NOTE: After playing Myst 3: Exile, listening to the soundtrack, visiting websites and reading many other fanfics I was inspired to try my hand at a story. This short is an attempt to capture what is happening at the end of Myst 3. What sort of things are going through Saavedro's mind? This is third person, but focusing on the character of Saavedro. I have placed myself in the part of The Stranger, so I'm the "she" being referred to. After all, the emotions in this game can be so powerful, who doesn't imagine that the characters are speaking to them?

I won't lie, this was heavily inspired by the work of Sugary Snicket (aka Mystress). So, I guess you could say this is dedicated to her. And, of course, to Saavedro.

Disclaimer: (Finally, right?) I do not own Myst 3: Exile or Saavedro. All dialogue (except for The Stranger's) comes from the game.

A Stranger's Compassion

Saavedro's ultimatum had been delivered. Switch the shields or lose Releeshan forever. After coming all this way, there was nothing the stranger could do other than what was demanded. If this stranger were anything like Atrus, than she cared more about the book than anything else. Poor fool, did she not know that once Atrus tired of her, he would abandon her? Atrus had tired of Narayan and his sons had all but destroyed it. Where had Atrus been? What sort of father did not monitor his children? Or did he simply not care?

As Saavedro stepped out towards the gondola, he tried to quell the rising excitement. All those years in exile, believing his family dead and his people finished. Through the stranger's work, he had been given a new hope. The fourth symbol had been discovered, lowering the outer shield. There, at the end of the gondola track, were lights as beautiful to Saavedro as those that glimmered in the night sky.

His people had survived the chaos that the brothers had caused and the lattice tree thrived. Perhaps his family had survived. Had they believe him dead? A breath caught in the back of his throat as a pit formed in his stomach. It had been twenty years after all. Had his beloved moved on with her life? Then he shook his head to dismiss the idea. No, Tamra would not do that. She would….

Then a sudden noise interrupted his thoughts. Saavedro closed his eyes for a moment and prayed that it did not mean what he thought. With his eyes open, he turned and looked to the side. Both shields were up, imprisoning him by the gondola that had been the vessel of his hopes. Now it taunted him with what could have been. He looked up and saw the stranger standing by the lever that controlled the shields.

"Oh god," he said to himself, "no. Idiot!"

A sudden wave of anguish caused his knees to buckle. It welled up inside of him until he could contain it no longer.

"Oh no, no!" he cried, growing increasingly louder. "No! No!! NO!!"

This had to be a nightmare; soon he would wake up in J'Nanin. There had been such nightmares before…but no, this was real. How could he have been so foolish? Had hope made him completely blind? He should have known better than to trust a friend of Atrus!

Footsteps approaching made him look up. Standing at the fence formed by the lattice vines was the stranger. At first it seemed that she had come to taunt him, but she only stood there and watched him.

Things were quickly spiraling out of Saavedro's control. He was at the mercy of this stranger; it was an idea that he did not relish. However, at this point there was nothing he could do. After long years alone he had hope, and he refused to die trapped like an animal. Saavedro had no choice.

"Oh god, no," he said looking at the stranger. "Please, don't do this to me. Not when my family could still be alive out there."

Saavedro looked down at the book as he approached the barricade. Doubt gnawed at him as he did so. What guarantee did he have that, with the book in hand, the stranger would not link back to Tomanha and leave him to die a lingering death? Wasting away with the knowledge that his people were so close. He knew they lived, but they would never know his fate.

"Want the book?" he asked. Then he passed the book through the barricade. "I'll give you the book."

In his desperation, Saavedro abandoned what was left of his pride and fell to his knees before the young woman. He pleaded with her to set him free. How far he had fallen these past years. He had been respected among his people, and suddenly he was pleading for his life from a young woman no older than his own daughters would have been at that time.

"Just please," he said, the desperation apparent in his voice, "please don't do this."

When he saw her eyes, Saavedro had to contain himself. In the eyes of the young woman Saavedro saw pity. She pitied him like one would pity a cripple. He did not need or want her pity! What he wanted was freedom.

Saavedro rose and walked back towards the gondola. He continued to appeal to the stranger. If she had any compassion in her, she could not leave him there. She had no doubt seen his messages and paintings. Could she really view them and feel nothing? Could anyone be that heartless? Wait, yes they could. Sirrus and Achenar had been that heartless when they sent Narayan into chaos and left him trapped in J'Nanin.

"Please," he said as he looked back at her. "I can't do this again. Please, don't leave me trapped here like this! I can't!"

As the stranger stepped away, Saavedro's mind let him imagine the worst. She had no intention of saving him. Releeshan was hers and she would surely find a linking book back to Tomanha. She would be devouring Atrus's praise while he starved slowly. Saavedro grabbed his head in anguish and fell to the ground resuming his cries as he rocked back and forth in a futile attempt to comfort himself.

"No! No! No, no, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No!"

He should have known better than to allow himself to feel any sort of hope. Twenty years of being consumed by despair, doubt and revenge, why would he be sent happiness now?

"Tamra," he thought, "have the years been kind to you? Does your red hair still shine? Did our daughters have a happy childhood? Have they found love yet?"

Once more, a sound took Saavedro away from his thoughts. It was a soft hum that was followed by a flood of pink tinted light. Was it really…or had the last of Saavedro's senses finally abandoned him?

He stood up and viewed the healthy lattice tree in the distance beckoning him home. Saavedro turned and looked up. Standing by the lever once again, this time with a smile on her face, was the stranger. To prove her good intentions, she took a few steps away from the lever. No words passed between them because their eyes and faces said all that needed to be said.

Slowly, with one had on his heart as if to keep the emotions from flooding out, Saavedro raised the other in a silent gesture of farewell and thanks. Still smiling, her eyes and face wet with happy tears, the stranger raised her own hand in reply.

With a deep breath, Saavedro turned and stepped into the gondola. Seconds later it departed from the platform and took him towards home at last.

As he left, the stranger found her voice and Saavedro, still facing home, heard her speak for the first time.

"Goodbye!" she yelled at the retreating gondola. "I hope you find them!"

Despite himself, Saavedro smiled. He would have to tell the story that thanks to a stranger's pity…no, not pity. Thanks to a stranger's compassion, he was finally able to return home.

THE END