Whomever it is nowadays owns the Power Rangers, as it seems to keep
changing hands.....beats me who at the moment (guess I'll have to ask
somebody sometime). Oh, and because I did not say it so in the last story
I'll say it here....thanks to those who *tried* to keep my stories on their
site after Cynthia was forced to shut hers down, I haven't forgotten you
either! Story number 3 in the From The Stars series. Read the other two
first. Note to Cestria Haters: Seeing as how so many out there don't like
her, then there's a scene in this story, a certain wedding scene, you may
wanna skim over. Thanks to Starhawk for the Color Withdrawl concept. In
this story I take the liberty of 'fixing' the splintering problem the
Triforians have and hate so much. If the 'cure' sounds fishy science-wise,
tough. I never liked it, and there is another reason I'm doing
this.....Trey finds his lady love in this story, and if the problem *isn't*
fixed, how the heck is he gonna step foot on her planet? Oh, as I've been
revamping all my stories at least slightly, there are a *few* changes in
this one, mostly to iron out later contradictions.
Love's Pledge, part 1 By ZeoViolet Teaser:The pledge and promise of love is very strong, as many people discover....
Some inner instinct made Sharie Triesta suddenly aware of the world around her. Her large purple eyes fluttered open, and stared, almost unseeing, into the blackness that penetrated her room, in the large house that had been left to her upon the death of her adoptive parents.
She sat up and ran a hand over her hair, brushing her long golden curls off her face and looking for her digital clock. It was early, well before five. She smiled to herself and pushed back the covers, scooting to the edge of the bed and off it. Unless she was sick or otherwise beat, she usually got up at this time of day. She could recall few things that were more gorgeous than a sunrise on Earth.
As she stood up and walked toward the bathroom adjoining her room, she could barely feel the faint tendrils of her brother's mind brushing the edges of her consciousness. He was still asleep. Without a hitch, she pushed up the barriers of her mind further, blocking his presence. Such training, drilled into her head from baby hood to not enter the mind of another person (especially for someone of her mental strength), still rode strong, and she stuck by it at all times, unless emergency dictated otherwise.
After she had showered and dressed, she wandered to the windows of her room, pulling the drapes so they opened. The eastern sky was just beginning to turn grey, and the faint light shone on the various photographs hanging from the walls of her room, photos that she had started to add since the day she had been adopted by the kind folks who had adopted her, and called her their little girl...
Only one photograph was before that. It was one of her and her brother, Trey, taken only a few weeks before her childhood kidnapping that had started the whole mess of her ending up on Earth. He was holding a five- year-old Sharie in his lap, arms around her protectively, while her small arms were reached up around his neck in a gesture of complete trust, smiles on both of their faces, which was how the camera had captured them. Having thought him dead all these years, it was one of the few reminders of him she had had....until exactly one week ago.
Thanks to the Lightstar Rangers, for whom she would be forever grateful to, she had been reunited with the brother she had thought forever lost to this realm of existence. Trey, Lord of Triforia, and the Gold Ranger, to her surprise, was the long-lost brother she had always dreamed she would see again...but had never imagined it could come into reality.
And Carlos...he had been the driving force behind it. She had sensed he hated to see her in pain, but she had never considered that he might try to find out what was tormenting her...and had discovered that the Zeo Violet Ranger and the Zeo Gold Ranger were brother and sister. And he had helped to bring them together. He had willingly, and without complaint, done so much for her, just because he had fallen in love with her....just like she had fallen in love with him. And, despite what had happened in her past, she was no longer afraid to love someone.
Sharie stared out the window for a minute, contemplating this, and watching the dim grey in the East begin to brighten. She roused herself and slipped downstairs on small, quiet tiptoes so she would not disturb her brother. The last week with him had been wonderful, but she was not about to resume her childhood habit of waking up super-early and dragging him, grumbling, outdoors to watch a sunrise, Triforia or no.
She stopped by the main household computer to check her e-mail Ever since returning from a deep-space mission that had trapped her there for eight months, her e-mail load had been staggering as she reestablished contact with people who had thought her gone.
"Hi, Sharie!" greeted an e-mail from Dex, another alien whom had made his home on Earth. Dex was a prince himself, like she (technically, anyway) was a princess. He was from Edenoi, and was on Earth trying to defend his adoptive family's town against Count Dregon, his evil uncle. She had met him about a year before, when she visited his town with an aunt. Dex knew she was a Ranger, but at the time, she had sworn him to secrecy.
"Not much trouble out here," the E-mail continued. "Things have been pretty quiet. Albee says he is going to go insane if something does not happen soon--even a monster attack. I sometimes believe that I would rather go insane. I am Dex, a person, not Masked Rider, a mythical superhero. By the way, Ferbus says hi, and to come by and visit soon. I just think he really likes your chocolate pudding."
Sharie laughed, clapping a hand over her mouth to avoid awakening her brother, who was almost as light a sleeper as she. She quickly e-mailed Dex a letter back, telling him that maybe soon she could squeeze in time to see him. And as for Ferbus and her chocolate pudding--the little animal's birthday was coming up soon, maybe she could teleport some to him, or something of that nature.
"Well, Sharie, glad to finally hear from you again!" said an e-mail from Chandra, an old friend of hers. "Where have you been? On exotic travels again? I want to hear about your trip. Call me soon! 'Bye!"
Sharie smiled, but bit her lip. She could not tell Chandra where she had been. Chandra thought she was an ordinary human girl who was too smart for school and liked to travel. And Sharie *had* traveled the world a lot, but by methods few would expect...she had to do her best to sidestep such questions, but this one would take some pretty fancy footwork. Sharie hated liars, but with her profession, disguising the truth was often necessary.
She sent a brief reply to Chandra, saying that yes, she was back and they could talk later, then turned her attention to a third e-mail.
She was shocked when she saw the seal of Aquitar where the subject line should have been, and the date sent. That was it. She dragged her mouse over and clicked on the icon, and a box appeared, in high Triforian, telling her to identify herself. Sighing, Sharie typed in her full name and title, along with a password commonly used when contact was established between different planets, a security precaution.
The computer recognized her response and opened the message. Sharie found herself, staring in surprise, at an invitation to her and Trey, from the former Blue Ranger, Billy. He was getting married soon, and he had invited Trey and her to his wedding to Cestria.
*Why me? I have never met Billy personally,* she realized. Sometimes it was hard to remember how fast news traveled. Billy and Trey had been good friends, it must have been simple courtesy to not only invite him, but his long-lost sister as well.
Sharie shuddered momentarily, remembering what she had been told about the last time her brother had been to Aquitar. The genetic incompatibility he had had with the atmosphere of Aquitar had splintered him into the three basic components of his soul. It had taken weeks to get him rejoined. Such an occurrence was extremely rare for a Triforian, and reversing the effect was even harder. Sometimes, it had not worked with the individual, and they remained splintered for the rest of their lives.
*But not anymore,* she thought to herself, staring at the invitation. Billy must have also heard about the new program sweeping Triforia, since the cure had finally been found to prevent them ever again from suffering the agony of splintering.
Sharie herself had known about it for some time. She had long ago realized that she was different when she had accidentally found herself on a planet similar to Aquitar, which should have done the same thing to her. But it had not. She felt as solid and in control of herself when she left as she had ever felt before then.
She had remembered that the night before her mother had sent her away into the unknown, she had injected her with something that had made her ill for a few hours, but had never understood why. It was not until a few years later that she had discovered what her mother had done to her.
*So actually, my own mother discovered it,* she thought. This was true. Her mother, Jeanette, had injected her with a serum that messed with certain enzymes in her DNA, forever preventing her splintering process to start. This was the treatment the whole of Triforia had sought after ever since their 70-million year civilized history began. When Sharie had returned to Triforia the day after she and Trey had been reunited, she had shocked everyone present with the news.
*Flash*
"But why would she not tell anybody?" asked Troy, a close friend of Trey's. "Jeanette was not only the former Lady of Triforia, she was a scientist. She should have had an obligation to tell this to the rest of the people. But she only used *you*, Sharie, like a test subject!"
Sharie stood and faced him squarely, her purple eyes locking with his. She'd remembered Troy well from her young childhood; to hear him talk like this was certainly unlike him. He was probably too shocked; Jeanette had been almost a second mother to him in some ways. "Did it occur to you that she had discovered it only shortly before the war started? Would she have dared to let this news out and possibly let the Dryserans get ahold of our weakness? The main reason she tried it on me was because she did not know where I was going!"
Troy pressed his lips together for a moment, his shocking blue eyes shadowed, as he considered her words--and the blood suddenly rushed to his face, and before she could blink, he was offering a heartfelt apology.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, I--It's just, you're here, after so long, we thought you dead, and to hear that she--"
Sharie held up her hand, stopping the flow of his words. "I understand. Nobody knew she'd decide to take the drastic actions she did. But....I know it from her point of view, I read it. That journal--she might as well have been speaking to me directly with it. Even after all that's happen....I understand what she must have gone through herself."
"Can you duplicate it?" asked Trey, who had been listening intently. He did not mention that sometimes his heart still twinged with mixed emotions, not really anger anymore--not since reading his mother's journal--but along the lines of more disturbing thoughts, such as why she had done it the way she had, without even trying to keep them together first.....instead of immediately ripping them all apart....
"Yes, I can. I have duplicated it in the past, though it remains unused. I could easily duplicate some more and show other scientists how. Our people can be spared the worry of splintering once and for all."
"And there are few side effects?" He recalled the faintly sick look on Sharie's face when she had told him that the side effects were not numerous, but most certainly unplesant.
"Most who get it will become ill for a few hours. That is the only obvious sign while their DNA is tampered with."
"And it sounds so easy," muttered Troy. "Triforians are supposed to be experts in the medical field. We should have discovered it long before this."
"You know that we have strong inhibitions against tampering with our bodies like that. We think that we are fine just the way we are, and I do not argue with that. But every single Triforian will agree with us here that this is for the best."
And it had been. Most of Triforia by now had the cure, or were getting it. Soon, within weeks, no Triforian would ever have to worry about splintering again. Preparations were being made to carry it to the space colonies of Triforians in deep space, also...
*Flash*
Sharie was jerked out of her thoughts by several thumps emanating from upstairs in her wing of the house. She smiled, knowing that it was coming from Trey's bedroom. He was awake and attempting to get dressed in unfamiliar earth clothes. Mornings were the only time of day he tended to be so clumsy, and dressing in restricting, unfamiliar jeans were just adding to his misery. She could even sense his frustration on the outer fringes of her thoughts.
She had a difficult time hiding her smile when he came downstairs at last, his usually composed face drawn in a frown and his cheeks flushed from effort, his dark hair falling forward on her forehead.
She was unable to keep all the amusement out of her eyes, though, and he caught them glittering with suppressed mirth.
"I hardly see how this is funny, Lalinka," he said, bending over and kissing her forehead, calling her by his old pet name for her. "It is a wonder how human men stand it. Are they not built like we are in that general area?"
"Yes," she said, finding it harder and harder to control herself. A grin split her face despite her efforts. "I just expect they are used to it. I am."
He chuckled and hugged her from behind, looking at what she had on the computer screen. "What is that?" he asked, before what he read himself registered. "Oh, my..."
"I expect news traveled fast." said Sharie. "It is not every day the Lord of Triforia gets his sister back and has a cure for splintering in the works. Probably it was Tommy who told Billy all about you and me. They correspond often."
"Since when did you meet Tommy?"
"Yesterday. Ran into him at the track when Uncle Marek took me and my cousins Toby and Tami there. They got back from that medical conference while you were on Triforia yesterday, and the twins were bored. You could meet them today, if you like."
Trey nodded. Marek and Marisha Thoene, with their nine-year-old deaf twins, Toby and Tami Lynne, were mostly what was left of the close-knit family that had adopted Sharie. They were her aunt and uncle, her legal guardians, and the twins were Sharie's cousins.
Trey smiled. "I would love to meet them, Lalinka. They have been very good to you, I can see. But what about...this?" he gestured to the message.
"Why not go? If Billy is inviting even you, then he surely must have invited many other former rangers as well. And I would love to see Aquitar. I heard it is a beautiful place."
"It is..." Trey was suddenly quiet, and he trailed off the sentence slowly. Sharie did not have to look at him twice to know what he was thinking, even without a mind probe. She had always been able to read people better than books.
"So you want to accept?"
He shook himself out of it. "Sure, why not? I would enjoy meeting some of the other Rangers of Earth again, as well as seeing Billy."
"Probably also to see Delphine," Sharie murmured under her breath, forgetting that her brother was close enough to hear her words.
"Sharie...." he had heard. He turned her around in her chair to face him. "How did you know about that? Did you read my mind? I never said...."
She looked so shocked at his suggestion that he immediately felt contrite. "I am sorry, Lalinka," he murmured, hugging her suddenly. "I did not mean that quite the way it sounded."
"It is all right," she replied, not angry at him in the least. "I do not do that, Trey. What was drilled into my head as a child still is strong in my mind. Especially growing up around people unused to mental skills like we are used to."
"I suppose I assumed differently since you did grow up among them," he said softly, silently cursing himself for even thinking it. "I should not have thought you would do it."
*Only in emergencies, usually, Trey,* her mind echoed into his. *Although you and I used to talk this way all the time.*
*It is convienent,* he admitted. *And I still enjoy it, you know.* he glanced out the window, the eastern sky was purple and pink. *Want to go watch the sunrise, Lalinka?*
*Sure,* she said without hesitation. Out loud, she added, "But I thought you would sleep in for another hour or so. You used to dislike my bounding into your room and bouncing on your bed until you awoke, hollering to get dressed so we could watch Triforia's sunrise. I was not going to start that again."
"Maybe you did irritate me when I was first jerked out of a sound sleep, but by the time I got outside, I had forgotten about it," he assured her. "How are sunrises on Earth?"
"One of the most beautiful sights you could ever imagine," she promised him as they wandered outdoors. "I am not sure how you would take my admitting this, but sometimes they even outdo Triforia's dazzling sunrises and sunsets."
"We shall see," he grinned, following her down a path that led to the personal lake on her property. The skyline across the lake was clear, perfect for watching a sunrise.
It was a gorgeous morning, a fresh breeze ruffling the tight, curly bangs on Sharie's forehead. She yanked the scrunchie out of her hair that had been holding it in a coiled braid, and let her long hair loose, flowing past her shoulders in long ringlets to her waist. If there was one sensation she loved, it was wind through her thick hair.
Her brother could not help grinning as he watched her. Yet another of her childhood habits had survived, he mused. Quite a bit had changed, but she was still his Lalinka.
There was a bench nearby, they went over and sat on it. Sharie brought her knees up to her chin against the morning breeze, wrapping her slender arms around them. She turned her purple gaze to the eastern sky, where the few clouds were streaked with brilliant arrays of purple, pink, orange, and yellow. It was a dazzling display of color, pulsing with the life the sun's light brought to the planet each day.
Trey, too, was captivated when the dazzling swirl of colors became even brighter. He could do nothing but stare as, creeping over the edge of the horizon, casting its brilliant light everywhere it touched, the pulsing ball of liquid fire came, ever rising, streaking the clouds with even more brilliance in a stunning array of color that was indescribable by words alone. It was pure emotion, powerful and moving as the colors in the eastern sky danced before his very eyes, the pink and orange clouds faintly encircling the rising globe like a magical halo, glowing with pureness and beauty. It was, truly, a sight breathtaking to behold.
Trey was stunned, completely at a loss for words, if not emotions. Sharie had been right. It was, perhaps, the most dazzling sight he had ever seen. The sight of the pulsing ball of liquid, pulsing to an inner beat that harmonized with the planet he was on, and its effect on what went on around him, was so incredible, he could not describe the effect it had on him.
When the sun was high enough in the sky so that it became it's normal deep blue hue, he finally was able to turn to look at his sister. She did at exactly the same moment, and their eyes locked. It was a moment of shared feeling, a moment of complete harmony within the universe. For a minute, evil ceased to exist, and there was the strong urge to wish that this moment of clarity could last forever.
****
The twinkling of an unusually bright star had Billy's attention, as he breathed in the chill of early morning on Aquitar. He was on Hope Island, a tiny island in the Nyruvana Ocean expanse. He was glad the Aquitians understood his restless Wolf spirit and allowed him to come to the surface whenever he wished.
The ultra bright star was the other sun in Auqitar's two-star system. It was so distant it was prominent in the sky but otherwise had little effect on the gorgeous ocean world he was residing on. The other sun, the prominent one in the Aquitian sky, was due to arise in the East at any moment, reducing the brilliant light of the distant sun to a dull glow, all that was visible in Aqutiar's daytime.
The breeze ruffled Billy's sandy curls and made him shiver slightly. He drew his jacket more tightly around his broad shoulders and wrapped his arms loosely around his knees Staring at the distant sun thoughtfully. Ancient Aquitian legend had it that the star had prophetic powers, one only had to observe the star and ask a silent question. After a time, often the person would instinctively know his or her answer.
*Will my future with Cestria be as wonderful as I envision it?* he asked it silently. Many Aquitians now viewed it as more of a fanciful notion than anything else, but being a deeply spiritual people as well as scientific, it went undisputed aloud. And Billy could not help himself here.
"The sky is beautiful this morning, is it not?" asked a soft voice. Billy turned his blue-green gaze from the pulsing star and set it on the lovely Aquitian who had stolen his heart, and in turn, gave him her own for him to protect and cherish. Looking at her now, he knew that his silent question to the distant sun had given him the answer he wished for.
"Glad you could join me, Cestria," he said quietly, holding out his hand. She took it and sat down beside him. A breeze came up and she shivered, and he noticed she wore no jacket. Without a word, he silently removed his from his shoulders and placed it around her slender ones.
"Is that better?" he asked. She smiled her sweet smile on him, flooding him with an undescribable warmth, and an intensity of love that still surprised him.
"Yes. I did not realize it would be so chilly. I should not deprive you of your covering," she said, blushing and leaning up against him.
"Do not worry about that," he assured her, wrapping his arms around her. "And yes, the sky is beautiful. I love to come up here sometimes and watch it. It is too difficult to be seen underwater."
"I understand that," she said. "It is irresistible. It is the main reason I worked at Eternal Falls for so long. I love the open sky."
"Then I hope you will not mind if I want you to come up here every now and then, after we are joined," he said as she shivered again. He ran his warm hands up and down her slender arms, the friction helping to ward off the chill. "We had better get you a jacket, one that will withstand the morning chill better. I am more used to cool climates. You are used to tropical seas."
"I know what might help," she said, turning merrily twinkling hazel eyes to his. He looked in them and understood her meaning. The grin faded from his face as he leaned down, gently kissing her, his firm lips covering her soft ones.
She was right, she always was. A slow fire began to course through his body and hers, and as their passion ignited, he pulled her tightly against him, kissing her harder. The strange thought crossed his mind that Aquitians were likely similar to Triforians and humans in one way: It was said that they were insatiable. Of course, he thought dimly, *that* he well knew as fact...but the last of his thoughts shattered as he felt himself losing control. Just in time, another breeze, even more cold, blasted over them with enough force to quickly bring them back from the place where their inflamed senses had taken them.
He pulled back gingerly and looked into her eyes. "Later," he whispered breathlessly, his eyes glittering a promise. She nodded as he pulled her to her feet, watching Aquitar's own colorful sunrise before teleporting back down to the underwater compound that housed the small village where he, Cestria, and the Aquitian Rangers lived.
Delphine looked up, clearly amused as the two lovers came in on flashes of blue, their eyes glittering with suppressed passion, their cheeks flushed, and their hands clasped in a rather un-aquitian gesture. She said nothing on the matter, only gave them a brief greeting, which they returned before heading off in the general direction of Cestria's quarters.
Delphine only sighed and smiled as they vanished, idly picking up the guest list to their joining in a few days. She was very happy for the pair, who deserved it more than they could understand. Not only were they in love, they had the passion that went along with it.
Delphine never voiced to anyone that she was a little envious of what they had found. She was three thousand years old, and she had never fallen in love. Cestria was barely a century old, quite young, and she had found it so soon. Delphine was not worried about her being too old to find love, but she did wonder if it was ever going to happen. Only one person had ever stirred feelings in her heart beyond friendship. A young man who, like Billy, was not even of her world.
It was his gaze that had drawn him into her heart, making it thump in a fast and furious pace that belied her usual calm, complacent nature. Though he had been unwell at the time, while Cestro had been readying the emergency transmission to Earth, the man's eyes and hers had locked, for the longest thirty seconds of her life. As she had supported him, making sure he would not collapse, her breathing had nearly stopped entirely, and while Cestro was gone, complete silence had reigned. She had almost been disappointed when he had to be hustled into stasis shortly thereafter, to save him from further ravages of genetic incompatibility. Her parting words to him, "Good luck, Trey of Triforia, and may the power protect you," had been more heartfelt than anyone could have guessed out of the quiet, efficient leader of the Aquitian Rangers.
Since then, she had spoken to him occasionally, during the time he was splintered, or to be more specific, she had spoken to Trey of Heart. The very part of his soul that had reached out to her and touched her own heart in the first place, she was sure.
*Come to terms with it, Delphine, you are infatuated with an impossibility,* she tried reminding herself, idly beginning to study the list. Tanya Sloan, Adam Park, Thomas Oliver, Trini Kwan...these were names of people she either knew personally or had heard plenty about from Billy. He wanted his old friends at his joining, and most had agreed to come, the few who had not responded as yet he was still trying to get ahold of.
She nearly dropped the list in shock when a distinctive name jumped out at her. "Trey Triesta, Lord of Triforia." She thought for a minute, trying to remember how Billy had known the Gold Ranger...oh, yeah, he had been to Triforia also, trying to help the young leader to rejoin the three parts of his soul so he could reclaim the Golden Powers that Jason temporarily held.
*But how could he come--* the thought instantly vanished when she saw the next name on the list, one she was only vaguely aquatinted with from third- hand stories. "Sharie Triesta, Princess of Triforia."
Delphine bit her lip and thought, trying to remember what Billy had told her, from what *Tommy* had told him. And *Tommy* had heard mostly from Earth's current Rangers...
Trey had a long-lost sister, she recalled hearing. With incredible powers of Zeo origin. She had grown up on Earth, thinking her family dead...until recently. And she knew a cure for disabling a Triforian's splintering, since the race hated what it could do to them....and it was even at that moment being taken care of, somehow. So if Trey ever again stepped foot on Aquitar, he would be pretty much safe from 'genetic incompatibility.'
There was a checkmark by both their names, they had obviously agreed to come. The thought of seeing him again sent her heart pounding. Once again, she tried to shake it off as impossible. They were from two different worlds, both power rangers. She was leader of her team, he was leader of his *world*...how could they possibly make it work? ****
The doorbell chimed, sending a clear melody through the house instead of the traditional 'ding-dong', which, Sharie had explained to Trey, she really disliked. He followed warily behind her as she went to answer the door, and was more than a little surprised when it opened and she was pounced upon by two children with midnight-dark hair. He relaxed, though, when she hugged them back, strong enough to easily lift both slender frames off the ground. He was convinced of who they were when she pulled back and moved her hands in the Universal Sign Language, for her cousins, Toby and Tami Lynne Thoene, were deaf.
The twins were the same size, rather tall for their age, with straight black hair and eyes of an unusually dazzling golden color. Not brown and not yellow, but gold. They glittered with an intelligence equaling that of adults, Sharie had told him, probably to make up for the fact that they generally lived in silence, an inherited trait from their grandparents.
The boy was quite handsome, a well-built body on a nine-year-old frame, with firm features and a heart-shaped face that promised a future ladykiller, his unusual golden eyes adding to the effect.
His twin sister, resembling him so strongly, had that same promise. Her face and eyes were much like his, only with the vaguely softer angles since she was a girl. Her frame was more slender, but she carried herself in such a way that said that she was no doubt as strong as her brother. She was a very pretty little girl who would have all the men swooning after her one day.
Behind the children were two adults, whom Trey guessed as being their parents and Sharie's legal guardians, Marek and Marisha Thoene. Marek had blue-black hair and copperish-red skin, high cheekbones, and snappy black eyes, all terribly handsome features of which hinted strongly at his Native American heritage.
Marisha was also quite tall, like her husband. Her eyes blazed as golden as her hair, which curled nearly as tightly as Sharie's. She had high cheekbones also, but much paler skin and a heart-shaped face, large eyes, and a winning smile that also somehow strongly resembled her adopted niece's. Even to the way she had a certain air about her--Sharie had obviously adopted much from this woman, and her sister, Sharie's deceased adoptive mother.
The two adults greeted Sharie with much warmth, and she hugged them back tightly, making it plain how fiercely close she was to them.
"Come on in," she told them. "There is someone I want you too meet." She closed the door behind them and directed their gaze to the silent occupant of the room. "I want you to meet my brother, Trey."
****
The twins were silent as they gazed upon the brother Sharie had told them so much about, no matter how hard it had been for her to say it. Trey came forward silently, perfectly aware of the intense gaze of the entire family. Marisha especially, seemed to be sizing him up, he suspected, determining his worthiness after having been separated from his sister for so many years.
Suddenly, she straightened her spine and held out her hand, palm up in what was, to Trey's surprise, an old Triforian greeting gesture. To his further surprise, she spoke in fluent High Triforian. "Greetings Trey, Lord of Triforia. Welcome to Earth, and as long as you are here, you are perfectly welcome in my home or Sharie's, wherever you would stay."
As he lifted his hand and placed it against hers, twining their fingers to complete the greeting, he could not help but marvel at her fluency. Her accent was a little strange, due to the difficulty of the Triforian tongue, but it was plain Sharie had taught her well. "I thank you, Miss--excuse me, Mrs. as it is on your world, Mrs. Thoene, for your generous hospitality."
She continued to look him in the eye with her intense, shrewd golden gaze. He almost expected her to try and read his mind, but those talents did not come so easily to humans, he remembered. Still, she seemed to see right through him, to the core.
