After the End

Orion

     “She’s been taken to the castle,” Sama said. That means two things: One: Reck has SEEN her. Two: She’s either in one of the basement cells or one of the “guest suites.” I remember Reck talking about being sure to equip those rooms with locks that only a key could open. I chalked it up to him being deluded and paranoid, which wasn’t something that surprised me anymore.
     Reck has SEEN her. He’s seen her, and he knows he has power over her. That is a very dangerous combination. If he’s done anything to hurt her, I’ll kill him even if it’s the last thing I ever do. Yadira doesn’t love me. I know that. I’ve just about come to terms with it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her every bit as much as I ever have. And I’m going to find her and take her back home… to that eejit Rohan… because that’s where she wants to be.

     I can’t believe my eyes when I approach the secret door and actually see the hidden handle. He didn’t change it! Now, according to memory, there should be a stairwell leading down… I open the door.
    And I find the stairwell. To the basement cells. Turning once, I look at the sky and pray it’s not the last time I ever see it. Then I descend.

     I hear a woman’s voice. “You’re going to be working for the tailor on third street. Her back can’t handle cutting fabric. You’re not going to go bonkers on us with those scissors, are you?”
     “No, Miss Angie. The goddess cleaned up my head. I’m ready to make a new start,” another female voice says.
     “Good, because I’m sick of this dank cell block. I’d hate to have to lock you up again. His majesty is trusting you.”
     I press myself against the wall and see a dark skinned, red-haired woman lead a brunette up a central staircase.
    “Does… will the goddess know?”

     I don’t hear Miss Angie’s reply very clearly, but my mind whirls with what they’d said already. He has witnessed what she can do. Holy blooming fuck. This is bad.
     Now for the hard part: getting up those stairs and then the next ones all without being seen. I presume he has a guard at her door, which, ironically, will make it easier to figure out which one is hers. One guard? Two? Three? I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
     The hallways are littered with art, probably looted from museums. Reck likes fine things, so it doesn’t surprise me he’s amassed a collection.

     Timing is everything, and once, I use a bit of art as a cover. Lucky for me, though, the passing guard didn’t take much notice of anything. My size doesn’t help me when it comes to stealth.
     I find the stairs. Quickly praying I find nothing at the top, I race up them, quiet as an oversized mouse.
     The first of those rooms is next.
     There is a guard. One. The way he’s dressed implies knowledge of martial arts. I suppress the urge to want to crack my knuckles. I haven’t had GOOD fight in years, and this one should be good if I’m sizing him up correctly.
     He senses me. I watch him ground himself, making himself a smaller target by turning to his side. He exhales, pushing his hands downward before snapping into a ready pose.

     “Come out and play, why don’t you? I’ve been waiting for you,” he taunts me.
     There’s no helping it. I need at that door. I need the key he carries. After looking around for a possible trap, I step out of the shadows. We’re alone. How cocky. I smile and crack my knuckles.
    Street-fighter versus the ninja.

    “Only one of you?” he asks.
    “I was thinkin’ the very same.”
    “Give me a chance, and I’ll show you why.” He smiles, never breaking his stance.
     I debate what to do. I can’t blindly charge at him; that moment has long past. The hallway isn’t very wide, so I can’t circle him. I saunter closer a few paces, watching him. He’s waiting for me, ready to deflect anything I throw at him. I have one advantage: I’m bigger. But that may come to naught depending on how good he is.

    “Ye have my friend in there.” I ball my hands into fists and dip into a slight crouch.
     He doesn’t reply, watching me inch towards him.
     I’m hoping to distract him, even for a split second. “It isna polite ta snatch a woman from her home then lock her away in some glorified cell.”
     Nothing. Bollocks.
     “So this is how ye serve yer king, eh? Standin’ ’round waitin’ for blokes like me ta come an’ make yer day.”
     I hear her voice. “Niel?” The door rattles. He glances at it for a fraction of a second.

     I take my moment, giving him a quick jab to the nose. He flinches back but then hammers at my ribs, first with his hand then with his leg. I grab his leg and flip him. He turns once in the air before landing on his feet like a cat, immediately sweeping his leg at my feet.

     It’s what I would’ve done, so I jump at just the right moment. As I land, I come down on his neck, pinning him to the ground.
     “What’s going on?” Yadira asks from the other side of the door.
     Unfortunately, this time, I’M distracted, meaning I gave him the opportunity to jab at my eyes.
     “AGH!” I can see with one eye as he aims for my nose, and I barely duck out of the way in time. I do manage to grab his arm, and I jerk it back to the point of almost breaking it.
     “AGH!” he takes his turn yelling.

     “Open it or I snap yer arm like a twig.” The pain he’s in means he can’t fight.
     “Break it!” Shit. He’s counting on me being a nice guy. I don’t really want to break it.
     So I dislocate it. Before he can really yell, I deliver the K.O. Ow. Bastard ain’t made of glass. I quickly rummage around in his pockets and find the key. Then I unlock the door.

     It swings open, the lovely Yadira standing on the other side. I quickly put my hand over her mouth. There’s already been too much noise up here. “Shh.”

     Her eyes wide, she nods. Then I turn and drag the marionette of a ninja into her room, close the door, and lock it from the inside.
    “Orion!” she exclaims quietly. “What are you doing here?”
     I can’t answer her yet. Instead, I wrap my arms around her and hold her like my very life depends on it.

     I’m shaking from withholding emotion, wishing I could greet her as a lover would. As it is, I pet the back of her head, cradling the precious woman to me. “I’m takin’ ya home.”

     Then she says something I never thought I’d hear: “No.”

Corin

     Zuri wanted to leave me with the rugrats again tonight, but I declined. Rohan is watching them, making himself useful at last.
     For once, I want to pray.
     I can’t shake this really bad feeling I have. I’m worried for Orion. Maybe I should’ve gone with the rescue party. I didn’t want to make the boat overcrowded plus someone else needed to stay to watch over the place. But this feeling… I wish I’d gone.
     He’s fine. He’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be okay, and he’ll come home and we can go on as before. I keep trying to convince myself, but it has yet to work.

     I haven’t been to the temple much, but I can remember my way in the dark. I may not be a human compass like Orion, but once I’ve been somewhere, it’s like a pin is placed in a map in my head. I’m a good tracker, a good mapmaker, but I’m nothing compared to him.
     I almost trip on a root once, but I catch myself before I can fall. I guess it’s crazy to try and make this voyage in the dark of night, but it’s not like I’ll be able to sleep. He’ll be FINE. I’m just going mad here. I’ll go pray, and whether or not it does any good, it’ll make me feel better. I see the temple ahead.
     When I get closer, I hear voices. Someone’s already here, and… THEY are…
     I listen. Yes, that is what I think it is. Someone is shagging in the temple of all places.
     Hold it. Who? Zuri and… ? I left Rohan with the kiddos. I dip into a crouch and creep forward, staying hidden in the bushes.

     Yes, it’s Zuri, but I’ve never seen the man she’s with. What the bloody hell is going on?
     The man pauses. “We have company.”
    “What?” She looks around while also trying to cover herself. “Where? Who?”
    The man looks right at me. “Why don’t you come out and say hello.”
     I mutter under my breath, “Fuck.” After a slow blink, I stand up, trying to avert my eyes, but when I look, I notice they’re both somehow fully clothed again.

     The man smiles. “Well, you’re certainly one of the last ones I expected to show up here.”
     I scowl. “Ehy?” I shake my head. “Sorry. And you are?” I debate if I should just leave or if Zuri has been hiding a threat all this time. Are there people on the mainland?
     “Peter,” he replies and watches me as if waiting for some form of recognition. His eyes are bizarre. After watching me for half a minute, he sighs exasperatedly. “You don’t tell anyone about me?” he asks Zuri.
    “You said it was a secret.”
     “I said US was a secret. I didn’t say don’t tell people about me.” He turns back to me. “I’m Peter, Yadira’s brother.” Again, he waits as if expecting a light bulb to pop up over my head.
     Zuri finally adds some clarity, “He’s the son of the Goddess.”

     “Wait, what?” Son of the goddess? What the fuck? Yadira’s brother, meaning that makes Yadira some kind of goddess. Well bloody fucking hell. Orion’s in love with some goddess. That’s just… PERFECT! I scream angrily in my head. On the other hand, Zuri’s been fucking the son of the Goddess. Is THIS what she’s doing on her nighttime outings?
     The man starts laughing, but I have no idea why. Zuri also looks at him in confusion. “What?” he asks. “He’s funny. ‘Outings.'”
      I feel my face scrunch up, my eyes turning to slits. “I’m afraid I don’t quite follow.” Did I say the part about the outings out loud?
     “You came here to pray, right?” Peter asks me.
     “Right. I can come back later.”
     “Why?” He watches me for a minute. “Ah. You’re worried for Orion.”
     “How…?”

      Zuri answers, “He can read your thoughts.”

      My first thought is that that kind of unnerves me. My second is how convenient it must be to have a lover who can tell what you want without you having to say anything.
     Peter laughs again. Then he straightens up. “You’re right to worry, though.”

     I feel as if suddenly thrown off a cliff. “Fuck. You know something? Tell me!” I am plummeting into a sea of misery, my every fear being justified. My hands ball into fists behind my elbows, and I fight tears. My chest aches like it’s about to burst. I can’t help the quick downward mood swing; it comes so easily when anything pertains to Orion. After hours of trying to tell myself otherwise, having this ‘son of the Goddess’ tell me my fears are real makes my blood run cold. What does he know? Is Orion going to die because of his obsession with this woman? What will I do without him?
     “Relax. I won’t give you specifics. I’ll let him tell you himself WHEN he comes home.”

     I let out a puff of air and hide my face, unable to fight off the tears any more. He’s going to be okay. He’s going to come back. My sea of misery has a life raft. He said he won’t give me specifics. Whatever. But Orion will come back. See? This has been over nothing. The point is he’s going to come back. If he comes back harmed, that won’t change a thing. He’s going to come back.
     “Ma Dieu,” Zuri says.

     Peter turns to her with a smirk. “Ma? Not Mon?”
     She rolls her eyes playfully and shoves him sideways. “So it is he then.”
     I immediately tense. One of my big fears is that she’ll blab to everyone what she knows. “Shut up, Zuri.” Don’t go there. Don’t ever go there. Never go there! I repeat one of my internal mantras.
     Peter pipes in, “I think you should go there.”

     “AGH! Get out of my head! So can Yadira do that too?” My thoughts aren’t safe! My mind has been my only safe haven, and even with that I have to be very careful.
     Zuri answers, “No, not exactly. She’s a healer.” I immediately remember that night Lars miraculously recovered. “Peter can transform things, meaning he can also look inside them.”

     “I don’t care. Get out of my head.” This is NOT what I needed tonight. It’s bad enough having this terrible feeling with regards to Orion’s safety, but for me to get overly emotional and be totally unable to hide WHY is horrible. I have thus far successfully avoided suspicion from almost everyone. I can’t let that change. He’s my best mate. That’s it. That’s all. The end. I once had a tester conversation that crashed and burned, so no more. He only fancies women, and I’m not one.
     “Yeah, he’s totally straight,” Peter says.

     “Fuck off,” I tell him and turn to go. I don’t need this. I don’t need to be told that. I just came to fucking pray and now the godlet himself has royally pissed me off. ‘I think you should go there’ indeed! What does HE know?
     I can be a very rational person if given the opportunity. That doesn’t stop me from being human from time to time, and these two have figured out my biggest weakness. I wasn’t expecting to encounter anyone here tonight, so I didn’t prepare myself properly. I was too busy with my worries.
    “I’m surprised you haven’t thought of it,” Peter calls out. “I can CHANGE things.”

     I pause, rolling my eyes. You can’t change how Orion thinks.
     “No, not really, but I can change YOU.”

A/N: Asa is SUCH a guy. smh

Also, NSFW. Kinda. No nekkidness, tho.

Reminder: eop = end of plague

Asa

     “Are you ready for this?” Sama asks me just outside the town limits.
     It took us what felt like ages to get here. On the way, Orion taught us his accent, saying that if we used our own, they’d know where we were from the second we opened our mouths. Sama picked up his speech in what felt like minutes. Me, however, I just can’t figure out how his mouth forms the words the way it does. This means Sama will do most of the talking. Guess I’ll be the strong, silent type.
     “Sure, my nothing more than traveling companion,” I reply. That’s our deal. We don’t really know one another but had a chance encounter on the road here. And that’s another thing, we dropped anchor several miles away, making it so Sama and I appear to be coming from inland.
     We’re prepared to separate if necessary, and on the way here, we picked a spot to meet every five days at sundown. If one of us can’t make it, we need to leave a sign.

     “Let’s do this, Samantha.” We’re hoping that if Yadira revealed our names, she did so with the altered ones we’ve used since eop. Therefore, Sama is Samantha, and I’m Asante. Orion and Vik theorized all the way here what Reck might be thinking. They’ll be looking for two westerners with different accents, a man named Asa and a woman named Sama. It’s a best guess. We WOULD change our names more, but Vik said it’s better to cover a lie with a half-truth. Less accidents that way.
     After each of us take a deep breath, we enter the village.
     It’s quiet. Very quiet. Yeah, the snow is coming down pretty hard, but I expected to still see more people out and about.
     “Where is everyone?” I ask.

     Sama stops. “I have a guess.”
     She’s right. I can hear voices and some laughter coming from inside the next building. “The Golden Gate Pub,” I read from the sign out front. “Alrighty. Here we go.” We walk up to the porch.

     There’s another sign just outside the door. I read it. “Today’s special: fish bread.” I snort. “What the hell?”
     Sama speaks quietly. “Careful, Asante. Reactions like that will make you stand out.”
     “Fish bread. Mmmmmm,” I say mockingly, getting it out of my system. Wait. Is that a chalkboard? Cool!
     Sama shakes her head and opens the door.

     People. Finally. I can’t help but smile. This is my first time in a bar. Something smells good. I look at the fire. That is definitely NOT fish bread, and I wonder how I could get a bowl of it.
     Sama starts looking around at the people. There’s a man next to us talking to himself. There’s a burly bartender, two women wearing all white, and a woman with long, pretty hair… with an exceptionally great ass. Sama makes for the bartender.

