Now sat in the warm afternoon sunshine, she smiled at the memory and traced her fingers slowly over the image.

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Willow reached for the plain white silk ribbon next to her and took one final loving look at the photo before she began her spell.

“I bind you Tara from doing harm, harm against other humans and harm against yourself.” she spoke clearly as she wrapped the ribbon securely around the image of her beloved.

“I bind you Tara from doing harm, harm against other humans and harm against yourself.” She smiled sadly as the ribbon masked the face staring back at her from the photograph.

“I bind you Tara from doing harm, harm against other humans and harm against yourself.”

As she finished the final recitation, Willow laid the bound image into a small wooden box and turned to face the tree behind her. Digging quickly into the soft earth of the flowerbed, she sighed sadly as she placed the box into the freshly dug hole before covering it all over again and brushing her hands on her jeans.

Smiling sadly at the freshly dug earth, she got to her feet and headed back into the house.

Tara sat silently in her room, her eyes closed as she breathed deeply and tried to focus her mind. She had heard Buffy stepping into the shower ten minutes before and the sound of the running water had made her realise that she could do with a visit to the bathroom herself. After returning to her large cushion, she struggled to regain her focus and return to meditating.

As she slipped into a comfortable state of peace, the potentials made their way back to their bedrooms, laughing, joking and jostling as they went and ripping the blonde back to her surroundings.

The slamming of a door directly under her indicated that Kennedy had also returned to her room and apparently wasn’t happy. ‘Nothing new there then.’ she thought before shaking the bitchy comment from her mind and sighing heavily.

No sooner had she closed her eyes once again, then the door to her compact room swung open.

“Hey baby!” Willow greeted her cheerfully.

Tara reluctantly opened her eyes and smiled and the redhead who leant casually against the doorframe.