She must have liked what she saw, for she suddenly relaxed, giving him a smile of charming intensity. Marek also relaxed visibly, holding his hand up and making a similar greeting, in a similar accented tone.
"We were surprised to learn you were alive," he said, choosing his words carefully. "It came as a shock to our Sharie here, you understand. I hope you forgive our earlier stiffness."
"It is understandable, there is nothing to forgive," he assured them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little boy, Toby, turn to his father and move his hands with rapid-fire intensity, asking, "*he* is the Gold Ranger, Daddy?" His large golden eyes widened, dramatizing the effect.
Trey smiled slightly, tapping the boy on the shoulder to get his attention. Sharie obviously hid little from her close family if they knew this fact.
The boy turned, lifting a golden gaze to Trey's dark ones. His sister, Tami, joined him, while from a distance, Sharie watched in amusement. Trey moved his own hands and signed with perfect fluidity. "Yes, Toby, I am the Gold Ranger." He spoke aloud as he said this, for the benefit of the listening audience.
"Cool," the boy signed. "If it is not asking too much--can I see the Pyramidas sometime? I only saw it on TV when a cameraman caught it sailing through the atmosphere."
Trey nodded. "Yes, sometime I will take you and your sister to see it, if it is all right with your parents." he shot a quick glance to Sharie and Marisha. When he saw the answering smile on Marisha's face, he knew his attention to the children had won her over completely.
"Of course it is all right," she said. "I would not mind seeing it myself, although Sharie has a similar vessel."
Trey's eyebrows raised. That he had *not* known. "You have a pyramid vessel?" he asked his sister.
She blushed, but nodded slowly. "Yes, I do. It is similar to yours, but it may be more powerful in some respects. And when it is active, it glows a purplish hue. I have only used it twice, though. You would not find too many lists of sightings. And it is not called the Pyramidas. It is the Pyramida."
****
It was later when Sharie said she had to go shopping for things. "Trey, you need some clothes to help you blend in better on Earth. You cannot just go with your replicator, it has a limited range of styles. And I desperately need to go shopping for food items, as you can see. Eight months gone sort of limits my selection."
He tried to back out of it, large crowds still made him uncomfortable. "They use money here, Lalinka. I have seen it, it is certainly not of the kinds *I* have around."
"You may not have it, but I do. Besides, if you are going to spend any time on Earth, there are a few things you need to learn, like how to drive, how to *use* money, and how to use a telephone, besides learning how to shop here on Earth."
Blushing, he backed down. She was right, since she did not plan to leave earth and make a permanent home on Triforia anytime soon. She had her old quarters on her home planet, but it would take awhile to really call it home again. She had grown up on Earth, it had been her home the most important years of her young life. And years enough to ensure it would remain that way, even legally, since she had been adopted.
The twins begged to go along, and Sharie, who had missed them terribly when she had been gone for so long, agreed. Besides, she knew they were curious about Trey. They were beginning to like him, he paid attention to them and spoke to them as equals, not as dimwitted children who could not hear.
"I heard your parents speak it," he remarked to Tami as they headed for Sharie's minivan. "Do you know High Triforian?"
"We can read and write it," she answered with her small, graceful fingers. "But of course we cannot hear it, except in our heads when Sharie uses her mind to talk to us."
He was surprised. He had thought Sharie kept out of the minds of Earth people whenever possible. "She does that?"
"Sure she does. She does it because we like it, and she taught Toby and I how to do it, so we don't have to sign to each other as much. She taught all of us. She also says any human could do it if they would lay aside their fears and prejudices."
Trey had to admit to himself that this was true. Humans could do so much more if they would lay aside their fear and hatred that veiled their minds from the truly wonderful things they were capable of. Weren't all the supposed psychics and such in human society proof of what they could do?
He did not dwell on it long, though. He gasped in surprise when Sharie turned on the "minivan", and he felt the motion beneath his feet. Travel on the Pyramidas, and even automobile equivalents on Triforia, were silent, with no motion to be felt. This....this....contraption was unsettling, and he tightened his fingers on the sides of the seat, going pale as he tried to get used to the feeling.
*Are all....vehicles like this, Lalinka?* he sent to her weakly.
She glanced at him, a slightly worried frown on her face. *Is it bothering you too much, Trey? You never were the type for motion sickness.*
*No, it is not that, it is just...a little disturbing. I am not used to it.* Sharie decided to accept this at face value, seeing as how his face was not yet turning pale, or worse.....greenish.
*You will, don't worry. Wait until you get into an airplane.* she gave him a faint smirk, and he gradually relaxed. It did not seem to bother his sister, or the two children.
****
This was *shopping*?! No, it had to be a nightmare, a bad dream. He had worn weird clothes before, but Sharie had him in and out of fitting rooms so many times his head spun. Though she usually dressed casual or neatly, he discovered she had a dramatic flair for design, and were choosing things that showed him off to his best possible advantage, like form-fitting black and blue jeans, tight shirts that showed off the considerable amount of muscle he had, and other t-shirts that had his arms bare. Many were unusual to him, except the basic designs of the shirts and sleeveless tees. The only reassuringly familiar things were the basic black-and-gold hues she chose to prevent the effects of color withdrawal.
Her choices were having a positive effect on the local female population; several times when he stepped out of the dressing rooms, red-faced from effort and embarrassment, any girl or woman within eyeshot turned to give him a *very* appreciative once-over, absorbing the sight of tight muscles, a firm stomach, long legs, and other well-endowed areas. Many smiled flirtatiously, causing him to blush further, smile quickly, and duck back inside of the fitting room in acute embarrassment, with Sharie grinning knowingly and the twins cracking up with their silent laughter every time he closed the door.
The only thing he flatly refused was shorts, she warned him that it was only early summer and he would definitely need them before long. He resisted, and she sighed, determined to wear him down. She had done it before, she usually won in a battle of wills like that.
Things only got worse for the poor boy when she dragged him, quite unwillingly, to the underclothes department. Trey nearly cringed, at least she did not make him try *these* on. He looked askance at the socks, readily accepted the undershirts since they looked like what he was used to, and looked shocked when she whispered the purpose of jockstraps. They looked...uncomfortable, compared with their Triforian equivalents. He only quickly nodded his head and walked quickly away, trying not to associate himself with that particular area again. Sharie followed, along with the snickering twins, although all inwardly felt sorry for him.
"I had to get used to it, just like you," Sharie assured him as they headed toward the car. "It just got easier with time."
****
Shopping for food did not seem too bad, so he thought. She bought all sorts of weird products in strange containers, with even stranger names like yogurt, jell-o, macaroni, and windex.
When they rounded one corner, though, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him rapidly by a particular place. "If you are wise, don't look," she hissed. "This is the meat department."
He saw it, though, it was too strongly in the corners of his vision. He clenched his eyes shut and turned his head, feeling the blood drain from his face and his stomach somersault. Surely it was one of the few remaining indications of a human's barbarian nature...
Sharie finally slowed. "We are past it, brother mine. You can open your eyes now."
Tentatively, he did. The meat counter was nowhere in sight, they were in an aisle with rows and rows of cans.
"Canned food," she explained. "Stuff lasts for years." And although some of the containers contained meat products, it was not as horrifying as the sight of slabs of meat lying on a counter, when only days before it had been a living, breathing animal...quickly, he shoved the thought from his mind.
It was the last trip, and he sighed when they got back in the van to go home.
*Lalinka*, he thought at his sister. *I am not going shopping with you again. Ever. That is a promise.*
*Oh, yes you will,* she responded instantly. *You need to get used to this, I told you that. You must not make anyone suspicious, you know.*
He sighed, knowing that she was right. Especially if he found himself in a situation on Earth when he was alone, he needed to know what to do. Turning his mind from the subject, he entertained the twins until they got home, and by the time they were there, he had won them over completely, and he had to admit, they had won him over, too. They adored him, Tami especially worshipped him and looked up to him like an older brother, her large golden eyes practically glowing in delight when he turned to speak to her with his hands--or with his mind.
****
"What is on your mind?" asked Carlos as he sat nearby his girlfriend, watching her idly write in the type of journal she had used since her earliest days of life.
"A lot of things," she mused. "I will be going to Aquitar tomorrow, with Trey, as you know."
It was the next morning. Trey had already left for a special meeting on Triforia, Sharie had declined to come. Seeing her homeworld after so many years still unsettled her to a significant degree.
"I know," he said quietly, watching her left hand gracefully write in her journal, in words he could not understand. This was a peculiar habit of hers, when she did not want anyone else to know what was in her diaries, she wrote in another language.
"So," he continued, seriously. "What is bothering you about it? There is no reason you and your brother cannot go now. You have cured that little splintering problem of yours."
"I know," she said quietly. She closed the journal and hugged it to her knees. "It is not about me that I am concerned, Carlos. It is my brother."
"What about him?" Carlos asked gently. He could see the concern in her lovely violet-purple eyes, and it make his heart twist.
"I am not sure what he would say if I told you, Carlos. I am the only one who knows this." *Not to mention I more or less *promised* I would not spread this story around.....*
"My lips are sealed, if you want to talk about it, Querida. Maybe I can help."
"Not on this, you cannot," she said, touched by his concern.
"How do you know, unless you tell me?" he asked. "I will not tell, I swear on a Ranger's honor."
"Well..." she shifted uncomfortably. "This has to do with the leader of the Aquitian Rangers, Delphine. Trey has an interest in her."
"Trey is interested in her?" Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Is that so bad, Querida?"
"In and of itself, no, Carlos. Oh...." she sought to find the right words. "I don't think I can bear to see Trey hurt, like he was the first time..." she trailed off, as if unable to either betray her brother or find heart to tell this. Carlos merely put his arms around her and patiently waited for her to continue or not.
Finally, she swallowed. "Carlos, do you have any idea how old my brother is?"
"I think so," Carlos wrinkled his brow. "Isn't he about 2,500 years old?"
"You are almost right. Trey is 2,517. I was born on his 2,500th birthday."
"What a present," Carlos remarked, and her lips quirked in response.
"Trey is much older than I am. That is not unusual, often my people will raise two or three, or even more, groups of children in their 50,000 years of life. What was unusual was that he and I were raised alone, without siblings. It is not often done in our society unless circumstances prevent it, for we hate being raised alone like that. So Trey and I...we are very, very close. I know things about him almost no one, or no one at all, knows." She bit her lip, then rushed into it, feeling partially relieved and yet also feeling as if she was breaking some sacred vow.
"Trey has been in love before, Carlos. He was only thirty-two years old when he fell in love that first time. The girl he fell in love with was around fifty, a very lovely young girl with black hair and blue eyes. Her name was Nikita, and she was the sweetest woman imaginable, as I was told. She and Trey fell hard for each other."
Sharie's eyes misted over as she continued in a soft voice, "Triforians and those they fall in love with--it isn't always easy, Carlos. They are often (although not always) too trusting and intuitive to fall in love with a shallow character who will not love back or will lose love over time...unless the Triforian is very young."
"Oh, dear," murmured Carlos, hoping he was not going to hear a betrayal story. "Did that happen to..."
"No," said Sharie, reading the thoughts etched in the depths of his dark eyes. That could not be further from what had actually happened. "They were madly in love. Within a few weeks of meeting, they agreed to a joining ceremony. Everything was planned, and then the day before the joining---" Sharie stopped and shook her head, trying to get the words out. "Nikita was killed in a lab accident. There was no chance of recovery, even with our advanced techniques."
Carlos's eyes went wide. He said nothing, only held onto Sharie as she continued the story. "Can you imagine how Trey felt? He was crushed, he felt life had betrayed him. I expect it was the first real shock of his life, what it could do and how cruel it can be. He wanted to die himself, for he figured that life without Nikita, his first real companion, was not worth living." Sharie's fingers, from where she gripped his shirt, jerked spasmodically. An image came to her, unbidden, of being by Carlos's side as he lay dying....and not being able to do a damned thing.
"You know how serious my brother can be? That incident changed his carefree attitude toward life toward one of seriousness and work. Almost automatic, not even really living--merely surviving because he had to and it was what was expected of him by others." Sharie's lips pressed together for a moment.
"It took much work by my parents to make him see the worth of living again, and for many centuries, many melennia, he refused to even consider trying to let his heart fall in love again. If Trey had splintered as little as two hundred years ago, the Trey of Heart portion of his soul would have been silent, moody, and even rather cold."
Carlos caught his breath, but Sharie did not seem to stop, as if she was relieved to get this secret off her chest. "It took a long, long time for him to open his heart again. My mother told me once that it was when I was born that the last of his resolve to never love again melted away. She said I made him trust life again, but I am not sure if that is true. I am just....well, I'm a sister. I'm not Nikita. As close as we are, there are a few things a sister cannot usually do for a brother, and that includes the type of fulfilllment it is said one only finds in their true love....because it's so different from family love, and just as necessary for them to feel complete as the love they get from those closest to them."
"Don't be putting yourself down, Querida. I saw the pain he was in when we first met him, even if he said nothing to me directly about his past haunts. You two are damned lucky to be so close, even after so long. That kind of love is different, si, but that does not mean it fills the heart any less completely, just in a different way. And, for all he was driven, he was never cold, or even cool, to us. The feelings he showed were genuine. He's a very sincere person."
Sharie's eyes blurred for a moment, but she blinked them back, a faint smile curving her mouth. Maybe Carlos was right about some of it. He was pretty astute. "I am so glad he did not become so cold and unfeeling again when I disappeared. He became driven, almost suicidal at first, he told me, but he never closed his heart like that again. I don't know why. And now he has been touched again, by the leader of the Aquitan Rangers."
"That is a sad story," said Carlos softly. "But why are you worried, if he has another chance?"
"It is not just me who is worried. He is too. He wonders if she would feel the same way. And she is a power ranger also, Carlos. It means she is constantly putting her life in danger. I do not know what it will do to him if they do become involved and then she dies in battle. Trey loves more intensely than most, Carlos. It could very well crush him completely. He still hides the pain of Nikita's passing; my mother told me he never cried. He was too numb from shock."
*You and he are too much alike in that respect,* Carlos thought, unbidden. When it came to her inner emotions, sometimes they could be seen shadowing behind her eyes, but she had stotic self-control. She never let them really show unless cold reality slapped her in the face--like when he had told her her brother was alive in the first place. Ashley had mentioned to him that Trey was much the same way, controlled and stubborn, for all the kindness and empathy he had.
"We are power rangers, too, Querida. Trey and Delphine are both Power Rangers, but we have to live our lives besides fighting. Losing you also is a concern of mine, because you are so important to me. But we also have a mission. I hope Trey realizes this."
"Oh, Carlos, you are important to me, too! I can never tell you how much. Trey does realize it, but the fear still haunts him. And if he ever faces anything similar to that situation, I do not know how he will handle it, how to get over his fear. I have a hard time doing it."
The last sentence was said so low Carlos barely heard it, and felt she had not really meant him to hear. She had told him she was no longer afraid to love him, but maybe a small part of her was. She had lost so much in her life, and he knew she did not want to lose any more, or what she had so recently gained.
Hints of this showed in their relationship. After that first burning kiss in the other dimension, they both were a lot more reserved, keeping kisses gentle. He knew she was afraid of losing control. Maybe it had been because of her lack of control that time that things had gotten so passionate between them. It had been enough to show what fire existed under that controlled demeanor, and he did not want to push it, for she feared losing control again. It was the same with her laughter. She smiled readily enough, had a sense of humor and could softly laugh. But really letting go, she seemed unable to do that. She would have to set the pace, tell him when she was ready for giving a little more of herself.
"Here come the lovebirds," said Carlos suddenly, looking over across the park where Andros and Ashley, totally absorbed in each other, were strolling down the walk hand-in-hand. They had managed to do it, he mused. Ashley had overcome the iciness in his heart and both had found love, and were unafraid to express it.
Sharie looked over also, smiling softly. "They cannot seem to get enough of each other, do they? Lately, every time I see them, they are all over each other. Things are getting pretty serious."
"I think things were serious from the moment they realized the other loved each other. And Ashley made Andros finally realize what a pain he had been. He has changed considerably."
He did not add that Sharie had, in some ways, also. She might still be controlled, but she did smile more, her humor showed, and her eyes, while the pain of her past had not abated, were more willing to fill with humor and merriment than he suspected they did in the past, and was what he preferred to see.
They could not help but watch as Ashley poked Andros for some reason and started to run, laughing. He shouted something and started the chase. She ran down the sidewalk, clutching her sides as she sped at top speed away from him, then changed course suddenly and darted into the grass.
Andros stopped short and turned sharply, starting after her again. It was determined he was not about to let her get away. When she started to run up a hill, he finally caught up with her halfway and grabbed hold of her, tickling her mercilessly.
She gasped, laughing, flailing her arms as he relentlessly ran his fingers over her ribs, making her squeal. Finally, she squirmed so much they both lost balance and tumbled down the hill.
No sooner had they landed when she got back up, backing away from him. He had a devilish look on his face as he advanced, catching her around her waist and pulling her to him. He would have started tickling her again when she suddenly got a resolute look in her eyes, and a determined grin flashed across her face. She stopped him cold when she suddenly snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
*That worked,* Carlos could not quite hide an amused laugh as the pair across the park forgot about everything else, too lost in each other. He could feel Sharie also trying to suppress laughter at the scene, for she was trembling, her eyes were twinkling, and she was shaking her head, her lips pressed into a thin smile as she struggled to hold it in.
*That* gave Carlos a wicked idea. He had never seen Sharie so close to out- and-out loud laughter before, and he could not help himself. Wanting to really see her laugh, he reached down and tickled her under her ribs, hoping she was ticklish.
She gasped and jerked, a surprised squeal, mixed with laughter, coming from her lips. He had been right, he thought, as she turned slightly accusing eyes up at him. "That will be quite enough, Perez," she said, though her eyes seemed to be betraying her.
He grinned devilishly and tickled her again, as mercilessly as Andros had done to Ashley. She squirmed and gasped, laughing hard and thrashing, crying out, "Gosh darn you, Carlos! No one is supposed to know that..." she laughed again, breathlessly, "I am so.....ticklish..."
"And why not?" he asked, not letting up in the slightest, delighted by her reaction.
"It...is a...weakness....Trey always did that..." she squirmed to turn around, facing him as he continued his assault. For the barest instant, he felt her presence in his mind as she seemed to search for something, and he gasped as she reached up behind his neck, finding one of his few ticklish spots, and tickling him there.
It worked, to an extent. He stopped, gasping, one arm slipping around her to crush her to him and the other reaching behind him, unsuccessfully trying to stay her hand. He squirmed, holding her tightly to him, as he guffawed. "Querida! That is not fair!"
"It is too!" she laughed, delighting him again at finally seeing a side of her he had wanted to see. "You get what you deserve."
He finally managed to stop her hand by closing his fingers around hers and pulling it away from his neck. She did not resist when he brought his hand forward, giggling, "Bad hand, Querida. You should teach it better manners."
She smiled and shook her head, suddenly feeling very strange as his gaze went to their now-clasped hands, his other arm tightly around her.
He gazed at their hands for a moment, the smile fading from his face as it became more serious. She stared at him, her grin also fading, as his eyes slowly rose to meet hers. Somehow, the intensity of his gaze did not surprise her, but and even stranger feeling, a flood of warmth and physical tingling, ran through her as he slowly lifted her hand to his mouth, his lips pressing gently against her wrist.
Her breath caught, his eyes never left hers. He gently lowered her hand as his other arm pressed her closer to him, the mere action causing the tingling to explode into an all-out sensation assault of an intensity she was unfamiliar with.
She did not know how much her sudden desire burned in her deep, intensity- rich gaze, but Carlos did. He could see it burning with an intensity that he had not seen since their first kiss, although that was not really on his mind as he gently lowered his lips to hers, covering them softly.
It started out like most of their kisses usually did, softly gentle. But Sharie was completely unprepared for the sudden, fiery intensity that rocked her to the core as she felt something inside her loosen, something that had held her ridged for so long when it came to her own emotions.
Maybe it had been her confession of the story she had told him. Maybe it had been seeing Andros and Ashley so carefree. Maybe it had been his unlocking a side of her she rarely showed, but she suddenly found herself powerless to stop her own body's urgings. She almost caught him by surprise as she pressed up against him and started to return his kiss with an intense passion he had felt hinted at but had never experienced in such an onslaught.
He felt his own desire flood his senses in an incredible wave of feeling as whatever magic she was using to bewtich him took effect. He groaned softly and kissed her harder, his tongue lightly tracing her lips, begging for entrance. She readily complied, pressing harder against him, unconsciously in a way that bolted through both with jolts of electricity.
His tongue gained entrance into her mouth, exploring it's secrets, tracing the even curve of her teeth and dueling lightly with hers.
She had never felt herself lose control like this! She was on fire, completely out of control of her emotions and her senses and she did not feel the fear she expected to, even when she felt his hand on her leg, gently rubbing her knee. She did not care, even leaned into his touch, not thinking about where they were or what had been unleashed. It was not until his hand unconsciously slid a little further up her leg and the other stopped, having been touching, unbidden, on her heaving chest, and she realized maybe it was her hand that had unbuttoned the button of his shirt, that she was flooded with just enough reality to disengage her lips from his, though her body screamed at her not to. "Carlos....we are in public..."
It took a few seconds for her words to penetrate his protesting brain, but when it did, he turned red and realized where his hands were. He was shaking with pain that was nearly physical as he sought to control himself and removed his hands from her burning skin. "Oh, Gods, Querida, I am so sorry...."
"Shhh...." she covered his lips with her fingers. "Don't apologize. I wanted that as much as you did," she rasped, trying to control her breathing and on-fire body.
"I--don't want to take advantage of you, Querida, you know that..." he began. She cut him off. "You never could, Carlos, even if you wanted to. If I had not wanted that, I could have easily stopped you." her eyes told him that this was completely true.
"But would you regret it later?" he asked softly. She shook her head. "No. I am not worried about it anymore. Carlos, I should say...thank you."
"....Thank you?" his lips quirked. "What for?"
"For listening. For being here. And for being you. As for the regretting, no, I won't. But when the time comes, if it does, we will both know. It is just that..." she giggled. "A public park is not the place."
He laughed as he pulled her to her feet, and they started walking out of the park. Then he sobered. "We have to leave soon, Querida. Andros wants us to do some scanning in some distant galaxy, and we will be gone while you and Trey are on Aquitar."
She looked serious. "Don't let that stop you from calling me or Trey, or even the Aquitian Rangers, if you need help. I swore to help your team, and I meant it."
"*Our* team," he corrected. "You and Trey are getting to be as much a part of us as we are."
She smiled as he continued. "But I doubt if there will be trouble. In fact, I think Cassie is going to be meeting Phantom on the sly while we are gone. She did not directly say so, but she dropped enough hints, and I think Ashley knows for sure."
"She is. She told me." Sharie blushed and smiled. "Let her be about it. They may have to resort to sneaking around for awhile before they can really be together. What Phantom, and the rest like him do is dangerous. It will have to be that way for awhile. And don't ask, I cannot say any more about it."
His eyebrows shot up, and he could not help but ask, "*Do* you know Phantom's identity, Sharie?"
"No," she said. "But I know more than I can say. That is also all I may say about the matter."
Carlos shook his head but did not press further. It was just another mysterious secret in Sharie's past...
**** "Are you ready, already, Lalinka?" Trey called up the stairs. They were on Triforia, and were getting ready for their trip to Aquitar.
"I am *coming*, sheesh, Trey!" she answered in their native tongue. "It is that this dress is uncomfortable! I have not worn something like this since I was small!"
"As if that is my fault!" he called good-naturedly. "Now you know what I went through when you dragged me shopping. I know you do not like dresses, but come on! Besides, our people don't wear them except for the most formal of occasions."
"At least that is a small mercy." She appeared at the top of the stairs at last, and Trey caught his breath, once again struck by the realization that Sharie was no longer a little girl physically. Mentally, she never really had been, but now...her body was catching up with her mind.
The purple-hued gown she wore was off-shoulder, with two narrow sleeves on her upper arms. The rest of it was form-fitting, to the waist, when it widened out and flowed down to her smallish feet clad in purple slippers. The gown was not wide, but not narrow or full.
Her blazingly golden hair was mostly loose, but the top half of her curls were upswept off her face with a headband. She wore sapphire earrings in her pierced ears and around her neck was the locket she always wore, the tri-moon pendant, a full moon over two quarter moons, with Triforian writings around the edge.
That was all. It was so simple, but it looked perfect on her, Trey thought. Her gown had no fancy trimmings, no glittery eye-catchings, and was simply cut, her style was simple, but she still looked stunning, for that was how she was. She hated fancy things and sought out to prove that she did not care what she looked like...but still managed to look incredible in the process.
Sharie, too, had paused, looking at her brother. Gods, he was handsome, his dark hair neatly in place, his darker gaze showing the very depths of his being. He wore a somewhat different variation of his usual tunic, without the cape, and with a few extra markings on it, also simply cut but not distracting from his handsomeness Over his right eye and extending down upon his upper cheekbone, was the trademark golden streak that every Triforian was born with, and which Sharie also had, now not obstructed by the effects of a dermal regenerator.
He held out his hand as she came down the stairs, and she took it.
"You look beautiful," he said, swallowing. "Gods, Sharie, you grew up too fast."
She shrugged, her slim shoulders lifting slightly as she blushed at the compliment. "I am afraid I cannot stop time, brother mine, though sometimes I wish desperately I could rewind it. But at least I can be glad I have you back in my life." She gave him such a heart-melting smile he drew her close and hugged her tightly.
"Me, too, Lalinka. Now, let's go. Time is wasting." He kissed her forehead and took her arm in his, and they teleported out in two streaks of gold-tinged black and violet.
****
They soon found themselves teleporting into a hallway, near an entrance to a larger room. The other side was open to the sea, and water-waves danced on the walls. It was eerie, and mystic, hypnotic even, Sharie thought. She felt no tightening, no pain, no losing of splintering control. She was safe here, Trey likewise.
