Title: Sleight of Hand (Epilogue)
Author: Magpie and Wolfling
Email: magpie@moracle.co.uk and wolfling@sympatico.ca
Show: Buffy
Rating: NC-17
Category: angst, hurt/comfort
Warnings: spoilers up to the end of Chosen
Pairings: Giles/Ethan
Series: Of Old Mystics, sequel to Smoke and Mirrors
Summary: It's behind the scenes where things get complicated.
Author Notes: Many thanks to Mad Poetess and Wesleysgirl for betaing :) This is
the third story in the Of Old Mystics series; previous stories in the series can
be found
http://www.myarseisnotpansy.co.uk/piedm/mystics.html.
This completes Sleight of Hand; the next story in the series, Charades, will be
coming shortly. Thanks to all those who have sent feedback; we appreciate
hearing what people think of the story. :)
"Xander, you should have seen her. I simply don't have words enough to describe her face." Ethan and Xander were leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen drinking beer, watching the other four play Uno. Ethan had taken it upon himself to introduce Xander to the concept of real ale, and Xander, surprisingly perhaps, was taking to it like a fish to... well, strongly flavoured, alcoholic, room temperature water.
"You should've taken a camera," Xander suggested, gesturing with his mug. "Waited until she was at her most appalled and -- Snap!"
"Ah, but it would have lost the important nuances, I think. That moment when denial that this could possibly be happening met headlong with the realisation that, yes, it really was. Quite delicious." Ethan offered his beer mug at Xander in a toast. "Here's to the fall of would-be tyrants."
"Burglary in the service of the Good," Xander counter-toasted.
They shared a grin.
"Now you will make sure Kat has everything she needs before you leave her with those Devonshire heathens, won't you?" Ethan asked. Xander was due to drive Kat to Devon early the next morning.
"No, I was just planning on slowing down the car enough for her to jump out. Relax, Ethan. I'll make sure she's taken care of."
Ethan pursed his lips. "And no taking advantage of the girl while you have her alone for such a long journey."
Xander bristled at that. "I'm not in the habit of taking advantage of minors."
"She's old enough to get married," Ethan pointed out. "And I'm sure the 'Watcher who sees' has noticed all the flirting that's directed at him."
"She's underage still," Xander said again, crossing his arms over his chest as best he could when holding onto his mug of beer. "It wouldn't be right."
"Underage for what?" Ethan asked, totally changing his argument from where it had started. The truth was he'd only hoped to tease Xander into admitting that he liked Kat, as Ethan certainly had no objection to the pairing. "In this country, the only thing she's too young for is being served alcohol in a pub. Even buggery of sweet young boys is legal at sixteen here, you know."
"I knew gay sex was going to enter this conversation at some point." But Xander was looking a little wild around the eye.
Ethan looked at him carefully, a slight smile on his lips. "Xander?" he asked.
"Yes?" Xander replied a bit suspiciously.
"If you do decide to... get closer to Kat, you do know you are pre-approved, don't you? It's like a credit card, you see. Your accounts are solid with us. Rupert and I would be delighted, and as far as I'm concerned you'd be much better for her than one of Lucy's priggish nephews. How Kat feels, of course, is up to her. "
Xander stared at him.
"*If* you decide to," Ethan reiterated, trying to work out what was going on behind the single brown eye.
"You really would be okay with it?"
"Why wouldn't we be?" Ethan was genuinely surprised by the lad's reaction. "Rupert thinks the world of you, and I... well, we've come to a good understanding, haven't we?" He would have put it more strongly than that, but didn't want to alarm Xander. "You're responsible, kind and caring and completely aware of what a Slayer's life involves... and she clearly likes you a great deal. What, dear boy, is there to object to?" It came to something when he was listing 'responsible' as a desirable trait.
"I left my last girlfriend at the altar." Xander's voice was dull and flat.
"Well, I think maybe just taking Kat out for dinner might be more appropriate for a first date, don't you?" Ethan grinned. He didn't really know what to make of Xander's confession. Rupert had told him something about Anya, whom he assumed Xander was referring to, but not the details of what had gone wrong. "Weren't you a little young for marriage anyway?"
Xander shrugged a little, his free hand going into his jeans pocket as he slouched against the doorway. "Should've figured that out before the 'embarrassing Anya in front of all our friends and family' thing."
