The chapter's title is taken from Mary Evans' poem by this name. It's a wonderful poem - go read it!
And fallingstar, dear? Welcome aboard; and I love long reviews; and if you'd leave me your email (either in a review, or you can find my email on my profile page) i'd add you to the email update messages that I do, so you'll know about a new update right away (this invitation is welcome to anyone who would like to be on the update messages list).
In that spirit, i'm sure all of you have a lot of unanswered questions from the end of "Death and Life", and this update will hopefully clear some of them.
As usual: enjoy, read and review!
10. "If There Be Sorrow"
"You are a Guardian befouled, Mushrambo. Do you know what that means? It means you are dangerous enough that I will not allow you free life, powerful enough that I dare not bind you, but I will not kill you, because to kill you is to kill a sun. Mistake me not, Mushrambo: I would very much like to kill you, and painfully so. You hurt ones that I love, you have killed one who is dear to me as my own. But you are one of the Guardians of Shinzo, and still have a role to play in this war.
"Bound by their own rules, the others Guardians may not interfere. I know the purpose they have for you, and for once I agree with them. This purpose also demands the cooperation of another. It will be her choice whether to side with the Guardians or not, but I, for one, am going to make sure she lives to make that choice – and you, oh former Dark Kind of Enterra, are going to be the means to that end"
He woke with a start and a gasp. Before he could properly panic, though, someone moved form the shadows and pushed him back to the mattress. "Easy, now", she chided. "The gang will have my head if anything happens to you".
His eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and he saw that he was still in the infirmary, and that the person standing next to him was an ethereally beautiful blond woman.
"I'm Karone", she said, "And I already know that you are Sago". She smiled slightly. "Everyone is alright, before you ask. It's 2 a.m., so it's bound to be a little quite around here"
Sago nodded. "Thanks", he managed – he entire body felt as limp and weak as a jellyfish. "I'm so tired", he said.
"What a surprise", said Karone dryly. "Considering what you've been through the last couple of days, I'd be more surprised if you didn't". She shook her head. "It's a miracle you're alive, quite frankly. You should not have been able to go hyper – at least not without causing yourself extensive brain damage"
"Oh", he said.
"Would you rather go back to sleep, or stay awake for a while?"
"Awake", he said firmly. He was not going back to that dream anytime soon.
"I'll go get us some hot chocolate then", she said. She patted his shoulder before turning. "I'll be back in a minute"
Karone left, and Sago was left alone in the dark infirmary. It was eerily quite, save for the soft rhythmic beeping of a monitor. A monitor? Sago turned his head. Carlos and Shiera's beds were pushed together, and Sago could make out the form of the infant Yakumo lying between her parents, fast asleep. The three were covered with a plaid black-and-green blanket.
"I've no idea where Emma found the old thing" said Karone. Sago startled – he did not hear her return. She put down the two mugs, and helped Sago into a sitting position. "But it's a good thing she did. I never understood what is it with those two and plaid, anyway". She handed him one of the mugs. "Hold it with both hands", she warned. "This stuff's hot"
"I noticed", said Sago. The mug was steaming as if it was boiling. He took a careful sip, and made a face. "Sweet"
"You'll be getting a lot of sweet", said Karone darkly. She set down and picked up her own mug. "At least until Emma declares you're out of the danger zone"
"What happened?" asked Sago, taking another sip. "I mean, how did we get here? One minute I was facing Mushrambo, and the next…" his voiced trailed off.
