Hi all. Sorry you had to wait so long for this one, but exams, you know. The exams aren't over yet (which makes this an over-two-months-long exam season - whata nightmare), but I promised. So here's an update.
Oh, and Shelby? I tried answering your email, I really did, but I kept getting bounceback messages as if your email address doesn't exist. Which is ridiculous, 'cause I received email from you. So, if you'll supply me with another email address, i'll add you to the update-messages list (i'm sending email to all the readers whose email addresses I have whenever there's a new update). Anyone else who wants on the list is invited to give me their email address, too.
That said, let's get down to what you've been waiting for.

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10. "If There Be Sorrow"

Last Part

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Zhane didn't return, and Sago was grateful for that: his conversation with Emma left him much to think about. And Zhane probably knows that, thought Sago caustically, which is probably why he isn't here. Still, the silence was becoming unnerving. Sago was a person of loud crowds and large parties – quiet, empty spaces tended to stress him, and he preferred to do his thinking with blaring music in the background, and a glass of something strong in his hand. Still, it was better then having any of his friends around – because they would ask, and I have no answers. Maybe I never will.

So it happened that Sago alone was there when Shiera woke. For several moments they looked at each other in silence. Sago's heart hammered, not sure what to do or say – how to approach someone so alien?

"Thank you". She spoke slowly and carefully, as if speaking was an effort. "For finding her"

"It was the right thing to do," he answered. What else to say? 'You're welcome' sounds so lame.

" 'Right' is hardly obvious", she said.

Silence, again. Sago had the feeling that she was measuring him with her eyes. Those eyes scared him. One moment she would seem like an injured predator, stressed and prepared to strike, another – and she would seem tired beyond belief; a moment – and her gaze would be calculating and cold, and another – and she would look at him with something akin to confusion. He could see Emma in her – deceptively fragile, stubbornly independent – but not Yakumo. There was nothing of the gentle Yakumo in this woman, this warrior.

Power changes people, whispered Karone's voice in his memory, and Sago wondered, for a fleeting moment, what the little girl he saved would grow to be like. She had power, too – and in a flash of insight, Sago realized that the power of Yakumo's gem might well consume her with time.

His musing were interrupted by Carlos' stirring. "Shiera?" he whispered, prying his eyes open, his hand moving sleepily towards his wife.

Shiera turned immediately, breaking the staring contest. "Here", she murmured. "I'm here"

"Don't go"

"I'm not going anywhere"

"You always go, even that you always promise not to"

"But I always come back"

"I thought you weren't going to. I thought I lost you this time"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't go. Please don't go. Not again"

"I'm sorry…", she whispered. "God, Carlos, I'm so sorry"

"Hi, don't cry". His finger brushed carefully against her cheek. "We've shed enough tears"

Shiera didn't answer, but she curled tightly next to her husband. Both were asleep within seconds.

Sago looked away, the silence of the room suddenly all the more oppressive. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though. The door hissed open.

Two steps in, Karone stopped. "Was she awake?" she asked. Her face was calm, but there was a longing in her voice.

"Both of them. Just fell asleep"

Karone nodded, seeming both relieved and disappointed. "Good. They'll probably wake properly in a couple of hours' time". She eyed him sharply. "You okay?"

"I don't much like being alone" he answered.

Karone nodded, but he had a feeling she knew he was only telling her part of the truth. "Kutall, Mushra and Karen will probably drop by soon. I think they almost finished tidying up the kitchen"

"I find that hard to believe"

"That they're tidying?"

"That, and also that the kitchen is still in one piece"

Karone smiled mischievously. "It isn't"

Sago smiled back, and the smile wasn't entirely forced.

---

Scratch on her door. "Emma?"

Emma closed her eyes for a moment, and sighed. She could ignore anyone else, and they would go away; Karone would blast the door. "Come on in", she called.

"Admit it, you missed me", said Karone lightly, sitting next to Emma; the healer was practically hiding behind the couch and, unless Karone was much mistaken, those were tear marks on her face.

"As if", answered Emma, but the humor was forced.

"We need your help, Emma"

"Sago's gonna be alright, and Mushra's doing as well as can be expected"

"I wasn't talking about that". Karone paused. "And you know it"

"You need someone to monitor the comm?"

"Will you stop being an idiot?" shot Karone. She felt Emma tense next to her, and cursed inwardly. Emma could be stubborn as hell when she wanted to – and that was mostly when she was either hurt or had something to hide. And right now it's probably both, thought Karone caustically. I so need to blast someone to pieces.

"I'm just the healer", said Emma.

