The Prisoner

[Kris Lupin]

Ashura watched as the girl left she wondered why she was so familier. She looked at the ground wondering how long she would be there.

[Gretchen Thomas]

Gretchen stepped out of her tent. She had changed her clothes and had finished writing a message to the hunter. She walked over to the girl and smiled coldly. "Well, well," she said. "You look so sad. You'd think I was torturing you or something." She laughed. "I mean, I suppose I'll get around to it later... but for now, you should relax. I'm about to send for your brother."

[Kris Lupin]

"How would you expect someone to look after being kidnapped? Happy?" Ashura asked clenching her teeth. She glared at the woman with so much hate and anger she though it was a wonder that beams were coming from her eyes.

[Gretchen Thomas]

"My, aren't you hostile?" Gretchen said, grabbing Ashura's face and squeezing it, making her lips pucker up. "If you keep talking like that, I may be forced to punish you. Do you want me to gag you, dearie?" She laughed. "Now, I'm just going to summon an owl, so I can have it send this letter to your murderer brother." She looked around. "Dawn! Dawn! Bring me an owl, will you, dear?"

[Kris Lupin]

Ashura opened her mouth to speak but said nothing and hung her head instead. She hoped Dawn wouldn't get in trouble for leaving. Ashura didn't care what happened to herself as long as her brother didn't get hurt.

[Gretchen Thomas]

When Dawn didn't reply, Gretchen shook her head. "That girl... I don't know what we're going to do with her... Dawn!" She walked away and began to walk around the camp, looking for Dawn. After poking her head into each of the tents, she let out a frustrated cry. She looked into the cave where Quinn and Korbel where and yelled. "Quinn! Korbel! Dawn has wandered off again! Go find her before she hurts herself again."

[Kris Lupin]

Ashura shook her head, Dawn wasn't a child and didn't needed to be tracked down. Though Ashura was glad this got Gretchen's mind off Sully for a bit.

[Quinn]

Quinn had been about to tell Korbel that she would stand up for him with Gretchen, when suddenly Gretchen yelled at them to go find Dawn. She stood up and held out her hand to Korbel. "Come on, let's go find Dawnie. I hate to think of her out there alone and having one of her fits."

[Korbel]

Korbel heard Gretchen yelling about them going to go find Dawn. He nodded. "Yeah, let's go find her before something happens to her," he said taking Quinn's hand. "I hope she doesn't have one of her fits."

[Quinn]

"Yeah, me too." She walked out of the cave and spotted Ashura tied to the big tree. "You look good as a prisoner. Maybe I should pay you back for this broken nose, huh?" She came close to the girl and glared hatefully at her. Then abruptly she turned away. "You know, you're not even worth it to me. I gotta find Dawnie. Come on, Korbel." She walked out of the camp with her hand in Korbel's.

[Kris Lupin]

Ashura didn't even look at them, she didn't even make a sound when she heard Quinn's threat. She couldn't help but feel her heart break, if she knew magic she would make them sorry they ever met her. Her sweet, shy self had died when Korbel left her, she didn't care what happened to him anymore.

[Gretchen Thomas]

Gretchen watched them go. "Well, now. Since Dawn has wandered off again, I'll have to get my own owl. I'll be right back." She laughed as she walked across the camp and over to a large cage. She opened it and took out a large tawny owl, then closed the cage and walked over to Ashura again. "All right," she said, smiling wickedly. "I'll just tie this letter to its leg, and I'm sure your dear brother will be heading back in no time..."

[Kris Lupin]

Ashura tried to stay silent but the words left her mouth before she knew it, "My pack leader will find me." She said glaring at the woman.

[Gretchen Thomas]

Gretchen laughed. "Oh, right, your pack leader. The one who left you alone at your cave and didn't come to make sure you were OK. I wouldn't be surprised if your pack has forgotten you, living all alone in the woods like that. They have enough people to worry about, why should they bother with you?"

[Kris Lupin]

"That might be something you would do but not Zander." Ashura said though she had some doubt in her tone.

[Gretchen Thomas]

"Me?" Gretchen said, raising an eyebrow. "I would only turn my back on a pack member if they betrayed me. Like Rochelle did, when she ran off with your brother. But if they're loyal, I'll return their loyalty. Look at poor, fragile, messed-up Dawn with her headaches and her confusion and her fits. Lots of pack leaders would have abandoned her. She's weak and we have to take care of her and protect her. But I won't abandon her." She frowned. "I don't like when she wanders off... she almost got herself killed once for doing that..."

[Kris Lupin]

"She might be stronger then you think." Ashura said quietly lowering her eyes to the ground.

[Gretchen Thomas]

Gretchen's eyes flared in anger. "What? How dare you tell me about Dawn? You don't know her... you don't know what she's been through. The humans messed her up badly... she was put under spells that wiped out her memories and left her with headaches, short-term memory loss, and violent shaking fits. If you sent her out there to help you, you might just have killed her. She's fragile, she can't be out there on her own!"

[Kris Lupin]

"How do you know that her memory loss wasn't from the attack that made her a werewolf? That happens alot you know." Ashura said keeping her eyes on the ground.

[Gretchen Thomas]

"It does, but the fits and the headaches and the short term memory loss come from a memory charm that the humans put on her. They said she had been through a trauma and they put the charm on her to protect her from nightmares. The humans should never have messed with her memory. It would have been fine if the humans hadn't touched her. They needed to save her life after the attack... she nearly died. But they shouldn't have tried to alter her memories. They should have given her a potion for the nightmares." Gretchen shook her head. "Who knows where she'd be if Buck hadn't rescued her from that hospital."