Kianne's Journal - Archive

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[7/10/2004]

Before leaving to confront Jarred, Andrella convinced me to contact the Time Lord.

I wasn't exactly sure what we could learn from him, but at the very least we could warn him that we wouldn't be able contact him for very much longer.

So we went to my house, where we sat down at my table. I was still feeling weak, but I tried to push it to the back of my mind whenever possible. Still, as I put the hourglass on the table, I warned Andrella, "I am not responsible for misdirected calls."

She laughed.

I managed to dredge up the strength to focus enough to activate the hourglass. And sure enough, the Time Lord's voice is what responded.

"Greetings, Avatar. Our time begins."

"Greetings," I responded in a tired voice. "I'd say good day, but it isn't."

"Greetings, Time Lord," Andrella chimed in.

"Salutations, Andrella." I'm sort of glad the lord of time can nevertheless appreciate the fine art of wasting it.

"You probably know what's going on over here..." I began.

"There was a break in the barrier, but it is okay now."

"Yeah, but is Jarred a daemon or what?" I asked crossly. "This is starting to get out of hand..." Andrella snickered at my bluntness. I sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

"What is important is that you try your best, as you always have. Rely on Andrella's help; you do not have to do it alone."

I hate these non-answers. Since I couldn't formulate a proper response to that (at least not one I could say out loud), I temporarily changed the subject. "Oh, and I wanted to warn you that this may be one of the last times that we can enchant the hourglass."

Andrella joined in. "You mentioned short bursts in the barrier. Will that continue as long as the core is together?"

"And will my head keep hurting?" I muttered under my breath.

"Nystul will work diligently to prevent that," the Time Lord explained. No word on whether he would succeed or not...

"What is the generator?" Andrella pressed.

"Is it anything like the Guardian's?" I chimed in.

"You will uncover many truths and discover many lies."

Andrella wasn't about to take that as an answer. "Kianne is suffering from fatigue. We were wondering if that had anything to do with the generator."

"As long as she remains immortal, her power cannot be exhausted."

Great, pondering that one is going to keep me up all night at a time when I really could use some sleep.

Andrella shifted course. "Are you aware of Kilmas's state?"

"Save Kilmas at all costs."

I figured. Big player.

"How was Xavier able to track him?" she persisted.

"The same spells Mondain uses to track me."

Now there was an interesting answer. Is it because both the Time Lord and Kilmas have powers relating to time? Or are Xavier and Mondain using time magic somehow?

"Do you know of Kilmas's condition? Is he okay?" Andrella desperately tried to get in as many questions as possible as I watched the sand drain from the hourglass.

"You will prevail," were the Time Lord's final words. "Do not give in. Our time is up. Farewell."

"Farewell," we echoed, but didn't feel well at all.

I folded my arms on the table and laid my head on them for a few minutes. Finally I shoved myself to my feet. "Okay, rested." Upon Andrella's questioning look, I added, "Until we find out what's wrong with me, we'll just have to keep moving forward."

She couldn't argue with that.

"Thing is," I went on before she could say anything, "while I am not afraid of going in to fight Jarred...he did mention the core, did he not?"

Andrella nodded. "He said to bring the core."

"Here's my thought. They might have something set up that will somehow react to the core. Or the core will react to it. Obviously he wants the core there for a reason..."

"I wonder if it's the generator that will notice it," Andrella mused.

"It could be he just wants us to give it to him." I shrugged with a weary sigh. "Who knows. Maybe he is just playing mind games, and wants us to leave it behind so he can steal it while we're gone."

"The Time Lord didn't help us much did he?" Andrella commented.

I grimaced. "He doesn't unless he sees a specific need to. Otherwise he leaves the rest to fate or something."

"Well, I'm tired of feeling bad about this. It's time to take control," Andrella decided. I nodded in agreement. "We have two hours..."

I considered it. "Yew Passage. Can we walk there in two hours?"

"One way to find out." Andrella started for the door.

"Hold up," I requested, digging out my map. "Which one's Yew Passage? I wish my mind was working..."

She rejoined me. "I'm not sure where Yew Passage is exactly..."

I considered the map. "Is it aboveground? There is a passage in the mountains near Shame..."

"Come to think of it, I believe you are right."

"If it's that passage, I think we could do it in two hours," I decided, rolling up my map. "Start from Empath Abbey."

This time we both started for the door. "What's our plan?" Andrella asked.

I gave a wry chuckle. "Last I heard, there isn't a plan. We go in and hope the Virtues are enough."

We discussed bringing the moonblades with us--just in case. After all, Jarred may be a daemon. But we weren't sure on that point, and anyway, if we did bring the moonblades, we not only would have to walk to the passage, but we couldn't bring the invisibility cloaks with us, either.

Andrella sighed. "We're walking in on their terms."

I considered it for a moment. "Two hours. I wonder if I have time to run in there with the cloak and get back out."

"That's an idea," Andrella agreed. "How about this... We run in, check things out, then run back to the bank to get our blades if needed. If it doesn't appear we'll need them, we step out of hiding and take care of business."

I should mention that I'd learned from Lord British the little trick for revealing oneself while wearing one of the cloaks of invisibility. It basically involves hitting yourself. Novel approach.

I concurred with her plan. "All right, let's hurry." And I formed a moongate to Empath Abbey.

We paused at the bank to retrieve the cloaks, then we got onto our mounts and galloped to the mountain passage that I had found on the map. When we were close enough that we could see the mouth of the passage, we established a telepathic link, put on the cloaks, and went in.

It became quickly obvious that this was the right place. Knights with golden cloaks stood guarding the entrance of a cave about halfway down the passage. Because of our incorporeal nature, Andrella and I were able to simply walk right through them and enter the cavern undetected.

Inside were even more knights. I counted at least twenty of them. The cave wasn't very large. At the end was a small campfire where Jarred waited. Seated in chairs facing the wall were his two captives. They were tied to the chairs and gagged. A row of floor spikes, of all things, barred them off from the rest of the room.

"Not very encouraging odds," I commented silently to Andrella. If only we could simply jump in, grab Kilmas and Sami, and run out...

But that wouldn't do, because Andrella was determined to put a stop to Jarred once and for all. We would have to fight his knights then too. But still...

With pounding hearts, we rapidly debated our options. "What the heck," I said to her finally. "There are only about three knights in this room. Why don't we just reveal ourselves and attack? At the very least we should take them by surprise. And it'd be easier than going in the front door." Do the unexpected.

She agreed. I suggested that Andrella try to distract our enemies and keep them busy while I went for Sami and Kilmas. But at this point she reminded me of her Knights of Valence back at the Keep. They hadn't come with us because we only had two invisibility cloaks. Did we want to try to take on all of Jarred's forces alone?

My first thought was that we could cast Mark, then Recall back to the Keep to get the knights and open a gate. But I wasn't sure if casting Mark would reveal us. And then my brain kicked into gear and the obvious solution finally occurred to me. "Recall back to the Keep," I told Andrella. "I'll stay here and open a gate to the Keep using the Orb. You and the knights can then come through from that side."

Right about then, Jarred finished his meal and got to his feet. Dusting off his hands, he walked over to check on his captives. Because I was standing right near them, that put him within an arm's reach of me. I saw Jarred pull out a sword and polish it while standing well within their line of sight, teasing them with its fiery edge. Kilmas and Sami shivered in fear.

Afraid Jarred was about to do something terrible, I urged Andrella, "Go, hurry!"

As it turned out, she was already in motion. I couldn't see her because she was invisible, but Andrella was at that moment running out of the cave so that she could get out her runebook and cast Recall.

When she was in position, she sent me a mental note to let me know that she was ready.

I had positioned myself just outside the floor spikes barrier that was surrounding the captives. Without further delay, I activated the Orb and a red moongate sprang into existence.

Jarred jumped to attention immediately. "Knights!" he called to his forces.

Andrella and her knights poured from the gate, and pandemonium erupted immediately. Meanwhile, I went for the chairs. I had to reveal myself in order to be able to touch the ropes and untie the prisoners. As soon as I became visible, I whispered condolences to Kilmas and Sami as I knelt by their chairs and worked at the knots.

They were watching with a mix of fear and hope, but I think it was mostly fear.

Jarred must have given his knights specific instructions, because before I could barely touch the ropes, the gold-cloaked knights were already converging on me. Jarred himself swerved away from Andrella and arrowed straight for me. "Get them!!" he bellowed, his katana lifted high.

I jumped backward immediately, lest Kilmas and Sami become collateral damage. Andrella leaped in Jarred's path, and I ducked a sword swing from another knight. The room was filling up far more quickly than I had anticipated as knights responded to Jarred's shout of alarm.

Throwing a quick "Hang on!" to the captives, I pulled out my bow. "All right, if that's the way you want to do it...!"

As it turned out, I ended up engaged in very little attacking, myself, but instead I kept firing arrows of Compassion at my allies. Unfortunately this meant it was difficult for me to defend, because I had no way to hold a shield. After a thought I put on Kilmas's amulet of nine lives. If there was ever a time to use it, it was here.

It didn't take me long to realize that Jarred's knights were using spells. I didn't know whether they were casting off scrolls or what, but the end result was the same. So I began throwing Humility into the mix. Every few seconds, I would recharge my bow with the Stone of Humility and shoot Andrella and any other ally in my line of sight. This replaced their magic reflection barriers. Since each barrier lasted for only one spell, I had to keep reapplying them. The end result was that spells were literally flying all over the place, because half of the spells Jarred's knights cast were rebounded right back into their faces.