Karone nodded. "Mushrambo left the battle suddenly", she begun. "The others didn't know where he left to, or why, so they returned to the base. From what I was told, it was a big mess – Mushra collapsed, Shiera and Carlos were dying, and nobody was functioning properly. By the time they realized you're missing, and where you went, it was too late to do anything. You were close enough to Karen that the sensors couldn't locate you. They couldn't locate Mushrambo either, so they figured he must be at the same place as you"
"He was", said Sago. "I found her alright, and was just about to leave when he arrived. What I don't understand is how I got here. One moment Mushrambo was standing with his sword over me, and next thing I know, there's this huge green flash…"
"Shiera teleported you", said Karone simply. "Minute you were close enough to Karen, she knew – blood magic", she explained. "There are traces of Shiera's magic in your system still, so when you came close to her daughter, she knew. She sensed you were in danger, so she teleported the two of you out of there". Karone's face contracted with momentary pain, and her eyes aged for just a second. "She spent the last of her strength on that. The effort killed her and Carlos"
"What? But…"
"Karen", said Karone simply. "A body dead for less then 10 minutes isn't truly dead, and Shiera and Carlos died at about the same instance you two arrived here. There was no injury, no real damage to their bodies. Karen managed to drag them both back. The three of them are alright, now". She glanced at the three sleeping forms. "Drained, but alright. Karen woke once already, but went back to sleep"
"She brought them back from the dead?" It was a hard concept to wrap his mind around. "I knew Yakumo was powerful, but this is quite something"
"Oh, it is. I'm not sure how she did it, either. I doubt she would've been able to do it for someone who isn't so strongly related to her as they are"
"It's weird, thinking of them as her parents. We were so used to thinking of Dr. Tatsuro as her father…"
"And her mother is the woman who tried to kill Mushra", agreed Karone. "Oh yes, this is weird"
"But Shiera doesn't look anything like her. Emma does, but Shiera doesn't look anything like Emma, either"
"Power changes people", said Karone. "If I showed you pictures of Shiera when she was much younger, she'd look just like Emma, or like the older Yakumo you know. Time and power changed her. Why do you think I look nothing like my brother?" Karone shook her head. "I didn't look anything like that when I was a teenager. Years of being a mage changed me, too"
She's Andros' sister, remember Sago, and Zhane's wife. Yet another weird concept to come to terms with.
Long minutes passed in silence as both Sago and Karone drank their still-steaming hot chocolate. The stuff was almost intolerably sweet, and scorching hot, but Sago was beginning to feel slightly better.
"How long until I feel like myself again?" he asked.
Karone shrugged. "Who knows. Normally it takes about a week, but you went untreated for several days and depleted all your reserves yesterday, so it's hard to tell. You shouldn't have been able to go hyper – nobody has any idea how to managed that"
"You already said that, but I don't understand. Mushra went hyper without trouble, and he was injured more seriously than I"
"Mushra was injured almost two weeks ago; you, only a few days ago. If you're going to compare the two of you, you should compare yourself to the state he was in for the first few days after being injured"
"But he was comatose!"
Karone's glare was acidic enough to burn through metal. "Precisely", she said finally. "And he received treatment – Emma hovering next to him day and night. Shiera probably did a good job on whatever cuts and bruises you have, but when it comes to your mind she did only what was necessary to keep you sane. And believe me, between her and Franken, that was a fine mess you were. The depression alone should have gotten you. You should be better now, though. It'll be a while before it fades completely, but you shouldn't feel like you're going to fall into a dark abyss, anymore"
Sago almost choked on his hot chocolate. How can she know? "How…?" he began to ask.
"Because it's an all-too-common side effect", said Karone matter-of-factly. "You're bound to the water, physically and spiritually. Shiera severed the spiritual bond almost completely. Naturally, you'd feel alone, terrified and weak". She shook her head. "I'm going to have to talk to Emma about that. She should have known, she shouldn't have let you fend for yourself"
"She had her own issues to deal with"
"So did everyone. She shouldn't have neglected her duty", said Karone shortly. "This is not how she was trained". Karone shook her head again. "You're Kutall's responsibility, but I don't see Shiera having that talk with her, so I'd better do it", she muttered.
He wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but surprised himself by yawning widely.
"You'd better go back to sleep", said Karone, picking the empty mug from his hands. "We've been talking for almost an hour, now, and you really do need to sleep"
"I don't want to"
"Are you trying to tell me you're not tired?"
