Calabria

"They said it wouldn't last." Duo couldn't take his eyes from the woman sitting beside him. A brisk, cool breeze from the sea lifted her tangled red curls and whipped them around her face for a moment, but she didn't seem to notice as she stared out at the moonlight shimmering over the rolling waters of the ocean.

"Twenty years," she commented, turning now to look at him. Her smile made his heart do a flip and his stomach drop. "I've spent half my life with you now."

Duo touched her cheek and she reached up to put her hand over his. "I'll always love you, Trynity."

She didn't respond, but continued to smile.

"I have some champagne to celebrate our anniversary." Duo turned away to pick up the bottle that was chilling in a bucket of ice on the other side of him. "Damn! I forgot glasses. Oh well, we can drink from the bottle." He was expecting her to laugh, and when he heard nothing, Duo turned back towards her.

The space beside him was empty. He looked around and saw only darkness.

"Trynity?" His heart began to beat faster as a familiar fear took hold of him. Dropping the bottle, he stood and called out for her. "Trynity!". He took several steps away from the shoreline where they had been cuddling, where they always went to be with each other.

The only response to his call was ocean pounding against the rocks where she had once hidden her gundam. "Trynity!" His voice was echoed as he called out in the darkness. Duo couldn't see any footprints in the sand to indicate where she had gone. But he began to jog in the direction of the laboratory, calling her name.

Finally he stopped. "This isn't funny, Miss Stryfe! Where the hell are you?"

Still no answer.

Duo ran back the way he had come. He couldn't hear her, couldn't see her. "Trynity!" He was afraid for her now. He continued to call for her as he ran back and forth along the shore.

Finally, out of breath, he fell to his knees at the water's edge. "Trynity, where are you?" he shouted to the moon.

Suddenly the moon seemed to transform into two, and Duo felt the familiar pain of loneliness eat away at his insides. He didn't bother trying to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks.

"Duo?"

Duo could barely see the beautiful young woman through the veil of tears over his eyes. "Go away! Can't you leave me alone in this place?"

As she came out of the darkness, she tossed back her long dark hair and closed the distance between them. Dropping to her knees before him, she gently placed her hand on his chest over his heart and he felt the warmth of her healing touch. "I can take away this pain."

Duo shook his head. By the concern in her big eyes, he knew she had only his well being in mind. "I would rather keep it."

"You are silly!" She did not argue as she took away her hand.

Duo closed his eyes and sighed, and when he opened them again, he was lying on his bed. A warm breeze drifted in from the open window, and he saw the two moons of Calabria. When he turned his head, he was not surprised to see the young woman now releasing his hands.

"I heard you call out," she said, and even in the half-light, he could see color rise to her cheeks. She was lying. She had invaded his dreams again, but he couldn't be angry with her. He could never be angry with her.

Although what he really wanted to do was bury his face in pillow and continue the weeping that he had begun in his dream, Duo forced himself to smile. "I'm sorry I disturbed your sleep again, Shamara."

She clasped her hands in her lap. "If you would let me take the memories that cause you pain, you would not have such disturbing dreams."

Duo laughed as he pulled himself to sitting. "I'm not about to let you lay those hands on me, young lady. I still have to come clean and to explain to your father how you managed to insult Prince Dagan so thoroughly two years ago that he won't even consider seeing you now, let alone marry you."

Shamara made a sound of disgust. "He shouldn't have been so sensitive!"

"You shouldn't have touched him!"

Shamara had her mother's gifted touch in a much more powerful form, which she had not yet mastered. By touch alone, she could know everything about a person, even things they did not realize themselves. She considered it a curse because she discovered far too much about people. In addition, she often unintentionally transferred her thoughts and feelings back onto them. Shamara had done just that on Bayman when she had met Prince Dagan two years ago. Shamara had not liked what she had learned about the spoiled heir of the Bayman empire. Unfortunately, she had sent her opinion back to him. The young prince had been so insulted that he spent as little time as possible attending to the visitors from Calabria. Now that Shamara was old enough to marry, they had gone back to Bayman to meet the prince again, but this time he absolutely refused to meet her.