The fighting was brutal. Even with the Virtues' enhancements, Jarred's knights were making a dent. I used up seven lives on the necklace just that night alone. Andrella only went down once or twice, but I brought her back immediately using my Staff of Resurrection and Life. I was going to use the Stone of Sacrifice, but since it wasn't fully tested, I decided now wasn't a good time to be using Andrella as a guinea pig. So I used the staff for the time being.

In all of the mess, I did briefly consider using the Stone of Justice and just zapping all of Jarred's forces out of there. But I discarded the idea almost instantly. Who could say if the Yew Jail was powerful enough to hold Jarred's knights. What would happen if I suddenly sent twenty-five very angry knights into a cramped jail cell?

Gradually, very gradually, Jarred's forces began to dwindle. I even saw a couple of dark wisps. What were they doing here? But I didn't have time to question. I was too busy trying to keep track of my allies, and trying to avoid hitting my enemies with my beneficial arrows--now there was a new one.

"This is insane!" Jarred growled as the battle wore on and we were still standing.

"Sorry we didn't stop to chat," I smirked grimly as I danced away from a knight's sword.

Another knight of Jarred's bit the dust at Andrella's blade. "Pathetic weaklings!" the gold knight yelled in fury at his own troops.

But it didn't improve matters for him.

Andrella's own knights held their own valiantly, but Andrella had given them orders to fall back and escape should they come near death. She didn't wish them to give their lives and fight to the death, although I am sure they would have for her sake if she had asked it of them.

As it was, Jarred lasted until the end, when it was just him, Andrella, and me. When he realized this, Jarred raced across the room to Kilmas and Sami. "Don't move or I'll kill them!" he called, hovering his Fire katana over their frightened forms.

Andrella turned to face him. "No, you won't."

"Not while Andrella's here," I chimed in with a small smirk.

"So you think it will be that easy?" Jarred countered, glaring daggers at Andrella. He seemed almost crazed. "You think you can measure my strength by those pathetic knights? You really think you, a star mage, can kill a great knight like me?"

"She's fought you once," I pointed out helpfully.

Jarred scoffed. "Well, my skill is far beyond then, the last time we...met."

"And what makes you think ours isn't?" I countered with a grin. Keep him talking, and he won't think to lower that sword blade...

"It's obvious. You only came to save the prisoners. You didn't come to fight."

"No, that's not the only reason I am here," Andrella countered cooly. "You owe me, Jarred."

He smirked at her. "Do you really want to end up like your father?"

"My father wasn't even prepared to fight you. You lack any honor."

Jarred laughed. "Did you know that I killed your mother as well?"

I tried to inch toward Kilmas and Sami without him noticing.

"You should have died a long time ago," Jarred went on. "I came to finish you. I knew the only way you would come would be to take them." He gestured at the captives with a derisive jerk of his sword.

"Well, you don't know much, then," Andrella responded. "All you had to do is show up."

"You have no honor," Jarred spat. "You ran away from your home. From me. You could have faced me a long time ago. You knew where I was."

"You tried to kill me, along with my parents," she retorted.

"Nice honorable way to kill someone: setting their house on fire while they sleep," I joined in.

"How is that honor!?" Andrella agreed.

"While they sleep?" Jarred echoed. "Is that the story she tells?" He laughed.

"It's the truth!" Andrella countered. "I was there!"

"Your father was a murderer," Jarred said dismissively. "Your mother was wench."

"What did you just say!?" Andrella's fury meter was going through the roof again.

"I only said the truth."

Andrella's voice reached a dangerous level. "You want to know the truth, Jarred? Do you!?" She gripped her sword and shield and leaped forward. "The truth is you're dead!!"

Jarred moved to counter her attack, finally leaving his captives. I jumped over the floor spikes barrier and positioned myself protectively in front of their chairs, but for the moment, I had to focus on the battle with Jarred instead of them. I was the last line of defense. I took out my bow and gripped it tightly in my hand.

But, as usual, Andrella didn't even need my help. Although she was taking some damage, she was beating down Jarred much more quickly. He made a sort of gargled sound when he finally crumpled to the ground.

Andrella stood over his battered body, trembling with anger. Jarred was either dead or almost dead. I turned and pulled out a sword to began sawing at the ropes binding Kilmas and Sami to their chairs.

I heard Jarred's voice behind me, spoken in broken breaths. "You...are indeed strong..."

"Where is Xavier?" Andrella snapped in a no-nonsense tone.

"Oh..." he laughed weakly. "You..made a serious mistake..."

Andrella glared at him. "You still threaten me? Even now?"

"You..could have died..at my hand..." He broke off for a moment, fighting for breath to speak. "Instead...you choose to unleash my true anger..." Jarred coughed. "Curse you, Andrella Valence... We will meet again..."

"Who? D'raj?" Andrella asked, but it was too late. Jarred's body seemed to turn ashen, as if he was dissolving into sand.

I removed the gags from Kilmas and Sami as well. "Let's get out of here. Are you two all right? We're sorry about all this..."

"Kilmas! Sami!" Andrella called at almost exactly the same moment as she ran over to them. "Are you okay!?"

I helped Sami to stand, and she fell into my arms, sobbing incoherently. I held her comfortingly. Meanwhile, Kilmas was getting up as well, and he stumbled across the floor spikes without even waiting for Andrella to help him, tearing a gash in his leg in the process. "Kilmas!" Andrella gasped, grabbing him into a hug.

"Okay, here we go, across the spikes," I encouraged Sami, and I lifted her up and carried her over the trap, putting her feet back on the ground on the other side.

Kilmas was crying in Andrella's arms. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" he kept repeating.

"Let's go," I urged, using one hand to open a moongate with the Orb.

I helped Sami through, and Andrella supported Kilmas. When we were back at the Keep, we assisted our charges indoors and seated them on the new benches in the main hall. I sat down next to Sami, and Andrella knelt before Kilmas, and we began healing their numerous wounds. Jarred apparently hadn't treated them with any amount of respect...

It was rather ironic, then, that Andrella, Kilmas, and I were all trying to apologize at once.

"It's okay, Kilmas," Andrella assured him. "You're not in trouble."

Sami was slumped against my shoulder crying. When I finished healing her, I wrapped my arms around her and just held her. Words couldn't covey how awful I felt that she'd been dragged into all of this, so I could do nothing but hold her silently.

Andrella fetched some things to eat and passed it out to them. "Here is some food."

Kilmas accepted what was offered, but he seemed to be eating mechanically. Sami took a few hesitant bites, then asked worriedly, "Is my dad okay? What happened to the sages?"

Andrella and I exchanged glances. We hadn't yet gotten a final tally on the deaths at the Lycaeum.

"I'm not sure," Andrella said. "We should probably get you home."

"Did the knights kill everyone? Why did they do this?" Sami asked plaintively.

Because they wanted Kilmas, popped into my head. But I didn't say it out loud. Andrella's answer was less blunt.

"Because they wanted to hurt me and Kianne by taking you prisoner. Both of you."

It was as if she'd read my thoughts.

"Are they gone now?" Sami persisted. "Are they coming back?"

Andrella sighed. "I'm not sure of that either. We need to be sure you are at a safe place. Kilmas, Xavier tracked you down. Do you know how he did that?"

Kilmas lifted his head. "My father?" he asked blankly.

She nodded. "And it wasn't to be reunited with you, as you can see."

"I don't know. The same way you did?" Kilmas guessed. Before she could respond, he went on immediately, "It wasn't me. I swear I didn't do it."

"No, Kilmas, it's okay," Andrella assured him. "I wasn't trying to say..."

"It's not something you did, it's something he did," I pointed out.

"I know, but he came for me," Kilmas lamented. "I'm sorry, Sami."

"It's my fault," Andrella broke in instantly.

"No place will be safe until we can shield you from that somehow," I murmured.

Sami turned to look at the mage. "So the knights only came for you, Kilmas?"

"They came for you and Kilmas," Andrella answered for him. "Because they knew that would get Kianne and myself there to save you."

Sami wrapped her arms around herself. "I was so scared..."

"I'm sorry...to both of you," Andrella said.

"I'm sorry you were targeted," I agreed. "And I'm afraid...you may have to stay hidden for a while, Sami..."

"Hide? What about my father?"

"He can go with you, of course," Andrella replied.

I winced at another spike of pain. It's funny, while we were fighting Jarred's forces, I barely noticed the weakness or the flashes. But now was another story. Still, I shoved it out of my mind and tried my best not to let it show.

"We can go check on him now, in fact," I suggested, getting to my feet.

"Why don't you take Sami home," Andrella suggested to me, "and I will stay here with Kilmas."

I agreed and motioned for Sami to follow me. As she stood up, Kilmas suddenly spoke from the side, "I'm sorry, Sami..."

She looked over her shoulder. "Kilmas... it's okay."

Kilmas seemed at a loss for words.

I left him in Andrella's care and walked out of the Keep with Sami. "Thank you for saving me," she said when we were outside.

"Of course," I told her, giving her a brief hug before I formed a moongate to the Lycaeum. I didn't have coordinates for her house.

"Where do you think your father is?" I asked once we were on the other side. I glanced up at the sky, wondering what time it was.

And when I looked back down I realized we were surrounded by sages. They were talking at once, asking if Sami was okay, and thanking me a hundred times for saving her. I felt sheepish, as if I should be saying it was half my fault that she'd gotten into the mess to begin with.

"Is Kilmas all right?" someone asked.

"He is safe with Andrella," I assured the crowd.

The next second, Tomas was pushing through the group. He immediately embraced a weeping Sami, hugging her tightly. "Thank you so much, Avatar!"

I watched with a content smile. He was safe, and so were the other sages. Jarred hadn't done too much damage. Then, the smile left my face as I warned Tomas that he and Sami should stay out of sight for a little while, just in case.

Tomas nodded. "She won't be leaving my side for some time to come," he joked. Sami laughed.