     While Sama waits to gain the attention of the bartender, I stare at that ass. Dayum.
     Zuri and I broke up before I left the island. It was a good breakup–if such a thing is possible. The point is: I’m a free man.
     I have two thoughts right now: how do I get food and how do I get my hands on that. That was a very, very long month.

      “Hello,” Sama says, matching Orion’s accent perfectly.
      The man looks at her and says in a very practiced way, “Greetings, traveler. How may I assist you?”
      “We’ve just arrived.”
      He huffs. “And Gerald sent you to me, eh? Bastard.”
      “Uh-er, no. None were there to greet us.”
      “What? Where were the fucking guards?” He puts his hand on his forehead. “Never mind. I assume you’re hungry and cold. I can fix both, but nothing is free.”
     The other woman turns her head, looking around. I quickly look away.
     Then, without warning, she’s right in front of me.

     “Hiya, handsome. I feel like I’ve been waiting for you my whole life,” she purrs.
     Gah! My eyes get big, but I say nothing. Her eyes are gray.
     “The silent type, eh?” She pretends to fix something about my shirt. Then she whispers, “I’ll be right over there if you need anything, dearie.” Giggling, she walks to a grouping of chairs behind me.
     Holy shit. Sorry, Sama, but I think I need to chase some tail. I watch my companion. No, Asa. Get your head on straight. You’re on a mission, and it’s not a mission to get some. I take a deep breath and walk over to where Sama is. On my way, I hear what sounds like a man’s voice crying out–in a good way.

     “Since you’re new and all,” the man says, “I’ll cut you a break. I don’t want you passing out on me, so I’ll feed you but then you owe me. You’ll do some cleaning up around here.” He takes a breath. “Mind you, I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart and trust alone. If you double cross me, the guard will hunt you down. Got it?”
     “Thank ye ever so much,” she replies.
     He nods his head, and I pray he hands us a couple of bowls. I want that stew.
     Nope. He instead gives us a few loaves of… fish bread.

     I grin at Sama when we have a seat. I’m sure she knows what I’m thinking.
     “Eat it,” she says with gritted teeth. “It’s protein and carbohydrates all in one.”
     “Right,” I reply and take a loaf. I try a bit. It’s not terrible.
     Just then, a man in what could be a soldier’s uniform steps out of a nearby room, panting and supporting himself by holding on to the door frame.
     Another woman stands behind him. “Same time next week?” She smiles.
     He makes a mumbled reply that probably means yes and then stumbles across the room. The woman puts something in her pocket.
    The bartender calls out. “Oy, Gerald! I told you not during your shift! Ya let two get past you, you dunderhead.”
     The man gives a disgusting sniff and tosses his hair out of his face. Then he stares at us. He points. “Yer commin wiv me.”
     Bartender yells again. “Oh no ya don’t! I’ll send ’em by when I’m good an’ ready to.”
     The guard swings his head around and looks at the burly man. Then he shrugs and stumbles out into the night.

     Sama giggles, almost hysterical. I get it: she was real nervous but now sees how lucky we got, so far at least.
     I hear a voice behind me. “Betina strikes again.” She giggles. 
     A southern accent replies, “Honey, you know it.” Wha? It’s like how Mom would speak. I turn my head. She sees me and winks.
     Sama stares at the wall in front of her and says quietly, “T’would seem there’s all types.”
     My attention gets diverted to the whispered giggling behind me. Sama does a quick quarter-turn of her head. “Asante, I think we’ll change your name to Mark for the next few minutes.” She looks at me appraisingly. “You’re a grown man. It’s your decision.”
     “What?”
     She doesn’t get to explain because the woman with the fine ass walks over to our table.

     Whatever she says gets drowned out by the pounding in my ears.
     Sama looks sideways at her and then at me. “I s’pose my friend can make up his own mind.” She stands up. Then, she looks at me. “I’ll go tidy things up as requested. You can just owe me something later.” She glances at the woman. “I won’t be far away.”
     “Pish, we’re only makin’ friends here.” She slides into Sama’s seat.

     “So where’re ya from, stranger?” she smiles sweetly.
     Oh. Crap. I have to talk. “Er, no place, really. You know how ’tis. ‘ere and there.” Fuck. I sound more like Corin than anything. Oh well. I’ve gotta stick to this shit now. “I don’t rightly recall.” Please don’t think I’m an imbecile.
     “Ooooo, a man of mystery. I like it.” She leans in. “So what DO ya recall?”

     “Er,” I didn’t practice this enough–my story, “I don’t much like talkin’ about it. Kinda brings the pain wiv it, ya know?” If Yadira saw me right now, she go into fits of giggles.
      She makes an adorable pout. “Oh, love, I do know.” She looks at the bowl. “Gimme some of that bread, an’ I’ll give you some of my magic cure ta help ya deal with the pain an’ all.”
     Yowza. If that wasn’t a proposition for sex, then they should just drop me in the river and call me a merman.
     Oh fuck. What do I do? Yes, I’m attracted to her, but… like that? Her hand slides over my knee.
     “Let’s… let’s go talk,” I suggest. Okay, so she’s apparently some kind of prostitute. BUT those kinds of women KNOW things, right? I could get intel. Sure, Asa. That’s what you want. Intel. Uh huh.

     She closes her eyes and smiles. “Sure, love. If that’s what ya wanna call it. We’ll go ‘talk.'” She snatches three of the loaves–more the size of rolls really, and smiles. “This way.”

     “Oy, Rocky, we’re using the room for a while,” she tells the bartender.
     This is embarrassing… but Rocky doesn’t bat an eyelash.
      “In-it a bit late ta be picking up another one, Maren?”
     She playfully pops my butt. “This one’s just a bonus. Gal’s gotta have a little fun now an’ then, right?” She practically pushes me into the room.

     She walks me around the bed. “Sit there, my lovely blue-eyed traveler.” She gets on her knees.
     “Whoa!” I call out when she brazenly reaches under the front flap of my shirt.

     My surprise doesn’t shock her, though. She’s trying to find the tie to undo my pants. “Hold on a minute.”
     “Mmm. I plan to hold it for longer than a minute.” She manages to loosen my pants, and she reaches in. “There we are.” She leans down.
     “Oh shit, wait.”
     She pauses, NOT letting go of me, and she looks up.

     “What am I waiting for? You want this.” Her hand starts up again. Once more, she starts to lean over.
     “I need to talk to you. A discussion.” How can she look so sweet and be like this at the same time?
     “Oh, that’s right. We’re talking.” Her other hand moves into my pants.
     I scoot back, and she withdraws, watching me. “I’m serious.”
     “Okay?”

     “I was just wondering,” I start, the accent forgotten, “I heard rumors, I mean. Of… of a woman brought here.” I struggle to breathe right. Her hands haven’t left my thighs.
     “Lots of women are brought here, usually with their group of travelers. What does she look like?”

     Her hand starts creeping up.
     Talk, Asa! “Her hair is so blonde it’s almost white.” I swallow. “She’s, er, really pretty.”
     Her head tilts. “Why are you looking for her? Don’t you think I’M pretty?”
     “Yes, of course I do.”
     She lets out a sigh. “Oh good. I worried I had competition.” Her hands return!

     “Wait. Please.”
     A small smile graces her lips. “Why? We can still talk.”
     Only a small sliver of my attention is focused on the mission. Everything else is hyper-aware of her hands. “Well, have you… oh gods, have you seen her?”
     “Hmmmm…” She slows as she thinks, and I’m beginning to understand the yelling I heard earlier. “When you said ‘gods,’ it reminded me of something.”
     I make some kind of incoherent noise that hopefully she translates as me asking her to continue.
     “Do you mean the daughter of The Goddess?”
     All I can do is focus on her. Oh. Fuck.

     If I could get enough air, I would yell. How is she doing this? I keep getting almost there, and she does something to make it stop so that she can start it up again!
      Her voice comes through a cloud. “Oh, my sweet blue-eyed traveler. Have we decided to stop talking?”
      “I can’t, I…. I gotta….” A very strange noise flies out of me.
      Is she smiling at me? “What’s your name?”

     Nope. I’m all hers.
     Finally, I can yell, and I do. But it gives me no relief. I start begging.
     “But we were talking,” she replies facetiously. “I don’t want the conversation to end yet.” She stops me again.
     “Oh my god, Maren. Please!”
     “Not. Yet.” She pauses. “Unless you want my mouth.”
     “What? No.” YES. “Talking.” The mission. “The… goddess?” I could see that being Yadira.
     “Yeah. The mother priestess was going nuts. They took her to the castle.”
     My eyes fly open. Shit. “They did.”
     She smirks. “You must be religious.” Then her hands leave me. No!
     I try to remember my accent. “Not anymore than the next bloke.” I’m not too happy she stopped. “Do you plan to leave me wanting?”
     She smirks. “Of course not. But this…” She puts her knee right up to my crotch.

     “…is my fun time.” She pushes in, really adding pressure almost to the point of pain. I back up, which might be what she wanted because she straddles me.

     I moan and finally grab that ass. I don’t take my hands off it even when she starts moving her hips against me. I don’t know how, but she manages to move JUST her hips. And fast.
     It doesn’t take me long, and she finally lets me have it.

     While I pant, she plays with my face and adjusts my hat in different ways, entertaining herself. “And NEXT time…” she smiles, “I’ll get you naked.”
     I maintain a firm grip on that butt. “I think… I think I love you.”
     She giggles and pats my head. “Of course you do.”
     “I’m serious, Maren. Come away with me. I could take care of you. You wouldn’t have to do this anymore.” I try to kiss her, but she moves away. I try again, she moves again.
     “I don’t even know your name.”
     “Asa… Asante.” Fuck. One pretty face, and I blow it.
     She ponders for a moment. “Your mother must’ve been very thankful when you were born.”
     “Mm?” I still want to kiss her, but she’s really good at evasion.
     “You know it means ‘thank you,’ right?” She stares into space, and I satisfy myself with kissing her neck. “I can’t remember what language.”
    I speak against her skin. “If I did know, I’d forgotten.” Shit. I forgot the accent again.
    “Your accent is kinda funny. Sometimes it’s really there and sometimes not.”
     Fuck! “Depends on how much attitude I have, I suppose.” She moves like she wants to get up. “Wait.”
    “What is it?” She leans back because I almost had her.
    “Why do you keep moving away like that?”
    She looks away. “I don’t do that. It’s too personal.”
    “And teasing the bloody hell outta my willy isn’t?” I should’ve practiced more. Honestly, I had no idea how much I’d paid attention to Corin… and a bit of Rohan in there too, I guess. Mostly, I think I sound ridiculous.
     She locks eyes with me. “No. That’s just fun. I like you, Asante. You should come back and see me.”
     Oh. So the first time just costs me a few loaves of bread. Now she wants a returning ‘customer.’
     I push her off me. “Not like that.” I stand before her with my arms folded, and she sits on the bed, staring demurely up at me. “I meant it, Maren. I’d take you away from this.”

     She rolls her eyes now. “Yeah and then what? You know, you’re not the first person to say all that to me.” She speaks more to herself now. “But they always think they are.” She smiles at some thought she has.
     “So you… You WANT this for yourself?”
     She scowls. “You know, you weren’t so worried about my welfare in the beginning of this, were you?”
     I may as well have been slapped. She’s right. “I… I needed to find out about that woman.”
     “Sure you did.” She yawns. “Asante, I’m tired. Bugger off and come back another day.”

    With my face like a stone, I leave the room. Rocky smirks at me.

    “Wore’er out did ya?” 
    “Aye,” I reply, still smarting from Maren’s words. Even so, I motion with my head for Sama to talk with me in the corner. When we get there, I reveal the intel I did manage to gather while being a first-time ‘customer.’ “Castle. He was right.” I mean Orion’s theory.

     “Shit,” she says, and that finally breaks the dead look on my face. I can’t help but laugh.
     “Why Samantha, who knew you had a potty mouth.”
     Rocky walks over to us. “Er… Sorry, mates, but I gotta take ya over to the welcome center now. Questions and all.”
     “Questions?”

     “Oh, it ain’t serious, mind you. It’s ta help, you see. Find the best place for ya.”
     Sama gives me a concerned look, and we dutifully follow the burly bartender out into the night.

A/N: Contrary to what the title says, I don’t think there is anything in here that would powerfully trigger anyone, but there is some discussion of horrible events.

Rohan

     My life is complete and utter shite. I’ve moved into a tent near the beach where I’d first stayed when I got here. I first thought to build an actual structure, but I lost any kind of motivation to continue working on it. I can’t bear being in my house. It just reminds me of her. It just reminds me of how I lost her.

     A million different possibilities as to what could’ve happened fly through my mind daily. Did she go down to the cellar even though I begged her not to? Did Lars somehow escape then snatch her on the way to the loo? Did he trick her into letting him out? 

     Then there is the worst… What did he do to her? I hate thinking about this, but for that very reason, the thoughts never leave me alone. If he raped her, I’ll kill him. I’m wishing I killed him the same day I shot his brother. Why did Sama insist on caring for him? Why did Yadira have to somehow heal him? If he had just DIED, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Everyone would still be here. 
     That’s another thing. Other than myself, the only adults here are Corin and Zuri, not exactly my favorite people. I suppose Corin is all right. I never really got close to him because I was always trying to avoid Orion when he was always wanting to be doing whatever Orion was doing. Always. It… got kind of creepy sometimes. And then there’s Zuri, who is apparently single again. She’d better not come sniffing around here. Maybe she and Corin could get together. But why does that feel impossible? It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.

     When I can’t sleep or frequently during the day, I either sit and stare at the horizon out over the ocean, go pray, or fish (while also staring at the horizon). Corin has done his best taking care of cooking meals, and Zuri is on constant mom duty. I wonder if they think I’m useless. Fuck ’em. That arse-wipe Corin can piss off as far as I’m concerned. How dare he tell me I’m a loose cannon? Then it was three against one. I owe them all a good hard kick in the balls for doing that to me.
     So I wait. I COULD take my old sailboat, but we’ve basically been using it to go to the mainland. I don’t know if she’s seaworthy. And so I wait.

     If they come back without her, I don’t know what I’ll do.

Yadira

     I have descended into hell.
     The first chance I got, I changed out of that wretched dress. There are actually quite a few nice garments in the chest of drawers. Today, I found the plainest dress and put it on. It has long sleeves, and the material it’s made of is somehow soft and fluffy at the same time. I couldn’t really find any pants that would work with it, but I did find some thick stockings, also surprisingly soft. Boots were in the bottom drawer.
    Now it’s been three days, and the only human contact has been for the guard at my door to hand me food.
     What has become of my life?

