Chapter 11

No one moved, but Chris could almost sense them drawing back. Only Connor and Kaia weren't surprised. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered why he was taking this so calmly; then he mentally shook the question away. Time for that later.

"You're none of mine." Kaia said carefully. There was no hint of pity or mercy in her voice. "I told you. I warned you if you didn't stop."

"But we were doing what you wanted!"

"Kaia?" Piper asked. "What's he talking about?"

Kaia looked up, eyes wide. "You knew I had followers. I told you that."

"Yeah, but not demonic ones!" Phoebe protested.

"He's not demonic. Just non-human."

"So you decided to let them destroy the world?" Piper demanded.

"No! God, no. I've been trying to stop them. You know that."

Chris wasn't sure when it had happened, but Kaia and the Fomor were isolated now in a circle. Connor was closer to her than anyone, but even he was staying back.

He took an impulsive step forward, leaning forward slightly to catch her eye. "Tell us."

"Chris." Leo said warningly.

"You thought I was trying to kill Wyatt." he reminded them. "I know about things not being what they seem. Let her explain."

Kaia smiled gratefully at him. "The Fomor follow me. They always did, but it was only...I never had anything to do with them, only to keep them from hurting anyone. But now they—they're doing this on their own. We came to stop them, Stephen and me, and they wouldn't stop. They said I was testing their faith and resolve, and they'd prove their loyalty."

"Loyalty. What were they trying to do?" Chris asked.

"Take away her pain." the Fomor said softly. Kaia winced, lowering her head.

"By destroying the world?" Paige demanded.

"Only way to do it." Connor said quietly. "Long as the planet's alive, so is she."

"I didn't want it. I told them to stop or I'd see them dead." She looked around the circle, trying to meet their eyes; but the sisters and Leo looked away.

"Where did they get the idea from? They didn't pull it from thin air." Phoebe asked quietly.

"It—maybe I said it, but I never..." She paused, lowering her head; Chris watched her shimmer, and when she looked up again she was Thariin, and much calmer. "There are times when I wish for an end, yes, though I would never act on them." She looked around the sisters, catching their eyes this time. "Aren't there times you wish not to be witches? To live as you choose, without fear?"

"Yes, but we don't have to end the world to do it." Paige retorted.

"No, of course not...so Wyatt was not almost killed, in Piper's world without magic. No? I imagined that?"

No one dared speak for a moment; the silence was broken when Wes spoke. "The Fomor drove the Tuatha de Danann underground." he mused.

"Yes, and to repay them I bound them only to me. I took them from their god and made them so much mine that when they were attacked, they couldn't respond without my permission, and it came too late. I hid those who were left, and there have been generations raised to follow me." She glared at the Fomor crouched in front of her. "Cichal One-Eye here didn't tell me they were trying to end the world on my behalf."

"Cichal was their leader in the legends." Wes said carefully.

"Still is…only he isn't, because there aren't any anymore. Cichal was their leader and my spokeperson."

Cichal raised his head. "All that we did was done for you."

"But it wasn't." Thariin knelt in front of him. "It was never what I wanted, Cichal. You must have known that."

Cichal didn't reply, and she rose to her feet again. "Time now, Cichal. Are you ready?"

"Your will." he said softly.

Chris shook his head, taking a step forward. "No."

"Chris, back up." Connor said warningly.

"No. Thariin, you can't."

"Why not?"

He stepped between her and Cichal, forcing her back a step and breaking her line of sight. For just a second there was an intense feeling of heat, but it was gone before he could react and Thariin was glaring at him. Behind him, Cichal slumped slightly.

"What, were you just gonna sweat him to death?"

"To burn, flames within and without. A chieften's death, like the heathen kings of old." Thariin told him.

"Chris, what are you doing?" Phoebe called.

"You can't kill him." Chris said, speaking directly to Thariin.

"What? Of course she can! That was the point." Paige reminded him.

"No. He's yours. It'd be like killing Connor or me. You can't do it."

Piper stiffened at that, but neither Thariin nor Chris was paying her any attention. "He went against me." Thariin reminded him.

"He can't hurt anyone now." Chris said softly.

Thariin studied him for a long minute before stepping around him to face Cichal again. "Will you return home, Cichal, and live there?"

"I will."

"And take no mate? Will you die, the last Fomor?"

"I will."

