we were friends, friends help each other in things like this." The resbrinn shot right back.

     "We are friends-"

     "Then why didn't you ask me?"

     "I don't want you to get hurt-"

     "Why? Don't you trust me enough to be able to take care of myself?" The resbrinn cut him off again, a hand going down to shake her sword in it's sheathe "Do you think I carry this just for show? I know what I'm doing Darius, now why won't you let me help you?!"

     "You don't understand.." Darius shot back, his voice rising as emotion started taking over.

     Nite however wouldn't let him finish, cutting through the middle of his statements again. "Wouldn't understand what? Do you think I'm too stupid to not understand that you don't want me along?"

     "I already told you that that's not it!"

     "Then why?"

     "because I LOVE YOU! You happy now? I love you, and I don't want you to even face the possibility of being harmed, it's not that I don't trust you, or think you can't handle yourself, just..I don't want you to even risk getting hurt because of me" Darius snapped back, his voice deflating as he realized just what he'd said.

     "You..you love me?" Nite asked, stunned.

    The winged elf couldn't do much more than nod, a cool breeze causing him to shiver as it brushed along his soaked half-naked body, eyes not able to meet Nite's as his mind awaited the coming rejection that it instinctively feared was coming, if not the beating from a woman wielding a dark elven sword, and probably new drow traditions.

     The response however, was quite the opposite of what Darius could expect, as Nite simply said in a happy quiet voice "oh..Darius!" and then rushed into his arms, hugging him tightly to her as their lips met in a tender, loving kiss. The world for Darius went dark as his eyes closed under that loving embrace and meeting of lips…

      …Later, Darius still dressed in only his breeches smiled over at the dozing Nite. Her clothes were slightly rumpled from the clean, clothed fun the two had had after that first embrace, and Darius was taking the quiet time to go through the box. Pulling the oilpaper off, sensitive fingers searched over the top for the hidden latches that would release the lid. Snick..snick was the only sound heard as the latches were released and dark skinned hands silently pulled the lid from the box, reaching in and grabbing the oil-paper wrapped packages within, setting them down near him as he took everything out….

      …."What's this?" Nite asked, picking the recently unwrapped mini-crossbow attached to a greave.

     "It's a crossbow" Darius responded with a grin.

     "I know that y'fart! But it looks different." Nite responded with her own grin.

     "That's because it's modified. It'll shoot eight bolts without me having to re-load it and rapidly too. Plus, reloading is easier. I'll show you in a little bit." The winged-elf explained.

     Nite nodded, setting down the modified forearm-mounted crossbow where she'd found it. Idly noticing a second one on the other side of the box. "Are they both for you?"

     "No, one was someone else's. If you're coming with me and want, I can show you how to use it."

     "So, I'm coming with you now?"

    "Well, from what you said earlier, I didn't think I'd be able to get you to go home" Darius said with a smile.

     "Damn strait mister, I'm not letting you out of my sight" Nite responded with another grin before letting him go back to going over the equipment. There were two sets of long gloves, one obviously for a woman, the two crossbows, what looked to be a lot of ammo for said crossbows, a couple of rings, two sets of chain mail, and a bunch of daggers, as well as other odds and ends.

     It wasn't until much later at night that Nite realized the somber mood that had befallen her companion, "Darius, what's wrong?" she asked as she sidled closer to him.

     "Nothing, I'd just hoped that I'd never have to use this stuff again is all. Just some bad memories tied to it, that's all."

     "Do you want to talk about it?" Nite asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She knew his answer as soon as she saw his eyes however, and the sighed 'no' wasn't unexpected as he leaned against her.

     "No, no I don't..promise me something Nite?"

     "What?"

     "If something goes wrong, you'll get out of there as quickly as you can? If it gets really dangerous, you'll run and get home." Darius was looking into her eyes.

     "But Darius…"

     "No buts, promise me!"

     "Fine, I promise" Nite breathed out, "But only if you promise the same thing"

     "Done" Darius agreed, his mood almost immediately brightening with that bit of business out of the way.

     "Good, so..where are we going anyhow?" Nite asked, finally realizing she didn't have a clue as to what exactly was going on, "and, what are we doing when we get there?"

     "Where we're going is a cave about three days flight north in the mountains. And once we're there, we're resurrecting someone." Darius explained.

     "Who?"

     "My mother.."