Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this setting. They are property of Diane Duane.

Author's Note: This is my first Young Wizards fic, but if you look at my profile, clearly not my first fic.When Diane Duaneleft us with such a cliffhanger, I had to write something and the first thing that came to mind was Dairine taking Roshaun to the dentist for a cavity. Well, I had to figure out how to get him away from wherever he was, and now I think I've got a whole different sort of story here. I hope you enjoy it, and feedback is most appreciated.


Chapter 1: Reunion


Dairine spent four days trying to track Roshaun down after going to Timeheart and discovering that he was alive. When she finally found him, she did the natural thing and slugged him.

He was sitting on a quite desolate meteorite, looking over his manual-sphere and sucking on a lollipop when Dairine transited in.

Not seeing him immediately, she looked around at her surroundings as she popped in. No wonder she'd had such a time of getting a lock on his coordinates!

"Dairine?" asked the familiar voice.

She turned around and saw that her jump had taken her within yards of him. The meteorite they were on was on the small side and according to her manual made a fairly quick orbit. "Roshaun?"

As elegantly as he could, Roshaun stood and started walking toward her.

Dairine just stood there. His parents thought he was dead, she had been worried sick, and here he was just sitting on a meteorite, eating a lollipop. How dare he! When Roshaun came near enough Dairine punched him. The force sent him sprawling backwards. "Lollipops! We're all worried sick about and your parents think you're dead, and you're playing around out in space!"

Roshaun looked mostly shocked and a little indignant. The King of Wellakh was sprawled out in the dust on his rump. It was a most unbefitting situation for him. What in the Aethyrs' names made these ke Khallahan women so ill tempered?

"Well?" she snapped.

Rather than answering immediately, Roshaun stood slowly, taking care not to step closer to her or look like he was backing away. He dusted off his fingernails and looked down at his now dust-covered lollipop. With a sad sigh, he discarded it. "When I expelled so much force on your Moon, the spell backlash energy persisted on and I was dragged along with it."

"So why didn't you just transit back? Or take your world gate?" The anger had started to fade and she was feeling just the tiniest bit foolish.

Roshaun looked annoyed. "My energy stores were much depleted. Opening my 'pup tent' as you call it and creating my atmosphere bubble have taken much of my remaining energy. I'm trying to rest up and let it store again."

The thought briefly crossed her mind that he might not have enough energy to heal that lovely black eye that was starting. Roshaun with a black eye would truly be a priceless sight; she doubted it had ever happened to the young king before.

Half reluctantly she approached him, calling Spot after her. Cuts and bruises were not her specialty. Well, giving them might be, but healing them certainly wasn't.

Much to Roshaun's credit, he didn't flinch at her approach.

Spot fed her the words she needed and, placing her left hand over his right eye, she healed him. Stepping back, she asked, "Why didn't you send a message? We were all worried. Thought the worst had happened." Her voice was unusually soft for her.

He looked away, embarrassed, as though he either hadn't thought of it or hadn't wanted to admit that he'd marooned himself on a fast moving rock in space. The question remained unanswered. "We?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Me, Nita, Kit, my dad, Carmela, Filf, me, Sk—"

"You already said 'me,'" he pointed out.

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

There was a silence.

Dairine looked around for familiar planets and didn't se any she recognized. "Nice place you've got here. No Wellakhit Palace of course, but not bad." She grinned at him. "Pack up and we'll get out of here."

Roshaun gave her a looked and headed for the mid-air pull-tab spell that was his tent.

"Wait, you forgot your lollipop! Littering is illegal." She picked it up and followed him, catching up just as he entered his tent.

Dairine had to put forth her best effort not to gasp.

A large, canopied bed was against the far wall. Off to one side was an ornately craved table that probably seated about eight. However there were only two chairs there at present. On top of the table was a delicate orange tablecloth with minute beads creating a sun-emblem in the center. The grand effect was slightly spoiled by the dum-dum and tootsie pop wrappers that littered the table. A large basket that once was full of dried fruit was mostly empty now; he hadn't restocked since before going to Rashah. An armoire with a partially open door revealed a hint of what was probably another floppy white t-shirt. Half a dozen area rugs covered the floor space.

Roshaun gave her a wry look.

Dairine found her voice. "Not bad, but the wrappers kind of ruin the over all effect." She tossed the lollipop onto the table.

