A/N: Thank you to my guest reviewer. I hope it was worth the wait.


Episode 2: She's Tougher Than She Looks, Chapter 5

The red rock of Uluru seemed to grow as they drew closer. The dull, diffuse light turned its sides to blood red, but it wasn't until they had covered half the distance that Charlene noticed the other difference.

"Is it just me," she mused never once breaking her stride, "or is that thing shorter than usual?"

"I ain't an expert, but it definitely don't look right," murmured Stone.

"Observations, people," sighed Jenkins disparagingly. "You have seen, but have not observed."

"Care to share, oh high and mighty one?" Charlene drawled, glaring daggers at the snowy head in front of her.

Jenkins cast her a look, but wisely refrained from commenting. Instead he pointed to the top of the landmark. "If you had been watching the top of the rock, as I have, you would have see that it is gradually getting higher the closer we get." Stone raised a finger and took a breath, but the old man shut him down with a look. "No, it is not merely because we are getting closer, Mr Stone," he continued. "If you observe the features at the edge of the rock, where the outline is clearer, you will see that they have been gradually changing. The rock is not simply getting bigger because we are nearing it, indeed it is not increasing in height at all. It is merely appearing to do so because the sky, I believe, is getting higher."

"The sky is getting higher?" Charlene raised an eyebrow. "Anyone care to run that by me again?"

"No, he's right," gasped Stone, who had turned to face the mountain as Jenkins had been speaking. He raised a hand and pointed at the top corner of the rock. "That boulder wasn't visible before."

"One's genius backed up by a boulder," muttered Jenkins. "Huzzah!"

"Okay, so the sky is rising," said Charlene, waving a dismissive hand at his mumblings. "Stop moaning like some maniacally depressed robot and explain how."

"Does nobody read in this job?" Jenkins threw up his hands. "This is a dimension, possibly the dimension, from which the creatures and legends of Australian mythology came forth. The mimis, the bunyips, yes, and the dreamtime. The creation myth of the continent. One of the stories of which recounts the first dawn. Before the dawn, the sky hung low and dark over the land. The plants only grew so high, and the animals were forced to go about hunched over, lest they knock their skulls against the sky itself. The land was dark. Birds could not fly, only hop from one place to another. Until eventually, the magpies banded together and said 'let us try to move this sky that holds us down. Let us take twigs in our beaks and use the power of our wings to push the sky upwards, as far as it will go.' And so they did. They each took a sturdy stick in their beak and flew upwards, all around the edges of Uluru, in the centre of the land. The sky was stubborn, and they found they could only move it a little at a time, and only if they acted together. They flew up together, therefore, and pushed the sky upwards. Then they rested on the slopes of the rock and, when they had regained their strength, flew further up again. They repeated this manoeuvre over and over again, until they reached the top of the great rock of Uluru. There, with their feet on its hard surface, they gave the sky one great push upwards, and it flew up into the heavens and light flooded over the land. Thus the sun dawned on Australia for the first time, and here, it seems, it has done so for every dawn ever since."

XXXX

Cassandra dragged Ezekiel deeper into the cave system, away from the light of the outside. When she felt she was safely away from prying eyes, she caused the faint bauble of light in her palm to grow and float upwards. The regressing boy shrank back from the sudden glare, his arm up to shield himself. She sighed and reached out to him, but he shrank away from her too.

"Ezekiel," she hissed, "It's me. It's Cassandra."

"Don't wanna go back," he whined back, showing no signs of recognition. "Don't wanna go back there."

"You won't have to," she said, reaching for his arm again. "It's okay, Ezekiel. I'm here to take you home."

"No, you're tying to take me away," he complained, squirming out of her grasp. "You're trying to take me back there. I don't wanna go."

"No!" Cassandra cried, grabbing both his hands. "No, Ezekiel, I'm here to take you home!"

"I am home!" Ezekiel yelled, twisting out of her grip and disappearing back into the darkness in the direction of the cave mouth.

Cassandra stood, shell shocked, for a moment, her mouth hanging open like a gaping fish, her eyes threatening tears. Then she darted back into the darkness after him, the ball of light following her like the ghost of a helium balloon.

XXXX

"What now, Sir Knight," enquired Charlene, peering over the edge of a boulder with Jenkins and Stone beside her. They had reached the foot of Uluru, and found the crowd of creatures around the cavern.

"Will you stop that," hissed Jenkins, watching the crowd with interest. "You know perfectly well..."

"I know nothing of the kind, I'm merely the receptionist," smiled Charlene primly. It was the sort of smile that sharks grew wary of.

"We both know that's not true," muttered Jenkins.

"What's wrong, forget your faithful charger?" Charlene trilled.

A movement in the midst of the gathering caught their attention. Ezekiel's form flashed into view, then was hidden amongst the throng of creatures. A flash of red hair followed him and, with a cry, Stone was out from behind the boulder and running towards them.

"Oh no wait," quipped Charlene, with a wry smile. "There he is. How the hell did the Colonel get the three of them this far?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," sighed Jenkins, standing up and stretching his stiff joints. "Plan for worst, hope for the best. Walk softly and carry a very sharp stick, or, in this case, sword. Come on."

