It Could Be Worse (4th Season)

Episode 11: Sun-kissed

By Sulia Serafine

[A Protector of the Small fanfic set in an alternate universe; all credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me. Any other copyrighted things that don't belong to me in here in fact belong to other very businesslike people. Could you believe that? I guess that's why I'm broke.

E-mail me at silverwlngaol.com okay? And you know the drill: titles or subjects of emails are fanfiction.net, s.serafine, or icbw.

Rating of this episode: PG-13. Just another day at the beach, eh?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Why are we here again?"

"To enjoy the beach before it gets too cold! Oh, come on! We had so much fun at Seastone the last time we were here," Neal said to his best friend, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Keladry appeared as if she wanted to be elsewhere, but she reminded herself that Ulliver was getting their bags. Ulliver was here with her and he certainly deserved a vacation.

In celebration of Raoul and Buri's marriage, Flyn had allowed Keladry, Neal, and Cleon to have a weekend off. Raoul was already sending his Riders to Seastone while he was on his honeymoon. They wouldn't be able to do any work without him anyway, so it only seemed logical to let them have their fun.

Kalasin was also there. She had been secretly irritated by the baby's crying at her half-brother's home. And though she enjoyed spending time with family, she would rather be in a quieter place where she could not be bothered. That being the case, she accepted her boyfriend's invitation to come to the Seastone Resort without much hesitation.

Even Ulliver and Wolset petitioned for a vacation. Flyndon, who was completely recovered from his disappointed and excluded mood prior to the wedding, was in such a good mood that he permitted a series of vacations for many of the First Class and Second Class DJPF that did not work regular shifts.

"Woohoo!" Dom whooped as he ran up besides Keladry and Neal. "I can't wait to hit the waves! This is the best time to surf, don't you know that?"

"Not really. We're not big surfers," Kel pointed out.

The Rider waved them off like it was a purely insignificant fact. "Well, we're going out to the shores as soon as we can. All of us! So as soon as you get your stuff settled in your rooms, come on down! We still have plenty of daylight left."

He waved to Ulliver, Wolset, and Qasim before running off in another direction. The three men had volunteered to take care of everyone's baggage. A bellhop from the resort came out the main doors with two trolleys for all the bags. Together, they got everyone's bags and wheeled it inside. Keladry waved to Ulliver as he passed by. He grinned and blew her a kiss.

"Well, well, well! I guess I shouldn't make any plans with you tonight, should I?" Neal observed, giving her a wide grin.

Keladry smacked him lightly on the back. "You just keep your eyes set on all the women you want to flirt with. I'm sure you'll have plenty of plans soon."

"Thank… the… gods," Neal laughed. He matched Dom's wild cry of excitement with one of his own. It set off a chain reaction of whoops and hollers from the other Riders.

"Where are Cleon and Kalasin?" she asked, suddenly noticing who was not accounted for.

"Oh, I think they already checked in. They're probably walking along the beach or something."

"Have you… noticed any change?" Her tone was apprehensive, almost worried.

Neal's face turned serious. "Yeah. Subtle things. I think I heard him laugh today, but I was half asleep on that ferry, so I'm not sure. He's been dry, at least, since Kalasin came home. Dom and I trade turns checking his apartment for bottles and cans."

She nodded. It was a very unnerving thing for someone to have to make sure the most optimistic, peppy person he or she had ever known was binging or not. Keladry was bothered by a lot of things those days that assured her early white hairs from stress. But in comparison to her relationship mentality with Ulliver, the last contact from Liam, the weddings, and Joren's disappearance… she still considered Cleon's grief to be the most troubling.

It just wasn't right.

After they had checked in and gotten their bags into their respective rooms, the group from Tusaine was finally able to relax on the sandy shores after their long trip. They had taken a scenic train ride all the way down to the coast before taking the ferry across the Great Inland Sea. Their schedule had kept them traveling most of the night and the next morning. The reward for their traveling persistence was that it would still be daylight for another hour when they arrived.

And just as Dom had said, he and the other Riders were diving into the surf as if they had been there all day. Cleon and Kalasin were still missing, most likely having gone to have some privacy to themselves. Wolset had brought a football and was now tossing it back and forth with Neal, allowing Ulliver to join Keladry at her blanket.

He eyed her oversized T-shirt and her dark blue sarong. "Are you going in for a dip?"

She shook her head. She lifted up her sunglasses to rest on top of her head so she could see him better. "It's too late in the day. I'll go in tomorrow."

