Angels, by Owl City~3 And, a special little treat, the next chapter is written from Murtagh's point of view.

In the dust on my cellar staircase
A pair of footprints followed me
I saw a flicker in the fake fireplace
Blinked again, but there was nothing to see

I've been leaving all the windows unlocked
With a basket by the oak tree
'Cause I'll be picking up the acorns that fall off
If you'll be climbing up to meet me

Mutragh clutched his cloak to him, retreating into it as we approached the gate of Terim. Elva had chosen to follow along later, if she decided Thorn wasn't the best company. I twirled up to the gate, awaiting it's familiar creak as it opened.

"Who goes there?" A particularly squat guard demanded.

I blinked at him. "You're even smaller than me!" I circled him, nodding as his face turned a shade of crimson that clashed highly with his shirt. "Here!" I plopped a hat in his head, pulling his shoulders back andsnapping his glaive in two.

"Wh- WHATEVER ARE YOU DOING?" he yelled, jumping to retrieve his weapon. I gave him a solid whack on the head.

"Making you taller." I said. Murtagh clutched his cloak around himself, looking at the floor. I could hear him cursing under his breath. I placed the glaive in the guards hand and tipped his chin up.

"There, if you stand like this at the gate, by the end of the week you'll be a strapping six feet tall! It's all in the muchness of your hat, you can't take the hat off. Witches orders, you know." He looked completely ridiculous in the most interesting way possible for such a small man. I gave him a wink.

He glared at me, and I kissed his little bulbous nose. He really looked so ugly it was adorable, in a strange way. He blushed and waved a signal to the gate operator. I tugged Murtagh through, happy to be home. Terim had prospered with all the new reconstruction unnecessary all over the land. The streets were filled with wagons, horses, and people. I gave a spin and twirl as I headed to my home; that small shop I had filled with my oddity. No one should have entered. I had made a big to-do about 'cursing' the place before I left.

"I thought you didn't do unsolicited kisses," Murtagh spoke lowly beside me.

I put my hand on my hips, harrumphing. "I said I don't do unsolicited kisses. I never said I don't use what womanly wiles that I have."

"Womanly wiles?" Murtagh scoffed. "You have about as many womanly wiles as a hen."

I stuck my nose up and walked ahead of him. I did have womanly wiles. I had them in bucket-loads! In fact, the only thing I had in excess aside quirk were precisely those womanly wiles he claimed I had so little of.

"Oh, touchy, I see?" Murtagh poked the words at me like I was an aggravated cat.

"No, you're just a blind ass." I spat out at him, walking at a clipped pace to my old shop. Maybe if I was lucky, he'd walk is annoying face off a pretty, confidently placed little cliff and- well... Well, fall until he soiled himself and then floated back up so I could laugh at him. Murtagh was quiet.

And damn him to a hell of being buried in frogs, I would prove to him I had womanly wiles.

I banged the door open violently, stomping into my old shop. Everything was coated in a healthy layer of dust. I saw a particularly large spider in the corner. "Well hello there!" I told him. "My name is Angela, and your home is right over my safe." I tried to explain to him, before I gently picked him up. I let him scurry across the counter. Murtagh looked unamused at best. I opened the safe in half a second, pulling out some of the hoard of cash I had squirreled away for traveling purposes.

"That's a small fortune!" Murtagh exclaimed, blinking at me.

"I suppose it is." I stashed it in my traveling bag, and the scrutinized our reflections in the large mirror on the wall. I stomped over to Murtagh. It took me a full second to untie his cloak. He pushed my hands away, backing into the wall behind him.

"What in the hell are you doing, Witch?" He half-growled at me.

"Fixing you up. If you look like a tall dark misfit, you'll draw attention. Did you not want me to take notice of these things earlier?" I planted a hand on my hip, arching an eyebrow at him. It was my best sort of 'you stupid imbecile' look. "Now will you let me or are you going too look at me as tough I have suddenly turned into green and purple plaid monster?"

Murtagh reluctantly stepped away from the wall, glaring sullenly at my forehead.

"There's a good frog." I patted his head, as he sighed. I slowly undid his armor. I had never seen him without it. I let it clatter to his feet loudly, sounding like a pile of pots falling to the ground. I could feel the strands of his too-long and far to shaggy hair against my cheek as I struggled to get his shoulder guard off.

His breath against my shoulder and neck proved confusing. It sent unfamiliar tingles through my neck and to the tips of my fingers. I was aware of it, every time his arm moved- for a second it occurred to me, he just might be going to give me another of his unsolicited kisses. When he didn't, there was a superficial assurance of relief, but in the back of my head, that infernal question of 'Why?'whispered to me. After I had finally undone his armor, I grabbed a vest and threw it at him, though despite his fine armor, I found the clothes underneath were just as cruddy and riddled with holes as any commoner's.

I was still not convinced he looked satisfactorily common, with all that mass of shaggy black hair trailing down his neck and back. I grabbed a dagger, quickly shearing off a good three feet. "I liked that hair, you know." Murtagh stated, resigned to his fate.

"Well, I did too." I stated, with a bit of a huff, "But everyone is searching for a Murtagh with long hair." I continued shearing off hair until it was jaw-length and looked like the shaggy hair of a carpenter. "Here. Nearly unrecognizable." I pulled my hair into a tie, then chopped it off as well.

Murtagh blinked at me, his eyes half bulged out of his head as I began to undo my dress. "Don't you have a shred of dignity?" I chuckled.

"What, that old thing? No, it's for old men and royalty. And annoying elves." I began to slip my dress down. "If it bothers you, look away."

Murtagh laughed, sitting in a chair. "Oh no, I'd never hear the end of it." An amused smirk spread across his face. For a second, the thought that stripping to my underthings in front of him was a bad thing. I continued, anyways, pulling out an old shirt, worn leather traveling pants, and a warm vest. I did at least have the decency to turn so he didn't see anything particularly scandalous.

I shimmied into the pants, laced them up, and then pulled my (entirely too large) shirt over my rump. I turned to Murtagh, pulling on my vest and grabbing my vest. "Time to get supplies." I said, walking out the door. The only proof we were there was the hair sheared off on the floor, the open safe and spider quickly crawling over to re-make his home, and the footprints in the dust. Murtagh caught up after hiding his armor.

"Now, firstly we need to find a place to purchase gumption..." I trailed off, looking into the stores. Murtagh only shook his head.