A/N: Sorry it's been a while since my last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one!

Sara pulled a blue plate from a cupboard and emptied a pack of Oreos onto it before pouring water into her coffee maker and looking at her watch. Five minutes. She walked across to the tall fridge at the other side of the kitchen, taking out the milk and pouring it into a small blue jug before returning it and taking seven mugs out of another cupboard. Once she'd arranged these next to the coffee maker, which was just beginning to drip coffee through into the large glass jug below it, she heard the first ring of the buzzer. She hurried through into the hallway and lifted the intercom off the hook.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Adam, and… uh…"

"Ian," Illim's voice supplied quickly.

Sara shook her head, smiling to herself. How had Adam not memorised his Yeerk's alias by now? "Sure, come on up," she said, pressing the button that would let them into the building. Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

There in 10. Sorry, lost my alarm clock a few years ago. Was an Innis 457 edition, grey in colour. Still enjoying the lie-ins. Elsa.

Sara snorted with laughter as she opened the door, revealing Illim and Adam.

"Morning," Adam said as he stepped over the threshold.

"Hi. There's coffee in the kitchen if you want any." The buzzer went again, and Sara gestured Illim and Adam through into the kitchen while she answered it, letting in Kelly and Huan, followed in a couple of minutes by Alma. They all settled in the living room with coffee.

"Elsa's going to be a bit late," Sara explained to the group at large. "I guess we should wait. She should be here in around five minutes."

Kelly smiled knowingly. "If that's what she told you, then I'd double it. She doesn't do punctual. Well, she can manage for work and that, but anything else…"

"Maybe we should start without her, then," Huan said. "We can always catch her up later. I have a lot of studying to do this afternoon."

"I'll swap it for my grading," Adam groaned. "Illim, are you sure I can't guilt-trip you into doing it any more?"

"Not since that one you showed me by the boy who thought Yeerks entered the brain by being shoved through the nose with a hook."

Sara grimaced. "Ouch. That sounds even worse than the real thing. Where'd he get that from?"

"I can only assume he got us mixed up with the Ancient Egyptians," Illim said.

This only confused Sara further- History had never been her strongest subject.

"That's how they extracted the brains for mummification," Adam explained, in response to her continued frown.

Well, that made a little more sense, but still… "Why were they writing about Yeerks, anyway?"

"We've all got to teach recent history now. For some reason it's fallen to history teachers to talk about the Yeerk war, which I guess makes sense. I thought I'd love it, at first- I could talk about what Illim and I did in the war, give them some personal experience… but all they want to hear about is the Animorphs. And half the time not what the Animorphs actually did in the war, but what they're doing now, and you have to try and drag your lesson back from how many cars Marco has, or how hot Jake Berenson looked on that interview he did last month." Adam paused, and his face became more serious. "And then, of course, you've got the children who get tearful or ask to leave class for a bit because they were infested, or they knew someone who was."

Illim shifted uncomfortably, crossing one leg over the other and biting his lip.

"Maybe we should start," Sara said quickly, hoping to steer the conversation away from teens traumatised by infestation. "Elsa won't be long."

Alma nodded. "Maybe you could tell us what you and Kalran've done already. That might give us some ideas of what else we could try."

"Okay." Sara took a deep breath and a sip of her coffee before continuing. "When they offered the Yeerks the morphing power, my Kal and both her mates agreed to take it. I was with her while she was waiting out the two hours: she'd used some of my DNA, and I wanted to be… it was a big change for her. Ilkiss, her other mate, had already trapped himself: he waited with us as well. Once she was a nothlit, we all came out to immediately be told that there'd been a problem- Oglud couldn't take the morphing power. They waited until Kalran was trapped to tell her- to tell any of us- if she'd known, she could have demorphed, but of course they wouldn't want a Yeerk with the morphing power proper. I remember her and Ilkiss begging to go and talk to Oglud- there's a pool communication system that would make that possible, apparently. They refused."

Sara took another sip of coffee, her hand gripping the handle so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

"Kalran and Ilkiss went back every day to beg them for a month. They wrote to the governor. They wrote to the President, though I doubt he looked at the letters. They wrote to Cassie Williams. They asked everyone they could think of. I did too. Eventually, nine months later, they let them start going to talk to Oglud. It was the first time they'd been able to see how Oglud was feeling about being allergic, the first time they'd been able to discuss what it meant for them as a … I want to say couple and I always forget what the right word is…"

"Tripartite," Illim supplied.