I chucked, apologized to Sami again, and wished them well.

Sami paused to give me one last hug. "Kilmas was working so hard," she mentioned sadly. "He feels so bad for all of this."

"It'll all be okay again soon," I promised her with a confident smile. I took out the Orb and waved.

"Be careful, Kianne!" Sami called as she waved back from Tomas's protective side. The other sages also bid me farewell, wearing thankful and grateful smiles.

"Take care!" I urged them, and formed a moongate.

When I arrived back at the Keep, the entire place was silent. I found Andrella in Kilmas's bedroom. She was standing by his bed, watching Kilmas sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face.

"Poor guy," she murmured to me quietly when she saw me. "He was wiped out."

I just nodded. She gestured and the two of us walked silently from the room and up the stairs. "We will have much to talk about tomorrow," she commented, and I agreed with another nod.

Someone knocked, and we discovered Dupré at the front door. "How are you?" the paladin asked as we invited him in.

Despite our victory, I was feeling rather exhausted. "Do you want the truth, or the feel-good answer?" I teased him. He laughed.

"I heard about Sami," Dupré said. News travels fast. "Is Kilmas okay?"

We nodded. "He's sleeping now."

"British will be relieved to learn," he smiled.

"Can you do us a favor and report to him for us?" I asked Dupré a little sheepishly. I wasn't sure I felt up to making the trip tonight. Not only was it already after 2 o'clock in the morning and we hadn't slept, but whatever was affecting me was wiping me out.

"Of course," Dupré agreed.

"Oh, and may as well enchant the hourglass too," I realized, digging it out. "Oh, but I'll need to gather the reagents. Never mind, I'll do it tomorrow. I'm too tired to think straight tonight."

Dupré reached for the hourglass. "Let me take care of that."

I blinked. "You sure?"

"I carried a skiff; I can find some reagents," he laughed, and I snickered.

"I'll pay you back," I promised with a weary smile.

But he waved away the offer. "British, Nystul, and Shamino have discussed for hours the words of Maharba," Dupré mentioned instead.

"Any new thoughts on the matter?" I asked. "I've been chasing my thoughts in circles."

Before he answered, Dupré verified, "So Jarred was defeated?" When we nodded, he added, "And the knights?"

"At least the ones he had," I responded. "Which seemed like a gazillion. And black wisps. Where have we seen those before?"¹ I asked rhetorically with a slight groan.

"Caton spoke of the Valencian knights like they were invincible," Dupré commented. "I told him, Andrella and Kianne are invincibler."

We laughed. "Andrella is," I teased. "I'm not so sure about myself."

"You did great, Kianne," she responded instantly. "I wasn't sure how long you could hold out. You look quite exhausted now."

I dropped my head onto the table with another groan. "That's an understatement."

"But you were giving it 110 percent," she smiled.

"I used up seven lives," I muttered. "Felt like I was hacking a brick wall..."

Dupré blinked. "Kianne, are you ill?"

"I don't know if you'd call it 'ill'..."

"Here, some tonic," he said, and handed me a spiced ale. I laughed.

"I think that might make my headache worse."

"Mind if I drink it, then?" Dupré asked.

I laughed again. "Feel free." Dupré popped the cork and gulped it down like water. I can't even drink soda like that. "I wonder if we could find this generator thing..."

"Gorjez might know of a generator..?" Andrella suggested.

"It's worth a shot." I propped my chin into my hands. "But you know what I don't get? If this is the generator's fault, why were they worried that I might feel it? It's not like I can trace it or anything..."

Nobody had an answer to that. "But you know what else I heard?" Dupré asked finally. "There's some pirate in Buc's Den that sells Batlin's magic Materia."

I smirked slightly. "Sells them, huh?"

"That Materia is getting popular with the pirates."

"They can release the Elements?" Andrella asked.

"Release the Elements?" Dupré echoed with a chuckle. "Have you been hanging around Batlin?"

I laughed, but Andrella asked seriously, "What are they using the Materia for, then?"

"The pirates put the things on their blades," Dupré explained.

"But that's not what I did," I murmured. Absently, I took out a Materia of Lightning and set it on the table. It was glowing brightly.

"Amazing," Dupré said, gazing at it. "So what is it? That's not the Materia Batlin has."

"I shifted this one," I explained. "Or whatever it's called." I gave a sheepish grin.

He blinked. "So you have your power back?"

I shook my head. "It felt like it at first, but I still can't cast anything. But what I think ended up happening is, I somehow absorbed the Fire Materia into my body. Can't cast with it, but it affects weapons nicely."

Dupré gazed at me. "Is that...good?"

"Sure!" I grinned. "Except I have a feeling I won't like Ice very much. This much attunement to a single Element has drawbacks..."

"Ice, huh?" the paladin repeated. "Who would want to deal with that?"

I looked at Andrella and grinned. She looked at Dupré and grinned.

Dupré took another look and did a double-take. "What the--!"

"She tried one," I offered. "Now we just have to be careful not to hit each other." I winked.

"Tried one?" Dupré repeated, and chuckled. "Andrella, I thought you knew better than to 'try' Kianne's ideas."

I laughed so hard my lungs started hurting.

"I made her try it first," Andrella winked.

Dupré finished off his ale. "Nystul asked us if we noticed the fire in your eyes and asked if you were evil." He laughed at his own words.

"Oh, he noticed?" I smirked.

"Yeah, but he didn't want to say it in front of you."

I shrugged a little. "You know me... I like it. It's a bit more specialized than I'm used to, but I like it anyway."

Dupré pointed out, "Well, if it helped you beat the Destroyer, it can't be that bad."

I winked. "There you go."

We discussed Maharba and the daemons for a little while. "When you think about it, we're back to square one," I sighed finally.

"But we're ready to help...once we know what to do," Dupré offered.

"Thanks," I smiled weakly.

"I hope you feel better soon," he said to me as he made ready to leave.

"Me too," I grimaced. "Take care."

He waved. "Farewell."

The only other thing to report is that Starfire and Lita got back to us. As Shamino had told us, they had been spying on Maharba by our request when the earthquake had hit. They didn't have much to add over Shamino's story, except that the two of them had seen something that Shamino had not. Before the earthquake, they had actually gotten close enough to Maharba's house to look inside. And they had seen Maharba stitching up Vevilia's face...all the while the woman just stood there and did nothing. Apparently, that sight alone was almost enough to send them running away, never to return.

I still wish we knew what was up with Vevilia...

But now all we can do is try to accomplish what we can while waiting for Maharba to return. We need to keep the moonblades as secret as we can, since if Maharba finds out about them, I doubt he will face us. We need to find out what we can about the generator, the comet, and anything else for that matter. We need to finish the shrines. And we need to keep on the lookout for any sign of Jarred or any of his knights that might be remaining.

I sure hope Maharba returns soon, so that we can get him out of the way. Or, assuming he isn't at the soul stones chamber, perhaps we can find the way to get to him...

---

[7/16/2004]

Andrella thought this morning to finally have that talk with Kilmas that she'd been wanting to do. Together we walked down to the main room, which had a new addition--Andrella had gathered up Jarred's golden armor and set it up in a display. She'd also claimed his Fire katana for herself.

I was still feeling lousy despite the night's rest, but I had an idea to perhaps try to determine the direction from where the weakness was originating. If this is the fault of the generator, then maybe I could trace it down somehow?

I had my eyes closed, concentrating, when I was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door. Andrella's knight captain had come to report that the knights which had accompanied us to the battle with Jarred had all returned afflicted with a strange problem. It seemed they had all magically aged a few years. Nothing major, but definitely curious. Andrella said she would look into it and let her knights know what she found.

When the captain was gone, I commented with concern, "That's really strange. What would age them like that? It's not like they were casting time spells."

"Maybe it was their close proximity to something?" Andrella suggested musingly.

I wracked my brain. "Or... I was using the invoked Compassion on them," I pointed out. "But I do that to you all the time, and it doesn't affect you. Never did, even before you were immortal."

"We'll figure it out," she smiled.

But I was still worried. "Should we look into that now? I'd thought maybe we could do a shrine..."

"We can take care of it later," Andrella responded. "I was actually wanting to ask Kilmas a few questions."

Upon hearing his name, the mage lifted his head, having sat silently through the captain's visit. "You know...I should probably talk to Hawkwind about this."

"We already did," Andrella said.

"He said my father would never find me here," Kilmas persisted. "Was he wrong?"

Good question.

Andrella glanced at him. "Have you done anything that could get your father's attention?"

Kilmas gulped guiltily and looked at the floor. "N-No."

"Kilmas," I sighed.

"I didn't do anything," he protested.

"Kilmas, I need your help." Andrella knelt down in front of him. "You need to be honest with me. I won't be mad."

"We can't protect you if we don't know what happened," I pointed out.

Kilmas looked at us, then dropped his gaze again, kicking his legs nervously. "I tried... to.. contact my father," he whispered finally.

Andrella looked about as stunned as I felt. "...Why?" she asked finally.

"I...miss him, sort of..." I wondered silently how Kilmas could miss someone like that, but I guess it has to do with family ties. "Maybe Jarred made him do all those bad things," he suggested, forever trying to see good in his father.

Andrella sighed. "Kilmas, you don't know what happened back then. You don't understand the choices that your father made."

The reoccurring sharp pain struck me between the eyes. I rubbed my temples and just remained silent, listening.

"Did you know, when your father was young..." Andrella went on. "Well, it was speculated that he injured himself in order to gain the throne rather than lead the knights."

"I heard the rumors," Kilmas said. "But it didn't matter to me. He is still the king."

"Did you know that he ordered Jarred to burn my house down? To kill me, my father, and my mother?"

I hadn't thought about Xavier being the one who had ordered it. But I knew Jarred had done the deed.

