It would have proved simplest if Sub-Zero, Smoke, Fujin, Scorpion, and the wounded soldier could simply teleport into the Hydromancer village directly. Unfortunately, the Hydromancers – like so many other dwindling societies in Outworld, according to the Wind God – were paranoid of their many enemies arriving by similar means. They couldn't prevent them from doing so, but they boasted enough safeguards that the entire population would know the second they materialized, and would therefore assume their intentions were unfriendly. But if they arrived at the gate like guests knocking on the door, the Hydromancers would only suspect their intentions were unfriendly.
So at Fujin's request, Scorpion deposited them on the path before the gates of Tlachtga. Rocks littered the sides of the road, and beyond them were knotted trees full of disease and brush that had seen better days. On tall pikes lining it were rotting humanoid figures impaled through the anus, most of them dressed in blue and silver armor not unlike Sub-Zero's, the pointed ends bursting from their mouths. The flesh, dark and decayed, had shriveled tightly over their skeletons, thinning until the bone beneath was exposed. The bones themselves were worn and pitted by the flow of time. They made, so far as the Grandmaster was concerned, unimpressive guardians. They sent a clear message, to be sure, but he would have expected a martial community constantly in danger of extinction to have live sentinels stationed there.
But his attention did not remain on them for long because moments after the group materialized, the tall wooden ramparts came into view. More bodies hung from the posts, and several skulls decorated the pointed ends. The gate was open, presenting a corridor through the wall that was little more than a primitive fence, but as the men approached, they heard the blast of a loud horn. Immediately, the path was blocked by a small phalanx of warrior women clutching spears decorated with black feathers and colorful sashes pointed directly at them.
But a woman wearing a long black cloak – perhaps their commander – marched unarmed ahead of the others. She planted herself directly in Fujin's way, and Sub-Zero couldn't quite contain his nod of respect for her. Not only did the shrouded Hydromancer carry herself with as much dignity and confidence as a god, she showed no qualms about standing before four potential adversaries whom she knew were probably deadlier than she.
"Lord Fujin," she greeted respectfully.
"Your majesty," he bowed slightly, though it was hard because he carried the wounded soldier in his arms.
She chuckled softly behind her deep hood. "You haven't visited us in ages, my Lord," she said. "We've missed you. Some more than others." She winked at him but refusing to elaborate more on the blatantly obvious inside joke.
Fujin smiled. "My apologies, Milady."
"Don't apologize," she replied as she lifted her arm and rested it on his shoulder. "Just come to visit us more often." With that, she hugged him over the wounded warrior.
"I understand Kailyn and the other Falcata took my Champions prisoner," he stated a moment later.
Again, she chuckled. "A misunderstanding, I'm afraid, one that I immediately rectified. Your warriors are safe in the village, now being treated as honored guests. And we welcome you and these men as well."
"Did I miss something?" Kuai Liang asked as he looked at Scorpion. The way the wraith had talked, he expected to be met with battle, not with open arms. But the ninja ignored him.
"So you're the Cryomancer that Anya fell in love with," the mysteriously hooded woman began. "I had to see you for myself. One of your kind mingling with one of mine? That's unprecedented."
"I'm not sure I appreciate your tone," he growled. Queen or no, he wasn't going to be talked down to like he was beneath her.
"Kuai Liang," Fujin said warningly. "Mind your manners."
"It's okay, my Lord," she said, now turning her attention to the man the Wind God carried in his arms. "That man is terribly wounded, and I can tell that one-" she nodded at Tomas, who was clinging blindly to Scorpion's shoulder, as she raised an arm and flicked her wrist, "-needs help too." She looked back at Kuai Liang. "The healers will help all of you, even you, Cryomancer. But first, I would speak with you alone."
He sighed heavily as two warrior women approached with a litter to carry the unconscious soldier. "Fine," he agreed as Fujin set the man on it. They quickly rushed him inside. He wasn't thrilled with the prospect of speaking with this woman – in fact, he wasn't thrilled about being in a village where everyone hated him simply because he was born to their enemy race – but he was here for Anya, and nothing would deter him from his course.