"Thanks. So anyway, that first meeting it was clear how miserable Oglud and the others were, even though Kal said Oglud was trying to hide it. Kal was so upset, but when I suggested trying to campaign to get Oglud a host she just looked at me for ages, like I was mad. She and Ilkiss just didn't believe they could do anything… and she was exhausted from everything she'd already done just to be able to talk to someone she loved."

Sara swallowed hard, realising her eyes were wet. "I kept trying anyway. I wrote to everyone I could think of: any politicians whose details I could get, journalists, every single one of the Animorphs, and their families. I got two replies: one from Cassie, saying how sorry she was, but that the political climate made it impossible for her to do anything, and to let her know if there were any problems with Kalran going to see Oglud. I think it must have been her who made that possible."

Illim nodded. "That sounds about right. Cassie's very sympathetic to us."

"Who else replied?" Huan asked. "Maybe they might be able to help."

"Eva Garcia," Sara muttered. "And definitely not. Her letter was very scathing: she's the only one I've stopped writing to. The rest I write to every month. I reckon the letters just go in the bin now, though."

"What did she say?" Alma asked curiously.

Sara glanced nervously at Illim. Eva's letter had been truly horrible about Yeerks.

"It's fine," Illim said with a bitter smile. "I'm used to insults."

Sara sighed. "She said that all the Yeerks would have been sent back to the cesspools on their planet if she'd had anything to do with it. Oh, and she didn't see any difference between me and a voluntary."

Huan winced. "That's awful."

"That was the nicer bit."

"I don't think we can really blame her," Illim said. "She must have suffered so much…"

"So did I," Kelly said sharply. "So did Huan and Alma, and even you, Sara, at first."

Sara felt a spike of irritation. "Are you seriously comparing Kalran to Visser One?"

"Well, okay, not you then. But we all suffered."

Tidwell leaned forward. "Eva was forced to fake her own death and leave behind a grieving husband and nine-year-old son. That must have affected her. Not to mention I'm sure Edriss was a pretty horrible Yeerk to have."

"As bad as the one Elsa had, who told her if Elsa didn't behave they'd 'forget' to buy her little sister a birthday present? She dropped all resistance for a whole month, and then they didn't get one anyway. And they kept playing back the memory of how disappointed little Annie looked."

Illim made a strangled, choking noise. "By the Kandrona, why would a Yeerk…"

"Sadism," Kelly said shortly. "Elsa had better Yeerks than that over the years, of course. I guess Eva was stuck with a horrible one for a long time, but still… and she must have a better idea than most people about how horribly the Yeerks punish traitors."

Illim shuddered, shifting to sit closer to Adam's side. There was a long silence, broken only by the sound of clinking cups as people sipped their drinks.

Brrring!

The atmosphere was so tense that the sound of the buzzer made Sara jump, her coffee sloshing in its cup and nearly spilling. She tried to slow her breathing as she hurried to the door. A minute later, she was opening the door to a slightly harried-looking Elsa.

"Sorry I'm late."

Sara smiled. "The amusing text made up for it. I'm amazed how many things you manage to blame on the Yeerks."

Elsa grinned. "You've noticed that, have you? It's a great excuse."

"Come on through. I've got coffee."

"Brilliant. What've I missed?"

"Not much. I was just telling them what Kalran and I have already tried," Sara explained as she walked back down the hall to the kitchen.

Elsa was soon seated on the sofa with a large mug and a pile of cookies, which she was munching hungrily.

"Didn't get time for breakfast?" Kelly asked teasingly.

Elsa swallowed. "Nope. Anyway, I'm still enjoying being allowed to eat cookies for breakfast. Worst thing about Yeerks is how much they refuse to let you eat junk food."

"Not Kal. She loves anything with copious amounts of fat and sugar. Mainly Ben and Jerry's ice cream."

"How's she doing?" Elsa asked through a mouthful of Oreos.

Sara felt her stomach twist, the tension in her shoulders returning. "I… I don't think very well."