A dark-skinned Aquitian in blue came forward, obviously he had been waiting for them. He bowed slightly, moving his hands in the traditional Aquitian gesture of welcome and greetings.
"Welcome Trey, Lord of Triforia, and Sharie, Princess of Triforia. I am Cestro, Blue Aquitian Ranger of Aquitar. Welcome to Aquitar."
Trey returned the gesture. "Thank you. We met before, Cestro, though it was too brief to get aquainted. I thank you again for rescuing me from the depths of Aquitar's ocean."
"You would have done the same," Cestro responded easily. "Would you like to go to the quarters that you are to share, or would you like to go directly to the reception area?"
Trey shot his sister a glance, and she nodded. "The reception area, please," said Trey. Cestro nodded also and led them through the doorway into the large room beyond.
All activity stopped when they entered as all the occupants of the room, Human and Aquitian alike, turned to see who had arrived.
Sharie could not stop a slight blush from rising to her cheeks, word about her had spread quickly to the other Earth Rangers, she was sure, and she knew they were curious.
A human boy in a form-fitting, white uniform trimmed with blue around the wrists and collar came forward, his blue eyes twinkling out of a handsome face framed with sandy blond hair. "Trey! It is good to see you again, and welcome. I am glad you could attend this little event."
Trey smiled. "I am glad I could attend also, Billy, but I doubt if your wedding is any 'little' event, by any means."
Billy laughed and turned his charming smile on Sharie. "And this must be the lovely Sharie Triesta, your sister. It is an honor to meet you. Tommy told me about...what happened, and I am glad for you."
Her blush deepened, but looking into his blue eyes, she liked him at once. "Thank you, Billy. I have also watched you often, though you did not know it. Congratulations on this fine day."
"Thank you," said Billy as an Aquitian girl came wandering over, dressed also in a form-fitting white uniform lightly trimmed with yellow. Her large eyes took in the new arrivals.
"And this," said Billy, holding out his hand to her, "is the woman I am going to join with today, Cestria."
Cestria could not look more surprised, and appreciated, when Sharie made the traditional greeting first, speaking in perfectly fluent Auqitan.
"Why, thank you," Cestria responded, returning the gesture. "And yes, I am very happy with him. I knew he was my lifemate when I first saw him."
Trey could not hide his grin as Cestria pulled Sharie away from him. The two liked each other, he could tell, and would become fast friends in no time.
There were several other humans in the room, mostly former rangers who had gathered, but Billy's father was also there, looking proud as proud could be.
Among the rest, Tommy and Kat seemed to be keeping close, their eyes on each other, and Kimberly was trying hard to pretend not to notice. She seemed to be sticking close to Jason. Tanya and Adam walked around the room, their clasped hands and visible engagement rings showing how close they were. Rocky was actively chatting with Zack, trying to include Trini but oblivious to her boredom on sportstalk. Aisha was deep in conversation with Tideus, and from where they were standing, they were obviously discussing marine wildlife. Even Justin had somehow managed to sneak over, and he was cheerfully chatting with a pretty young aquitian girl about his age, and from the looks of it, she was enthralled with meeting her the first human her own age.
As soon as Tommy caught sight of Sharie and Cestria, he broke away from Kat and came wandering over. "Hey, Sharie, nice to see you again, though I must say I did not expect you or Trey to show up here. At least, not until Billy told me."
Her heart melted at his puppy-dog eyes. "Well, here I am, obviously," she grinned. He chuckled. She went on over it, "Could you get Jason to come over here, please? I have something I need to say to him."
"Sure. Hey, Jase!" Tommy had no reservations about calling across the room. "C'mere a minute."
Jason shrugged and came, Kimberly trailing uncertainly after him. "What's up?"
"Sharie here wants to tell you something," Tommy said, indicating the girl beside him.
"Yes I do, Jason," she said quietly. "I want to say thank you, for risking your life taking my brother's powers when he needed help, even though it nearly killed you."
Jason lowered his eyes for a moment, blushing. "Ummm, your welcome," he said. "I did what needed to be done. Your brother is a fine man, Sharie. You are very lucky."
"Yes," Sharie whispered. "I am." Her gaze sought her brother's form across the room, until she spotted him. She was just in time to see him raise his head and look in a particular direction. She followed it, somehow not surprised to see what had caught his attention.
Delphine had entered the room, and her own gaze almost immediately found his.
****
His pulse was pounding in his ears as her eyes locked with his. Gods, she had the most intense eyes, they drew him in, nearly drowning him like the oceans of her world had nearly done. Except that this type of drowning he would happily accept, and the nagging fear that had haunted him for almost 2500 years he pushed down. This was now, and if he could, he would try again.
Delphine had come in to tell everyone to take their places so the ceremony could begin, but when his intense gaze found hers, she became tongue-tied. Gods, how could eyes so dark glow like that? Or was it her imagination playing tricks on her?
An eternity seemed to pass before she remembered herself. She shook herself out of her trance and called order, having everyone take the designated spots.
Billy and Cestria came forward standing and facing each other while Delphine stood on a slight platform before them. Silence fell as the ceremony began.
Delphine took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart as she began. "We gather today, in great joy and great harmony, to witness the agreed joining of two souls, Billy Cranston and Cestria. Their hearts have already become one, this ceremony will simply seal their souls for all time."
A soft lapping sound, like soft ocean waves, could be heard in the background. Reflections of ocean waves danced on the walls, and seemed to focus on the two occupants about to be joined, lighting up their eyes and making it even more evident of the love that they shared.
Delphine closed her eyes for a moment, than began. "To the heavens above, to whoever is watching, here is a young couple who wish to be bound by the sealing bonds of matrimony, so that their souls may be forever joined, to complete the binding which was begun by their hearts. Bless them as this ceremony completes that which they seek."
Both Billy and Cestria, having been coached on this, pressed their wrists together and pressed them against that of the other person, their fingers not touching.. Delphine took a slender white cord and loosely bound their wrists together.
"The binding of your wrists with white symbolizes the purity protecting your love as your spirits entwine in an unbreakable union. Now the vows you must take will seal you to each other, will blend your souls for eternity, should you wish it. Billy, do you vow to love Cestria for all time, in all situations, to care for any children you might be blessed with, and to always be faithful to her?"
"My heart, my soul, speaks when I answer yes," he said, almost choking with the intensity of his love, and Cestria's eyes as they lingered on his.
"Cestria, do you vow to love Billy forever, in all situations, help care for any future children, and to always be faithful?"
"My heart, my soul, speaks when I answer yes," she whispered, barely audibly, but her eyes saying what her mouth had difficulty forming.
Delphine smiled slightly as she reached for a beautifully carved white bowl nearby, handling it gently as she placed it strajetecally in their fingers, the white cord's looseness how showing it's purpose.
"The both of you drinking from this one vessel symbolizes your new oneness, heart and soul, as you now begin the journey down life's path together.
"Our hearts beat as one," Cestria whispered, eyes glowing.
"Our souls are as one," murmured Billy, his eyes mirroring hers.
"Through all eternity," it was said in unison. Cestria drew his hands and hers toward her as she drank the water from the bowl first, before Billy mirrored her action.
Delphine gently removed it from their hands. "You may now perform the final act that will seal your souls for all time." She smiled, watching, as Billy's fingers entwined with Cestria's, and they leaned over their clasped hands, their lips meeting in a sealing, firey kiss. Delphine unobtrusively untied the cord in time to release their hands, for Billy's arms crept around Cestria as the kiss continued...and continued.
The pair were giddy with happiness.
****
Next came a short tradition similar to it's earth equivalent, with the same intent. Both Billy and Cestria picked up a special, pure-white flower, that looked something like a chrysanthemum. There were audible giggles as every male suddenly found themselves pushed into a group, and Billy closed his eyes and flung the flower over his shoulder.
A shout of laughter made him turn to see Trey standing there, flower in his surprised hand, and a bright red color staining his face. He had not even reached for it, it just seemed to fall into his hand--
Cestria smiled, watching as most of the girls formed an eager group. She closed her eyes and flung the flower over her own shoulder into the crowd. She knew she had flung it far, and by the startled gasps and giggles, she knew her aim had been dead-on.
Like Trey, Delphine had not meant to reach for the flower, but Cestria's sharp aim ensured it fell into her hand. She blushed as red as Trey had, unable to keep her gaze from wandering in his direction. Neither noticed Sharie, Billy, and Cestria sharing a conspiratal grin. They had planned it that way.
Maybe this little prophecy would see itself through.
****
Afterward, there were dances. Aquitians were fond of dancing, many of their slow dances were similar to those on Earth or Triforia, though some were complex. Music from all three worlds were played, to accomodate everybody, and the dance floor was always far from empty.
Though Carlos was not with her, even Sharie danced a couple of times, though she did not overdo it. It was mostly to get a few certain boys off her back who showed an interest in her.
Once she got free of a particularly persistent Aquitian, she glanced at her brother, noticing he was having similar trouble. He glanced back at her, his eyes clearly saying "help!"
She did. "Come on, Trey, you owe me one!" she said, catching his hand. He gave her a grateful grin as she dragged him away from Cestria's friends.
"Thank you," he whispered as they started to move to the music. "I never thought they'd leave me alone. But what do you mean, I owe you one?"
"I went through enough trouble getting Billy and Cestria to throw those flowers in the right direction, you owe me a dance." she informed him. "And next, you will go dance with Delphine. She is alone now, so make your move!"
"*Lalinka!*" he hissed. "You did that! What are you trying to do, play matchmaker? It would never work!"
"And how could you be so certain of that?" she asked as the short Triforian song started to fade out. "Go ask her to dance, or I will tell her you want to but are to shy to ask yourself!"
She had cornered him. "You owe me big for that, Lalinka, and I will find some way of getting back for this little stunt."
Sharie only grinned at him.
****
Delphine was standing idly by, watching the dances. Why was she here, when the only person she would even have an interest dancing with was not around?
"May I have the next dance?" said a quiet voice. Her eyes widened and she turned, surprised, to see none other than Trey standing behind her, smiling shyly.
Somehow, she could not keep hints of incredulous delight off her face as she smiled, placing her hand in his and letting him draw her out onto the dance floor.
Another slow song came up, one from Earth, but it seemed appropriate, the soft sounds compelling them to relax and gently sway to the lyrics.
After getting used to the movements, Delphine finally steeled herself to look up into his eyes. Again the intensity of his gaze startled her, but it made her relax completely in his arms, too.
Gods, she hoped that what she saw in his eyes was not her imagination, or fanciful thinking, but what she really wanted to see!
*Here in the dark, I see the sun, Here in the light, our two hearts are one,*
His eyes were so intense, but so soft, gentle, and hypnotic! She could not tear her gaze from him, or his handsomely sculpted face. But his eyes-- when one of his hands came up, gently urging her closer, she became convinced what she saw in his eyes indeed reflected her own feelings. She had never been hit with such certainty before in her life.
*It's out of our hands, We can't stop what we have begun, 'Cause love just took me by surprise, looking through your eyes.*
At that moment, Trey knew his fate was sealed. Gods, she was beautiful, her eyes warm, her pupils were dialated, her full lips were curved in a soft smile. It did not change when the hand behind her head came forward, his fingers tracing her facial features, as if committing them to memory. "You are beautiful, Delphine, inside and out, you know that?" he said suddenly.
Her eyes widened and her breath caught. "Thank you," she whispered, surprised he could find her beautiful. She was not Triforian. "So are you."
He chuckled warmly, now knowing for certain she also felt the same way about him. *Sharie, I owe you a huge apology...*
Their eyes locked again, and as the song continued, each completely fell under the other's hypnotic spell. They were completely oblivious to Sharie's smile of satisfaction from across the room.
****
Sharie watched them dance for awhile longer, grinning to herself at her success. Now, it was all up to Trey and Delphine, themselves.
She sensed a hesitant presence behind her, and she turned, surprised to see Corcus, the silent, shy member of Delphine's team, standing there, not sure of what to say.
"Hello, Corcus," she said quietly, giving him one of her famous smiles.
He nearly choked, but said softly, "Hello, Miss Triesta."
Her smile softened, causing him to relax slightly. "You don't have to call me that. My name is Sharie."
He swallowed. "Of course, Sharie."
"Would you like to dance?" she asked boldly. Blushing, he nodded, allowing her to take his hand. Both knew that there was nothing romantic intended, but she sensed he wanted somebody to talk to, not just stand silently in a corner like he had been doing, as was his nature..
The next song was one from Aquitar, one of the very complex ones, and she was surprised at his skill as he led her through the various dance steps. Thankfully, she had prepared for this, and followed his lead without difficulty.
"Say, you are very good at this," she could not help but comment. His blue eyes flew to meet hers, then he smiled slightly. "It is required for us to learn, if possible. Thank you," he said, a bit boldly, before blushing at his forwardness.
She smiled at him again, making him relax more. He even got up the courage to ask, "Where did *you* learn our dances? You are at least as good as I am."
She chuckled warmly. His arms relaxed their grip on her as she eased more of his tension. "I make it my business to learn about other cultures. It helps break the ice, especially in diplomatic situations."
He laughed softly feeling the last of his tension drain and the last of the ice melt. From then on, he talked with Sharie easily, and by evening's end, each knew they had found a friend for life.
****
As the evening wore on, without realizing just how deep things were getting, Trey and Delphine continued to fall more and more under each other's hypnotic spell. Their gaze rarely left the other's, and they forgot completely where they were until the last song ended.
Finally, they knew they had to disengage slightly. Trey looked around, Sharie was already gone. The other Rangers, most of them, would be staying for a couple of days, since they did not often get to vacation on another planet, but those who were left were yawning and making it obvious they were ready for bed.
"I guess it is time to leave," said Delphine reluctantly, not wanting him to let her go. Where he touched her, she was on fire, and she knew only he could quench the flames.
He felt the same way. "May I, uh, escort you to your quarters?" he asked shyly. She smiled and led him out of the room, down several myriad hallways, walking in silence until they reached her rooms.
"Would you like to come inside?" she said softly, looking up into his eyes. He could only nod, for she had tongue-tied him.
She opened the door, and they went in, sitting down to rest their tired feet. For a moment, neither were sure what to say. Suddenly, she said, "Trey, your sister, I think---she and Cestria, Billy too, conspired to pull off the flower toss. I saw them whispering just before the ceremony, when I walked in the door, and then they looked at us afterwards, and did it again."
Trey blushed, not realizing Delphine had been so observant. "She did," he said, slightly embarrassed. "She told me later. I wanted to kill her for that, but now--" he broke off abruptly and impulsively reached up and touched her face gently. "I am not sure I would want to do that."
*Gods, he wanted to kiss her so badly, but he did not have the courage--*
"She is important to you, I can tell," said Delphine, trying to stifle her pounding heart.
"Yes, she is," he whispered, trying to control himself. If he stayed any longer-- "It is getting late, Delphine. So I expect I must...say goodnight."
"Oh, okay..." said Delphine, who did not, for a moment, want him to leave. "I will...see you out the door."
However, when they got to the door, all thoughts of leaving left their minds. Their eyes had locked again, and suddenly Trey could no longer stand it. Their hearts pounded as one and their breathing quickened, and before either of them quite knew what was happening, Trey had his arms around her, pulling her to him, placing one hand at the nape of her neck as his lips covered hers in a gently seeking, but fire-intense, kiss.
Her brain exploded with the pent-up passion he had aroused in her and she had kept under the surface all evening. She began to return the kiss with an equal intensity, unfamiliar with the fire he had bolting down her spine, but welcoming it nonetheless. They did not think about their differences, they only thought about *here*, and *now*. Now was here, with the person you loved in your arms, expressing your feelings in one of the most intimate ways.
He lost control before he could stop himself, and he moaned softly as his tongue gained entrance to her mouth, exploring all it's exotic secrets. Her hands gripped his shoulders, hard, in response, as she lost her last hold on sane thought.
How far things might have gone was left to the imagination, though, as the thought did manage to make its way into their hazy minds that this was the first time they had really gotten to know each other, and they had better slow down.
Trey, reluctantly, released his mouth from hers. "I must go," he whispered regretfully, his hand cupping her chin, seeing her eyes dance with pent-up passion. "I will see you--tomorrow?"
She nodded, reaching up on her toes and kissing him, a bit boldly, one more time. "Goodnight, Trey."
"Goodnight," he whispered, kissing her softly once more and stroking her cheek before hurriedly leaving without a backwards glance. If he did, he would not have the self-control to leave.
****
When Trey got to the rooms he was sharing with his sister, he found her in her nightgown, reading a romance novel from Earth. When he came in, she glanced up at him, bewildered, taking in his flushed cheeks and glittering eyes. Then she smiled knowingly.
"Busy night?" she asked teasingly.
"Funny, Lalinka." he smiled tiredly, leaning down and kissing her forehead. "I am too tired tonight, but tomorrow you and I will have a little talk about your matchmaking skills."
Her giggles were his only response. He shook his head, hugging her goodnight, and headed for the bathroom.
"Taking a cold shower?" she called after him, unable to resist her cue.
"Lalinka!" He admonished, but her words rang true, for that had been his intent.
"Goodnight, Trey," she giggled, heading into her bedroom. He shook his head and headed into the bathroom. *Lalinka, you and I will *definetly* talk tomorrow...*
**** Sharie tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep. It was not the fish dancing and swimming outside her window, or the reflections of waves shimmering on her walls. She had a lot on her mind, and it was preventing sleep from taking hold.
Finally, she sat up and reached for the romance novel she had been absorbed in when Trey came in the door, intending to read until exhaustion made her sleep. She wandered out into the living area of their assigned quarters on Aquitar, curling on a double couch, and read by the dancing, glowing wave reflections on the walls, as fish, strange and familiar-looking, wandered idly by, watching her.
She started a short while later when she heard a soft hiss from nearby as her brother's bedroom door opened. She looked up in surprise, he was standing there in his sleeping clothes, his eyes shadowed from tiredness, and full of--what, she was not sure. Indecision? Fear? Wanting? Or all three?
"Sorry," he mumbled, seeing her curled on the couch. "I did not know you were up also."
"I could not sleep," she murmured. "I have a lot on my mind."
"So do I," he said quietly, accepting her gesture to sit beside her. She tucked her feet underneath her so he could sit, then stared at him as his eyes took off blankly into space for a minute.
Just as she was about to inquire, he started, then looked at her staring at him.
"Do you have on your mind what I suspect you do?" she asked softly. He looked at her oddly for a moment, and then his eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. Numbly, he nodded.
"Trey?" she asked softly. "Does it really bother you--my doing what I did? I knew the possible consequences, but you would not--"
He shook his head slowly. "No, Sharie, I owe you an apology. I am not mad, what you did for me--thank you, although you did drag Billy and Cestria into it. I would not give up Delphine now for anything."
She smiled softly, then it faded. "But you still have some difficulties. Do you plan to tell her? I am the only one now, besides you yourself, that knows what happened, and only because our mother told me long ago, when I was small. Nikita was the last of her family." She did not add how she had told Carlos.
He swallowed, inwardly wincing at the sound of her name. "I know she was. I could not hide something like that from Delphine, Lalinka. She would never forgive me for keeping something like that from her, I am certain of it. But I do not know when would be the appropriate time to tell her. I am worried that we could not even have a real relationship, for how much time could we have?"
"That is not you innermost concern, Trey, and you know it." Sharie was firm, but quiet, wanting to hurt him as little as possible with the reminders. "Many people have to work out relationships like that, for example, Cassie and the Phantom Ranger."
"Do you know me so well, Sharie?" he asked, shocked. "What is my innermost concern? Sometimes, I do not even know myself."
She lowered her violet-purple eyes, blushing as she tried to put this delicately. "You are worried about history repeating itself, Trey."
Color drained from his face. She had hit it.
"You don't want to lose Delphine too, like Nikita was torn from your life. It is even worse for you because she is a Power Ranger. She constantly places her life in danger, even as you and I do. You are not sure if you could take it, if you want to risk it."
"I *have* to risk it!" he choked miserably. "I cannot do anything *but* risk it! What happened tonight, Sharie, I cannot describe to you. You know how hard it is for us to fall in love, and how much harder it is for it to be broken? And how crushed we can become if the one we love is torn from us? If I lose Delphine on top of everything else, I am not sure what I would do. It would be as bad as if I lost you again!"
Sharie did not object as his arms slid around her, seeking support from her. They had hit upon a real nerve, and she was quiet as he struggled to control himself.
"Trey," she began softly. "It will be very likely that one day, you just might have to face a risk of losing her or me again. I may have to face a day that Carlos could be killed, or you. I am not sure I could stand it, either, but it is a risk we accepted along with our powers. It will not make the pain any less, or the sense of devastation. But it is a realization that you have to accept. Heaven knows, I have had to face it too many times myself. It was only this last time that I got any gratification on what I had lost." She reached up and touched his face gently. It was dry, but the way his eyes were glittering, she knew he was struggling to control his tears.
"Lalinka," he murmured softly, hugging her harder. "I would not trade you for anything in the world."
"Though I bet it would be better if Delphine was included," she said, with a hint of amusement in her tone. She felt his lips curve underneath her fingers. Her face became serious, though her eyes remained soft, as she continued.
"All I can advise you, logically, Trey, is to follow what your heart tells you. It will truly help you to understand a situation at hand. It has worked for me."
She could feel herself getting tired, she snuggled down against him as she sensed his quiet contemplation of her words. Inadvertently, her eyes closed upon themselves, soothed by his fingers running idly through her hair, like he had done when she was small.
It was the last thing she knew for the rest of the night.
****
When her eyes fluttered open tiredly the next morning, she knew it was still very early. She was still on the couch, her brother had obviously fallen asleep soon after she had, for he was curled facing her, eyes closed, one hand still lightly on her hair.
She smiled inadvertently. How often had they done this when she was small? She had often come to him for some reason or another when she was a toddler, and needed reassurance about something. As she had grown into a little girl, the habit had become so strong, neither of them thought about it. Trey had wanted a sibling for so long, and they had grown so close, it was completely natural.
Now, years later, it was so easy to fall back into old habits, except that this time, it was she who had given *him* the reassurance.
*Why was I so worried?* she wondered as she slid carefully off the couch so she would not disturb Trey. *I think things will work out better than I would have thought, but that is up to Trey, not me.*
She slipped into the bathroom to bathe and dress, coming out in one of her typical Earth outfits of a short purple shirt that showed some of her small midriff, and jean shorts that came down to her knees. Her feet were in lavender tennis shoes. She twisted her long hair in a loose knot on top of her head. She gathered up her diary and a small computer padd that accessed her e-mail, and silently left their quarters, careful not to make any noise.
She wandered the underwater halls for a short distance, until she came to a small communal area with furniture, meant for casual gatherings. It was empty, she settled herself on a couch and opened her diary, writing in her experiences of the night before.
*...Truly, Diary, I do not know how things will turn out. I have a feeling they just might turn out like I want it to for my brother and Delphine. I could see it in her eyes how much she loved him. And I hope Trey soon tells her about Nikita. I don't think she will be angry because he had a former love who died, but she may be upset if he does not tell her deliberately, hiding the truth.*
Just as she finished her entry and started to pick up her e-mail, she sensed a presence approaching and standing hesitantly in the doorway. Sharie glanced up, seeing, of all people she had expected to see this early, Delphine, looking unsure if she would enter.
"Good morning," Sharie murmured, making the traditional gesture for greeting. "Yes, you may come on in, Delphine. You are not disturbing me."
The woman relaxed slightly, coming in and sitting on the other end of the couch. She could not much look Sharie in the eye, and she opened her mouth, and shut it.
"About last night..." she said at last. She was surprised when Sharie spontaneously grinned. This was the first time the two had ever spoken, and Sharie wanted Delphine to like her.
"What about it?" she asked gently.
"You--" Delphine seemed to be searching for words. "You pulled off the flower toss, did you not? You, and Cestria, and Billy. I saw you whispering--"
Sharie could not hide a smile. "Yes, I am afraid we all three are culprits. But I would not approach the other two about it. I doubt if they will be seen much for the next couple of days."
Delphine grinned in spite of herself, relaxing. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "A joke?"
"Maybe, and a wish for the miracles of prophecy." Sharie looked mischevious.
Delphine stared at her. "What are you, with the ability to foretell the future? How did you know that Trey and I would--"
"Gods, Delphine, I have known my brother had feelings for you since I first heard the story of him crashing on Aquitar from his point of view. I did not have to read his mind to see what was so obvious in his eyes. It was Cestria who told me you felt the same way."
Delphine turned red. "Then I assume it does not bother you. You and I never even met before this."
"It does not bother me in the slightest, but I am concerned if it bothers you because I did a little matchmaking last night."
Delphine relaxed, shaking her head and laughing softly. "Oh, heavens, no. Once the idea sank in that you had done what you did, I was determined to say thank you."
*At least she does not know about how I needled him.* "And I should say good luck. Trey is good, and virtuous, but stubborn. I think you are too." Out of the corner of her eye, Sharie idly tapped her computer padd, accessing her mail. There were several, again, the one from Carlos topping the list.
"So this is where you two lovely ladies are lurking." The familiar voice startled them both, and they looked up to see a grinning Trey in the doorway.
Sharie also smirked. "Well, look who's up, Mr. Early Riser. Thought you'd still be out cold."
"Not on the couch," he said, coming over and ruffling her forehead curls. "That position I fell asleep in gave me a terrible pain in my neck. I woke up stiff."
"You were--sleeping on the couch?" asked Delphine, concerned. "Was something wrong with the beds?" turned his famous smile on her, and she blushed slightly as she found herself smiling back.
"Of course not. The beds were just fine. I just had difficulty sleeping. Sharie did too, and we stayed up talking until we fell asleep on the couch. That's that." He winced and reached up, trying to rub the stiffness out of his neck.
"Come here," said Delphine suddenly, motioning him over. He came obediently, sitting between them as she indicated. He stiffened in surprise as she hesitantly reached her hands up and dug her fingers into his neck, giving him a neckrub. After the first bolting of electricity at her touch, he relaxed, keenly aware Sharie was sitting on the other side of him, looking amused.
