For a moment Aranaya entertained the thought of contacting Kataryna and getting her here - it would be hard for these Elysia-worshippers to ignore an angel, but the thought was quickly dismissed. Kataryna was hardly in fit shape to deal with such an event. No, she was well and truly on her own.

Which meant she somehow had to get up there and onto the stage to warn everyone. At least the vicious Wolverine bouncer was currently occupied, although he was hardly alone in his occupation.

"Excuse me … sorry," she muttered at every step of the long slow process to the front as she weaved her way between musky Mustelid youths and flailing Felines. Most paid her no heed, but she caught a few accidental elbows, foot tramplings and a couple of nasty looks. It did not take long to realise that the best way to move through the crowd was via a process of osmosis - every so often the crowd would surge in one direction and she could move in to fill the place left behind.

It still took her the entire song to even begin to near the stage, and it was there that Julius's charm caught hold of her once more.

The song had faded to silence (leaving an echoing vibration in her sensitive ears) and now Julius had abandoned his harp and approached the edge of the stage. He crouched down, looking as close to the collective eye of the audience as he feasibly could.

"Sometimes," he said, "a person comes into someone's life, even fleetingly, but leaves an impression that none can change." He sighed, and Aranaya could almost see tears glistening in his eyes, although it was probably the stark lighting. It would certainly make her eyes water. "This song is for a lovely lady whom I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of many years ago," and for a moment his eyes scoured the audience, as though somehow she might be there, identifiable amongst the hoards. His gaze swept by Aranaya, their eyes catching for a fleeting second and there was so much bittersweet emotion in those violet eyes that the Aye-aye almost swooned. She knew it was the effect of his magick, but that did not change the turmoil within her. It was easy to see why women would come to him. Could such a talent be as much a curse as a blessing? At that thought, Julius, clearly disappointed at not finding his lovely lady in the audience, stood up and said, his voice cracking with emotion, "this song is for her, wherever she is now," and stalked back to his harp. Crouching over it, he began to strum notes as beautiful and vulnerable as love itself.

"…Christie," he wailed, "how my heart bleeds out to you…"

Aranaya snorted. It was probably all an act to engage the audience's empathy. She was near the front now. The time was now or never. She put her hands on the stage and eased herself up.

The bouncer, lurking unnoticed in the shadows, pounced before she'd even got both feet up.

"I have to speak," she begged him, "it's a matter of life and death," but he was not buying such reasoning - or possibly even listening and merely pushed her off the stage with the casual ease of a professional.

She teetered on the edge for a moment, and then fell into the arms of the audience. Visions of her lying in an infirmary bed, encased in plaster flashed through her mind, but were quickly replaced as the punters reached up and caught her, passing her from one to another. Large, rough hands contacted with bits that she'd rather people did not touch, at least not in public, but it was an impersonal contact, as though she were little more then a basket. It was an odd feeling, being entirely at the mercy of these mesmerized fans, being fondled and grabbed at every instant, and it was one that she enjoyed. It came with great relief when she was set down on the outskirts.

And immediately she felt a hand clasp her on the shoulder in a rather powerful grip.

"Why, fancy meeting you here." She turned to find herself gazing into the wild, scarlet eyes of her ex-lover. "We just can't keep meeting like this," he continued, "it cannot be good for your health."

Behind him stood the bug-eyed Furrae. "You're not gonna kill'er are ya?" He gibbered in his soft voice, "not here, ya're make sucha mess and ruin my lovely fireworks, you will."

"Be quiet Gidget," Dario snapped, "we have an old score to settle, don't we, my love." And no word could hold quite as much venom. "Was it good?" He continued, "did you enjoy lying with him? Did you enjoy pleasuring the demon?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Aranaya snapped. If only she had some sort of weapon, but wait, she did… Titus had urged her to bring with her a knife and a can of ranskray, normally used to deter fierce non-sentients, but rather effective against Furrae as well. One hand happened to hang near her waist and she began edging her fingers towards her pocket.

The flash of the knife came so quick and Dario moved so fast, that the next thing she knew, he had her pinned to his chest, his knife pressed against her throat. Again. She was getting rather sick, in more ways then one, of such occurrences. Gidget was becoming almost frantic.

"Is almost time," he urged, "we go now, watch pretty lights from far, far away. Stay here and we're gonna get all stabbed up with bitsa bone. Nasty, nasty business. Might hurt a bit," he added, "bring her with ya, we play later, yes? I gotta new toy I gotta try out, see whatta it does on a real sentient subject. If you really lucky," he added, earnestly, "I let you play with it little bit, ya? Since ya caught her an' all that."

"Shut up you little freak," Dario growled and the knife jabbed rather insistently against Aranaya's throat. "How long have we got?"

