Yehudit dropped her walking stick grabbing at Nelek's arm so he wouldn't fall. "You shouldn't be walking!"

"I need to go home." He looked at Yehudit.

"At least not without help." Questa was right though. Sileas felt a trickle of alarm. "Hold up Juniper, I'm not entirely certain now that that's Uncle Nelek. That was far too easy and he's suddenly walking just fine."

"Ahh?" she turned to face her."You think so?"

Yehudit shrunk. Home was gone, as were most of Uncle Nelek's children. How was she going to tell him that? Yehudit gave Sileas a helpless look.

"A few sips of water shouldn't have cured him so well that he couldl walk on his own. Not when he was just so weak he couldn't keep his hand up nor barely talk." She narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "And if you notice, he's not called one of us by name. Now it's possible he doesn't know Questa since we don't know how long Uncle Nelek's been gone. But he's known Yehudit since birth. And he's known me since I was twelve and he called me the red headed one.

He grasped at Yehudit's hand and weakly leaned on her. "Something's wrong- what's wrong?"

Yehudit gave an involuntary yelp when too much weight was put on her bad ankle. "Sileas! I'm going to drop him!"

Sileas felt antsy. "Questa!" she whispered. "Go over and help Yehudit. I'm going to come over and ask him something that I think only the real Uncle Nelek would know, unless they had some way of getting to his memories."

Questa scowled but she hurried over and grabbed the bloke so he wouldn't crush Yehudit.

Sileas strolled over a few moments later. "So, Uncle Nelek. I always wondered if you told Aunt Aislyn about what you walked up on that day? You know, the day you embarrassed me?"

"You're wondering about that now?" He gave Sileas a confused look. "That was so long ago."

"Yes, I'm wondering about that now." Sileas's suspicion's grew. She put her hands on her hips. "I know perfectly well that we're dealing with people who can shapeshift. I want to make certain you are indeed Uncle Nelek."

"Shapeshift?" He blinked. "But it's me... I might have mentioned your little... indiscretion... to my wife... Why, did the man come back?"

Sileas relaxed slightly and shook her head. "No, he didn't return." He had seemed genuinely startled at the mention of shapeshifting. She supposed being away so long from everyone and probably starved and severely dehydrated could have caused memory loss. Sileas closed her eyes, hoping she was not making a huge mistake. "I'll walk with him cousin. That way there won't be additional weight on your ankle. Thank you," she said to Questa. She made a point of not mentioning names in case he managed to trip himself up en route to the boat.

He put an arm around Sileas's shoulders. "Did something happen at home?"

"Oh so very much. But I...I don't want to get into it until you're feeling stronger." Sileas knew she would only have a week, it would be far worse to spring it on him upon arrival. How long have you been out here on the island?" Her hand had moved up to cover his hand on her shoulder.

Yehudit could feel her eyes filling up with tears. Terrible things had happened.

"Nobody noticed when I was taken away?" He asked incredulously. "What aren't you telling me?"

"If you had simply disappeared and not been seen, we would have known. But...as I said, these people can make themselves appear to look like anyone. So there was a Nelek in the village yet he grew to be ccld and indifferent. And soon he was off on his own, turning his back on all his family and friends," Sileas said slowly. "I know it sounds incredible, but once his potion was taken away, he shifted back to himself."

"You mean someone was posing as me? What did he do to my wife?" He asked, his eyes wide. "I don't know how long I've been here. Two years? It all blends together when you're alone."

"Yes, he was posing as you. I don't know that he did anything phsyical to Aunt Aislyn. I only know she drifted in loneliness and then finally feeling abandoned. I think everyone thought you had tired of her and wanted a younger woman in your life. I mean, it's not unheard of certainly."

"Oh gods, if he touched my wife- Younger woman?" He gave Sileas a sharp look.

"We only found out about that at the same time we discovered he wasn't you. He did very well at staying hidden, and I suspect he had a place on the bad side of town. Anyway, it was the young woman he was keeping, Ila, who told us what was going on."

He shook his head. "Is my wife all right?"