They rode on in intermittent silence, but it was never awkward.  They played word association games, had little bets going on, but had a rather pleasant time.


    A question that had been hanging out in the back of Endermon''s mind, pushed its way to the front.  She asked Shiloh how her driver was doing, since he''d come to live at the estate, and didn''t seem to do much driving anymore.


    Shiloh Saud that he had served her for many years and had more skills than just driving.  He would set up ''meals'', keep intruders who were dumb enough to try to attack Shiloh away in the daytime.


    She said he would do anything she asked without question.  Rutus bluntly asked if he was a vampire too.  Shiloh laughed and said no, just a very loyal and devoted human being.  She had saved him from a particularly bad time in his life.


    Endermon said if it was too much, they could leave it at that.  Shiloh breathed deeply, showing more emotion than Endermon had ever seen.  But she said it was fine.


    She said he grew up in a normal family and things were great.  Then jobs were lost, health problems, and various other obstacles life threw at them.  When his brother got shot in a hunting accident, he turned to booze.


    With him being drunk all the time, he had no moral compass.  All that mattered was getting his next drink.  When he found out his parents had passed away, he went to their funerals but left before anyone saw him.


    She entered the scene close to ten years ago.  He had Bern panhandling, or outright stealing stuff to get more alcohol.  He was in a bar and had just run out of money.  He was arguing with the bartender when Shiloh waltzed in.


    She had come for food, and was looking at the menu, as it were.  But the mental noise was making it hard to concentrate.  When he finally got thrown out, she asked the bartender about him.


    He told her all he knew, and she went out to find him passed out in the street.  The thought crossed her mind to end his suffering, but with her new found background info, she thought it would just be cruel to do that.


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    She may have been many things, but needlessly cruel was not one of them.  And when some drunk jerks decided it would be fun to mess with him a little, she lost it.  Shiloh said she was not proud of it, but she took care of the drunks.


    Afterwards she left some money on the bar and picked the poor man up and took him to an inn.  She stayed with him til dawn, but left some instructions with the staff.


    In the end, she got him off the booze, helped him make peace with his horrible past, and gave him a place to stay in her cottage.  At first he just lived there, then when someone tried to get at Shiloh in the daytime, he fought them off.  And that''s how he got his job.


    It was a somber mood for a while after that, but they were near their pre-estate campsite.  They tied off the horses to a tree and got them some feed and some water.


    They went just inside the tree line and set up camp.  Well enough to have beds and food.  They made a decent dinner and ate.  There was conversation and still a little sadness in the atmosphere, so once they finished, they went to bed.


    And this time it was Endermon who stayed up to watch Shiloh lie there.  It was nice being able to watch her sleep.  Getting tired, she snuggled up to Shiloh and was very pleased when she put her arm around her in her sleep.


    In the morning Endermon woke up to the smell of coffee and an empty bed.  She stumbled out to the fire and gratefully took a sip of fresh coffee.  Shiloh had put some honey in there to make it sweeter.


    Rutus soon joined them and Shiloh gave her a cup as well.  Once they had their coffee Shiloh proposed a trip into town like they did when they first got started.  Before Endermon could protest about leaving their stuff, Shiloh pointed to a shrub in the back corner.  Upon closer inspection, it was all their stuff.


    Shiloh looked smug and said a tree had fallen to graciously give them branches and leaves.  Endermon could see chop marks at the end of one of the branches.  But it made Shiloh feel better so she didn''t mention it.