A/N: Next chap so enjoy my friends.

Chapter 9: Memories Abound

(Loken's P.O.V)

I felt my eyelids flicker open to find myself in a large and spacious clearing and in the center of it was a lake larger than any lake I had ever seen. I went up to it and saw a whitish glow coming from its surface and I could see all the way down to the bottom of it…and it was very deep.

I looked around and saw flowers of almost every kind everywhere you looked and on the fringes of the clearing were giant ancient oaks that soared high into the night sky.

That's when I realized that the stars appeared larger and brighter than they should be.

"Beautiful aren't they?" I heard a voice say behind me. I turned to see a pure silver she-wolf with light brown eyes sitting next to me. I should've been alarmed that someone appeared right beside me but I wasn't…In fact I felt joy at seeing this wolf and then I realized it was Starlark.

My eyes widened as I realized who I was! "I'm Warthorn aren't I Starlark?" I asked the one who I would always hold dear…but my heart now belonged to Xena.

She turned to me with a bright smile and gave me a hug which I returned gladly taking in her scent which seemed that of the night.

She then released me and we stared into each other's eyes and she said "Yes my love and I had waited for you to come and I shall wait for you until you come to join me."

I was confused "But am I not dead already?" I asked.

Starlark chuckled, "No my love you're not dead yet. You still have quite a few years left…especially with your wife." She said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Though I knew she was probably alright with it I couldn't help but give a guilty start. I swallowed and started to explain, "Starlark I…" but she put a paw on my lips and said "It's alright my love, I'm not selfish enough to believe you could not find love again…after all why else would I have led them to you?" she said.

It felt like a bolt of lightning coursed through me. "Wait you led them to me?" I asked stunned.

She smiled, "Yes, well at first it was just to get you help because you where so injured and your mind was so shattered. But I could see your love for her grow after what had happened to Xander. Is all I feel is happiness for you my love and nothing more or less…But I am curious…what name shall you go by?" she asked.

That question took me by surprise but I knew she was right; I needed to choose either between Loken and Warthorn.

And I knew which one I would choose. "I will stay as Loken because he has become part of me as much as Warthorn is part of me…Not to mention I do have a wife who would probably kick me out if she started having to call me Warthorn." I said ruefully.

Starlark chuckled at the last bit and said, "True, but there is someone you are forgetting." she with a serious tone of voice. I thought for a minute trying to think of who else I could have forgotten. Then it hit me like a Mac truck going a hundred miles an hour.

I slapped my paw on my face and said, "I can't believe I had forgotten about Robert. Of all the wolves I could forget it was Robert." then a thought came to me and looked at Starlark, panicking a little. "Is he alright? Is he dead? What happened to him Damnit on that day?! The last thing I can remember was telling him to have fun on his date and then a few hours later I'm fighting and Grage stomped on my head and then…" I stopped breathing heavily at my outburst.

Starlark put a paw on my shoulder and smiled at me and that helped calm me down. "He is alive and well my love. But this is what happened to him while you were gone…" and she explained to me everything that had happened to Robert from how he and his friends defeated Grage, how he came to the western pack alone and exhausted, to how he once again came to the clans to fight against the Harrkorians and find Eva and his friends once more, and how Robert and Eva and some friends returned to the to the western pack and are now living there with their families.

"Oh and something you may be interested in…you're a grandfather." Starlark told with a smile.

I felt my eyes widen and a broad smile appeared on my face and I said, "Really?!"

And she nodded happily matching my smile. I shook my head; I knew Robert and Eva would be happy together. She just seemed to be the one to really pull him out of that depression that had taken him after his mother's death.

"Well I hope he's happy with Eva." I said and she replied, "He most certainly is. But it didn't take him a whole year to realize his love for her." She said looking at me mean fully.

I felt the blood rush through me as I blushed in embarrassment. It had token me a whole year to realize I had been in love with Starlark and finally marry her. "Well you have to give me credit in that we were in the middle of a war. So I didn't notice the little subtle hints you were giving me." I defended.

She cocked an eyebrow at that, "Oh really? So you didn't know I was I loved you when we were trapped inside of that cave before all that with Nirn* you had no idea that I was in love with you?" she asked.

And there I knew she had me. That particular day had been three weeks before the final battle to free the clans and where I had gained my name- Warthorn.

But the memory of being in that cave trapped by Harrkorians caused me to blush madly. That had been my first kiss I ever had with a she-wolf.

"You look so cute when your embarrassed." She said with a giggle.

I put up my paws in a gesture of defeat. "Ok, ok, I may have got the feeling you were in love with me from that kiss but you know I'm still embarrassed at the fact my dad saved us and caught us making out in the back of a cave!" I said defensively.

She shook her head chuckling, "You know what Warthorn; you can be so dense!" and she started laughing uncontrollably and it was so infectious I found myself joining in.

After a minute we stopped and caught our breaths and she looked at me with a sad smile and I mirrored it.

"I can't stay can I?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No my love you can't. You are still needed and wanted back with the living." She told me and I did start to feel my eyelids grow heavy.

"I understand Starlark. And I do love you." I told her shrugging off some of the lethargy.

She looked at me with a sad smile and said, "But…?"

I looked at her again with a sad smile, feeling the lethargy of sleep coming to me, "But my heart belongs to Xena now." I told her.

She nodded, "I understand Warthorn but to her you're known as Loken. She is your new start as much as Roberts was joining the western pack and being reunited with Eva." And as she said this I felt the gilt I had been feeling leave my body as I laid on the soft grass feeling my eyes close.

I could hear Starlark come next to me and whisper into my ear, "I do understand my love, but sometimes I would give anything for things to be different. Is all I ask now is for you to keep your promise that you made to me my love…Find our son."

And the last words came to me as an echo in a cave. "I will Starlark, I will!" I said with conviction and felt sleep take me in its soft embrace.

*Thorn's Resolve

A/N: Now we know who exactly Loken is and if you don't I will tell you, Just pm me. Read and review please.