"We should have told your father when it had happened," muttered Duo. Trey wasn't going to be happy, first because his plans to unite Bayman and Calabria were looking more like a pipe dream, and second because any man would dare reject the first princess of Calabria, his beloved daughter.

"We will just tell him that Prince Dagan and I are not suited for each other. He will understand. He wants me to marry someone that I can love." Shamara tossed back her silky hair and lifted her chin. "My father will not be angry."

Duo chuckled. She was right. The emperor was wrapped around her little finger. Duo couldn't think of a single time that Trey had punished his daughter, then again, Shamara had always been a dutiful child so she would never have warranted any punishment. However, she couldn't find a worse time to butt heads with her father. Duo was quite sure that Trey expected her to marry Dagan.

"You had better get back to your own room or someone might get the wrong idea," he finally said.

Shamara paused at the door to stick out her tongue. "Who would get the wrong idea about you, Lord Duo?"

He was smiling to himself much later about her comment as he headed toward the hall where the emperor received visitors. The guards at the door nodded respectfully to him before opening the doors and stepping aside. She was right. No one would suspect him of compromising the emperor's daughter. She was as close to a daughter as he would ever get.

Duo passed through the door, and as usual he marveled at the ornate reception hall of the emperor of Calabria. Although the hall was usually filled with men and women petitioning Emperor Trey for this or that, today there were only a few attending him. He caught sight of Trey standing near the table set by the window to catch the light. An older man was speaking as Trey stared down at what appeared to be a map. Nearby stood Apolo, governor of the Wastelands, brother of the emperor's wife.

Duo cringed when he saw a spark of interest jump to Apolo's eyes when he noticed his arrival. The Wasteland governor ceased to listen to whatever enthralled Trey and moved to greet Duo. "My lord, you have returned! I did not realize my niece had come back from Bayman already."

Trey looked up from the map and he also moved away from the man who stopped talking and stepped respectfully away although Duo could see that he was annoyed at the interruption. "Duo, when did you return?"

Duo took the hand stretched out in greeting, then allowed Trey to pull him into an embrace. He never ceased to be amazed that the silent Trowa Barton had become the ruler of a planet, the most powerful man in the binary system. "We arrived late last night and did not wish to disturb anyone."

Trey's brows lifted slightly. "Your visit to Bayman was very short."

Apolo laughed and clapped a hand on his back. "How could any warm-blooded man not want Princess Shamara as his wife?" He turned his attention back to Duo and he was rubbing his hands together. "Now, my dear lord Duo, I may have someone I would like you to meet! You were not been interested in my oldest daughter, nor my second oldest…"

Trey grunted. "You have seventeen daughters, Apolo."

"And each need a husband."

"I'm not about to marry seventeen women," said Duo. The women were not truly Apolo's daughters. Since the beginning of the reign of Emperor Trey, Apolo had taken it upon himself to rescue any females left in the Wastelands by imperial families who were too stubborn to abide by the new laws. Although several years had passed since the Guerani healer had rescued any infants - Trey's edict that men caught attempting to dispose of infants would lose their own lives effectively ended that practice - he still had on his hands many "daughters", most of marriageable age.

"Such a thing isn't allowed." Apolo chuckled. "If it were, I'd have a dozen wives myself."

"I don't think you can handle even one," remarked Trey under his breath. "That is why you don't have a wife either."

"I mustn't be selfish! There is plenty of me to go around, and I wouldn't want to deprive the many women the joy of my company." Apolo turned his attention back to Duo. "Still not ready to take a wife?"

Duo would never be ready to take a wife. In his heart he was already married, and that would never change. Taking a deep, cleansing breath that didn't really alleviate the pain he felt in his chest, he ignored Apolo to tell Trey, "Things did not go well on Bayman."

His brows raised. As he grew older, Trey looked more and more like his father, but without the cruelty so characteristic in the green eyes of Zeno the Butcher. Yet Trey commanded no less respect from his subjects. "What has she done now?"

"The prince would not see her," admitted Duo.

"Why ever not!?" Apolo was outraged. "She is the most beautiful, kind, warm-hearted…"

"On our last visit she touched his hands, and I think that she accidentally gave him some insight into her opinion of him," interrupted Duo.