"Probably," Ethan acknowledges easily. "I can't imagine you'll make the same mistake again. Xander, do remember who I am when you lay your crimes before me. If you can forgive me my far greater ones and accept me for who I am *now*, don't you think I can do the same for you?"
"Yeah, but you're not doing it for you. You're doing it for Kat."
"I trust you," Ethan said simply, hoping that, if nothing else, would get through to him.
It seemed like it did because Xander grinned. "Well, if you say so..."
A roar of laughter came from the gamers, accompanied by puppy yapping, and Ethan smiled. "And if you were to be visiting her often in Devon," he continued casually, "perhaps even bringing her back here for weekends, all the better."
"See, I knew there was an ulterior motive," Xander kidded him.
"Oh, there usually is," Ethan assured him and grinned. On a whim, he decided to ask about something he'd been thinking about for a few days now. "Have you seen Dawn Summers recently?"
"I stopped by to visit her and Buffy a few weeks before I came over here." Xander gave him a curious look. "Why?"
Ethan finished his beer before replying. "Rupert told me the other day that my memories of her were imposed. Speaking as someone who, pre-reformation of course, enjoyed playing with perceived reality, I was rather impressed by this. Although I imagine that for her it must be well, not so impressive."
That earned him a hard stare. "It doesn't matter how she got here, Dawn's Dawn. We all accept that and what we remember."
Ethan smiled gently. "Your defence of her speaks well of you. Really, it does. But for all that neither of us are 'traditional' Watchers, I don't believe we can say that the Key's origins and purpose don't matter."
"They did. But they don't now. It was a timelock that she... errr... fitted into. The time's past. So she's just a normal girl now." The hard stare continued. "You'll find any of the Scoobies -- including Giles -- pretty adamant on that point."
Ethan gave Xander a doubtful look; he didn't really want to argue with the lad, but this seemed like deliberate ignorance. "You have proof of this? That her... mystical purpose has exhausted itself and she can't be used again either by another Glory or accidentally?"
"We researched it pretty thoroughly -- and desperately -- at the time. Our whole strategy was based on the fact that if Glory missed her window, she was out of luck."
"That seems unlikely, don't you think? I mean, if I understand correctly what the Key is, it... *her* existence is hardly something so... momentary."
Xander shrugged. "I think what we're talking about is lengths of time so great that it isn't going to make any difference to Dawn's life."
"Yes, you're probably right.," Ethan acknowledged, wondering if the girl would revert to the mystical object when her human life span was up. He thought better of discussing that with her friend however. "Still, she should be protected, if only from occult collectors."
"Well, the fact that, aside from Dawn herself, nobody living outside of Buffy, Willow, Giles and me -- and you now too, I guess -- knows about it cuts down on the collector types."
"These things get out -- although not from me if you are worried about that -- and they can be divined magically. She's unique... but if she's with Buffy, she's protected, I'm sure." Ethan moved into the kitchen for more beer and continued to talk to Xander from inside. "Dawn the human girl aside, I do find the existence of the Key somewhat fascinating from a theoretical viewpoint. It ties into Chaos lore, you see."
Xander shifted uneasily. "It's hard for me to discuss Dawn as anything but Dawn."
"Shall we change the subject then?" Ethan offered; after all, he was sure Rupert would let him expound about this later.
But Xander remained uncomfortable, and serious. "One of the reasons we've kept this whole Key business so close to the vest is because we don't want people looking at Dawn as a thing. She's Dawn, the human girl, and there's no putting that aside."
Ethan looked at Xander carefully. "Have I given you the impression that I consider her somehow less than human?" On the contrary, he considered the child to be considerably more than.
"I don't think you'd do so on purpose," Xander replied. "But it's easy to get caught up in all that theory and magic and forget that you're not talking about a mystical object, but a teenage girl."
"She's both," Ethan insisted seriously. "That teenage girl is also a mystical object which could destroy not just this universe, but the entire omniverse. If I am correct about her origins anyway."
"My best friend has enough power to destroy the world if she wanted to, and I bet you and Giles could do some damage if you put your minds to it too." Xander shrugged. "Dawn being Dawn is still the most important thing."
Ethan thought about that, then nodded. "Yes, you're right. We are defined more by those who care for us than anything else."