The stiffness was gone on seconds. "Thank you," he murmured, turning around and looking at Delphine in the eye. "However you did it, that was good."
She blushed, then glanced quickly in Sharie's direction. The other girl's eyes had wandered elsewhere, and her hands were fumbling for her things. It was clear she was intent on leaving, giving them privacy.
"Wait!" Delphine said suddenly. "You do not have to leave because of us. You were here first."
"I know," she responded. "I just heard from Carlos. He is back, and he wants to know if he can come here, Delphine, while I am here."
She looked surprised. "Of course he can, but why--" she stopped abruptly as Trey leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She looked harder at Sharie, then smiled. "Of course he can come, and stay for as long as he likes."
"If he told you what I think he told you, then you know also why I am leaving. I'll see you two lovebirds later." Sharie got up, smiling to herself, and headed for the door.
"How old is she again?" asked Delphine, as soon as she was out of earshot. "She is awfully young to be in..."
"Not really," said Trey, his hand somehow finding hers and his fingers closing over her small hand. "She grew up too fast, Delphine. For someone like Sharie, she is never too young to fall in love." He reached up and touched her chin, causing her eyes to grow wide with immediate awareness, and she made no objection when he leaned closer and let his lips cover hers very, very softly.
****
Sharie and Carlos, over the next couple of days, were amused to watch Trey and Delphine grow more and more under the other's hypnotic spell. Privately, Sharie was delighted to watch her brother blossom in a way she had never before seen him do, and she suspected no one had seen him do since he fell in love with Nikita. His eyes had come to life in a way she had never before seen, and he smiled more, was a little more spontaneous. She did not know how much she herself was changing in that respect.
She also knew that, privately, he was still concerned about the risk he was taking, and worried. But he pushed it to the back of his mind, determined to give this new relationship a chance.
"Cassie is *finally* on her way back," said Carlos, looking over a message from Andros. "Gods, she has been gone for three days. I was expecting her to be gone for a day at most."
"She is taking advantage of her opportunity while she can," said Sharie. "And I cannot blame her. She and Phantom get to spend so little time together, any time at all is very important to them both."
"I can understand that," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "I feel the same way."
She was glad they were alone, for whatever he had unlocked in her the other day when that firey kiss stole all of her inhibitions, she had had difficulty retaining them since then when she was around Carlos. Her body burned every time he kissed her, like now as her lips found his, and it was becoming more and more difficult to control themselves.
Long seconds passed as they clung together, their lips scorching together before awareness penetrated her brain. "Carlos..." she gasped when he released her. "I think it is time we talked about some things. Like when we can no longer stop, for example?"
He blushed, releasing her. "Sorry, Querida. I have though about that, too, but I was not sure what to say to you. You are right, though. I don't want to take advantage of you, or what about pregnancy, if we are genetically compatible?"
She also blushed. "I cannot get pregnant, Carlos."
He looked shocked. "Are you going to be like your mother? Have difficulty bearing children?"
She shrugged. "I am not entirely sure about that, but that is not what I am talking about. I cannot get pregnant until I am nineteen years old. I won't even begin bleeding every month until I am eighteen."
He looked surprised. "I would never have guessed. You look like a woman in every other respect."
"Maybe so, but that last part...that is how Triforians are. Pregnancy is not a concern of mine right now, but I want to say that when you are entirely ready...I will be also. I know so."
Somehow, he could not doubt her words.
****
Early the next morning, after most of the other Earth guests had long gone the night before, warning sirens suddenly wailed all over the command base on Aquitar.
"What is going on?" asked Delphine, as she hurried in, followed by Sharie, Trey, and Carlos.
"Pirates, Delphine," said Cestro, looking up from his console. "A whole fleet, invading our system."
"Are they Divatox's minions?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Negative. They are of a type I have never seen before. And they are numerous."
"Ready the battlezords and fighter wings," she ordered. "It looks like we have quite a job ahead of us. They destroyed the greeting bouys at the edges of our system."
"Need help?" asked Trey and Sharie at the same time.
"It would be appreciated." said Delphine gratefully. "The more hands, the better."
"I can contact Andros, and we could be here shortly," said Carlos, unwilling to do nothing.
Delpine nodded and straightened her back. "It's morphin' time!"
And so it was arranged.
****
The fighting was fierce. Wave after wave showed up, and it took maximum effort on the part of all for the good side to win. Many times, all the Zords were jolted as they were the continual targets of the mysterious pirates.
Finally, just as the good guys gained an upper hand, the remaining fleet became desperate, and they resorted to a new tactic, activating a sort of strange long-range teleportation system, focusing it on whatever ranger happened to be in reach, teleporting their enemy to heaven-knew-where.
"No!" Cried Carlos as the third signal blipped off his scanners. Before they had managed to defeat them, Sharie, Trey, and Delphine all had vanished. "Madre de Dios, where could they have teleported to?"
"I cannot trace it!" answered Cassie from her station. "It obscured their signals somehow."
They were not oblivious to the frantic signals of the Aquitian Rangers as they tried to contact their missing teammate. Defeating the last of the pirates, a massive search effort was launched.
****
Delphine found herself materialized in a sort of cave tunnel. It was almost entirely dark, but she could see enough to know she was unmorphed.
*Where am I?* she thought, bewildered, as a hot, dry wind blew over her. The rather intense heat of it made her suddenly realize that she could be in worse trouble than she thought. She had not rehydrated since very early that morning, and she would need to within the next few hours, or...
Following the direction of the wind, Delphine started to walk, hoping it would lead to an exit of some kind, so she could get out of here and search for the water she so desperately needed. Hopefully, she would also find Trey, for he had vanished right before she had. Maybe Sharie also, for just before she had disappeared, she had noticed they had locked on the girl's warship as well.
As she walked, trying not to turn her ankles on the pitted ground. she tried her communicator, which she soon discovered was not functional. Her morpher was intact, so if an emergency arose, she could call upon her powers for help.
She also hoped that she was not on a desert world. For if it was, she might as well bid her life good-bye, for the chances of finding water would be close to nil.
****
In a different corridor of the long, winding cave, Trey found himself materializing and also unmorphed. Trying his communicator, he discovered, to his consternation, that it was useless. His morphers were online, so he had some protection, but he sensed no evil in this place. His teleporter was also useless.
In fact, he could sense almost nothing. That was strange, unless the atmosphere had something to do with it. Some planets did. He was only vaguely aware of two faint whispers, and it was not until he pushed his range to the limit that he recognized both. Gods, they were Delphine's and Sharie's! Whatever had stranded him here had gotten them, also.
He could not tell where they were, but Sharie's mental signal was fainter than Delphine's. That meant that she was either farther away or, heaven forbid, she was hurt. Hoping and praying with all his might that this was not the case, Trey set out to find his way out of this dark cave and find the two he loved the most in the universe.
As he walked, a hot, dry wind stole over him, stopping him in his tracks. Delphine! He did not know much about Aquitian physiology, but if they were on a desert world, she would be in big trouble, especially if she was lost where there was no water. She could die from dehydration within hours! Unwanted memory flooded him, and he tried desperately to push it back, praying that this nightmare would not happen to him again.
****
Sharie found herself teleported to the edge of a shallow canyon. *What happened*, she thought, as she saw that she was unmorphed and her communicator was not working. She saw no one else, and she sensed no evil. Her telepathic ability was being hampered by the atmosphere, but by extending her range somewhat, she was able to pick out two minds familiar to her by now, Delphine's and Trey's. They were coming from the direction in which the river was running, toward the mountains in the distance. She would have to move to the same direction if she was to find them.
There were few trees in sight, only the bunch crowded on each side of the river in places. A hot, dry wind swept over her, making her realize that in this semibarren land, Delphine would need water soon, lest she die. She was grateful the river was so near as she followed it downstream.
Thanks to the atmospheric interference, Sharie could not send a telepathic message to either one, though she thought that their own skills were strong enough to at least sense each other's at full limited range.
****
Hours passed. What Delphine had feared was coming to pass. She was now greatly weakened stumbling along the corridor. It was brighter now, she must be close to an exit, but she almost did not have the strength to go on. Every part of her body pained and protested her constant movement, but she forced herself to walk on.
She stumbled, causing her to fall to her knees. A sudden pain seized her middle, and she crumpled. Vaguely, she could sense emanations from Trey's mind, he knew she was getting weaker, and he was frantic.
Desperately trying to ignore the fire that burned every nerve ending of her body, she managed to get to her feet again, her chest heaving with the effort. Holding onto the cave walls, she stumbled on a short distance, until once again, her foot caught on a rock and she stumbled again. There was an audible rumble, and she barely managed to back up out of the way as a large pile of rocks barely missed her, but covered the passageway enough to ensure that she could not climb over it in her condition.
She could not get back up. She could only sag against the wall, closing her eyes as tears trickled down her face. She was surprised she had enough liquid left in her body for them. Pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head on them, alone with only the sound of her ragged breathing, she willed death to come quickly.
*Trey, I am so sorry for doing this to you....*
****
Not far away Trey, going as fast as he dared toward the light at the end of the tunnel, heard a loud rumble of falling rocks, and fear radiating from the mind of Delphine, whose mental link was growing weaker by the minute.
Complete terror and desperation seized him as the memories of a former helplessness radiated over him, and along with it, a sudden surge of strength. No! He must not let it ever happen again! This time, he had a chance, and he was going to do it if it killed him. If she and Sharie died, it would be his undoing.
He turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could toward the sound, bursting out of the end of his tunnel, seeing the exit to the cave in the distance. However, he also saw another tunnel entrance, the opening partially covered with rocks.
"Delphine?" he asked hesitantly, terrified that there would be no answer.
"T-Trey?" a weak voice answered. She was alive, but the extreme weakness of her voice spurned him on. Determinedly, he managed to scramble around the blockage at the narrow end, looking around frantically and finally spotting her, curled against the wall, almost all of her strength gone and too weak to stand.
"Delphine..." he said, managing to make his way over to her. He reached out and touched her arm. "Delphine, please, look at me."
"Trey?" She asked weakly. "Is that you?" She lifted her head, her eyes finding his in obvious relief. Her arms reached up and found their way around his neck as he clung to her tightly. "Gods, I thought you were a hallucination. I was starting to see things..."
"Don't talk like that," he begged, drawing back to look at her. She was white, trembling, and her chest was heaving with effort. Her skin was clammy and cold, despite the heat. "Look at you. We have got to get you out of here, before..."
"I don't have long, Trey," she whispered, touching his face. "Get out of here, save yourself..."
"No!" he exploded, in such a way, she was shocked. "Gods, Delphine, no! I won't let this happen again to someone I love! And I love you, Delphine, more than I or you could ever understand. I would never leave you alone like this!" She drew in a sharp breath when he suddenly pulled her close to him and kissed her with a white-hot passion, absolving any doubts in her mind that he would leave her. Despite her weakness, she found herself responding to his kiss, pressing closer as if drawing strength from him.
A moment later, he released her, picking her up as if she were a child. She gasped in surprise, but readily locked her arms around his neck. "Trey, are you sure about this?" she whispered faintly, leaning her head tiredly on his shoulder.
"*Yes*," it was said firmly. "There is an exit nearby," he said breathlessly, stumbling back over the blockage. "As soon as we get out of here, we must find water."
He managed to get over the blockage, which was more difficult with Delphine in his arms, and made toward the exit as fast as he could.
He got out in the open, where the hot sun beat down on him and nearly blinded them both with it's startling brightness. Delphine gasped at the intensity of the heat, then closed her eyes, hoping, but not really convinced, that Trey could find water to save her on time. There was not a cloud in the sky, chances of rain were nil.
She was growing limper and limper in his arms, her arms around his neck becoming increasingly loose. He felt his panic increase again as her breathing increased in difficulty as well.
Images flashed in front of his mind again, the doctor shaking her head while informing him Nikita was gone, neither he nor she could have done nothing more for her....
As he rounded a corner, Delphine went completely limp in his arms as dark depths claimed her.
"No!" he whispered fervently, hugging her to him. "I have a chance this time, Delphine. I will not let you down."
**** The one thing that was distracting Trey from total fear was the welcome sound of rushing water in his ears. There had to be a river nearby to produce that kind of roar, and indeed, he spied one in the distance as he rounded the corner.
"Come on, Delphine," he whispered to the limp form in his arms. "Just hold on for a few more minutes, please." There was no response, she was too far gone to hear him. Her breathing was becoming frighteningly shallow as her body started to shut down. He broke into a run, going for the river as fast as he dared.
Once he got there, he gently placed Delphine on the ground, realizing he knew next to nothing about their rehydrating process. DId they have to be awake to do it? He was not sure, but he would have to get her awake to do anything else.
*I have got to wake her up, first,* he thought. "Zeo Medkit!"
The emergency medical kit that his powers contained materialized in front of him. He opened it and took an empty bottle from it, and filled it with water. Praying that this would work, he supported the limp aquitian on his shoulder and held the container to her full lips, forcing the contents down her throat.
At first, she choked, but instinct kicked in almost immediately, for she started swallowing obediently as her body desperately absorbed the liquid. It was not, by far, even close to what she could survive on for long, but better than nothing.
After the container was empty, she stirred and moaned faintly, her brown eyes fluttering open and looking at him dazedly. "Trey?" she squeaked through parched lips.
He felt relief flood through him. Thank gods, it had worked. "We are by a river, Delphine, and I need you to force your legs to work. I do not know much about your rehydrating process, and I had to awaken you first. I will support you, but you must get up. Do you think you can?"
She nodded weakly, trying to make her limbs obey her commands to work, and they protested, sharp pains shooting through them as stubbornly insisted on refusing. Still, he managed to get them both to their feet ankle-deep in the water, her leaning heavily on his hard frame. Still, she sagged against him, barely having enough strenght to begin the rehydrating process of her own violation. Still, she managed as instinct helped, and a white shade came over her body as the process began, flooding her tissues with the life-giving liquid.
To his indescribable relief, he could feel the strength returning to her limbs, and she stopped leaning so hard on him and her breathing eased. Color returned to her face as the process ended, and she straightened herself, opening her eyes and looking into his, seeing in them a mixture of relief, love, and incredible pain. Hating to see it, she reached up and touched his face gently, no longer needing the support.
"Thank you," was all she managed to whisper before he suddenly caught her by surprise, pulling her close and his lips pressing more hotly and passionately against hers than she had ever before felt from him, mixed with a desperation she had felt hinted at but had never directly known the reason for. Her open mind also sensed that he wanted to tell her something he had been keeping from her, something that had caused him a great deal of pain. Even while responding with her own desperate urgency, she wondered at that. She had sensed it before but had not pressed him because of the pain it would cause.
"Delphine," he gasped upon releasing her. "I love you, never forget that. There is something I must confess to you, but I am not sure how you would take it."
"Tell me," she said at once. "I have known for awhile there was something you wanted to say, but you seemed so reluctant to say it."
He nodded, steeling himself for what he had to say. She was astonished at how much self-torture and pain filled his eyes. "A long, long time ago, Delphine, I met a young woman named Nikita..."
****
After he fell silent, she was also quiet a minute. Gods, no wonder he had been so afraid, so desperate to save her, like he could not save his first love. At times, she had almost been overwhelmed by his fear, of a strength and urgency that did not seem to have sufficent cause, but she had not known why. And no wonder it hurt him so much, having the woman he loved ripped from him like that. She was only the second person in his life that he had found love with, and she was surprised that he had waited for so long, for he loved intensly. Did it bother her that he had loved somebody else first? Not in the least, except that it caused him pain. And she could see why he would not want to tell her. It was very personal.
Her back had been turned to him as she contemplated this. Suddenly, she turned around and flung her arms around him, pressing her lips to his, catching him by surprise. It took a moment for his arms to come around her and crush her to him, and respond with the same passion.
"I think," she rasped, pulling away, "That Nikita would want you to be happy, Trey. You put yourself through two and a half melennia of self- torture for something you could not prevent. It is time for it to end completely."
"It does not bother you then?" he asked, his dark eyes imploring her, and wanting to believe.
She shook her head. "No. I love you, Trey." She took his hand and placed it on her chest, where he could feel her heartbeat. It was going at the same accelerated rhythm of his own. "Do you feel that? My heart beats when yours does. I can feel our souls touching. If I was upset by it, I would not feel this, now would I?"
"I love you, too," he said softly, eyes glittering. He pulled her fiercely to him and kissed her hard, fire raining down on both of them as passion quickly took over. His tongue quickly gained entrance to her mouth, and quite unconsciously, his hands started to roam her body. He could not help it....not when her mere presence was driving him officially insane......
Suddenly, Sharie's mental image, which had been nagging at the back of both of their minds, became a lot stronger. She was getting closer, and just in time to remind them not to lose control of their senses by the river. Reluctantly, they pulled apart.
"We have to find your sister." Said Delphine. "I can sense her also."
"It is coming from upriver," he said, taking her hand and straightening his tunic with the other. "she is close, thank goodness."
He did not add that he hoped his sister would say nothing about his near loss of control. She had almost certainly been close enough to sense what was going on...
****
She had sensed much as the hours passed, she mused as she continued walking toward the mountains. Delphine had grown weaker, and Trey had grown more frantic. Then he became almost desperate as she sensed Delphine's mental link about snap. Then a surge of hope from her brother, and Delphine growing stronger--they had obviously found the river right on time. Then came mental anguish from her brother, causing Sharie to cringe. What had happened? Then came a wave of understanding and determination from Delphine, and what Sharie sensed next made her stop in her tracks. What she felt suddenly bolting down her spine was...well, desire. It felt so weird, feeling it and knowing it had not emanated from her.
*Trey, you had better control yourself....* she thought, amused.
They did, for as their minds became clearer within her own, she knew their awareness of her had to become stronger also. They calmed themselves and continued to grow stronger as they grew closer, but she had had to stop for a full minute as she laughed. *Trey, you did it. I think things will work out just fine.*
****
"Delphine, Trey!" Came a shout. The pair looked up as they saw a welcome sight running down a hill toward them. It was Sharie, waving frantically as she ran to them.
"Lalinka!" exclaimed Trey, catching her in his arms and holding her tightly, grateful to see that she appeared unhurt. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine, and I am glad you two are also," she responded. "I was worried when I felt your mental link about snap, Delphine. I was glad when you grew stronger. It meant you had found the river." She did not mention what else she had sensed, and he seemed grateful she did not press the issue of what she had probably also sensed.
"Do your communicators work?" she asked instead.
They shook their heads as they continued walking the way Sharie had come.
"I expect all we can do is hope for rescue." said Trey, sighing. "I have no idea where we are."
Suddenly, an enormous roar split the air, and a huge black beast on two legs came bounding out of the trees and lunged at them. Everyone jumped in a different direction, trying to avoid the long, cruel-shaped claws and sharp teeth that the beast insisted upon wearing and flashing at them.
Roaring again, fearfully, the beast lunged at Sharie. With a couple of roundhouse kicks she managed to get the beast off her, but not before she felt a stinging scratch on her wrist from one of it's claws. She gasped in surprise, the scratch was not deep, but it stung and there was an odd yellowish liquid from the claws also.
The creature next lunged for her brother. Trey barely managed to leap out of the way in time. Sharie, thinking quickly, removed a knife from it's hidden sheath at her ankle and sent it flying through the air with a deadly accuracy. The knife buried itself in the creature's back, and it groaned, toppled forward, and lay dead in front of the river.
Trey was speechless. Silently he removed the knife from the creature's back, washing the blue-red blood off it in the river, then kicked the body into the river and watched it drift away. Finally, finding his tongue, he returned the knife to his sister.
"Lalinka, how did you do that? Even I was never taught to wield a knife like that."
"Uncle Marek and Daddy taught me. They are of Indian heritage, so they know such things." Sharie's face was growing pallid and she felt herself getting dizzy. "Trey..."
Her knees buckled so suddenly he barely had time to catch her before she hit the ground. "Lalinka!"
"The creature scratched me, on my wrist. It must have been poison, because I do not feel well." she squeaked as her breathing became shallow and rapid. Trey could only look at her in horror as seconds later, she went completely still as she slipped into unconsciousness.
His own face white, Trey gently eased Sharie to the ground. Feeling for a pulse, he saw a nasty scratch on her wrist, which was already festering. Picking up her other wrist, he felt for a pulse; weak and rapid. Her breathing was shallow and she was starting to wheeze as her airway clogged.
"Can you do anything?" asked Delphine worriedly.
"I am not sure," he whispered, trying to control his fear. Facing this twice in one day was not something he was sure he could handle. "Zeo Medkit!" He called upon it again.
He quickly took out a cloth and wet it in the river, placing it upon his sister's burning forehead as her fever surged.
"Delphine, could you hand me that packet of detoxifying agent?" he asked, filling a vessel with water. She obediently handed him the indicated envelope.
"This stuff is powerful," he said, mixing the powder with the water. "It neutralizes most poisons, or at least deadens their effects. Let's pray it works here." He was never so grateful for the emergency medical training he had forced himself to learn, but it did not still his fear or worry in the least. If he lost her...
Once he was done, he motioned to Delphine. "I am going to need your help. I have to force it down her throat, and I may need your help in case she chokes."
When he proceeded to do so, Sharie jerked and tried to turn her head away from the bitter mix, moaning with fever, but Trey persisted, forcing the antidote solution down her throat until the liquid was gone.
"Will she be all right?" asked Delphine worriedly. Within a few days, Sharie had become one of her closest friends, and she would hate to lose her.
"I don't know. Only time will tell. Even if most of the poison is deadened, Sharie will have to fight off the side effects, and there could even be long-term effects. We can only wait and see." It was taking all his effort to not turn and pound his fist against the nearest tree, but he held it in. Gods, how much more of this could he take before he exploded?
****
As it was getting dark, they had to set up camp (if you could call it that) by the river. Though they were exhausted, they chose to take turns keeping a watch over Sharie throughout the night.
****
The night was long. Trey and Delphine continued to take turns at Sharie's side, while the other would doze fitfully nearby. The other could only watch to make sure Sharie did not become worse.
Sharie was not having an easy time of it herself. Her color was grey- white, and her breathing was shallow and wheezy. Her fever was very high, no matter how much they bathed her burning body. At her worst, she was having delirious nightmares of the past, reliving her childhood kidnapping and when her mother had sent her away, and railing at the Dryseran who had been so cruel to her. She even relived her agony when the space station behind her had exploded, and she had thought her family gone.
That snapped Trey. He could not stand it any longer. Delphine, who had been awakened by Sharie's delirious cries, saw Trey sink down, burying his face in his hands and trying to stifle cries of agony, pain, and guilt. Delphine quickly realized that the past of the two in front of her was a lot more painful than either had ever spoken of. She got up and, without a sound, slipped her arms around him, offering what support she could until his shaking ceased, though she sensed that this was one story she could never get out of them.
About half an hour later, when dawn tinged the Eastern sky, and Trey had fallen into an exhausted sleep brought on by his emotional roller-coaster, Delphine heard a faint moan come from Sharie's lips as she shivered. Sweat broke out on her small, slim body as her fever receded suddenly.
Delphine quickly went over and laid a hand on her forehead, which was now cool. Her breathing had returned to normal, and that grey pallor of death was gone. She was only pale now, to Delphine's relief. The battle that the girl had fought all night, she had obviously won.
Just as Delphine was going to awaken Trey to tell him, Sharie moaned again, her eyes fluttering open to focus on Delphine, dazed.
"Sharie..." whispered Delphine. "Can you see me?"
Sharie nodded her head and started to sit up, but a look of sharp pain crossed her face as one hand came up to clutch her head.
"Headache?"
"Yes." The word was a whisper. Sharie managed to pull herself up to a semi-sitting position, looking around, Delphine suspected, for her brother. At that moment, the boy himself stirred and awoke.
Delphine quickly went to him. "She is awake, Trey, and lucid, too. She wants to talk to you."
He got up at once, his eyes lighting up in relief when he saw her in a sitting position now, pale and with shadows beneath her eyes, but otherwise looking fine.. His only thought at the moment was to kneel down and hug her now-cool body against his, and hold her like he would never let her go.
"I am sorry, Trey," she whispered, holding him tightly and feeling him tremble. Gods, she had not meant to do this to him....
"What?" he asked, pulling away to meet her gaze. "How much do you remember?"
"Everything. Including last night." She rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear the lingering blurriness out of them.
"How?" asked Delphine and Trey at once. "You were not exactly conscious, Lalinka." Trey added.
"I just did, my mind is that way. I felt your despair for example, Trey, and Delphine trying to comfort you, even when my fever was high and one part of my mind could not sense anything, the other could. I wanted to go to you, but I could not leave the strange world my mind was in."
At her words, Trey held her more tightly. And a few minutes later, they were never so glad to hear the sound of their communicators going off. Wherever they were, they had been found.
Help was on it's way.
****
Trey and Delphine were in her quarters on Aquitar later that evening.
"I have to leave in a couple of days," he sighed regretfully. "I will hate to go, I admit."
"We can arrange for other times to be together," she answered gently. She was sure of it.
"Do you think it would work? Do you want it to work?" he asked, drawing her close to him, and pleased to see her large eyes gitter in eager response.
"Yes," she said earnestly. "When two people are in love, it is what they try to do, right? We can only take one day at a time. A bond such as ours cannot be severed by a couple of light-years." She reached up and kissed him. "And, after all, we have all the time in the universe."
He grinned in response before crushing his lips to hers again. She pressed against him, their lips searing together in a firey heat. And she was ready, ready to take the next step, ready to have him teach her what love was about. And he easily understood what she wanted, and readily complied, for he sank down onto the nearby couch, she following him willingly, remembering to have the windows closed against outside eyes.
****
"What an adventure," said Carlos, as Sharie snuggled against him in the main room of her assigned quarters on Aquitar. "Looks like your brother and Delphine are off to a good start."