"…foolish, careless young woman in the Calabrian system," finished Apolo with a sigh. "I thought she had her powers under control."

"I don't have as much faith as you." Trey frowned. "Now what? I was hoping to bond our planets, and the reports I received of Prince Dagan were favorable."

"Sometimes the official reports don't tell the true story," offered Duo. "Shamara probably read something in him that your spies didn't know about."

"Then I guess there is no way around this than to insist that Shamara turn on her charm," commented Trey more to himself than to his friends.

Duo winced, thinking of Shamara's complete lack of guile. She would probably end up insulting Dagan even worse.

But Trey looked at Apolo. "You should take her with you to train her better in the control of her powers. Arora is too busy with the other children."

Apolo threw up his hands and took a step back. "I don't need another female in my household. I have seventeen who need husbands and they don't need Shamara distracting their possible suitors."

Duo noticed that the man who had been speaking when he had entered to Trey was fidgeting anxiously. "Do you have a project in the works?" he asked the emperor.

Trey looked back at the man too. "Oh, I had almost forgotten. Elder Hardane is a scholar who has been studying the Guerani people, a project my wife is very interested in. He has been researching in the Guerani hills and came across some interesting artifacts."

As if cued by the emperor's words, the scholar moved forward. "There is an exciting tale etched into the walls of a cave which appears to have had some religious significance."

Duo could feel a wave of boredom creeping up on him, but he stifled a yawn and tried to look interested. "What is the tale?"

"According to the legends, the Guerani people where the servants of the gods, and because of their loyalty, the gods rewarded them with powers."

Standard virtual game fare, thought Duo. Then again, did anyone know how those game designers got their ideas? Duo's head began to throb. Not enough sleep. Not enough to eat. Not enough…Well, actually none of that. Maybe he should just take a wife, one who would take care of him. But even the thought made his gut wrench painfully again. Apolo, ever sensitive to his pain, glanced at him, but Duo shook his head.

"Elder Hardane has translated most of the story, although there seems to be some missing information or some he cannot read," said Trey.

Duo looked at the scholar. "So what happened? Some epic battle of good over evil?"

"Something like that," answered Trey with a wry smile. Duo knew he was thinking of Heero's games. Duo wondered if Heero Yuy still played those games or whether he was living them with his wife. He would have a grown son or daughter by now, perhaps more than one.

"You don't look well," remarked Apolo, who laid a hand on his shoulder, and his touch acted like a soothing drug to settle his stomach and turn his thoughts away from the regrets that ate away at his insides.

While he smiled gratefully at the Guerani healer, Duo wished Apolo would not use his powers on him. They weakened him, and Duo didn't want to be the cause of any harm coming to his friend.

The scholar began to drone on. "I am not exactly sure what happened because that is where the story etched into the wall becomes disjointed. There is mention of some violent act, the disappearance of one of the gods into the sky, an explosion..." Elder Hardane sighed mournfully and Duo wondered if the guy had a life outside of his spelunking in the Guerani hills. "The best I can determine is that one of the gods was taken away by people from Bayman. We all know that Bayman has been able to travel space for many generations, so it is logical to conclude that they carried away one of the gods."

"We aren't talking about recent history," interrupted Apolo. "And this is your theory, Elder Hardane, hardly fact. You said yourself that there are parts of the story missing amongst the artifacts you have collected and that you have been unable to translate some of the script."

"Still, I have come to ask you, my lord emperor, to allow me to travel to Bayman to research there." There was a fanatical gleam in his eyes that Duo found somewhat disturbing.

"I will discuss it with the ambassador along with the other matter. When I have made my decision I will inform you." After the dismissal, he turned his full attention to Duo as the scholar collected his items and shuffled from the room. "So the young prince would not even give her a chance to redeem herself? I cannot believe she would be so harsh in judgment without actually coming to know him."

"You forget," pointed out Apolo, "that she may have seen a side of him in the brief touch of his hands that we would never see."

Trey stroked his chin between his fingers thoughtfully. "And yet she consented to make this visit. So whatever she saw could not have been so dire."