"Jarred was a bad guy," Kilmas agreed. "I think he killed my mother."

"Jarred didn't," Andrella said flatly, then sighed, apparently deciding not to elaborate on that point. "Jarred is an evil man--being, whatever--but Xavier has to be just as bad to work with him. Xavier and Jarred, together destroyed Valencia. We can't ever go back because of them."

"I helped them..." Kilmas whispered.

"What?"

"It was my spells that helped destroy it... But it was my father who made me. Maybe Jarred is making him."

"Kilmas," Andrella said seriously, "You are a very special person...a star mage. You have the magic of time and devastating spells. But you were too young to know better. And I'm sure all you wanted to do was get Xavier's approval. I know how that feels."

Kilmas sighed sadly.

I finally decided to speak up. "How did you try to contact him? Maybe it'll be useful."

Kilmas shrugged. "It didn't work. I tried some magic reagents and a crystal ball. But there is a barrier surrounding this place." Yeah, Nystul's. "I could hear him... screaming my name... like he was...mad."

"I bet he is, Kilmas," Andrella responded. "You were freed from his evil."

Another knock on the front doors interrupted the conversation. When Andrella opened the door, my first impression was black armor and a red cape, which rather reminded me of the Order of Sin. But it wasn't. It was Saitor.

I shoved myself to my feet. "What brings you out here?"

"I heard you had some scuffles last night," Saitor commented cheerfully as he came in. He saw the golden suit of armor and whistled. "Got a nice one there, eh?"

Before any of us even had a chance to respond, he went on, "Is this whole place made of marble? No wonder you don't have the money to afford a decent smith shop."

Andrella crossed her arms, a faintly amused expression on her face. "So did you come by to gawk or...did you have a reason?"

"Just checking in," Saitor explained. "Don't be a jerk like Caton."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Saitor didn't respond. "You know, if you ever need the help of the Silver Serpents, call me."

"Aye, I know."

I winced at another flash of pain. Saitor glanced at me. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I fibbed.

"You look like a ghost." He reached out to me, and I ruefully tapped his arm with a nice solid finger.

"See? Not a ghost."

"She has a cold," Andrella spoke up.

"Just feeling a bit under the weather today," I chimed in.

"A bit?" Saitor shrugged. "I'd hate to see your face when you are sick."

"Now are you done insulting her?" Andrella asked pointedly.

Saitor glanced back at the golden armor. "Man, that's nice," he said, and poked at it. The figure's axe swung downward on a hinge and slammed into the ground with a clang. Saitor just barely jumped out of the way in time. Andrella snickered.

"How much?" he asked suddenly.

Andrella blinked. "Not for sale."

"Name your price," he persisted. "Five thousand? Ten?"

"Well, I might let it go for...eight billion," Andrella suggested as a joke.

"Deal," Saitor responded.

"What!?" Andrella cried.

"Do you take payments?"

"I want to see the gold first," Andrella laughed.

"I don't have that kind of cash on me."

"I wouldn't think."

"You know I'm good for it."

Andrella snickered. "I do?"

Saitor exhaled and crossed his arms. "Okay, I have to be honest. There isn't 8 bil in this world."

"Then I guess it's not for sale," I chuckled.

"Anyway." Saitor shrugged and turned toward the door. "Need any help, give a call."

I found it a rather odd offer, but I didn't dwell on it at the time.

"So what were you saying about Caton?" Andrella asked as he started to leave.

Saitor paused to glance over his shoulder. "He's a jerk, is all. I told him that to his face too. So don't go running to him and tattling."

"At least you are honest," I smirked.

"And you're not?" he retorted.

"Who said anything about tattling?" Andrella broke in. "I just thought a story would be involved. Sheesh. You need to relax a bit."

"No," Saitor responded, "but maybe you want to tell me what you were doing in jail the other day?"

I snickered. That had been a result of our experiment with the Stone of Justice. Apparently the stone itself is indiscriminate, leaving it up to the wielder when to put it into proper practice.

Of course, we'd explained it was an accident to the jail officials, and they'd let her go without complaint. But we weren't about to go into details with Saitor.

"And how would you know anything about that?" Andrella grinned.

"Do you think I live in a box?" Saitor scoffed.

I was tempted to get out the Stone of Justice and ask him if he wanted a demonstration. But that wouldn't be right.

"Actually," Andrella finished, "it was a little mishap. I didn't get into trouble."

"Right." Saitor eyed us, then gave a shrug. "Never can tell," he said, and walked out the door. "See ya."

We stood in silence for a few moments after he was gone. "That was interesting," Andrella chuckled finally. "Now, where were we?"

"Is he a jerk?" Kilmas asked suddenly. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

Andrella looked at him with a slight smirk. "Was that a question?"

I sat down on a bench sideways so I could see them to talk with them. I was feeling too weary to continue to stand.

Kilmas glanced at the floor. "Is that what people think of me..?"

I blinked in surprise, but realized I would have no idea how to answer. Luckily for me, Andrella was there. "Well," she said carefully, "sometimes when you act arrogant...that's what they see."

Kilmas seemed to be seriously thinking about it. "You know," he murmured finally, "I just really wanted to change things. The Tome--I think I changed the future. This stuff never happened. Jarred never came here."

"Then we changed things," I smiled, getting out the Tome of Stars on an inspiration and flipping idly through the blank pages.

"Well, in your future, did I wear the Core of Immortality?" Andrella asked.

"Yeah, you did," Kilmas responded, rather surprising me. But at the same time, I was reminded of something else.

"Hey, Andrella, I bet you could hold this now," I said, holding out the Tome of Stars and the Staff of Time to her.

She took them and turned pages much as I had.

"Did you hear me?" Kilmas asked. "Did you hear me?" he repeated. It seemed like an urgent question, but I couldn't fathom why.

"Aye," we told him.

Kilmas grinned. "Then it must have changed!"

Andrella caught on before I did. "I guess if you can say it, it happened, right?"

I scratched my head. "I'm not following."

"Remember when he said?" Andrella asked me. "He couldn't say what the book said because it didn't actually happen?"

"I can't reveal the future," Kilmas agreed.

That sounded like silly logic to me. "And just what is preventing you?"

"The future can't form into words until after the fact." Andrella shrugged.

Trying to make sense of that made my head hurt.

"Well...let me see," Kilmas offered. "In the pages I read... the world was destroyed by K'mosh..."

"K'mosh?" I repeated in surprise. "Hsomk?" I'd never heard that name before. And not the Guardian? Or Mondain?

Kilmas bounced up and down happily. "You can hear me!"

I still didn't get it. But Andrella went on to slightly change the subject. "Kilmas, you will have to teach me how to use these," she said, holding up the tome and the staff. "Like I teach you swords," she added with a grin.

"I will!" he agreed heartily. "That already changed a lot. I had the tome last time and things got bad. Real bad."

"Well, we'll fix that," I grinned.

"Hawkwind was right," Kilmas said. "You are keeping me safe."

We smiled.

"I have to teach you how to read the last pages," Kilmas added thoughtfully. "I never got there. I quit because I was scared."

I remembered what Minax had said. "Does the Tome have more secrets beyond showing the future?"

Kilmas moved his lips, but no words came out. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm," he frowned.

"I guess you can't say that part yet?" Andrella snickered.

"I guess not..."

"This doesn't make any sense," I grumbled.

"Andrella has to read it for herself," Kilmas finally settled with. "I can't tell her."

I crossed my arms irritably. "But of course, even after Andrella finds out, she won't be able to tell anyone else," I pointed out logically. "So the information won't do any good unless she can act on it all by herself."

Andrella nodded in agreement, but Kilmas dismissed it. "Don't worry. You don't have to do anything, Kianne. You're just a nobody."

"Kilmas!" Andrella let out.

Kilmas looked apologetic immediately--apologetic that he'd made Andrella angry at him, at any rate. "I meant she wasn't important," he tried to explain.

I decided prudently to stay out of this discussion.

"That's not any better!" Andrella rolled her eyes, then glared at him sternly. "You're going to have to show Kianne some respect."

"What?" Kilmas asked impatiently. "How do I say it? I mean, she doesn't help. She can't."

"That's different," Andrella said. "You need to start thinking before you speak."

"She's not a star mage or anything. Just an extra burden for you to bear."

"That was a terribly rude thing to say!" Andrella growled at him. Kilmas cringed.

"Shall I go somewhere else?" I suggested helpfully.

"No, Kianne," Andrella responded without taking her eyes off Kilmas. "You need to apologize," she added to the mage. "And mean it!"

"I'm sorry. But I don't know why?"

At least he's honest.

Andrella sighed heavily. "Because you have insulted her. She is a great help to me and to this land. And she helped save your hide."

Kilmas shook his head. "Did she beat Jarred?" he muttered under his breath, but Andrella heard him. So did I, for that matter.

"Did she untie you?" Andrella countered with a smirk.

A rather untimely knocking coming from the front of the keep freed Kilmas from having to worry about an answer. Andrella straightened up and tossed a glance at the doors. "Ugh, it's busy today."

"I'll be right back," Kilmas said, and headed for the stairs. Probably fleeing before he said anything else that got him into trouble.

Andrella sighed at Kilmas, then went over to answer the door.

"Caton! Hail! Come in!"

"Greetings," the guard smiled as he entered the front hall. I was surprised to see him here, but then, I hadn't expected Saitor to drop by either.

"You have a very serious force on your island here," Caton added. "Well laid out."

"Thank you," Andrella smiled. "That means a lot coming from a guard of your caliber."

Caton paused to stare for a moment at the golden armor on display. "Thank you," he said finally.

"So what do we owe this pleasure?" Andrella added.

