Chapter Eighty: Caline And Kekron-Liberators

Six hours later…

Dodoria was snoring loudly, drool cascading from his wide mouth and dangling from his lips like a wet guitar string. The string of saliva swung back and forth gently in rhythm with the giant pink monster's snores. He was snoozing on the steps of the dais, with his spiked head resting on his fat, rough knee. Balair himself was curled up behind his best friend on the platform of the dais, and drool flowed from his red, toothy mouth in a slippery, sticky waterfall that streamed down the steps of the dais. A yawning Bhodie, who was now keeping watch, stood a good distance from his watering companions, and the opportunistic Human minion noticed something strange going on among the hostages. He had just woken up, and he was supposed to relieve Ginyu of watching the hostages.

The hostages seemed to be disappearing slowly, two or three at a time.

At first the hostages that were vanishing were children and elderly people, but then some of the young women began to vanish as well. Bhodie decided that it was time to do another head count (the first one had been done the day before), and he grew alarmed after he finished the count.

Two days ago, there were five-hundred-and-sixty hostages crowded into the ballroom, but today, after this head count, there were only three-hundred-and-twelve.

Three-hundred-and-twelve? Where did two-hundred-and-forty-eight people vanish?

Reccoom joined Bhodie then, and the giant warrior said, "Gee, Bhode, a lot of people sure had to go potty today."

Bhodie looked at Reccoom strangely. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Reccoom said, "Don't you remember when Hazel, that brown-skinned Human that you want to bed later said that there was a bathroom, and that some people needed to use it? Well, a lot of children and old folks went to the potty; I didn't know so many people could fit in a restroom at once. Cap'n thought it was weird too, since many people went to the potty and never came back. But do you know what I think it is?"

Bhodie grumbled; he was glad that he let Balair talk him out of the joining the Ginyu Force. The entire team had the combined I.Q. level of the piece of gum sticking to the sole of one of Bhodie's rough, worn boots. Reccoom alone had the I.Q. level of the gum wrapper that the gum had been in before a Calmagian servant boy had thrown it on the floor, where Bhodie's foot just happened to step. "Reccoom, were you and your pals even paying much attention to the hostages lately?"

Reccoom flushed slightly. His Frankenstein-like face looked embarrassed. "Um…not really. Cap'n was having us work on our Dance of Victory; it was fun, Bhode, we even got a couple of pretty maids to dance with us. One of them actually liked it, and she even let Jeice feel her up-that is until her hubby came along and punched Jeicey in his face."

Bhodie had to laugh then. "Poor Jeicey! He just can't get any today, can he? I should congratulate the hubby; where is he?"

"In the next dimension," Reccoom chuckled. "The hubby called us a bunch of dancing pansies, which ticked the Cap'n off, so Cap'n blasted him through the heart! The little prick got what he deserved, but anyway, want to see the latest pose in Cap'n's Dance of Victory?"

"No thanks," Bhodie said edgily. "I want to know, Rec, what's going on with the hostages?"

"Ah, who cares, prob'ly just some folks emptying their bladders. Anyway, I've got to get back to Cap'n; he's about to show us a new pose-the Dance of Mating. It goes like this-"

But Reccoom wouldn't get to finish his demonstration (much to Bhodie's relief), for at that moment, Baata was dragging a middle-aged pudgy man with white hair and beard up to the dais. Baata was holding the man in the air by his throat, and the man's chubby face was turning into the same shade of blue as Baata's skin color.

"Speak now!" Baata commanded. "What the hell is going on? Why are some of the people here disappearing? Why are so many people going to the john and not coming back?"

The fat man cried and sobbed, "I don't know! Please let me go!"

Baata punched him hard in his soft, spongy stomach. "Liar! Tell us now or die! And I know that they are all not going potty!" Baata was one of the slightly smarter minions in the Ginyu Force. The corpulent man screamed in pain, his cries grating on his attacker's nerves.

The man cried harder. "They are l-leaving, not coming back!"

"Who?"

"Hostages are escaping?" Bhodie cried angrily. "Where are they going?"