"Only insulting to him," remarked Duo. "Whatever the reason, Prince Dagan made himself quite scarce. King Seighen was profuse in his apologies and kept assuring us that Dagan would present himself, but I got the impression he had no control over the boy."

"Not a boy, but a young man, obviously with a mind and will of his own." Trey chuckled. "Like another young person I know. Is she with her mother?"

"I assume so." Duo sighed. "If we are finished, I would like to pay a visit to Lady Virineia before I return to the moon." He could see the pity in Trey's eyes, but Duo didn't care. He couldn't give up hope. Hope was all he had left to keep him company the rest of his meaningless life.

After accepting Trey's offer to remain another day at the palace to spend time with the imperial family, Duo left the reception room and began the long and familiar trek to Lady Virineia's quarters. Perhaps he continued to visit her because the stargazing mother of the emperor was so much like the woman he left behind. He was comfortable in her presence.

With the wormhole gone and unlikely to reopen, Lady Virineia had taken up the task of mapping space with the goal of finding a more conventional route back to the human solar system. She was convinced that their galaxies could not be so far apart to make such a trip impossible, but as of yet, she had found nothing to substantiate her theory. Not a single star or planet resembled any in solar system from which they had come. But through her efforts, the Calabrian Empire had been able to expand contacts beyond Bayman, their twin planet in this binary system.

He had almost reached Lady Virineia's apartments when a woman stepped into the corridor escorted by a young man. Duo checked his stride, considered retracing his steps back to Trey on some pretext, then blew out a breath and continued forward.

"Lord Duo, you are so predictable." She batted her long white lashes and held out her hand.

This was an Earth custom he could do without, but Duo knew Trey imposed all the polite formalities paid to women on the Calabrian men so that they would learn to respect the females they once treated as animals lower than mangy dogs.

"Larya, what a surprise to see you on Calabria." He kissed the back of her hand. "Does Lady Arora know that you are here?"

"Don't be silly, Lord Duo. Lady Arora knows everything. She invited me." Her violet met his and he was uncomfortable under her scrutiny.

Dropping her hand, Duo glanced reluctantly at the young man beside her. "You look well, Taeron. Has your training been going well?"

The tall young man looked startled at first and then his face beamed ecstatically. "Yes, my lord! I am to be made an imperial guard tomorrow. Will you attend the ceremony?"

There was such hope in his eyes that Duo couldn't refuse. "I wouldn't miss it." He thought Larya's son was going to collapse with joy.

"I have much to do to prepare." He bowed to Duo, kissed his mother's cheek, then hurried away with a spring in his step.

Larya watched him go, and then turned back to Duo, her brows together and her eyes like purple fire. "He would be even prouder if you would acknowledge him as your son!"

Duo winced. "He is not my son, Larya."

"I don't want to hear you say again that you could not be his father, because you could." Her features softened and she moved closer to him, but Duo was unpleasantly reminded of a snake slithering up to its prey. "We had a lot of fun those days on the pirate satellite."

"I wouldn't remember."

That was a lie. After realizing he had lost Trynity through his stupid actions, Duo had done a lot of foolish things; not the least was taking up with Newt. After she had been sent to the pirate station in punishment for her attempt on Trey's life, Larya had attached herself to Newt, Lady Virineia's successor among the pirates. But she had no loyalty to the pirate leader. Like a parasite, she latched onto whoever could provide for her best. Vulnerable to her charm, Duo fell prey to her, and he didn't even care until Newt was dead and Larya was demanding that he claim the child she was carrying. Duo wasn't stupid enough to do that, knowing that she only wanted to use him to get back to Calabria. To her credit, Larya had made her own way among the pirates, using her cleverness to become their leader following Newt's death after Duo brought those still living on the satellite to the planet. When the colonies were set up on the moons, Duo had been chosen to administer to one, and in a surprise move, Trey chose Larya to administer to the other. She had proven herself quite competent in managing the colony while raising her son on her own.

"I have never been able to convince you," she finally said with a sigh, having reigned in her temper. "Even if you don't believe he is your son, couldn't you pretend?"