"He realized that, despite what happened, he was willing to do this," she told him, sighing as his fingers idly ran through her hair. "It also made me realize the same thing, Carlos, about us. If you are willing to take the risk, then I guess I am, also."
"Need you even ask?" he responded, turning her face him and pulling her up so her eyes were level with his. "Does Cassie need to ask Phantom? Does Ashley need to ask Andros anymore? We have the universe, Querida, right within each other. It is that way with love."
She nodded in complete understanding, but the thought was gone as quickly as it came, for his demanding kisses stole all of her reasoning.
Love's Pledge, part 1 By ZeoViolet Teaser:The pledge and promise of love is very strong, as many people discover....
Some inner instinct made Sharie Triesta suddenly aware of the world around her. Her large purple eyes fluttered open, and stared, almost unseeing, into the blackness that penetrated her room, in the large house that had been left to her upon the death of her adoptive parents.
She sat up and ran a hand over her hair, brushing her long golden curls off her face and looking for her digital clock. It was early, well before five. She smiled to herself and pushed back the covers, scooting to the edge of the bed and off it. Unless she was sick or otherwise beat, she usually got up at this time of day. She could recall few things that were more gorgeous than a sunrise on Earth.
As she stood up and walked toward the bathroom adjoining her room, she could barely feel the faint tendrils of her brother's mind brushing the edges of her consciousness. He was still asleep. Without a hitch, she pushed up the barriers of her mind further, blocking his presence. Such training, drilled into her head from baby hood to not enter the mind of another person (especially for someone of her mental strength), still rode strong, and she stuck by it at all times, unless emergency dictated otherwise.
After she had showered and dressed, she wandered to the windows of her room, pulling the drapes so they opened. The eastern sky was just beginning to turn grey, and the faint light shone on the various photographs hanging from the walls of her room, photos that she had started to add since the day she had been adopted by the kind folks who had adopted her, and called her their little girl...
Only one photograph was before that. It was one of her and her brother, Trey, taken only a few weeks before her childhood kidnapping that had started the whole mess of her ending up on Earth. He was holding a five- year-old Sharie in his lap, arms around her protectively, while her small arms were reached up around his neck in a gesture of complete trust, smiles on both of their faces, which was how the camera had captured them. Having thought him dead all these years, it was one of the few reminders of him she had had....until exactly one week ago.
Thanks to the Lightstar Rangers, for whom she would be forever grateful to, she had been reunited with the brother she had thought forever lost to this realm of existence. Trey, Lord of Triforia, and the Gold Ranger, to her surprise, was the long-lost brother she had always dreamed she would see again...but had never imagined it could come into reality.
And Carlos...he had been the driving force behind it. She had sensed he hated to see her in pain, but she had never considered that he might try to find out what was tormenting her...and had discovered that the Zeo Violet Ranger and the Zeo Gold Ranger were brother and sister. And he had helped to bring them together. He had willingly, and without complaint, done so much for her, just because he had fallen in love with her....just like she had fallen in love with him. And, despite what had happened in her past, she was no longer afraid to love someone.
Sharie stared out the window for a minute, contemplating this, and watching the dim grey in the East begin to brighten. She roused herself and slipped downstairs on small, quiet tiptoes so she would not disturb her brother. The last week with him had been wonderful, but she was not about to resume her childhood habit of waking up super-early and dragging him, grumbling, outdoors to watch a sunrise, Triforia or no.
She stopped by the main household computer to check her e-mail Ever since returning from a deep-space mission that had trapped her there for eight months, her e-mail load had been staggering as she reestablished contact with people who had thought her gone.
"Hi, Sharie!" greeted an e-mail from Dex, another alien whom had made his home on Earth. Dex was a prince himself, like she (technically, anyway) was a princess. He was from Edenoi, and was on Earth trying to defend his adoptive family's town against Count Dregon, his evil uncle. She had met him about a year before, when she visited his town with an aunt. Dex knew she was a Ranger, but at the time, she had sworn him to secrecy.
"Not much trouble out here," the E-mail continued. "Things have been pretty quiet. Albee says he is going to go insane if something does not happen soon--even a monster attack. I sometimes believe that I would rather go insane. I am Dex, a person, not Masked Rider, a mythical superhero. By the way, Ferbus says hi, and to come by and visit soon. I just think he really likes your chocolate pudding."
Sharie laughed, clapping a hand over her mouth to avoid awakening her brother, who was almost as light a sleeper as she. She quickly e-mailed Dex a letter back, telling him that maybe soon she could squeeze in time to see him. And as for Ferbus and her chocolate pudding--the little animal's birthday was coming up soon, maybe she could teleport some to him, or something of that nature.
"Well, Sharie, glad to finally hear from you again!" said an e-mail from Chandra, an old friend of hers. "Where have you been? On exotic travels again? I want to hear about your trip. Call me soon! 'Bye!"
Sharie smiled, but bit her lip. She could not tell Chandra where she had been. Chandra thought she was an ordinary human girl who was too smart for school and liked to travel. And Sharie *had* traveled the world a lot, but by methods few would expect...she had to do her best to sidestep such questions, but this one would take some pretty fancy footwork. Sharie hated liars, but with her profession, disguising the truth was often necessary.
She sent a brief reply to Chandra, saying that yes, she was back and they could talk later, then turned her attention to a third e-mail.
She was shocked when she saw the seal of Aquitar where the subject line should have been, and the date sent. That was it. She dragged her mouse over and clicked on the icon, and a box appeared, in high Triforian, telling her to identify herself. Sighing, Sharie typed in her full name and title, along with a password commonly used when contact was established between different planets, a security precaution.
The computer recognized her response and opened the message. Sharie found herself, staring in surprise, at an invitation to her and Trey, from the former Blue Ranger, Billy. He was getting married soon, and he had invited Trey and her to his wedding to Cestria.
*Why me? I have never met Billy personally,* she realized. Sometimes it was hard to remember how fast news traveled. Billy and Trey had been good friends, it must have been simple courtesy to not only invite him, but his long-lost sister as well.
Sharie shuddered momentarily, remembering what she had been told about the last time her brother had been to Aquitar. The genetic incompatibility he had had with the atmosphere of Aquitar had splintered him into the three basic components of his soul. It had taken weeks to get him rejoined. Such an occurrence was extremely rare for a Triforian, and reversing the effect was even harder. Sometimes, it had not worked with the individual, and they remained splintered for the rest of their lives.
*But not anymore,* she thought to herself, staring at the invitation. Billy must have also heard about the new program sweeping Triforia, since the cure had finally been found to prevent them ever again from suffering the agony of splintering.
Sharie herself had known about it for some time. She had long ago realized that she was different when she had accidentally found herself on a planet similar to Aquitar, which should have done the same thing to her. But it had not. She felt as solid and in control of herself when she left as she had ever felt before then.
She had remembered that the night before her mother had sent her away into the unknown, she had injected her with something that had made her ill for a few hours, but had never understood why. It was not until a few years later that she had discovered what her mother had done to her.
*So actually, my own mother discovered it,* she thought. This was true. Her mother, Jeanette, had injected her with a serum that messed with certain enzymes in her DNA, forever preventing her splintering process to start. This was the treatment the whole of Triforia had sought after ever since their 70-million year civilized history began. When Sharie had returned to Triforia the day after she and Trey had been reunited, she had shocked everyone present with the news.
*Flash*
"But why would she not tell anybody?" asked Troy, a close friend of Trey's. "Jeanette was not only the former Lady of Triforia, she was a scientist. She should have had an obligation to tell this to the rest of the people. But she only used *you*, Sharie, like a test subject!"
Sharie stood and faced him squarely, her purple eyes locking with his. She'd remembered Troy well from her young childhood; to hear him talk like this was certainly unlike him. He was probably too shocked; Jeanette had been almost a second mother to him in some ways. "Did it occur to you that she had discovered it only shortly before the war started? Would she have dared to let this news out and possibly let the Dryserans get ahold of our weakness? The main reason she tried it on me was because she did not know where I was going!"
Troy pressed his lips together for a moment, his shocking blue eyes shadowed, as he considered her words--and the blood suddenly rushed to his face, and before she could blink, he was offering a heartfelt apology.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, I--It's just, you're here, after so long, we thought you dead, and to hear that she--"
Sharie held up her hand, stopping the flow of his words. "I understand. Nobody knew she'd decide to take the drastic actions she did. But....I know it from her point of view, I read it. That journal--she might as well have been speaking to me directly with it. Even after all that's happen....I understand what she must have gone through herself."
"Can you duplicate it?" asked Trey, who had been listening intently. He did not mention that sometimes his heart still twinged with mixed emotions, not really anger anymore--not since reading his mother's journal--but along the lines of more disturbing thoughts, such as why she had done it the way she had, without even trying to keep them together first.....instead of immediately ripping them all apart....
"Yes, I can. I have duplicated it in the past, though it remains unused. I could easily duplicate some more and show other scientists how. Our people can be spared the worry of splintering once and for all."
"And there are few side effects?" He recalled the faintly sick look on Sharie's face when she had told him that the side effects were not numerous, but most certainly unplesant.
"Most who get it will become ill for a few hours. That is the only obvious sign while their DNA is tampered with."
"And it sounds so easy," muttered Troy. "Triforians are supposed to be experts in the medical field. We should have discovered it long before this."
"You know that we have strong inhibitions against tampering with our bodies like that. We think that we are fine just the way we are, and I do not argue with that. But every single Triforian will agree with us here that this is for the best."
And it had been. Most of Triforia by now had the cure, or were getting it. Soon, within weeks, no Triforian would ever have to worry about splintering again. Preparations were being made to carry it to the space colonies of Triforians in deep space, also...
*Flash*
Sharie was jerked out of her thoughts by several thumps emanating from upstairs in her wing of the house. She smiled, knowing that it was coming from Trey's bedroom. He was awake and attempting to get dressed in unfamiliar earth clothes. Mornings were the only time of day he tended to be so clumsy, and dressing in restricting, unfamiliar jeans were just adding to his misery. She could even sense his frustration on the outer fringes of her thoughts.
She had a difficult time hiding her smile when he came downstairs at last, his usually composed face drawn in a frown and his cheeks flushed from effort, his dark hair falling forward on her forehead.
She was unable to keep all the amusement out of her eyes, though, and he caught them glittering with suppressed mirth.
"I hardly see how this is funny, Lalinka," he said, bending over and kissing her forehead, calling her by his old pet name for her. "It is a wonder how human men stand it. Are they not built like we are in that general area?"
"Yes," she said, finding it harder and harder to control herself. A grin split her face despite her efforts. "I just expect they are used to it. I am."
He chuckled and hugged her from behind, looking at what she had on the computer screen. "What is that?" he asked, before what he read himself registered. "Oh, my..."
"I expect news traveled fast." said Sharie. "It is not every day the Lord of Triforia gets his sister back and has a cure for splintering in the works. Probably it was Tommy who told Billy all about you and me. They correspond often."
"Since when did you meet Tommy?"
"Yesterday. Ran into him at the track when Uncle Marek took me and my cousins Toby and Tami there. They got back from that medical conference while you were on Triforia yesterday, and the twins were bored. You could meet them today, if you like."
Trey nodded. Marek and Marisha Thoene, with their nine-year-old deaf twins, Toby and Tami Lynne, were mostly what was left of the close-knit family that had adopted Sharie. They were her aunt and uncle, her legal guardians, and the twins were Sharie's cousins.
Trey smiled. "I would love to meet them, Lalinka. They have been very good to you, I can see. But what about...this?" he gestured to the message.
"Why not go? If Billy is inviting even you, then he surely must have invited many other former rangers as well. And I would love to see Aquitar. I heard it is a beautiful place."
"It is..." Trey was suddenly quiet, and he trailed off the sentence slowly. Sharie did not have to look at him twice to know what he was thinking, even without a mind probe. She had always been able to read people better than books.
"So you want to accept?"
He shook himself out of it. "Sure, why not? I would enjoy meeting some of the other Rangers of Earth again, as well as seeing Billy."
"Probably also to see Delphine," Sharie murmured under her breath, forgetting that her brother was close enough to hear her words.
"Sharie...." he had heard. He turned her around in her chair to face him. "How did you know about that? Did you read my mind? I never said...."
She looked so shocked at his suggestion that he immediately felt contrite. "I am sorry, Lalinka," he murmured, hugging her suddenly. "I did not mean that quite the way it sounded."
"It is all right," she replied, not angry at him in the least. "I do not do that, Trey. What was drilled into my head as a child still is strong in my mind. Especially growing up around people unused to mental skills like we are used to."
"I suppose I assumed differently since you did grow up among them," he said softly, silently cursing himself for even thinking it. "I should not have thought you would do it."
*Only in emergencies, usually, Trey,* her mind echoed into his. *Although you and I used to talk this way all the time.*
*It is convienent,* he admitted. *And I still enjoy it, you know.* he glanced out the window, the eastern sky was purple and pink. *Want to go watch the sunrise, Lalinka?*
*Sure,* she said without hesitation. Out loud, she added, "But I thought you would sleep in for another hour or so. You used to dislike my bounding into your room and bouncing on your bed until you awoke, hollering to get dressed so we could watch Triforia's sunrise. I was not going to start that again."
"Maybe you did irritate me when I was first jerked out of a sound sleep, but by the time I got outside, I had forgotten about it," he assured her. "How are sunrises on Earth?"
"One of the most beautiful sights you could ever imagine," she promised him as they wandered outdoors. "I am not sure how you would take my admitting this, but sometimes they even outdo Triforia's dazzling sunrises and sunsets."
"We shall see," he grinned, following her down a path that led to the personal lake on her property. The skyline across the lake was clear, perfect for watching a sunrise.
It was a gorgeous morning, a fresh breeze ruffling the tight, curly bangs on Sharie's forehead. She yanked the scrunchie out of her hair that had been holding it in a coiled braid, and let her long hair loose, flowing past her shoulders in long ringlets to her waist. If there was one sensation she loved, it was wind through her thick hair.
Her brother could not help grinning as he watched her. Yet another of her childhood habits had survived, he mused. Quite a bit had changed, but she was still his Lalinka.
There was a bench nearby, they went over and sat on it. Sharie brought her knees up to her chin against the morning breeze, wrapping her slender arms around them. She turned her purple gaze to the eastern sky, where the few clouds were streaked with brilliant arrays of purple, pink, orange, and yellow. It was a dazzling display of color, pulsing with the life the sun's light brought to the planet each day.
Trey, too, was captivated when the dazzling swirl of colors became even brighter. He could do nothing but stare as, creeping over the edge of the horizon, casting its brilliant light everywhere it touched, the pulsing ball of liquid fire came, ever rising, streaking the clouds with even more brilliance in a stunning array of color that was indescribable by words alone. It was pure emotion, powerful and moving as the colors in the eastern sky danced before his very eyes, the pink and orange clouds faintly encircling the rising globe like a magical halo, glowing with pureness and beauty. It was, truly, a sight breathtaking to behold.
Trey was stunned, completely at a loss for words, if not emotions. Sharie had been right. It was, perhaps, the most dazzling sight he had ever seen. The sight of the pulsing ball of liquid, pulsing to an inner beat that harmonized with the planet he was on, and its effect on what went on around him, was so incredible, he could not describe the effect it had on him.
When the sun was high enough in the sky so that it became it's normal deep blue hue, he finally was able to turn to look at his sister. She did at exactly the same moment, and their eyes locked. It was a moment of shared feeling, a moment of complete harmony within the universe. For a minute, evil ceased to exist, and there was the strong urge to wish that this moment of clarity could last forever.
****
The twinkling of an unusually bright star had Billy's attention, as he breathed in the chill of early morning on Aquitar. He was on Hope Island, a tiny island in the Nyruvana Ocean expanse. He was glad the Aquitians understood his restless Wolf spirit and allowed him to come to the surface whenever he wished.
The ultra bright star was the other sun in Auqitar's two-star system. It was so distant it was prominent in the sky but otherwise had little effect on the gorgeous ocean world he was residing on. The other sun, the prominent one in the Aquitian sky, was due to arise in the East at any moment, reducing the brilliant light of the distant sun to a dull glow, all that was visible in Aqutiar's daytime.
The breeze ruffled Billy's sandy curls and made him shiver slightly. He drew his jacket more tightly around his broad shoulders and wrapped his arms loosely around his knees Staring at the distant sun thoughtfully. Ancient Aquitian legend had it that the star had prophetic powers, one only had to observe the star and ask a silent question. After a time, often the person would instinctively know his or her answer.
*Will my future with Cestria be as wonderful as I envision it?* he asked it silently. Many Aquitians now viewed it as more of a fanciful notion than anything else, but being a deeply spiritual people as well as scientific, it went undisputed aloud. And Billy could not help himself here.
"The sky is beautiful this morning, is it not?" asked a soft voice. Billy turned his blue-green gaze from the pulsing star and set it on the lovely Aquitian who had stolen his heart, and in turn, gave him her own for him to protect and cherish. Looking at her now, he knew that his silent question to the distant sun had given him the answer he wished for.
"Glad you could join me, Cestria," he said quietly, holding out his hand. She took it and sat down beside him. A breeze came up and she shivered, and he noticed she wore no jacket. Without a word, he silently removed his from his shoulders and placed it around her slender ones.
"Is that better?" he asked. She smiled her sweet smile on him, flooding him with an undescribable warmth, and an intensity of love that still surprised him.
"Yes. I did not realize it would be so chilly. I should not deprive you of your covering," she said, blushing and leaning up against him.
"Do not worry about that," he assured her, wrapping his arms around her. "And yes, the sky is beautiful. I love to come up here sometimes and watch it. It is too difficult to be seen underwater."
"I understand that," she said. "It is irresistible. It is the main reason I worked at Eternal Falls for so long. I love the open sky."
"Then I hope you will not mind if I want you to come up here every now and then, after we are joined," he said as she shivered again. He ran his warm hands up and down her slender arms, the friction helping to ward off the chill. "We had better get you a jacket, one that will withstand the morning chill better. I am more used to cool climates. You are used to tropical seas."
"I know what might help," she said, turning merrily twinkling hazel eyes to his. He looked in them and understood her meaning. The grin faded from his face as he leaned down, gently kissing her, his firm lips covering her soft ones.
She was right, she always was. A slow fire began to course through his body and hers, and as their passion ignited, he pulled her tightly against him, kissing her harder. The strange thought crossed his mind that Aquitians were likely similar to Triforians and humans in one way: It was said that they were insatiable. Of course, he thought dimly, *that* he well knew as fact...but the last of his thoughts shattered as he felt himself losing control. Just in time, another breeze, even more cold, blasted over them with enough force to quickly bring them back from the place where their inflamed senses had taken them.
He pulled back gingerly and looked into her eyes. "Later," he whispered breathlessly, his eyes glittering a promise. She nodded as he pulled her to her feet, watching Aquitar's own colorful sunrise before teleporting back down to the underwater compound that housed the small village where he, Cestria, and the Aquitian Rangers lived.
Delphine looked up, clearly amused as the two lovers came in on flashes of blue, their eyes glittering with suppressed passion, their cheeks flushed, and their hands clasped in a rather un-aquitian gesture. She said nothing on the matter, only gave them a brief greeting, which they returned before heading off in the general direction of Cestria's quarters.
Delphine only sighed and smiled as they vanished, idly picking up the guest list to their joining in a few days. She was very happy for the pair, who deserved it more than they could understand. Not only were they in love, they had the passion that went along with it.
Delphine never voiced to anyone that she was a little envious of what they had found. She was three thousand years old, and she had never fallen in love. Cestria was barely a century old, quite young, and she had found it so soon. Delphine was not worried about her being too old to find love, but she did wonder if it was ever going to happen. Only one person had ever stirred feelings in her heart beyond friendship. A young man who, like Billy, was not even of her world.
It was his gaze that had drawn him into her heart, making it thump in a fast and furious pace that belied her usual calm, complacent nature. Though he had been unwell at the time, while Cestro had been readying the emergency transmission to Earth, the man's eyes and hers had locked, for the longest thirty seconds of her life. As she had supported him, making sure he would not collapse, her breathing had nearly stopped entirely, and while Cestro was gone, complete silence had reigned. She had almost been disappointed when he had to be hustled into stasis shortly thereafter, to save him from further ravages of genetic incompatibility. Her parting words to him, "Good luck, Trey of Triforia, and may the power protect you," had been more heartfelt than anyone could have guessed out of the quiet, efficient leader of the Aquitian Rangers.
Since then, she had spoken to him occasionally, during the time he was splintered, or to be more specific, she had spoken to Trey of Heart. The very part of his soul that had reached out to her and touched her own heart in the first place, she was sure.
*Come to terms with it, Delphine, you are infatuated with an impossibility,* she tried reminding herself, idly beginning to study the list. Tanya Sloan, Adam Park, Thomas Oliver, Trini Kwan...these were names of people she either knew personally or had heard plenty about from Billy. He wanted his old friends at his joining, and most had agreed to come, the few who had not responded as yet he was still trying to get ahold of.
She nearly dropped the list in shock when a distinctive name jumped out at her. "Trey Triesta, Lord of Triforia." She thought for a minute, trying to remember how Billy had known the Gold Ranger...oh, yeah, he had been to Triforia also, trying to help the young leader to rejoin the three parts of his soul so he could reclaim the Golden Powers that Jason temporarily held.
*But how could he come--* the thought instantly vanished when she saw the next name on the list, one she was only vaguely aquatinted with from third- hand stories. "Sharie Triesta, Princess of Triforia."
Delphine bit her lip and thought, trying to remember what Billy had told her, from what *Tommy* had told him. And *Tommy* had heard mostly from Earth's current Rangers...
Trey had a long-lost sister, she recalled hearing. With incredible powers of Zeo origin. She had grown up on Earth, thinking her family dead...until recently. And she knew a cure for disabling a Triforian's splintering, since the race hated what it could do to them....and it was even at that moment being taken care of, somehow. So if Trey ever again stepped foot on Aquitar, he would be pretty much safe from 'genetic incompatibility.'
There was a checkmark by both their names, they had obviously agreed to come. The thought of seeing him again sent her heart pounding. Once again, she tried to shake it off as impossible. They were from two different worlds, both power rangers. She was leader of her team, he was leader of his *world*...how could they possibly make it work? ****
The doorbell chimed, sending a clear melody through the house instead of the traditional 'ding-dong', which, Sharie had explained to Trey, she really disliked. He followed warily behind her as she went to answer the door, and was more than a little surprised when it opened and she was pounced upon by two children with midnight-dark hair. He relaxed, though, when she hugged them back, strong enough to easily lift both slender frames off the ground. He was convinced of who they were when she pulled back and moved her hands in the Universal Sign Language, for her cousins, Toby and Tami Lynne Thoene, were deaf.
The twins were the same size, rather tall for their age, with straight black hair and eyes of an unusually dazzling golden color. Not brown and not yellow, but gold. They glittered with an intelligence equaling that of adults, Sharie had told him, probably to make up for the fact that they generally lived in silence, an inherited trait from their grandparents.
The boy was quite handsome, a well-built body on a nine-year-old frame, with firm features and a heart-shaped face that promised a future ladykiller, his unusual golden eyes adding to the effect.
His twin sister, resembling him so strongly, had that same promise. Her face and eyes were much like his, only with the vaguely softer angles since she was a girl. Her frame was more slender, but she carried herself in such a way that said that she was no doubt as strong as her brother. She was a very pretty little girl who would have all the men swooning after her one day.
Behind the children were two adults, whom Trey guessed as being their parents and Sharie's legal guardians, Marek and Marisha Thoene. Marek had blue-black hair and copperish-red skin, high cheekbones, and snappy black eyes, all terribly handsome features of which hinted strongly at his Native American heritage.
Marisha was also quite tall, like her husband. Her eyes blazed as golden as her hair, which curled nearly as tightly as Sharie's. She had high cheekbones also, but much paler skin and a heart-shaped face, large eyes, and a winning smile that also somehow strongly resembled her adopted niece's. Even to the way she had a certain air about her--Sharie had obviously adopted much from this woman, and her sister, Sharie's deceased adoptive mother.
The two adults greeted Sharie with much warmth, and she hugged them back tightly, making it plain how fiercely close she was to them.
"Come on in," she told them. "There is someone I want you too meet." She closed the door behind them and directed their gaze to the silent occupant of the room. "I want you to meet my brother, Trey."
****
The twins were silent as they gazed upon the brother Sharie had told them so much about, no matter how hard it had been for her to say it. Trey came forward silently, perfectly aware of the intense gaze of the entire family. Marisha especially, seemed to be sizing him up, he suspected, determining his worthiness after having been separated from his sister for so many years.
Suddenly, she straightened her spine and held out her hand, palm up in what was, to Trey's surprise, an old Triforian greeting gesture. To his further surprise, she spoke in fluent High Triforian. "Greetings Trey, Lord of Triforia. Welcome to Earth, and as long as you are here, you are perfectly welcome in my home or Sharie's, wherever you would stay."
As he lifted his hand and placed it against hers, twining their fingers to complete the greeting, he could not help but marvel at her fluency. Her accent was a little strange, due to the difficulty of the Triforian tongue, but it was plain Sharie had taught her well. "I thank you, Miss--excuse me, Mrs. as it is on your world, Mrs. Thoene, for your generous hospitality."
She continued to look him in the eye with her intense, shrewd golden gaze. He almost expected her to try and read his mind, but those talents did not come so easily to humans, he remembered. Still, she seemed to see right through him, to the core.
She must have liked what she saw, for she suddenly relaxed, giving him a smile of charming intensity. Marek also relaxed visibly, holding his hand up and making a similar greeting, in a similar accented tone.
"We were surprised to learn you were alive," he said, choosing his words carefully. "It came as a shock to our Sharie here, you understand. I hope you forgive our earlier stiffness."
"It is understandable, there is nothing to forgive," he assured them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little boy, Toby, turn to his father and move his hands with rapid-fire intensity, asking, "*he* is the Gold Ranger, Daddy?" His large golden eyes widened, dramatizing the effect.
