Disclaimer: Boo-Boo-Boo-Boop This is a standard disclaimer I own nothing. The shop in New Mexico is real and I don't own that either. I did buy a coyote fetish though. There are no tornados, thunderstorms, or any other natural thing that needs a warning happing to my knowledge at this moment. Thank you for listening.

A/N: Wow. There is nothing I can say to make up for where I've been except tons of excuses. But I'll have you know that I was busy with various activities out of school and now Cross Country is done and I can write more. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. This chapter is dedicated to MoonStarDuchess, for giving me such a kind review and for telling me what train cars are called. Thanks!

It's Strange

'How did Maes convince me to come?' Riza thought desperately. She looked at the men one more time then sank even deeper into her chair groaning. 'It was the food. They tricked me with delicious food so I wouldn't realize what I was doing. You're good, Maes, you're good. And the food was pretty good, too.'

"We're going to the Apple Orchard!" Six pairs of eyes stared at Hughes in utter amazement. "Where all of the apples that we get in Central are grown. I even brought each of you a brochure!" As he stuffed a brochure into Havoc's hand Roy shook his head with a foul look on his face.

"No way am I going to pick some damn apples." There was the comment Riza had been waiting for. Sarcastic and laced with anger it was the perfect sentence to shake everyone awake. Maes looked mildly surprised as Roy continued the other men's voices joining in the argument.

She smiled as Roy tried to shake off Maes who had glomped onto his leg. 'Why…What's changed? So we got stuck in a train cabin together, why aren't I angry at him anymore? Nothing happened but I feel like something changed. Like because of the few hours we spent plotting out how to do the most damage to Hughes we can move on. Maybe I'm going crazy,' she wondered lazily as she saw several other touristis stop to look at them.

"Please! Please, please, please, please! Come with me!" A whiny Hughes begged his eyes tearing up. "I wanna pick apples." Crossing his arms, Roy looked the other way his stubbornness affecting his judgment. Riza fought to control a smile and a laugh and turned it into a violent fit of coughing, which made the silent observers hurry away.

Finally Fuery and Falman exchanged glances and sighed then said together, "We'll go with you Maes."

His eyes lit up as he leapt off the floor. "Yes now I need one more person before I go. Now, who wants to come with us?" Jean and Roy edged away and Riza made a big show about ting her shoe. "Breda how kind of you for volunteering! Come along now come along. We'll be back around six!"

The three survivors were left blinking stupidly as Maes carried the other men away and threw them into a waiting taxi cab. "Umm I guess we can do what ever we want for a few hours," Jean lamely suggested.

With a sigh of relief Roy offered his hand to help Riza up. "Want to go suvinor shopping? It's not like we have anything better to do." She nodded and they left the hotel leaving one relieved manager crying in happiness.

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They had wandered around the city for a few hours, looking in shop windows, exchanging glances when Jean wanted to buy a stuffed bear, and generally relaxing. Eventually their wandering led them to a small building separated from the others buy a street and a small park. They shrugged and started up the walk.

Riza reached the door first and stepped inside ducking her head slightly to avoid the low overhang. She had to balance herself against a small table to keep from falling over in shock. The store was filled to the brink with little statues shaped into animals. Thousands of bears, birds, horses, wolves, and so many others stared at her through small eyes.

Someone noticed her entrance and rushed to talk to her. "Welcome to Keshi.(1) Can I help you?" Riza looked the woman up and down. She was older around her mid fourties if Riza had to guess. And she looked extremely happy, even hyper, a huge smile reaching from ear to ear. She wore a neckless that had small bear carvings placed randomly along with other beads.

Roy entered and gave the woman a smile. "We're not looking for anything in particular just window shopping. We're from out of town." The woman nodded enthusiastically and welcomed them in practically pushing them farther in the shop. Havoc stuck his head in and said something about smoking.

"Well have a look around. None of the animals will bite though I can't say they won't try although they are still as stone," she chuckled at her little joke and continued, "We're the Zuni Fetish store, the number one place to find fetishes. If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll answer as best I can."

The two nodded and started looking feeling the unnessary need for silence. Deciding to take the path to the left of the main table she leaned over and scanned all of the carved bears in a glass table to her left. Roy looked inside the main table but was soon distracted by the sound of Riza's voice. "Why do you think they started to carve these things?"

He shrugged, making a mental note to ask the woman later, "I have no clue but they're pretty neat." Roy moved on examining the little creatures one by one passing over bears, odd animals and wolves. When he came to a group of horses he smiled his lady killer smile. 'Well, well, what do we have here? I knew there was something I liked about this place.' With the smile firmly attached to his face he moved to the next shelf. A small bird met his gaze evenly. Its eyes were a warm amber color that seemed to glow. The bird itself was a soft golden color with its wings spread out wide. It had an arrow shape starting from its neck area down to where the wing ended on both sides.

He seemed to stop breathing as the bird looked at him. Roy's thoughts whirled and finally settled on one odd reasoning that the bird reminded him of someone he knew well. Tearing his gaze away was almost painful and when he did it became easier to breath. He hurried away to the next glass table thinking desperately about who it reminded him of.

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Riza meandered lazily over to the horses. She glanced in almost ready to leave. A flash of tan caught her attention. Eyes wandering she sought out what she had seen. The tan turned out to be a horse that was standing with a dignified but playful air around it. The horse had deep black eyes that mesmerized her. She faintly saw a black arrow leading from its shoulder to about its hind quarters on both sides.

Time seemed to pause as they stared at each other and as Riza tried to think clearly. Among the thousands of incoherent thoughts one popped out. 'Who does this remind me of?' The playful nature with a hint of seriousness and dignity and pride seemed to scream one person in particular but who!

Somehow she realized that she needed to leave and tore her eyes away leaving an empty feeling in her chest. The constant nagging was beating at her but she couldn't remember. Glancing at her watch she saw that it was ten to six. Taking a deep breath she tapped Roy lightly on the shoulder and said calmly, "We need to get back. Maes might have gotten back early and he'll probably come looking after us." He nodded silently and they left wishing the pleasant lady a nice afternoon.

As soon as they were gone another woman joined the first at the counter. She asked quietly, "How long do you think it'll be before they're back?"

"I don't know but I'm sure it won't be long. I think they've been chosen by two fetishes."

"Well they had better hurry I don't want to see their hearts broken." She stood by the door and watched the walk slowly down the path. "They're too cute together."

A/N: Yay! Actually I did find a fetish that I love to be around. It's a small coyote with a silver heart line. And when we went back to get it I couldn't find it because it had fallen over. I was so excited that I take it with me all around the house. And I'm pretty sure this chapter is shorter but hey, at least I got it too you. Leave me a review and I'll say nice things! And I have two friends on the Cross Country team who I see almost everyday who look soooo cute together but aren't dating. Everytime I see them I think (and say), "Aww you're soo cute together! Just go out already!"