Ulliver flopped down beside her on the blanket. He had put on his swimming trunks, assuming that she was going to swim with him. He wasn't too disappointed. She was right. They had the rest of the weekend to swim. He stretched out beside her.

Keladry couldn't help but notice his finely sculpted abdomen and the bronze tan he had acquired over the summer.  He told her that his team often had shirtless barbecues during the summer because of the heat. A lot of the men on his team were from further north and were more comfortable with colder weather.

"And the women?"

"They wear tank tops," he assured her, kissing her elbow which was near his mouth. Ulliver sat up and reached forward to grab the book that was in front of her. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Is this yours?"

"Oh, no. It's Qasim's book. I just borrowed it for today."

He pushed the book away and put his arm around her waist. She had a vague impression that he wanted her to take off her large shirt so he could see the bikini that Lalasa had bought her the last time they had been at Seastone. She snuggled closer to him while he nuzzled her neck.

"Am I boring?" she asked suddenly.

His head snapped up. "Who the hell gave you that idea?"

"No one. I was just thinking. I've barely talked to you these last two weeks."

"So?"

"So… don't you get bored?"

Ulliver scratched his head. He rubbed her lower back in small circles. "Nah. I'm too busy myself to get bored." He swatted at her behind which elicited a jerk out of Keladry. "Screw it. We've already had this conversation a thousand times before."

She colored slightly. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing already!"

"I know! I know! Sor—Oh, right. I won't say it."

"Good."

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Sure."

With a suppressed laugh, Ulliver put both his arms around Keladry and kissed her soundly on her cheek. Keladry knew this was her cue to turn her head and kiss him back, but she resisted for some reason. She let him hold her and rested her hands on his arms to put up the pretense of liking his touch. But she didn't respond with flirtations of her own and it bothered her why she couldn't bring herself to do it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lerant was sun burnt the next day. Seaver called him a lobster. Dom clucked his tongue like a scolding mother hen. Fianola giggled a bit. And Yuki found herself volunteering to the task of rubbing cooling ointment over his back to ease his discomfort. His teammates sentenced him to the shade for the rest of the weekend. Lerant wasn't just sun burnt. He was very grumpy, too.

"It's your own fault," Yuki reprimanded, rubbing the ointment across his back. She massaged him as well, hoping to ease him out of his ill disposition. "Why didn't you put on sunscreen?"

"We only had an hour of daylight left. I didn't think it would be so bad!"

"Your skin is just as fair as mine. You should always put it on, especially since we're down here where everything is hot from sun up to sun down."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."

Yuki massaged his back for a few more moments before scooting back to her spot beside him. She did not lean against him like others would have expected her to have done. Instead, she hugged her knees to her chest and looked out at the water coming gently up the shore. Their friends were playing amongst the sea foam, blowing it at each other and splashing each other relentlessly. In the distance, Dom and Seaver paddled around on their rented surfboards waiting for a decent wave to roll in.

"Do you see how the sun shines on each wave crest? You can't even see blue-green anymore. It just… glitters. Like a ruffling sheet of diamond," she said.

While she had spoken, he scooted closer to her and squinted. The stand of their large beach umbrella was jostling about, so he grabbed it and dug it deeper into the sand. "I didn't know you were so poetic."

"I'm not being poetic. And why wouldn't you know if I was poetic or not? You know me well enough, don't you?"

He turned to her with an earnest countenance. "No, I don't."

And therein lay the problem. Yuki tucked her hair behind her ears and rested her chin on her knees. She closed her eyes and then pressed her face down against her knees as well. "So do you want to? Know, I mean."

"Well, I was thinking about it when we were standing outside while Raoul was getting married," he confessed. "And yeah. I do want to know more about you."

Yuki looked up and directed her gaze back out at the sea. "You know what that means, right?"

"Yeah. I'm ready. Is that okay with you? We could stay just where we are if you want."

She reluctantly recalled the night she had spent with Buri and the other women recounting tales of love. Everyone else's had had some emotion in it, even Buri's short story. Kalasin had shown none that night, but it was obvious that she cared for Cleon Kennan. It was difficult for her now to say she was as content as she was that night. Everyone around continued to subconsciously tell her that she would be better off if she let it in. Let in love.

The warm sea breeze passed over them, throwing strands of her ebony hair up. Yuki made no move to brush them back, but gave the man beside her a significant look. He had her permission. Lerant started nervously, fumbling to move even closer. He lifted one hand to move her hair from her face and let it linger at her neck when he finished.

"Lerant."

"Yeah?"