"A crystal healer, trained directly by Melissa". Karone paused, but Emma said nothing, and so the mage pressed on. "Those gems our Enterrans have, they're the same kind as the crystals of Netherie"

"They're Guardian gems", said Emma softly.

That was something Karone didn't know, and it wasn't a pleasant surprise. "So all this Shinzo stuff they've been saying…"

"…may well be true", finished Emma. "But none of us know how to contact the Guardians, so there"

"What in the name of the Dark is so important that the Guardians are interfering like that?"

Emma shrugged. "I'm not big on the myths. You'll have to ask Melissa"

Karone shook her head. "She's dipping deep into the Light again. I can't reach her"

"Probably following the temporal threads"

"I know that", said Karone, adding an edge of danger to her voice. Time to stop playing – they needed Emma's help, and someone needed to snap her out of her sulking. "We've got a problem and you're the only one available who can solve it"

"The Mushrambo transformation" Emma's voice was flat, expressionless.

"Since when are you a tactical thinker?"

"I'm not", said Emma, tiredness creeping into her voice again. "But I've had quite a while to think about it"

"And?"

Emma shrugged. "Whoever tore the gem apart did a very good work. The shards Kutall and Sago carry are more connected to them than to the central shard. It's a paradox: the only way Mushra can call the shards to himself is if he's Mushrambo, but he needs the shards in order to transform into Mushrambo, or if Kutall and Sago are", Emma swallowed, "neutralized. Very elegant", she added, as if in an afterthought.

"And effective", growled Karone, weighing options in her mind. "Any ways around this barrier?"

"The gems are tied into their elemental affinities. They can't give up the gems without giving up a portion of themselves, and the only other way of removing the gems from them would be a more brutal version of what Shiera did to Sago". Emma's tone of voice clearly said: and we're not doing that. Karone had to agree. But… she frowned.

"What would happen to them if Mushra did manage to recall the shards to him?"

"They might feel down for a few days, but they'll be ultimately okay. But I told you…"

"Yes, I remember". She paused. "We need a way, Emma"

"I know", she answered. Was that anger in her voice? Or perhaps despair? "There's another who can recall the shards. Yakumo"

Karone frowned, but then she understood. "Not Karen"

"No, not Karen. Karen's gem is connected to the gem that the current Mushrambo has. The split gem is connected to the gem that the fifteen-years-old Yakumo has. She can call the gem together – or maybe her presence alone may tip the balance"

"But we don't have her"

"No, we don't"

"Any other way?"

"I'll let you know if I'll think of any"

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it"

Pause.

"Emma…"

"Please don't", she said. "Half the others tried talking to me already"

"But…"

"No but's"

"Give Shiera a chance"

Emma's laugh was short and bitter. "I think she made her opinion clear. But that's not the only thing. There's the little problem of the temporal integrity"

Karone snorted. "Melissa can fix that. You know she can"

"And then he would have to chose, and no one should face that choice"

"Not your call, Emma. You know better than making other people's choices for them"

"It still leaves Shiera. And…"

"Give them a chance", said Karone, more firmly. "Will you ever forgive yourself if you don't take this chance?"

Emma looked at her seriously, making eye contact for the first time since Karone entered her room. "Question is, will I forgive myself if I take it – and it goes wrong? Assuming she'll forgive me, of course". Emma was silent for a moment. "I don't want to lose anyone". She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Why, Karone? Why does it always have to be so sad?"

"I don't know, Emma"

"Aren't you going to say something like 'all things worth having come at a price'?"

"I hate sayings like that. Life should be fairer than that"

"Since when is reality fair?"

"Since when are you a pessimist?"

"I'm a realist. Always was"

"No, you weren't", said Karone. She closed her eyes as if in pain. "I should've told the Council to go to hell a long time ago. I shouldn't have let things get this bad"

"You don't really know that, Karone. Who knows what may have gone wrong if you had?"

"Do you really think it could get worse?"

"Think can always get worse"

---

'The threads, they are shifting.'

'I know that'

'It was not meant to be so'

'I figured as much'

'We cannot interfere'

'You never do. You never did'

'We did. It never turned out for the best. Time after time, it made things worse than they were'

'So why are you talking to me?'

'Because the situation has become too dangerous. He has become one of your kind'

'I know that'

'You do?'

'Are you surprised?'

'We did not know that you are aware'

'He is of my kind'

'That was the point'

'Precisely'

'Ah'. Pause. 'May we make a request?'

'That I would finish what I began?'

'You would do it, than?'

'I would, but not for you'

'We ask for no more'