"No – it's just… well, there was this dream…"
To his surprised, Karone nodded. "Yeah, that can be awful. I'll get you something to help with that – hang on a minute". She disappeared with the two empty mugs, and returned after a few moments with a glass of something that looked like water. "Drink that".
Sago complied – it tasted like water, too.
"It's mostly water", said Karone, "With just one drop mixed in it. That and the sugar overdose should guard your sleep"
"Thanks", he said, handing her back the glass and lying down.
"You're welcome"
He was asleep as soon as he settled.
He awoke to smell of waffles. "Morning", said Kutall cheerfully.
"Morning", grouched Mushra. "Are you going to hold that plate where I can actually reach it?"
"No", informed him Kutall. "The idea is to get you out bed"
"You're no fun" complained Mushra, but got out of bed nonetheless. Kutall put the plate on the table of the apartment they shared, and Mushra wolfed it down in seconds.
"There's more in the kitchen", said Kutall. "That's where nearly everyone else are"
"Nearly?" asked Mushra, already at the door.
"The red Rangers and Karone are at Ops – Zhane reports that she is 'chewing them out' – he's in the infirmary, and Emma is on babysitting duty – currently giving Yakumo a bath, I believe". Kutall chuckled. "It is strange, seeing her as a little girl – but she is very sweet"
"Of course she is, she's Yakumo!" said Mushra indignantly. Then he caught up with what Kutall said. "Whoa, Karone's here? And Sago's still unconscious? And what time is it, anyway?"
"Karone arrived during the night, Sago's merely asleep and will wake properly around noon, and it is late morning. The sun rose about four hours ago"
The arrived at the kitchen, which was fully packed and looking like a disaster area.
"Morning, sleepyhead!" roared one of the humans.
"Zack, behave!" chided Trini, who was sitting next to him. "Ignore him, it's not personal", she told Mushra – who, given his short temper, was already fuming. "Zack's like that with everyone"
"It's called a sense of humor!"
"Here". Kat managed to find an empty chair.
"You said there were more waffles?" Mushra asked, promptly occupying said chair.
"There were more waffles", said someone.
"And there will be more shortly", said Kutall, and set to work.
"No offense, but why are you so certain that they're planning tactics in there?" asked Karone pointedly. "They're two adults, and from what you guys told me, they're pretty close"
"Because that's Caris guarding that tent", said Jason.
"And if Rusphine was going to hit the sheets with Mushrambo, she would not have Caris anywhere in the vicinity", completed Tommy.
"So we have a time witch and Mushrambo holed up in the same tent for the last six hours", said Karone. "This is trouble"
"Tell us something we don't know", muttered Tommy.
"We you please knock it out?" asked Andros irritably. "We are not being productive"
"Why did you refer to her as a time witch?" asked Jason. "She's a lot more than that"
"Letting them fight Mushrambo was a wrong move"
"I'd like to see you try to stop them", said Tommy.
"They're something", agreed Jason.
Andros frowned. "Somehow, I don't think Karone was talking about the risks to their health"
"I most certainly wasn't", was Karone's flat reply. "They're big boys and if they want to fight when they're injured it's their responsibility. What I'm worried about is that now Mushrambo must know what they really are, and Rusphine is bound to know where they came from, and how. We lost a big advantage"
"Rusphine can't possibly know…"
"Melissa felt the temporal shockwave when they arrived here, and she's is half the galaxy away. Rusphine is right here, and the person who created the portal through which they arrived is her future self. Trust me, Rusphine knows, and now Mushrambo does, too"
"And what does that means for us?" asked Jason practically.
"It means we need our own Mushrambo"
"No way", said Tommy firmly. "From what Kat gathered, so far they only transformed into Mushrambo when Sago and Kutall got carded, and we're not letting that happen"
"They don't know how to transform otherwise?"
The three red Rangers shook their heads.
Karone swore.