Her voice had been so small that he had almost not heard it. Yuki looked back out at their friends romping in the waves. She let her hand fall to the ground between them.

"Go ahead," she whispered, tucking her chin down to her raised knees again.

He blinked, not expecting for her to coalesce so quickly. He took her hand in his and they sat there in silence for most of the morning.

Elsewhere, the seagulls were cawing and Kalasin was wishing they would either shut up or go away. The world class spy was currently arm in arm with her current boyfriend, her first boyfriend, Cleon Kennan. They had met under strenuous circumstances during the Immortals crisis. After such time, he had begun to court her unsuccessfully, for she would have little to do with someone she had earlier conceived as silly and shallow. He proved her wrong after a period of time and won her over with the most peculiar of things: a stuffed hippo.

Now they were dating. And more than that, they were involved.

"You look really nice. Nicer than yesterday, if that's possible," he said honestly, a tender smile on his face.

Kalasin returned his smile fondly. For a hardened assassin as she could be sometimes, there was a purity in him that drew out the warmth in her.

"Kalasin?"

She looked up to meet his eyes. Instead, his gaze was transfixed out on the waves, where Prosper had playfully tossed Fianola into the water. The curly-headed girl buoyed back up to the surface and, together with Seaver, attacked him.

"Yes, Cleon?"

"Do you think Fia will be okay?" he asked quietly.

They stopped walking. Kalasin noticed that Cleon was subconsciously digging his heel in the sand like it was a substitute for a worry stone. She gripped his arm tighter to catch his attention. He broke his gaze and turned his head toward her.

"She looks fine," Kalasin answered. She paused and stroked his forearm. "And so are you."

"Am I?"

"You look fine to me."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. You didn't see me the first days I was home."

She stared at him reproachfully. "You were mourning for your friend. You're still mourning. That's okay. It hasn't been that long."

Cleon mumbled a curse. "It has! It has been a long time, though. He and I… we talked about it before he… I'm just…" He exhaled deeply. "I know he wouldn't want me to be like this for so long, but I can't help it."

Kalasin thought for a moment. She began walking, forcing him to walk beside her since their arms were still linked. She patted his arm. "Tell me a joke, Kennan."

"What? A joke?"

"Yes, a joke."

"Why? Jokes aren't any good. They're just stupid—ow!"

He had been under the delusion that she would stop hitting him when they started dating. Kalasin now smirked, rubbing the part of his arm that she had struck a few moments ago.

"I said, tell me a joke, Kennan."

He frowned at her. "But I just said that jokes are meaningless—"

"Kennan!" She raised her hand again, ready to strike.

"Okay, okay! A joke!" Cleon surrendered. He stared wide-eyed at his girlfriend wondering what in the world had come over her. He racked his mind for something humorous to tell her. And despite the many weeks that he had spent dwelling on death and misery, he found it easier than he expected to pick up the old threads of a lifestyle that he had almost fully cast aside.

Much easier than he expected. Cleon cleared his throat.

"So an officer, a criminal, and a high priced attorney walk into a bar…"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wolset frowned when he saw Neal suddenly abandon the group's frolicking in the waves for the shell-covered shore. He followed his partner, wondering what had suddenly caught the other man's eye. Neal had a grin plastered on his face, his gaze fixed somewhere in the distance further down the beach. Wolset ran up to him as quickly as he could with the shifting sands and water sucking his feet down.

"Hey! What's going on?"

Neal grabbed his arm and yanked him to his side. "Just take a look."

"Yeah? A bunch of people are playing volleyball."

"Correction, Wolsie. A bunch of women are playing volleyball. Young, voluptuous… bouncy women," he observed. There was a glaze over his green eyes that his companion had never seen before.

Wolset raised one eyebrow. "And? We've got no shot with them."

"Ha! That's what you think! Come on, Wolsie! They're waiting for us!"

Before Wolset could call him crazy, Neal had started jogging ahead. His new partner sighed. He seemed as if he would rather just admire the women from afar, but being around Neal told him he would have to be a lot more outgoing than he was accustomed to. He wondered if Cleon ever had to deal with this sort of sidekick treatment.

There'd better be fringe benefits, he thought.

By the time he caught up with his friend, Neal had already made up a few lines of dialogue in his head for this encounter. He stopped Wolset and turned him around. Placing both hands on his shoulders, Neal showed him his smile of ambition and anticipation.

"You have a plan?"