"I'm leaving," Scorpion said to Sub-Zero.
The announcement didn't surprise the Cryomancer. "Thank you for your help," he replied.
Fujin immediately grabbed Smoke's shoulder to guide him now. "You're welcome to stay with us, Hanzo," he said. "Netherrealm can't control you any longer. Your people – your real people – need you. And there's no such thing as a lone wolf."
"I'm not a wolf. I'm a monster," Scorpion said as he formed a new portal and walked backwards into it.
"Don't worry about him, my Lord," the Queen began. "He'll come around in time. I understand he's already made great strides." She paused. "Please, go inside. I will be with you shortly. I've already summoned King Henryk and his men. They'll cross the river tonight so that we can plan a way to deal with Onaga."
"You're a beautiful woman," Fujin said with a smile. "I can always count on you to be on top of things."
"That's my job, my Lord," she replied before Fujin led Smoke, who'd been eerily silent through the whole exchange, through the corridor that had opened up between the Falcata warriors.
"So what do you want?" Sub-Zero bluntly asked, unable to mask the impatience in his voice. "I want to see my friends."
"Why?" she asked, the amusement in her voice blatant. It irritated him more.
"That's none of your concern."
"If you want to come into Tlachtga, it is," she coolly replied. "And you look like you need to come into my village to be healed, Kuai Liang. The Seidan wolves had a go at you, didn't they?"
"How is it you know so much about what's going on outside of your little village?" he demanded to know.
"Because I have eyes and ears everywhere. It's necessary to my people's survival. And word got to me that Onaga sent Hotaru after you. He hunts his prey with the help of his wolves. And judging by the state you showed up on my doorstep in, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together. So, talk," she ordered. "Why do you want to see your friends, besides the obvious reasons, that is?"
He scowled at her. "Because Raiden put me in charge of them before he died," he answered. "I want to make sure everyone's alright."
"What about Anya?" she asked, her voice abruptly shifting to a protective one.
"She's my first priority," he admitted, and it was true. "But I still want to check on everyone else too. So if you don't mind, can we get to the point of this discussion?"
"Interesting," she said softly as she sat on a dead log on the side of the road. "Halsey told me you were getting testier with each passing year."
That caught Sub-Zero off guard. Of all the things he thought she'd say, mentioning his former Sifu was the last on his list. "You knew Halsey?" he asked, momentarily dropping the defensive edge in his tone. "How?"
She faintly chuckled deep within her hood. "He controlled the power of water and his code-name was Hydro. A smart man would've deduced by now what he really was. But then again, you're handicapped by the inferior blood in your veins."
"You're about to be handicapped," he snapped, curling a fist towards her. Nearby, the Falcata lowered their spears as if to charge. Let them. He'd freeze them all. Pain from his recent battle wounds screamed angry curses at them. "And you're saying he was a Hydromancer?"
"That's right," she said, waving her warriors off without even seeing their aggressive stances.
"That can't possibly be true," he argued. "He was kinder to me than any other adult in the Temple where I grew up. And it wasn't like he didn't know what I was. He trained me to control my powers when my own father wouldn't."
"Oh, yes, he knew very well what you were," she said. "He was not at all thrilled to be charged with looking after you. Not at first, anyway." The Queen patted the log beside him. "Please, sit, Cryomancer. I have something to tell you, but not a lot of time."
Kuai Liang stubbornly glared at her, though he couldn't see her face to judge her reaction, but finally he sighed and obliged her. "So I assume you positioned him close to my family to spy on us." The thought made him sad, he realized. His whole life, he thought Halsey actually cared about him, but from what the Queen implied, it was all just an act.
But she burst into giggles that actually reminded him of Anya's laughter. "Oh, Kuai Liang, no!" she cried, her voice amused. "He fled to Earthrealm for a very specific reason, and I will explain that later. There, the Elder God Himavat asked him for a special favor: to watch over and protect you from harm."
The Cryomancer blinked. "What?" he asked, raising his eyebrow in disbelief. "I don't understand."