"Dawn's... Imagine being fifteen and finding out that your entire existence was a lie -- that you didn't really exist, not like everyone else around you. That's what Dawn had to go through. She adapted and adjusted, but it wasn't easy and it pretty much took away most of her innocence." Xander met Ethan's gaze. "So all of us Scoobies are kinda protective of her existence and reality. She's been through enough of that kind of doubt."
"I understand, Xander. Truly. But I insist you, and indeed she, should never forget what she *also* is or it will be employed against her. There are always enemies out there ready to use the things we try to hide about ourselves. Always." And once it would have been him.
"There's a difference between her knowing what she is and feeling like she's walking around with the words 'not really human' stamped on her forehead."
Frowning now, Ethan folded his arms. "I really don't think I'm the person that this lecture was designed for, Xander. "
"Maybe not," Xander acknowledged with a shrug and a nod. "You're the first one who's been let in on the secret since the rest of us were, but it wouldn't matter who you were -- I'd still be giving this lecture. Consider this the over-protectiveness of a big brother type. "
"And after the lecture I was considerate enough not to give you about Kat. Well, that's shown me, hasn't it?" Ethan's pout was at least half ironic smile.
"So maybe you're more easygoing than I am," Xander said, the faint traces of a smile on his face. "And isn't that a scary thought?"
"More beer?" Ethan proffered a bottle of Ridleys, grinning now.
"Trying to get me drunk?" Xander teased as he held out his mug.
"And why would I want to do that, Xander?" Ethan asked dryly as he filled the beer mug.
"I don't think I want to think about that too closely."
"You know what they say. If you're afraid of something, the best thing is to make yourself just do it and then you'll never be so afraid of it again." Ethan clanked mugs with Xander and then headed into the living room and the arm of his husband's chair.
***
It was getting late, and really it was time for those intending to leave the party to do so. Giles stood up, intending to put the kettle on, but then realised Kat was still out in the back playing with Gwydion. It didn't seem quite right that she was missing out on the end of her own going-away party.
Giles smiled reassuringly at Ethan -- who had looked up from the involved discussion about, of all things, international cuisine -- then slipped through the dining room-cum-study and out the back door, grabbing his coat on the way through.
Kat was in the middle of their tiny patch of garden involved in a tug o'war over something with the young wolfhound. "Give it back, Giddy," Giles heard her say, "or I'll use Slayer-strength on your scrawny ass."
Gwydion didn't seem to be the least bit phased by this threat, growling playfully as he tugged harder on what Giles was able to identify when he got closer as a leather garment of some kind.
"Gwydion, let go," he ordered sternly.
The puppy, of course, immediately did so, and Kat tripped backwards, ending up sitting on the grass. She scowled at Gwydion. "Well, you're one thing I'm so not gonna miss." She stood back up and started brushing her jacket down with her hand. "Thanks, Giles."
"I fear he's got rather a fixation with leather," Giles said, limping up to them. "Sit," he told Gwydion when the puppy began prancing around him and threatening to knock him down.
Gwydion did so, but Kat frowned at Giles. "Ethan will kill me if he catches you standing up out here. Sit down on the bench?"
Not missing the irony of being told to sit immediately following doing the same to his dog, Giles limped obediently over to the bench. "Ethan has you well trained."
"Well, he is one of my Watchers, so that's his job, isn't it?" Kat followed Giles and sat down on the wooden bench beside him, examining the leather jacket under the porch light. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much," she said quietly.
"We're going to miss you as well," Giles replied just as quietly, reaching down to scratch Gwydion's ears. "But we're only a phone call away."
"Ethan gave me a phone card that means I can call you for free from any landline... something like that anyway. So expect to get fed up with the sound of my voice." After putting her jacket back on, she sat back and pushed her fringe from her eyes. "Thanks for this, Giles. I know I keep saying it, but... thank you."
That made all the frustration and bureaucratic bullying he'd done worth it. "You're welcome," he said, allowing himself a faint smile. "I know you're going to do us proud."
Kat was silent for a while and when Giles glanced at her, she was staring up at the stars. It was a clear night, and there was bound to be a frost by tomorrow. She asked, "Will you and Ethan be safe enough with just Megan to do the bodyguard thing?"
"We'll be fine," Giles assured her, trying to head off any offers of staying to act as said bodyguard. "We're not without our own defences, you realise."
