It was late in the evening when we finally arrived in Artis. The rain came down in torrents, and natural lightening flashed overhead. Foster and I worked to pull the caravan, to lessen Dawn's load. Foster's house was one of those located on the bridges, and we got there quickly. I pulled Dawn to the stables that Foster told me were on the center of the island. I paid the keeper for a few nights in advance for Dawn, and paid for her to look at Dawn's injures.

For a long time, I stood unmoving in front of Foster's little wooden shack. Rain poured over me, and thunder roared overhead. Last time I had gone inside this place, Almond and Cara were waiting for me, and I was much younger. Before Cara's death, before Almond wanted my blood. Finally, after much hesitation, I went in.

Near a small fireplace, Foster was boiling water and making tea. There were dirty wooden dishes on one isolated tabletop. Upon the rest of the tables and chairs in the small, dark house were books. Upon the walls were mostly bookshelves, packed with papers and quills. One wall lay free of shelves, and was adorned with a sword.

I took my flask from my cloak and began to drink that. I had not had tea in a very long time. However, Foster sill brought me a cup of tea when it was finished. He glanced disapprovingly at my flask.

“Even by my standards, Stiri, you drink to much.”

“I just hold my liquor a lot better.” I said as I took another drink. Foster shrugged and drank some tea.

“I'm just going to warm up and go to bed. It's been a tiring day.”

“'Deed.” I muttered. Foster waited a moment, then continued.

“That halfbreed is one of Kos' men. I don't know much about him, other than he's a dangerous halfbreed... He's Kos' club, more or less. I can't even call him simply an assassin, because he does anything and everything that Kos tells him to. I can't imagined why. Most halflings hold humans with disdain.”

“I fought Kos.” I said. “He is powerful. More powerful than any human I have ever seen. Perhaps he's not human at all.”

Foster nodded slowly as he rested his chin on the lip of his wooden cup. “Some people think that as a human gains power over magic, they slowly stop being human. By doing things humans cannot, they remove themselves from human limits, and become something... else.”

“You wanted to say 'more'.” I said.

“I did... It's a habit I'm breaking myself of. Baliancia, and Almond especially have issues with saying that powerful magicians are either more or less than human.”

I choked a moment on my wine as I remembered something. “Almond. You said that the person I saw with him was not human.”

“I did. In all reality, those are not stories for me to tell... However, I told you so much, I may as well tell you more.”

“Do.”

He sighed and sipped his tea. “I would say I'm to tired, but you wouldn't leave an old man alone if you had questions. You don't generally ask many, Stiri. But when you do...” Foster coughed. “Anyway. The person you saw with Almond... Is his hatred.”

I was confused, and reasonably so I think. It's not everyday I heard something like that.

“The leader of Baliancia is a profound... mage is perhaps the wrong word. She's a Magus, but she a healer of mental ailments. She knows powerful magics, but uses them sparingly. She can remove insanity from your mind, or set it in so deeply it can never be removed.”

A chill which Foster ignored ran through my spine.

“For years after you killed Cara, Almond wanted nothing but your blood. You know this. How could he not feel such hatred? Pardon me, but as far as he thought, you had betrayed both him and Cara.”

“I know.” I snapped.

“Well, it obsessed him. He saw you in every hooded figure. He often picked fights with the wrong people, thinking it was you. One day, he did so to a mage, who attacked him fiercely and left him for dead on a roadside.

“This is where our leader found him. She dug deep into his mind, and removed his hatred. However, such a hatred couldn't just disappear, and she couldn't let it loose to latch onto just anyone. So she made a homunculi-”

“Homunculi?”

“You ought to know what a homunculi is.” Foster said.

“I do... but.. .making one out of hatred?”

“A homunculi is a creature, ordinarily made of various material such as stone, wood, or clay, and given the power of animation, conscious by means of the magics of a Magus.”

“I know this. I do pick up few things even though I don't spend most of my time indoors absorbing whatever droplets of information I can. I spend my time outdoors-”

“I know, I know, and your ignorance shows for it.” Foster sighed, then sipped his tea. “I meant nothing by it. I simply thought that you would have known what a homunculi was... Anyway...The leader created one for him from shadows, and placed his hatred in that. Her desire was that he would be able to see his hatred for what it really may be, and that he may overcome it. In the meantime, his mind, being free of the hatred directly is able to again think rationally... It was because of this that Almond is working with us now, only out of gratitude...”

I clasped my hands in front of my face and rested on them. Foster drank his tea and threw the cup to the side.

“With that.” He said, “Maybe you will allow me a full night's rest. An old man like myself needs sleep.” He stood up and went into his private room, which was just off the kitchen. He didn't give me any instructions, knowing I knew where I should sleep, if I so desired to sleep in the house.

I didn't. I went into the caravan and sat, wrapped in blankets and finished my drink. It was more intoxication than exhaustion that pulled me into unconsciousness.