As if she hadn't heard him, the Queen continued: "Halsey was not happy about the assignment. But Himavat took him to see your family the night your father kidnapped you, and they were both in your house, watching from the shadows. You were too little to remember, but he said your father beat your poor mother half to death before he took you."
Kuai Liang looked at his feet sadly. "I remember enough," he bitterly muttered, replaying his memories in his head.
"Halsey wanted to intervene, but Himavat said he couldn't," she continued. "It had to play out, even though he didn't want it to. Before he saw that, he didn't want anything to do with you. But Himavat begged him to reconsider because your father was a wicked man, and he didn't want any more of his descendants corrupted by the evil that had cursed them for centuries. He told Halsey that you needed his good influence in your lives. You needed a father who would love and guide you, not merely punish you and scare the hell out of you."
She paused. "Halsey once told me that he only agreed because he felt like he owed a debt to Himavat and wanted to repay it. But, as it turned out, your first night in the Lin Kuei Temple was his first night as well. He found you and your brother locked in your new room, scared, crying. Especially you, Kuai Liang. You were still just a baby, after all. And he realized that Himavat had been right. You couldn't help what race you were born to, but how you were raised would affect the kind of man you would eventually become. He saw an opportunity to do something good for both of our people. So he picked you up to comfort you." She laughed gently. "He never told another soul besides me this, Kuai Liang, but the moment he did that, he felt…bonded to you. Like he was holding his own flesh and blood son for the very first time, and he immediately loved you like you were."
A hard lump immediately and unexpectedly formed in Sub-Zero's throat, and he leapt up and began pacing in an effort to drive it away. Confused thoughts swirled through his head. His Sifu had been more of a father to him than An Zhi, bar none. The man taught him how to fight, of course. But he'd also taught him to hunt, and he'd even made him his very own long bow when he was a kid. And there was his bone-handled knife he gave to him for his tenth birthday, the same one that currently sat on a stand at the edge of his desk in Arctika. But he'd killed him during Shao Kahn's invasion, after the Lin Kuei had automated him, when he'd taken Anya as a hostage and threatened to kill her if the Cryomancer didn't surrender. He'd…killed the man. The closest thing he had to a real father. Gone. Because of him. Sub-Zero swallowed hard.
"He loved your brother as well, of course," the Queen added as an afterthought. "And when he came along, he loved Tomas too. He told me you were his boys. The sons he always wanted. He was always terribly proud of you three. But you, Kuai Liang? You had a special place in his heart."
God, the pain in his throat was excruciating, far surpassing all the wounds he currently nursed. It stung at his eyes, but he fought it. Still, his hands shook violently from the effort. "What does this have to do with me and Anya?" he wondered, hoping to change the subject before his voice cracked worse than it already was.
"Everything," she said, slowly lowering her hood now. Half her face had been melted and burned into a waxy blob, and an eerie cataract coated an eye with milky film, and a black bruise marred her scarred jaw, but even still he recognized the middle-aged woman from photographs that Anya always kept close at hand.
"How are you alive?" Kuai Liang opened, unable to contain his shock. A standard question when face to face with a woman long assumed dead.
Catja smiled. "You do get right to the point, don't you?"
"Does Anya know?"
"Of course."
"And how did that conversation go?"
The Queen cleared her throat and looked away. "Not good, I'm afraid. She had a bit of a panic attack, so the Grand Healer, Adaia, put her to sleep. She's resting in my hut as we speak. I know she'll be overjoyed to see you. She's convinced you're dead, and is not dealing with her grief well."
Kuai Liang felt a stab of guilt. "Well, then I need to see her right away."
"Not yet," Catja firmly replied. "We have never before allowed a Cryomancer to set foot in Tlachtga. We usually decorate our territory with their bodies." She nodded at the warriors impaled on the spikes. "I want to know what kind of man you are before I let you be the first." She looked at his hands. "May I?" she asked.
He knew what she meant. She wanted to use her powers to see into his soul. It was not an idea he felt comfortable with, but he needed to see Anya as soon as he could. So he nodded faintly and then extended his hands for her to take, and she clutched them gently with her aging palms. Immediately, he felt her inside him, looking around, snooping, turning over every rock in his brain. It was a decided invasion of privacy, and he fought not to resist her, but soon, his soul started to push back. Thankfully, though, she broke free of him before he could physically shove her away.