The others leant forward concernedly, Elsa lowering the cookie she'd been moving towards her mouth and placing it on the tabletop.

"I'm worried about her. She just seems very… dull. Things don't seem to interest her as much as they used to. She keeps telling me she's fine, but I can tell she's not. She's always got shadows under her eyes, too, like she's not sleeping."

"Bless her," Alma murmured. "Poor thing."

"I… I don't know what to do to make things better." Sara shook her head. "Anyway, I suppose you don't all need to hear this."

"It's fine," Elsa said quickly. "I imagine 'the friend that used to be inside my head seems depressed' isn't a problem you can talk about with just anyone."

"I just… she keeps saying she's fine, but I worry about her. That probably seems really weird to you, worrying about your Yeerk, but…"

"It's not weird to me," Adam said with a smile. "This one's just passed his driving test. I live in constant terror now." He jerked a thumb at Illim.

Illim lifted his nose into the air haughtily. "I'll have you know I used to pilot Bug Fighters. And I picked up most of my driving skills from you."

"Exactly. That's why I'm worried."

Sara smiled despite herself.

"You were telling us who you'd written to," Kelly said, after a moment's pause.

"Yeah. Well, none of the Animorphs or their families have replied so far, though I keep writing every month."

"Do you have any contact with them?" Elsa said, looking across at Illim and Adam. "You did in the war, right?"

Illim nodded. "We did. But not since then… I suppose if Adam wrote and asked to meet Cassie she might come, but it's very much a maybe. I think she's ridiculously busy right now."

"You could try," Huan said. "It can't hurt."

"We could all write to her," Elsa said decisively. "And the rest of the Animorphs, and their families. Marco's mother had political experience before she was infested, as well, I wonder if…"

"No," everyone else said at once.

"I was just telling the others before you came… she's the only one I've stopped writing to. She wrote me a letter back that made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with this," Sara said, in response to Elsa's puzzled frown.

"OK, not her, then. What else could we do? Leaflets through doors, maybe?"

"People will probably complain about that," Illim said hesitantly. "Most humans hate us."

Elsa smiled across at Kelly conspiriatorially. "People might complain? Goodness, I don't know if I can cope with that… alien slugs taking over my life, sure… alien laser gun fights, no problem… but people complaining? The horror!"

Kelly grinned back at her, and Sara smiled slightly too.

"So," Huan said, "Illim and Adam, you'll contact Cassie Williams. The rest of us will write to everyone we can think of- except perhaps Eva- and we'll deliver leaflets. Who's going to design them? Alma, you study advertising, yes? Fancy the job?"

Alma looked uncertain. "I do, but I'm not sure what to do with these… I mean, Illim's right, most people will probably hate us for even delivering them. And what if they upset someone who was a host?"

Sara tensed at that.

"I think between us four we're pretty well set to tell whether it's going to upset an ex-involuntary or not," Elsa pointed out.

"I dunno," Kelly said quietly. "People respond pretty differently… I mean, Eva doesn't even want to help the peace movement…" Kelly hesitated, studying Elsa's face as if to gauge her reaction. "And at the other end of the scale… you were cosying up to voluntaries a few months ago."

The rest of them stared at Elsa, Sara included. "What? You don't mean me, do you?" Sara exclaimed, unable to make any other sense of Kelly's remark.

Kelly turned towards her quickly. "Of course not, Sara! I'd never count you as one of them. You were trying to free us, and besides you hated it as much as we did."

"Not quite as much as you did. Kal's a good person, and I like having her around. Prefer having her around now when she's not in my head, of course, but…" Sara looked back at Elsa. "What does she mean?"

Elsa swallowed a mouthful of coffee, giving Kelly an irritated look. "If I can just correct a few things… it wasn't cosying up, it was saying hello and asking how someone was, it was voluntary in the single not the plural, and I've been doing the same thing with anyone I meet who I recognise, so it wasn't just a few months ago. So if we change every single word in that sentence then you'd be spot on. And I'd also like to change the words 'one of them', because as I think I pointed out at the time, that really isn't helpful."

"You're still not making any sense." Huan looked surprised, but continued with: "and besides, it isn't really relevant to the meeting."

"Yes it is. I admit I wasn't planning to bring it up this time, because I wasn't sure how you'd all react, but there's not much point fighting for these Yeerks to have the right to take hosts if there're no hosts for them to take."