The man would not answer until Baata squeezed his throat harder. Finally the man began to speak again. Baata loosened his grip somewhat, and the man choked out, "The labyrinths, the labyrinths, they are escaping that way, and a young girl has been l-leading the w-way. She and some strange creature with a long head with pointed ears and red hair and eyes were helping people escape. The girl led them through the catacombs, and the animal-man, I think he was what some call a Meatian, was keeping watch and choosing people to leave. Then the little girlie was coming back and forth, back and forth."

"Who was the girl? Do you know her name?" Bhodie shouted angrily.

The man shuddered and trembled, with rivulets of sweat pouring down his hot, blue face and into his slimy, thin lips. Tearfully, he cried aloud, "I don't know, honestly!"

"Liar!" Baata shouted. "He knows, Bhodie, he knows! It's that cute little blond girl, that albino humanoid brat that Balair wanted to screw. Sick pervert, Balair is, even I wouldn't bed a child, but anyway, that brat was the one leading them out. Reason I know is 'cause this fool told me the girl's name by accident."

"Princess Caline?" Bhodie gasped. "Caline's been helping people to escape?"

"Y-yes, sir," the man sobbed, too frightened now to think of protecting a Princess of Calmag, even a supposedly insignificant one.

Bhodie then smirked. "Thanks, old man, that was all we needed to know." And with that, Bhodie lifted his laser gun and shot a thin blue laser into the man's heart, leaving a perfect, round black, smoking hole where a heart and chest had once been. Bhodie and Baata cringed in disgust as amber blood sprayed all over them, and Baata threw the dead man onto the ground hard.

Baata told Reccoom, "Let's go; we have to make sure that no one else leaves this room! We've got to tell Cap'n!"

"But what if they have to go potty?" Reccoom asked.

"They can go in their pants, or dresses or whatever. Let's go!" And with that, Baata and Reccoom hurried downstairs to warn the rest of the Ginyu Force.

Bhodie shouted at Dodoria and Balair, "Wake up! Now!" The two Top Elite officers were in too deep a sleep to hear their subordinate officer shouting at them.

Balair was murmuring in his sleep, "Ah, Natala, Caline, and Ebrona, (so glad that your bleeding stopped just for me)…lucky man, I am, having three ladies in bed with me, at once…which one of you girls wants me first? Will it be you, Natala, to pleasure me first? Now just touch me right here…"

Dodoria was gnawing on his fist in his sleep. "Oooh…yummy! Steak, cooked just the way I liked it! A T-bone too!" (Note: He is talking about steak the food, not Steak the Meatian warrior.) "And with mashed potatoes, gravy, yummy gravy, just like Mummy used to make. I want a fifth helping, man that's great stuff…could eat the entire beast, if I wanted to…"

"WAKE UP!" Bhodie screamed aloud. "BALAIR, DODORIA! WAKE UP NOW! THE HOSTAGES ARE ESCAPING!"

"The hostages are yummy?" Dodoria asked sleepily, slowly waking up. "Do they taste good with gravy?"

Balair was also on the border between sleep and awakening. "Hostages? In my bed? That's fine; I can handle more women…"

Bhodie was disgusted by then. "Bali, your little baby slut, Caline, is helping hostages to escape! Over two hundred hostages have fled-right under our noses and under the premise of going to the restroom! I thought something was going on."

Balair and Dodoria were now fully awake. "Hostages escaping? They'll all die for this!" Balair screamed. "And to think that little girl that I wanted to screw is involved! Dodi, Bhodie, stay here and see that no one else escapes; we can't rely on Ginyu and his fools to handle it 'cause they'll make things worse. Blasted idiots! How could they let over two hundred hostages slip away? I'll deal with this myself; we've got to some of those hostages back before Zarbon has all of our tails! I am in no mood to hear one of Zarbon's cursed lectures about doing our job properly!" And with this, Balair vaporized himself into his red cloud of dust, gas, and smoke (traveling in his gas form was quicker than traveling in his solid form). The red cloud zoomed out of the room with the speed of a comet.









"Hurry," Caline told an elderly Calmagian female cook that she was guiding by the hand. "I understand that you are old, ma'am, but we must get you out of here as quickly as possible."

The elderly woman, who had a hunchback, and was in her eighties, tried to push herself along, as Caline lead her to the wooden stairs that would lead to the outside of the labyrinths, to the Magan woods far away. Caline pried open the door for her.