"Yes, but a two-pronged defence -- magic *and* muscle -- is always best. " Kat had clearly paid attention in some of her lessons at least
Giles smiled. "We'll manage. I daresay I still have the capability to thrash one or two more villains before I am declared completely decrepit."
Kat's doubtful look wasn't exactly complimentary.
"I have been doing this sort of thing for a very long time now," Giles reminded her.
She shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, but you're... y'know... now."
"I'm...?"
"Old? Er." Kat gave him an uncertain glance. "Old--er. You're older now."
And this was the down side of working with people so much younger than himself. "I'm not quite ready for shipping off to the nursing home. I've at least a few more good weeks in me."
"Years," she corrected, thumping him in the leg in a way presumably meant to be playful, but which hurt. Quite a lot. The joy of working with Slayers. "Years and years. Many, many years. Tens and more tens of years."
Giles blinked at her. "I do believe you may have been hanging around Xander a bit too much."
She grinned at him. "No such thing as too much Xander."
"Do I detect a hint of interest there?" Not that he hadn't already noticed Kat's infatuation, but this was as good a chance to gauge its seriousness as any he was likely to get.
"Hint of interest? Nah. Nothing like that." Her eyes twinkled in the porch light. "Great big crush on the other hand... that would be a yes."
"That serious?" Giles asked, with a little bit of humour in his voice to keep from seeing like he was prying.
Kat suddenly looked worried. "Um. You won't tell him, will you?
Giles chuckled. "Can you imagine me having that conversation with Xander?"
"Guess not." She giggled. "He's going to come and see me in Devon."
Then again, maybe he *did* need to have a discussion with Xander. "Is he?"
"He said he was, just a little while ago back in there. Said Ethan had told him he had to. But I'm hoping, you know, that he wants to anyway." She glanced at Giles. "Do you think he might?"
Or perhaps he just had to talk to Ethan. "I'm sure he will," Giles said with a smile.
Kat shivered and pulled her jacket closer around herself. "Is it time to go? Is that why you came looking for me?"
"It's getting late," Giles said softly. "And cold. But you still have a little time."
She stood. "We should go in. Ethan won't be happy if your bad leg gets, you know, frozen or something."
Giles raised his eyebrow. "Frozen? This is autumnal London, not Antarctica." He stood up, leaning just a little on his cane and called Gwydion to his side. The dog came bounding over.
"I kinda don't want to say goodbye," Kat admitted as they walked slowly toward the back door. "I don't mean that I don't wanna go; I do. Just that I don't want to say goodbye. 'Cause that will make it feel like I'm going somewhere really far away and won't see you guys, like, for ever."
"Or for a couple of weeks." He paused by the door and glanced up at the stars that Kat had been looking at earlier. "I know any kind of change like this can be scary..."
"It's not the change so much. This is what I want to do. Just... I'll miss you all."
"We'll miss you as well. But we want you to have this chance."
She smiled almost shyly up at him. "Don't go having any adventures without me."
He chuckled and opened the door. "We'll endeavour not to."
Everyone looked up as they entered the living room again; the intense conversation seemed to have died down. Gwydion trotted to Megan to have a fuss made of him, and Kat headed towards where Xander and Pamela were perusing something that looked unpleasantly like some of Giles' old photos.
Ethan came out of the kitchen and slipped a loose arm around him. "You're cold," he said accusingly.
"Not my fault," Kat protested immediately from the arm of Xander's chair.
"I'm fine," Giles protested, leaning slightly, and hopefully discretely, on his lover. "Have you been opening the memory vaults?" he asked Ethan, taking care to keep his voice neutral and nodding in the direction of the others and the photos they held.
"No one believed what a rocker-boy you used to be," Ethan told him, wrapping his other arm around Giles too, inside his jacket, and tightening the embrace. "I was just trying to prove a point. Do you mind? They've all been quite impressed, dearheart."
"Oh," Pamela said, another photo in her hand. "Oh my."
"Like wow!" Kat announced, stealing the photo for a closer look. "Ethan, is this you? You were like totally hot!"
"Less of the 'were'," Ethan said dryly, but Giles could hear uncertainty beneath his lover's humour, and Ethan turned to look questioningly at him. "You kept them?" he asked quietly. "I'd no idea. I thought that box was just..."
"Pictures of everyone but you?" Giles teased, but gently, hearing the insecurity in Ethan's voice. "For a long time I couldn't look at or think about even the good times, but I didn't want to forget them entirely."