     The events from the day I got here circle in my head. I wish I could stop thinking them, but every aspect of that day replays itself in my mind, making me analyze everything–probably too much. They think I’m some kind of goddess. What scares me is that I actually believe them, not that I’d ever let on that I did. That would be too dangerous, but how else can I explain everything that’s happened to me? Who else would have a rock for a brother? Crystal. Whatever.
     Speaking of brother, he knew. He knew this was going to happen to me, claiming it was one of the reasons my memories weren’t returned to me. He’s wrong in thinking not having my memories would make this easier. Without my memories, I have nothing to link me back to Rohan.
     What’s going to happen to me? Derek, um, Reck said I would never be allowed to leave, yet he also says how I could help people? How could I do that if I’m trapped here? If he brings anyone in to see me, I’ll beg for their help. If I can help them, I could get them on my side. I could escape. I could stage an uprising.
     He won’t let me escape. Surely he’s thought of that plan. So what’s he going to do to prevent it? Brainwash me?
     But whether or not I stage an uprising, what really hurts is that I know I’m supposed to be here right now. I can’t explain it. I just know. I felt it on my way to this wretched place.

     When we came into the city proper, the area startled me. I’ve never seen so many people before.
     I’ve never felt so much chaotic pain before. It’s awful! Curse Reck for being right. I can help. I have no idea how. It just happens. But the world outside these walls is so terrible that I want to scream. People can’t move on, taking their past with them everywhere they go.
    Should I manage to escape, my biggest fear is that I won’t want to go home. The pull to fix things, to help people, is so strong that I can’t deny it.
     Why can’t I just be a normal girl? I was so happy growing up. I’d give anything just to run through the grass barefoot again. I was simple and carefree and ready to laugh at anything.

     No. That’s not who I am anymore. That’s not who I was meant to be. I need to help. They need me. That’s what the sun said.
     SO THEN WHY IS RECK DETERMINED TO KEEP ME LOCKED UP IN HERE?! I scream in my head. Who could’ve ever imagined the torture would be not to keep me from escaping to go HOME but escaping to go help the people.
     Why isn’t he letting me out to do that? Wouldn’t he want that?
     I quickly breathe in. He wants to control me. He wants to say who does and who doesn’t get help.
     Bastard! I’m tired, so I go to the feather bed in the little alcove.

     I just have to remain strong. I can do this. Apparently, I was born to do this. I WILL help these people, even if it means I’ll never go home again.

     I’m sorry, Rohan. The old me bursts into tears.

    The following morning, there’s a knock at my door. A bit surprised since the guard would just barge in, I call out for the person to enter.

     “Hello,” I say and smile. I probably look a little strange, but I’m not used to being alone all the time.
     “Good day, milady.” She walks in with a smile herself. Then her face straightens as she stops before the rug.

     “M’name is Ali Campbell, milady, and I’ve been hired by his majesty to clean your room and such.”
      I can tell she makes a real attempt at sounding official, and I hate Reck just a bit more. His whole system is utterly ridiculous. One minute he talked about forgetting the past but yet he acts like we live in the distant past.
     Yes, I’ve had too much time to sit and think about stuff.
     I try to think of something generic to talk about. “You have a last name?”
     That surprised her. “Yes?” Her eyes imply that she’s asking, ‘you don’t?’
     “I never knew my last name. I was found wandering the streets as a toddler at eop.” Vik and Orion had always called that time when the plague ended as ‘eop,’ meaning ‘end of plague’ for short. It was such a big deal that it just vanished one day that people started a reset button on the calendar years because of it.
     A little bit of pink shows up in her cheeks, which is nice for her because she is really pale. “Yes, milady. M’father handed me off to a man before he died just before eop. That man told me his name was Walter Campbell, so I…” She pauses. “I apologise.”
     How odd. I stand up.

     “For what?” I smile in an attempt to ease the sudden tension.
     “I was instructed to do what I can to help but not give you my life story, milady.” She bites her lip for a second. “But I’m afraid I started doing just that.”
     That bastard. What kind of instructions are those? “My name is Yadira. Call me Yadira.”
     Tears start swimming in her eyes. “Do ya need any ‘elp wiv anythin’?” Her voice cracks as the words fly out very quickly. She bites her lip again, hard.
     “I’d like to help YOU.” She’s furious that her father abandoned her, not knowing he was trying to save her.
     She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. Good day.” She turns around and practically runs out the door.

     “Wait, Allison!” I call out, but all I get in reply is a hard sniff.
     I huff and fold my arms. So she was instructed not to tell me her story, Reck probably wondering if that’s what would trigger my ability. He told me he wanted me to help people, to ‘heal his country.’ Then why stop me? I glare at the door.
     Then I jump when the villain of my thoughts opens it and walks through.

     “What was that all about?” he asks, gesturing to the door. “I came to see how you were getting on when I see that new girl running away and crying. What did you do?”
     I want to punch him. “What did I do? What did YOU do?”
     “Me? She went running away from YOUR room.”
     I stomp over to him, and a little voice in my head warns me to keep my temper in check.

     “You told her not to tell me her story?” My breathing gets deep as I work to keep from screaming at him.
     The bastard smiles. “Oh that. Of course.” His expression becomes suddenly shrewd. “But you got to her anyway, didn’t you?”
     I can’t hide the venom. I’m sick of being cooped up. “I don’t KNOW what triggers it, okay?”
     He rubs his chin. “Right. And I’ve been pondering.”
     “So you sent a test subject?” I close in. I’m itching to slap him. I can’t explain the sudden rage I’m feeling right now. It has plenty to do with being cooped up, but it also may have to do with how I blame HIM for all the pain I’m feeling around me–because he won’t let me out to help. I don’t like being helpless.

     He looks totally unfazed by my mood. I cross my arms. I’m pretty damn sure slapping him across the face would not help my cause.
     “Yes, in a way, I did.”
     “Then why give her instructions like that?”
     He takes a breath. “That’s my business.” He reads my livid expression. “I didn’t INTEND for her to be a ‘test subject’ as you put it. I merely thought you might need help with… stuff, but I didn’t want her getting caught up in… you.”
     I happily imagine myself like a cat and scratching his eyes out. “You’re keeping me here, as a prisoner, because you want me to help your people. Then you work hard to prevent that very thing.” Make up your mind!

     “You misunderstand. I don’t wish to prevent it. However, I need to understand what I’m unleashing before I let you try and get close to anyone else.”
     I really look at him for the first time since he’s walked in here. There’s a kind of… calm… about him. It has to be that knowing what his father was thinking before he shot himself has allowed him to move on from it; he’s no longer carrying it around.
     “Then how would you suggest you go about understanding me?”
     He takes a breath. “There’s a woman in the jail. She’s gone mad, muttering nonsense and lashing out at people. I didn’t want to lock up anyone that could be a functioning member of society, but she’s more of a threat than anything else.”

     “And you want ME to try and help?”
     He smirks a tiny fraction. “I thought what better way than try the toughest case first?”
     “You’re insane.”
     He shrugs. “Or you could just stay in here by yourself for another few days.”

     So when we get to the dungeon because let’s face it–that’s what it is, a woman reports to us without being asked.
     “She’s been throwing her shit everywhere again.” The way she looks at her king reminds her of me, and I instantly like her.
     Reck nods. “We’re here to try and relieve you of your charge, Angie.” The way he says it makes me wonder if she would be somewhere else, at another post, if not for the crazy woman behind the bars.
     I look in the cell. A young woman with long brown hair sits on the dirty floor in a fetal position, rocking and singing to herself.
     “Unlock it,” Reck orders.
     The woman shakes her head, implying she thinks it’s a crazy idea, but she does as asked. My guard and she both enter the cell with Reck and me. The brown-haired woman doesn’t appear to notice us.
     I crouch down, trying to understand her. It’s like she’s pure chaos.

     She goes back and forth from mumbling nonsense to singing things. Was that a nursery rhyme? Then it’s a bunch of lalalalala’s. Then laughter. Then she cries.
     “Well?” Reck asks.

     Him interrupting my thoughts doesn’t help. “I told you I don’t know how it happens.”
     He makes a noise like he’s pondering something. “So I was right. It needs to come from the person. You’ve had visions. Anything from her?”
     “Chaos: burning buildings, running through fields of grass, rotting corpses, laughter from a baby, more burning, a flower, a toy train, a man yelling in her face, bricks, and so on.”
      I have no idea what to do! She makes zero sense to me. Before, I’d always discussed what I was seeing, telling the person the meaning behind their painful memories. With her, I only get flashes of things. Still, my heart goes out to her that she has such a life as she’s having. “Take my hand.” I hold mine out.

     Instantly, Reck and my guard react, pulling me back. The guard lady holds the crazy woman, who screams at the top of her lungs. To my look, Reck says, “Don’t let her touch you.”
     “I don’t know what else to do!” I jerk away from my guard and Reck. Then I stubbornly walk up to the screaming woman, my guard on my heels. He’s actually a nice guy. I just know. I have no idea what he’s doing in this line of work.
     “Yadira, please,” Reck begs.
     I ignore him, and I take the woman’s hand. The screaming stops. I whisper, “It’s going to be okay. You’re not alone.”

     She goes almost limp in the guard’s arms, silently crying. Then I’m blasted with a load of horror. She’s the last of a large group of people. She had a baby. Then one night, something made people lose their minds all at once except her, a kind of mass hysteria. They killed her baby and each other. She barely escaped with her life.
     “It’s not your fault,” I tell her quietly. I swallow hard. Then I see how she got here and saw the success of everything and snapped. Why couldn’t that have been her being successful with her group? What if she causes this city to snap as well? “You didn’t do it.” I have no idea what did. Sound waves? How does that even make sense? But that’s not the important part here.

     The woman begins breathing normally, and she opens her eyes and stands on her own. The guard carefully releases her but is at the ready to grab her again if needed.
     “Thank you.” She hugs me, and the room relaxes.

     I hug her back, ignoring the smell, and when I open my eyes, I really don’t like the look on his majesty the dunghead’s face.
     Reck takes a breath. “Let her have a bath in here and put her under observation for forty-eight hours. Then come report to me.”
     “Yes, milord,” the woman guard replies.
     I pat the once-sick woman’s hair. “It’ll be okay, Macie.”
     “You’re a goddess. I know you are.”
     “Okay then,” I don’t want to acknowledge anything. Reck is already freaking me out enough as it is.
     Macie pulls back and kisses my hand. “Thank you again.”
     “You’re welcome.” What else do I say?
     In a commanding tone, Reck says, “Come with me, Yadira.” Out we go back up to MY cell.

     “You did something similar when you saved Lars’ life, didn’t you?” He’s watching me in a peculiar way after he followed me into my room instead of just leaving me here alone again.
     “What do you mean?”
     “You didn’t see it?”
     “Obviously not.”
     “Well, now I have two guards who will have an impossible time keeping quiet about it.”
     “What are you talking about?”
     He smirks. He’s not going to tell me! “I mean I haven’t exactly told them not to tell anyone.” 

     “Why don’t you just leave?” I throw at him.
     “Oh! So quick to dismiss your only companion in days? I didn’t think you preferred solitude.”
     I hate solitude, and I’m pretty sure he knows it. “I’d rather solitude than you sitting there lording it over me and not telling me anything.”
     “You want to know things? I can tell you things.” He smirks.
     “I mean about at the jail cell.” I scowl because he hasn’t dropped his smirk.

     “Sure. One ‘thing’ is that Angie and I used to be lovers. Another ‘thing’ is that she despises me now.”
     “That,” I don’t want to talk about this, “seems to happen to you a lot. Must be something,” I struggle to continue. Come on, Yadira! Insult him! He deserves it! It’s just why does it have to be on this topic? “Must be something you…” This is very inappropriate.
     His smirk grows, if that can happen. He takes a stab at what I’m trying to say, “Must be something I do to make them despise me?” He leans in. “Why Yadira, do you mean sexually?”
     I can’t stop my stupid blush, but he doesn’t need to read anything into it. I pretend to be unfazed. “Sure. Why not?” An uncomfortable ice flows through my veins.
     Both corners of his mouth lift. “I don’t see how that could be since I’ve never had any complaints. Quite the opposite, in fact.” He acts like he’s going to say more. I have to stop him.

     “I really don’t care.”
     “But you said you wanted me to tell you ‘things.'”
     “Not things like that, I don’t.”
     He plops his hands in his lap. “Then what should we talk about?”
     “Nothing. You can leave.”
     “Absolutely not. You are my personal guest, and it’s my duty to entertain you.”
     “I’d rather you left me alone.”
     “Nonsense. Besides, I can have really droll days. I’ve been looking forward to this little chat all day.”
     “No, you just wanted me to go heal Macie.”
     He scowls. “No, that was still just work. THIS is what I’ve been happily anticipating. What should we talk about?”
     “Nothing.”

     “So you would prefer we didn’t talk.” His eyes imply something I do NOT like.
     “Not in the way you’re thinking.”
     “So you CAN read my thoughts,” he says like he’s answering a question.
     I shake my head. “No. That only happens with the… thing… that I can’t help but do.”
     “Then how is it you know what I’m thinking when you say ‘not in the way you’re thinking’?”
     I scoot the tiniest bit away from him, more icy feeling in my veins. “It’s what your expression says.”
     “What does my expression say, poppet?”
     “Don’t worry about it because it’s not going to happen.” There.
     “That ‘what’ isn’t going to happen?” He’s baiting me.
     “Nothing.”
     “So ‘nothing’ ISN’T going to happen.” He grins. “Interesting.” He watches me for a moment. “Now, of course, I can’t help but wonder what IS going to happen.”

     “Stop it, Derek. I don’t like the turn of this conversation.”
     Where I’m guessing he would’ve continued it anyway, he instead blinks at me with wide eyes. “What did you call me?”
     Oh. Hm. I did it again. I sigh, fighting not to roll my eyes. “Your name.”
     “‘Derek’ is no more. My name is Reck… because I wreck anything that gets in the way of what I want.” I can tell he tries not to glare. I’m not bothered.
     “No. Derek is still in there.” I watch him. His face begins to droop downward.

