Behind the B'ril palace, away from the voices, the hurried preparations, the news that she never wanted to hear, L'arala crouched under the huge leaves of the spydra plant she had begun cultivating during her first botany course with the tutor. She made a passing attempt to distract herself with pulling dead leaves from the base, but even as she pulled the tears started down her cheeks.

"No, I've cried enough today," L'arala admonished herself and wiped the light indigo tears from her face. Not only had it hurt like a blade to bone when she heard Khivar extend the request for Ave in marriage, presenting it with the seal in Zan's own hand, it had been absolutely humiliating. She usually didn't sit at Court for foreign diplomats unless her presence was specifically required. And L'arala knew how hopeful she had looked when Khivar entered, then how absolutely crushed when he left. Everyone in that room likely knew that she had expected that proposal to be for her. And she knew that Ava, her perfect, powerful sister, who would now be Zan's wife, had known the moment that L'arala's heart shattered. L'arala was the strong empath, Ava the mindwarper, but when it came to each other, they had a running connection. Ava wasn't particularly happy when Khivar had made the presentation, but didn't turn him down. It was that moment when L'arala, for the first time in years, had closed their connection. Ava was still a faint hum in the back of her mind, just as she became when L'arala had gone to Antar or one of the other planets, but nothing more than recognition of her existence. She couldn't stand to be aware of Ava's joy for a single minute.

"L'arala," M'lin's voice drifted into the garden. "I know you're out here. Don't make me search under every blessed plant in this place."

"I'm here," L'arala peeked over the spydra plant, knowing what a mess she looked. Trust her cousin M'lin to come looking. M'lin truly cared about her. Her own sister, Ava, on the other hand, was probably planning her joining ceremony and thinking of what it would be like to be the most powerful woman in the system. L'arala had known her sister's faults perhaps better than anyone. It was not that Ava had ever been particularly mean- spirited or hateful, though she had a vicious jealous streak; she was just too wholly self-absorbed to realize when her actions were hurting other people. Most of their childhood had been full of Ava's preferences, Ava's desires. Rarely did Ava think through her actions and their consequences on other people. They were sisters and loved each other, but never connected. Apparently, that lack of understanding of each other would leave L'arala without the one thing she ever really wanted.

"Are you okay?" M'lin began smoothing down L'arala's hair and pulling the bits of dirt and plants from it. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question. Of course you're not okay."

"I'm not okay. I'm so far from okay," L'arala looked up, feeling the waves of sympathy coming from M'lin. She paused to try to build her shields back up; right now, L'arala could only stand to deal with her own emotions. "Why, this one time, couldn't I have what I want? Couldn't Ava sacrifice something for me? Can't she just let me have Zan?"

"L'arala, if Zan wants Ava, who wants him?" M'lin replied.

"I do," L'arala sniffled, feeling somewhat childish.

"It'll be alright." M'lin stood and grabbed L'arala's hand to pull her up. "Come to my rehearsal space. It's shielded and no one will bother you there. We can sort through my files and you can make fun of me for how unorganized I am. I'll even get you some sweet allenda cream. That makes everything better."

"Thank you, M'lin," L'arala whispered and her friend batted her on the arm.

"Princess L'arala, Lady M'lin, may I have the honor of escorting you?" Khivar, so well shielded that neither of them had felt his approach, startled them. The Speaker of the Antarian Senate looked overly interested in L'arala. Like most Antarians, he towered several inches above the two B'ril women.

"Lord Khivar!" L'arala tried to summon a smile for the man, but he had effectively ended any hope for her future happiness. But, regardless, Khivar spoke for the people of Antar and as one of the sovereigns of B'ril, L'arala had to at least feign politeness. It was a relief not to feel anything from him, not the waves of sympathy she expected. "Of course you may escort us, but we are not going far."

"Whither thou goest, I shall go." Khivar delivered a disturbing parallel to the promise vows. L'arala allowed Khivar to take her arm and he joined them as they walked down the path toward the palace.

*****

Each member of the group's eyes opened slowly, shaken from what they'd just seen. Even Tess, a guilty look on her face, roused and then immediately turned away from what lay before them. Shocking them almost as much as the vision, was Alex's serene yet amused face staring at them all from behind Isabel. For a moment, there was silence.

"Alex!" The first choked cry came from Maria and Liz had nothing but tears. No one moved.