He finally turned back to her. "Andrella, I am sorry I come with serious business."

"Oh?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Aye, I need to discuss the role of the Guard and some issues with your knights..."

I frowned in surprise. What could Andrella's knights have possibly done to encroach on the Guard?

"I'm sorry to have to bring this up," Caton finished. "Is there a place we can speak privately?"

Before Andrella could respond, he turned to look at me. "Oh, and by the way, Kianne, Nystul was looking for you this morning."

"He was?" I echoed, surprised again. I sure hope it wasn't to give me something. I might not see it for another year. "I'll go see him, thanks."

Caton nodded and looked back at Andrella. "Where can we discuss this?"

"We can come up here," she offered, gesturing toward the stairs.

I was feeling distinctly put off by Caton, like he was trying to politely say he didn't want me around. "I'll go to the castle while you do that," I offered.

"Okay, thanks Ki," Andrella replied, then gestured for Caton to follow her.

I turned and walked outside of the keep before forming a moongate to Lord British's castle. I hoped that whatever problems there were, Andrella could resolve them quickly.

Inside, the throne room was empty. I paused to ask a guard if he knew where Nystul was.

"Nystul is slumbering in the chambers south," the guard responded.

"Oh, he's asleep?" I asked in surprise.

"You are welcome to wake him, Avatar," the guard smiled.

But would he welcome it? I thanked the guard and wandered off toward the south. There are only two bedrooms there, and one of them was empty. The door was closed on the other.

I stopped at the door for a moment to ponder whether I should just let him sleep. But what if it was urgent? I sighed and knocked lightly, then quietly slipped the door open when there was no answer.

Nystul was snoring on the bed. He was still wearing his robes; it seemed the only thing he'd removed before laying down was his hat.

"Nystul?" I asked hesitantly. No response. I sighed, finally deciding it could wait, and turned to leave.

The door squeaked and Nystul bolted out of the bed. "Huh!? What's all this commotion!?"

I was halfway out the door by that point. I paused to turn back. "Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you..."

Nystul blinked at me, then jumped. "I'm not dressed!" he wailed, scrambling for the dresser. "Don't stare at me!"

I faced away from him without argument as Nystul dug out his hat and positioned it on his head. "Well, come in. You already saw me in my skivvies."

Turning back, I shut the door and leaned my back on it, deciding not to comment on his balding head. "I heard you were looking for me?"

"What?" he asked blankly. "What for?"

I had come prepared with a large supply of patience. "I don't know. That's why I'm here."

"You look a little under the weather," Nystul commented, eyeing me.

I wondered absently how bad I looked if everyone was saying that. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

I sighed. "Doesn't seem to help."

"Well, I didn't get any sleep!!" Nystul bellowed without warning. "Hope you enjoyed it!"

I winced. "Uh, what kept you up all night?"

"What kept me up? What kept me up!?" he repeated.

I nodded slowly.

"Making that blasted gem for Caton, that's what!"

"Gem?" I blinked.

"Where were you when I needed you!?" Nystul complained bitterly.

Now I was really confused. "Wha... Needed me for what?"

"I had to get all the components myself! 'Don't wake the Avatar, she's tired.' Blah, blah, blah!"

"What gem were you making?" I asked with a frown.

"The gem of imprisonment, of course!"

This still wasn't making any sense. I wondered if my condition was worse than I'd thought. "Imprisonment? Another one? For who?"

"For Caton! He has to finish what you were too tired to do!"

"What do you mean?" I asked him, confused.

"Catch that blasted gold knight you let get away! And you have the nerve to wake me up?"

I blinked at him. "Where is he now?"

Now Nystul looked confused. "Who?"

"The gold knight. We killed him, but..."

"That's not what Caton said. I had no time! I had to hurry! And it wasn't easy!"

"Actually, we think he may have been a daemon, but..." I scratched my head. Perhaps a gem of imprisonment wasn't a bad idea after all.

"Well, hope you enjoyed your sleep," Nystul grumbled.

I sighed. "Sorry, we didn't mean for him to get away."

"Well, you do look pretty ill," the mage commented with sudden thoughtfulness. "You have been working pretty hard I guess. You deserve a good night's sleep."

This surprised me almost more than the rest of the conversation. Nystul saying something kind about me? I decided not to push matters. "So Caton knows where Jarred is? To use the gem, I mean."

"Why are you asking me?" Nystul huffed. "Ask him... I wonder if he'll be half as rude!" He shook his head in disdain. "I'll tell you, I never talked to my elders like that. Caton is one rude guard. When Dupré ran the Guard..."

He sounded like he was gearing up for a major round of ranting and raving, and I didn't think I wanted to stand there and listen to it all. "Thanks for the work you did," I offered quickly, hoping to interrupt. "Was there anything else you needed to see me for?"

It worked, at least so much as to stop Nystul's ranting. "Yeah, lock the door on your way out and don't wake me!"

I chuckled. "All right. Good night, then." Even though it was going on afternoon.

"Good night," he grumbled as I closed the door behind me.

As I was shoving open the front doors of the keep, I could hear a distant incoherent yelp from Kilmas, then Caton's voice floated down from above. "Come out, come out! You can't hide from me!"

I entered the front hall and shook my head, wondering what in the world Kilmas had done to irritate Caton so much. Following the direction of the sounds, I started up the stairs and toward Kilmas's bedroom.

His room is on the first floor, but it is only accessible by a private stairway from the second floor. At the top of those stairs is a small room, which is where we'd set up my cot for when I sleep at the keep. I was just approaching the doorway to this room when Kilmas came bolting up the stairs from the bedroom. "Ahhh!!" he screamed, racing past me. "Kianne! Help me!!"

"Kianne!?" echoed Caton's voice from downstairs. As I blinked in confusion, he ran up the stairs, hot in pursuit. Only it wasn't Caton. This man was wearing a full suit of golden armor which, I realized later, was from the display stand on the first floor. I hadn't noticed it was missing as I'd come in.

Acting completely on instinct, I threw myself into the center of the doorway, my arms stretched wide, barring his way. "C-Caton?" I sputtered in surprise.

"Run!!" Kilmas yelled from behind me, tugging on my cloak.

The man in the armor laughed at my question darkly. "What do you think?"

It was Caton's voice, but not his inflection. This voice had taken on a biting, cruel tone.

Without giving me a chance to say any more, the man swung his halberd and struck me in the ribs, knocking me against the wall. Then he used his new opening to run past me and chase after Kilmas as the mage fled, screaming.

I realized with a dreadful sinking feeling what had happened. That wasn't Caton at all, but rather Jarred, who had somehow taken possession of his body. Why else would he be wearing the gold armor?

I turned and ran for the main hall, again following the sounds. Kilmas was racing around at seeming random, just going anywhere that wasn't in the direction of Caton--or, rather, Jarred. I managed to head the golden knight off at the main stairs.

"Get out of the way, Avatar!" he growled as Kilmas disappeared onto the second floor.

I pulled out my Fire sword (hoping my current Elemental attunement would give it an additional boost) and shield. "Stop!" I yelled back at him. "I'm warning you..."

"You can't save him," he retorted, trying to get around me.

I didn't want to hurt Caton, but there was no choice. I didn't pull any punches as I dove in and attacked him. "Kilmas, get out of here!" I yelled.

"How!?" I heard from upstairs as I chased Jarred across one set of stairs, over a banister, and to the other set of steps.

"Recall?" I suggested, swinging at Jarred with a wild sideways swipe, trying to do anything to keep him distracted from attacking Kilmas.

"I can't!" Kilmas protested in a voice that was just below a shriek. "I don't have any reagents!"

Jarred managed to get past me and started after Kilmas again. With a frightened cry, the star mage started running again. I madly chased after Jarred. After a bit of chaotic running around, I managed to lose Jarred and come across Kilmas again.

"Kilmas, where is Andrella?" I gasped.

"She's trapped!" he wailed.

"Where?" I asked hurriedly.

"In a gem!"

"WHAT!?"

Jarred found us at that moment and laughed evilly.

This was going from bad to worse. I threw Kilmas my pouch of reagents. "Use those and get out of here!"

Because of Jarred, Kilmas didn't have a chance to respond right at that moment, for he had to scramble back out of his reach. But a few seconds later I finally managed to corner the knight again.

"You think you can take me?" Jarred laughed as he paused in his pursuit of Kilmas to fight back. "You're going to die, Avatar! Just like I killed Andrella's mother!"

I winced as his halberd bit into me, flinging me against a wall again. Vaguely I heard Kilmas calling my name. What was he still doing here? Why hadn't he fled yet? I wiped my mouth and tasted blood. Jarred was right; I couldn't win this battle. The best I could hope for was to stay one step ahead of him, and keep him distracted until Kilmas could escape.

I just barely managed to duck under another halberd swing, and my ears rang with the sound of it striking the marble wall behind me. "Kilmas, go!" I yelled toward where I'd last heard his voice.

"I don't have a spellbook!" floated down to me.

"Oh, for..." I broke from Jarred and ran up the stairs, trying to find Kilmas. I couldn't just form a moongate with Gate Travel or the Orb; Jarred would simply follow us. "Kilmas, there's a moongate outside--go to Lord British's castle! Hurry!"

Kilmas started for the front stairs, but Jarred made it to them first, and with a scream of terror, Kilmas immediately turned around and ran the other way. The last I saw he was heading for Andrella's bedroom. And that was a dead end. He might be able to get out the window or something, but otherwise, he would be trapped in there...

I headed off Jarred, blocking his halberd blow with my shield. His next swing I wasn't successful in parrying, and it nearly sent me over the balcony. It was all I could do to regain my feet and dance away from him before he struck again.

Right around then I realized I was out of bandages. Great. I had no reagents, no bandages, no way to heal myself, and I was bleeding profusely.