"I am so sorry to be holding things up, Princess," the old woman whispered weakly.

"It is alright, I understand," Caline told her gently. "You are almost safe now; just two steps more. You will be alright, ma'am." The old woman, with Caline's help, climbed out of the hole, and two Calmagian guards helped the woman out of the labyrinth entrance into the blinding sunlight.

After the oldster had ascended herself out of the labyrinth, Caline steered three little girls out of the labyrinth and into the outside world. Kekron kept handing her more small children to led into the sunlight; Kekron and Steak had been a great help in getting both Astorian and Calmagian people out. Steak, with Natala and Hazel's help, had handpicked hostages to take into the labyrinths; hostages that their captors wouldn't notice would be gone. Once Steak had been able to handle things on his own, Natala and Hazel had been keeping Balair and Bhodie occupied, talking to them, being nicer to them, and even entertaining them with skits that Natala and Hazel had written in the past as part of a musical for the children of Chloe. One skit, involving a small battle between an Astorian and a Saiyan was one that Balair and Bhodie had found funny, and Natala and Hazel performed it twice for them.

Hazel had come up with the deception of the kitchenette being a small restroom, which had placated the captors, so it had been much easier for Kekron and Steak to sneak hostages out. Steak was currently in the ballroom at this moment, and Kekron (who had one of the best photographic memories out of all his peers, and so he had memorized many of the labyrinth corridors quickly) was helping Caline guide the hostages to the outside.

Kekron gently pushed on the backs of two elderly men, so that Caline could lead them out of the labyrinth entrance. Caline climbed down the stairs, so that Kekron could carry a pregnant girl up to the entrance, where some strong Calmagian men brought her to the surface. There were several pregnant females waiting to be helped out, and Caline and Kekron steered them up the stairs and out of the labyrinths as quickly and as gently as possible.

Caline took the hand of another elderly woman, who was the grandmother of one of the pregnant women, and she kept saying over and over, "Such good children, you are, oh, yes you both are, such good young people, risking your lives to save us…good children. Oh, Princess Caline, do you not know that I knew your mother, the Princess Shydine? You're just like her, so kind, so sweet, so willing to put others before yourself…'tis a pity she died when you were so young; she'd have been so proud of you. Prince Amitar didn't appreciate what he had in her or you, he didn't, he didn't. I know I shouldn't malign the name of the future king of Calmag, but he wasn't good to you or her at all. He shouldn't have made you marry Alberm Dunlop, dearie, he really shouldn't have. You're the best he has, and he doesn't realize it. I hope that you do get your wish, dear, that you get to leave here and go home with the good Astorians; you'll be happy with them, I know that you will." Before a stunned Caline could respond, Kekron swiftly lifted the elderly woman out of the labyrinths; Kekron wasn't a warrior but he was strong enough physically to help lift people because his father had insisted that Kekron balance his studies and inventing with physical exercise. Kekron was now glad that his father had made him practice all of those training exercises, even if Kekron was not going to be a warrior.

Another hour past, and all of the hostages that Caline and Kekron had brought into the labyrinths with them had been helped to the surface and into the outside. The two exhausted young people leaned against the dirty, brownstone walls of the labyrinths, and they both took a deep breath, resting for a few moments.

"I never thought my knowledge of the labyrinths would come in handy," Caline sighed.

"We're lucky that you knew," Kekron told her. "We're lucky to have you," he panted, wiping a film of blackened sweat off of his shiny forehead.

Caline said breathlessly, "Thank you, thank you." She then wiped her delicate, white face with the back of her tiny, plump hand. She smoothed her nightgown, the same nightgown that she had worn the cold, snowy day that Balair and the others had entered the bedroom where she had been sleeping. The nightgown had once been long and soft, made out of telope wool that had been dyed a pale pink and decorated with mauve ribbon roses. The nightgown was now dirty and torn and soiled beyond cleaning. Caline had managed to slip into her most comfortable pair of shoes, an old pair of crystal flats before she had to leave the room where she had been sleeping.

"I do hope that you'll get to come home with us to Astoria," Kekron told her, as he and Caline pushed themselves away from the walls.

