Ialie cautiously looked upon the odd dark brand that was bound to Bastions'
shoulder. She had seen it many times since they'd met, even the first time when
he had been placed at her feet, almost naked, needing help. He'd sometimes
noticed her looking at it and she could tell it made him slightly
uncomfortable. But now it was different, this is the man she has promised
herself to. The one that she is going to spend the rest of her life with. For
that to happen, she had to know.

"Bastion", she said slowly, "I have been wondering... That hoof print
tattoo..." Her eyes raised up to meet his. "What does it mean?"

Bastion slowly reached up and glided his fingers lightly across the mark,
tracing it with graceful and practiced strokes. Ialie frowned slightly,
wondering if he would answer her or simply dismiss her question. He looked as
if he weren't even on this planet right now.

"It's from when I woke up... When I came back."

Ialie, totally confused by his cryptic message, responded, "You don't remember
anything about it?"

His chin quivered at the question, and his eyes glistened in the light from the
tears there, barely being held in. He sat down on the bed, sighing heavily. He
silently motioned for her to sit next to him. She quietly and quickly sat
herself down, trying to make the pause between his words as short as possible,
for fear that he may trail off and not speak again. She bit softly into her
lower lip as she looked up at him.

"The person you know now was born, as it were, only a few years ago, groggily
waking into the world from a sleep so long, I myself could not believe it."

She looked at him, completely confused, not understanding a word he had just
said, "I'm not sure I understand..."

He continued, seemingly not hearing her, "I woke under a roughly made dome of
branches..."

Bastion shot up from the ground, sweat rolling down his face. His head felt
like it was stuffed with cotton, a single thought not able to penetrate the
barrier. There was various jars of herbs and liquids, bedding, and few personal
belongings lying around the area. Outside he could here the soft crackle of a
small fire. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, reeling his head about. Perhaps he
just had not fully woken up yet, and soon everything would make sense. But it
didn't. To his horror, he could not remember who he was.

It wasn't as if he couldn't remember anything. He knew his name - he clung to
that one comforting fact. He remembered his parents, his youth, everything from
that time was clear. But who he was now, who he was when he went to sleep in
this place, he simply could not bring it to his mind. The sheer terror of the
situation was gradually rising up in him, full out panic dancing dangerously on
the edge of his mind. A small noise came from the entrance and sent chills up
him and made the hair on his arms stand so quickly they nearly uprooted
themselves to run away in fear. He whipped his head around and let out a small
cry as an enormous centaur stood in the low arched entrance of the hut. Bastion
was lost in a sea of confusion. He didn't know what he should be thinking of the
powerful beast standing before him. Was he a friend who he'd been travelling
with? An enemy waiting to kill him until he'd woken so he could see the terror
in his eyes? Or was he simply passing through and happened upon this hut?

The Centaurs' eyes went wide momentarily in what appeared to be surprise, but
quickly settled onto Bastion, lying on the ground, with a calculating look that
made Bastion squirm inside. Before Bastion could get any words out, the deep,
thrumming voice of the centaur spoke softly.

"Do not be afraid, young one. I am Dvoryanin. I have been caring for you. I am
your friend."

"Why... Why did I need caring for?", Bastion managed to sputter out.

"Bastion... you have been asleep for more than ten years. I found you while I
was hunting, your body broken, your head bleeding. I took you here... thinking
you would die, but still attempting to heal your wounds. The first few days
were your worst, but, against all of my predictions, your condition stabilized.
After such a good sign, I thought you would wake up within days, but you never
did..."

Bastion listened in shock, his words pounding against his ears, but having
little affect. His head was spinning and his stomach cramping with nausea.
Outside he was completely still and silent, inside he was running and screaming
for his life.

Ialie blinked in disbelief, searching Bastions' face for some hint of a joke,
and dreading she may find madness.

"Ten years, Bastion?", she said quietly, shaking slightly.

"That is what he said, and I have no reason to distrust him."

"My gods", she said softly to herself. Her eyes flicked up looking into his,
"Go on..."

Dvoryanin said no more that day, much to Bastion's relief. He was fairly
certain that he couldn't handle any more revelations that day. Despite not
wanting to know anything else after hearing what he'd heard, from that day one
nagging question formed in his mind. Like a seed it had planted itself in his
head and was already rooting itself deep in his mind. If he hadn't come out of
his sleep for such a long time, why didn't Dvoryanin simply abandon him and
allow him to die? According to him they'd not known each other, there were no
personal ties. Why disrupt his own life for so long and sacrifice so much for
someone he'd never known?