"You killed Halsey," she said gently, her face wincing in grief. A tear welled up in her good eye, and when she blinked it squeezed down her cheek.
"He was threatening to kill Anya," he said defensively. "I had no choice."
"I know," she replied. "And truthfully, he would have wanted you to kill him."
"I should have waited," he mumbled, not really certain why. "We found a way to save the cyber-ninjas. If only I'd left him alive for a while longer."
She cupped his cheeks with both hands to comfort him. "Unfortunately, Kuai Liang, time was a luxury that the Fates didn't give to you. Believe me when I tell you that even Halsey would've said you did the right thing. No man was meant to be enslaved like that."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, unsuccessfully swallowing the ball of stabbing pain in his throat. He wasn't sure who he was apologizing more to: Catja or Halsey.
"Come on, Kuai Liang," she said as she grabbed his hand and led him towards the gate. "I'll take you to Anya. I need to speak to both of you."
The Hydromancer village was exceedingly old, like it had been built when nomadic man settled into the very first towns in history, and was constructed like a wheel. Narrow roads like bicycle spokes stretched towards a central courtyard. Rickety structures that barely qualified as shacks lined those roads, though many looked ready to collapse from disrepair, like they should be condemned. They seemed to match the half-starved Hydromancers wandering around.
"Where are the men?" Sub-Zero asked when he noticed that all of the people here were female.
"They're on the other side of the river," Catja explained beside him. "We segregate ourselves."
"Why?" he wondered.
"It's too distracting having men and women live together, and since we're fighting to stay alive, we can't afford any unnecessary distractions." Catja glanced at him. "We don't typically fall in love or wish to get married. We don't forbid it like your clan did, we merely think it's impractical."
"Then how do you have children?"
"The Grand Healer, Adaia, waits for signs from the Elder Gods. They speak to her and tell her who should come together, and at what time, so that a child can be conceived. The pair, in the presence of all the adult Hydromancers, then lay down together."
"Wait a minute," Sub-Zero interrupted in slight revulsion. "You conceive children in front of your entire village?"
She laughed. "In Earthrealm, I realize our custom is a tad unusual. But here, we believe, because the Elder Gods commanded the child to be conceived, we should all bear witness to it in order to show our respect to their will. Nearly every Hydromancer alive was conceived this way. The Elder Gods demanded us all to be brought into existence. Precious few of us are here arbitrarily. Rain is one such instance."
"Or so your Grand Healer would have you believe," he said skeptically, pretending not to hear the comment about Rain. He was best left in the file in the Cryomancer's head labeled 'Bad Memories.' Reading signs? This truly was an antiquated, backwards society.
"She can't lie," Catja argued. "When Adaia became the Grand Healer, she made a vow before Himavat himself, swearing never to abuse her powers or to lie to us, and if she did, she would die a horrible death at his hands. But even if that weren't the case, she wouldn't know the first thing about lying. She's very straightforward and blunt, a trait she's passed on to her daughter, Kailyn."
"If you say so," he replied.
Catja smiled at his skepticism. "Anyway, when our babies are born, they stay with their mothers until they're old enough to feed themselves and walk. And then the boys are sent to live with the men while the girls stay with the women." She looked ahead. "We're here. Your people are inside."
Kuai Liang looked up. He'd been so engrossed in this cultural exchange that he hadn't noticed that she'd led him to a large, two-storied hut on the outskirts of the village. She quietly led him inside. Much like a house in Earthrealm, they immediately stepped into a foyer with the staircase to the second floor before them and two large doors on either side of him. His comrades sat and chattered in the large room to his left, watched by two Falcata warriors. To his right, Cyrax and Smoke knelt on a floor free of furniture, the yellow cyber-ninja already working to repair the damage to his friend's systems.
"How's it going?" he asked his two men.
"Cyrax's bedside manner leaves something to be desired," Tomas replied. "I still can't see, and I have to listen to him talk like a robot."