"It's not fair to him or to me. Besides, he's always had the emperor watching out for him." He tried to go past her, but she grabbed his arm. She had a strong grip.

"I hoped after these many years that you could let go of the past and move ahead. I am tired of seeing my son hurt because you can't change what you did. Trey has been a better father to him than you ever could have been, but he is not his father and Taeron knows it!""

"Are you going to threaten me?" Duo towered over her and glared down at Larya. He could never hurt her, but he could easily intimidate her. "Let go of my arm."

She released him. "I know you could snap me in half, Lord Duo. You don't have to prove it."

Without giving her a chance to speak further, he pushed past and entered Lady Virineia's apartments. Larya's words bothered him, probably because they were true. He couldn't change how he felt about Trynity and he couldn't stop believing that Taeron was Newt's son. True, the boy was a good person despite his chaotic upbringing in being shuttled between the moon and the emperor's household. Somehow Larya had managed to give him stability where there was non in his life. Would it hurt so much to call him son even if he wasn't?

"I was wondering when you would be paying me a visit." Lady Virineia came forward and kissed his cheeks. She was like a mother to him. In fact, Duo had been sharing Trey's family ever since he had come to terms with the fact he was trapped here.

"The trip did not go well."

"I have already heard." Virineia had food and drink waiting on a table. "Will you join me?"

"I am starving." They sat down together and shared a breakfast in silence for a few moments before Virineia spoke again.

"I overheard your confrontation in the hall with Larya."

Duo hadn't been alone with Larya in sixteen years, not since he rejected her and her son. There were times when their duties forced them to be in the same room, but always with the emperor and usually with Arora if not several others. He was surprised during those times that she could refrain from bringing up their shared past and making the same demand she made moments ago. He hoped their meeting in the corridor wasn't a harbinger of what he could expect now that Taeron was approaching manhood.

Duo managed to swallow his food without choking. "I can't do it, gracious lady. He isn't my son."

"I understand." She didn't meet his eyes, so he knew that she didn't understand. Duo would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know that the imperial first family had accepted Taeron as his. The only one who hadn't was the most important. Taeron didn't belong to any man's house, a fact that caused him some anguish deep down even though he tried to hide it.

Duo sighed. "Isn't there some way for you to test his blood and mine, like you did Trey's when we first arrived?"

Virineia looked at him. "I'm sorry, Duo, but I only determined that Trey had Calabrian blood. I am not a medical doctor. I do not know the exact procedures used on Earth to test such a thing, and even if I did, where do you think I would get the equipment to do it?"

The whole idea was ridiculous anyway. He had accepted long ago that he would never have any children of his own, that he wasn't able. Taeron wasn't his son. He just couldn't be.

"Larya is a good mother. You surely know that without Trey and Arora's acceptance, Taeron would be scorned for the accident of his birth."

"His birth was no accident," Duo reminded her. "Calabrian women plan these things down to the last detail. She tried to hang on to Newt with a kid and when that didn't pan out, she decided to cast her net for me."

Lady Virineia sighed. "Do not blame her for looking for the best for her and her son. I heard what you said to him about his great honor."

"I thought I should say it." Duo stared down at his food, suddenly losing his appetite as he remembered the joy on the young man's face.

"You might want to consider taking Taeron back to your moon," said Virineia, putting her hand over his on the table. "A relationship with him might be good for you. My son has raised him with his children, but he is acutely aware that his mother claims that you are his father. You would be proud to claim him as your son."

Duo pulled his hand away then turned to look at her telescope set up at a high window, pointed to the sky. "Have you discovered anything?"

"A few stars, a comet or two. I am sorry Duo, but nothing is familiar."

"Do you think she is looking at the skies searching for me?" Duo closed his eyes to conjure a picture of the woman of his dreams, but there was nothing but black. What had that imp Shamara done to him?

"I am sure she is." Virineia patted his hand and he opened his eyes. "Finish eating or your stomach will be growling in a few moments."

Duo chuckled and turned his attention back to his food. He would have a little talk with Shamara later. And he might give Taeron's future some thought. Maybe he could bend a little where he was concerned.