Trey smiled slightly, tapping the boy on the shoulder to get his attention. Sharie obviously hid little from her close family if they knew this fact.
The boy turned, lifting a golden gaze to Trey's dark ones. His sister, Tami, joined him, while from a distance, Sharie watched in amusement. Trey moved his own hands and signed with perfect fluidity. "Yes, Toby, I am the Gold Ranger." He spoke aloud as he said this, for the benefit of the listening audience.
"Cool," the boy signed. "If it is not asking too much--can I see the Pyramidas sometime? I only saw it on TV when a cameraman caught it sailing through the atmosphere."
Trey nodded. "Yes, sometime I will take you and your sister to see it, if it is all right with your parents." he shot a quick glance to Sharie and Marisha. When he saw the answering smile on Marisha's face, he knew his attention to the children had won her over completely.
"Of course it is all right," she said. "I would not mind seeing it myself, although Sharie has a similar vessel."
Trey's eyebrows raised. That he had *not* known. "You have a pyramid vessel?" he asked his sister.
She blushed, but nodded slowly. "Yes, I do. It is similar to yours, but it may be more powerful in some respects. And when it is active, it glows a purplish hue. I have only used it twice, though. You would not find too many lists of sightings. And it is not called the Pyramidas. It is the Pyramida."
****
It was later when Sharie said she had to go shopping for things. "Trey, you need some clothes to help you blend in better on Earth. You cannot just go with your replicator, it has a limited range of styles. And I desperately need to go shopping for food items, as you can see. Eight months gone sort of limits my selection."
He tried to back out of it, large crowds still made him uncomfortable. "They use money here, Lalinka. I have seen it, it is certainly not of the kinds *I* have around."
"You may not have it, but I do. Besides, if you are going to spend any time on Earth, there are a few things you need to learn, like how to drive, how to *use* money, and how to use a telephone, besides learning how to shop here on Earth."
Blushing, he backed down. She was right, since she did not plan to leave earth and make a permanent home on Triforia anytime soon. She had her old quarters on her home planet, but it would take awhile to really call it home again. She had grown up on Earth, it had been her home the most important years of her young life. And years enough to ensure it would remain that way, even legally, since she had been adopted.
The twins begged to go along, and Sharie, who had missed them terribly when she had been gone for so long, agreed. Besides, she knew they were curious about Trey. They were beginning to like him, he paid attention to them and spoke to them as equals, not as dimwitted children who could not hear.
"I heard your parents speak it," he remarked to Tami as they headed for Sharie's minivan. "Do you know High Triforian?"
"We can read and write it," she answered with her small, graceful fingers. "But of course we cannot hear it, except in our heads when Sharie uses her mind to talk to us."
He was surprised. He had thought Sharie kept out of the minds of Earth people whenever possible. "She does that?"
"Sure she does. She does it because we like it, and she taught Toby and I how to do it, so we don't have to sign to each other as much. She taught all of us. She also says any human could do it if they would lay aside their fears and prejudices."
Trey had to admit to himself that this was true. Humans could do so much more if they would lay aside their fear and hatred that veiled their minds from the truly wonderful things they were capable of. Weren't all the supposed psychics and such in human society proof of what they could do?
He did not dwell on it long, though. He gasped in surprise when Sharie turned on the "minivan", and he felt the motion beneath his feet. Travel on the Pyramidas, and even automobile equivalents on Triforia, were silent, with no motion to be felt. This....this....contraption was unsettling, and he tightened his fingers on the sides of the seat, going pale as he tried to get used to the feeling.
*Are all....vehicles like this, Lalinka?* he sent to her weakly.
She glanced at him, a slightly worried frown on her face. *Is it bothering you too much, Trey? You never were the type for motion sickness.*
*No, it is not that, it is just...a little disturbing. I am not used to it.* Sharie decided to accept this at face value, seeing as how his face was not yet turning pale, or worse.....greenish.
*You will, don't worry. Wait until you get into an airplane.* she gave him a faint smirk, and he gradually relaxed. It did not seem to bother his sister, or the two children.
****
This was *shopping*?! No, it had to be a nightmare, a bad dream. He had worn weird clothes before, but Sharie had him in and out of fitting rooms so many times his head spun. Though she usually dressed casual or neatly, he discovered she had a dramatic flair for design, and were choosing things that showed him off to his best possible advantage, like form-fitting black and blue jeans, tight shirts that showed off the considerable amount of muscle he had, and other t-shirts that had his arms bare. Many were unusual to him, except the basic designs of the shirts and sleeveless tees. The only reassuringly familiar things were the basic black-and-gold hues she chose to prevent the effects of color withdrawal.
Her choices were having a positive effect on the local female population; several times when he stepped out of the dressing rooms, red-faced from effort and embarrassment, any girl or woman within eyeshot turned to give him a *very* appreciative once-over, absorbing the sight of tight muscles, a firm stomach, long legs, and other well-endowed areas. Many smiled flirtatiously, causing him to blush further, smile quickly, and duck back inside of the fitting room in acute embarrassment, with Sharie grinning knowingly and the twins cracking up with their silent laughter every time he closed the door.
The only thing he flatly refused was shorts, she warned him that it was only early summer and he would definitely need them before long. He resisted, and she sighed, determined to wear him down. She had done it before, she usually won in a battle of wills like that.
Things only got worse for the poor boy when she dragged him, quite unwillingly, to the underclothes department. Trey nearly cringed, at least she did not make him try *these* on. He looked askance at the socks, readily accepted the undershirts since they looked like what he was used to, and looked shocked when she whispered the purpose of jockstraps. They looked...uncomfortable, compared with their Triforian equivalents. He only quickly nodded his head and walked quickly away, trying not to associate himself with that particular area again. Sharie followed, along with the snickering twins, although all inwardly felt sorry for him.
"I had to get used to it, just like you," Sharie assured him as they headed toward the car. "It just got easier with time."
****
Shopping for food did not seem too bad, so he thought. She bought all sorts of weird products in strange containers, with even stranger names like yogurt, jell-o, macaroni, and windex.
When they rounded one corner, though, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him rapidly by a particular place. "If you are wise, don't look," she hissed. "This is the meat department."
He saw it, though, it was too strongly in the corners of his vision. He clenched his eyes shut and turned his head, feeling the blood drain from his face and his stomach somersault. Surely it was one of the few remaining indications of a human's barbarian nature...
Sharie finally slowed. "We are past it, brother mine. You can open your eyes now."
Tentatively, he did. The meat counter was nowhere in sight, they were in an aisle with rows and rows of cans.
"Canned food," she explained. "Stuff lasts for years." And although some of the containers contained meat products, it was not as horrifying as the sight of slabs of meat lying on a counter, when only days before it had been a living, breathing animal...quickly, he shoved the thought from his mind.
It was the last trip, and he sighed when they got back in the van to go home.
*Lalinka*, he thought at his sister. *I am not going shopping with you again. Ever. That is a promise.*
*Oh, yes you will,* she responded instantly. *You need to get used to this, I told you that. You must not make anyone suspicious, you know.*
He sighed, knowing that she was right. Especially if he found himself in a situation on Earth when he was alone, he needed to know what to do. Turning his mind from the subject, he entertained the twins until they got home, and by the time they were there, he had won them over completely, and he had to admit, they had won him over, too. They adored him, Tami especially worshipped him and looked up to him like an older brother, her large golden eyes practically glowing in delight when he turned to speak to her with his hands--or with his mind.
****
"What is on your mind?" asked Carlos as he sat nearby his girlfriend, watching her idly write in the type of journal she had used since her earliest days of life.
"A lot of things," she mused. "I will be going to Aquitar tomorrow, with Trey, as you know."
It was the next morning. Trey had already left for a special meeting on Triforia, Sharie had declined to come. Seeing her homeworld after so many years still unsettled her to a significant degree.
"I know," he said quietly, watching her left hand gracefully write in her journal, in words he could not understand. This was a peculiar habit of hers, when she did not want anyone else to know what was in her diaries, she wrote in another language.
"So," he continued, seriously. "What is bothering you about it? There is no reason you and your brother cannot go now. You have cured that little splintering problem of yours."
"I know," she said quietly. She closed the journal and hugged it to her knees. "It is not about me that I am concerned, Carlos. It is my brother."
"What about him?" Carlos asked gently. He could see the concern in her lovely violet-purple eyes, and it make his heart twist.
"I am not sure what he would say if I told you, Carlos. I am the only one who knows this." *Not to mention I more or less *promised* I would not spread this story around.....*
"My lips are sealed, if you want to talk about it, Querida. Maybe I can help."
"Not on this, you cannot," she said, touched by his concern.
"How do you know, unless you tell me?" he asked. "I will not tell, I swear on a Ranger's honor."
"Well..." she shifted uncomfortably. "This has to do with the leader of the Aquitian Rangers, Delphine. Trey has an interest in her."
"Trey is interested in her?" Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Is that so bad, Querida?"
"In and of itself, no, Carlos. Oh...." she sought to find the right words. "I don't think I can bear to see Trey hurt, like he was the first time..." she trailed off, as if unable to either betray her brother or find heart to tell this. Carlos merely put his arms around her and patiently waited for her to continue or not.
Finally, she swallowed. "Carlos, do you have any idea how old my brother is?"
"I think so," Carlos wrinkled his brow. "Isn't he about 2,500 years old?"
"You are almost right. Trey is 2,517. I was born on his 2,500th birthday."
"What a present," Carlos remarked, and her lips quirked in response.
"Trey is much older than I am. That is not unusual, often my people will raise two or three, or even more, groups of children in their 50,000 years of life. What was unusual was that he and I were raised alone, without siblings. It is not often done in our society unless circumstances prevent it, for we hate being raised alone like that. So Trey and I...we are very, very close. I know things about him almost no one, or no one at all, knows." She bit her lip, then rushed into it, feeling partially relieved and yet also feeling as if she was breaking some sacred vow.
"Trey has been in love before, Carlos. He was only thirty-two years old when he fell in love that first time. The girl he fell in love with was around fifty, a very lovely young girl with black hair and blue eyes. Her name was Nikita, and she was the sweetest woman imaginable, as I was told. She and Trey fell hard for each other."
Sharie's eyes misted over as she continued in a soft voice, "Triforians and those they fall in love with--it isn't always easy, Carlos. They are often (although not always) too trusting and intuitive to fall in love with a shallow character who will not love back or will lose love over time...unless the Triforian is very young."
"Oh, dear," murmured Carlos, hoping he was not going to hear a betrayal story. "Did that happen to..."
"No," said Sharie, reading the thoughts etched in the depths of his dark eyes. That could not be further from what had actually happened. "They were madly in love. Within a few weeks of meeting, they agreed to a joining ceremony. Everything was planned, and then the day before the joining---" Sharie stopped and shook her head, trying to get the words out. "Nikita was killed in a lab accident. There was no chance of recovery, even with our advanced techniques."
Carlos's eyes went wide. He said nothing, only held onto Sharie as she continued the story. "Can you imagine how Trey felt? He was crushed, he felt life had betrayed him. I expect it was the first real shock of his life, what it could do and how cruel it can be. He wanted to die himself, for he figured that life without Nikita, his first real companion, was not worth living." Sharie's fingers, from where she gripped his shirt, jerked spasmodically. An image came to her, unbidden, of being by Carlos's side as he lay dying....and not being able to do a damned thing.
"You know how serious my brother can be? That incident changed his carefree attitude toward life toward one of seriousness and work. Almost automatic, not even really living--merely surviving because he had to and it was what was expected of him by others." Sharie's lips pressed together for a moment.
"It took much work by my parents to make him see the worth of living again, and for many centuries, many melennia, he refused to even consider trying to let his heart fall in love again. If Trey had splintered as little as two hundred years ago, the Trey of Heart portion of his soul would have been silent, moody, and even rather cold."
Carlos caught his breath, but Sharie did not seem to stop, as if she was relieved to get this secret off her chest. "It took a long, long time for him to open his heart again. My mother told me once that it was when I was born that the last of his resolve to never love again melted away. She said I made him trust life again, but I am not sure if that is true. I am just....well, I'm a sister. I'm not Nikita. As close as we are, there are a few things a sister cannot usually do for a brother, and that includes the type of fulfilllment it is said one only finds in their true love....because it's so different from family love, and just as necessary for them to feel complete as the love they get from those closest to them."
"Don't be putting yourself down, Querida. I saw the pain he was in when we first met him, even if he said nothing to me directly about his past haunts. You two are damned lucky to be so close, even after so long. That kind of love is different, si, but that does not mean it fills the heart any less completely, just in a different way. And, for all he was driven, he was never cold, or even cool, to us. The feelings he showed were genuine. He's a very sincere person."
Sharie's eyes blurred for a moment, but she blinked them back, a faint smile curving her mouth. Maybe Carlos was right about some of it. He was pretty astute. "I am so glad he did not become so cold and unfeeling again when I disappeared. He became driven, almost suicidal at first, he told me, but he never closed his heart like that again. I don't know why. And now he has been touched again, by the leader of the Aquitan Rangers."
"That is a sad story," said Carlos softly. "But why are you worried, if he has another chance?"
"It is not just me who is worried. He is too. He wonders if she would feel the same way. And she is a power ranger also, Carlos. It means she is constantly putting her life in danger. I do not know what it will do to him if they do become involved and then she dies in battle. Trey loves more intensely than most, Carlos. It could very well crush him completely. He still hides the pain of Nikita's passing; my mother told me he never cried. He was too numb from shock."
*You and he are too much alike in that respect,* Carlos thought, unbidden. When it came to her inner emotions, sometimes they could be seen shadowing behind her eyes, but she had stotic self-control. She never let them really show unless cold reality slapped her in the face--like when he had told her her brother was alive in the first place. Ashley had mentioned to him that Trey was much the same way, controlled and stubborn, for all the kindness and empathy he had.
"We are power rangers, too, Querida. Trey and Delphine are both Power Rangers, but we have to live our lives besides fighting. Losing you also is a concern of mine, because you are so important to me. But we also have a mission. I hope Trey realizes this."
"Oh, Carlos, you are important to me, too! I can never tell you how much. Trey does realize it, but the fear still haunts him. And if he ever faces anything similar to that situation, I do not know how he will handle it, how to get over his fear. I have a hard time doing it."
The last sentence was said so low Carlos barely heard it, and felt she had not really meant him to hear. She had told him she was no longer afraid to love him, but maybe a small part of her was. She had lost so much in her life, and he knew she did not want to lose any more, or what she had so recently gained.
Hints of this showed in their relationship. After that first burning kiss in the other dimension, they both were a lot more reserved, keeping kisses gentle. He knew she was afraid of losing control. Maybe it had been because of her lack of control that time that things had gotten so passionate between them. It had been enough to show what fire existed under that controlled demeanor, and he did not want to push it, for she feared losing control again. It was the same with her laughter. She smiled readily enough, had a sense of humor and could softly laugh. But really letting go, she seemed unable to do that. She would have to set the pace, tell him when she was ready for giving a little more of herself.
"Here come the lovebirds," said Carlos suddenly, looking over across the park where Andros and Ashley, totally absorbed in each other, were strolling down the walk hand-in-hand. They had managed to do it, he mused. Ashley had overcome the iciness in his heart and both had found love, and were unafraid to express it.
Sharie looked over also, smiling softly. "They cannot seem to get enough of each other, do they? Lately, every time I see them, they are all over each other. Things are getting pretty serious."
"I think things were serious from the moment they realized the other loved each other. And Ashley made Andros finally realize what a pain he had been. He has changed considerably."
He did not add that Sharie had, in some ways, also. She might still be controlled, but she did smile more, her humor showed, and her eyes, while the pain of her past had not abated, were more willing to fill with humor and merriment than he suspected they did in the past, and was what he preferred to see.
They could not help but watch as Ashley poked Andros for some reason and started to run, laughing. He shouted something and started the chase. She ran down the sidewalk, clutching her sides as she sped at top speed away from him, then changed course suddenly and darted into the grass.
Andros stopped short and turned sharply, starting after her again. It was determined he was not about to let her get away. When she started to run up a hill, he finally caught up with her halfway and grabbed hold of her, tickling her mercilessly.
She gasped, laughing, flailing her arms as he relentlessly ran his fingers over her ribs, making her squeal. Finally, she squirmed so much they both lost balance and tumbled down the hill.
No sooner had they landed when she got back up, backing away from him. He had a devilish look on his face as he advanced, catching her around her waist and pulling her to him. He would have started tickling her again when she suddenly got a resolute look in her eyes, and a determined grin flashed across her face. She stopped him cold when she suddenly snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
*That worked,* Carlos could not quite hide an amused laugh as the pair across the park forgot about everything else, too lost in each other. He could feel Sharie also trying to suppress laughter at the scene, for she was trembling, her eyes were twinkling, and she was shaking her head, her lips pressed into a thin smile as she struggled to hold it in.
*That* gave Carlos a wicked idea. He had never seen Sharie so close to out- and-out loud laughter before, and he could not help himself. Wanting to really see her laugh, he reached down and tickled her under her ribs, hoping she was ticklish.
She gasped and jerked, a surprised squeal, mixed with laughter, coming from her lips. He had been right, he thought, as she turned slightly accusing eyes up at him. "That will be quite enough, Perez," she said, though her eyes seemed to be betraying her.
He grinned devilishly and tickled her again, as mercilessly as Andros had done to Ashley. She squirmed and gasped, laughing hard and thrashing, crying out, "Gosh darn you, Carlos! No one is supposed to know that..." she laughed again, breathlessly, "I am so.....ticklish..."
"And why not?" he asked, not letting up in the slightest, delighted by her reaction.
"It...is a...weakness....Trey always did that..." she squirmed to turn around, facing him as he continued his assault. For the barest instant, he felt her presence in his mind as she seemed to search for something, and he gasped as she reached up behind his neck, finding one of his few ticklish spots, and tickling him there.
It worked, to an extent. He stopped, gasping, one arm slipping around her to crush her to him and the other reaching behind him, unsuccessfully trying to stay her hand. He squirmed, holding her tightly to him, as he guffawed. "Querida! That is not fair!"
"It is too!" she laughed, delighting him again at finally seeing a side of her he had wanted to see. "You get what you deserve."
He finally managed to stop her hand by closing his fingers around hers and pulling it away from his neck. She did not resist when he brought his hand forward, giggling, "Bad hand, Querida. You should teach it better manners."
She smiled and shook her head, suddenly feeling very strange as his gaze went to their now-clasped hands, his other arm tightly around her.
He gazed at their hands for a moment, the smile fading from his face as it became more serious. She stared at him, her grin also fading, as his eyes slowly rose to meet hers. Somehow, the intensity of his gaze did not surprise her, but and even stranger feeling, a flood of warmth and physical tingling, ran through her as he slowly lifted her hand to his mouth, his lips pressing gently against her wrist.
Her breath caught, his eyes never left hers. He gently lowered her hand as his other arm pressed her closer to him, the mere action causing the tingling to explode into an all-out sensation assault of an intensity she was unfamiliar with.
She did not know how much her sudden desire burned in her deep, intensity- rich gaze, but Carlos did. He could see it burning with an intensity that he had not seen since their first kiss, although that was not really on his mind as he gently lowered his lips to hers, covering them softly.
It started out like most of their kisses usually did, softly gentle. But Sharie was completely unprepared for the sudden, fiery intensity that rocked her to the core as she felt something inside her loosen, something that had held her ridged for so long when it came to her own emotions.
Maybe it had been her confession of the story she had told him. Maybe it had been seeing Andros and Ashley so carefree. Maybe it had been his unlocking a side of her she rarely showed, but she suddenly found herself powerless to stop her own body's urgings. She almost caught him by surprise as she pressed up against him and started to return his kiss with an intense passion he had felt hinted at but had never experienced in such an onslaught.
He felt his own desire flood his senses in an incredible wave of feeling as whatever magic she was using to bewtich him took effect. He groaned softly and kissed her harder, his tongue lightly tracing her lips, begging for entrance. She readily complied, pressing harder against him, unconsciously in a way that bolted through both with jolts of electricity.
His tongue gained entrance into her mouth, exploring it's secrets, tracing the even curve of her teeth and dueling lightly with hers.
She had never felt herself lose control like this! She was on fire, completely out of control of her emotions and her senses and she did not feel the fear she expected to, even when she felt his hand on her leg, gently rubbing her knee. She did not care, even leaned into his touch, not thinking about where they were or what had been unleashed. It was not until his hand unconsciously slid a little further up her leg and the other stopped, having been touching, unbidden, on her heaving chest, and she realized maybe it was her hand that had unbuttoned the button of his shirt, that she was flooded with just enough reality to disengage her lips from his, though her body screamed at her not to. "Carlos....we are in public..."
It took a few seconds for her words to penetrate his protesting brain, but when it did, he turned red and realized where his hands were. He was shaking with pain that was nearly physical as he sought to control himself and removed his hands from her burning skin. "Oh, Gods, Querida, I am so sorry...."
"Shhh...." she covered his lips with her fingers. "Don't apologize. I wanted that as much as you did," she rasped, trying to control her breathing and on-fire body.
"I--don't want to take advantage of you, Querida, you know that..." he began. She cut him off. "You never could, Carlos, even if you wanted to. If I had not wanted that, I could have easily stopped you." her eyes told him that this was completely true.
"But would you regret it later?" he asked softly. She shook her head. "No. I am not worried about it anymore. Carlos, I should say...thank you."
"....Thank you?" his lips quirked. "What for?"
"For listening. For being here. And for being you. As for the regretting, no, I won't. But when the time comes, if it does, we will both know. It is just that..." she giggled. "A public park is not the place."
He laughed as he pulled her to her feet, and they started walking out of the park. Then he sobered. "We have to leave soon, Querida. Andros wants us to do some scanning in some distant galaxy, and we will be gone while you and Trey are on Aquitar."
She looked serious. "Don't let that stop you from calling me or Trey, or even the Aquitian Rangers, if you need help. I swore to help your team, and I meant it."
"*Our* team," he corrected. "You and Trey are getting to be as much a part of us as we are."
She smiled as he continued. "But I doubt if there will be trouble. In fact, I think Cassie is going to be meeting Phantom on the sly while we are gone. She did not directly say so, but she dropped enough hints, and I think Ashley knows for sure."
"She is. She told me." Sharie blushed and smiled. "Let her be about it. They may have to resort to sneaking around for awhile before they can really be together. What Phantom, and the rest like him do is dangerous. It will have to be that way for awhile. And don't ask, I cannot say any more about it."
His eyebrows shot up, and he could not help but ask, "*Do* you know Phantom's identity, Sharie?"
"No," she said. "But I know more than I can say. That is also all I may say about the matter."
Carlos shook his head but did not press further. It was just another mysterious secret in Sharie's past...
**** "Are you ready, already, Lalinka?" Trey called up the stairs. They were on Triforia, and were getting ready for their trip to Aquitar.
"I am *coming*, sheesh, Trey!" she answered in their native tongue. "It is that this dress is uncomfortable! I have not worn something like this since I was small!"
"As if that is my fault!" he called good-naturedly. "Now you know what I went through when you dragged me shopping. I know you do not like dresses, but come on! Besides, our people don't wear them except for the most formal of occasions."
"At least that is a small mercy." She appeared at the top of the stairs at last, and Trey caught his breath, once again struck by the realization that Sharie was no longer a little girl physically. Mentally, she never really had been, but now...her body was catching up with her mind.
The purple-hued gown she wore was off-shoulder, with two narrow sleeves on her upper arms. The rest of it was form-fitting, to the waist, when it widened out and flowed down to her smallish feet clad in purple slippers. The gown was not wide, but not narrow or full.
Her blazingly golden hair was mostly loose, but the top half of her curls were upswept off her face with a headband. She wore sapphire earrings in her pierced ears and around her neck was the locket she always wore, the tri-moon pendant, a full moon over two quarter moons, with Triforian writings around the edge.
That was all. It was so simple, but it looked perfect on her, Trey thought. Her gown had no fancy trimmings, no glittery eye-catchings, and was simply cut, her style was simple, but she still looked stunning, for that was how she was. She hated fancy things and sought out to prove that she did not care what she looked like...but still managed to look incredible in the process.
Sharie, too, had paused, looking at her brother. Gods, he was handsome, his dark hair neatly in place, his darker gaze showing the very depths of his being. He wore a somewhat different variation of his usual tunic, without the cape, and with a few extra markings on it, also simply cut but not distracting from his handsomeness Over his right eye and extending down upon his upper cheekbone, was the trademark golden streak that every Triforian was born with, and which Sharie also had, now not obstructed by the effects of a dermal regenerator.
He held out his hand as she came down the stairs, and she took it.
"You look beautiful," he said, swallowing. "Gods, Sharie, you grew up too fast."
She shrugged, her slim shoulders lifting slightly as she blushed at the compliment. "I am afraid I cannot stop time, brother mine, though sometimes I wish desperately I could rewind it. But at least I can be glad I have you back in my life." She gave him such a heart-melting smile he drew her close and hugged her tightly.
"Me, too, Lalinka. Now, let's go. Time is wasting." He kissed her forehead and took her arm in his, and they teleported out in two streaks of gold-tinged black and violet.
****
They soon found themselves teleporting into a hallway, near an entrance to a larger room. The other side was open to the sea, and water-waves danced on the walls. It was eerie, and mystic, hypnotic even, Sharie thought. She felt no tightening, no pain, no losing of splintering control. She was safe here, Trey likewise.
A dark-skinned Aquitian in blue came forward, obviously he had been waiting for them. He bowed slightly, moving his hands in the traditional Aquitian gesture of welcome and greetings.
"Welcome Trey, Lord of Triforia, and Sharie, Princess of Triforia. I am Cestro, Blue Aquitian Ranger of Aquitar. Welcome to Aquitar."
Trey returned the gesture. "Thank you. We met before, Cestro, though it was too brief to get aquainted. I thank you again for rescuing me from the depths of Aquitar's ocean."