"Crap, this wasn't supposed to happen," Alex seemed about to flee. One hand removed from Isabel's shoulder and he faded slightly

"Please, don't leave," Liz whispered. "Just stay."

"Lizzy, I'm so sorry," Alex replaced his hand. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through any of this. But this is the way it was supposed to be."

"Alex, we're bringing you back." Max's voice was the authoritative royal tone that was not to be argued with.

"Believe it or not, Max, this will be the second lifetime in which I've actively disobeyed you. You've got other things to take care of right now. I can't help you with that and I don't even know if it's a good idea." Alex said. "There is an order to life and for all your god-like alien powers, you don't get to make those decisions. I miss you guys all very much, but time is growing short."

"Alex," Tess spoke haltingly, "I need to-"

"Tess," Alex turned a stony face to the blond. "I have forgiven you because I'm in a place where I need to and you are in a place where we all need you. I know you remember what happened, a lot of what Ava did and all of what you've done. Now is the time to fix it. Not later, not after the baby is born, not after Max is crowned. Here you will have an opportunity to act the way you should have last time. Listen to me carefully. You need to put others first this time. You are not the queen in this lifetime but if you do things right, you will pay back the debt you owe. Karma's a bitch and she's coming to collect."

For a second, Tess looked like a puppy being kicked, then she sucked in a breath and sat straighter in the bed. "You're right. I'm sorry but I can't take back what I've done in this life or the last. I don't know what exactly happened, but I know that I tried at the end to make up for it and I'm trying now."

"Right now I only have time to tell you this. History is written by the winners. Thing is, guys, ultimately everything can be relative. You aren't King because Khivar wrote that you weren't. If I had the pen, I might've written about how you were a good king who just wanted the best for his people, who was studying alternative ways to grow food to ensure that children on your kingdom never went hungry, who wouldn't even have accepted the throne except to institute reforms on a planet mired in tradition and dragged down by the old ways. Who was on the verge of uniting the system by wedding an heir to the throne of B'ril. Whose friends and family loved him so much that they would ultimately die for him.

"But Khivar and his followers painted you as just a power-hungry leader, instituting reforms slowly, to ensure your reign until you could prop up an heir who would be under your power regardless. So now, it's your word and your actions against Khivar and his. And now, Grenor and B'ril are about to fall. It will be very hard for your followers to accept, but you can't come back as king. However, there is a way to fix all of this. You'll find it if you just trust each and only each other. Don't listen to them, listen to you. Khivar has perverted his powers to the point that he can be anywhere, anyone, and you won't know it until it's too late. Trust your instincts and don't trust anyone on this ship. It's important that you remember that because I have to go."

"Alex, stay," Isabel whispered. "Help us, please."

"I can't," Alex turned back to the group. "Miles to go and all that. I wish." looking at the eyes of the people who had known more of his life than his parents, Alex hesitated and turned from them. "It's really hard to do this. If I don't go now, I don't know if I'll ever be able to."

With that, he was gone. Isabel could feel his absence like a missing limb. A part of her that did have feeling, that was alive and whole, was now gone. Dim pain and longing and cold

"We are bringing him back," Liz announced with the same steel in her voice that had been when she investigated his murder. She stood and this time Max didn't try to stop her. "Let's go back to this and get what we need, because if Alex is right, we might not get a chance to make these decisions later. I'm going back to the ship to get the DNA samples and we are going to find that mystic." Liz raced out the door.

"I'll go with her. You guys wait here, together and make sure none of us leave this room alone." Max took off in her direction.

Liz was moving faster than he had expected and was several yards down the hall by the time he caught up with her. They walked quickly for a few feet, passing the occasional Grenorian crewmember, who gave them a few curious glances and half salutes, obviously not sure which of the crew they were, but otherwise left them alone.

They neared the hangar, or so he thought. All the hallways of the ship looked fairly similar and they were just as likely to get seriously lost. Just as he thought this, Liz turned and they were at the ship. Max opened the door and turned to Liz. "That was a lot to handle, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm so far from okay." Liz stopped dead in her tracks, realizing whose words she had repeated. She sat down roughly on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around. Max gently took her hand. "Wow. That's what she, I said when. It's one thing to hear it from Tess, to have her say something about past lives. She's always been you're your lives on Antar and destiny and all of that. I'd expect that kind of stuff from her. Plus, I don't know what out of her mouth I can trust. But that vision and those feelings. Now I know that we really had a life together before this. One that went so far wrong, Max. Khivar must have been manipulating everything. And Tess was my sister! It's just so surreal."