     I feel like if he could get more air in, he’d yell what he says next. “Stop it.”
     “Stop what? Telling you who you are?”
     “Get out of my head, Yadira.” He breathes deeply.
     “I’m not ‘in your head.’ It’s there on the surface. You say ‘Derek’ is no more. Well, ‘Derek’ cared about people, and now that you’re carrying less baggage around with you, you have more room to care.” Wow. Not even I know where that came from, but as the words leave my mouth, I know they’re true.
     “I thought you were done doing that to me. Bloody hell, did Rohan have to put up with this shit every day from you?”
     Ow.

     “Rohan was true to himself for the most part.” I fight to keep from crying. And this didn’t used to happen all the time.
     “Shit. Yadira, I’m sorry.” He looks at a loss as to what else to do. “How are you doing this to me? Why? I was fine before. NOW do you see why I’m cautious about releasing you to the population?” He breathes fast. “And I used to not apologise for anything.”
     “And that was ‘fine.'” I cover my eyes. I almost feel like a parent talking to her child, but that’s bizarre considering how much older he is. “And people need me. That’s even what YOU said.”
     “Yeah, before you did your hocus pocus on my emotions. How do I know you’re not going to leave chaos in your wake?”
     I glare at him. “You just saw me disperse chaos. And you, your mind is less chaotic.”
     He does yell now. “You took away my driving force! I’m king! I need to be strict! I need to separate myself, remaining unbiased and above the general population. Now, I want to go out and kiss babies and all that bloody politician nonsense. I don’t need to be LIKED. I need to be feared and respected.”
     “Then I did you a favor.”

     He gets quiet, and we sit here and stare at each other. I’m not backing down. If whatever it was I did to him made him less the bully that Zuri told me about, I’m glad I did. There is so much here that needs to be fixed, and I guess it starts at the top.

Reck

     I can’t decide if I should throw her out the window or grab her arms and beg her to help me. She’s brought back pieces of me I’d thought long buried. I came here tonight to do some simple-but-effective flirting, to have a little fun watching her resist my every move, but instead, she’s sitting there and picking me apart. She called me by my old name. I don’t suppose it’s too hard to guess what it was, but no one has addressed me as such for over a decade.
     I have what I THOUGHT was a wonderful image in my head. I want Yadira at my side: the king and his goddess wife. People would adore us. They would come from across the globe to be a part of what I’m trying to create. But in this image, I’m ruling by power and might alone. All I could think is ‘I win.’ I thought that would make me happy at last.
     Now, that image is tarnished. All I see in that picture is a man with a lust for power, and I don’t like it. What I don’t like MORE is that this shouldn’t even be happening. I NEED power. I know in my gut that I was meant for this, but she’s making me question my purpose for being meant for this.

     “What are you thinking about?” she asks, and with everything else, it makes me almost crack up laughing. That’s my reaction to this whole irrational mess. As in: how can she sit there like an omnipotent being and then suddenly switch to someone acting exactly like her age?
     Now to figure out how to answer her. “I’m trying to figure you out.” There. Turn it around on her.
     She shrugs. “I’m really not a complicated person.”
     “I beg to differ.”
     She shakes her head. “No.” Her hand waves in the air as if brushing away a thought bubble. “I have no control over the weird stuff.”
     “And that’s what scares me,” I say before thinking.
     “Is that why you’re keeping me locked up?” Her unusual eyes flash that same anger that was there when I first entered her room earlier.
      There’s more than one answer to that. They’re coming for her. I know they have to be. Thing I DON’T know is who. Rohan I can handle. Vik is a bit of a tricky one–it all rests on his temper. I can’t imagine Zuri would come. Corin and Orion, especially together, are my biggest worry… except for the two I know nothing about–the others who were on the island when Rohan arrived. 

     I smirk. “This is for your own safety.” There we go. Back on track.
     “If you think I’m buying that, then you’re dumber than a sack of rocks.”
     I chuckle. “A sack of what?”
     She huffs. “Rocks. It was one of the things Asa would say when he would try not to cuss.”
     Ah ha! A name. “Would Asa curse a lot?”
     She wrinkles her nose. “Only when Sama wasn’t around to get on to him about it.”
     Another name. She would make a terrible spy. Asa and Sama. “So Sama must be a real rule-follower.”
     She shrugs. “She likes things done the right way, I guess. It’s what makes her a good leader.”
     “She’s your leader?”
     Her eyes suddenly get bigger.

     “Get out.” She makes a motion as if to push away the air, like that would get me to leave.
     “What did I say?” So she finally figured it out.
     “Leave them alone. They’re happy.” Her face suddenly clouds over. “Well, they’re not bothering you.”
     “What did you expect me to do?”
     “It wouldn’t be as easy as the Trags. They’ll fight.”
     I smile. “I’m not interested in conquering your home, poppet.”
     “Good because they don’t need you. They don’t need any of this.” She gestures to her fantastic room.

     “I have no reason to conquer them. Although,” I make a thinking gesture, “Rohan did kill one of my best scouts.”
     “Only because he tried to shoot Asa. Odin shot first.”
     My smile returns. “Yes, he made a good scout but a terrible marksman.”
     “Please just leave,” she tells me quietly.
     I’ve reached her limit. If I were to stay, she’d only shut down, and that’s no good. “All right, poppet. I’ll leave you to your thoughts.” I don’t even touch her. I don’t need to.

     On my way to the door, I throw over my shoulder, “Oh, if there’s anything you need, be sure to tell Ali. I’ll speak to her and ask her to return. If not, Niel could probably get it for you. We have an amazing assortment of books if nothing else.” I glance at her. She doesn’t reply, merely looking like she’s berating herself for revealing things about her home to me.
     One thing’s for sure: I am no longer bored.

A/N: Sorry for the double dose of doozy chapters. The next few are shorter, though no less important!

A/N: Summary of important bits from last chapter:
We learn that Asa and Zuri mutually decided to end things amicably at the rescue group’s departure. Zuri mentions to Asa that who knows? he might find his true love in Victoria.
The previous chapter takes place one week before Yadira arrives at The Watch with Lars. (approx 3 weeks after they left)
Peter (Yadira’s brother–the orange crystal guy) has had a thing for Zuri since he first met her when he was in his crystal form. He always watched her while she did her priestess-like duties at the temple on the island. His parents (the unseen head honchos) have instructed him not to meddle with the mortals, that it’s not his calling. Well, he breaks the rules and reveals himself to Zuri (and to us, really). We learn from him that he has powers of transformation (can transform anything, especially himself) whereas Yadira has healing powers. Then they get it on. All night, and they make plans for another rendezvous.
WHILE they’re getting it on, Zuri wonders if she’s going to possibly get pregnant. Peter reveals that their DNA is incompatible. (So there’s a clue why Yadira hasn’t gotten pregnant.)

Now, we return to the moment of Yadira’s arrival in the foreign land.

Yadira

[Previously from the “Fight or Flight” chapter…]

     My legs don’t really want to work when we get on shore, but I’m betting that’s not the only reason Lars keeps a hold on my arm.
     “Welcome to The Watch, our newer, ocean-side settlement. […].”
     I merely glare as I don’t give a nut about this foreign land.

     “You there!” he calls out to a woman wearing a bunch of white. “I have need of your assistance.”
     Her face turns toward us, and her eyes get huge before she turns back to what I assume is the entrance to the house. “Mother! Come quick! It’s happened!”

[…now on with the story!]

     We approach where the woman was standing. She comes back out onto the porch with a more composed expression.
     Lars plants me in a spot. “Stay there. Run away, and you’ll freeze.”
     Damn him for being right. HE had a change of clothes on the boat, what he’s wearing right now.

     “Welcome, traveler. How may we be of assistance?”
     “I’m a returning scout sent by the king himself. I have returned with a prisoner. She has need of a change of clothes and…” he makes a face, “a bath.”
     Jerk. I look over at the woman, but she doesn’t look disgusted. Her eyes light up when she looks at me.
     “Of course. Welcome home. We will care for her until you come to fetch her.”
     He turns to me, his eyes drooping. “Go with her.”

     When I get close enough to him, I kick sand and snow at his boots. He merely sighs and hands me off to the woman.
     “Come with me, my child.” She reaches out a hand to steady me. I still feel like I’m in the water. I regain the use of my arms, however, when she unties the bindings with a small dagger. At least I’m able to steady myself now.

     I want to cry, but I follow her into the structure anyway. There’s a chance it’ll be warmer.

     The second I step foot inside, an old woman dashes up to me and embraces me like an old friend. “Finally, you’ve come. But let me see.” She turns my head to the left and lifts my hair behind my right ear.

     “It IS you.”
     Too close. She holds my head in her hands, and I move to back away. “What are you… talking about?”
     She takes a step back, smiling. “We have been waiting for you. The signs pointed to this being your point of arrival. I had not pictured you showing up as a hostage, though.”
     “What?” I shake my head. Then I rub behind my ear. What was she looking at? I can’t feel anything.
     One of the ladies behind me speaks up, “Mother, she’s freezing. Let us take care of her and get something warm in her stomach before we fill her in on destiny.” She says ‘destiny’ with an over-dramatized air. The other woman lets out a small giggle.
     The old woman purses her lips. “Please forgive my daughters. They believe but still try to find humor in the everyday.” To her daughters, she says, “Fine, fine. Go take care of Our Lady. I shall fetch the dress.”
     What is going on?

     “This way,” one of the sisters says, and they point to the room on the right.
     Behind me the mother complains. “Of course, it’s a shame no one else is here with me. Why the others insisted upon staying in Victoria is beyond me, but there we are. I’ll go get the dress myself. I pray I don’t wind up slipping and falling in the snow on my way there.” She continues her mumbling as she walks out the door.
     “Pay her no mind. This is actually the happiest I’ve seen her.”
     “Duh, Isolde. Of course she is. Now, she has proof,” one sister says to another.
     I am utterly confused.

Reck

     Bored. Bored bored bored bored bored. Although I’m happy to lead, the day-to-day aspects of ruling the largest human settlement on the planet gets dreadfully dull. Today, it’s property line squabbles. I need to keep my farmers happy. Without them, everything will fall apart. It’s being fair that challenges me. I’m more apt to take the side of the first story I hear. At least I can recognize that it’s an issue, though.
     I just wish humanity wasn’t so ready to fight with one another. Survivors of the war remember their old enemies, and when they clash, as they often do here, keeping the peace gets tricky. Leave the past in the past. We’re pushing twenty years since eop. It’s time to move on. The squabbling gets tiresome.
     Then I get word that I’m MOST interested in: my scouting party has returned. Why did no one inform me the second they got back? I want to know why Zuri left me!
     A man is announced, and to my surprise, it’s not Corin. Has something happened?

     “Out with it,” I snap.
     “My lord, I have returned from across the sea.” Oh, give me a break! Just TELL ME.
     “Obviously. Where is Zuri? Where is my daughter? Where are Corin and your brother?”
     His face reddens. “Sire, my brother was murdered. Corin has… defected.”
     “WHAT?” I nearly stand up. “Explain yourself.”
     He does, and I hear the tale of how that murdering bastard Rohan shot Odin. Apparently, Vik, Zuri, Amina, and Orion found Rohan’s hiding place and decided to stay. Corin wanted to stay with Orion. That was stupid of me. I’d hoped their friendship would be the driving force behind the mission. I’d not counted on him switching sides. Then he tells me Amina is not my daughter.

     “Isn’t mine? Then…” The green eyes. It makes sense now. She’d assured me it was a one-time thing. “Vik.” I’ll kill him. I take a deep breath, processing the new information. While I do, I offer my condolences on his loss. “It would seem a little revenge is in order.” I’m not going to let this stand. I’ll find their little hidey-hole, burn them out like rabbits, and destroy them.
     “If I may, my lord, I believe I may have already accomplished that feat, at least in part.
     “Explain.”

     “I brought back Rohan’s wife.” To my look, he continues. “There were others living there before he arrived. Only three: a man and two women.”
     I smirk. Then I laugh. I remember now why I like Lars. He can act simple but can actually be one sneaky little bastard. I haven’t a doubt he took her right under Rohan’s nose.
     “If I may, there’s more, sire.”
     “Continue, then.”
     “The woman is… extraordinary. I was near death, and she healed me like magic. She has other strange abilities. May the gods forgive me should this be blasphemy, but there is something divine about her.” He looks like he believes his words. I’ll be the judge, however.

     I smile, still letting it sink in he stole Rohan’s wife. It’s bloody brilliant. “Then where is this woman?” Hell, anything to give Rohan a swift kick in the balls is good for me.
     “I left her with the high priestess.”
     Do I have to do everything? “Well, send for her at once!” Why he didn’t think to bring her in the first place is beyond me.
     “Forgive me, I was misunderstood. She is on her way.”
     “Fair enough.” I dismiss him with a wave of my hand. He moves off to the side, and we wait.

     And wait.

     And wait. It’s towards the end of the day, so I no longer have anyone waiting to speak with me. Just as I’m about to complain, the door opens.
     The woman Lars spoke of walks in flanked by three holy ladies. The Mother gets on her knees in front of me. It’s all a show. She hates me, but we’ve come to an agreement. Normally, I like to smirk down at her. I won.
     But right now, I don’t care.

     It would be impossible to stop staring.

     The Mother speaks, “My lord, I have the honor of presenting Our Lady Yadira, daughter of the Goddess.”
     The woman the Mother spoke of’s jaw drops in shock. “What?” she hisses and gets immediately shushed by one of the daughters.

     “Tell me how you know this is true, Mother,” I request.
     “She has the mark, sire, and she arrived just as foretold.”
     “Interesting.” If she were just Rohan’s wife, I’d lock her up somewhere and use her as bait, but the Trags appear to worship her. It’s not hard to see why.

     Exquisite. She’s incredibly uncomfortable; she must not be used to attention. I do notice that, although encouraged to do so, she refuses to kneel, giving a small shake of her head. I almost laugh.
     I address the young goddess-like creature, “Welcome to Victoria, Lady Yadira. I must beg forgiveness for the state of things. We seem to perpetually be in one building stage or another.”
     Her eyes dart from side to side–as if noticing the room for the first time.
     I formulate a plan. It’ll work. It’s fabulous.
     I get up and descend.