"I hope so too," Caline said mournfully. "But Father will never let me, I know; if he's still alive, he'll make me marry that awful Filcor Sedemeyer, and I don't wish to marry him or anyone right now." She then took a step and nearly fell forward; Kekron caught her with both hands at her waist and pulled her up.

"Are you okay?" Kekron asked her.

"Y-Yes, thank you," Caline stammered softly. Kekron respectfully released her, and then he asked her, "Caline, is this Filcor really as bad as Alberm?"

"Just about," Caline replied uncomfortably. "He's every bit as mean and dominating as Alberm was, and last year, he tried to molest me when he tried to pull me into his lap. If I hadn't stepped on his foot, I might not have escaped him. He isn't a murderer type, but he scares me as much as Alberm did. If Father had to force me to marry anyone, why couldn't he at least let me have a say in his choice of husbands, or at least marry me to someone who will be nice to me?"

"He shouldn't force you to marry anyone that you don't like at all," Kekron declared indignantly. "My people don't believe that arranged marriages are right unless both bride and groom agree to it. Your father has poor taste in men, and he treats you like dirt. He is a bast-um…sorry, I know that I shouldn't be criticizing your father in front of you like that." The young Technician's voice was instantly apologetic.

"It's okay," Caline told him. "You speak the truth; I want to love Father, but he is everything that you said. Why does he hate me so much? What did I ever do to him? I'm just a little girl!" Her voice shook, as she and Kekron hurried along the corridors of the labyrinths.

"It's not your fault that Amitar is a bad father; he shouldn't treat you that way, no matter what," Kekron told her firmly. "I hate to malign the men of your planet, Caline, but many of them have such an unsavory attitude towards women, especially those men in your family. My father would have never treated my mother the way that many of the Calmagian men in your family treat their wives. I feel for you and the other females of this planet. You deserve much better than this Filcor Sedemeyer or Alberm; neither one of them are worthy of you. You need to be allowed to grow up a little and live free and you know, well, see things and get to know people, in other words, just be a kid, you know…" Kekron's voice trailed off, as he looked closer at Caline, as they scurried through the corridors like mice searching for food. Underneath her bruises and dirt and smudge, he thought that she was still very pretty and sweet.

Too bad she's not a few years older…then maybe I could get to know her as a girl, and not like a child. If she were only fourteen or so; then I wouldn't be feeling like a lecher for wanting to get to know her better. Kekron sighed in disappointment; Caline's father would surely have her married off to that awful Filcor Sedemeyer, whom Kekron disliked already without meeting the man. If Caline had been Astorian, Kekron could have become like an older brother and friend to her, with the intent of possibly courting her later, but since she was a Calmagian and a citizen of this wretched planet, he wouldn't get to know her as well as he would have liked to. Unless…

There has to be a way to get Caline's family to let her come home with us, there just has to be!

Kekron suddenly sucked in his breath when he felt a disturbing ki signature-a ki signature that he did not want to sense at all. He grew almost as pale as Caline, and the brown-haired, blue-eyed Technician suddenly seized his partner and roughly pulled her against him. Before Caline could protest, Kekron had dragged her into a small pocket of a corridor.

"Kekron! What's going on? Why are you treating me this way?" Caline fearfully demanded to know.

"Shhh!" Kekron had no choice but to clamp his hand over Caline's astonished mouth. "Balair is in the labyrinths. Do you know yet how to hide your ki?" Kekron quickly hid his.

The little Calmagian princess and sensed the threatening ki signature too, but she had not been able to recognize it as Balair's. Caline trembled in Kekron's arms, which were wound around just under her small bosom. The tiny, firm little hills heaved up and down, beating against Kekron's surprisingly muscular arms, muscular only because of the training exercises that Raakon had insisted that Kekron practice to keep in shape. She shook her head in fear wildly.

"Here's a quick lesson," Kekron told her as steadily as possible. "Pretend that you are shrinking into yourself, imagine yourself getting smaller and smaller. If you can sense ki, you can learn quickly to repress it." He whispered several more instructions to the frightened girl, and to the amazement of both of them, Caline was able to repress her ki after a few minutes.

"You're a fast learner," Kekron told her softly.

