"Ah, it's Dina," Teige said, as the spirit who had spoken lifted the blade into the light spilling from the doorway. Teige jerked his thumb towards the door. "T'is your soup place t'en, Dina?"

The light on the blade, the angle it was at, and the little dark smear on its edge reminded Teige. He reached up and brushed his thumb along the cut edge of his ear, and looked at the little spot of vivid blood that came away on the blackness of his hand.

"My...? Well, it's where I work," Dina said. "They got your ear with this, Teige?"

"Oh shit, yeah...where'd the tip go...?" Hawk mumbled. "In th' leaves somewhere..."

Their voices seemed farther and farther away, as Teige looked at the blood on his hand, and the night around him seemed to blur together.

"Your hand is bleeding too, er...?"

"Hawk. Yeah I hit one of 'em in th' teeth."

"Oh. Hawk. Er--why don't you both go clean yourselves up--we'll look for the, er...ear."

"Yeah okay. Teige?...Teige?"

The water made a rushing noise, as Hawk held his hand under its flow.