"There's Sara and Adam," Kelly pointed out.

Illim gave a hesitant smile. "I think there are more than two Yeerks in that Pool."

"Exactly. And besides, I'm not sure about you, Sara. You just said right now you weren't keen on having Kal in your head, even though you like her. I don't think you should have to force yourself to put up with infestation just because you feel bad for Oglud."

Sara glanced away. Elsa was right… Sara'd never liked having Kal in her mind, even though she'd agreed to it to help with the fight and because the alternative was almost certainly getting recaptured and her new Yeerk finding Kalran out. Kal had asked her every time she re-entered her mind if she was still sure she wanted to do this, because Sara dreaded it so much.

"And Adam," Elsa was asking, "are you thinking of hosting a Yeerk full-time, so to speak, or a few hours a week?"

"I'd happily do full time." Adam looked hesitant. "I never minded the infestation itself, once I got used to it, I just didn't want other people to be forced into it."

"Okay. Would you want a peace movement Yeerk, or would you take anyone?"

"Peace movement," Adam said instantly. "Or, well, I suppose I'd consider a Yeerk who'd never taken an involuntary host. I couldn't live with someone who directly experienced what the Empire did and thought it was okay, or just did nothing about it."

Elsa looked back at Huan. "I know Sara and Adam can't be assumed to represent all the peace movement hosts, but are you hearing the problem here?"

"Yes and no," Huan said. "I don't see why we owe the Empire Yeerks anything."

Illim made a slight sound, then stopped himself.

"Go on," Kelly said gently.

Illim still looked hesitant. "I was just going to say… I can understand how you feel about the Yeerks who weren't in the movement, but… it seems a little unfair that some of them are wandering around with their very own morphed bodies, if we're not going to give the others the same chance."

Alma nodded. "I see what you mean."

Sara looked across at Elsa. "Are you saying we need to reach out to them?" Sara gave the same inflection to the word them that she used to give the word 'slug' when being taken back to the pool for reinfestation. "Are you completely insane?"

Elsa grinned. "Nope, there are bits of me missing," she quipped.

"Not funny."

"OK, then yes, I am saying that. We need people who are willing to host non-peace movement Yeerks, people who actually like having a Yeerk in their head. I don't think we're going to manage to find enough if we rule voluntaries out. And if we're going to talk to politicians, it would probably help if we could demonstrate that there are enough people interested in doing it to make it worthwhile for them."

Kelly made a groaning sound. "Can we at least volunteer you for that liaison project, Elsa? I don't want to go anywhere near them."

Elsa nodded. "I'd be happy to do it. The problem is so far none of the voluntaries are willing to go anywhere near me. Kelly, you saw, didn't you, Carla wouldn't even look at me."

"Carla?" Sara's eyes widened in surprise. "There's a Carla living with Kalran."

"Sara!" Illim exclaimed loudly. "You can't just tell people where voluntary hosts are living!"

Sara turned to glare at him. "I can. In fact, I just did."

"It puts her in danger," Illim protested, glaring right back. "It's not fair. I'm sure when Kalran told you she didn't imagine you'd pass it onto anyone else."

Sara snorted. "Yeah, well, Kalran didn't see fit to tell me. I found out myself, when I went over to see her after that attack on the Pool."

Elsa leant forward. "It's useful information, though, and I'm sure no-one here will hurt her. Will you?" She paused to glance around at the others, who all slowly shook their heads, Kelly with a sour expression on her face. "Do you know if Kalran's told her about Oglud?"

"No. No, I don't know, that is."

"Can you find out? And then maybe I can go over with you one day and talk to her." Elsa frowned. "Well, I can try. Actually it might be better to meet on neutral ground… maybe if you and I invite her out for coffee… if we brought Kalran too then maybe…"

Sara shook her head, incredulous at Elsa's suggestion. "I'm not having coffee with her, Elsa."

Elsa sighed, flopping back into her chair. "No-one's going to help me with this, are they?"

There was a short silence. Sara exchanged a glance with Kelly, who rolled her eyes.

"I will."

Elsa's head snapped up, turning towards Illim, who had spoken. "Oh. Right. Yeah, that might actually work."