     I speak to the priestess as I walk by, “Thank you, Mother, for her care thus far, but I believe I am better equipped to see to her needs from here on out.”
     “Y-yes, sire.” Didn’t like that, huh? Too bad.
     Many of my own people are religious. When we once neighbored the Trag camp, the religion spread and took a more solid form. When we declared war on them, there were many objections. The Trags had no military, peaceful as they are. After they joined with us and the high priestess declared me chosen to rule over all, I’ve allowed them to continue their religious practices, also making my people happier.
     And now I’m going to reap even more benefit from that decision.

     “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Reck, king of Victoria.” I smile as I see her back up a step. She doesn’t trust me. Well, she’d be a fool if she did.
     She merely shakes her head and backs up again. “You’re the one who wanted to kill Rohan.”

     “Kill? No. He was accused of murder but left before his trial could be held. Do I consider his disappearance proof of his guilt? Yes. Yes, I do.”
     She keeps shaking her head. “No. I saw it. He tried to catch Jers.”
     I tilt my head to the side. “You ‘saw’ it, you say?” I assume she means some kind of vision.
     Her face blanches. She revealed too much, apparently. “I don’t know how.”
     “Do not trouble yourself over it. I much prefer we take steps forward rather than dwell on the past. Come with me. I’d like to show you something.” I wrap an arm around her while dismissing the holy ladies.

     “You must be famished,” I mention. I make a quick gesture to my man lurking in the corner.
     She doesn’t like my arm around her, and her step falters as I apply pressure to push her along next to me. “No, I ate with the sisters.” She looks behind her. “Please, I could stay with them. You, um, don’t need to trouble yourself.”
     I smile. Nice try, but you’re going to have to do better than that. “Nonsense. I have all this space, and I don’t use half of it. What better use than to cater to the daughter of the Goddess?”
     “I don’t know why she said that.”

     “You don’t believe her? Have you never experienced something you can’t explain?” Ah. There it is. Hm. This actually bears further investigation. I watch her expression and read it like she’s remembering something.
     “Just… weird.”
     I pat her shoulder, still pushing her along. The Mother and Lars carry on a jovial conversation behind us. “Think no more about it for now, then. I’d like to give you a small tour.”
     When we enter the hallway, I release her and gesture to the artwork.

     “The hallways are becoming like an art gallery. People have looted various sites, but when they arrive, they are so thrilled to finally find an organized society that they donate them as gifts.” I chuckle. “Then they ask for food. They get it, of course.” I turn and see that she’s fallen behind, so I step forward and take her hand. “This way.”
     I remain chatting away, ignoring her worrying glances and fidgety behavior. The tour continues.
   We get to the stairwell, and I reach back.

     “If you would, please do be careful on the stairs. I would hate for that dress to cause you to trip.” She doesn’t take my hand, so I reach down and grab hers, practically pulling her up the stairs.
     She at last decides to speak her mind. “I want to go home.”
     We arrive at the top of the stairs. “Ah, here we are.” I unlock the doors. I knew this room would come in handy for one reason or another.

     “This is your home now. You certainly can’t cross the ocean by yourself.”
     “Rohan did,” she replies belligerently.

     I turn around. “But YOU’RE not going to. Like so many other people before you, Victoria is your new home.”
     “Someone will come for me.” She juts out her chin. “Or maybe I’ll get the mother or sisters to help.”
     I laugh. “Fat chance. The high priestess has been waiting and waiting for someone like you to show up.”
     She folds her arms. “I’m not who she says I am. How could I be? I’m a normal person.”
     I’m having so much fun. “Ah, but you see, Lady Yadira, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that SHE sees you as The Lady she’s been prophesying for ages.”
   Her arms unfold.

     “You can’t seriously believe her.” She’s fighting to hold back her anxiety, but it’s there in her unusual eyes.
     “I… haven’t decided. Lars claims he believes her.” I smile when she folds her arms again.
     “Funny, I didn’t get that when he’d slap me across the face and tie me up.”
     I shrug. “He’s a man with many sides, but the point is: you’re staying. It is entirely up to you if you wish to be a guest or a prisoner.”
     She gets a look on her face, spins around, and opens the door, only to be met by one of the guards, who casually strikes an imposing stance. He’d secretly followed us up here.
    “Of course I would provide… security,” I offer in explanation.
     She shuts the door back and spins around. “No! You can’t keep me in here.” She darts for the window (which wouldn’t help her), but I stop her.

     “Oh, I can’t? Perhaps you do not understand. I am the ordained sovereign king of Victoria, a growing nation, the ONLY nation of its size on the planet.” She tries to free her arm, so I hold it tighter. “We’re a growing nation of people who still feel the pain, still feel the loss, of everything that’s happened. Tensions are high. Many of us are survivors of the war, and we remember our old enemies.”
   “Stop it! I don’t care.”
    “What I’m saying is you have the ability to maintain the peace.”

     “You’re insane! I haven’t the first clue what you’re talking about.”
    “Then let me explain it to you the way I see it. Many people together naturally creates unrest. The only thing most have in common is this religion the mother priestess preaches. YOU are now at the center of it, whether you like it or not. The people need something to stand together, something to unify with one another, and you could just be that something. And I’ll be damned if I let you slip away.”
     “I never asked for this! I don’t want it. I just want to go home.”
     “If what I foresee happening is what’s coming, I’ll never let you leave.” I need to reward Lars. He handed to me a marvelous solution to a growing problem, on a silver platter no less.
     “It’s not my job to ‘unify’ people.” She points to me. 

     “According to you, it’s yours. Zuri’s told me about you. You’re nothing but a bully. Now you have a problem and are expecting someone else to fix it. I won’t be your… your puppet.”
     The thing about Zuri stung, but I swallow it. I decide to change tactics. “Yadira, think of all the good you could do. The people need you. There is so much pain…” Visions of my past fly before my eyes, but I force it away like I have so many other times. “So much that you can heal.” No. I don’t want to remember finding my brother dead, of finding my father with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Skeeves were supposed to protect us; it’s why I joined. But they couldn’t protect us from getting sick. I don’t know why I didn’t get sick and they did. I don’t know what my face could be displaying right now. I’ve never had memories rush before my mind’s eye so fast and uncontrolled.

     My voice sounds raspy. “What are you doing to me?” I can’t make them stop! She struggles, but I grasp her wrists, a bit fascinated and a bit furious. It’s like she’s gotten into my head.
     “I’m sorry. I can’t control it.” Her lip trembles. “Your father…” She can’t finish it.

     I whisper, “You can see it.”
     Tears stream down her face. “Your father… he… he didn’t want your brother to suffer a painful death. After helping him, as he thought it, he did the same… favor… to himself.”
     I gasp. It’s like she’s seeing the scene through my father’s eyes, answering my internal and unanswered questions, and granting me a measure of closure. I’ll deal with my emotions later, but I start to wonder, Could the priestess be right? Nothing like a demonstration right before me.
    She looks me in the eyes. “He was so happy you didn’t get sick.” She sees the tears swimming in my eyes, and she breaks down.

     “I’m sorry,” she sobs. “That was personal. I don’t know how I do that, and I wish I didn’t.”
     “We need you, Yadira. This grieving world needs you.” And you’re mine. I will be the one to bring this beacon of hope to the nation.
     She shakes her head. “I just want to go home. P-please. Rohan must be worried sick.”
     “You don’t think you were meant to come here? Why go back to your old home where the population is small when there are so many here you could help?”
     She whispers. “My memories. Peter, it makes sense now.”
    “I’m afraid you’ve lost me on that one, poppet.” I smirk at the nickname I just gave her. After all, she claimed she wouldn’t be my ‘puppet.’
     She takes a deep breath. “I’m too tired to explain.”
     I nod. “Fair enough. You should get some rest then.” I gesture to the drawers next to us. “You’ll find adequate clothing in there, I believe, should you wish to change.” I let myself really look at her again. That dress is just revealing enough. Wow. I swallow and release her, headed to the door. So she says Rohan’s worried sick.
   Suddenly, I spin around, startling her. I have more to say before I go. 

     “And as for Rohan, you needn’t worry about that anymore. I hereby dissolve your marriage.” It’s good to be the king.
   “You… can’t… do that.”
     I hold back the laughter, just to be nice. “Oh I can’t?” A chuckle escapes. “Because I believe I just did.”

    She stubbornly maintains her stance. It’s entertaining. “No. We said vows. To each other. With the universe as our witness. You… can’t go against the universe.”
     Not only a cure for the rising unrest in my country, but a cure for my boredom. Yes, please be stubborn, dammit. I’ve actually gotten tired of women throwing themselves at me, trying to better their life by hoping to be queen or something. “But… ‘the universe,’ as you say, made me king, and I say it’s dissolved.” I pat her cheek twice. “So there you are.” Then I turn around with a grin.

     “Pleasant dreams, poppet.” After a nod to the guard, the door closes behind me and locks securely.

A/N: I don’t know what happened to my temple lot, so I’ve re-created it to the best of my ability. There’s a column that is especially bugging me, among other things. (I’ve since figured it out–it was an unlockable that wasn’t showing up in the regular build/buy mode.)

Also, the end of the last chapter is a month after Yadira’s abduction. This chapter backs up to a week before that. AND this isn’t the big chapter that I mentioned in the summary. I’ve moved that one forward one because Zuri did some complaining, wanting a bit of her story told. That, and another character has been itching to make the scene in a more corporeal form. 

Also also, NSFW. Period. (Pics are mosaic’d to cover naughty bits if necessary)
There’s important info mixed in, though, so I put a summary of important bits at the beginning of the next chapter. Click here to zoom ahead and miss the naughty bits.

Zuri

     Before Asa left three weeks ago, he and I had a mature discussion. Ever since a little after Vik and Sama’s wedding, we’d steadily grown apart. I still find him adorable, and I think he’s grown from the attention I’ve given him. The spark didn’t last long, though.
     I’m sorry, Yadira. He will not be my last conquest. That said, I didn’t hurt him, just like you asked.
    Asa’s eyes gained a bit more twinkle in them when I mentioned that who knows? he could find his true love in Victoria. Perhaps going there and finding love can bring some good out of the shocking fact that Yadira has been abducted.
    So, after a kiss goodbye and a demand that he be careful, we ended things.

     As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I want a relationship again, but I don’t see that happening with the way things are. Rohan has never really shown an interest not to mention he’s married, and Corin’s interests lie elsewhere. Vik and I have not much in common–plus he’s married as well. Orion? I suppose, but I don’t like the idea of being second-best in someone’s mind. It almost makes me miss Reck. Almost. He at least knew how to give me the attention I like. I can’t go back to him, though, so I just don’t know what will happen to me.

    Tonight, I go to the temple to pray for everyone’s safe return. I have Corin staying at the house with Amina and Zane.

     The temple: my favorite place. I’ve brought Amina here a few times to teach her, and Rohan comes here to pray… but the place still feels like it’s mine. I don’t even seem to feel the cold here. It’s magical, and perhaps I imagine it, but I truly feel heard here.
     Over the past few months, I’ve been giving it upgrades, not wanting to negate its original feel but sort of give it my own little touch. I’m going to light the candles I brought the other day.
     What? I think in surprise when I arrive.

     The candles and the lamp are both lit. Blinking, I cautiously step forward to investigate. Is Rohan here? Damn. I wanted the place to myself.
   Turning my head, I see the other lamp is also lit, the one next to the bench.
    “You’re here,” I hear coming from the direction of bench, startling me.

     “Who–?” I can’t finish it. I want to ask ‘who are you,’ but the words stop.
     A man with wild red hair smiles at me, leaning his arms on his thighs. Then he chuckles. “I suppose the questions would be ‘do you come here often?’ or ‘have we met?'” He laughs.

     Then he replies to his own questions. “The answer to both is ‘yes.'”
    “Who are you?” I finally manage. He doesn’t appear to be dangerous. If he is, I’m too far away to have any kind of scream heard. His aura is a brilliant golden orange, which can be a bit tricky.
     He playfully puts his hand over his heart. “Zuri! I’m hurt. Have you already forgotten me?” He stands up to walk over.

He knows my name. Do I run or stay?

     His eyes are bizarre. Like crystals.
     I can’t decide if he’s dangerous. He’s not exactly ‘safe.’ He radiates a kind of power.
     Before I know it, he’s grabbed my hand.

     “Zuri Hughes! What a joy it is to finally shake your hand.”
    He even knows my last name! “Um… I’m sorry.” Who is he?
     He looks up at me and grins impishly. “I’ll give you a hint. We met HERE.”
     “Wait. You’re…” The crystal eyes. “Peter?”
    “Yes!” He lights up like I made his night. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
    “For me?”
     He releases my hand and walks around me, gesturing to the temple. “I like what you’ve done with the place. It still has that ancient feel but with some homey touches. Very welcoming.”
      “I thought you were just a rock.” Oops. I know my mistake immediately.

      “Crystal,” he says with me also echoing him as quickly as possible.
      “Sorry. It’s, um, Yadira’s fault.” For the first time in over a decade, I’m a little bashful around a man. I suppose it’s fair to say this is no ordinary man.
    He smiles kindly. “Let’s sit down and chat for a while.”
    “Oh.” I look around. “Here. This is where I was headed anyway.” I walk into the old ruin towards the bench that took quite a lot of work to find and then place.

     “Beautiful,” he remarks, and I wonder what exactly he’s calling beautiful.
     My heart beats faster as he sits next to me.

     “Forgive me if I seem a little starstruck,” he says. “I have been dying to really meet you. You couldn’t hear my voice last time, but for reasons that don’t really matter here and now, I couldn’t show my sister this form.”
     “And you can show ME?” My soul smiles. HE’S starstruck to meet ME?
     “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Zuri. I’m misbehaving.”
     His grin is infectious, and I let out a giggle.

     He mimics a high-pitched voice. “Peter, you cannot meddle with the mortals. It’s not your calling.” Then he looks at me, holding my eyes, and he breathes in. “I’m breaking the rules.”
     I feel my forehead move as I ponder if I should ask him why.
     He answers me anyway.

     “I want to be with you.” A small smile plays about his lips as he watches my reaction.
     “Me?” Dammit! It’s like I’m a schoolgirl.
     “You are fabulous. You’re such a rebel, but at the same time, you want order.”
     “How…?” I want to ask how he could know so much about me.
    “Almost the same way you can read auras, I can read you. I’ve been dying to meet you as me.” 
   That makes me think of another question.