"'Bout ten seconds." The little creature replied, and bolted.

He would kill her before those seconds had passed, Aranaya knew. The moment his grip changed from a holding to a killing, she reacted, stomping, wriggling and finishing up with a kick to the groin. The knife nicked her, slashing across her shoulder in a scarlet trickle. She bolted. Dario recovered swiftly, and gave pursuit, just as the speaker exploded.

There was a massive flare of white and the silver of discharged magick, followed closely by an ear-shattering noise that could only be described as BOOM! Silver flares rained down on the audience, the wave of force bowling them from their feet and into a seething pile of humanity.

Aranaya too was thrown to the ground and sparks sizzled and nestled into her pelt. Those who struggled free from the mass screamed and trampled one another in an effort to reach the exit. Shoulder throbbing from the knife wound and the impact, Aranaya began crawling for the nearest wall. To aim for the gate was sure suicide, for panic ran rampant. Reaching the rather debateable sanctuary of the branch-benches, Aranaya dragged herself into their shadows and undertook a brief inspection of the damage she had withstood. Her shoulder bled freely and something had gouged her cheek - shrapnel from an exploding speaker, perhaps? She shuddered, glancing from her shelter across the disarray. Chaos reigned. For a fleeting moment she saw Dario standing there, the crowd flowing around him. A nasty gash had slashed his face and the flowing blood formed a hideous half-mask but he seemed oblivious to it, his eyes scrying the hoards, seeking her amongst the many, panicked Furrae. Then Gidget ran up to him and said something before scurrying away. Dario completed his all-encompassing glare and then stalked after the little bug-eyed Furrae.

With a relieved sigh, Aranaya ventured from her hiding place. Whilst the idea of climbing the wall and getting away from here appealed to her, she could hardly abandon these poor souls after they had come with the intent of saving them. And they had failed - too ignorant to see the true cunning behind the plan.

But there was one thing that bothered her even more then that.

Why hadn't Tawny been here?

She picked her way towards the centre of the blast, where flames were licking, exuding thick, toxic grey clouds. Many of those Furrae that were able to do so had fled, but others crouched by their wounded comrades and glanced up at her as she passed by, their eyes imploring her to help them. She blinked back the tears but could not discourage the thought that it was somehow her fault the tragedy had happened. If only she had tried harder to stop it, if only…

Too many "if only's" - nothing changed the past. Nothing could bring Raoul back and nothing could stop this disaster from happening.

The closer she got to the speaker, the more horrific the damage. Many Furrs lay on the ground, clutching parts of them impaled by deadly shards of metal. Others would never rise again. The ground, packed hard in preparation for the concert, was now a soggy crimson mess. She shuddered. The place was like an abattoir, the stink of blood and fear hanging in the air. The handful of on-site Healers, used to dealing with little more then a few bruises and cuts, were in a state of panic. They darted about like hummingbirds, helping where they could, but there were just too many wounded. Aranaya was almost shoved to one side as a Security Guard rushed past her, trailing droplets of water from the bucket he was carrying.

She paused to catch her breath and to fight the despair rising in her. Such emotional combat was severely disrupted when someone grasped her ankle.

"Please, help me." The speaker was a slender Skunk, who would have been pretty, had not half the fur on her face singed away, leaving the skin below blistered and swelling one eye shut. There was nothing Aranaya could do for her - she had not thought to bring water with her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, prying the girl's hand from her leg. Maybe she could find water - there had to be a tap around here somewhere, didn't there? Her eyes alighted on a discarded waterskin and she pounced on it. It contained maybe a cup of what smelt and tasted like nothing more then water. It did not take much to tear a piece of cloth from her clothing, which was rather the worse for wear at any rate, and douse it in the water. The girl shuddered in pain as the wet cloth was pressed against her scalded skin. "Hold this in place," Aranaya encouraged her, moving the girl's hand so that it held the damp cloth firm. "It'll help." How long would it be until the authorities arrived? She'd have to talk to them, after all, she was quite possibly the only person here who actually knew the culprits. It seemed unlikely that the Nocturne would be easily caught and subdued.

It was then that she came across another, rather more badly injured Furr. The young Ringtail girl had been practically on top of the speaker when it had exploded, and the blast had all but severed her right arm. She lay, barely conscious, in a pool of her own blood, whimpering softly. Aranaya crouched down beside her and examined the injury. It was bad, but should not be fatal. She tore another strip of cloth from her attire, which was starting to look decidedly shabby, and bound it firmly about the girl's upper arm. She moaned and clutched at Aranaya with her left hand.

"It hurts," she whispered. "Wh-what happened?"

Aranaya patted her warmly on her uninjured shoulder. "Just a nasty, nasty accident," she replied. It seemed unwise to make things worse by suggesting the attack had been intentional. "You'll be fine. The medics will be here soon."