As a last resort, I pulled out my bow and the Stone of Compassion. Channeling its power through the bow did refresh me, closing my wounds for the time being. Recovered enough to keep going, at least, I grabbed my sword again and dove in front of Jarred to keep him from going after Kilmas.

He laughed and beat me back until I was forced to split from him to give myself time to recover. Jarred circled around to approach Kilmas's hiding place from another angle, his target more Kilmas than me. I couldn't do it. I couldn't beat him. If I closed with him too much, he would simply kill me.

I dug desperately into the pouch I keep at my side. My fingers closed around the Stone of Justice.

Jarred headed for the stairs to Andrella's bedroom.

"You won't have him!" I yelled at Jarred, drawing forth my bow and taking aim with an arrow of green light.

He had just enough time to stop and glance back at me when I'd fired. The arrow struck home and Jarred vanished into a burst of light without a sound.

I dropped to my hands and knees, panting and huffing in exhaustion. But only for a moment. I'd just opened another can of worms, and I didn't know how much time we had.

Pulling myself up, I hurried down the stairs into Andrella's bedroom and found Kilmas hiding under the bed, crying. "Kilmas, it's me. Come out."

"Kianne?" he asked hesitantly, peering out.

I nodded. "He's gone, but probably not for long. Hurry now."

"I saw him!" Kilmas wailed. "He.. he .. he was... And Andrella..."

"I know, I'm sorry," I sighed.

"And then the gem..."

"Where's the gem?" I asked desperately. If Jarred had it...

"Um..." Kilmas shifted, then slowly crawled out from under the bed, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said again, "but we have to hurry."

He nodded and started up the stairs. "I think I saw it..."

Kilmas led the way to the tavern room and opened the door, stopping just inside. I was right behind him. Sitting there on the table was a gem of imprisonment. I walked closer and could see a tiny little Andrella inside. There was no pink house in this gem. I couldn't bear to look at her like that, so I gazed blankly at nothing as I picked up the gem and hugged it to my chest.

The next moment I was aware of a sound at the open door. I spun around and used one hand to pull out my sword, the other arm wrapped protectively around the gem, and I took on a defensive stance.

Andrella's knight captain was standing there, the one we had talked with this morning. But I didn't relax my guard. What if Jarred had jumped bodies?

"I heard noises..." the knight began, and broke off as she noticed my wariness immediately. "Avatar, it is I..."

"He trapped her!" Kilmas burst out from where he was standing behind me. "And it was bad! And I'm so scared!!"

"What?" the knight asked.

I took a breath. "We need Nystul," I spoke, trying to find some reservoir of calm. "And we need to check on the jail."

"But you can't leave me alone!" Kilmas wailed.

The knight looked confused. "What is the matter here?" she asked with a concerned frown.

"He tried to kill me!!" Kilmas bawled.

I sheathed my sword and put my freed arm around Kilmas comfortingly. I had made a snap decision on the spot to trust that the knight was still herself. She hadn't made any motions toward Kilmas so far, and she sounded like herself. "Andrella's been trapped in a gem by Jarred," I told her briskly, showing her the gem. Her eyes grew wide. "Nystul's the only one I can think of who can reverse it. And Kilmas needs to be protected."

"I'm not staying here!!" Kilmas broke in, and he looked at me beseechingly. "You're not going without me!! You're not leaving me here!"

"No," I agreed. "It's okay, Kilmas. I won't leave you here." I patted him comfortingly. Kilmas clung to my cloak stubbornly.

I straightened up and turned back, taking a steadying breath. Someone needed to take charge, and it looked like that someone was going to have to be me. "Captain. Can you please check on Yew Jail? I sent Jarred there, and I fear the jail may not hold him."

The knight nodded. "I will go at once."

"We'll be at Lord British's castle," I added, and she nodded again, turning quickly to leave on her errand.

"I'm sorry," I murmured as I watched her go.

I hated to take a detour, but I needed more bandages. Kilmas held onto my cloak the entire way, and despite how awkward it was to try to walk quickly in that manner, I didn't have the heart to ask him to let go. The knights around the island were clearly confused--after all, Caton had come and never left, Jarred had been here, and now they were probably learning that some among their numbers had gone and aged of all things. But I didn't want to take up the time required to explain.

Once I had bandages (I grabbed an extra generous amount just in case), I formed a moongate and took Kilmas with me to the castle. I didn't waste any time with formalities. Instead I hurried quickly to Nystul's bedroom and shoved open the door.

"Nystul!" I called, shaking his shoulder. "Nystul, wake up!"

"Five more minutes..." he murmured.

"Emergency!" I yelled. "Big emergency!"

"Wha!? Ahh!" Nystul yelped, scrambling out of bed.

I turned away from him immediately. "Hurry up and put on your hat."

"My goodness..."

"I like your beard," Kilmas offered.

"Well, hello," Nystul greeted, and I peeked over my shoulder. Good, he was dressed.

I didn't give them any more time for small talk. "Nystul, can you free her?" I asked instantly, turning back and thrusting out the gem toward him. "No, let me rephrase that. Will you please free her?"

Nystul cocked his head at the gem. "What is she doing in there?"

"I'll explain later," I said. "If you need any supplies, I'll get them. Just please hurry."

He took the gem and examined it. "I made this last night."

"I know."

"What happened!?" Nystul let out, then looked at me. "Kianne! Did you mess up again?"

"It wasn't me!" I protested.

"He tried to kill me!!" Kilmas wailed. It was becoming his catch phrase.

Nystul looked around in a panic. "Who? Where!?"

I tried to calm him down. "It was Jarred. He's not here. But he may come here if we don't hurry. Please, Nystul, we have to free her right away!"

I'd succeeded in one thing; I'd calmed him down, at least. The mage turned back to me. "It's impossible."

"Certainly you can do it!" I protested.

"I made this gem even stronger then the one I made for Blackthorn! I mean after all, the gold knight is powerful..."

"But you can undo it, can't you?" I persisted.

"I can't do it. It is impossible."

"I thought you were a powerful mage!" Kilmas broke in. "Andrella talked about how awesome you were. But I guess if you only use Britannia spells..."

Nystul apparently missed the implied insult, too focused on Kilmas's previous words. "She did?" he perked up. "What did Andrella say?"

"She said you were awesome!" Kilmas praised. "She told me, 'Of all the mages in the land, Nystul is the smartest!' And I think she said...cute, too."

I resisted the urge to snicker. Oh boy, Andrella was in for it now.

"She said that!?" Nystul seemed to be pausing to consider that.

I tried to help. "I thought surely you would be the one who could do it."

But Nystul shook his head, refusing to be honey-buttered into this. "No, Kianne, I'm sorry. It is impossible."

"So you're not powerful, Nystul?" Kilmas pouted. He sure knows how to press buttons.

"I am so," Nystul protested.

Kilmas crossed his arms. "I bet I could do it."

"You? Who do you think you are?"

"I know lots of magic! I'm a star mage!"

"A star mage!? You? But you look so young!"

I smothered another snicker.

"I know!" Kilmas beamed. "But I'm powerful!"

Nystul considered that, then shook his head. "It's still impossible though."

"Not for me, I bet," Kilmas said with a superior air. For once in my life, I hoped it was more than just egotistical bluster.

"Well, you look very adept..." Nystul considered.

"I can cast the Virtue spell just like Hawkwind!" Kilmas beamed.

"The what?" I asked in confusion.

Nystul ignored me. Actually, I think it wasn't so much that he was ignoring me, but that he simply didn't hear me. "Hawkwind... I remember him."

"He's my friend," Kilmas agreed.

"You can cast the theorem endowment, you say?"

Kilmas nodded. I looked confused.

Nystul straightened up. "Go ahead then. How am I doing in...Honesty?"

Kilmas closed his eyes, as if focusing. I almost fell on the floor laughing when I realized what they were talking about.

"You're progressing quite well in Honesty," Kilmas finally decided.

"My goodness!" Nystul let out. "Get this man a chair! We have to talk."

I rubbed away at a stab of pain and pointed out that the room had no chairs.

"Oh, come on up to the library," Nystul decided, and started out of the room.

Kilmas ran after him. "You have a library...?"

Nystul led the way upstairs and into the castle's library. "This is it?" Kilmas asked. "This is nothing like Moonglow."

"But this is a private library," I pointed out to him.

"Yeah," Nystul agreed. "Private."

Kilmas was already examining the shelves. "You have some good books right here!"

"Don't touch!"

"I can't believe you have this one!"

I sighed. "Uh, guys, about the gem..."

Nystul turned back to me. "What gem?"

I nearly fell over. "Andrella! Nystul, the gem!"

"Yes, we have to save her, Nystul!" Kilmas agreed. At least he's not as absentminded as Nystul.

Nystul just shrugged. "We can't. I already said that."

"But remember, I can," Kilmas gloated.

"Do you have a three-day supply of mana without mana potions?" Nystul countered.

"Uh, yeah... Only three? Sure! I've never run out of mana!" Kilmas beamed.

"Is that so?" Nystul asked dubiously.

I pulled out my bow and the Stone of Spirituality. "You mean like this?"

Nystul jumped as the bow flared with white light. "Watch where you point that!"

I sighed. "This doesn't hurt you. Nystul, you know that."

"But we're already old enough," the mage protested. "We don't need 100 years tacked on just for mana."

"I'm the one using it," I reminded him impatiently.

"Oh, I thought you were going to shoot us."

"I shoot Andrella and it doesn't hurt her."

Nystul shrugged. "Time spells can't affect her unless she casts them. Andrella is a star mage."

So that was it. "And so is Kilmas," I pointed out.

Nystul blinked. "Oh, that's right!"