Bastion stayed in the woods, in the little hut the centaur had built for his
broken body so long ago, now as a functioning body. Everyday they walked the
forests, talk of philosophy, of nature, and of wood, for which he developed a
keen interest in. They hunted for their food, watch each other's backs, though
they both knew it was more the centaur watching Bastion's than the other way
around. Eight months passed in the blink of an eye. Eight months to the day of
his awakening, Bastion knew it was time.

The night was filled with stars, but the moon was no where to be found in the
night sky. The centaur and Bastion sat across from each other outside, a
blazing fire between them. For hours, they sat in silence, their gazes
transfixed on the dancing flames. With Bastion saying nothing at all, Dvoryanin
broke the silence. His words were soft, but underneath them there was a tinge of
sorrow and hesitation.

"You may ask me the question tonight." he said softly. Bastion looked at him in
surprise. He'd never asked before, but he knew exactly the question the centaur
was talking about. He replied cautiously, almost too afraid to get the words
out. The words that had been running through his head for eight months were
finally about to come out.

"Ten years... is so long, Dvoryanin. Why did you stay and care for me?"

The centaur nodded slightly, as if confirming, with great difficulty, his
fears. He sighed slightly, looking down into the fire, as if he was trying to
pull the words he needed from the great blaze. His voice started out weak, but
with each word it became stronger, as if to strength Bastion along with
himself.

"What I'm about to tell you, you must understand. See not what one time I may
have thought, but how I view you now, and how I have treated you."

Bastion nodded slightly, his heart racing, his muscles tense, but even if it
meant his life, he was sure he wouldn't be able to convince them to move for
anything.

"After two months of you laying there, helpless, I was losing hope that you
would ever fully recover. I searched your things early on after your arrival,
hoping to discern who you were and where you belonged. You were, as I said,
reserved, though, and despite the heavy merchant traffic, none who I questioned
knew your name. I had almost totally accepted the fact that you would never
awaken. However, I couldn't bring myself to give up on you, not without knowing
first. For nearly ten years I cared for you, and at the same time searched for a
link you your past. Finally, after the longest time, I found one. An old,
grizzled man, reeking of the taint, wandered through my forest. When I came
upon him he collapsed in fear. He was babbling madly, making no sense at all. I
was going to leave him to his own undoing and as I walked away, I huffed under
my breath that I'd never find anyone who knew you. The man, at hearing your
name, stopped his jabbering, and turned quiet. I turned to him, and asked him
if he knew the name. He nodded solemly. I came upon him with such speed that I
think I nearly sent him to the afterlife out of fear. I told him I'd end his
tainted life if he did not tell me everything he knew of you. What he knew
turned out to be a lot... and something I did not want to hear."

Ialie whispers, quivering with fear, "What did he find?"

Bastion rubbed a hand through his hair and looked her in the eye.

"I will prepare you as he did me before I was told. What I'm about to tell you,
you must also understand. See not what I once was, but what I am now, and how I
live my life."

She nodded slowly and squeezed his hand gently, "Tell me."

"Bastion", Dvoryanin said with great pain in his eyes, "Before your accident,
you claimed Magnagora as your home. There, you were a budding Geomancer, who
had good prospects, I am told."

It was eight months ago all over again. Bastion sat there, the centaurs words
turning into nothing more than a buzzing in his head. He was dumbfounded beyond
all comprehension. A geomancer. A geomancer! Dvoryanin had taught him of what
the taint did to nature, and now, he found out that it was he, himself, who had
been doing it. Shaking his head from side to side in defiance and disbelief of
what was being said, the rest of his body shaking in fear, Bastion brought
himself back to reality enough to listen on.

"From all I've heard, you were not a killer. Besides those who naturally
opposed your beliefs, you had no real enemies. You were studious, reserved, but
nonetheless twisted from your following."

If he had had a knife, he would've killed himself there, that night. And then,
at his weakest point, Dvoryanin revealed something that wretched his heart
further, when he thought he could bear no more. Tears welled up in Dvoryanin's
eyes as he turned his gaze downward. He spoke so softly that Bastion could
barely hear his words, but they cut through the crisp night air like the blade
of an axe through the exposed neck of a thief.

"When I found out these things about you, I hated you Bastion. I hated you with
such a passion that I roared through the forest, sending all manner of life
running from me. You, the one I had taken into my care, were destroying the
thing that I hold most dear. You, the one whose prostrate body so begged for
help, were the enemy, making bed in my home. I rushed back here, my mind set
long before I arrived."

