DPOV

Watching the girls play pushed me into one of those moments where everything becomes clear and you can't even fathom why you were so unsure in the first place. Looking at them now, it was obvious that they were mine; we had the same eyes and some of the same mannerisms. I didn't even stop to think about how they looked oddly similar to Vikortia when she was that age. It was like all of these mixed up, jumbled pieces came together and made everything whole again. There was only one small problem.

I was still Tasha's guardian, and as much as I wanted to resign and be with Rose, Sophie and Claire, I knew that things weren't that easy; I was faced with the exact problem I had five years ago, except now there was more at stake.

I couldn't leave my charge because I had sworn that I would protect her, but I couldn't leave my family because not only did it go against everything I believe in, but I didn't think that I could physically do it.

I lost Rose once, but now that I knew how great a life with her could be, I wasn't sure I could go back to that lonely, meaningless world I had with Tasha. The thought of it made a sharp pain shoot through my chest. Sitting on my bed inside one of the many guest rooms; I put my head in my hands and let all of the conflicting emotions overwhelm me.

RPOV

A knock at the door made me walk away from my place at the table and meet the angry eyes of Lissa.

Her jade eyes were darker, looking like waves tossing furiously during a storm. I had gotten really good at blocking her emotions, but I was pretty surprised my meager skills could keep this kind of rage at bay; she was fuming.

"Liss? Whats wrong?"

"Whats wrong? Rose, you have been getting all up close and personal with your ex-lover for two whole days and not once, NOT EVEN ONCE did you even think to call me and give me an update?"

"Whoa, Liss. I've barely even figured everything out yet…I couldn't exactly call you with details I didn't even have."

"Have you kissed him yet?"

"Wha…what?"

"Have. You. Kissed. Dimitri? It's a simple question."

"Well, yeah but—"

She gave me a smug look and walked past me into the house, I could see Christian and Andre walking up the steps; Christian was giving me a smug smile that put Lissa's to shame.

"Hey, Sparkey. Something tells me you had something to do with this." He let out a laugh and moved past me into the house without a word.

Oh yeah, just come on in like ya own the place.

I followed all of them into the house and found everyone sitting on the couches in the living room. Andre had turned on the TV as soon as he walked into the house, a habit I was sure he got from his father, and now all of the kids were sucked into an episode of Spongebob. Well, all the kids and Christian, he looked pretty into it as well.

I let out a short laugh at the scene and went to sit next to Dimitri, after thinking about it I decided that sitting next to Liss was probably the best idea. I wasn't sure if Dimitri and I were "Okay" at the moment, and I didn't want anymore anger from Lissa.

"So did you guys hear?" Christian blurted out with out preamble.

"Hear what?" Tasha asked, really the only one who was paying attention to Christian.

"They lowered the age law for Dhampirs, they have to graduate at the age of sixteen now," He looked at me warily, most likely expecting the oncoming explosion.

"WHAT! They can't do that, its suicide!"

"I know," Lissa said in a low voice, sounding just as upset as I was. "I was at the meeting when they decided. I voted against it, of course. But with the rise in Moroi deaths everyone's getting scared. There just aren't enough guardians for everyone anymore."

I was surprised that Dimitri spoke next, sounding thoroughly pissed. "But don't they relies if they stick untrained novices out on the frontline they are risking more deaths on both sides? A dead guardian can't very well protect his Moroi." He was completely right. And if the guardian was dead, the Moroi would either be dead as well, only lowering their dwindling numbers, or they would become a Strigoi, making their numbers even larger.

It was a horrible chance, and I didn't know what could have possibly influenced the council to decide in its favor. I was also pretty pissed at Adrian, who was the queen's nephew and hadn't thought to tell me about this new law. I would deal with him later; he was due for a chewing out.

But right now, I had to deal with something bigger.

"Guys, were going to court."

So once again I made you guys wait and then gave you a really short, really pointless chapter. I really hate doing this, but I've been having some trouble with my chapters lately. I'm writing my own (non-fanfic) story, and I didn't even realize until today that's its been a whole week since my last update.

I can't even tell you how many times I re-wrote this until I had something that was remotely worth putting up here, and again, I apologize for the excessive crappiness :P I will try to get some more exciting things going on here :P

Thanks again for all the reviews :D I look forward to them everyday.

xoxo

-Lydia

P.S- I just realized that I had Dimitri and Tasha staying at Rose and Adrian's house, when Tasha is Christian's aunt, sorry if this little tidbit had anyone confused. I know it doesn't make any sense.