"Thank you," Caline whispered, and she continued to practice for a few minutes, and after that short period of time, with Kekron's guidance, she was now able to repress her ki down to almost nothing. She still did not know how to mask it completely, but she could repress it enough now to possibly fool Balair's scouter. Both adolescents stood trembling in the dark hole of the corridor wall, holding their breath, and praying.

Caline had to bite her lip to keep from crying out when she saw the red cloud of Balair float right by them. The red cloud continued to sail gracefully past the pocket where Kekron and Caline were hiding in, and both children were relieved when the burgundy mist sailed away out of their sight. Well, Caline was relieved anyway, but Kekron could still feel Balair's presence so close to them-but why?

In less than a minute, he had his answer.

The scarlet cloud of smoke seeped through the porous stone walls of the labyrinth pocket, and to Caline's horror, the cloud formed a misty ring around her right in between her and Kekron. Within seconds, the cloud solidified itself into Balair, who was now holding Caline in his arms. Caline screamed, and Kekron clenched his fists and hissed, "Let her go!"

"Sorry, rabbit," Balair snarled, "but this little brat needs to be taught a lesson, and I intend to teach it! Guess what, baby girl? When I take you out of here, I'm going to make you pay for your crimes. You're going to serve your sentence by pleasing me in bed once we get out of this sinkhole!"

"No!" Caline screamed in agony, as Balair roughly turned her around to face him. The angry Sistrai warrior pulled one arm away from his captive and brutally slapped the girl across her milk-white face. Caline screamed louder as Balair's giant, reptilian hand slammed into her fragile nose, causing it to bleed.

"That's what you get for helping those hostages escape, slut!" he roared. "I should kill everyone in that ballroom right now, but your body beneath me will do as payment for now! Let's go! The little weakling boy here can leave; I have no use for him except for target practice, and I have plenty of people for that purpose. You either do as I tell you, wench, or I'll kill everyone in there, got it?"

Kekron's face twisted in anger; he was no warrior or soldier, but he had to do something to help her. He had to save her somehow and prove himself to her, but how?

Kekron screamed, "I said let her go!" And with that, he flew at Balair, and with a bolt of adrenaline and strength that surprised himself, he slammed his foot down onto Balair's foot hard enough to break a toe. It was just a little toe, but it meant a broken bone, and a broken bone meant that once again, Balair could no longer vaporize or liquefy himself. Balair growled in fury and pain, and in his anger and agony, he released Caline without realizing it.

"You're a WEAKLING! How can a WEAKLING like YOU break MY bones?" Balair demanded to know furiously, as Caline fled to Kekron and clung to him. Kekron held her with one arm, as he held a deadly gaze at Balair. The young boy knew that Balair would probably kill him in the end, but Kekron was like his parents, and he wasn't about to give in or give up without a fight. Raakon and Natala would have been proud of him at this moment; they had taught him to stand up for what he believed in.

"I am no warrior, but I am no weakling," Kekron snapped at the infuriated Sistrai warrior. "I shouldn't be, for after all Raakon Chloe is my father. Remember him? He's the one who kicked your red Sistrai tail in the Battle of Chloe, and he'll do it again! I am the son of one of the strongest men in the Clan of Chloe and the son of one of the bravest women in both Clan of Chloe and Clan of Cornsilk! If my mother, who's not a warrior either, was courageous enough to keep you from raping her, then I can surely keep you from harming one little girl!"

Balair then laughed evilly, temporarily forgetting about his pain, as he stood in the cramped pocket with Prince Raakon Chloe's son and the little Calmagian princess that the boy was trying to protect. He continued to chuckle, as he said, "I'll admit, boy, you have nerve, just like your daddy! Hell, he gave me plenty of grief too! Pity you're no real warrior like him; now he was a fighter, even though he's nothing more than a block of jewel now! Heh, heh, too bad your pappy isn't going to be around to save your butt when I send you into the next dimension." He looked towards a trembling Caline who was whiter-than-white, as she stood there trembling in Kekron's arm, her frightened blue eyes never leaving Balair for a second. "Hell, I wanted to screw the brat before I finished her off, but I'll have your mommy to keep me satisfied, so I'll just send her to the next dimension with you. You two look like you belong together anyway, how touching! Say farewell!"