     “How is it that you’re not in your crystal form?”
    His smile never leaves his face. “That’s my specialty. Yadira’s is healing. Mine is transformation.”
    “So you can transform yourself.”
    “I can transform anything.” He scoots closer, apparently wanting to speak into my ear.

     “I can use my ability in some of the most entertaining ways.”
     I think I catch what he’s implying. “I’d like to stay me, if you don’t mind.”
     He laughs heartily. “That’s what I love about you, Zuri. You immediately understood me. Are you sure? You wouldn’t want to be a dolphin for the night?”
     “No. I like myself just the way I am.”
     “Another thing I like about you: your confidence. And I must agree with you. However…” He looks at my shirt, my hair, and my face. “Perhaps a little… fun?”

     My eyes don’t leave his face. “What?” I watch him answer me with his eyes when they look down. I follow them and let out a quick gasp. Then I smirk. “It’s a little tight.”
   “No, it’s perfect.” He takes a breath. “You’re beautiful, Zuri.”
   Am I attracted to Peter? Hell, yes, I am. And I must admit it’s a thrill to think this immortal being finds me beautiful. 
     “This is a thrill for me.” He places his hand over mine. “I’ve been watching you, Zuri. I’ve been listening, the entire time wishing I could reveal myself to you. It’s been driving me mad.”

     “So you decided to break the rules,” I say and smile. “I’m sure they were stupid rules.” He’s right: I’m a bit of a rebel. I can’t help my nature.
     He chuckles. “Yes, very stupid. How am I supposed to merely sit and watch such a spunky, beautiful woman go about her duties while I do nothing?”
     “If you were listening, what about Yadira?”
     “This will sound strange, but she’s where she’s supposed to be. She’ll be safe, but she won’t necessarily be happy.”
     “Then what about everyone else?” I’m meaning the ones we sent out to rescue her.
     “They’ll be okay.” He watches me. “Do you want to know everything? I don’t think you want that burden. Just trust me when I say things are how they should be.” He wraps a comforting arm around me. Well, I suppose the arm around me is meant for more than just comfort, but I like it.

      “You’re right. I don’t want that burden.” But it is good to know that things will generally be okay. My attention is once again drawn to the man beside me. He is WARM, like a comfortable hearth fire. I ponder if that’s why I never felt cold.
    “I know I keep repeating myself, but I’m so happy right now. THE Zuri is sitting next to me, looking at me.” His eyes move down. “And looking intoxicatingly ravishing.” His other hand moves over my knee. “I want you, Zuri. I have from the moment we met.” He startles me when he pulls up my leg, moving it over his knee.

     His eyes! They’re fascinating. It’s like the colors swim around like some strange liquid. Watching them is hypnotizing.
     “I want to watch you as I make you feel incredible. I want to feel you pulse around me. I want to endlessly drive myself into you.”
     I stop his hand from moving further up. “Me?” My heart races, and my breath tries to keep up. For a moment, I worry the mere act of breathing is going to rip the seams in this shirt he transformed.
     “You spend so much of your time on your own conquests. This time, Zuri, BE the conquest.” His hand moves up, effortlessly sliding under mine. I quickly adjust.

     I want him. I want him SO BADLY. I come to the temple and find a god, or demigod? An immortal, and he’s been waiting for me.
     “I’ve been calling you.”
    “Are you reading my thoughts?” His hand feels like it’s pushed through the fabric of my pants and is actually touching my skin.
     “Close.” He massages me, his fingertips pushing forward into my inner thigh.
     Am I even allowed to say no? I wonder because the pull to him is irresistible.
    “I would never force anyone, Zuri. Seduce? Yes, but force? No. Where’s the pleasure in that?” His hand pushes forward.

     How is it possible that I feel his touch on my skin? His fingertips occasionally brush between my legs before circling back to my inner thigh, teasing me. So his power is transformation, but is there more to him? Is he the god of sex or something?
     He grins. “Do you want to find out?”
     “Get out of my head. That’s not fair.”
    “But I love being in your head, Zuri. It’s so much fun. And when you think your thoughts that loudly, how can I help but get them?”
     Then tell me how you’re doing that with your hand.
    He chuckles. “Trade secret.”
     “Bastard,” I say in almost a teasing way. To thank me, he pushes forward and stays right where I really want his fingers to stay, pushing in yet past my skin right TO the pleasure center. I cry out. Then he pulls back, continuing to tease. 

     “Be mine tonight, Zuri. All night.”
     How could I and why would I say no? When do chances like this come around? I can’t think any more. I barely remember how I got here. All I know is I want everything he said.

     “I don’t want this only tonight, either. I want to be your little secret.” His hand pushes higher. “I want you because you are special, more than you realize, and I want a small piece of that.”
    “You’ve been waiting for me,” I whisper. Yes, I want this.
     “I have.” His hand moves between my legs, and still, it’s like the fabric isn’t even there.

     What he does completely takes over all thought, all sensation, everything.
    “Breathe, Zuri.” Oh. I forgot.
     Again, he even bypasses my skin, pushing into everything that gives me pleasure. I make a little noise as I try to breathe.

     “Incredible,” he murmurs, never stopping.
    If I breathe, it’s only so I can make more little noises. My eyes go out of focus.
     Then my hips move on their own repeatedly, and I almost pass out.

     “There we are, my beautiful priestess,” I hear as I cannot sit upright any more. “Hm. Perhaps something a bit more comfortable.” The bench transforms into a bed, and our clothing disappears. He’s on top of me. “Yes,” he whispers.

     I am taken by a god. For a moment, I wonder how I got here. Then I don’t care. If he wants me, who am I to resist? And boy does he want me.

Then I wonder something. Am I going to get pregnant by him?

     Whether or not I spoke it aloud, he answers. “No. Our DNA isn’t compatible. But what a child that would be.”
     He slows, as if he’s in thought for a moment. Then, he picks back up with a vengeance.
     When we finish, he starts up again, having me in another place. Then another. Then another.

     When he said all night, he meant it. We enjoy each other’s bodies in almost every location at the temple grounds. I never tire. Nothing he does is too much. I have the perfect night with the perfect lover.

     He moans into my ear. “How is it the night is almost spent? I feel we’ve barely begun.” He kisses my neck. “I will give you three days to catch up on your sleep. Then I ask you to meet me once again.” He stands back from me, and our clothes materialize as if removing them went on reverse. He looks at me, longing in his eyes. “Oh, my wonderful Zuri.”

     Idly, I wonder what the mother priestess back with the Trags would say if she knew about the night I just had. I don’t know if her old heart could take it; she’d probably drop into a dead faint.
     Peter chuckles into me. “And this is only the beginning.”

     The sun is indeed coming up. Corin is going to start wondering where I am. Amina may already be up by now, early riser as she is. Still, I pause and turn, hoping Peter hasn’t disappeared.

     He smiles at me. “Three days.” Then he turns and changes the bed back into a bench. He stops on the circle.

A/N: Summary of important bits:
We learn that Asa and Zuri mutually decided to end things amicably at the rescue group’s departure. Zuri mentions to Asa that who knows? he might find his true love in Victoria.
Peter (Yadira’s brother–the orange crystal guy) has had a thing for Zuri since he first met her when he was in his crystal form. He always watched her while she did her priestess-like duties at the temple on the island. His parents (the unseen head honchos) have instructed him not to meddle with the mortals, that it’s not his calling. Well, he breaks the rules and reveals himself to Zuri (and to us, really). We learn from him that he has powers of transformation (can transform anything, especially himself) whereas Yadira has healing powers. Then they get it on. All night, and they make plans for another rendezvous.
WHILE they’re getting it on, Zuri wonders if she’s going to possibly get pregnant. Peter reveals that their DNA is incompatible. (So there’s a clue why Yadira hasn’t gotten pregnant.)

Yadira

      Rohan told me not to. He said I had no business going down here and talking to this man, but I disagree. I don’t know how I did it, but somehow, when he was close to death and dying, something came from inside me and I healed him. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised with all the other weird stuff that’s happened to me.
          I hate his pain, the prisoner’s. He’s mourning the death of his brother. It’s rare that siblings would both survive, so the fact that we killed one of them is terrible. Rohan says he was about to shoot Asa, and I believe him, but still.

     “Hi,” I tell him. I think I heard his name is Lars.
     “Leave me alone,” he says without so much as a glance my way.
     “I’m sorry about your brother.”

     He suddenly starts weeping, almost sobbing. Then, in almost a yell, he asks, “Why have you come down here to torture me?”
     “I’m sorry! I only wanted to help. Somehow.”
     He takes a deep breath. “How do you do that? How do you dredge up emotion? I’ve been fighting all day to keep it down.”
     “I… I don’t know how.”
     He turns to look at me. “But you do acknowledge that you do it.”
     “Um…” I bite my lip. “Well, it’s happened before.”
     His face wears a more composed expression, and he stands up to walk over.

     “And you healed me. Don’t say you don’t know what I’m talking about. I was about to join my brother, but the gods have decided to spare me. How did you do it?”
     I feel my face get hot. “I don’t know. That was the only time that’s happened.”
     He studies my face for a moment; then he looks down. “You have a gift.” His eyes run back and forth where the wall behind me meets the floor. Then, he clears his throat. “What have they done with Odin’s body?”
     “We buried him. Vik made a headstone.”
     He covers his eyes with his hand, and his shoulders shake. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
     I glance back at the stairwell. My heart goes out to the grieving brother. “I could… I could take you to his grave, if you want.”
     His hand quickly moves away.

     “You would do that for me?” A ray of hope shines in his eyes.
     I pause, biting my lip again. “Well… as long as you promise not to hurt anyone. A-and promise you’ll come straight back here. If you promise that, I’ll help you.” Everyone should at least get a chance to say goodbye.
     He sighs with relief. “You are indeed an angel.”
     One corner of my mouth goes back in an almost-smile. “Let me see if I can figure this out.”

     “I think you have to twist it somehow,” he tells me. “It’s brilliantly designed in a way that makes it impossible for me to do it from this side.” He continues to give instructions, and eventually, I make it work.
     “I got-” but my words get cut off. He can move incredibly fast.

     “Not a sound,” he tells me quietly, his hand covering my mouth.
     I struggle, but for someone who was recently mortally wounded, he’s dangerously strong.
    “Like I said, what an angel you are. Thank you for opening the door.”
     I try to scream, but he pops my throat with the side of his other hand. That also means he had to loosen his grip. I take my opportunity.
     “Help!” I scream.
     “I said shut it!”

     His arm goes around my throat, blocking my next scream. Instead, I sound like a sick frog. What’s worse: I can’t get enough air.
     “I see you’re not going to come easily. No matter.” His grip tightens, and my vision blurs.
     With every once of strength I have left, I elbow him in the ribs–where the wound was. He cries out and loosens his grip again.
     “Bitch.”
     I try to yell out again, but my throat refuses to cooperate. It’s all I can do to get air in my lungs, and my body is more focused on that. The next thing I know, my face lands in the dirt.

     “No,” I croak.
     He tries to pin my arms behind my back, but I’m not giving up. I work at kicking my way forward, struggling to regain control of my hands. He flips me over.

     Once more, he’s trying to suffocate me. “I thought I’d keep trying that lock on my own, but this is better. This way, I have a little insurance policy.”
     I gasp for air, pushing against him. I punch him in the ribs again, but it’s weaker this time. All he does is wince.
     He smiles. “Besides, I can’t go back empty-handed.”
     NO! With everything I have left, I fight. Unfortunately, trying to get my body to fight him off requires oxygen in my muscles.
     I lose.

Rohan

     I wake up and reach over next to me on the bed. Empty. She must be relieving herself. I go back to sleep.
     Dawn arrives, and I once more reach for Yadira. Empty. Huh? And her side of the bed is cold.

   I sit straight up. “Yadira?” Bollocks, I hope she’s not lying somewhere hurt. I hurriedly put on warmer clothing. It had snowed last night. I don’t see any footprints near the house, so I wander around, calling for her and looking at the ground. I check the bathhouse. Not there. I check Sama’s. Not there. I check the shitehole Orion built. Not there. She’s not at Asa’s.
     In checking everywhere, I’ve awakened everyone nearby, and they’re all now helping me look with Zuri watching the little ones.

     Did she return to that place she called The Land of Weird? I pull at my hair. Not again! The last time robbed her of her memories temporarily; gods only know what it’d do this time.
     I see Asa walking down the hill, and my blood runs cold. Orion. He somehow got to her. I start to stomp in that direction when Vik comes running up from the cellar.

     “Lars is gone!”
     He’s so loud that even Asa hears him, and he immediately thinks the same thing I do: the ship. Is the ship still there? I eventually catch up to him when we arrive at the spot where we’d previously left their ship. “Oh fuck.” I can’t express more than that right now.

     Asa can. “She’s gone! He took her! He can’t be far. We have to follow them!”
     “WHAT?!” a man, Orion, screams from behind us. He must’ve heard Asa. He runs up to stand before Asa and me, also looking for the missing boat.

     “Fuck! I saw a ship sailin’ away in the distance, an’ I worried… Fuck!” He has the assigned ‘job’ of watching for ships. His settlement is perfectly situated, and his job is made easier with the discovery of a nice pair of binoculars.

     Then he points at me. “How could you let this happen?!”
     “Hold on a damn minute! I didn’t know until I woke up this morning!” Bastard.
     “You’re tellin’ me ye don’ notice when she leaves yer bed?” His eyes are like daggers. I don’t have time for this!

     “Sure I do.” Don’t get any ideas, asshole. “I noticed in the middle of the night, but I’m not going to supervise when she needs to relieve herself.”
     “You bloomin’ wanker! He may have a good twelve hours on us!” He pulls at his hair. “An’ he has the better boat.” Vik has been doing a few minor repairs on his here and there.
     Asa’s had enough of listening to our squabbling. He runs back in the direction of home. I presume it’s to inform Vik and get things rolling. We’re going to use his ship in whatever condition it’s in and give chase.

     I was right. Asa and Vik are already discussing it by the time Orion and I arrive. Asa’s fast. “I’m going,” I announce once Orion and I have trotted up to them.

     Vik turns to me. “Then you’re a dead man.” He and I have already discussed this possibility, but it was just hypothetical: What would Reck do should he get possession of someone with the strange powers Yadira has? My mind whirls in many awful scenarios to the point I want to scream.