"If you want me to fix you," the other began in his thick accent, "then I suggest you start treating me nicely. Otherwise, you're going to need a painted cane and a seeing-eye dog." Then he looked to the Cryomancer. "It is good to see you, Grandmaster. We thought you were dead. I'm glad we were wrong."
"Me too," he replied with a faint smile.
"Hey, the Ice Man cometh!" Jax greeted as he approached. "I know a certain young lady who's going to be beside herself when she sees you."
"I'm going to see her now," he replied as he followed Catja up the flight of stairs. "I'll talk to you soon."
"Good, because we need to organize a game plan," he said. "We can't keep running around Outworld."
"I know," the other replied.
At the top of the stairs, more rooms to the left and right, but these ones with leather curtains to serve as doors. Outside of the right, two more Falcata stood guard. "Adaia is in there, with the wounded man you brought with you," Catja explained. "She is the most skilled healer in our village. And Anya's in here." She pushed the animal skin hide aside.
On a mess of animal furs and tattered cloth, Anya was fitfully sleeping. Beside her, a blond woman, another Falcata clutching a spear. She was beautiful by Earthrealm standards, with eyes like lavender, and gentle curls cascading down her back, as if Goldilocks had grown up. But her face was severe and serious, perhaps even angry, and it never left her features, even when it was obvious that Catja's arrival startled her. But she immediately spotted Kuai Liang and poised to run him through with her weapon.
"Kailyn, this is Kuai Liang. Kuai Liang, Kailyn," the Queen introduced.
"Milady, he is a Cryomancer!" she cried in a decidedly British accent.
"Very true," she agreed. "But I'd appreciate it if you stand down. He is our friend."
"No Cryomancer is our friend," she argued.
"Kailyn, I'm giving you an order. Stand down," Catja said in a threatening tone. The Falcata snorted angrily, but grudgingly obeyed. "Thank you," the Queen told her. "Now, why are you in here? Is it because of your father?"
The warrior looked down in what seemed to be embarrassment. "Yes."
"There will be time for that later," the other said. "But I would like to speak to these two alone, please."
"Yes, Milady."
"Lord Fujin has come," she announced. "Why don't you go see him?"
Kailyn shot Kuai Liang a dirty look as she left, and he immediately decided he didn't like her. But Catja gently shoved him towards Anya, and all thoughts of the Falcata harpy left him. He knelt beside her sleeping form and smiled as he brushed a few locks of hair from her face. She'd finally traded in that horrible dress Rain made her wear for some real clothes, a set of fatigues with the name 'Blade' printed on the breast of the jacket. He laughed. Sonya. But her eyes were dark and sunken, and her face kept wrenching into anguished expressions as she whimpered in her sleep. He shook her.
"Anya?" he said. "Anya, wake up. I'm here."
Slowly, her eyelids opened and blinked heavily. "Kuai Liang?" she mumbled drowsily. "I had the most awful dream-" And then she abruptly interrupted herself by bursting into tears.
"Shhh," he hushed her as he scooped her into his arms and held her tightly, even though every wound in his body protested the motion. "It was just a nightmare. I'm back now."
It took her a moment to register his words. And then she pulled back, her face tear-stained, her eyes full of disbelief and pain. "Kuai Liang?" she asked, frantically running her hands over his wounded face. "You're really here?"
"Yeah, I am," he quietly replied. Immediately, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly to her, crying even harder, but this time in relief. Again, his injuries screamed angry curses at the world, but he didn't care. He had her back, and that was all that mattered. He squeezed her tightly, nestling his head into the crook of her neck and closing his eyes tiredly.
"Oh, my God," she said a moment later as she pulled back and examined the slicks of tacky blood on her palms. "What happened to you? You look like you were mauled by a tiger."
"A couple of wolves, actually," he muttered. "A couple of very large wolves."
"Seidan wolves, to be exact," Catja said as she now knelt beside them and wiped the tears away with her thumb. "But that's a story for later. Heal him so I can tell you what you want to know."