Neal shook his head. "Nope. You think too much like an officer, man. A plan? You want to know what the plan is?" He pointed to his own chest. "Let me do the talking. Just stand there and don't look like an over-eager spaz."

"Hey!"

"I never said you looked like one," Neal clarified at Wolset's indignant reaction. "I just warned you not to look like one."

The two men approached the informal volleyball game at a more leisurely pace than they had originally had. There were six young women of various appearances. They looked like they were of university age, which Neal delighted in even more. In his experience, the female sex were more inclined to be more adventurous then when they were older and more experienced (a progress that resulted in Neal being turned down time and time again).

He walked over until he was a few feet away from the end of the net. "Hello, ladies! Mind if we join in?"

One of the young women who had on a slimming black one piece swimsuit caught the volleyball and held it under one arm. She tossed her wet brown hair over her shoulder and scrutinized the two newcomers from head to toe. Her friends either smiled or giggled. Whatever they said, it was blatantly obvious that this woman would decide whether they stayed or went.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Neal and this is Wolset. Just call him Wolsie." To emphasize the fact that they were harmless chums, Neal slapped Wolset on the back. Wolset flinched, but he continued smiling.

She put a finger to the corner of her mouth as if she was considering. "What do you do when you're not at Seastone?"

"Oh, we're DJPF officers," Neal answered. "First class, too. Special assignments all the time."

There was an outburst of giggles from one of the other black-headed girls who immediately whispered something to the nearest girl. Neal's grin widened. He held out his arms in a pleading gesture.

"Come on, ladies. Wolsie and I get stuck dealing with the vile scum of society. We barely ever get the chance to enjoy the company of beauties such as yourselves."

Man, he's laying it on thick.

"Man, you're laying it on thick, aren't ya?" the girl in the black swimsuit laughed.

Wolset's heart immediately began thudding very hard in a most bothersome manner.

"Well, alright. Join in. We'd be glad to have you!" She tossed the ball at Wolset, who stumbled when he caught it (he was surprised he hadn't pissed in his pants). "My name's Tian."

Wolset gulped. He absently made a mental note to get his ears checked as soon as he returned to Tusaine. Had anyone asked him, he would have sworn he had heard the distant chorus of angels singing just for him. And Tian, hopefully.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Come on, swim with me," Ulliver begged. His hands were clasped in front of him, hoping he looked pitiful enough. He would even have put on a puppy-dog face had he known how to do one.

Keladry tucked her hair behind her ears, absently thinking to herself that she needed to have a haircut before she went back to work. "In a bit. You go ahead."

He eyed her. "Only on one condition."

"What?"

"Take off that shirt! I bet you're as pale as anything under there. You need a tan."

Keladry scoffed. "What? So I could look like a roast turkey like you?"

Ulliver pouted. He looked down at himself. "Turkeys don't have abs like these."

"No, they don't," Keladry agreed, smiling slightly. The major rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her, muttering how much of a jerk she was in her ear. When he got the response he wanted (a playful swat that he blocked, as per usual), he grabbed the end of her shirt at the base of her back and deftly yanked it over her head.

She let out a cry of surprise. As soon as the large white T-shirt was loose from her body, Ulliver wolf-whistled at her and began a backward trot. He knew she would be after him for this joke of his. Keladry's arms immediately went across her front. She was left in her bikini and sarong and felt too undressed despite the fact that she was on a beach and every other woman was even less dressed than she.

"Ulliver!" she exclaimed. Her cheeks were the reddest they had been in weeks.

He waved the shirt around like a flag. "Come get it!"

"You… you turkey!" she shouted as she began chasing him around the beach.

To add insult to injury, he began making gobbling sounds. She had no idea he had a knack for animal sound imitation, but it was making her blush more furiously than she ever wanted to. Since the sarong was impeding her movement, she finally undid the knot and threw it in the direction of her towel. The chase continued, much to Ulliver's enjoyment.

"Finally!" he cried when he saw the sarong hit the sand. As they circled around and passed her towel again, he threw down the shirt.

He started to slow down. Keladry smirked. She wanted to tackle him and tickle him to death for the stunt he had pulled. Instead, he caught her off guard once again by whirling around and catching her. He hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. She let out a huffy squeal of indignation and pounded her fists against his back.

"I was right. You are way too pale."

"Ulliver!"

Ignoring her exaggerated threats of death and dismemberment, he walked into the waves with her still over his shoulder. Dom and Seaver saw them from afar and gave encouraging shouts to Ulliver, who waved in return. Keladry lifted her head and turned slightly to give them an obscene gesture.

"Let me down, Ulliver!"