"I know." Max gave a little smile. "It's really strange to think of you two as sisters. You're both so different, in this life and the last."

"Max," Liz pulled him further into the ship back toward the royal suite where they had congregated after Tess's revelations just a few hours ago. It seemed a lifetime. "I'm starting to remember other things about my last life. About you."

"What do you remember?"

Liz lifted the dress from the drawer again, the soft purple that had caught her eye before. "This dress, it was Kathana's. My mother's. And she saved it for one of her daughters to wear for her first dance as promised. I used to go into her room and feel it, breathe it because it had nothing but beautiful feelings attached to it. Until Ava." Liz took a deep breath and let go of the fabric. "You kept a pet. It reminds me of a cat, but a longer body, sort of snake-shaped. You used to make Rath keep an eye on it when you went to the camps. He'd moan and complain, but he'd do it anyway. Rath did love that thing. M'lin introduced me to you. She knew that you'd be the one for you after you wrote her a letter about one of her songs. Something short and sweet that just guaranteed you'd be in her good favor forever. And Alior. He and Alex were so much alike. Max, I can't do this. All these feelings and these premonitions, Max. I'm seeing the future!"

"Shh," Max stroked her hair. "We'll work it out, we'll fix it. And you can help me remember things. I think everything Tess showed me was a lie. Except for the vision, I barely remember anything."

"Max, I want our love back. I want to be with you without hesitation and I want a life together. One lifetime where we get to be happy." Liz leaned in against Max, wanting more than they could have at that moment. Max left a trail of kisses along her collarbone and Liz almost gave in, the softness of the bed and the familiarity of the moment washing away her determination to get things done. They were on the verge of stretching out across the bed until Liz cut the kiss short, whirling her head to the entrance.

There stood Natir, a half smile on his face, as far as he could manipulate his mouth to form in any case.

"Natir?" Liz questioned.

Natir took a step closer to them and paused when they tensed. "Still the sharp one, are we? Unfortunately, it's come too late in this lifetime as well."

Max, contact the rest of them. Get the rest of them to the Granolith now. Liz spoke through their still open connection and felt Max break off to connect with Isabel and Michael.

"You've presented me with just the opportunity to finally squelch that nasty little rebellion still persisting on Antar and to remove all claims to the throne. They'll finally start seeing through the myth. The Queen pregnant by a human, the King in love with Ava's sister and more popular rival for the throne. My, my, you've got that repeating history part down pat. And some DNA manipulations just for good measure. Think things will happen any differently this time around?"

They're coming and I told them not to let anyone stop them. Max kept his eyes on Natir while maneuvering his hands into position.

"Things will be different in this life, Khivar." Liz tried to engage him while Max summoned all his energy. Natir laughed loudly.

"I thank you for the compliment, but I am not Khivar. I merely serve him. We infiltrated Larek's palace long ago after the death of his last Prime, Alior. I managed to maneuver into this position in the interim. Not long after he helped you solve that little gandarium issue that we arranged. Until then, I only fed Khivar information about Grenorian politics. But when you pulled him out in the middle of a diplomatic briefing, I knew that you must have trusted him enough to seek and trust his help. And that information led up set up this little situation. Now, I'll be bringing all of you, with the Granolith, back to Khivar."

"God, you guys are so stupid," Michael's voice came from behind him. His hand was brightly charged and on the verge of escaping his control. Beside him, Isabel mimicked his stance, forming a protective barrier in front of Kyle and Tess while Maria fiddled with the controls of the Granolith. "Is it in every evil villain handbook that you waste just enough time explaining what you're going to do to get caught?"

"Ah, Rath," Natir sounded startled, but not worried. He turned just enough away from Max that he used that opportunity to release a bolt of energy. Liz grabbed his other hand and the burst lit the room up like a rising sun. Natir tumbled back against Michael and Isabel's charged hands, knocking them to the side and leaving Kyle and Tess vulnerable. With a hellacious scream, Natir rolled to the ground and knocked Kyle's feet from beneath him. Tess fell as Kyle's support disappeared from around her waist and Natir's body delivered its blow.

Everything from that moment slowed. The Granolith lit up and Natir's hand shot out. One hand spread across the charred skin of his chest and wrapped the other around Tess's neck. From his prone and painful position on the floor, Natir stared up at the five people about to finish him off.

"Just a tiny bit more pressure and I will snap the good queen's neck. I suggest you surrender."