Thariin shifted her gaze to Leo. "The Elders abide?"

"We have a choice?" Leo asked tightly.

"No. Well, yes; you can try and vanquish him, but then I'd have to declare war on you." She looked at Cichal again. "Will you let the sisters bind you?"

"I will." Cichal said quietly.

"Elder?"

Leo nodded slowly. "If his powers are bound."

"The sisters can bind them." Thariin said. "I can't. Wes, the Powers agree?"

Wes looked startled. "I can't speak for the Powers."

"No one else here can. They'll abide by your decision."

"I'm not entirely sure I'm following what you're saying. You want…"

He trailed off, and Leo explained quietly, "Piper and her sisters will bind Cichal's powers so he can't use them, and he'll return to his home and stay there. He'll die there, alone."

"Hey!" Piper protested. "Are you forgetting someone?"

"It's not your concern." Thariin said. "Truthfully it's not theirs either. I'm asking them because they're here, is all."

"Thariin." Chris protested.

"No, Chris. You can have it one way or the other, not both. He's mine."

"They're not. They don't understand." She shrugged.

"So, what. We're good enough to fight these guys, but not good enough to decide his fate?" Paige asked.

"His fate's decided already." Thariin said distantly. "Wesley?"

"The Powers abide." Wes said, a little hesitantly.

"Cichal, there's one more thing I want you to do." She knelt again, catching his eye. "You owe this man your life. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then listen to me."

She spoke then in what Connor later identified as 'the oldest Irish. What came between her Elvish and their Irish.' But though the boy spoke or at least understood both Elvish and Irish, he wouldn't or couldn't translate her words to Cichal.

After a moment she rose to her feet again and moved away, glancing at Leo. "Ready."

"Piper?" Leo asked.

"Leo, what's going on?"

Leo crossed the circle…staying well away from Cichal…to speak to the sisters. "Look, I know you don't like this, but it's the best we can do."

"No, we could vanquish him. That would be better." Piper said sharply.

"Leo, she threatened you." Phoebe agreed.

"No, she didn't. Look…I'd do it for you. Any Elder would. If this were a regular demon we'd be done by now. But Kaia has a responsibility to him that she's chosen to honor."

"It didn't bother her for the rest of them." Paige pointed out.

"It did." Leo contradicted her. "But she couldn't protect them and us both. She made a choice."

"She should have told us." Piper insisted.

"Maybe." Leo agreed. "But now she's chosen to protect him, and I have to honor that. Now, please. Bind his powers."

On the other side of the circle, Wes had been thinking. "I didn't realize the Fomor had this much power."

"It came from their numbers." Thariin said. "Fomor agus na Fir Bolg had power together that none of them had apart. But there's no danger now. Cichal's the last, and he won't mate."

"You are sure?" Groo asked. "He will not seek revenge?"

"No. If he seeks revenge he forfeits the protection I'm giving him now."

"If we bind his powers he won't be able to fix this." Paige said, gesturing around them.

"He can't anyway. What's done is done."

"Any spell can be reversed." Phoebe pointed out.

"The spell's done. The grass is all dead and the water's all gone. Breaking the spell won't change that."

"So this is all pointless? It's too late anyway?" Wes asked rhetorically.

"No." Thariin's gaze went distant. "It's fixable. So let's get this done and get on with it."

Piper threw up her hands, exasperated. "Fine. Let's save the demon who just tried to destroy the world and everything on it."

"Mom, you don't..."

"I'm not talking to you."

Chris stopped, and Piper immediately started the binding spell. Paige and Phoebe joined in.

Chris looked back at Cichal, who was starting to glow as the spell took effect. Behind him, Thariin was watching quietly...and a sudden suspicion hit him so hard he stepped back.

The spell ended and the glow vanished; Cichal lowered his head, sighing. "Chris, can you take him home please?" Thariin asked.

"Whoa, wait, Chris is going nowhere." Piper said quickly.

"Mom..."

"No! Just when were you planning on telling us?"

"Telling you what?" Chris asked as calmly as he could.

Leo caught Thariin's eye and said softly, "I'll take him."

"Thank you...offer Wes and Groo, too? They shouldn't have to hear this."

He glanced at Wes and Groo, who were pretending not to watch Piper and Chris fight. "Sure."

"Telling us that you're not our Whitelighter." Piper said.

"What? Of course I'm your Whitelighter! Where did that come from?"

