Thanks...it turned out heavier than expected.(Things with him in it frequently do...I use him for my Deep Thoughts often, I suppose.)

Well, you don't call him your Animunch for nothing, girlfriend. He's definitely your big screen projection TV.

I think I should be...maybe not afraid? But concerned, about that. So lighthearted and girlish of me.

Well, he'll do for now. But I'm going to be reallyo trulyo interested to see where you go from here...

I'm not creating some...bizarro Bush-Cheney deal, am I? Detective Munch shouldn't be afraid if I drink a glass of water?(although he has been awfully quiet on television of late.)

No, no - I meant, I expect that there's going to be a purely erika-based anima getting your words out at some point in the not too distant future.

And that the evolution is intensely interesting.

That's a great compliment.

Huh. I was just stating what seems to me to be clear fact.

One sure compliment would be to the character of Munch, for being interesting enough to carry that voice-weight for you for as long as he has. The erika-voice thing is not for lightweights.

Yeah, well, Kay got half...heh, Munch gets to be with two women sometimes...I'm sure he'd love that.

Yes, we're writing. Damn, sometimes it's like pulling teeth, even when I know exactly what's going on. More Nessuno, Alexander, Guglielmo and Giancarlo headed up to the Vatican for a meeting with Cesare Borgia

The walk back to the Palace was a different thing than the walk down. Alexander was used to being anonymous. One more novice in the streets of Roma drew no attention. A novice in the company of mercenaries, on the other hand, caught eyes and caused whispers. He disliked being noticed. It led to things like Inquisitors knowing his name and swordsmen giving him orders.

A woman yanked her young son back out of the way with a frightened look. Alexander looked at the mercenaries flanking him. Giancarlo seemed to be ignoring everything, making no effort to appear intimidating. Which meant . . .

He turned to his other side. "Stop it."

Guglielmo raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Whatever you're doing that's making everyone look at us like this. Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything, Brother Sandro. I'm just walking along the way I normally do."

"Well, stop it."

Guglielmo laughed as Giancarlo stared at Alexander. "You do know who that is, don't you?" the quiet man said.

Alexander nodded. "Guglielmo il Sanguinante, mercenary, solder, killer, etc., etc. My life was so much quieter before I ran into him."

Giancarlo looked at Guglielmo, who was still snickering. The laughter faded as half a dozen men with drawn swords stepped out of a narrow alley ahead.

"What interesting timing," Guglielmo said with a hard smile.

Around them, the crowd in the street faded away. Alexander looked around, confused. "What's happening?"

Guglielmo backed up to Alexander's side and put an apparently companionable arm around his shoulders. His left hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

"What we have here, young brother Sandro, is an ambush." He looked behind to make sure no one was sneaking up. "How convenient that just as you're leading us up to the palace, these bravos should appear."

Alexander gaped in surprise. He tried to pull away, but Guglielmo held on easily. "Let go."

"I don't think so."

The men from the alley stepped forward. Guglielmo and Giancarlo drew their swords. Alexander tried one more time to pull free, but Guglielmo pulled him in front into a familiar position.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, anxiously dividing his attention between the mercenary behind him and the approaching swordsmen.

"About to find out if whomever told them to wait for you to lead me into an ambush left any instructions about sparing you."

"I didn't!"

Guglielmo spared a moment to glance at Alexander. "I'll leave the option open that you're the Judas goat and not Judas himself. Now hold still and don't get in my way."