Kilmas looked confused. "What's right?"

"Let her shoot you," Nystul told him.

"No!" Kilmas protested.

"The Virtues don't hurt you," I tried to explain. "They help you."

"I already got hit enough today!" Kilmas wailed. Nystul took hold of his arm, trying to hold him in place, but Kilmas was kicking and screaming. "No, no, no!"

"You are acting like a 13-year-old!" Nystul complained finally. "Act your age, old man!"

"But I am 11!" Kilmas cried.

Nystul chuckled. "Quite the joker. Listen, you want to free Andrella? Then let her shoot you."

"I don't need mana!" Kilmas bawled. "I have enough!"

Lord British chose that moment to walk into the room.

Kilmas subsided into soft sobs. Nystul let go of Kilmas's sleeve and dusted himself off, as if nothing was wrong. I put away my bow and dipped my head in a small bow.

"Nystul. Kianne. I'm glad you are here," the king began.

I looked at him seriously. "Did he get out of Yew?" I asked without preamble.

Lord British didn't have to ask what I meant. He simply nodded. "Where is Andrella?"

Silently I pointed at the gem Nystul was holding.

Lord British looked from one of us to another. Finally he turned. "Let's start at the beginning. Come."

He led us to his private chambers, where Nystul and Kilmas took the two chairs in front of the desk. I opted to stand.

"I think I know what happened," I began with a sigh. "And I'm really sorry about this..."

"I have gathered that Caton was possessed," Lord British said evenly.

That saved me from a lot of explaining, so I was able to simply nod my head. "By Jarred, I think. Probably since last night."

Lord British gestured at the only remaining chair, the one on the other side of the table, where he normally sits. "Kianne, sit down."

Under other circumstances I may have argued, but I wasn't feeling very well, and it probably showed. With a sigh, I sat.

Lord British paced slightly. "Well, Nystul, we just helped Jarred."

"We?" the mage sputtered.

The king nodded at him, but addressed me. "Last night, Caton came to us. He told us Jarred was free and you needed our help."

I grimaced.

"We aided him for the components to create a gem of imprisonment," Lord British went on. "And he also said that you needed the use of my orb..."

I blinked. "What?"

"It was an obvious ruse--obvious now, that is. He used the orb to escape Yew Jail."

"He has your orb??" I cried in dismay.

Lord British nodded. "He said he would deliver it to you." When I dropped my head onto the table with a groan, he added, "We were all fooled, Kianne."

I let out a long sigh.

"Caton had fallen into the words of Batlin," Lord British began.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "I'm so sorry. We tried to talk to him..."

"And he listened."

"But Jarred..."

"I do not fault even Caton for this," Lord British said. Then he mentioned, "Dupré has taken command of the Guard."

I nodded. "And the important thing is freeing Andrella."

Lord British asked for the gem, and he gazed at Andrella sorrowfully for a moment. Then he lifted his head and asked, "Nystul, can you break the enchantment?"

"For the millionth time, no."

Kilmas bounced in his seat. "I can!"

I groaned.

Lord British turned. "You must be Kilmas."

"I am a star mage!" Kilmas glowed.

"So he says," Nystul muttered. "But he won't let Kianne shoot him."

To his credit, Lord British didn't lose his calm in the midst of all of this chaos. "All right. I think I understand. Can a star mage break the enchantment?" he asked Nystul.

"Sure, if they had the reagents."

"We can easily supply those," Lord British said.

"Oh no, you can't."

"What reagents do I need to break it?" Kilmas asked.

"He's talking to me," Nystul retorted.

"I am a star mage. You can't do it, remember?"

"I am better!" Nystul shot back, then tacked on, "--looking."

"That's not what Andrella says," Kilmas responded with a huff.

"Nystul," Lord British interrupted. "I need you to be very serious."

Absently, I wondered if that's all that it took to get Nystul out of his normal bumbling fool mode.

"He started it," Nystul pouted.

"Please, Nystul," the king tried again. "What do we need?"

Nystul gave a shrug. "Well, Kianne could buy the reagents a star mage would need. But there is one reagent that can't be bought."

"What?" I asked.

"The moonshade."

"Moonshade?" Kilmas echoed. "Do they have that here??"

"Just what is moonshade?" I asked with a frown.

"It's a rare reagent. There is only one person I know who can find it. But it costs a lot! More then I have."

"Who?" I asked.

"A shadow lady. She usually sells things out of a tent at the gypsy camp."

I let out a breath. "Oh, thank goodness." I know of that vendor. "How much?" I added. "I mean, how much moonshade?"

Too late; Nystul had already gone into flashback mode. "Last time... Now this was quite a while back. Back in my youthful days...when I was a young popper..."

"Nystul!" I protested.

"Can't you quit yammering on about when you were young?" Kilmas agreed. "It has to have been 1980 years ago!"

"Like you should talk!" Nystul retorted.

"I am very young for my age," Kilmas insisted proudly.

"You look as old as my cabbage!"

"Nystul!" I felt like I was yelling at a brick wall. "How many reagents?"

"Around 600 of each should do," he finally responded. "But, if this guy can't cast spells for three days, Andrella will have to make a nice tree ornament."

"I can cast spells forever!" Kilmas glowed.

"Yeah, right..." Nystul muttered.

I sighed and stood up. "Whatever... I'll go buy reagents."

"Kianne," Lord British spoke up. "Let Kilmas stay here."

"With...him?" Kilmas gasped, looking at Nystul.

"Sure, you two get along so well!" I winked at him.

"We have fortified the guard, and we know to keep an eye out for Caton," Lord British went on, and I nodded.

"Jarred might jump into someone else," I warned. "I don't know if he can do that." He nodded. I put a hand to my head. "What a mess."

"You can do this," Lord British reassured me.

I slowly nodded my head. "I'll try to get your orb back. I'm surprised he was able to use it..."

Lord British agreed. "It was peculiar that he asked for it. But I trusted him. And for good reason."

I grimaced and sighed. "Aye. Maybe we need a phrase or something. So you know when to trust me." I winced.

"A daemon could never possess the body of one strong in the Virtues," Lord British pointed out. "Sadly, Caton had been down since the loss of his wife."

I nodded glumly. "Well, let me get those reagents. And I'll hurry back."

"Of course," he said.

I started for the door. "Kilmas, be good." I found myself smiling faintly. "I know it's what Andrella would say."

Kilmas sat back in his chair with a huff.

The first place I went was Minoc, to visit Shade. This moonshade would certainly be the trickiest thing to acquire, so I wanted to get that right away.

The tent was dark and rather creepy, as usual. I bent over and looked at her inventory, trying to find something that looked like moonshade, but everything here seemed to be things that I had seen before. Nothing was odd or out of place.

Then I heard a voice whisper like a ripple through dark water. "You seek more then my wares... Speak the name."

I bolted upright, my heart rate beating double-time despite myself. "I wish to buy moonshade," I responded.

The voice didn't even seem to emanate from the cloaked cowl that was all that could be seen of the vendor's face. "Moonshade... One bar of gold and three tokens of prize."

I blinked. "Bar of... Okay, I'll be back with that," I promised, and hurried out of the tent.

The bar of gold was the easy part. I, luckily, had enough gold in my bank box to smelt one. But the tokens were another story. I only had one, and I didn't know how many Andrella had, or where she might have stashed hers.

I visited the Keep to look, where I stumbled over Sophie. "Greetings. Oh, I think this belongs to you," she said to me immediately, handing me Michael's hammer.

I'd forgotten all about it. "Ah, yes. I have a favor to ask."

"Sure."

"Do you know if Andrella has any prize tokens?" I figured Sophie would know better than I did, since she worked here and was constantly putting things into and taking them out of the various chests sitting around. She knew the inventory of the Keep a lot better than I did, as I almost never looked in the chests.

"I can take a look," the blacksmith responded, dusting off her hands and walking out of the room. She dug for a moment in one of the chests by the wall before coming up with what she was looking for.

"Aye, she has two."

"Ah, perfect..." I breathed with a rush of relief.

"I'm sure she won't mind if I give them to you," Sophie smiled as she handed them over.

"Thanks so much," I told her. "I gotta run. Bye!"

"Sure. Farewell!"

I returned immediately to Shade, holding the gold bar in one hand and the tokens in the other. "One gold bar, and three tokens?"

Silently, Shade gestured at a golden chest sitting beside her.

I knelt down and placed the items into it, and she in turn passed me a faded reagent. I took it carefully and wrapped it before tucking it into my bag.

"Thank you!" I offered as I ran out of the tent.

Next stop: Moonglow. Even after raiding my bank box of my spare supply, I didn't have enough reagents, so I gathered my gold and hit the magery shops.

It required going between about five different merchants to purchase the amount required, and by then I was down to about 3000 gold in my name. But luckily, I had enough. I thought it would have been really embarrassing if I'd needed to return to Lord British and ask for money.

Finally, I had a bag piled high with all of the needed reagents. I still surprise myself at how much I can carry now, with the Valor enchantment active.

I returned to the castle with all due speed. I came across Lord British outside, speaking with his guards. He nodded his head at me and led the way into the castle, to the room that Nystul uses for his magical experiments. Kilmas and Nystul were already there. They had apparently hit it off pretty well. Kilmas admired things, and Nystul said, "Mine." In fact, eventually Nystul was responding "Mine" to pretty much anything that Kilmas said.

"Here, give them to me," Kilmas urged as I came in, reaching out for the reagents.

"Mine," Nystul said.

I put the bag on a table, since I figured it was too heavy for either of them to carry anyway. Kilmas took hold of it and tried to drag it toward himself. Nystul grabbed the other side and pulled it toward him. They went back and forth, like a tug of war.