"If you say so!"

Before she knew what was happening, he abruptly dropped her into the water. Keladry scrambled to her feet, sputtering. They were waist deep. She looked up into her boyfriend's laughing face and thrust her hand forward, splashing him.

Afterwards, it was not so hard for her to enjoy herself. The couple eventually wandered closer to where the Riders were. An impromptu game of chicken was started. Keladry sat on Ulliver's shoulders while Fianola sat on top of Prosper's shoulders. Each girl attempted to topple the other into the water. Despite Fianola's elfish size, she sent Keladry to the water twice, experienced in what she termed "chicken warfare."

The weekend went by in a whirl of games, stunts, and chases. Lerant spent his time in the hot tub inside the resort since he was starting to feel the soreness from his sunburn. Yuki, of course, kept him company. Neal joined Dom and Seaver in their surf-as-long-as-the-sun's-up activities, having been rebuffed by all the volleyball players on the beach. No one saw where Wolset was, but if someone had asked him later, he would have mumbled embarrassedly about a university student and ran away.

Keladry hit her bed that night completely exhausted. She did not notice that this time around, there wasn't any roommate to accidentally awaken. No dreams of certain blond men only wearing sweatpants. No Lalasa goading her into buying yet another bikini. No Faleron and Cleon having a petty squabble over nothing and making up over a game of wall ball.

On the day they were to return to Tusaine, Keladry woke up crying.

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes furiously. She couldn't even remember what she had been dreaming about. No, that was a lie. She had a pretty good idea of what had flashed through her mind during her fitful slumber.

I can't keep doing this to myself. I keep telling myself to get over it. And Ulliver helps me to get over it—but I… deep inside, I really can't. The way things were… they're gone. Forever.

She went to her bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Then she put the lid down on the toilet seat and sat. It was six in the morning. None of her friends would be awake. She had the most peculiar inclination to talk to Fianola or Yuki. Maybe even Kalasin. Had Lalasa been there, she would have talked to her, too.

She's probably awake right now if little baby Fal is crying. She envisioned the Carthaki woman sitting by the baby's cradle, gently rocking him back to sleep. In spite of that thought, Keladry remained in the bathroom, mulling over her predicament. She wouldn't call Lalasa and disrupt the happy bubble surrounding the happy new family.

Irony made a swipe at her that early morning. She ended up sleeping in the bath tub, craving a source of warmth to lie upon but having none.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And then they were home. Keladry had been too tired to kiss Ulliver before she went upstairs to her own bed. She hugged him half-heartedly, still bothered by the dream she had had the night before. He didn't seem too offended. He was almost asleep on his feet. Wolset promised to help him to his apartment, so she parted from them with no worries.

It was nighttime again. The sun had sunk past the horizon and the stars lit up the sky. They had spent the whole day traveling and she was quite exhausted. She had neither the time nor the energy to notice such daily wonders of nature.  With little more than a wave, she said goodnight to Neal and her other neighbors before dragging herself and her belongings into her apartment.

Weariness weighed down her limbs, it seemed, as she stumbled into bed. She almost forgot to get up again to turn off the lights. It was a grueling affair to toss off the duvet and get on her feet again. She rubbed her eyes as her hand groped for the light switch. One of these days soon she would have to ask Stefan for a voice-activated light source. Things would be so much easier.

After what seemed like an eternity, Keladry was finally in a complete zone of comfort. Surrounded on all sides by soft, warm blankets and pillows, she began to doze like she had not slept for centuries. She almost entered a catatonic state. Had another one of Yuki's failed projects detonated again, she would never have known—even with plaster and brick debris falling around her.

Sometime after midnight, Keladry jerked awake. She blearily looked around her at first, noticing the ceiling and walls and the steady shadows of tree branches from through her moonlit window. She closed her eyes again and began falling back to sleep.

Then she heard the buzz to her door intercom again. Keladry deduced that it must have been the thing to wake her up the first time. Her mind was still so inactive from its restful sleep of oblivion that it did not even occur to her that no one she knew would try to wake her up at this ungodly hour at night. She almost tripped getting out of bed, her foot caught on a bed sheet. She rubbed her eyelids and made her way slowly through her living room.

Three steps from the door, she remembered that Cleon had come to her in the middle of the night.

Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes began to focus on the door in front of her.

This party is old and uninviting…

She raised a trembling hand to open the door. There was a small whoosh of air as the door slid open. The hall was dark. She could not make anything out at first. But after what felt like minutes passing by, her eyes adjusted again and she could just make out the dark shadow of a person.