"I thought it prudent to relieve myself of this garment before seeing my parents or anyone else for that matter." The t-shirt was rather dust-covered in the back from his fall. "If you wouldn't mind…?"

Dairine turned around, her back to him. She could hear the sound of him walking towards his armoire and stopping.

After a few minutes he was behind her again and tapped her on the shoulder.

She gave him an appraising look and saw that he was wearing his native garb from head to foot, though a little less formal than the last time she'd seen him dressed in it—there was no intimidating red collar around his neck and no orange sapphires covering his pants. She noticed that he'd changed pants as well as his shirt, which explained why he asked her to turn around.

They exited the tent together and Roshaun put the tent spell away into his sphere.

"This galaxy isn't all that far from yours. Why didn't you use your worldgate? Gate or not, the jump transit wouldn't be beyond your ability to handle."

An annoyed expression crossed his face. "You don't understand." He turned away, crossing his arms.

A similar expression appeared on her own face and she was very tempted to punch him again. She restrained herself. "What are you talking about? What don't I understand?" She reached out for his shoulder.

There was a long pause before he finally spoke. His voice was clipped, doing his best to give nothing away. "When I arrived I was unconscious for sometime; fortunately I had an automatic life-support spell that kicked in, activating my atmosphere bubble. When I finally became aware again, I couldn't move for at least several hours. I simply didn't possess the strength to stand or summon the simplest spell beyond what was already keeping me alive. I'm not sure how long I've been here, but managing to maintain the life-support spell and access my tent have taken much of the strength I have. My stores haven't had the proper rest time refill themselves."

"Those lollipops certainly wouldn't help matters. The sugar would give you an energy rush for a little while and then bring you right back down again." She bit her lip. She understood now. He'd been too proud when she arrived to admit just how pitiful a state he'd been in. She'd told him the spell was too dangerous; he was lucky he didn't burn out completely.

The silence was awkward.

"I'll set up the transit." Within minutes the gate to Roshaun's palace was open.

They arrived in Roshaun's chambers. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, hoping he was all right. She didn't want him to think she was checking up on him. He seemed fine. Assured, she started out of the room.

"Aren't you going to change into something a little more formal?" asked Roshaun.

Dairine turned around. She gave the question a moment's thought. "No." She started for the doorway again.

"It's not proper—"

"Roshaun, are we meeting any large crowds?" she asked irately.

"Not that I am aware of at present. There's still my parents to consider though."

"Roshaun, I've met your parents. They love me, or at least tolerate me. They won't care what I'm wearing and neither should anyone else." She saw him heading towards his carved and gilded screen. "Where are you going? You just put those clothes on less than ten minutes ago."

"These are not the proper garments for addressing a former king."

"Proper garments, my foot! He's not just a former king; he's your father. You should be able to stand in front of him wearing anything from your birthday suit to a tutu and it shouldn't make a difference; though, I guess I don't really recommend either of those."

Roshaun's lips twitched in an almost-smile. "An interesting idiom. 'Birthday suit'?"

Dairine blushed. "Never mind. Just come on. If you don't, I'll just have Spot guide me through. You remember the way, Spot?"

"Of course," the computer replied.

"Good." Dairine took a few steps.

Roshaun hesitated again, but joined her. As they walked through the halls he offered to summon a transport vehicle.

She gave him a questioning glance.

"It isn't much trouble. The palace is attuned to my wishes. It makes doing wizardry here much easier than elsewhere."

"That's alright. I could use the exercise. Just take smaller steps, Long Legs."

"Oh, I suppose I could, Shorty." He smiled.

When they were outside the room he knew his parents to be in, Dairine stopped him. "If it makes you feel better about the way we're dressed," she rolled her eyes, "look." The emerald was still hanging on its sentence of Speech around her neck and she pulled it out so it rested on top of her t-shirt instead of under it. She hadn't taken it off since the first time it appeared, but she'd mainly worn it under her t-shirts rather than exposed.

Roshaun looked at the jewel with a combination of admiration and something else she couldn't quite place. He seemed quite pleased. He put a hand on the door handle.

"Wait. There's one more thing." She hesitated. She'd been walking around with this in her pocket for four days now. She reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out the Sun Stone.

Roshaun's eyes grew wide with shock. "How did you…?"

"It was left behind…on the moon." She bit her lip. He didn't seem angry, just shocked.

