"If you're all set I will go see to my other patients." Difyr said.

"I believe we're good for now, thank you, Difyr."

"Call if you need anything." Difyr said, hoping that Aalyssa returned soon. She headed back to the other room.

Nelek slowly sat up. He smiled at Aislyn.

Aislyn sat down next to him, as close as she could get.

Nelek wrapped his arms around Aislyn and held her tight. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too. I couldn't figure out what I had done that had made you leave us."

"I never would have left my family willingly." Nelek looked worriedly at Aislyn. "All this time with those mermen using my face... What have they done?"

"Aside for making me feel like a failure as a wife? There's a young girl in the keep somewhere that he kept as a prisoner for...well...wifely duties." Aislyn sighed. "And he nearly killed Millie, that's why she hasn't come to see you."

"I met her once, when I was chained on that island..." Nelek shuddered. "She told me he met her at a brothel. She seemed like a girl who deserved better than being abused. Did either of them... hurt you?" Nelek felt sick just thinking about how these mermen had hurt his family. "What can I do to make things right? I don't want Millie to be afraid of me."

"She's a very nice girl, even if I did not believe her at first when she said that he wasn't you. It was so far-fetched." Aislyn sighed and her eyes welled with tears. "I don't know how to set it right with Millie. I'm sure she knows and accepts it wasn't you who harmed her, but fear is not always rational."

"I wish I could see her." Nelek said.

"I know. But being stuck in here, I don't know how to work it. I can't go talk to her and she won't come here, Lek's tried."

"I feel strong enough to go to her." Nelek said. "But I think that would scare her even more."

"It would also terrify her friend Pinja, who she's been spending all of her time with." She explained what Pinja had been through at the hands of Jack and his family. "I suppose we could ask Difyr to send her over."

"The poor girl. She has no family on her side?" Nelek looked down. "I'd like to ask her to come, I don't want Millie to feel forced to come here."

"Her family basically sold her to that horrid Jack." Aislyn would happily have accepted Pinja into the family had she accepted Lek's proposal. "No, forcing her would not be good. I fear though if she wouldn't listen to Lek, she probably wouldn't be any more agreeable if Difyr suggested it."

Nelek sighed, feeling that he would never see Millie again.

Aislyn rubbed his arm, whispering a prayer that Millie would come around. "It's possible that once you're up and about, you'll run in to her you know. Don't give up hope."

Nelek kissed his wife. "I just thought getting back to my family would fix everything."

"Nothing's ever simple. And it doesn't help that I'm stuck in here." Aislyn rested against his shoulder. "I wish I had never lost my temper with that man."

"I'm sure he had pushed you." Nelek said soothingly.

"He did. He was just mean and nasty. But...it resulted in me being confined in this room. Once you and Kady can get your own room or house, it's going to be mighty lonely."

"I'm sure you'll be allowed out by then." Nelek soothed.

"I don't see how. It was murder, Nelek. I killed some one."