"You would have done the same," Cestro responded easily. "Would you like to go to the quarters that you are to share, or would you like to go directly to the reception area?"
Trey shot his sister a glance, and she nodded. "The reception area, please," said Trey. Cestro nodded also and led them through the doorway into the large room beyond.
All activity stopped when they entered as all the occupants of the room, Human and Aquitian alike, turned to see who had arrived.
Sharie could not stop a slight blush from rising to her cheeks, word about her had spread quickly to the other Earth Rangers, she was sure, and she knew they were curious.
A human boy in a form-fitting, white uniform trimmed with blue around the wrists and collar came forward, his blue eyes twinkling out of a handsome face framed with sandy blond hair. "Trey! It is good to see you again, and welcome. I am glad you could attend this little event."
Trey smiled. "I am glad I could attend also, Billy, but I doubt if your wedding is any 'little' event, by any means."
Billy laughed and turned his charming smile on Sharie. "And this must be the lovely Sharie Triesta, your sister. It is an honor to meet you. Tommy told me about...what happened, and I am glad for you."
Her blush deepened, but looking into his blue eyes, she liked him at once. "Thank you, Billy. I have also watched you often, though you did not know it. Congratulations on this fine day."
"Thank you," said Billy as an Aquitian girl came wandering over, dressed also in a form-fitting white uniform lightly trimmed with yellow. Her large eyes took in the new arrivals.
"And this," said Billy, holding out his hand to her, "is the woman I am going to join with today, Cestria."
Cestria could not look more surprised, and appreciated, when Sharie made the traditional greeting first, speaking in perfectly fluent Auqitan.
"Why, thank you," Cestria responded, returning the gesture. "And yes, I am very happy with him. I knew he was my lifemate when I first saw him."
Trey could not hide his grin as Cestria pulled Sharie away from him. The two liked each other, he could tell, and would become fast friends in no time.
There were several other humans in the room, mostly former rangers who had gathered, but Billy's father was also there, looking proud as proud could be.
Among the rest, Tommy and Kat seemed to be keeping close, their eyes on each other, and Kimberly was trying hard to pretend not to notice. She seemed to be sticking close to Jason. Tanya and Adam walked around the room, their clasped hands and visible engagement rings showing how close they were. Rocky was actively chatting with Zack, trying to include Trini but oblivious to her boredom on sportstalk. Aisha was deep in conversation with Tideus, and from where they were standing, they were obviously discussing marine wildlife. Even Justin had somehow managed to sneak over, and he was cheerfully chatting with a pretty young aquitian girl about his age, and from the looks of it, she was enthralled with meeting her the first human her own age.
As soon as Tommy caught sight of Sharie and Cestria, he broke away from Kat and came wandering over. "Hey, Sharie, nice to see you again, though I must say I did not expect you or Trey to show up here. At least, not until Billy told me."
Her heart melted at his puppy-dog eyes. "Well, here I am, obviously," she grinned. He chuckled. She went on over it, "Could you get Jason to come over here, please? I have something I need to say to him."
"Sure. Hey, Jase!" Tommy had no reservations about calling across the room. "C'mere a minute."
Jason shrugged and came, Kimberly trailing uncertainly after him. "What's up?"
"Sharie here wants to tell you something," Tommy said, indicating the girl beside him.
"Yes I do, Jason," she said quietly. "I want to say thank you, for risking your life taking my brother's powers when he needed help, even though it nearly killed you."
Jason lowered his eyes for a moment, blushing. "Ummm, your welcome," he said. "I did what needed to be done. Your brother is a fine man, Sharie. You are very lucky."
"Yes," Sharie whispered. "I am." Her gaze sought her brother's form across the room, until she spotted him. She was just in time to see him raise his head and look in a particular direction. She followed it, somehow not surprised to see what had caught his attention.
Delphine had entered the room, and her own gaze almost immediately found his.
****
His pulse was pounding in his ears as her eyes locked with his. Gods, she had the most intense eyes, they drew him in, nearly drowning him like the oceans of her world had nearly done. Except that this type of drowning he would happily accept, and the nagging fear that had haunted him for almost 2500 years he pushed down. This was now, and if he could, he would try again.
Delphine had come in to tell everyone to take their places so the ceremony could begin, but when his intense gaze found hers, she became tongue-tied. Gods, how could eyes so dark glow like that? Or was it her imagination playing tricks on her?
An eternity seemed to pass before she remembered herself. She shook herself out of her trance and called order, having everyone take the designated spots.
Billy and Cestria came forward standing and facing each other while Delphine stood on a slight platform before them. Silence fell as the ceremony began.
Delphine took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart as she began. "We gather today, in great joy and great harmony, to witness the agreed joining of two souls, Billy Cranston and Cestria. Their hearts have already become one, this ceremony will simply seal their souls for all time."
A soft lapping sound, like soft ocean waves, could be heard in the background. Reflections of ocean waves danced on the walls, and seemed to focus on the two occupants about to be joined, lighting up their eyes and making it even more evident of the love that they shared.
Delphine closed her eyes for a moment, than began. "To the heavens above, to whoever is watching, here is a young couple who wish to be bound by the sealing bonds of matrimony, so that their souls may be forever joined, to complete the binding which was begun by their hearts. Bless them as this ceremony completes that which they seek."
Both Billy and Cestria, having been coached on this, pressed their wrists together and pressed them against that of the other person, their fingers not touching.. Delphine took a slender white cord and loosely bound their wrists together.
"The binding of your wrists with white symbolizes the purity protecting your love as your spirits entwine in an unbreakable union. Now the vows you must take will seal you to each other, will blend your souls for eternity, should you wish it. Billy, do you vow to love Cestria for all time, in all situations, to care for any children you might be blessed with, and to always be faithful to her?"
"My heart, my soul, speaks when I answer yes," he said, almost choking with the intensity of his love, and Cestria's eyes as they lingered on his.
"Cestria, do you vow to love Billy forever, in all situations, help care for any future children, and to always be faithful?"
"My heart, my soul, speaks when I answer yes," she whispered, barely audibly, but her eyes saying what her mouth had difficulty forming.
Delphine smiled slightly as she reached for a beautifully carved white bowl nearby, handling it gently as she placed it strajetecally in their fingers, the white cord's looseness how showing it's purpose.
"The both of you drinking from this one vessel symbolizes your new oneness, heart and soul, as you now begin the journey down life's path together.
"Our hearts beat as one," Cestria whispered, eyes glowing.
"Our souls are as one," murmured Billy, his eyes mirroring hers.
"Through all eternity," it was said in unison. Cestria drew his hands and hers toward her as she drank the water from the bowl first, before Billy mirrored her action.
Delphine gently removed it from their hands. "You may now perform the final act that will seal your souls for all time." She smiled, watching, as Billy's fingers entwined with Cestria's, and they leaned over their clasped hands, their lips meeting in a sealing, firey kiss. Delphine unobtrusively untied the cord in time to release their hands, for Billy's arms crept around Cestria as the kiss continued...and continued.
The pair were giddy with happiness.
****
Next came a short tradition similar to it's earth equivalent, with the same intent. Both Billy and Cestria picked up a special, pure-white flower, that looked something like a chrysanthemum. There were audible giggles as every male suddenly found themselves pushed into a group, and Billy closed his eyes and flung the flower over his shoulder.
A shout of laughter made him turn to see Trey standing there, flower in his surprised hand, and a bright red color staining his face. He had not even reached for it, it just seemed to fall into his hand--
Cestria smiled, watching as most of the girls formed an eager group. She closed her eyes and flung the flower over her own shoulder into the crowd. She knew she had flung it far, and by the startled gasps and giggles, she knew her aim had been dead-on.
Like Trey, Delphine had not meant to reach for the flower, but Cestria's sharp aim ensured it fell into her hand. She blushed as red as Trey had, unable to keep her gaze from wandering in his direction. Neither noticed Sharie, Billy, and Cestria sharing a conspiratal grin. They had planned it that way.
Maybe this little prophecy would see itself through.
****
Afterward, there were dances. Aquitians were fond of dancing, many of their slow dances were similar to those on Earth or Triforia, though some were complex. Music from all three worlds were played, to accomodate everybody, and the dance floor was always far from empty.
Though Carlos was not with her, even Sharie danced a couple of times, though she did not overdo it. It was mostly to get a few certain boys off her back who showed an interest in her.
Once she got free of a particularly persistent Aquitian, she glanced at her brother, noticing he was having similar trouble. He glanced back at her, his eyes clearly saying "help!"
She did. "Come on, Trey, you owe me one!" she said, catching his hand. He gave her a grateful grin as she dragged him away from Cestria's friends.
"Thank you," he whispered as they started to move to the music. "I never thought they'd leave me alone. But what do you mean, I owe you one?"
"I went through enough trouble getting Billy and Cestria to throw those flowers in the right direction, you owe me a dance." she informed him. "And next, you will go dance with Delphine. She is alone now, so make your move!"
"*Lalinka!*" he hissed. "You did that! What are you trying to do, play matchmaker? It would never work!"
"And how could you be so certain of that?" she asked as the short Triforian song started to fade out. "Go ask her to dance, or I will tell her you want to but are to shy to ask yourself!"
She had cornered him. "You owe me big for that, Lalinka, and I will find some way of getting back for this little stunt."
Sharie only grinned at him.
****
Delphine was standing idly by, watching the dances. Why was she here, when the only person she would even have an interest dancing with was not around?
"May I have the next dance?" said a quiet voice. Her eyes widened and she turned, surprised, to see none other than Trey standing behind her, smiling shyly.
Somehow, she could not keep hints of incredulous delight off her face as she smiled, placing her hand in his and letting him draw her out onto the dance floor.
Another slow song came up, one from Earth, but it seemed appropriate, the soft sounds compelling them to relax and gently sway to the lyrics.
After getting used to the movements, Delphine finally steeled herself to look up into his eyes. Again the intensity of his gaze startled her, but it made her relax completely in his arms, too.
Gods, she hoped that what she saw in his eyes was not her imagination, or fanciful thinking, but what she really wanted to see!
*Here in the dark, I see the sun, Here in the light, our two hearts are one,*
His eyes were so intense, but so soft, gentle, and hypnotic! She could not tear her gaze from him, or his handsomely sculpted face. But his eyes-- when one of his hands came up, gently urging her closer, she became convinced what she saw in his eyes indeed reflected her own feelings. She had never been hit with such certainty before in her life.
*It's out of our hands, We can't stop what we have begun, 'Cause love just took me by surprise, looking through your eyes.*
At that moment, Trey knew his fate was sealed. Gods, she was beautiful, her eyes warm, her pupils were dialated, her full lips were curved in a soft smile. It did not change when the hand behind her head came forward, his fingers tracing her facial features, as if committing them to memory. "You are beautiful, Delphine, inside and out, you know that?" he said suddenly.
Her eyes widened and her breath caught. "Thank you," she whispered, surprised he could find her beautiful. She was not Triforian. "So are you."
He chuckled warmly, now knowing for certain she also felt the same way about him. *Sharie, I owe you a huge apology...*
Their eyes locked again, and as the song continued, each completely fell under the other's hypnotic spell. They were completely oblivious to Sharie's smile of satisfaction from across the room.
****
Sharie watched them dance for awhile longer, grinning to herself at her success. Now, it was all up to Trey and Delphine, themselves.
She sensed a hesitant presence behind her, and she turned, surprised to see Corcus, the silent, shy member of Delphine's team, standing there, not sure of what to say.
"Hello, Corcus," she said quietly, giving him one of her famous smiles.
He nearly choked, but said softly, "Hello, Miss Triesta."
Her smile softened, causing him to relax slightly. "You don't have to call me that. My name is Sharie."
He swallowed. "Of course, Sharie."
"Would you like to dance?" she asked boldly. Blushing, he nodded, allowing her to take his hand. Both knew that there was nothing romantic intended, but she sensed he wanted somebody to talk to, not just stand silently in a corner like he had been doing, as was his nature..
The next song was one from Aquitar, one of the very complex ones, and she was surprised at his skill as he led her through the various dance steps. Thankfully, she had prepared for this, and followed his lead without difficulty.
"Say, you are very good at this," she could not help but comment. His blue eyes flew to meet hers, then he smiled slightly. "It is required for us to learn, if possible. Thank you," he said, a bit boldly, before blushing at his forwardness.
She smiled at him again, making him relax more. He even got up the courage to ask, "Where did *you* learn our dances? You are at least as good as I am."
She chuckled warmly. His arms relaxed their grip on her as she eased more of his tension. "I make it my business to learn about other cultures. It helps break the ice, especially in diplomatic situations."
He laughed softly feeling the last of his tension drain and the last of the ice melt. From then on, he talked with Sharie easily, and by evening's end, each knew they had found a friend for life.
****
As the evening wore on, without realizing just how deep things were getting, Trey and Delphine continued to fall more and more under each other's hypnotic spell. Their gaze rarely left the other's, and they forgot completely where they were until the last song ended.
Finally, they knew they had to disengage slightly. Trey looked around, Sharie was already gone. The other Rangers, most of them, would be staying for a couple of days, since they did not often get to vacation on another planet, but those who were left were yawning and making it obvious they were ready for bed.
"I guess it is time to leave," said Delphine reluctantly, not wanting him to let her go. Where he touched her, she was on fire, and she knew only he could quench the flames.
He felt the same way. "May I, uh, escort you to your quarters?" he asked shyly. She smiled and led him out of the room, down several myriad hallways, walking in silence until they reached her rooms.
"Would you like to come inside?" she said softly, looking up into his eyes. He could only nod, for she had tongue-tied him.
She opened the door, and they went in, sitting down to rest their tired feet. For a moment, neither were sure what to say. Suddenly, she said, "Trey, your sister, I think---she and Cestria, Billy too, conspired to pull off the flower toss. I saw them whispering just before the ceremony, when I walked in the door, and then they looked at us afterwards, and did it again."
Trey blushed, not realizing Delphine had been so observant. "She did," he said, slightly embarrassed. "She told me later. I wanted to kill her for that, but now--" he broke off abruptly and impulsively reached up and touched her face gently. "I am not sure I would want to do that."
*Gods, he wanted to kiss her so badly, but he did not have the courage--*
"She is important to you, I can tell," said Delphine, trying to stifle her pounding heart.
"Yes, she is," he whispered, trying to control himself. If he stayed any longer-- "It is getting late, Delphine. So I expect I must...say goodnight."
"Oh, okay..." said Delphine, who did not, for a moment, want him to leave. "I will...see you out the door."
However, when they got to the door, all thoughts of leaving left their minds. Their eyes had locked again, and suddenly Trey could no longer stand it. Their hearts pounded as one and their breathing quickened, and before either of them quite knew what was happening, Trey had his arms around her, pulling her to him, placing one hand at the nape of her neck as his lips covered hers in a gently seeking, but fire-intense, kiss.
Her brain exploded with the pent-up passion he had aroused in her and she had kept under the surface all evening. She began to return the kiss with an equal intensity, unfamiliar with the fire he had bolting down her spine, but welcoming it nonetheless. They did not think about their differences, they only thought about *here*, and *now*. Now was here, with the person you loved in your arms, expressing your feelings in one of the most intimate ways.
He lost control before he could stop himself, and he moaned softly as his tongue gained entrance to her mouth, exploring all it's exotic secrets. Her hands gripped his shoulders, hard, in response, as she lost her last hold on sane thought.
How far things might have gone was left to the imagination, though, as the thought did manage to make its way into their hazy minds that this was the first time they had really gotten to know each other, and they had better slow down.
Trey, reluctantly, released his mouth from hers. "I must go," he whispered regretfully, his hand cupping her chin, seeing her eyes dance with pent-up passion. "I will see you--tomorrow?"
She nodded, reaching up on her toes and kissing him, a bit boldly, one more time. "Goodnight, Trey."
"Goodnight," he whispered, kissing her softly once more and stroking her cheek before hurriedly leaving without a backwards glance. If he did, he would not have the self-control to leave.
****
When Trey got to the rooms he was sharing with his sister, he found her in her nightgown, reading a romance novel from Earth. When he came in, she glanced up at him, bewildered, taking in his flushed cheeks and glittering eyes. Then she smiled knowingly.
"Busy night?" she asked teasingly.
"Funny, Lalinka." he smiled tiredly, leaning down and kissing her forehead. "I am too tired tonight, but tomorrow you and I will have a little talk about your matchmaking skills."
Her giggles were his only response. He shook his head, hugging her goodnight, and headed for the bathroom.
"Taking a cold shower?" she called after him, unable to resist her cue.
"Lalinka!" He admonished, but her words rang true, for that had been his intent.
"Goodnight, Trey," she giggled, heading into her bedroom. He shook his head and headed into the bathroom. *Lalinka, you and I will *definetly* talk tomorrow...*
**** Sharie tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep. It was not the fish dancing and swimming outside her window, or the reflections of waves shimmering on her walls. She had a lot on her mind, and it was preventing sleep from taking hold.
Finally, she sat up and reached for the romance novel she had been absorbed in when Trey came in the door, intending to read until exhaustion made her sleep. She wandered out into the living area of their assigned quarters on Aquitar, curling on a double couch, and read by the dancing, glowing wave reflections on the walls, as fish, strange and familiar-looking, wandered idly by, watching her.
She started a short while later when she heard a soft hiss from nearby as her brother's bedroom door opened. She looked up in surprise, he was standing there in his sleeping clothes, his eyes shadowed from tiredness, and full of--what, she was not sure. Indecision? Fear? Wanting? Or all three?
"Sorry," he mumbled, seeing her curled on the couch. "I did not know you were up also."
"I could not sleep," she murmured. "I have a lot on my mind."
"So do I," he said quietly, accepting her gesture to sit beside her. She tucked her feet underneath her so he could sit, then stared at him as his eyes took off blankly into space for a minute.
Just as she was about to inquire, he started, then looked at her staring at him.
"Do you have on your mind what I suspect you do?" she asked softly. He looked at her oddly for a moment, and then his eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. Numbly, he nodded.
"Trey?" she asked softly. "Does it really bother you--my doing what I did? I knew the possible consequences, but you would not--"
He shook his head slowly. "No, Sharie, I owe you an apology. I am not mad, what you did for me--thank you, although you did drag Billy and Cestria into it. I would not give up Delphine now for anything."
She smiled softly, then it faded. "But you still have some difficulties. Do you plan to tell her? I am the only one now, besides you yourself, that knows what happened, and only because our mother told me long ago, when I was small. Nikita was the last of her family." She did not add how she had told Carlos.
He swallowed, inwardly wincing at the sound of her name. "I know she was. I could not hide something like that from Delphine, Lalinka. She would never forgive me for keeping something like that from her, I am certain of it. But I do not know when would be the appropriate time to tell her. I am worried that we could not even have a real relationship, for how much time could we have?"
"That is not you innermost concern, Trey, and you know it." Sharie was firm, but quiet, wanting to hurt him as little as possible with the reminders. "Many people have to work out relationships like that, for example, Cassie and the Phantom Ranger."
"Do you know me so well, Sharie?" he asked, shocked. "What is my innermost concern? Sometimes, I do not even know myself."
She lowered her violet-purple eyes, blushing as she tried to put this delicately. "You are worried about history repeating itself, Trey."
Color drained from his face. She had hit it.
"You don't want to lose Delphine too, like Nikita was torn from your life. It is even worse for you because she is a Power Ranger. She constantly places her life in danger, even as you and I do. You are not sure if you could take it, if you want to risk it."
"I *have* to risk it!" he choked miserably. "I cannot do anything *but* risk it! What happened tonight, Sharie, I cannot describe to you. You know how hard it is for us to fall in love, and how much harder it is for it to be broken? And how crushed we can become if the one we love is torn from us? If I lose Delphine on top of everything else, I am not sure what I would do. It would be as bad as if I lost you again!"
Sharie did not object as his arms slid around her, seeking support from her. They had hit upon a real nerve, and she was quiet as he struggled to control himself.
"Trey," she began softly. "It will be very likely that one day, you just might have to face a risk of losing her or me again. I may have to face a day that Carlos could be killed, or you. I am not sure I could stand it, either, but it is a risk we accepted along with our powers. It will not make the pain any less, or the sense of devastation. But it is a realization that you have to accept. Heaven knows, I have had to face it too many times myself. It was only this last time that I got any gratification on what I had lost." She reached up and touched his face gently. It was dry, but the way his eyes were glittering, she knew he was struggling to control his tears.
"Lalinka," he murmured softly, hugging her harder. "I would not trade you for anything in the world."
"Though I bet it would be better if Delphine was included," she said, with a hint of amusement in her tone. She felt his lips curve underneath her fingers. Her face became serious, though her eyes remained soft, as she continued.
"All I can advise you, logically, Trey, is to follow what your heart tells you. It will truly help you to understand a situation at hand. It has worked for me."
She could feel herself getting tired, she snuggled down against him as she sensed his quiet contemplation of her words. Inadvertently, her eyes closed upon themselves, soothed by his fingers running idly through her hair, like he had done when she was small.
It was the last thing she knew for the rest of the night.
****
When her eyes fluttered open tiredly the next morning, she knew it was still very early. She was still on the couch, her brother had obviously fallen asleep soon after she had, for he was curled facing her, eyes closed, one hand still lightly on her hair.
She smiled inadvertently. How often had they done this when she was small? She had often come to him for some reason or another when she was a toddler, and needed reassurance about something. As she had grown into a little girl, the habit had become so strong, neither of them thought about it. Trey had wanted a sibling for so long, and they had grown so close, it was completely natural.
Now, years later, it was so easy to fall back into old habits, except that this time, it was she who had given *him* the reassurance.
*Why was I so worried?* she wondered as she slid carefully off the couch so she would not disturb Trey. *I think things will work out better than I would have thought, but that is up to Trey, not me.*
She slipped into the bathroom to bathe and dress, coming out in one of her typical Earth outfits of a short purple shirt that showed some of her small midriff, and jean shorts that came down to her knees. Her feet were in lavender tennis shoes. She twisted her long hair in a loose knot on top of her head. She gathered up her diary and a small computer padd that accessed her e-mail, and silently left their quarters, careful not to make any noise.
She wandered the underwater halls for a short distance, until she came to a small communal area with furniture, meant for casual gatherings. It was empty, she settled herself on a couch and opened her diary, writing in her experiences of the night before.
*...Truly, Diary, I do not know how things will turn out. I have a feeling they just might turn out like I want it to for my brother and Delphine. I could see it in her eyes how much she loved him. And I hope Trey soon tells her about Nikita. I don't think she will be angry because he had a former love who died, but she may be upset if he does not tell her deliberately, hiding the truth.*
Just as she finished her entry and started to pick up her e-mail, she sensed a presence approaching and standing hesitantly in the doorway. Sharie glanced up, seeing, of all people she had expected to see this early, Delphine, looking unsure if she would enter.
"Good morning," Sharie murmured, making the traditional gesture for greeting. "Yes, you may come on in, Delphine. You are not disturbing me."
The woman relaxed slightly, coming in and sitting on the other end of the couch. She could not much look Sharie in the eye, and she opened her mouth, and shut it.
"About last night..." she said at last. She was surprised when Sharie spontaneously grinned. This was the first time the two had ever spoken, and Sharie wanted Delphine to like her.
"What about it?" she asked gently.
"You--" Delphine seemed to be searching for words. "You pulled off the flower toss, did you not? You, and Cestria, and Billy. I saw you whispering--"
Sharie could not hide a smile. "Yes, I am afraid we all three are culprits. But I would not approach the other two about it. I doubt if they will be seen much for the next couple of days."
Delphine grinned in spite of herself, relaxing. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "A joke?"
"Maybe, and a wish for the miracles of prophecy." Sharie looked mischevious.
Delphine stared at her. "What are you, with the ability to foretell the future? How did you know that Trey and I would--"
"Gods, Delphine, I have known my brother had feelings for you since I first heard the story of him crashing on Aquitar from his point of view. I did not have to read his mind to see what was so obvious in his eyes. It was Cestria who told me you felt the same way."
Delphine turned red. "Then I assume it does not bother you. You and I never even met before this."
"It does not bother me in the slightest, but I am concerned if it bothers you because I did a little matchmaking last night."
Delphine relaxed, shaking her head and laughing softly. "Oh, heavens, no. Once the idea sank in that you had done what you did, I was determined to say thank you."
*At least she does not know about how I needled him.* "And I should say good luck. Trey is good, and virtuous, but stubborn. I think you are too." Out of the corner of her eye, Sharie idly tapped her computer padd, accessing her mail. There were several, again, the one from Carlos topping the list.
"So this is where you two lovely ladies are lurking." The familiar voice startled them both, and they looked up to see a grinning Trey in the doorway.
Sharie also smirked. "Well, look who's up, Mr. Early Riser. Thought you'd still be out cold."
"Not on the couch," he said, coming over and ruffling her forehead curls. "That position I fell asleep in gave me a terrible pain in my neck. I woke up stiff."
"You were--sleeping on the couch?" asked Delphine, concerned. "Was something wrong with the beds?" turned his famous smile on her, and she blushed slightly as she found herself smiling back.
"Of course not. The beds were just fine. I just had difficulty sleeping. Sharie did too, and we stayed up talking until we fell asleep on the couch. That's that." He winced and reached up, trying to rub the stiffness out of his neck.
"Come here," said Delphine suddenly, motioning him over. He came obediently, sitting between them as she indicated. He stiffened in surprise as she hesitantly reached her hands up and dug her fingers into his neck, giving him a neckrub. After the first bolting of electricity at her touch, he relaxed, keenly aware Sharie was sitting on the other side of him, looking amused.
The stiffness was gone on seconds. "Thank you," he murmured, turning around and looking at Delphine in the eye. "However you did it, that was good."
She blushed, then glanced quickly in Sharie's direction. The other girl's eyes had wandered elsewhere, and her hands were fumbling for her things. It was clear she was intent on leaving, giving them privacy.
"Wait!" Delphine said suddenly. "You do not have to leave because of us. You were here first."