"Somebody free her!" I yelled finally, at wit's end. I didn't care who did it as long as it got done.

"Nystul," Lord British spoke up. "Let Kilmas."

"But I have the gem," Nystul protested.

"Give it to me," Kilmas said.

"Mine," Nystul responded. But he handed it over.

Kilmas took the gem and glanced at it. "What do I do?"

Nystul groaned, mirroring my emotions for once. "Here," the mage said, passing Kilmas a spellbook known as the Tome of the Ancients.

"Wow," Kilmas gasped. "I read this when I was five!"

"It wasn't ancient then, was it?" Nystul asked sarcastically.

Kilmas rebounded immediately. "Was that when you wrote it?"

Nystul glared at him.

"Hello... You two... The gem?" I sighed.

Kilmas flipped pages. "Ahh, here we go."

"No, page 234," Nystul corrected.

"That's to make it," Kilmas said.

"Oh, right." Nystul turned back to us as Kilmas started chanting. "Well, have a seat. This might take a while."

I sat down on the floor right where I had been standing, and leaned against the wall. "I'll be here."

Nystul yawned. "Whatever. I'm going to bed."

I was tuning everything out, just leaning against the wall resting and waiting, when suddenly Andrella was standing in front of me, blinking and looking a little dazed.

For a moment I didn't believe my eyes. The next second, I was on my feet and throwing my arms around her. "Andrella!"

"Wha-?" Nystul rubbed his eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

Lord British just smiled. Andrella chuckled.

"Andrella!" Kilmas cheered. "I freed you! I saved you!"

"Thank you," she smiled, and grabbed him into a hug.

Nystul scratched his head as he watched the happy celebration. "How long was I asleep, really?"

"Five days," Kilmas said instantly. He must have been taking lessons from Iolo.²

"Egad," Nystul gasped. The rest of us snickered.

"Thank you," Andrella smiled. "All of you."

"Mostly me," Kilmas offered. I chuckled but didn't argue the point.

"Aye, Kilmas, you did a wonderful thing," Andrella agreed. "But I have to say that I'm sure Kianne helped." She winked. "Do you know why I say that?"

Taking me totally by surprise, Kilmas jumped in with: "She saved me from Jarred, that's why!"

"Well, that's wonderful!" Andrella smiled. "I told you Kianne is our friend."

"Not exactly how I would have liked," I chuckled ruefully in response to Kilmas's comment. "He did get away, after all..."

"She chased him all over the place," Kilmas babbled, embellishing the story just a touch. "You should have seen her! Flipping down the balcony, shooting behind her back... Jarred was running like a scared chicken!"

Not exactly an accurate description. I was considering how to nicely point this out when Nystul gasped from behind me, "This Kianne did all that?"

I laughed.

"You might be surprised what Kianne is capable of," Andrella grinned.

"Especially when I'm frantic," I chuckled.

Andrella put her arms around the two of us and gave us a tight hug. "My heroes!" she teased.

But then she grew serious and pulled back. "I heard most of what happened while I was in the gem. But...Jarred is free?"

Lord British nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"Now we have to figure out a way to stop him for good this time," I sighed. "Although I hate to say it, but it sounds as though daemons can only be killed by destroying their soul stones. We might not even be able to take him out yet..."

"I remember well my conversation with Erimani," Lord British agreed. "He holds a vast knowledge of the daemons. Perhaps he knows of a way to save Caton."

I nodded and explained what Erimani had said regarding how he had freed elves from the daemons. So there is hope...I hope.

"I guess we need to do the rest of the shrines as quickly as possible," I finally commented. "So we can get to the soul stones."

"I'm going!" Kilmas piped up.

I smiled. "Kilmas, we would love to have you."

"I think it would be a great idea for you to go," Andrella agreed.

"But I was actually thinking of trying a dungeon shrine, before all of this started," I mentioned.

"Oh. Dungeons. No way." Kilmas backed off.

Andrella and I had originally wanted him to join us in the dungeons, but now that Jarred has been going after Kilmas almost to a fault, we decided it might be too dangerous. "Well, you can at least come with us to the aboveground shrines," Andrella decided.

"So we have the shrines, and Jarred...and I have no idea what to do about Maharba anymore," I sighed a little. "What a mess."

"Shamino is keeping a watchful eye on the druids," Lord British told us. "He will let us know the moment Maharba is found."

"I hope it is soon," I agreed.

"Kilmas would be welcome to stay here," the king added.

"Thank you, Lord British," Andrella smiled.

"And we should stay with him," I agreed, and Lord British nodded.

Andrella leaned down to Kilmas. "Thank Lord British for letting you stay here," she whispered to him. "And bow to him."

Kilmas glanced at her, then moved to Lord British and made a half-hearted half bow. "Thanks, mister."

"Kilmas," Andrella told him sternly, "do it right, please."

"It is not necessary," Lord British smiled.

"He's not my king..." Kilmas was muttering.

Andrella glared at him. "Do not make me angry. I've had a bad day." (That's an understatement.) She nudged him along, then paused to look back. "I apologize, Lord British. I will teach him to be respectful."

Lord British just smiled good-naturedly.

Kilmas came with us as far as the entrance of the castle as we made our leave. "Kianne," he spoke up at the front doors. "Watch this."

He opened the doors for me and stood aside, gesturing for me to go through while he held them open for me. "Well, thank you," I told him with a smile.

"That's payback for saving me."

Not exactly the choice of words I would have used, but I think I understood what he was trying to say. "You're welcome," I told him seriously.

"Kilmas," Andrella spoke up. "We'll come get you when we go to the aboveground shrines. For now, you stay here. We're not even sure what's going on right now and I want you to be safe."

He inclined his head. "You'll come for me? Really?"

We nodded. "But if I find out you're not on your best behavior..." she warned, letting the sentence trail off meaningfully.

"You won't tell Hawkwind I tried to talk to my father, will you?" he asked meekly.

"He may already know," Andrella told him bluntly. Personally, I felt it pretty certain that the Time Lord already knew. It's not something I figured he would miss.

"Oh..." Kilmas looked at the floor. "He probably hates me."

"I'm sure he'll be understanding," Andrella assured him. "It's a delicate situation. You're a young boy. Of course you miss your family."

"And I don't have any friends, besides Kianne," Kilmas pouted, quite surprising me that he put me on his list of friends.

"Which is why you need to realize that Kianne and I are your only family," Andrella told him.

"Am I like an adopted sister?" I teased with a grin.

"Exactly," she winked at me.

"What about Sami?" Kilmas asked.

"Oh, she is a friend," Andrella agreed. "Most definitely."

"Can she come here? Or she's not worthy enough?"

"I'm sure she is able to come here if we were to ask Lord British," Andrella suggested.

"I'll ask him," Kilmas offered.

"Politely," I tacked on.

"Aye, you better be respectful to Lord British," Andrella chimed in.

"Do I have to listen to Nystul?" Kilmas asked.

Andrella paused, taken aback. "Well...er..."

"No," I said, and laughed.

Andrella snickered. "It's best not to," she couldn't help but agree.

Kilmas grinned mischievously. His expression alone was enough to raise chills. "Oh wow, that's scary," Andrella laughed.

"But better be nice to him," I warned him with a grin. "You don't want to irritate him."

We bid him good night. "Don't forget about me!" Kilmas called after us.

"We won't," Andrella smiled at him.

"We definitely won't," I winked.

"See you soon." Andrella waved and started down the flagstone path.

"Kianne, thanks," Kilmas said. "I mean it."

I smiled at him. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too."

Andrella looked back and smiled proudly at Kilmas as he waved to us.

"Sometimes he can be such a good boy," Andrella commented with a soft smile as we returned to the Keep.

I led the way up to the door. "I think Jarred broke a few things," I mentioned. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not surprised," she said. "And what are you sorry for?"

I just chuckled and gave a shrug.

As we walked into the front hall of the Keep, I guiltily glanced around at the battle damage. There wasn't a whole lot, thankfully, but I was surprised at the amount of blood. I grimaced, realizing most of it was probably mine.

Before taking care of the cleanup, or doing anything else for that matter, we went straight to the tavern and sat down to eat. As we did so, Andrella described her experience with Caton and the gem. "I thought something was weird about it," she mused, munching on bread. "He had me look at the gem, telling me there was something in there. I couldn't see anything! Then the next thing I knew, he was chanting words behind me...and bam!"

I shook my head. She finished her tale, and I took a moment to consider our options. "Perhaps we should do Shame first."

"Sure," Andrella agreed, but she frowned at me. "You look pale..."

The pain had basically become such a constant that I almost wasn't making note of it anymore. "I feel lousy," I grimaced. "Too much running around. Or being beaten on by Jarred." I chuckled wryly.

Andrella finished eating first and jumped up as a thought occurred to her. "I need a pouch. I'll be right back."

"I just gave my last one away," I chuckled.

"I have one," Andrella said, going out into the hall to some chests.

"I could get--" I began.

"I have one!" she yelled back at me with a teasing tone. I chuckled.

When she returned, she handed the pouch to me. It was filled with reagents. I couldn't help but laugh. "Where do you hide all these?"

"Well, if I told you, they wouldn't be hidden anymore," she winked.

I knew she was paying me back for the reagents I had bought to free her from the gem. I also knew better than to argue the point. "Thanks, Andrella," I smiled, putting away the reagents. "I'm just glad I was able to get enough. For a moment I panicked that we wouldn't have enough tokens."

"Oh, I have some," she said.

"Had," I corrected her, and laughed.

"Oh, I see," she snickered.

"I kind of borrowed them," I confessed. "Sorry."

Andrella laughed. "No! Not a problem! I prefer freedom to tokens."

I figured she might.

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¹ Waaaay back in archive 1!

² See archive11.

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