Participants all in black and white

Keladry had a sharp intake of breath. She stepped back, swallowing compulsively. Her hand dropped back to her side, but it did not stop shaking. The trembling rippled through her entire body, threatening to shake her to pieces. She clenched her hands into fists as if willing to force the intruder to leave the way he had come. Disappear, disappear, disappear.

"Keladry," Joren whispered, his mouth dipping at the corners in a captivating frown. His pale skin looked like the waning light of the moon. A heavy black cloak rested on his shoulders, a mountain of darkness that he had brought as evidence to where he'd been and what he had survived. His artic blue eyes remained untainted. They alone remained—oh, what was the word?—human.

You enter in full blown technicolor

"Joren?" she breathed.

He nodded, confirming her inquiry. Her hand immediately flew to her chest, covering her constricting heart. Tears formed in her eyes, and though her lungs heaved with sudden shock and gasping, she could not cry. She could not sob. She could barely inhale the air in front of her.

"I'm tired," he told her sincerely. His voice sounded like gravel. Like dried leaves on a stormy day. "Just tired."

She gulped, blinking away the tears before they could fall. Oh, by Glory, she was going to collapse and die on that very spot on the carpet. Everyone would point to the spot when years had gone by and say that Keladry Mindelan had died of shock on that very place.

"I'm tired, too," she replied. It felt stupid at the time to say it, but he seemed to understand and stepped across the threshold into her home.

Nothing is the same after tonight

Like for Cleon before him, she guided him wordlessly to her room and forfeited her bed. As the cloak dropped from his strong shoulders, Keladry suddenly observed how slight and weak he had become with its casting off. A vest of rough material fell, as did his cotton shirt until she could see the muscles on his back without hindrance. Something had changed inside him, but she had no inkling as to what. She knelt on the floor and gathered the cloak into her arms as the blond crawled into her bed and toppled over. Like a mighty tree that had been cut down in the prime of life. She traced the lines of his body with her eyes, noticing the shoulder blades. Her eyes fell lower. In the ghostly light coming through the window, she examined his back. The smooth planes of muscle lay beneath flawless pale skin. One thing leapt out in her mind. There were no burn scars.

Keladry felt sick. But she stayed where she was, sitting back upon her heels and hugging his cold, slightly damp cloak to her chest. Her exhaustion was slowly creeping back into her bones. It was a chill that felt like death. It felt like his cloak and it felt like her moist hands. Death, that was. She knew she would not stay awake for long, but she felt she had to. What if this was a dream? How could he just suddenly be here without warning, without so much as an explanation?

Would he be there in the morning? Or another cruel dream?

If the world would fall apart

In a fiction worthy wind

I wouldn't change a thing now that you're here

Yeah, love is a verb here in my room

Here in my room

Here in my room…

Keladry's eyelids began to droop. She shook herself awake, though she had already partially unfolded her legs beneath her and was slowly descending upon her side. Finally, the crown of her head touched the floor and her eyes fluttered closed.

Yeah, love is a verb here in my room

Here in my room

Here in my room…

The morning was the most aggravatingly bright morning she had ever recollected. Keladry rolled onto her back, working out the stiffness in her right side from the way she had slept. Had her bed always been so hard? It felt like she had been sleeping on the—

Floor. Keladry's eyes opened immediately. She sat up, causing her head to experience a wave of dizziness. She put a hand to her temple and scrunched her eyes shut so as to ward the sensations away. What had she done last night? Sleep walk? No, oh no. It had been something else. Something else had gotten her out of bed last night. What was it?

It came back to her within the next second. Keladry glanced up at the foot of her high bed, at the mound of tangled bedspread and blankets that had been moved during the night.

No, it was impossible. She had dreamt it all. Perhaps it was a new problem she was developing. Sleepwalking. She would have to ask one of the DJPF doctors to examine her. Seaver was nearby. He would be glad to examine her free of charge.

He's not going to be there, she told herself. Why would he be? After so long? He's as good as gone. Into thin air, he went. That's where he is. Into thin air and nothingness.

But she gathered enough courage to get up onto her knees and peer over the edge of her bed.

And sure enough, there he was.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Author's notes:

Last episode: Pieces of a Life

It's been one heck of a ride.

Sulia Serafine

6-9-04

p.s. the last few song lyrics, noted by the are from Incubus' Here in My Room. The song is haunting and romantic at the same time. Kinda. Hope you enjoyed it. Listen to the song during the scene. You'll get it.