     “I don’t care! She’s my wife!”
     “I’m going'” Orion says in a voice that clearly states he won’t hear otherwise. To our looks, he explains, “There’s bound to be the new castle for his deranged dark ages theme ideas. I once went over the plans wi’ Reck. I know a way in, if he stuck to those plans.”
     Asa smashes his fist into his other hand. “Both of you SHUT UP.” He points to me. “You have a death sentence.” He points to Orion. “You’re a traitor.” He points to himself. “They don’t know me.”

     “I’m. Going,” I say right into his face.
     “They don’t know me, either,” we hear behind Asa. It’s Sama.
     Vik’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. “No, Sama.”
     She gives him a look. “We need infiltrators if we’re unable to catch him on the open water, which, let’s face it, we may not be able to, not with the repairs still needed on your ship.”

     “No,” Vik repeats.
     Her eyes tighten. “Asa and I are perfect for the job. We can camouflage as immigrants.”
     “Absolutely not.” Vik’s utterances go unheeded.
     “We could even try to get jobs in this castle Orion speaks of.”
     Orion rubs his chin. “She makes a fair point.”
     “I’m going.” No one listens to me.

     Everyone starts speaking at once. Vik does everything he can to try and convince his wife to stay here; he will lose that battle. Asa and Orion start discussing the layout of this proposed new building.
     In a lull, another voice sounds from the direction of Sama’s house. “Here’s what you do.” We all turn. It’s Corin now.

     “Vik, you man the sailboat. No one here is more skilled than you. Asa and Sama, you infiltrate the city.” He winces. “Orion,” his voice cracks, “you remain with Vik in case they need a skilled soldier on their side.” He looks at me, walking towards us. “You stay here.”
     “WHAT?” my arms are suddenly held back. I want to strangle him.

     He calmly watches me. “You’re a liability, a loose cannon. You could endanger the lives of everyone else.”
     “I know how to control myself!” I motion to Orion with a jerk of my head. “HE doesn’t!”
     Corin looks down. “He’s a better soldier in close quarters.”
     I scream and struggle. Has everyone gone insane? This is Yadira we’re talking about! The love of my life! My wife! My reason for living!
     Someone says, “Lock him up,” and I’m dragged away, literally kicking and screaming.

     It takes all three of them to move me: Vik, Orion, and Asa, because I put up the fight of my life. Before I go underground, I hear Corin talking to Sama. “We don’t have much time. Gather what you need. Speed is of the essence.”
     They drag me into Corin’s old cell. “You bastards!” I scream again when they bring some rope to tie me to the bed, saying Corin can untie me later once they’ve gone.
     They argue with one another as I continue to put up a fight. They wonder if what they’re doing will be able to hold me for long. They’ve got that right: I’ll rip this place apart to get a spot on that ship.
     Orion sighs in dejected exasperation. “Sorry aboot this, mate.”

     He punches me in the side of my head, knocking me out cold.

Yadira

     I’ve just had a month of utter hell. It’s a wonder I survived. I have learned to sail, however. I managed it when I would get lucky enough to escape my bonds.
     A few times when Lars would go to sleep, I’d turn the boat around, trying to get back to the current that Rohan told me leads straight to the island. Then, Lars would wake up, slap me across the face, tie me back up, and take control of the rudder once more.
     I’ve decided I loathe raw fish. I ate what I had to in order to survive.
     Today, we’re ‘here,’ wherever ‘here’ is.

     My legs don’t really want to work when we get on shore, but I’m betting that’s not the only reason Lars keeps a hold on my arm.
     “Welcome to The Watch, our newer, ocean-side settlement. I must apologise for its lack of advancements like plumbing, but apparently, you’re used to that. It does, however, make an excellent place to welcome immigrants coming from the sea. People are always thrilled to see a working lighthouse.”
     I merely glare as I don’t give a nut about this foreign land.

     “You there!” he calls out to a woman wearing a bunch of white. “I have need of your assistance.”
     Her face turns toward us, and her eyes get huge before she turns back to what I assume is the entrance to the house. “Mother! Come quick! It’s happened!”

Corin

     Lars recovers remarkably fast. I mean miraculously. One night, a blonde woman sneaks down the stairs to see him while the woman Sama changes his bandages or whatnot. They, Sama and “Rohan the guard,” start yelling at her to leave, but she ignores them.
     The next thing I know, I hear Lars crying for his brother. After that, he takes mere days what should’ve taken weeks or even months to accomplish. I wish I’d known what happened.
     He refuses to talk to anyone. All he does is cry.

     However, the morning of my trial, he speaks to me. “I don’t know why you want to join them.”
     “Sorry, mate. I’ve loathed Reck for ages now. I want to be where Orion is.”
     I hear him snort. “Fine. Betray your people and go make your little love-nest with these backwards heathens.”

     “Backwards heathens who healed you with some miracle, you mean?”
     He gets quiet again. Then he speaks. “Yet they killed my brother.”
     I sigh, not continuing our pointless debate. I get it: Odin died because he tried to shoot that man-child. I hope to argue my case that I wasn’t about to try the same thing. I was in a defensive stance when I’d triggered that trap.

     Orion comes in, looking upbeat, and he gives me a haircut. I notice he’d shaved, and I’m glad. That beard looked ridiculous on him.

     They take me out of my cell, and I wince at the daylight I hadn’t seen for ages. I’m brought into what they call the ‘community center.’ I’m told to have a seat on a sofa, and I count my blessings that at least I’m not handcuffed to a post or something. That’s a good sign. They must not be too worried about me.

     They attempt a kind of formal hearing. It’s actually quite precious, and I have to love them for it. They’re trying at least. The whole thing is closer to how the Skeeve council worked where everyone had the opportunity to weigh in, but they do give the woman Sama the final say.
     Vik lists the charge against me, but he does it in such a way as to make me think he doubts it’ll hold. Then, Orion stands in my defense.

     I smirk. Orion: my barrister. I love that bastard. Oh, I won’t pretend I’m not in some kind of danger, but I doubt they’ll kill me. Sending me back to the fucking Skeeves WOULD kill me, though, and Vik mentioned that as a possible sentence.

     Vik and Orion debate back and forth over the big issue: ‘was I about to shoot Asa?’ Of course, the answer is no. I’d been too shocked to see Orion suddenly standing before me.
     “I think we should hear from the accused,” Sama says in her adorable accent. I sigh and stand up.

     “The question on everyone’s mind,” Sama says, “has to do with your motives.”
     Asa pipes in, “Yeah, you show up guns a-blazing and then say you wanna stay.”
     “That’s understandable,” I say as I take in several things at once. First of all, I notice Zuri won’t meet my eyes. She’s never liked me much after what happened that one time, but I can’t help but be grateful she’s kept my secret. Rohan looks like he agrees with Brother Asa. Vik and Orion merely act curious as to what I’ll say, but the blonde woman momentarily catches my attention.

     Who is she? She’s the one with the mystical healing powers and yet she sits there, silently taking everything in. She’s young, even younger than Brother Asa, I’d wager. Whatever. I have current problems to deal with.

     “Firstly,” I begin, “I would love nothing more than to betray Reck the Intolerable Tyrant.”
     Asa speaks, interrupting. “Well, that’s a quick show of betraying your tribe. How do we know you won’t go and betray US when it suits you?”
     I sigh, working at holding in my aggravation. “Secondly and to answer your question, I want nothing to do with the world he’s creating.” Sama asks what I mean. “Even before I left, the population of Victoria, which is what he named the village once it was too big for a village, was expanding exponentially. At times, logarithmically. Survivors were hearing of this ‘great’ city and started flocking there, thinking living there would solve all their problems. But I have inside information, the inside scoop, as it were.” I pause, waiting for any questions. When none come about, I continue.

     “His ambition knows no bounds. He wants to be the world’s hero, and one of the ways he plans on making that happen is to reactivate the power grid.”
     She catches on quickly. “But to do that, he’d need resources.”
     “Correct. Near the city, there is a plant that required some repair but wasn’t impossibly destroyed. Near to that is a coal mine. As for ‘resources,’ more and more enter the city every week.” I take a breath. “I wouldn’t’ doubt that now, his plan has been achieved. Electricity, but at what a price? He told me in confidence that he wouldn’t object to forced labor if it came to it. I’ve no interest in being part of a society that all but enacts slavery for the ‘greater good.'”

     “Tell me you’re joking,” Asa says in angry disbelief.
     “I wish I were, mate. Those people are in for a rude awakening.”
     “How would he pick them?”
     Sama interrupts. “I’m sorry, Asa, but that is not the issue here. Corin was stating his case WHY he no longer wished to be a Skeeve.” I turn back to her. “And personally, I believe him when he says he wants no part of that or anything this Reck has planned for his city. But Corin,” she looks at me, addressing me personally, “could you be happy here with us? We certainly don’t have those kinds of amenities.”

     “Sorry for my language, but fuck the amenities.”
     Vik looks down at the floor. “I believe him.”
     Sama nods as if making a decision. “Are there any objections? Asa?”
     Brother Asa looks up. “I’ve thought about it, and I don’t believe he was gunning for me. His buddy on the other hand–”
     “Is not on trial here,” Sama reminds him. “But you bring up a good point. What are your feelings towards Lars?”
     I have to fight the smirk with her asking about my ‘feelings’ towards Lars. “You mean do I have any loyalty to him? Not really. I’m… I’m loyal to Orion, so whoever he thinks is great is okay in my book.”
     Orion smiles at me. Zuri votes me in. Rohan does the same–but not happily. The blonde healer says that if Orion trusts me, they all should trust me as well. I’m momentarily taken aback. Her vote of confidence came as a surprise, especially since she phrased it that way.

     “Then it’s settled,” Sama says, looking around at everyone. Did I just get a unanimous vote? She looks at me. “Corin, welcome to the family… and your new home.”

Yadira

    So much has changed in the past weeks. Just when I was beginning to get used to a new norm, another one comes along.
    Rohan and I have re-formed our relationship. At the very base of whatever makes me, me, I know I love him. I just wish I could remember why. When we make love, it’s wonderful, but surely, there’s more to it than that. There ARE these little moments, however, when he’ll make a certain expression, a kind of half-smile, that makes my heart beat funny. My heart remembers him. I suppose I’ll have to be happy with that for now.

    We bury the man Rohan killed, the one who tried to shoot Asa. We find out his name was Odin, so Vik carves out the name on a stone.

    The men who sailed with him do not attend his burial. Instead, they remain locked up in the holding cells Vik somehow knew we’d need.
    Rohan doesn’t let me talk to the man who’s awake. This would anger me except that I don’t know what I would say if I had the chance. I know he’s sad because I hear all about it as Orion talks to Sama.
    She agrees to a trial of sorts.

    Today, Zuri approaches me with her eyes lit up with excitement. “You have to see this!” I smile and let her lead me to a kind of cave I’d never noticed before.

    “Why have I never seen this before?” I ask. She’s acting like this is something new, like even the old me didn’t know, but how could that be possible if I lived here my whole life?
    “Because it was covered with brambles and shrubbery before they cleaned it out.” She’s right. Most of this was covered with a briar patch of sorts. It was in safeguarding the island that this became visible.
    “Where does it go?” It looks scary to me, like it’s probably filled with all manner of creepy-crawlies.
    She turns to me with a secret kind of smile she sometimes uses.

    “Follow me.”
    “Zuri! Are you crazy?” She could get bit by a spider or something terrible!
    She laughs. “Calm down. I’ve already explored it once. Come on.” She disappears into the blackness.
    I quickly realize the cave, or tunnel rather, isn’t very long at all. I see light ahead, and we emerge on the other side in a large clearing. Again, my mouth drops that none of us knew this existed before now. Well, maybe Sama or Asa did, or maybe myself, but I don’t know. Surely someone would’ve mentioned it, right?

    A quick glance around almost answers my question. This might not be obvious to see from the sea, maybe just showing a cliff face and nothing else, a kind of optical illusion. The brickwork could be explained as well. There are all kinds of ruins on the island of houses people used to live in.
    But this looks older.
    “What is this place?” I ask.
    “My guess is some kind of abandoned temple.” She walks forward a few paces. “I looked around a little earlier, but I knew I had to come and get you.”

    “How old is it?”
    “I have no idea. I’m not a… what is the word… an archeologist, but it looks like there were two definite time periods when things were built, judging by the different brick styles.” She looks back at me, waiting for me to catch up. “There’s a tile inlay that I really want you to see.”
    I nod like I know what she’s talking about when actually I have no idea. My eyes continue to travel over the ancient stonework, wondering why it’s here in the first place, wondering about the people who built it, wondering again how we could have missed something like this.
    “Wait a minute!” Zuri suddenly stops, staring at the crumbled, main building.
    “What?” I follow her gaze.

    “That. That wasn’t… That wasn’t there earlier,” she says almost to herself.
    At the same time, I let out a little laugh of happiness. Finally! Something looks familiar! It’s my friend, the rock! Uh, crystal! How did HE get here?
    “Yadira!” Zuri calls out in alarm as our roles are reversed. She’s the cautious one now while I bound fearlessly ahead.
    “It’s okay, Zuri! I know this person.” I grin at her and watch her catch up.

    “Person?”
    I can’t stop smiling. “Yes! This is the r-… crystal I talked about!” I face the crystal. “Hello again! I’m sorry. I never learned your name.”
    Relief pours through me when he answers. “Good to see you too, Yadira.” Contrary to what he says, his tone implies a kind of annoyance. “I suppose it would cause no harm in learning my name. It’s Peter.”
    “Hello again, then, Peter.” I turn to my friend. “Zuri, this is Peter. He told me to drink from the fountain.” I’m again happy I’m able to remember the time just before I lost my memories. I can still recall the land of weird.

    She looks like she’s trying to process what I’m doing and saying and stunned by both. “The crystal has a name, and it is Peter,” she states dully. “Did… he… tell you this?”
    I turn and give her a funny look. “Yes. Just now. You must’ve been too far away.”
    “She can’t hear me like you can,” Peter tells me while Zuri looks at me like she debates whether or not I’ve lost my mind. “However, unlike most mortals, she can sense a presence, like I’m no ordinary crystal.”
    “He says you can’t hear him?” I ask her.
    Her expression changes, and I think she believes me.