Anya didn't have to be told twice. Immediately, she cupped his cheeks in her hand, her touch as soothing as it ever was. She closed her eyes and wrenched her face into an expression of concentration, and as she did, his wounds stopped shrieking. The blazing fire rapidly faded, growing more tepid with each passing second until it was gone altogether. But she held on, and he sensed her peeking at his brain. Unlike Catja, he didn't resist. Her presence there comforted him, made him whole. After what felt like too short of an eternity, she released him and kissed him before she hugged him once more.
"This is truly something else to see," Catja mumbled in awe more than anything.
"Okay, talk, Mom," Anya snapped. "I think you owe me now that your witch drugged me. Oh, and because you lied to me."
"You're right," the other agreed. She inhaled deeply. "Many years ago, the great Shamaness Saeleofu, Adaia's mother, received a vision given to her by the Fates."
"Yeah, I heard this story," she interrupted impatiently. "A Hydromancer warrior will sire a child who will sire a child that will save Outworld, or some stupid shit like that."
"Language, young lady," Catja snapped. "I'm not going to tolerate my daughter talking like an uncouth sailor."
Her face was so stern and serious then that even Kuai Liang cringed uncomfortably. It was the infamous 'look.' Jax once told him that all women had one, and it had the power to decalcify a man's spinal column. He'd gotten it a few times from his own mother, and even Anya had flashed it at him a few times. Both women were downright fearsome when they got that expression on their faces. But Catja's put both women's to shame.
But evidently, it didn't hold the same power over other women because Anya glared back with her look, and growled, "Whatever."
"I mean it," the Queen warned.
She frowned and crossed her arms unhappily. "Fine. You were saying?"
Catja shook her head. "You have much to learn, Anya," she said. "But anyway, that was not the whole prophecy. Evidently, what you heard was the watered down, game-of-'Telephone' version of it. Saeleofu saw the Hydromancer Chief fall in love with the Falcata Tetrach, and saw they would wed each other." She looked at Kuai Liang pointedly.
He said nothing so she continued. "The two warriors would have a daughter, and she would be a healer. Furthermore, this child wouldn't just be any average child. She would be the Water Elemental."
Anya's eyes immediately bugged out of her head, and her arms dropped to her surprise in shock. Kuai Liang couldn't blame her. He felt equally as surprised. "Are you saying this prophecy is about me?"
"Yeah, it is. Partly," her mother replied.
"But that's so…stupid," she argued. "I'm nobody special. I'm just a nurse, for crying out loud. I'm not a warrior. If you said it was about him-" she nodded at Kuai Liang "-then that'd make more sense, but-"
"But why don't you let me finish?" her mom gently interrupted. Anya sighed and looked at her hands as Catja resumed her story. "According to Saeleofu, this child would not be raised in Outworld. She would be raised in Earthrealm with no knowledge of her true identity, and she would, by chance, cross paths with a man who was, unbeknownst to her, the Hydromancers' mortal enemy." Now Catja looked at Sub-Zero. "We only have one mortal enemy. The Cryomancers." She looked back to her daughter. "This child would fall in love with him, and he with her, and eventually the two would have their own child."
"Oh, really?" Anya said indignantly, and Kuai Liang bristled at that. She had probably said it just to needle her mother, but the way it came out sounded like the possibility was stupid because it could never happen. But he merely stiffened and crossed his arms.
"Yes, really," she replied. "That child would be destined to destroy the evil lingering in Outworld. But at the same time the Fates showed this to Saeleofu, they also showed this to Shang Tsung, the demon sorcerer." Catja promptly turned her head and spat derisively onto the floor.
"He relayed this to Shao Kahn, who in turn made it his mission to annihilate the Hydromancer people just to prevent it from happening. He was unsuccessful until Rain, the great Betrayer, went to him and gave him our secrets. Then Shang Tsung and his minions rained magical fire onto our people, burning everything we treasured to the ground. The elder generation still bears the burn scars to this day, as I'm sure you've noticed. We can't heal from magical fire. It's just not possible."
