Galen was often forced to remember his past in exquisite, often excruciating detail. The more he learned of elves up close, the more he came to blame his Elvish heritage on his unwanted sense of memory, assuming it would be related to the elvish reverie.

And tonight, the batterd warrior's tryst with the elfmaid Calista, and the intense drama that had followed it concerning explicit and undeniable threats made by her mate, the alleged vampire slayer Deleaduindill, against their child, lay heavily on his mind.

Galen was happy with Joylah and did not look back upon his night with Calista in some kind of wistful sadness. Indeed, it could be argued that subsequent events forced him to repudiate it to a degree. It is indeed rare that the consumation of a longtime, gentle flirtation, even with a committed woman, leads to the woman and, even worse, her child becoming endangered.

Then again, Galen reflected grimly, the "other man" is rarely as evil and foul as Deleaduindill. Deleaduindill had told Galen to not speak of things he didn't know about when confronted with his mal-intent towards Cali and his own child. This probably indicated an intent to rewrite history to his own purposes. There was a lot of that going around of late.

But Galen knew. He had seen the threats from Deleaduindill's mind as transferred through Calista's, thanks to the temporary bond Joylah had established between them. It was he and Joylah who had guarded the girl during her pregnancy, beginning their romance between watching shifts. It was he who had, through the bond, shared the girl's birthing pains with her. Joylah, as he recalled, was impressed by how well he had withstood it.

And it was he who, along with Cali, saw a "man"'s intent to murder his own child.

Galen knew the threats were real. And that was not all he knew.

Through conversations with the elfmaid, and through Joylah's bond, he knew that Deleaduindill had taken Calista by force at the start of their relationship. Galen knew that the foul being delighted in stabbing her soul with his own darkness, that he less made love to, or even took, his mate then violated her, bending her to him. Galen knew that he himself had been the one truly gentle, considerate lover in the elfmaid's life.

It was Calista's choice to be with Deleaduindill. Galen knew this, and knew that even without Joylah (the words "without Joylah" in conjunction like that bothered Galen) he never would have had more then a night with Calista. And this would likely be the case had there not been a Deleaduindill but still been a Joylah.

But, still, the idea of a good woman like Clista being in love with someone like Deleaduindill, and the mere thought that a man like that could consider himself capable of love despite the foulness of his own dark soul, offended Galen on some level. There was a lot of that going around. It seemed as though women were eternally drawn to evil like a moth to the flame. Coby Drakeswind, Soran Blackguard, Deleaduindill.....The list was endless. Sometimes, it was enough to make Galen feel insecure.

How could

"Oh well," he thought to himself. "Not much I can do save for avenge the inevitable once it happens."

He spent that night at home, drinking of the scent Joylah lad left in their bed, and spent that morning playing with her strange cat.