    “No, I cannot. But I… believe you. After all, an hour or so ago, there was only this well-preserved tile inlay, and now, there’s a crystal with what looks like a fire inside it.” She pauses. “Interesting. I find this place then have an overwhelming feeling that I need to bring you here. Then this shows up. Er, HE shows up.”
    “Oh, I like her,” Peter says, sounding jovial for the first time. “She’s… sassy.”
    I look at him with a quizzical expression, wondering how he could’ve gotten ‘sassy’ from what Zuri just said.
    She continues, “So, …he… was with you in the realm of the gods?” She looks at him with respect.
    “Yes.” More like the land of weird, but yeah.
    Then, she speaks to him, asking the question I should be asking, “Why did you tell her to drink from the fountain?” There are tears in her eyes. “I’m doing my best, but she wants her memories back. Tell us, what are we supposed to DO?”

    “And why can’t I hear you?” she asks, stressing the ‘I.’ She starts crying. I stand here shocked while Peter speaks to me again.
    “She is filled with jealousy of you. It impedes her progress. It’s one of the many reasons they decided to send me.“
    “Who is the ‘they’ you mean?” I ask while Zuri sniffs, still crying.
    “Our parents.” He pauses, obviously letting that sink in.
    “I think I need to sit down.” He agrees with me, saying he’ll attempt to calm Zuri in a way that I can’t yet.

    After I walk away, Zuri starts speaking to him in a different language. It would sound pretty if there weren’t such anger in her voice. I GUESS Peter can understand her? I don’t hear his answers, but I do sense powerful feelings of emotions pouring from him. He wants her to know she’s doing a good job despite the unknown-to-me jealousy and that more will be asked of her. That’s my best guess.
    Meanwhile, I have no idea how to deal with the knowledge that Peter said OUR parents. Parents? Me? And that makes him my brother? My brother is a r– crystal?

    Zuri saves me from my confusing thoughts when she emerges from the roofless inner temple area. “Everything okay?” I ask.
    She takes a deep, quick breath before nodding her head once in a fast motion. Then, she walks over and has a seat next to me.

    “This is not how I thought the day would go,” she admits to me.
    I laugh. “Tell me about it, right?”
    “His name is Peter?” She watches me nod a yes. “I think I like him, even though… hm… I sense an… attitude problem?”
    I laugh harder in a kind of hysterical way. My brother Peter who is a rock has an attitude problem. Oh, right. Crystal.
    Zuri joins me in my crazy giggling. “And Yadira, this will sound strange, but… go swimming.”
    I look at her like she’s bonkers. “What?”
    “Just try it.”

    I do as she says, figuring it couldn’t hurt, and she walks away a little bit, probably to go have some quiet time herself to think.

    The water feels nice. It even smells nice. Peter tells me to breathe in the mist.
    “I’m sorry your memories left. We, I, thought it would make things easier.” He doesn’t wait for me to ask my next question. “You’re soon going to be put to a difficult trial. Having no memories would make it easier for you, but… Zuri’s right. It’s cruel either way.” He sighs. “So… here.”

    I breathe in again, and suddenly, pictures fly through my mind:

    “Thank you,” I tell him.
    “In future, remember that you thanked me.” He sounds sad, and I don’t want to ponder what he means.
    No, I want to go embrace my husband.

A/N: Hey, everyone! I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, I promise. Well, maybe I have as far as this thing has been going. I got an ACTUAL job a few months back, and they’re finally pushing me towards a full-time schedule. I’ve had this little beauty of a chapter sitting and waiting for weeks, needing the in between chapters to come out, but I hadn’t found the time to finalize stuff for it to come out (until today, obviously).
I hope to catch up with everyone’s stories during my breaks (when they give them to me), so please, please don’t think I’ve forgotten about your stories, either! I’ve been so exhausted lately that I didn’t want that to carry over into my mood when commenting (and responding to comments).
Also, I’m experiencing something that rarely happens to me: I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GO FROM HERE. I mean, I have a few ideas (distant ones, unfortunately), of course, but I don’t have the chapter buffer I’m used to having. I’d really love some input, etc, if you have ideas of what you’d like to see happen.
Anyway, sorry for the long note here, ON WITH THE STORY!

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     My heart pounds in my chest. I don’t suppose it’s in fear, but the fact is, I’m out of practice. I’ve been so focused on how to get back to winning Yadira’s affection that I stopped any kind of combat training. Oh, sure, that little fight with Rohan tells me I can more than hold my own, but I wouldn’t call that a fair fight.
    I glance in Rohan’s direction. He has one of the shotguns pointed down to the beach, and I have a very strange deja vu. He’s like our sniper again. I can only hope he’s as good a shot as he used to be.
    Two of the men swimming to shore wear hats, another in sunglasses of all things, making it easier for them to be able to see in the bright sun. One man wears a wide-brimmed fedora. He appears to be the leader.
     As far as these men will know, Vik is our leader. I’m on point to his right, and Asa is to his left. Three against three–unless they have backup hidden on the boat. And of course we have our own backup on the top of the cliff.
    Fuck. They’re wary. They must’ve seen our fires. We step forward to just inside the trees.

    “Halt!” Vik calls out, and the other three men raise their weapons. Vik has his shotgun trained on the man in the middle who’s held up his hand to tell his men to stop. Good thing for them too. They were about to step right on a trap. “State your name and purpose here,” Vik commands.
    “I am Corin of the Skeeves,” the man in the middle says, and my mouth drops in shock.

   Vik immediately puts out his hand to stop me from running forward to greet my old best mate, lowering his weapon to the side. My heart breaks with the thought that Corin’s now the enemy.
    I can barely see his eyes as Corin watches us warily. He can’t see us well where we stand in the shadows, if he can see us at all. “And just who might you be?”
    Vik pauses. He doesn’t want to answer his question. “You have no business here, Corin of the Skeeves. Leave our island at once!”

    I blanch at this. There he is! My best mate! And I have to pretend I’m not here. I figured Reck would send a scout or two, but I didn’t expect him to send the last remaining original Skeeve he had.
    Vik puts his finger over his mouth, looking at me, conveying I should remain silent. I understand why, but it’s killing me. If Corin should recognize me, even the sound of my voice, he’ll easily figure out Vik, Zuri, and Amina are here as well.
     Corin cocks his head, listening with his incredible hearing. “First show yourself, and then we’ll decide whether or not we have business here.”
     Fuck. He thinks he’s recognized the voice.
     Asa starts frantically pointing to himself and pantomiming himself walking into view. Vik gives him a curt nod, not liking the idea but realizing it’s our best chance. He hands Asa his shotgun since it’s a more threatening weapon than the metal-tipped spear Asa had.

     Asa steps out and sounds downright terrifying when he mimics Vik’s tone and accent, “Now you see me. You have no business here. Be gone.”
     I can sense Rohan’s unease, and I offer up a quick prayer he’s still the crack-shot he once was. Asa was dragged into this by coincidence. I’ll hate myself if he dies thanks to us.
     Corin smirks. “Who’s with you, boy?”

     A gunshot sounds, and sand at Corin’s feet pushes away, letting everyone know it was merely a warning from Rohan above.
     Asa smiles meanly back at him. “Let’s just say it’s none of your damn business.” He pauses. “And I’d advise you to lower your weapons or my buddy from the sky might not be so generous next time.”
     Corin raises his hands and directs his men to do the same. I don’t recognize the other two. “Fair enough.” He clears his throat. “I’m looking for two men, a woman, and a little girl. Yours is the first sign of civilization we’ve found.”
     “Haven’t seen ’em. They must be somewhere else.” Fuck. He answered too fast. Corin is going to know that was almost rehearsed.
     Corin pretends to relax. “Well, damn. But after a year, it is nice to meet someone new. We’re in need of fresh water and a place to dock our boat for some much-needed repair.”
     “We have no dock, as you can probably see, but I’ll wager you can find a decent dock in the old city. As for water, you can look there as well.”
     Shit. Bad move. The other two men raise their weapons. Ever since eop, it’s been very bad form to deny someone water.

     “You’ll deny your fellow man something so simple as water?”
     I put my head in my hands as I hear Asa reply, “The gods have not deemed you worthy to drink from our well.” Oh great, let’s just bring the gods into this as well.
     One of the other men gets incredibly angry with this. “You son of a bitch. How dare you claim to know the will of the gods!” He aims his shotgun…
     … and gets promptly shot in the thigh. He screams and drops to the ground, holding his leg. Asa also ducks as the other man fires a shot which lands in the sand behind his head. That man gets shot in the chest, dead before he hits the sand.
     I freeze, and Vik snatches my rifle from me before pointing it at my best mate. Corin has also raised his, pointing it into the foliage where Asa disappeared.
     This has to end. “Corin, stop!” I yell and run out from the cover, completely unarmed.

     He sees me and stumbles, his jaw slack. “Orion, you asshole.”
     His conspirator at his feet yells, “Kill him!”
     I hear a voice above me. “I wouldn’t do that, Corin. Not unless you think you’re faster than Hoots.”
     He ignores both of them, instead still speaking to me. “How could you do that to me?” He steps forward and promptly triggers the trap, sending him flying through the air in a net before being slung right into the tree trunk that I had used to prepare it. He’s knocked out cold.
    “You bastards!” his cohort screams, and Vik shoots him in the chest before he can fire his weapon.

    The man Vik shot doesn’t die, even if he’s close to death. Vik missed his heart. The man passed out from pain and blood loss. He’s on a cot in the cellar, being watched over by Rohan and tended to by Sama.

     As for me, I’m sitting in a chair opposite my best mate. He’s slumped over, still out, and tied up. I’m waiting for him to wake up. It doesn’t take him long.

     He moans and tries to raise his head. Quickly, he discovers he’s bound.
     “Stay calm, old man,” I tell him.
     “Fuck,” he moans. “Orion?”
     “The very same.”
     “Water. Please.”
     “Sure,” I tell him. Then I get up, grab the cup of water I brought with me, and hold it to his lips. I do my best to keep it from spilling yet hold it at an angle where the water will come out. He greedily swallows it. “Better?” I put the cup on the box next to me.
     He nods, and I sit down again. Then he spits in my face.
     After my shock wears off, I start laughing. “Good to see ya too.”
     “What the fuck were you thinking?”
     “Well, ye asked for water–” I wipe my face on my shirt.
     “You know what I mean!” He winces from yelling.
     “Ye-ah, probably wanna hold off on the yellin’. Ye knocked yer noggin pretty well out there.” I stand up to double check that the lock has the safety on. It does.
     “What about Lars? And Odin?”

     I smirk. “Lars and Odin? Ya sure ye don’ wanna know ’bout Thor as well? Or maybe Freya?” I laugh.
     “Bollocks, you’re still an ass.” He struggles against his bindings for a moment. “They’re brothers.”
     “Ah. Sorry to hear that. The one who tried to shoot our mate is dead. The other is in the next room, fightin’ for his life.”
     He lets this information sink in. “What the fuck happened with you, mate? One minute you’re beside me and the next, you’ve run off with that siren and her child. I didn’t even know you’d fancied her.”
    “I don’t. Too easy.” I grin, and we both laugh.
    “Then what?”
     I sigh and turn my chair around. It’s time to do my job. “First tell me what yer doin’ runnin’ ’round like yer master’s dog?”

     “I’m following orders.” Then he makes a pathetic attempt at my accent. “Don’ ye KEN what that means?”
     I roll my eyes. “Aye, I do. But why are ye followin’ orders from that monster?”
     “That ‘monster’ was our mate!”
     “‘Til he lost his bloomin’ mind.”
     He calms down, looking down, and I know he agrees with me. “What choice did I have?” Since I don’t answer, he continues, “What CHOICE did I have since you left with nary as much as a ‘by your leave.’ Not even a goodbye! Nothing! A bloody NOTE could’ve been better than nothing, but you didn’t even do that! I even checked fucking tree trunks!”

     “I couldna. Ye know that. Vik and Zuri were runnin’ for their lives.”
     “Well, once they decided to steal his daughter, they were. Zuri at least had nothing to fear.”
     “Amina’s na his.” Fuck Vik telling me to reveal nothing. This is still my best mate I’m speaking to. “Now tell me she had nothin’ to fear once he’d’ve found out about that?”

     That brings him up short. “Not his? Then that means… fuck. Vik.” I let that sink in some. Then he asks for more water.
     “Ya gonna spit in ma face again?”
     “No. Even if I should.”
     I chuckle as I stand then help him drink. He’s starting to perk up some.
     “What I don’t understand,” he says, “is why YOU left. At this point, you’d probably be a fucking general for fuck’s sake.”
     “General to a madman or living compass to a couple an’ child runnin’ for their lives. Which would YOU decide?” I put the cup back down and have a seat in the chair again.
     “You and your bloody morals.”

     I smirk, thinking of Yadira. “Not… quite.”
     He gets quiet, and I let him think, wondering what he’s going to say next. Finally, he speaks again. “I hate him, Orion. He’s declared himself King of the Skeeves and erstwhile Supreme Ruler of the Planet, claiming it’s the will of the gods.”

     “So not MUCH of an ego then, eh?”
     He rolls his eyes at my sarcasm. “Not a shot was fired when we showed up at the Trag’s camp. They surrendered immediately, and one of the terms, as I later found it out to be, was to have the high priestess pronounce his right to rule.” He spits on the floor. “It’s a godsdamned absolute monarchy for fuck’s sake, like we’re back in the bloody dark ages.”
    I ponder for a moment. Dark ages. “Well, what else did ya think history would think of this time we’re in?”

    “I couldn’t give a fuck. The point is, I hate him. I went on this little ‘find the princess’ mission to find YOU. Reck can rot in hell.” He looks me in the eyes. “Untie me, Orion.”
    “I canna do that, even if I want to. Thing is, ye pointed a gun at a member of my new family, an’ Vik doesna trust ye.”
    “Oh, so VIK is your big kahuna around here?”
    I chuckle, wondering how he’d react to the knowledge that our leader is a woman. “Na. He’s just sleeping wiv her.” I laugh at his expression.
    “Zuri?”
    I stand up, not correcting him. “I’ll tell them what ye told me, an’ hopefully, they’ll believe ya.”

    As I walk to the door, he gets my attention again, scooting his chair to face me. “Orion.” I turn to see what else he has to say. His lower lip trembles. “I’ve missed you.”