She winced and looked at her hands now. "Most of us were slaughtered that day, even the children, just to get at you and me.…" she trailed off, wiping a tear from her good eye as her voice cracked. "The survivors found this place and made it their home. With Himavat's help, they've eluded any subsequent invaders. But the damage was already done."
"Wait a minute," Kuai Liang interrupted. "Anya was already born when this happened?"
"Yes."
"Then that means she would have been born in Outworld," he deduced. "That means David Anderson's not your father, but someone in this village is."
"He's not in Tlachtga," Catja said. "He was on Earthrealm. And he was someone you knew quite well, Kuai Liang."
The Cryomancer couldn't wrap his head around that for the longest moment, even though he knew perfectly well who she meant. But finally, he breathed one word: "Halsey."
Anya looked up. "Your Sifu? My father was your Sifu?" She looked angrily back and forth between them. "That man you killed on the bridge the day I met you? That was my father?" Her voice was becoming increasingly shrill.
"He didn't know, Anya," Catja said. "Don't be angry with him."
"How?" was all Kuai Liang could think of to say.
"Before Shang Tsung attacked," she began, "Himavat told us that Anya and I had to leave Outworld immediately because we were in terrible danger. He'd always been adamant that we were the ones the prophecy spoke of, but I'd never believed it until then. But Halsey, the stubborn mule that he was, wouldn't stay behind. He wanted to be with me and Anya. So Himavat took us all to Earthrealm to hide from Shao Kahn's minions. But when we got there, he told us we couldn't stay together. We had to split up."
"What? Why?" Anya demanded to know.
"Because of our eyes," she said sadly. "In Outworld, purple is a common eye color. But in Earthrealm, it's extraordinarily rare. Now, humans could pass it off as a fluke if they saw just me with eyes like that. And with you, they could explain it by citing genetics. But if Halsey was there too, that would look odd to people and they would talk. Talk has a nasty habit of spreading like fire, and without meaning to, it'd draw the enemy to us. We might have well just painted a target on our backs.
"Halsey wanted to take the risk, but I refused. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life," she said, her voice cracking again. She wiped more tears away. "He was my one true love. And I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want to be all alone in a strange new world with a two-year-old I barely knew how to raise. But I didn't want anything to happen to you, Anya. So I told him we had to do what Himavat said. By the Elder Gods, I broke his heart." Catja's head sank sadly into her arms, and Anya' lip quivered as she looked at Kuai Liang for help.
He sighed. "How did Halsey come to the Lin Kuei and how did you get together with David?" he asked as he held Anya's hand to console her.
"I told you how he came to the Lin Kuei," Catja said. "Himavat asked him to join them to watch over you, and he grudgingly agreed because you were the Cryomancer the prophecy spoke of. Halsey loved his daughter. She truly was his little girl. So he did what Himavat said because he wanted the man she was destined to end up with to treat her well."
He glanced at Anya wistfully. He didn't know how she was holding together so well. Perhaps shock at all these revelations had numbed her. But she looked beyond him, lost in thought in some other place. "And what about David?"
"Himavat helped me construct a false identity," she explained. "He took me to California where David was visiting for a conference. He told me to seduce him."
"Oh, God," Anya muttered as she pulled her hand from Kuai Liang's and sank her head into her palms. "You didn't even love him?"
"Of course I did," the other countered. "Eventually. But never in the way that I loved Halsey. David believed me when I told him that we had fled from your real father in Russia. I said that your real father was an alcoholic who tried to kill us, and I had to literally run for my life, leaving all my worldly possessions behind. So he helped me get you a fake birth certificate, and even had himself listed on it as your father, and we moved to New York to hide. And for all intents and purposes, he is your father. He raised you like his own, and loved you like it too."
Anya sniffed and wiped her tears away. "This is all well and good, Mom," she said shakily. "But how are you alive? You still haven't answered my question."
Catja inhaled deeply. "When I first came to Earthrealm, I was jumpy and paranoid. I kept expecting Shang Tsung to show up and kill us, so I was always on the lookout. But years passed without incident, and I began to assume they'd never find us. But I was wrong.
