A/N Hello there. A short, pleasant little thing. At least I hope it's pleasant. I think it is, but I wrote it. Please comment. Much love and virtual hugs and cups of cookies and coffee will be given out. Thank you muchly for reading a very dull note here, it get's better. At least I think...

"Gemma, we must be leaving for the show," Tom said through the door.

His voice was far too soft. I had told him what happened in the realms that night, in great detail. I had told him about Kartik. How could he stop a love that wasn't possible. He didn't approve of it. I could see that much in his eyes. He certainly couldn't understand, but he did realize that his sister was heart broken. He had grown far too gentle around me.

I stepped out from behind the thick oak door, in the best I could find for Ann's show. I think Thomas taking me was his way of trying to fix me. Thomas could never let people be. He had to fix them. It made him a wonderful doctor, but he was completely impossible to live with.

"My sister, you, dare I say it, have become a young lady. How terribly frightening. The world shall end at any moment."

"Yes, I, for one, am quite surprised it ever happened," I said, holding back a sigh. This conversation was too fragile. Tom's teasing was too gentle. There was none of the usual vigor in his voice.

Tom was always far kinder when he was afraid of me. I had a spell when I was seven years old where I kicked every child I knew in the shins. He was very courteous then. As he was when he figured out that I could release the power of a thousand suns upon him at any moment. Now, this was different, it was almost as if he was petrified I would burst into tears. He was trying to keep everything usual again, like he did when father first got ill.

Thomas often tried to hold the world together. This rarely worked.

"Tom, I cannot stay here. If I have to stay in that house after my debut I will loose my mind. I need to go away, go to school, make a new life for myself. I would like to go to America. I want to go to school there," I told him as we sat in the carriage. I was calm and rational. I didn't have the will to be petulant.

I felt him stare at me. It was a different stare than I've ever received . He looked as if I had grown an extra set of arms, but, somehow, there was understanding in his eyes. "Yes. We'll continue this conversation when we get home," he said quietly, looking out the window at the opera house that we had just pulled up to.

My heart welled with pride as I watched Ann at her finest. I'd never seen anyone that happy or that comfortable with themselves in a single moment. I had only felt it, once upon a time, in the realms with Kartik by my side. I could almost feel him next to me as Ann's refrain haunted me. I closed my eyes and breathed in the remembrance of his smell and his touch. Both were warm and made tears flood in my eyes, blurring the extensive scenery behind the merry maids.

Looking over at Tom I saw something warm and longing in his eyes. I had seen that look on someone else, and had felt it on my own face. It was pure and true. My brother was deeply sincere about something, for the first time in his life.

"Gemma?"

"Yes, Thomas."

"I'm sorry he's gone. I'm sorry you couldn't be when he was here. I'm sorry."

"I know, Thomas. I know."