"I think the coffee thing might be a bit much, though. If Sara can speak to Kalran, I could arrange to go over there alone, and tell her what the situation is. She might at least hear me."

"Yeah, and if she doesn't want to you can just order her to, and let her natural toadying do the work for us," Kelly muttered angrily.

Illim made a slight movement, as though he might say something, but seemed to think better of it.

Elsa turned towards Sara. "Can you at least call Kal for us?"

Sara took her time answering, taking a sip of her now-cold coffee. Elsa was probably right that they needed some involvement from the voluntaries, not to mention she'd probably find a way to get in touch with Kalran by herself if she had to. "As long as you understand that I never want to have to talk to Carla, or any of the rest of them. You and Illim can do all that."

"I second that," Kelly muttered, and Huan nodded.

"I wouldn't mind working with her," Alma murmured quietly. "But I agree it'll only work if it's Illim first."

"That's fine," Elsa said. "And thanks, Alma."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Sara was still shocked by Elsa's attitude… she'd expect hatred of voluntaries from someone who'd so unceasingly resisted infestation, not… whatever this was. Kelly and Huan, she could see, looked equally confused, while Illim just looked taken aback at this turn of events. Alma was, as always, relatively calm… or calm on the surface, at least. She was often hard to read.

"So…" Kelly said eventually. "Leaflets, writing to people… random attempts at recruiting collaborators… what else?"

"We could try and get media interviews," Alma suggested.

Sara cringed. She still remembered the article that had resulted from the interview Kalran had given in hope of being allowed to speak to Oglud. "They'll twist everything you say."

"Maybe. It's still publicity, though," Alma said. "Why? Have you already given one?"

"Kal did. They were horrible to her."

"Might be better with us, though," Kelly suggested, looking thoughtful. "Especially if Elsa or I do it. We were pretty infamous ringleaders of the in-cage resistance, that might give us a bit more… clout… than Kalran had."

Elsa laughed. "I think 'in-cage resistance' might be a bit of a grandiose title. I mostly just sung annoying songs at them. And threw my sweater at Visser Three that time."

"Never underestimate the power of an annoying song," Kelly said decidedly.

Everyone smiled, dissipating a lot of the tension that had built up in the room. It was lucky they had Huan there to keep them on track, as Elsa and Kelly began a debate about the relative merits of 'I know a song that gets on your nerves' and 'ten green bottles' which could have lasted some time.

"So, if we can come back to the topic at hand… Sara, you'll call Kalran and see if this… woman… will meet with Illim, and Elsa, you'll liase with Illim about getting her involved. Alma, you'll try and draft a flyer for us: we can all look at it and see if we think it's okay. I'd be happy to meet with you too, to help you write it. Kelly, can you look into getting some press coverage? And everyone's going to write to all the Animorphs and their families, except Eva, and other politicians and people who might be able to help. I could draw up a list of people to write to and send it round to everyone, if that would help?"

"That'd be great," Sara replied. "I'll send you information about who I've already tried, but it's worth us all trying them again."

"And Illim and I will get in touch with Cassie directly if we can," Adam said. "She might be more willing to meet us."

Huan nodded. "Excellent. Is that everything? I have a lot of studying to do today."

Sara glanced around at the others, then nodded. "Thanks so much for coming, everyone. It means a lot to me… to Kal, too, even if she doesn't show it."

"Oh yeah, that's another thing- we should meet up with her again soon, especially if she's feeling down," Kelly added. "She seems nice enough."

Everyone made noises of agreement, then one by one left, Huan hurrying out while Elsa and Kelly lingered for nearly half an hour, chattering away to each other and to Sara as they helped her wash up cups and plates and stack them neatly away in the kitchen. Sara used to leave her draining board piled up with things, but Kalran had never been able to stand the mess, and drying things up straightaway was now an ingrained habit of hers.

Eventually, even Elsa and Kelly left, and Sara sank down on her sofa, staring at the phone in her hand. She knew she should call Kalran today, but even though it was her Yeerk she'd be talking to, who she knew intimately, she had no idea what to say. It took her a long time to work up the courage, but eventually she curled her fingers around the edge of the plastic and pressed Kalran's number into the keypad.

'Here goes nothing,' Sara thought to herself, raising the phone to her ear.