The cruel Sistrai warrior raised his hand and cried out, "Fire Flare!"

Kekron knew deep down inside that he and Caline would not escape Balair's brutal attack, but there was one thing that he could do.

The stream of orange ki flowed swiftly from Balair's hand, and it surrounded both Kekron
and Caline like a spiral of golden wire, growing hotter and hotter, but to Balair's shock, the attack did not harm them-and then he knew why.

Kekron was holding his hand out in the air in a "stop" position, and a small dome of pure energy was encasing him and Caline. The Fire Flare attack continued to spiral around them, but it dissipated in a few seconds when it hit the Shield Field that Kekron had made. The Prince of Chloe was now thankful that his father had made him learn that self-defense technique.

Caline gasped, "What was that you just did? What are we in now?"

Kekron whispered, laughing softly with relief, "I created a Shield Field, just like Father taught me to do. I never thought that I would need to use it, but I was proven wrong today." He lowered his hand, and the Shield Field remained in place, even when Balair fired various ki attacks at it. The foolish Sistrai warrior tried to kick and punch the dome of pure energy, but he was unsuccessful, and his anger increased.

"Come out from under that thing, boy, and fight like a man!" Balair ordered.

"I am fighting like a man," Kekron told him smartly. "Fighting like a smart man. What are you fighting like-a housefly trying to go out a closed window, beating against it until your wings fall off?"

"Why, you little-" Balair fired another Fire Flare attack at the two adolescents, but again it didn't work. Kekron couldn't help, but grin a little when Balair began to rave and rant and fight against the Shield Field wall. The Shield Field would last for as long as Kekron could maintain it, which he hoped would be a while. The Prince of Chloe silently prayed that Balair would just give up and leave for now.

"Don't think that I'm giving up yet!" Balair snarled, as he took a deep breath and powered up for another strong ki blast.

Unfortunately for the Sistrai warrior, he wouldn't succeed in finishing, for at that moment, a strange bolt of lavender light shot through the ceiling and crashed into Balair, shoving him three feet into the ground. The one large bolt of violet ki formed into a birdcage-like structure, trapping Balair inside and sending out high voltages of electricity at his body, zapping him everywhere that they could hit. Balair was resistant to Electric Touch, but even he could not withstand high levels of voltage, and an attack like this one or Electric Quake could kill him. The Sistrai minion screamed in pure terror, as the bolts and streaks of electricity repeatedly zipped around and throughout his body, sending a nasty wave of electricity every time they hit his body. Thin, latticed strings of electric currents wrapped around Balair and wove themselves throughout his body, penetrating him in many places on him, as he stood helplessly inside the birdcage of ki.

In a few minutes, the ki cage faded away, and a terrified Balair used what life he had left in him to flee the pocket. He knew for now that he was defeated, and that he had to go warn the others before it was too late. Hobbling, he barely managed to scurry out of the corridors in humiliating defeat; he was in no condition right now to retaliate against the one person that had attacked him, the one person that had managed to strike fear into his heart during the Battle of Chloe.

Curse that Prince Raakon! Balair would get his revenge on him before this was over!

"Prince Raakon and his stupid Shock Cage attack; that's how that Astorie bastard defeated me last time! Curse him a thousand times a thousand!" Balair howled, as he continued to scurry and stumble out of the labyrinths.

"Son, are you and Caline okay?"

"Pappa!" Kekron cried out loud, shrieking happily, as he swiftly dropped the Shield Field that had protected him and Caline. Tears of joy sprang to his eyes; he watched his beloved, brave father who had just saved them both, climb down from the hole that he had made in the ground above. His father was alive! His father, Prince Raakon Chloe, his father, his wonderful father, was alive!

Raakon himself had tears in his eyes when he saw that his son was okay, and that he had protected both himself and Caline with a Shield Field. Kekron couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and he ran to his father and threw his arms around him like a little boy; Raakon embraced his son and held him tight to his chest. Caline slowly followed, and before she knew it, she was swept up in Gracina's loving arms and cuddled to the Astorian princess's soft, abundant bosom. All of the Astorians and their friends were now watching from above the hole in the ground that concealed the labyrinths.

"Caline, Caline, are you okay?" Gracina whispered, kissing her firmly on her soft, light pink cheek. Caline wrapped her tiny arms around this woman that she wanted to be her mother.