"I know," she responded. "I just heard from Carlos. He is back, and he wants to know if he can come here, Delphine, while I am here."
She looked surprised. "Of course he can, but why--" she stopped abruptly as Trey leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She looked harder at Sharie, then smiled. "Of course he can come, and stay for as long as he likes."
"If he told you what I think he told you, then you know also why I am leaving. I'll see you two lovebirds later." Sharie got up, smiling to herself, and headed for the door.
"How old is she again?" asked Delphine, as soon as she was out of earshot. "She is awfully young to be in..."
"Not really," said Trey, his hand somehow finding hers and his fingers closing over her small hand. "She grew up too fast, Delphine. For someone like Sharie, she is never too young to fall in love." He reached up and touched her chin, causing her eyes to grow wide with immediate awareness, and she made no objection when he leaned closer and let his lips cover hers very, very softly.
****
Sharie and Carlos, over the next couple of days, were amused to watch Trey and Delphine grow more and more under the other's hypnotic spell. Privately, Sharie was delighted to watch her brother blossom in a way she had never before seen him do, and she suspected no one had seen him do since he fell in love with Nikita. His eyes had come to life in a way she had never before seen, and he smiled more, was a little more spontaneous. She did not know how much she herself was changing in that respect.
She also knew that, privately, he was still concerned about the risk he was taking, and worried. But he pushed it to the back of his mind, determined to give this new relationship a chance.
"Cassie is *finally* on her way back," said Carlos, looking over a message from Andros. "Gods, she has been gone for three days. I was expecting her to be gone for a day at most."
"She is taking advantage of her opportunity while she can," said Sharie. "And I cannot blame her. She and Phantom get to spend so little time together, any time at all is very important to them both."
"I can understand that," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "I feel the same way."
She was glad they were alone, for whatever he had unlocked in her the other day when that firey kiss stole all of her inhibitions, she had had difficulty retaining them since then when she was around Carlos. Her body burned every time he kissed her, like now as her lips found his, and it was becoming more and more difficult to control themselves.
Long seconds passed as they clung together, their lips scorching together before awareness penetrated her brain. "Carlos..." she gasped when he released her. "I think it is time we talked about some things. Like when we can no longer stop, for example?"
He blushed, releasing her. "Sorry, Querida. I have though about that, too, but I was not sure what to say to you. You are right, though. I don't want to take advantage of you, or what about pregnancy, if we are genetically compatible?"
She also blushed. "I cannot get pregnant, Carlos."
He looked shocked. "Are you going to be like your mother? Have difficulty bearing children?"
She shrugged. "I am not entirely sure about that, but that is not what I am talking about. I cannot get pregnant until I am nineteen years old. I won't even begin bleeding every month until I am eighteen."
He looked surprised. "I would never have guessed. You look like a woman in every other respect."
"Maybe so, but that last part...that is how Triforians are. Pregnancy is not a concern of mine right now, but I want to say that when you are entirely ready...I will be also. I know so."
Somehow, he could not doubt her words.
****
Early the next morning, after most of the other Earth guests had long gone the night before, warning sirens suddenly wailed all over the command base on Aquitar.
"What is going on?" asked Delphine, as she hurried in, followed by Sharie, Trey, and Carlos.
"Pirates, Delphine," said Cestro, looking up from his console. "A whole fleet, invading our system."
"Are they Divatox's minions?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Negative. They are of a type I have never seen before. And they are numerous."
"Ready the battlezords and fighter wings," she ordered. "It looks like we have quite a job ahead of us. They destroyed the greeting bouys at the edges of our system."
"Need help?" asked Trey and Sharie at the same time.
"It would be appreciated." said Delphine gratefully. "The more hands, the better."
"I can contact Andros, and we could be here shortly," said Carlos, unwilling to do nothing.
Delpine nodded and straightened her back. "It's morphin' time!"
And so it was arranged.
****
The fighting was fierce. Wave after wave showed up, and it took maximum effort on the part of all for the good side to win. Many times, all the Zords were jolted as they were the continual targets of the mysterious pirates.
Finally, just as the good guys gained an upper hand, the remaining fleet became desperate, and they resorted to a new tactic, activating a sort of strange long-range teleportation system, focusing it on whatever ranger happened to be in reach, teleporting their enemy to heaven-knew-where.
"No!" Cried Carlos as the third signal blipped off his scanners. Before they had managed to defeat them, Sharie, Trey, and Delphine all had vanished. "Madre de Dios, where could they have teleported to?"
"I cannot trace it!" answered Cassie from her station. "It obscured their signals somehow."
They were not oblivious to the frantic signals of the Aquitian Rangers as they tried to contact their missing teammate. Defeating the last of the pirates, a massive search effort was launched.
****
Delphine found herself materialized in a sort of cave tunnel. It was almost entirely dark, but she could see enough to know she was unmorphed.
*Where am I?* she thought, bewildered, as a hot, dry wind blew over her. The rather intense heat of it made her suddenly realize that she could be in worse trouble than she thought. She had not rehydrated since very early that morning, and she would need to within the next few hours, or...
Following the direction of the wind, Delphine started to walk, hoping it would lead to an exit of some kind, so she could get out of here and search for the water she so desperately needed. Hopefully, she would also find Trey, for he had vanished right before she had. Maybe Sharie also, for just before she had disappeared, she had noticed they had locked on the girl's warship as well.
As she walked, trying not to turn her ankles on the pitted ground. she tried her communicator, which she soon discovered was not functional. Her morpher was intact, so if an emergency arose, she could call upon her powers for help.
She also hoped that she was not on a desert world. For if it was, she might as well bid her life good-bye, for the chances of finding water would be close to nil.
****
In a different corridor of the long, winding cave, Trey found himself materializing and also unmorphed. Trying his communicator, he discovered, to his consternation, that it was useless. His morphers were online, so he had some protection, but he sensed no evil in this place. His teleporter was also useless.
In fact, he could sense almost nothing. That was strange, unless the atmosphere had something to do with it. Some planets did. He was only vaguely aware of two faint whispers, and it was not until he pushed his range to the limit that he recognized both. Gods, they were Delphine's and Sharie's! Whatever had stranded him here had gotten them, also.
He could not tell where they were, but Sharie's mental signal was fainter than Delphine's. That meant that she was either farther away or, heaven forbid, she was hurt. Hoping and praying with all his might that this was not the case, Trey set out to find his way out of this dark cave and find the two he loved the most in the universe.
As he walked, a hot, dry wind stole over him, stopping him in his tracks. Delphine! He did not know much about Aquitian physiology, but if they were on a desert world, she would be in big trouble, especially if she was lost where there was no water. She could die from dehydration within hours! Unwanted memory flooded him, and he tried desperately to push it back, praying that this nightmare would not happen to him again.
****
Sharie found herself teleported to the edge of a shallow canyon. *What happened*, she thought, as she saw that she was unmorphed and her communicator was not working. She saw no one else, and she sensed no evil. Her telepathic ability was being hampered by the atmosphere, but by extending her range somewhat, she was able to pick out two minds familiar to her by now, Delphine's and Trey's. They were coming from the direction in which the river was running, toward the mountains in the distance. She would have to move to the same direction if she was to find them.
There were few trees in sight, only the bunch crowded on each side of the river in places. A hot, dry wind swept over her, making her realize that in this semibarren land, Delphine would need water soon, lest she die. She was grateful the river was so near as she followed it downstream.
Thanks to the atmospheric interference, Sharie could not send a telepathic message to either one, though she thought that their own skills were strong enough to at least sense each other's at full limited range.
****
Hours passed. What Delphine had feared was coming to pass. She was now greatly weakened stumbling along the corridor. It was brighter now, she must be close to an exit, but she almost did not have the strength to go on. Every part of her body pained and protested her constant movement, but she forced herself to walk on.
She stumbled, causing her to fall to her knees. A sudden pain seized her middle, and she crumpled. Vaguely, she could sense emanations from Trey's mind, he knew she was getting weaker, and he was frantic.
Desperately trying to ignore the fire that burned every nerve ending of her body, she managed to get to her feet again, her chest heaving with the effort. Holding onto the cave walls, she stumbled on a short distance, until once again, her foot caught on a rock and she stumbled again. There was an audible rumble, and she barely managed to back up out of the way as a large pile of rocks barely missed her, but covered the passageway enough to ensure that she could not climb over it in her condition.
She could not get back up. She could only sag against the wall, closing her eyes as tears trickled down her face. She was surprised she had enough liquid left in her body for them. Pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head on them, alone with only the sound of her ragged breathing, she willed death to come quickly.
*Trey, I am so sorry for doing this to you....*
****
Not far away Trey, going as fast as he dared toward the light at the end of the tunnel, heard a loud rumble of falling rocks, and fear radiating from the mind of Delphine, whose mental link was growing weaker by the minute.
Complete terror and desperation seized him as the memories of a former helplessness radiated over him, and along with it, a sudden surge of strength. No! He must not let it ever happen again! This time, he had a chance, and he was going to do it if it killed him. If she and Sharie died, it would be his undoing.
He turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could toward the sound, bursting out of the end of his tunnel, seeing the exit to the cave in the distance. However, he also saw another tunnel entrance, the opening partially covered with rocks.
"Delphine?" he asked hesitantly, terrified that there would be no answer.
"T-Trey?" a weak voice answered. She was alive, but the extreme weakness of her voice spurned him on. Determinedly, he managed to scramble around the blockage at the narrow end, looking around frantically and finally spotting her, curled against the wall, almost all of her strength gone and too weak to stand.
"Delphine..." he said, managing to make his way over to her. He reached out and touched her arm. "Delphine, please, look at me."
"Trey?" She asked weakly. "Is that you?" She lifted her head, her eyes finding his in obvious relief. Her arms reached up and found their way around his neck as he clung to her tightly. "Gods, I thought you were a hallucination. I was starting to see things..."
"Don't talk like that," he begged, drawing back to look at her. She was white, trembling, and her chest was heaving with effort. Her skin was clammy and cold, despite the heat. "Look at you. We have got to get you out of here, before..."
"I don't have long, Trey," she whispered, touching his face. "Get out of here, save yourself..."
"No!" he exploded, in such a way, she was shocked. "Gods, Delphine, no! I won't let this happen again to someone I love! And I love you, Delphine, more than I or you could ever understand. I would never leave you alone like this!" She drew in a sharp breath when he suddenly pulled her close to him and kissed her with a white-hot passion, absolving any doubts in her mind that he would leave her. Despite her weakness, she found herself responding to his kiss, pressing closer as if drawing strength from him.
A moment later, he released her, picking her up as if she were a child. She gasped in surprise, but readily locked her arms around his neck. "Trey, are you sure about this?" she whispered faintly, leaning her head tiredly on his shoulder.
"*Yes*," it was said firmly. "There is an exit nearby," he said breathlessly, stumbling back over the blockage. "As soon as we get out of here, we must find water."
He managed to get over the blockage, which was more difficult with Delphine in his arms, and made toward the exit as fast as he could.
He got out in the open, where the hot sun beat down on him and nearly blinded them both with it's startling brightness. Delphine gasped at the intensity of the heat, then closed her eyes, hoping, but not really convinced, that Trey could find water to save her on time. There was not a cloud in the sky, chances of rain were nil.
She was growing limper and limper in his arms, her arms around his neck becoming increasingly loose. He felt his panic increase again as her breathing increased in difficulty as well.
Images flashed in front of his mind again, the doctor shaking her head while informing him Nikita was gone, neither he nor she could have done nothing more for her....
As he rounded a corner, Delphine went completely limp in his arms as dark depths claimed her.
"No!" he whispered fervently, hugging her to him. "I have a chance this time, Delphine. I will not let you down."
**** The one thing that was distracting Trey from total fear was the welcome sound of rushing water in his ears. There had to be a river nearby to produce that kind of roar, and indeed, he spied one in the distance as he rounded the corner.
"Come on, Delphine," he whispered to the limp form in his arms. "Just hold on for a few more minutes, please." There was no response, she was too far gone to hear him. Her breathing was becoming frighteningly shallow as her body started to shut down. He broke into a run, going for the river as fast as he dared.
Once he got there, he gently placed Delphine on the ground, realizing he knew next to nothing about their rehydrating process. DId they have to be awake to do it? He was not sure, but he would have to get her awake to do anything else.
*I have got to wake her up, first,* he thought. "Zeo Medkit!"
The emergency medical kit that his powers contained materialized in front of him. He opened it and took an empty bottle from it, and filled it with water. Praying that this would work, he supported the limp aquitian on his shoulder and held the container to her full lips, forcing the contents down her throat.
At first, she choked, but instinct kicked in almost immediately, for she started swallowing obediently as her body desperately absorbed the liquid. It was not, by far, even close to what she could survive on for long, but better than nothing.
After the container was empty, she stirred and moaned faintly, her brown eyes fluttering open and looking at him dazedly. "Trey?" she squeaked through parched lips.
He felt relief flood through him. Thank gods, it had worked. "We are by a river, Delphine, and I need you to force your legs to work. I do not know much about your rehydrating process, and I had to awaken you first. I will support you, but you must get up. Do you think you can?"
She nodded weakly, trying to make her limbs obey her commands to work, and they protested, sharp pains shooting through them as stubbornly insisted on refusing. Still, he managed to get them both to their feet ankle-deep in the water, her leaning heavily on his hard frame. Still, she sagged against him, barely having enough strenght to begin the rehydrating process of her own violation. Still, she managed as instinct helped, and a white shade came over her body as the process began, flooding her tissues with the life-giving liquid.
To his indescribable relief, he could feel the strength returning to her limbs, and she stopped leaning so hard on him and her breathing eased. Color returned to her face as the process ended, and she straightened herself, opening her eyes and looking into his, seeing in them a mixture of relief, love, and incredible pain. Hating to see it, she reached up and touched his face gently, no longer needing the support.
"Thank you," was all she managed to whisper before he suddenly caught her by surprise, pulling her close and his lips pressing more hotly and passionately against hers than she had ever before felt from him, mixed with a desperation she had felt hinted at but had never directly known the reason for. Her open mind also sensed that he wanted to tell her something he had been keeping from her, something that had caused him a great deal of pain. Even while responding with her own desperate urgency, she wondered at that. She had sensed it before but had not pressed him because of the pain it would cause.
"Delphine," he gasped upon releasing her. "I love you, never forget that. There is something I must confess to you, but I am not sure how you would take it."
"Tell me," she said at once. "I have known for awhile there was something you wanted to say, but you seemed so reluctant to say it."
He nodded, steeling himself for what he had to say. She was astonished at how much self-torture and pain filled his eyes. "A long, long time ago, Delphine, I met a young woman named Nikita..."
****
After he fell silent, she was also quiet a minute. Gods, no wonder he had been so afraid, so desperate to save her, like he could not save his first love. At times, she had almost been overwhelmed by his fear, of a strength and urgency that did not seem to have sufficent cause, but she had not known why. And no wonder it hurt him so much, having the woman he loved ripped from him like that. She was only the second person in his life that he had found love with, and she was surprised that he had waited for so long, for he loved intensly. Did it bother her that he had loved somebody else first? Not in the least, except that it caused him pain. And she could see why he would not want to tell her. It was very personal.
Her back had been turned to him as she contemplated this. Suddenly, she turned around and flung her arms around him, pressing her lips to his, catching him by surprise. It took a moment for his arms to come around her and crush her to him, and respond with the same passion.
"I think," she rasped, pulling away, "That Nikita would want you to be happy, Trey. You put yourself through two and a half melennia of self- torture for something you could not prevent. It is time for it to end completely."
"It does not bother you then?" he asked, his dark eyes imploring her, and wanting to believe.
She shook her head. "No. I love you, Trey." She took his hand and placed it on her chest, where he could feel her heartbeat. It was going at the same accelerated rhythm of his own. "Do you feel that? My heart beats when yours does. I can feel our souls touching. If I was upset by it, I would not feel this, now would I?"
"I love you, too," he said softly, eyes glittering. He pulled her fiercely to him and kissed her hard, fire raining down on both of them as passion quickly took over. His tongue quickly gained entrance to her mouth, and quite unconsciously, his hands started to roam her body. He could not help it....not when her mere presence was driving him officially insane......
Suddenly, Sharie's mental image, which had been nagging at the back of both of their minds, became a lot stronger. She was getting closer, and just in time to remind them not to lose control of their senses by the river. Reluctantly, they pulled apart.
"We have to find your sister." Said Delphine. "I can sense her also."
"It is coming from upriver," he said, taking her hand and straightening his tunic with the other. "she is close, thank goodness."
He did not add that he hoped his sister would say nothing about his near loss of control. She had almost certainly been close enough to sense what was going on...
****
She had sensed much as the hours passed, she mused as she continued walking toward the mountains. Delphine had grown weaker, and Trey had grown more frantic. Then he became almost desperate as she sensed Delphine's mental link about snap. Then a surge of hope from her brother, and Delphine growing stronger--they had obviously found the river right on time. Then came mental anguish from her brother, causing Sharie to cringe. What had happened? Then came a wave of understanding and determination from Delphine, and what Sharie sensed next made her stop in her tracks. What she felt suddenly bolting down her spine was...well, desire. It felt so weird, feeling it and knowing it had not emanated from her.
*Trey, you had better control yourself....* she thought, amused.
They did, for as their minds became clearer within her own, she knew their awareness of her had to become stronger also. They calmed themselves and continued to grow stronger as they grew closer, but she had had to stop for a full minute as she laughed. *Trey, you did it. I think things will work out just fine.*
****
"Delphine, Trey!" Came a shout. The pair looked up as they saw a welcome sight running down a hill toward them. It was Sharie, waving frantically as she ran to them.
"Lalinka!" exclaimed Trey, catching her in his arms and holding her tightly, grateful to see that she appeared unhurt. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine, and I am glad you two are also," she responded. "I was worried when I felt your mental link about snap, Delphine. I was glad when you grew stronger. It meant you had found the river." She did not mention what else she had sensed, and he seemed grateful she did not press the issue of what she had probably also sensed.
"Do your communicators work?" she asked instead.
They shook their heads as they continued walking the way Sharie had come.
"I expect all we can do is hope for rescue." said Trey, sighing. "I have no idea where we are."
Suddenly, an enormous roar split the air, and a huge black beast on two legs came bounding out of the trees and lunged at them. Everyone jumped in a different direction, trying to avoid the long, cruel-shaped claws and sharp teeth that the beast insisted upon wearing and flashing at them.
Roaring again, fearfully, the beast lunged at Sharie. With a couple of roundhouse kicks she managed to get the beast off her, but not before she felt a stinging scratch on her wrist from one of it's claws. She gasped in surprise, the scratch was not deep, but it stung and there was an odd yellowish liquid from the claws also.
The creature next lunged for her brother. Trey barely managed to leap out of the way in time. Sharie, thinking quickly, removed a knife from it's hidden sheath at her ankle and sent it flying through the air with a deadly accuracy. The knife buried itself in the creature's back, and it groaned, toppled forward, and lay dead in front of the river.
Trey was speechless. Silently he removed the knife from the creature's back, washing the blue-red blood off it in the river, then kicked the body into the river and watched it drift away. Finally, finding his tongue, he returned the knife to his sister.
"Lalinka, how did you do that? Even I was never taught to wield a knife like that."
"Uncle Marek and Daddy taught me. They are of Indian heritage, so they know such things." Sharie's face was growing pallid and she felt herself getting dizzy. "Trey..."
Her knees buckled so suddenly he barely had time to catch her before she hit the ground. "Lalinka!"
"The creature scratched me, on my wrist. It must have been poison, because I do not feel well." she squeaked as her breathing became shallow and rapid. Trey could only look at her in horror as seconds later, she went completely still as she slipped into unconsciousness.
His own face white, Trey gently eased Sharie to the ground. Feeling for a pulse, he saw a nasty scratch on her wrist, which was already festering. Picking up her other wrist, he felt for a pulse; weak and rapid. Her breathing was shallow and she was starting to wheeze as her airway clogged.
"Can you do anything?" asked Delphine worriedly.
"I am not sure," he whispered, trying to control his fear. Facing this twice in one day was not something he was sure he could handle. "Zeo Medkit!" He called upon it again.
He quickly took out a cloth and wet it in the river, placing it upon his sister's burning forehead as her fever surged.
"Delphine, could you hand me that packet of detoxifying agent?" he asked, filling a vessel with water. She obediently handed him the indicated envelope.
"This stuff is powerful," he said, mixing the powder with the water. "It neutralizes most poisons, or at least deadens their effects. Let's pray it works here." He was never so grateful for the emergency medical training he had forced himself to learn, but it did not still his fear or worry in the least. If he lost her...
Once he was done, he motioned to Delphine. "I am going to need your help. I have to force it down her throat, and I may need your help in case she chokes."
When he proceeded to do so, Sharie jerked and tried to turn her head away from the bitter mix, moaning with fever, but Trey persisted, forcing the antidote solution down her throat until the liquid was gone.
"Will she be all right?" asked Delphine worriedly. Within a few days, Sharie had become one of her closest friends, and she would hate to lose her.
"I don't know. Only time will tell. Even if most of the poison is deadened, Sharie will have to fight off the side effects, and there could even be long-term effects. We can only wait and see." It was taking all his effort to not turn and pound his fist against the nearest tree, but he held it in. Gods, how much more of this could he take before he exploded?
****
As it was getting dark, they had to set up camp (if you could call it that) by the river. Though they were exhausted, they chose to take turns keeping a watch over Sharie throughout the night.
****
The night was long. Trey and Delphine continued to take turns at Sharie's side, while the other would doze fitfully nearby. The other could only watch to make sure Sharie did not become worse.
Sharie was not having an easy time of it herself. Her color was grey- white, and her breathing was shallow and wheezy. Her fever was very high, no matter how much they bathed her burning body. At her worst, she was having delirious nightmares of the past, reliving her childhood kidnapping and when her mother had sent her away, and railing at the Dryseran who had been so cruel to her. She even relived her agony when the space station behind her had exploded, and she had thought her family gone.
That snapped Trey. He could not stand it any longer. Delphine, who had been awakened by Sharie's delirious cries, saw Trey sink down, burying his face in his hands and trying to stifle cries of agony, pain, and guilt. Delphine quickly realized that the past of the two in front of her was a lot more painful than either had ever spoken of. She got up and, without a sound, slipped her arms around him, offering what support she could until his shaking ceased, though she sensed that this was one story she could never get out of them.
About half an hour later, when dawn tinged the Eastern sky, and Trey had fallen into an exhausted sleep brought on by his emotional roller-coaster, Delphine heard a faint moan come from Sharie's lips as she shivered. Sweat broke out on her small, slim body as her fever receded suddenly.
Delphine quickly went over and laid a hand on her forehead, which was now cool. Her breathing had returned to normal, and that grey pallor of death was gone. She was only pale now, to Delphine's relief. The battle that the girl had fought all night, she had obviously won.
Just as Delphine was going to awaken Trey to tell him, Sharie moaned again, her eyes fluttering open to focus on Delphine, dazed.
"Sharie..." whispered Delphine. "Can you see me?"
Sharie nodded her head and started to sit up, but a look of sharp pain crossed her face as one hand came up to clutch her head.
"Headache?"
"Yes." The word was a whisper. Sharie managed to pull herself up to a semi-sitting position, looking around, Delphine suspected, for her brother. At that moment, the boy himself stirred and awoke.
Delphine quickly went to him. "She is awake, Trey, and lucid, too. She wants to talk to you."
He got up at once, his eyes lighting up in relief when he saw her in a sitting position now, pale and with shadows beneath her eyes, but otherwise looking fine.. His only thought at the moment was to kneel down and hug her now-cool body against his, and hold her like he would never let her go.
"I am sorry, Trey," she whispered, holding him tightly and feeling him tremble. Gods, she had not meant to do this to him....
"What?" he asked, pulling away to meet her gaze. "How much do you remember?"
"Everything. Including last night." She rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear the lingering blurriness out of them.
"How?" asked Delphine and Trey at once. "You were not exactly conscious, Lalinka." Trey added.
"I just did, my mind is that way. I felt your despair for example, Trey, and Delphine trying to comfort you, even when my fever was high and one part of my mind could not sense anything, the other could. I wanted to go to you, but I could not leave the strange world my mind was in."
At her words, Trey held her more tightly. And a few minutes later, they were never so glad to hear the sound of their communicators going off. Wherever they were, they had been found.
Help was on it's way.
****
Trey and Delphine were in her quarters on Aquitar later that evening.
"I have to leave in a couple of days," he sighed regretfully. "I will hate to go, I admit."
"We can arrange for other times to be together," she answered gently. She was sure of it.
"Do you think it would work? Do you want it to work?" he asked, drawing her close to him, and pleased to see her large eyes gitter in eager response.
"Yes," she said earnestly. "When two people are in love, it is what they try to do, right? We can only take one day at a time. A bond such as ours cannot be severed by a couple of light-years." She reached up and kissed him. "And, after all, we have all the time in the universe."
He grinned in response before crushing his lips to hers again. She pressed against him, their lips searing together in a firey heat. And she was ready, ready to take the next step, ready to have him teach her what love was about. And he easily understood what she wanted, and readily complied, for he sank down onto the nearby couch, she following him willingly, remembering to have the windows closed against outside eyes.
****
"What an adventure," said Carlos, as Sharie snuggled against him in the main room of her assigned quarters on Aquitar. "Looks like your brother and Delphine are off to a good start."
"He realized that, despite what happened, he was willing to do this," she told him, sighing as his fingers idly ran through her hair. "It also made me realize the same thing, Carlos, about us. If you are willing to take the risk, then I guess I am, also."
"Need you even ask?" he responded, turning her face him and pulling her up so her eyes were level with his. "Does Cassie need to ask Phantom? Does Ashley need to ask Andros anymore? We have the universe, Querida, right within each other. It is that way with love."
She nodded in complete understanding, but the thought was gone as quickly as it came, for his demanding kisses stole all of her reasoning.
