Ava gripped his hand so tightly that Rath winced and tried to pull it away. "Careful there, Queen Ava," he teased. "You don't want to injure this hand. This hand is supposed to protect your life."

She immediately relaxed her hold on him and smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry, Rath. I'm just… nervous."

"Why would you be nervous?" he inquired as he steered her towards the dining room. "Has something happened between you and Zan? Or is it my darling fiancé that has you all aflutter?"

Ava shook her head. "Vilandra's got nothing to do with it. You know she barely pays attention to me. It's Zan. He's been acting strange since the party. And I woke up this morning and he wasn't in bed. I think Zan has had it with the secrets, Rath. He's mad at me."

The soldier scoffed. "Zan mad at you is impossible, Ava. He worships the ground you walk on." They stopped before the doors of the dining room, and Rath nodded at the footman to open them. "Now put a smile on that face and remind Zan why exactly he fell in love with you."

Ava forced a soft smile on her lips. Rath escorted her inside. His eyes scanned the room. The long table was set, although it was a family dinner. The king was speaking to Vilandra and another blonde. Rath's senses were on full alert, as they always were when a stranger was present. "We have a visitor," Ava said.

Rath saw Zan move away from the women and motion to him. He picked up a glass and started towards his king. "Why don't you go and speak with your sister-in-law and have her introduce you, Ava? Your esteemed husband seems to have need of me."

Zan met Rath at the other end of the room. He held Ava's eyes for a moment, before giving his full attention to Rath. Ava, meanwhile, glided towards Vilandra and the other girl. Ava's eyes moved from the taller woman to the girl. She caught her breath. It was the eyes, she would tell herself later. "Ava, this is Maria," Vilandra introduced. "Maria, this young woman is Zan's queen." Vilandra relished the pain that flashed in her sister-in-law's eyes. "Maria is staying with us for a while. Zan brought her home. She's in the quarters next to yours."

"I hope you don't mind," Maria told Ava.

Ava could not speak. The emotion in her throat made it difficult to address the two. She merely nodded. "Are you all right, Ava?" Vilandra inquired, but her voice did not seem worried to Ava. She knew she was red. Ava was keeping her outburst in check. "Oh it's time for dinner."

Zan took the head of the table, and Ava was at the other end. To Zan's right sat Rath. Ordinarily, Vilandra sat in front of her fiancé. But since they had a guest, Zan allowed her and Maria to sit closer to Ava, to converse.

From his seat, Rath watched the animated conversation between Vilandra and the girl. He had still not seen her up close, but his gaze kept wandering towards her. He told himself that it was because he was only watching out for Ava, who watched the girl so avidly that Rath wondered. There was something about the girl. He found it strange, especially seeing how friendly Vilandra was being. Vilandra was never friendly to other women. She found them a threat to her position.

After dinner, he was surprised to find Zan looking fondly at the new girl. "How did you find your food, Maria?"

The girl, Maria, gave Zan a bright smile and answered, "Dinner was lovely, Zan. Thank you." Rath wanted at that moment to rise and walk over to her. Her smile called to him.

"It's been a long time. You should go to your room and rest. We can't have you taxed."

Vilandra rose from her seat. "I'm coming with you. I'll lend you this pretty lime green nightgown I have." Rath swallowed. The stranger in that creation stirred his imagination to disturbing proportions. "If you'll permit me, Zan." This was it! Vilandra being sweet…

"Of course, Lonnie." Zan himself seemed amazed by how his sister was acting. "Thank you for making Maria feel at home."

Maria rose from her seat and said goodnight to everyone. Rath wished she would come forward just so he would see her face. But the door were closer to their side of the room and Vilandra led her out. And then Ava stood up. "Wait. Zan, could I—"

This surprised Zan more. Ava had been shuttered for a year. She never let anyone in. And now she wanted to go with Vilandra and Maria to talk about clothes. Zan nodded to his wife, who immediately ran to him and threw her arms around him. "I'll see you upstairs, darling," she said.

When the three had left, Zan for the first time seemed happy. "Perhaps it was good that Maria's here. Ava and Lonnie must have just needed someone to bind them together," he murmured.

~~

Ava left the room with a huge smile on her face. She ran downstairs. She knew that both Rath and Zan were still in the dining room talking. They tended to have conversations for hours after dinner. But she was bursting with excitement at her discovery.

She burst into the dining room, and the two men looked up in surprise. "Darling," Zan greeted her, "I thought you were spending time with Maria and my sister."