"The color has changed. It's yellow now. The color of—"

"My sun."

"Your sun."

They both stared at the stone for a moment.

Dairine spoke a sentence in the Speech, making a chain for the great stone. She held out her hand.

Roshaun, still somewhat stunned, picked it up and fastened it around his neck.

Dairine studied it. She decided it looked better yellow; now it matched his hair. She pretended to consider for a moment before grinning. "It suits you."

Roshaun gave a small smile. "Thank you." Oddly enough, he gave the slightest of bows and Dairine gave one in return. Standing straight together, Roshaun opened the door and they entered.

His father was on the dais again, and his mother was beside him. Roshaun's first few steps were calm, but as his parents caught sight of him, he sped into a run, forgetting "royal restraint" or composure.

Dairine smiled to herself and walked behind him. There was no use attempting to catch up; his legs seemed twice as long as hers and he had something to run for. A hug.

When his mother caught sight of him, she was astonished. Her eyes welled up with tears of disbelief. It seemed to Dairine as if she flowed off the dais when she ran toward him and embraced him.

Dairine hung back, smiling. Inside her heart was breaking a little more; she remembered being hugged like that by her mom.

Lady Miril caught sight of Dairine and called her over. She gave her a tight hug, just for her and whispered. "You brought him back. My tekeh. You've brought Roshaun back from whence he was lost to us. We are indebted to you."

Dairine blushed and mumbled something.

Miril pulled both Dairine and Roshaun into another hug.

Nelaid had risen from the dais and taken a few steps toward the group.

His son disentangled himself from his mother and Dairine and approached him. Both men had their faces fairly masked from emotion, as though they both wanted the other to begin.

Lady Miril draped her arm comfortingly around Dairine's shoulders. "You've returned him to us, and returned to us yourself."

Dairine was sorely tempted to say something along the lines of "Aw shucks, we wanted him back too" but she refrained. Instead she said, "He's a good wizard, and a good person, even if he is a little arrogant some, or most of the time. We missed him."

Roshaun's mother gave her a knowing smile, as though there were some joke Dairine wasn't quite in on yet. "I see that the Sun Stone has changed colors."

"You saw that last time too," Dairine said, a little uncomfortable. Had she expected it to change colors again?

"Yes, but now the stone not only matches your sun, but my son is wearing it." She gave a little laugh, squeezed Dairine's shoulders again, and turned her attention on the other two members of the royal family.

Roshaun and his father stood face to face; neither had broken the silence.

Finally Nelaid said, "You have returned, son. Back from the dead."

"Not quite dead, only nearly."

"You still wear the sun stone, I see."

"It was returned to me by good fortune." He glanced at Dairine out of the corner of his eye.

His father followed his eyes and his lips curved in a smile. "You took your time in arriving."

"It was a few days before I was found."

"I meant you took your time in arriving here once you returned to Wellakh. I received word from one of my men that they saw you walking through the halls."

"Someone preferred to walk, and I acquiesced, feeling the desire to stretch my legs farther than the stretch of the meteor I have dwelled on for the past few days."

After a moment they embraced each other, a little awkwardly and some of the tension melted away. "Come, your people shall hear of your return soon enough. We will eat, and then you shall greet them."

Dairine couldn't see his face, but she could feel the emotions in Roshaun's head. There was a lot of indecision.

"Interesting choice in clothing, son," Nelaid said, his voice almost a laugh.

"I was anxious to see you and didn't have much time to change apparel."

"You were anxious to see me? Or did someone else not want to put this meeting off?" His voice had no cruelty or spite in it, but he clearly looked past Roshaun and Dairine could feel him looking at her. Father and son walked off the dais to join Lady Miril and their guest.

"We shall feast tonight in honor of your return," his mother declared. Her tone of voice reminded Dairine of one her mother would use if she said she would cook all of her favorite foods.

They exited the hall, Nelaid ordering attendants around as they left. Dairine walked between Miril and Roshaun.

The boy on her left shot her a look. He said my people. I'm not so sure I like that.

What are you talking about? she asked silently.

He shook his head slightly, indicating that he might bring the topic up later when there were fewer minds to overhear him.

Dairine had to stop herself from sighing. If he didn't want to talk now, it probably meant he wouldn't talk about it at all. Brat.

Roshaun raised an eyebrow and looked at her. I heard that!

Oops.