"Shang Tsung wasn't after me, he was after you. But you and I have always looked alike, and he must've gotten us confused. He crashed my car on that road that night, and assuming that I was you, he set it on fire with his magic. I remember burning…Feeling like it was never going to end. And by the Elder Gods, it hurt worse than anything I'd ever felt before or since. But finally, it was over. And then, like I told you, I woke up in the morgue.
"I thought about taking you away, but if Shang Tsung had stationed anyone nearby to make sure I was dead, I'd lead them right to you. So I switched my toe tag with someone else, and no one was the wiser."
"Are you telling me that's someone else's body in that cemetery?" Anya hissed as she glared at her mother with angry, puffy eyes rimmed in red. "That we buried someone else's mother?"
"It was necessary," she argued. "I'm not proud of it."
"How'd you get here again?" Kuai Liang interrupted before another argument broke out between them. "Why not go to Halsey for help?"
"I was paranoid that if I did, they'd somehow know, and Anya would be endangered further."
"Why not take her back to Outworld with you?"
"If I'd taken her – and gods know I wanted to – it'd ruin everything the Fates had planned for her. Furthermore, Outworld is the last place I'd take my daughter. This Realm is besieged by evil and suffering. Earthrealm has its problems, but it's a paradise in comparison, wouldn't you say?"
It was a rhetorical question, so she continued. "Anyway, I went to see Himavat, who was masquerading as a shopkeeper in Tingri," she explained. "I told him what had happened, and he promptly took me home to my village. Here, the old Queen, my mother Yuriye, was dying, so Adaia had filled in for her. She nominated me to succeed her, and the elders voted in agreement. As the Falcata Tetrach, I had led our people to many victories and I had proven my worth as a leader time and time again. When my mother died shortly thereafter, they made me the Queen, and I passed on my old title to Kailyn, the warrior who led the Falcata in my absence."
"Yer a big softie, ya ken it?" a melodious new voice asked in an accent that almost sounded…Scottish. Kuai Liang looked up and saw Kailyn and a woman much shorter than her, but who looked like an older version, presumably her mother, standing in the door. The older woman, who had burn scars on her body, actually looked the part of a Shamaness, wearing tiny bones strung on a necklace and a wild expression in her lavender eyes. "But ya always were."
"I made the right choice," Catja argued with a smile as she got to her feet. "There was no one better equipped to succeed me."
"Aye, but my wee hen's gotta a lot to learn."
"Granted." Catja looked at Kuai Liang, who'd just helped Anya to her feet. "This is Adaia, our Shamaness and Grand Healer."
"No need ta stand oan ceremony, Catja," she said as she approached the Cryomancer. "Ah've told ya hunners of times, ah hate it." She cocked her head and looked at Kuai Liang closely. "Crivens! The lass nabbed herself a wee gallus eejit, dinna she? At least the lad's barrie."
"Um, thank you, I think," the Cryomancer trailed off.
"I need some air," Anya announced suddenly, choking on new tears. "I need to get out of here."
"Kailyn, take Anya to Massilia," her mother immediately ordered. "I think that'll be the cure for what ails her."
"Milady?" the Tetrach asked as she raised an eyebrow.
The Queen grinned mischievously, her face looking much like her daughter's right then. "Just do it. It's something every Hydromancer needs to see."
Immediately, the Tetrach turned and marched from the room, clutching her spear. Anya, clearly unhappy about the arrangement, grumbled as she turned and hugged Kuai Liang. "Will you come with me?" she asked.
"No, he needs to stay here with us," Catja told her before he could answer. "We need to finish tending to his wounds."
"But-"
"Jilldee," Adaia said, "Kailyn's isnae gonna wait fur ya forever. My wee hen wasna happy ah interrupted her talk with our Lord Fujin."
Anya sighed but hugged Kuai Liang once more around the neck, kissed him, and then followed the Tetrach out of the room. He frowned, tempted to follow her in spite of what they said, but clearly Catja had something else in mind because he saw right through her excuse for keeping him there. Both women looked at him expectantly.
When he was certain Anya was gone, he said, "Okay, you want to tell me the real reason I can't go with her?"
"We have something to discuss with you," the Queen replied.