A shudder passed through the Ringtail's body - a shudder of shock and pain. She was fading fast, Aranaya realised, having suffered massive blood-loss before she arrived on the scene. Her eyes were growing bleary and unfocused.

Aranaya sat beside her, taking the girl's left hand in her own. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Kaytie," she whispered, "I want my mama."

With her other hand Aranaya stroked her hair. "You'll see her soon," she reassured her, although she wondered how long the girl could hold on for. "Just hang in there. The healers will be here soon."

"I'm cold." Kaytie drew herself close to Aranaya. She was shaking badly and the tattered remnants of her arm still dribbled blood at an alarming pace. The Aye-aye wrapped her arms about the girl and held her, still stroking her hair.

"She'll be here soon," she said, although knew not if that would be true.

The girl laughed hollowly, but the laughter quickly turned to rasping gasps. "No she won't," she responded a moment later, "she's in Windhavyn."

"Oh, well I'm sure she will be on her way once the news reaches her. So you came all the way from Windhavyn to see Aeternity?" Her intent was to keep the girl talking until the medics arrived. They could not be far away now.

She nodded and then shuddered once more. "I'm dizzy," she whispered, "can I sleep mama?" She went limp in Aranaya's arms and Aranaya's heart spasmed in fear - would the help arrive too late? Her fingers sought the girl's throat and the pulse that still fluttered there. Slow and a little unsteady, but there, none-the-less.

It was then that the Healers finally arrived. They moved with the precision and control of trained professionals, weaving their way through the clustered groups of panic-stunned survivors. Only about five minutes has passed since the explosion, but to Aranaya it seemed an eternity. The Healers spread out, diagnosing the seriousness of every injury in a glance and whispering words of encouragement to those more stunned then wounded. Within a fairly short period of time the minorly injured had been moved into a corner well away from the still-smouldering sound system, which sent immense black clouds billowing into the air. Those that could help were being rallied into carrying water and holding the injured still whilst they were treated. Aranaya held onto her injured girl, praying to Elysia that she would hold in there long enough for proper help to arrive.

A moment later it did, in the form of a buxom and slightly dumpy Mink. She crouched down before the two of them and smiled at Aranaya.

"She's lost a lot of blood," Aranaya said, feeling she should say something, "but I've tied a tourniquet about it and elevated it. I hope that helped."

The Mink nodded. "It is good to see someone who knows what they're doing," she replied. "Now since you've been so kind so far, I wonder if you would hold her still whilst I stop the bleeding." She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes for a moment, a gentle white glow materialised about her hands. A genuine Healer then - Aranaya was relieved. The Healer laid her hands on the girl's forearm and Kaytie shuddered and whimpered at the contact. The glow suffused her entire arm, but was the brightest about the gash. The Mink closed her eyes, putting herself into the Magick. Kaytie squirmed a little, making strange sighing noises of pain. It had been four years since Aranaya had undergone the same treatment, but she remembered well the feeling - as though ants were crawling under your skin. It was not a particularly pleasant sensation. After a moment the Healer opened her eyes. The pupils had dilated so that her eyes appeared almost entirely black. Healing involved putting a large part of yourself into the process. She shuddered and removed her hands.

"The bleeding has been stopped," she said, moving her from Aranaya's grasp and positioning her so that she could not do further damage to herself. "There is nothing I can do for the blood loss. She must be taken to hospital. Would you care to go with her?"

Aranaya nodded. "She has noone else."

At that precise moment, Titus made his grand entrance, weaving and leaping his way around the fallen and calling her name.

"Ary, Ary!"

"Here," she rose one arm, waving it in his direction. He saw her immediately, quite an achievement given the amount of controlled chaos going on around them and ran towards her. Despite the amount of bodies and Healers around, he managed to reach her without event and threw his arms around her.

"Thank Elysia you're alive!" He exclaimed. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to get back in here after the explosion. Oh Ary, I'm so sorry to leave you here with that sort of danger." His fingers touched the gash on her shoulder and he frowned down at the blood. "You're hurt."

"'Tis but a scratch," she replied. She glanced at the Mink and her short, upright ears, perked for information and did not want to share too much. "I was grazed by some flying debris," she replied. Titus looked at her a little doubtfully and she shook her head, ever so slightly. "Later," she mouthed.

But there was not to be a later, for at the precise moment, the Wolverine Guard appeared once more, flanked by two Canines wearing the black and gold of the Eriwyn City Guard.

"That's the one," the Wolverine snarled, "that's the one that was causing trouble - before...."

"Right then," the largest of the Guards said, his hand falling on Titus's shoulder. "You're coming down to the station with me, lad."

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