Samael could see a small town in the distance, which he assumed was Ravenholm. Leonard was gently leading the confused Angel by a rope that he had tied around the Angel's shakles. It wasn't that the Angel was a prisoner so much as he was simply afraid that he would wander off and get lost. As it was getting dark, finding the Angel would be more than difficult, and he did try to wander off a few times.

Edeline was walking slowly behind the Leonard and the Angel, occasionally placing her hand on the Angel's shoulder, and guiding him if he looked like he was going to go off in some random direction. She was almost certain that they were lost, since she'd never taken this route to go to the mountians. Before she was able to voice her concern, she too saw the small town.

As the party neared the town, Samael was able to see a worn sign with most of the letters had already faded away. He stopped to look more closely at the sign, but he still couldn't make it out.

"It's Ravenholm," said Leonard, behind him. "Let's go and find the inn already; the Angel's getting really impatient and he's probably sick of this lead."

Samael grunted and marched on. There were a few small houses, a medium-sized farm, a general store, and another large building which he assumed was the inn. Inside the general store, he could see an old man grubbing around a wooden table for something. When the old man noticed them, he peered at them through the frosted window suspiciously.

The Demon raised his arms to show that he was unarmed and had no intention of attacking anyone. The man raised his hand in return, holding up a single finger, meaning to wait. Samael raised his hand, and the rest of the party stopped behind him. After grubbing around some more, the old man blew out the few candles that were lighting his store, and stepped outside. He locked the door behind him, and pocketed the key in his faded trousers.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" he asked, turning toward the Demon.

"We're looking for the town of Ravenholm, sir," Samael answered, bowing to the man.

"You're in Ravenholm. Lookin' for somethin'?" the old man said, peering at the bound Angel with suspicion.

"Yes, sir. We found this Angel -" Samael pointed at him, "- and we heard that there was another Angel living here that could help us. This poor fellow seems to have hit his head, and he's lost his memory."

"Ain't know about any Angels livin' here, but plenty of folks here keep to themselves, so that ain't sayin' much. Y'know where these Angels might be stayin'?"

"We were told that this particular Angel was the owner of an inn, but I don't have the name of the inn, sir." Samael was lying diliberately - he wanted to make sure the old man wasn't leading him on.

"Ah," said the old man, smiling slightly. "That'd be the Seven Roses Bar, o'er there. D'know if the folks runnin' it are Angels, but Hell Almighty, the older one looks odd enough to be an Angel. And the youngin - runnin' around with that purple hair 'o his like no one's business! They're brothers, see?"

"Do you happen to know their names, sir?"

"Stop callin' me sir, boy. I've a name, and I'd be Javen, if ye please. An' no, I ain't never known the name of the older one. The youngin's name be Stefan, I think. Usually he's the one that orders food from me; the older don't talk much. Think he's shy."

"Thank you kindly, Javen," Samael said, bowing again.

"Nothin' ter thank me for, boy. You'll be stayin' at the Seven Roses?"

"Probably. The snow's getting worse, and my friends and I are hungry."

"Good then. Just one word o' advice, boy. See that tree over yonder?" Javen asked, pointing at a tall blue pine tree by the inn.

"Yes."

"Don't touch it. The older of them brothers, he likes that tree. Takes care of it real good. He won't like you touchin' it."

"I understand. Thank you again, Javen."

"Goodnight, boy."

"Goodnight," Samael said softly, watching Javen walk off to one of the small houses. He opened the door, stepped in, and lit a candle before shutting it. After a few minutes, the light in the window went out, as it had done in the store, and the Demon assumed that Javen had gone to sleep.

---

Katan wondered how long he'd have to follow the beings who found him. He had fallen from somewhere, that he knew. Somewhere very high. He remembered waking up in a grassy plain with a splitting headache and a terrible backache. He'd hit his head very hard, and it felt as if one of the wings on his back was broken to pieces. When the Angel had tried to spread his wings, the pain was so sharp that he had knelt down to the ground with a yelp and folded his wings tightly against his back, making the injured one hurt even more.

He wasn't even sure if he could remember how to fly. He didn't know where he had come from, or where he was. All he could remember was that his name was Katan. He'd wandered around the plain, dazed, for hours, until he was discovered by the group of odd beings. They bound him, cleaned up his wounds (at least, those they could find) and fed him. After he was fed and watered, they started to ask him questions.

The Angel couldn't understand why he was being bound, but he supposed he had done something wrong. When they asked him who he was and where he was from, he told them he didn't know. If he'd done something wrong, telling them his name wouldn't help, so he lied and said he didn't remember what he was called. He didn't want to tell them that his wing was injured, either; he didn't know what these beings were, and Katan didn't like the idea of them knowing he was handicapped.

After much debating over what to do with him, one of the males, Samael, told Katan that they would take him with them. Samael said that he wasn't sure if Katan would be all right on his own, and that they'd make sure that someone could take care of him so he'd be ok. The female, Edeline, didn't look too happy about taking the Angel along. After a hurried conversation which Katan couldn't hear with the other male, Leonard, Edeline agreed to take him along.

They'd been on a single road for hours, and the Angel was begining to wonder where they were going. The only place of interest that he had to note was a small inn where the party had stopped for some food and drink. Samael exchanged words with the male behind a wooden desk - who had given Katan a free drink (the Angel was surprised that it was something that had to be paid for) - and after a bit of rest, the party was on its way once more.

About an hour after the group had entered a dense forest, it had started to snow. The closer it got to twilight, the harder the snow would fall, and Katan was begining to get worried; Samael didn't look like he knew where he was going, and neither did any of the others. Edeline just looked more and more grumpy as time went on, and Leonard would tug at the rope attached to Katan's shakles if he started to wander off of the path. It annoyed him.

Finally, they appeared to have reached their destination; a small town in the forest. After a brief conversation with an old man that came from one of the houses, Samael started toward the biggest building in the town, which was another inn. Katan was disappointed; he had hoped that the old man would wonder why he was bound as he was, and try to help him, but at least it was obvious that they would get some rest now.

As they approached the inn, Katan felt a strange force, and he looked toward where it was coming from. A short distance from inn was a tall blue pine tree. The tree didn't look well; in fact, it looked ill. Katan had the sudden urge to protect it somehow. This tree was very important. He broke into a run toward it, but the Leonard gave his lead a sudden tug, and Katan was thrown off of his feet, spun in the air, and he landed hard on his face.

Edeline stood, looking surprised, while Leonard and Samael ran up to the Angel.

"You ok, there?" asked Samael, kneeling and offering his hand to help Katan get up.

"Tree," the Angel mumbled.

"Yeah, that's a pretty tree. Look, sorry about that. You ran off so suddenly that I thought something came out of the woods and was dragging you off. Besides, you can't touch that tree, if you mean the blue pine," said Leonard. "The old guy running the general store, Javen, said the owner of the inn'd kill us, and we kind of need a few rooms for the night."

"Sorry," Katan mumbled again, taking Samael's hand and getting back onto his feet. "I thought it... nothing."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry."

"S'alright. Let's just get inside the inn. I'm freezing." said Leonard, walking slowly toward the Seven Roses Bar.