"Yes, yes, thanks to Kekron, he saved me," Caline whispered. "He saved me from Balair just before Raakon came and saved us both! He did something to stop Balair from turning himself into a cloud just by stepping on his toe."

"You broke Balair's bones?" Raakon asked his son, who meekly nodded. "Kekron, that's amazing; I am very proud of you! It is not everyone that can break a Sistrai warrior's bones. Well done."

"I don't know how I really did it, father," Kekron stammered. "I just stepped on his toe because I was so angry at him and worried about Caline. I didn't want him to hurt her anymore, so I just threw myself at him, not really knowing what I was doing. But what does my breaking his toe have to do with stopping himself from vaporizing himself?"

"A Sistrai cannot vaporize when his bones are broken," Raakon explained. "I am very proud of you, my son, you were very brave."

"Oh, Pappa, it was nothing really! You were the real hero when you fired that ki attack down the labyrinth at Balair! Caline and I must have forgotten to repress our ki, that must be how you found us down here," Kekron told his father.

"Actually, we couldn't feel the ki of either one of you at all," Raakon admitted. "It was Veal's hearing that helped. She heard your voices, and we followed her here and found all of these people standing outside. I sensed Balair's ki very quickly, and I was thankful that my aim was accurate, I was afraid that I might hit Caline with my attack; I knew that you couldn't be harmed by it, but Caline is not Astorian and not invulnerable to electricity, so I had to be careful. Kami Orchida or the East Kai must be watching over us from afar."

"Are you and Caline okay, Kekron?" Dirkan asked gruffly.

Kekron panted happily, "Oh, we are now!"

Tayla ran over to Caline and Gracina. She held her arms out, and Gracina pulled her into their embrace. Caline was being hugged tightly by both Tayla and Gracina, whom she was hugging them both back.

"Are you okay, Caline?" Tayla asked.

Caline said tearfully, "Thanks to Kekron and his father, I am; they saved me." She fell on Tayla's shoulder and wept with tears of relief and joy.

Ridikar had followed Tayla over to Caline and Gracina, and he was looking at Caline with a pleading expression on his face. "Cali," he began ashamedly, "I want you to know, that I'm glad that you're alive, that I'm glad that you're okay. C-can you-you ever forgive me for how I-I've been towards you? Can we be siblings again, siblings who love each other?" He looked down and away from his beloved baby sister, the baby sister that he had treated cruelly for so long. "I-I know that I hurt you, and I hope someday to earn your forgiveness and love again. Is it too late for me, Cali? I'll understand, if you think that it is."

Caline's blue eyes brimmed over with tears some more, and they cascaded down her face in an unceasing waterfall. "You-you don't hate me anymore, Ridikar?"

"I never hated you, Cali, I never did, I just was so awful for so long to you, but it's my fault, not yours. I'm-I'm sorry that I didn't fight for you when Alberm hurt you, I'm sorry that I didn't protect you against Father, and I'm sorry that I didn't keep my promise to Mother to protect and look after you. Can you ever love me again? Can we start over?" Ridikar said shakily; he could not look his youngest sibling in her face.

Caline said quietly, as the tears continued to flow down her soft cheeks. "Gracina, Tayla, would you two please excuse me?"

Gracina and Tayla did, and Caline slowly walked over to her brother and held out her tiny arms, looking pleadingly at him, hoping that he was speaking the truth, hoping that he would really be good to her again.

She tried to speak, but the words stuck in her throat, and she couldn't talk, her eyes were full of tears, her throat was full of choked air, and her heart was full, still full of love and hope. She tried to talk, but her voice failed her, and all she could do was slide her arms around her brother. Ridikar seized her, and he scooped her up into his embrace, holding her for a long time, as both of them wept silently now, frozen in time. No words were exchanged, but it was not necessary at this moment; this embrace and the tears that they shed spoke the words of hope and forgiveness between them.

Time stood still, as the wind blew all around the brother and sister, who had been torn apart by misguidance and a cruel father, but brought together by hope and a love that had once been nothing more than a dying ember, but now was once again a growing flame in a warm hearth on a winter night. Together, their hearts melded and began to heal.