Ethan gazed at him, his eyes dark but his expression softened. Then something alarming seemed to occur to his lover. "Erm. Rupert, did you keep *all* the photos of me?"
Before Giles could reply, there was what could only be described as a strangled gasp from the group looking through the photos.
"All of them," Giles said, rather unnecessarily at that point.
"Bugger." Ethan could move rather fast when he needed to, and he was over by the chair, snatching box and photos, before he'd even finished swearing. "Wipe it from your minds. All of you. Especially *you*." The last was directed at Xander who was looking a little wide-eyed.
"Oh believe me, wiping is definitely taking place," Xander babbled. "Along with scrubbing and bleaching and possibly whimpering."
Giles could physically see his lover taking umbrage, the look of embarrassment being overtaken by one of defiance. "As usual, Xander, you're protesting far too much." Ethan waved about the photo they'd been staring at. "This Polaroid shows only--" He stopped, having actually caught sight of the image. "Oh. It's that one." A spontaneous giggle escaped him. "Erm, yes. The application of bleach may be a good idea."
"That was way too much information about your colourful past," Xander said, heartfelt. "And when I say colourful I mean *colourful*."
"Yes, thank you, Xander. I do believe the point has been beaten home quite thoroughly," Giles said as primly as he could manage, trying not to dwell too much on what had just been on display to everyone.
"And speaking of *points*--" Kat piped up with bright eyes.
"Bad girls get packed off to the West Country without any going away presents," Ethan scolded, and before Kat, whose eyes had lit up, could answer, he turned to Pamela. "Will you forgive me, Pammy, for that sorry sight? Try to think of Rupert in the leather jacket; that's a much better image to take away from here."
Pamela was rather pink-faced, but she answered, "Actually, both pictures had a lot of... interesting features."
"Yes, perhaps we can change the subject before I am forced to die from embarrassment?" Giles suggested, feeling surprisingly like he was back in Sunnydale for that moment.
Megan, who had for some reason not been looking at the photos, came over and hugged him. She was accompanied by Gwydion, who sat down on Giles' foot.
Ethan was watching him, frowning slightly. "Well, it's been a very long day, " he announced. "And much though I'd like this party to go on forever so I don't have to wave goodbye to Kat, I think I'm approaching the lie down or fall down stage of the evening."
Pamela stood immediately. "Of course. You should have said."
Knowing that Ethan's claim of exhaustion was more likely his lover's estimation of Giles' own condition, Giles considered insisting once again that he was fine, but the truth was that Xander and Kat needed to get on the road very early tomorrow and should have been in their beds already. And if it made Ethan feel better to think his nursemaiding was needed, well, it was a small price to pay to keep his lover happy.
Giles murmured a quiet, "Off my foot, please," to his dog, then limped over to where Kat and Xander were both standing up.
Kat threw herself into his arms. "Oh, don't let me cry! Megan, come here and pinch me hard if I even so much as look damp around the eyes."
"Will do," Megan said as she crossed the room. "But who's going to pinch me?"
"Come now, girls," Ethan said, putting the memento box down on the stairs. "At the very most, you'll be apart two, three weeks before Kat's back for a visit. There's no need for all this sentimentality."
Kat snorted and let go of Giles to walk over to where Ethan was. "You are so full of it," she accused, then hugged him the same way she had Giles.
Hugging her back, Ethan asked, "Now is that the way to talk to your Watcher?" But Giles noticed that his lover didn't deny the accusation and his voice sounded a little... tight.
Ethan murmured something in Kat's ear that Giles didn't quite catch, but whatever it was got Ethan hugged harder still. "Human ribs!" he reminded the Slayer urgently, gritting his teeth. She released him in a hurry.
Pamela asked, "Have you got all the paperwork and account information I gave you, Kat? You mustn't forget to give the stuff in the orange folder to Miss Harkness."
Kat nodded towards her bag that was sitting by the door. "I've got everything in there."
"Well, not quite everything," Giles said, judging that as good a lead-in as any to giving her the gift that they had for her. He looked at his lover expectantly.
Grinning, Ethan went over to the sideboard and opened the sliding door, lifting out the largish box they had concealed inside. "You have to open this after you get to Devon."
Kat made a whining noise, and Ethan chuckled.
"You can read the label if you like," he offered, as he handed it to her.