"You can't be hers and ours both, Chris." Piper told him.

"Yes he can. He is, Piper." Thariin said, taking a step forward.

"Thank you, I've got this." he said quickly.

"Where's Leo?" Piper asked suddenly.

"He went to bring the others home." Connor answered.

"Chris, you're..."

Phoebe trailed off, and Chris finished for her, "One of Thariin's Champions, yes."

"Since when?" Paige asked in surprise.

"Always."

"Always?" Piper repeated, almost—but not quite—hysterical.

"Yeah. Since I was born."

"Don't be a smart ass, it doesn't help your cause." Connor said quietly. Chris looked at him in surprise; he was getting used to hearing other people's words from Thariin, but not from Connor.

"You, stay out of this." Piper told him. "You—always?"

Chris nodded. "The theory at the moment…it changes…but at the moment it's that Wyatt did so much damage Thariin needed someone to counter him."

"So why couldn't she use Connor? Why take a Whitelighter from the Elders?"

"Connor's dead in my future." Chris said bluntly. "He tried to stand up to Wyatt. And she doesn't pick her Champions, and she doesn't take them. I'm still your Whitelighter."

Leo reappeared in time to hear that, but chose not to say anything.

"That's why she kept coming to the Manor." Phoebe said thoughtfully. "To see you."

"That's part of it, yeah."

"So what's the other part?"

"She came to see you! She likes you guys. When was the last time you had to buy herbs for your potions? Everything you might possibly use has been growing in the garden for months."

"Is that why you came back?" Piper asked. "Did she send you to save Connor?"

"I never met her until I was already here in the past." Chris said tiredly.

"Yes you did. You told me you had."

"I didn't know that was her! Look, the first I heard about being a Champion was when she came to the Manor to thank us for our help."

"You've known since then? That's more than a year!" Piper protested.

"No. That was the first I heard of it." Chris repeated. "She spent months after that trying to persuade me."

"He was more stubborn than me." Connor agreed.

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"Because I didn't think I could be hers and yours too. And I didn't want to leave you guys. I still don't."

"Where is she?" Paige said suddenly, looking past Chris. Chris turned to see Connor looking blankly back at him.

"Where is she?" Chris asked quickly.

"I don't know." Connor said.

"Connor…"

"I don't know! You should know as much as me. More, probably. You have Whitelighter senses."

Chris frowned, running a hand through his hair. "Damnit." he muttered. Turning back to the sisters, he said, "We have to find her."

"Why?" Piper asked.

"Because Connor and I can't. I don't know where she is."

"So?"

"So we always know where she is. It's part of the deal. If we can't find her, she's blocking us, and that means she's doing something stupid and probably dangerous and just doesn't want us to know abou…"

He stopped dead, tensing and staring wide-eyed around. "What the hell…"

"Ok. We're running out of time." Connor said sharply.

"Why?" Leo asked. "What's…"

"She's cut us off." He glanced at Chris. "She's never done that to you?"

"Cut you off?" Paige repeated.

"From her." Connor glanced from one to the other. "Right…Leo, when you're wherever you go, you watch them, right?"

"Right."

"And they…kind of know when you're doing that."

"Yes."

"Tara's always with us. Chris didn't know it because she's never not been with him, but I grew up without her, so I know. But now she's not…she's pulled totally into herself, and that's not good." He turned to Piper. "Please help us find her."

Piper looked steadily back at him. "Why?"

"Mom…" Chris took her arm and led her away a little. "Please? Look, this isn't about whether I've betrayed the Halliwells or not. Just…please help us find her."

"She matters that much to you?" Piper asked unsteadily.

"I can't explain it. Mom, if you want me to stay away from her I will. Just…help us now."

Piper nodded quietly. "We can scry at the Manor."

"Thank you."

Piper went to round up her sisters and Chris looked around for Connor. "She didn't let the binding spell work, did she." he asked quietly.

"No."

"Why not? If Leo knew…"

"You going to tell him?" Connor asked.

"No. Why, though? If Cichal…"

"The rest of it'll stick." Connor interrupted him, still keeping his voice down. "But she needs Cichal still, so she let him keep his powers. He's not dangerous any more."

"What's she need him for?" Chris asked.

Connor considered it. "Ask me again if we don't find her."

"Why?"

"Because if we don't find her it won't matter."