XXXX

Ezekiel ran out of the cave and into the very heart of the mass of creatures gathered there. He was instantly surrounded by the mimis and, as they turned their smiling faces from him to his pursuer, Cassandra saw the happy smiled turn into jagged, toothy frowns. She stopped short, the bubble of light bobbing to a halt above her. It disappeared with a faint pop. As the mimis advanced, she could feel the air around her crackle with defensive magic. Just as when she had first used her ability as herself, against the giant, the higher background magic of dimension she was in fed her aura and strengthened her.

A pale blue light began to spread outward from her form and the mimis paused. They spread out around her, edging sideways to form a circle. The thinning ranks in front of her gave Cassandra a clear view of Ezekiel again. Two mimis had their arms around him and his face was turned away from her. The gap in the crowd revealed something else too, though: a trio of familiar faces heading her way, with Jacob out in front.

Hope blossomed again. The pale blue light brightened and widened. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The light around her shimmered and grew brighter still. It became so bright she could see it though her eyelids. All the time, she concentrated on the magic, twisting it up like a bow string, or a rubber band. She let it go.

A disc of light shot outwards from her waist, knocking every creature in its radius flat on the ground. It stopped short of the advancing reinforcements. Jacob skidded to a halt at the edge of the circle, gasping for breath. Jenkins and Charlene caught up with him. Charlene was the first to walk into the carpeting of bodies. She made her way to the immobile pile of familiar clothes not far from its centre and bent down.

"Don't worry, you haven't killed him," she called over to the motionless and pale faced Cassandra. "He's unconscious though, and so are the rest of them, I guess."

Jacob picked his way through the creatures to his girlfriend's side, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. Slowly she let her arms move from her sides to enfold him.

"You had me worried," he murmured into her ear.

"Likewise," she whispered. "I thought... I thought they might get to you like they did to Ezekiel. And then you might forget me, like he has."

"He's what?" Stone frowned.

"He's forgotten us," she told him. "All of us. He thinks he's a child again. That this is his home."

"Jenkins?" Stone looked back over his shoulder. "Can these guys wipe memories?"

The old man, now hoisting Ezekiel up into his arms just as he had Cassandra not so very long ago, shook his head. "Erase, no. Confuse though: that much they can do. And, like a child who has faced some terrible trauma, if those memories are repressed for long enough, they can take decades to resurface."

The bundle of clothes in Jenkins' arms stirred. "Don't wanna go," it murmured sleepily. "Wanna stay here."

"You heard the boy," hissed one of the mimi, pushing itself up into a crouching position and facing Jenkins. "He is one of us. He wishes to stay here. You cannot take him."

"He is one of us," Jenkins retorted. "We can, and we will."

The mimi hissed, drawing back into the crouch, ready to spring. It felt something cold and sharp against its long, thin neck and paused.

"Go ahead, punk," drawled Charlene lazily. "Make my day."

XXXX

The trip back to the doorway was uneventful enough. With most of the rest of its companions still unconscious, the mimi had not led a counterattack to retrieve their prey. They reached the familiar split rock as the syrupy dawn light spilled over the red rock of Uluru. Once again, Jenkins led the way. This time, however, Cassandra was escorted through with Charlene on one side of her and Jacob on the other.

The triumphant return to the Library was muted somewhat by the still confused murmurings and complaints from Ezekiel, and the sheer exhaustion that had begun to weigh heavily on them once they attained the relative safety of Alice Springs. If any of the denizens had looked twice at their strange cavalcade, they had been too tired to notice. Charlene had fallen back to bring up the rear, and was the last through the door when they finally returned home. She closed the door behind her, signalled to the waiting da Vinci to remove the clips, and leant back with a sigh of relief.

"Tea, Leo," she ordered, standing upright again. "We'll be in the first aid room."

"No," called back Jenkins. "Bring it up to Mr Jones' rooms. The more personal and familiar the surroundings the better."

"Shouldn't we wake him up here then?" Cassandra suggested. "This is the room he's spent the most time in. It's the one he's known the longest."

Jenkins paused, then nodded his head. "I take your point. Let's have the tea in here then. Mr Stone, if you wouldn't mind fetching a blanket and pillow, preferably his own. Miss Cillian, if you would clear the desk."

With a wave of Cassandra's hand, the central desk was cleared, its contents stacked in neat piles on the floor or neighbouring desks. Jenkins laid the young man out on the wooden surface. Stone returned soon after with the pillow and blanket, and Charlene and Cassandra gathered comfortable chairs for everyone. Leo returned with the tea service and together they waited in silence.

The hours ticked by. Cassandra and Stone's heads were nodding. Charlene was sound asleep. Jenkins sat straight and tall, reading. Da Vinci lounged on the stairs, sketching. A movement from the central desk brought their attention back to the patient, and they were on their feet. The noise of their movements woke the others and they crowded round the prone figure.

Ezekiel blinked blurry eyes up at the peering, worried faces.

"How are you feeling?" Jenkins asked calmly.

"Like I've just done more running than Rincewind," groaned Ezekiel. "I'm starved! What time is it, Jenkins? Is it too late to order pizza?"

"Well," laughed Charlene with one brow raised. "I guess that answers that question!"