His face twisted with repulsion, he continued, "I came upon you, motionless as
always, but breathing steadily. I knew my duty. I knew what I had to do.
Despite you never wronging me personally, it had to be. I consoled myself in
the fact that you would not waken and feel any pain... I raised my hoof high
above your head. You looked as calm as ever, almost dead already... with a
quick motion I pulled my hoof higher quickly and shot it downward with my full
force behind it."

"And then you rolled over... you rolled over, and my hoof smashed into the
ground, sinking deep into the black earth. I stood there, shocked not only by
your movement, but by the time at which your body decided to move. I stumbled
from the hut in utter disbelief. I turned to run into the forest, not knowing
what else to do, only to find a fae right in my path. I went to my knees,
unable to speak, tears flowing from my eyes. She took her tiny hands and placed
them on my face, and I felt her speak inside my mind. She told me that it was
not your time, that the forest was giving you a chance to absolve yourself from
your past transgressions, and that it was my duty to make sure you set out on
that path."

Eyes still cast downward, he sighed, "She left me there weeping outside the
hut. I cried all night, but didn't enter it until the next day, where I found
you, not only alive, but awake."

Bastion sprang from the fire in a start and ran off into the woods. The
centaur's loudly screamed his name behind him, but quickly died off. He didn't
know how long he ran, but he eventually collapsed to the ground, half from
exhaustion and half from despair.

When he awoke the next morning, he found his companion standing over him, a
look of concern played on his face. Bastion stood up and looked into his eyes.

"Dvoryanin, I can never be what I once was again. I must take what I know now,
take what you have taught me, and find my own path."

Dvoryanin nodded grimly and instructed him to return to the camp fire that
night.

He spent all day walking the woods, woods that had become so familiar and dear
to him. Inside, a great battle raged, to sides not wanting to compromise, only
wanting to see the other dead. He approached the fire at dusk, it was already
roaring, crackling loudly into the night. Dvoryanin stood there, watching
Bastion through the flames, a metal bar in his hand. Finally, he broke the
silence.

"Tonight is the night you shed what once was, and embrace what now is. Remove
your shirt."

He placed the placed the metal pole into the embers, it quickly began to glow
red.

"Bastion, you have transformed yourself, by your own will. I have guided you as
much as I can. It is now time for you to find your own path. are you ready?"

He nodded slowly, breathing in deeply to prepare himself for whatever came
next. Dvoryanin removed the pole from the fire, the end, Bastion could see now,
possessed a shape of some sort, though it was so bright he could not discern
what it was of. The centaur motioned fro him to brace himself and without
warning swiftly jabbed the end of the rod into his shoulder, searing the flesh.
Bastion cried out in pain, but remained steady. After what seemed like days, he
removed the rod, to reveal his symbol.

Bastion idly traced the simple again. "The hoof, the centaurs, always there to
guide me... and the leaf, to remind me that nature has its roots in me. Like my
waking before, this too, was another rebirth."

Ialie sat there trembling, "Bastion... Gods, I had no idea..."

Bastion smiled weakly, "And this is where our story begins. I set out, and
ended up falling into your hands."

Ialie wrapped her arms tightly around him and kissed him gently. He flinched
slightly, before melting into her loving embrace, returning her kiss softly.
She pulled away slightly, love filling her eyes.

"Bastion, I love you the same way I did before. I am a follower of Lacostian,
there is no hate in my heart for the tainted. What kind of hypocrite would I be
if I hated you for what you once were?"

He nodded slowly, "I know you don't, and that's why I was afraid to tell you."

She frowned slightly, not seeing his meaning, "Why afraid?"

He looked down at her, "Dvoryanin hates the taint and he always will. He tried
to teach me that it was evil and needed to be destroyed. At the time, I tried
to be agreeable with him, he had done so much for me. But my time with you, my
time studying Lord Lacostians' teachings, has led me to believe that Dvoryanin
wasn't right, and neither are the Geomancers. Part of me will always be
tainted, and part of me will always show nature's roots. I was afraid that
being taught by Dvoryanin so long, you would think there was hate in my heart
for the tainted."

She nodded slowly and said, "I had started to think that. You know me too
well..."

He continued, with conviction, "But know that there is no animosity in my
heart. My life has taken me down both roads, and I know that those who are
tainted are as necessary as those who are not. As it has in me, the two must
strike a balance, allowing everyone to live fully."

Ialie nodded her head emphatically, pulling Bastion's face towards her, and
gave him a peck on the cheek.