"I did!" Ava's eyes were dancing, and Zan was exhilarated. It was more a sign of life she had shown than all last year combined. "She is amazing, Zan. But could I speak with Rath for a moment?"

The happiness faded from Zan's face. He nodded curtly to Rath, giving him leave to approach his wife. He watched darkly as Ava pulled Rath to the corner. If Rath and Ava were having an affair, they would not be so open about it. So he could only conclude that what Rath and Ava had was friendship. And somehow that hurt even more, because Ava would share her deepest secrets and desires with another man.

"Rath, she reminds me of her," she whispered. "This Maria… she's everything 'Ria was."

Rath's jaw clenched. "Don't do this to yourself, Ava. Your sister is dead."

She shook her head. "Look into her eyes, Rath. When next you see her, look deep. And you'll see what I mean."

He would look into her eyes, he knew. And he would tell her off. It was like the girl appeared into their lives to crush Ava's spirit, making her remember a face he would rather she not dwell on too much.

But he was scared. He was so scared. He didn't really want to get close to the girl. What if Ava was right, and staring into her eyes was like staring into Azaria's? Could he handle the guilt?

~~

The sudden chill from the wind caused her to curl tightly into a ball on top of the bed. Earlier on she had kicked at the covers because it was so hot. She wanted to open the windows but she was just too exhausted.

But why was there wind? The windows had been closed. Her eyes shot open and she saw the dark figure at the foot of the bed. She opened her mouth to scream, but an arm shot out from the figure and he clamped his hand over her lips.

"It's just me," he whispered. "Rath, Zan's friend. I'm going to take off my hand but you have to promise not to scream. We don't want to wake up the monarchs." He said the term in a sarcastic way that would have made her giggle had she not been so friggin scared.

"What are you doing in my room?" she demanded furiously. "And how did you climb through the window. We're on the third floor!"

"You forget what my role in our lives is. I'm supposed to be built for scaling walls, Maria. Now I'm here to ask you what you think you're doing here. You're upsetti—" Outside, thunder rumbled, and a flash of lightning lit the sky. The white light illuminated the girl's face for a split second. A split second enough to make Rath stagger backwards. [I]It's in the eyes, Rath. Look into her eyes.[/I]

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Who the hell are you?"

Maria licked her lips just as another flash of lightning revealed his face to her. Her lips parted. He looked so familiar. And shocked. "I just know that I'm Maria."

When he saw her again, and the violent weather outside lit up her eyes, he grabbed her arm. At once his mind was bombarded with a rapidly twirling picture of millions of tiny pinpricks of light, swirling, swirling. They were stars, set in a frame of vast black. He recognized those stars. That was the spiral galaxy that he and Ava shot Azaria's essence to. He let go of her arm. "You came from the stars," he told her.

"Didn't we all?"

Rath shook his head. It was too much to hope for. "There's no miracle. This is not possible," he repeated, trying to convince himself.

Maria had been staring at him in the darkness for the longest time, fully aware of the frequent blasts of thunder and the steady white noise of the rain. "I wish the storm would stop. I miss the moon. Remember the moon I created?" she whispered.

His eyes snapped back to hers. They could not see each other, but he knew they were holding each other's gaze. "What did you say?"

"The lavender moon, Rath. You missed it so much, so I gave you one." He could not believe his ears. "I remember now. The pass. And then this headache. They… they had blades…" her voice trembled as she related.

"Shhh, you don't have to remember anymore."

"What does it mean?"

"You're Azaria. And you've come back to me. You're back where you belong." He drew her to him and wrapped his arms around her.

~~

Isabel's frantic eyes rose to Michael's at the doorway. "Michael, she won't wake up. She's trapped."

"What? What did I do?"

Isabel shook her head. "She must be blocking our connections with her. When she saw you… When she saw what happened she shut herself against me. She wouldn't listen. And I was the one that helped her in."

Michael sat down at the bed and yelled at Maria, hoping she would hear and snap out of it. "Come back, Maria. You don't belong there! That's done. Maria, listen to me. Wake up!"

"She won't hear you. You have to go back in, Michael, and make her come with you." Michael nodded. "But there's a chance you won't get her back, Michael."

"What?"

"She's blocked you out, because you've hurt her. Her subconscious has forcibly forgotten you. And if you can't convince her that her place is back with us, her consciousness will stay there."

"Isabel—"

He seemed unsure. Isabel made her voice firm when she told him, "Her place is with us, Michael. Convince her."

tbc