Kat did so. "Because all work and no play would make Kat a dull girl, and we can't have that. Love Ethan and Giles. Kiss, kiss, kiss." She looked up, her gaze going between them both. "Oh, what is it? You can't make me wait!"
"Xander," Ethan said, "I'm relying on you to see there is no premature present opening. Apart from anything else, it would take all night."
It probably would too. The box contained a great many cosmetics and accessories all chosen by Ethan with Kat's crazy-coloured style in mind, and painstakingly individually wrapped by Giles and Megan a couple of nights ago -- all arranged within shredded tissue packaging.
"I'll do my best to keep her distracted," Xander said, deadpan. Which, Giles noted with interest, caused Kat to blush.
Feeling mischievous, Giles added, dryly, "Not too distracted, I hope." That got him an intense and meaningful stare from Kat, and equally interestingly, a hint of a blush from Xander.
Ethan commented, "Xander's been taking lessons in being distracting from me, so everything should be fine."
Megan giggled. "In that case, the present is far from safe." Ethan mock-glared at her, making her giggle even more.
"Oh, I don't know. I've found Ethan to be very distracting," Giles said with a faint smile. "Although I admit the thought of Xander employing the same methods is rather..."
"Don't worry, I'm right there with you," Xander interrupted a bit too heartily. "No one wants to think of that." Although, by the sudden inquisitive spark in Kat's eyes, there was one person who possibly did.
There was a general moving about then of people collecting their things and moving towards the door. Megan and Kat shared an excessively long hug, which ended in girlish squeals as they pinched each other because both of them were crying.
Pamela gave Kat a much more restrained but unarguably warm hug and then left in her sporty little Renault. Xander waited patiently as Kat hugged Megan, Ethan, and Giles all over again. Finally, Giles and Megan stood out in the road and waved goodbye as Xander drove Kat away, Ethan strangely absent.
Giles limped back into the house, and after seeing Megan off to bed, followed his sense of his lover to the study where he found Ethan sitting at the desk and scribbling. Limping over, Giles rested his hands gently on Ethan's shoulders. "You okay?"
Ethan leant back into the touch. "Just wondering when exactly it was that I swapped cynicism back for sentiment. I'm an old fool. Really."
"No more than I am," Giles said, leaning over to drop a kiss on the top of Ethan's head.
"Megan gone to bed?" Ethan asked, standing up and moving round for a hug.
Giles noticed some familiar words amongst Ethan's scribbles on the jotter. "Yes." He nodded towards the desk. "What are you working on?"
"I'm writing out Keri's prophecy; I felt the need to work on it." Ethan wrapped his arms around Giles, wordlessly encouraging Giles to lean on him. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by how word-perfectly I remember it."
Giles took the silent invitation and shifted so that Ethan was taking some of his weight. "Prophecies are like that. They stick in your mind whether you want them to or not." He smiled and nuzzled Ethan's throat lightly. "Part of the way you can distinguish a real prophecy is that you can't forget about it no matter how hard you try."
Ethan nodded against him, seeming to see the truth in that. "It is all in the forefront of my mind, you see. But I'm tired, and you must be too, surely. Any analysis can wait until the morning. Let's feed the puppy-monster and go to bed."
He couldn't argue with that. Besides curling up in bed with Ethan seemed very appealing. "All right," he said, reluctantly pulling away.
As Ethan walked through the door to the living room, he said, "And as a goodnight story, you can tell me some more about how your office desk needs decorating."
It took Giles a couple of seconds to place the reference; when he did, he smiled and offered, "Perhaps I'll even demonstrate what I had in mind." He shut the door after following Ethan through it.
Behind them both on this, far smaller, desk, Ethan's notes sat, waiting for their time.
1. The seasons change.
2. Even the most deeply hibernating bear eventually awakens.
3. The pattern frays and threatens to unravel.
4. Nothing will be sought by dark and light.
5. Nothing is the key.
6. Turn it one way, and the threads will be warped and torn.
7. Turn it the other, and the bear will howl its rage in the wilderness.
8. You will have to do much more than Watch.
9. You are the Guardians and the Defenders.
10. All is a maze,
11. And only those who have touched its substance will be able to find the end.
12. The dark is jealous and solitary;
13. It does not understand selflessness or love.
14. It does not understand the light.
15. And that will ultimately be its downfall.
****
Fin