kale's Once and For All: The Takari Saga

by Eowyn the Fair

Book 7, the conclusion of kale's saga. Takeru learns of a plot against Hikari's soul from the forces of Hell, and alone journeys towards his decisive battle. But Kari follows, playing into the hands of the other side to pit the two against one another...

2. Servants of the One

"T.K.!"

Kari jerked straight up in bed, her heart pounding feverishly inside her chest and a startled appearance in her eyes as she made a quick survey of her bedroom. All of a sudden and in the midst of a very restful sleep, the most horrid feeling of nakedness... of vulnerability... had brutally yanked her back to the waking world. It was haunting to the girl, feeling the danger so close but not knowing just where the sensation was coming from. She could see nothing outwardly dangerous to her, even though the early morning light trickling through the window made even the most familiar items scattered about the room cast odd, irregular shadows upon the floor.

The girl held a hand to her chest and exhaled a sigh, slowing her rapid intake of air in order to relax her nerves. There was no danger here. This was her own bedroom, with two parents, one (visiting) older brother and one champion-level digimon within five seconds of her call. After fighting through a great many years of her young life, her world was finally at peace.

If she was not safe here, she was not safe anywhere.

As she remembered all of this, a calm smile replaced the anxious look on her face. Turning around in her bed and fluffing up her pillow, the girl lay back down and prepared to drift off to sleep once again...

...only to find after a few minutes that, no matter how much she tried, sleep would not come to her. Despite her conscious knowledge of peace and safety, something within her still shouted a danger at her soul.

T.K. He had known something was wrong. At dinner last night. Though he had tried and tried repeatedly to pass off his obvious discomfort as 'nothing... really', it had been quite obvious to all that there was something troubling on the boy's mind. Gatomon and her mother had shrugged it off and seemed content to allow the boy his space, but Kari had been less willing to do so. As she had told him (quite directly), his problems were always her problems as well.

T.K.'s face had gone very nearly as white as a patch of newly fallen snow when she'd said that. In a stammering voice, he had responded with some very transparent lie about troubles at school or some such. That in itself had disturbed the girl. T.K. was always, always unfailingly truthful with her unless he felt in one way or another that telling her the truth could endanger her.

With a yawn and a frustrated look on her face, the girl once again sat up in bed and stretched her arms high over her head. Well, whatever it was, she trusted T.K. implicitly. There was no doubt in her mind that, whatever his reason was for lying to her, it was a good one. She had seen the heartbreaking, tortured look in his eyes ever since he had arrived at the apartment for dinner... a look so very different from the moderately peaceful one that he had worn during the past year.

Now convinced that she would not get back to sleep, Kari hopped out of bed and started to change into her weekend clothes. No more school uniforms for two whole days... thank goodness. After quickly slipping into her jeans and t-shirt, the girl took the Crest of Light from its place on the dresser, unfastened the clasp, and placed the tiny little talisman around her neck.

A sudden flicker of images, vague and indistinct, knifed rapidly through Kari's brain as the little relic fell against her chest. With a sudden cry, one more of surprise than pain, one of the girl's hands flew to her head and grabbed at her temples. After fumbling around for a brief moment with the other hand, she managed to clutch the pinkish talisman within her fist and hold it tightly. Wait... wait, she instructed desperately, throwing her plea at the spirit within the Crest. It's too much. Go slower.

With a gasp of relief from the girl and as quickly as they had started, the rapid-fire images abruptly came to a stop. Kari stared ahead in a blank perplexity for a moment as she tried to take in everything that the Crest had shown her, not for one moment stopping to wonder where the object had learned to do something like that. It certainly never had before.

But as she slowly began to sort out as much as she possibly could, Kari began to realize that there was so much more than simple images contained within what the Crest had shown her. There was sound. There was smell. And there were great, tangible emotions. Love. Hatred. Desperation. Loneliness. Confusion...

Then, tentatively, Kari placed two fingers upon the crest where it lay against her heart. Show me again, she instructed wordlessly. More gently this time.

The spirit within the little relic seemed to understand her... at the very least did as she asked. And then almost like a dream being played directly into her brain, the girl was allowed to witness what had transpired during the night as she had slept. Or rather, she was allowed to see what had happened as the Crest interpreted it. For though she somehow understood some of what was happening, it did not appear to her in conventional images. Instead, it was as if the Crest could only show her everything in an allegorical fashion... symbolic imagery which she did not entirely understand.

Her room itself seemed much smaller from the point of view of the object... but then, the entire world evidently seemed much smaller to it than it did to her. The breadth of the very Earth seemed suddenly very constricting and confining... it was almost like a prison to her as she saw through those eyes. Objects around the room which she had taken for granted in so many ways became suddenly more fascinating to the girl as she saw them now.

And then, after a short while, a vision of T.K. entered the room. From the back door, the girl assumed. She knew it to be T.K. only by the holy bond that the two shared, for the Crest and its strange, abstract vision did not show him in the familiar form that Kari was used to. Rather it came through to her mind as something entirely different, though the love of the little relic for the boy was certainly as strong as her own. She almost smiled while in affinity with the Crest's pride. Our Paragon...

He seemed anxious... agitated. Or rather, she amended, he felt anxious. Though his connection with otherworldly powers, she was now right alongside T.K. and at once experienced every emotion that came upon him. She was almost stunned by the raw intensity of the boy's feelings; the weight of the burden that was carrying across his shoulders that night almost made her eyes tear with sympathy. Albatross...

Had he just placed something on the dresser beside her Crest? Great Imperilment... The girl frowned. There was nothing there now. And why would he be sneaking into her bedroom in the dead of night to leave something that he could just as easily have given her at dinner?

Of course, she realized sadly as she watched him leave the dresser and kneel at her side. That was the burden that he was carrying. He was leaving. She could see the sadness draped over the boy's face like a dark veil as he gently touched her hand while she slept. But it was a sadness that was just as quickly supplanted by determination, a determination so fierce that Kari wondered what had happened to arouse it in the normally placid boy.

The Greatest Heart...

Kari gasped, overwhelmed by the sudden expression from the spirit of the Crest. The girl placed a hand upon the dresser to steady herself, bringing her other hand to her heart as the vast, raw intensity of emotion threatened to overwhelm her in one single ardent wave. As the boy knelt by her bed and spoke words that she could not understand to her sleeping form, she was very nearly stunned into insensibility at the sudden rush of great emotion from him. The girl blinked rapidly, the breath that had been taken away coming back to her only in short gasps. That... that is what he feels for me? Dear God... I... I didn't...couldn't... know.

She did know, of course, that he loved her. He had sworn and proved that to her countless times in the past. But what she had felt from him in that instant... it was somehow so completely beyond what she would describe as love. An awesome emotion so incredibly deep and yet somehow so simple and pure. For a moment she struggled to take it all in, though she might well have tried to drink an entire ocean in a single mouthful.

And then the girl broke off contact with the Crest before the scenario could be played out in its entirety, not certain if she could stand to experience that depth of emotion any longer. In all honesty it was more than she had ever though possible, even from T.K. To feel that profoundly...

But before she had broken away from the vision, she had also gotten a brief sense of loss. Of regret, probably from T.K. as well. Yes. As she had first thought while witnessing the scene, he was leaving. He had come into her room to keep his promise and to tell her that he was going... even if he was not exactly keeping with the spirit of that promise. Something had happened and he was going away. Maybe to fight again? The girl was almost certain it had to be something like that. And he was afraid that if she knew she would insist on going and fighting right alongside him.

Kari stamped her foot in frustration with his gallant, overprotective instincts. "Oh, T.K.," she sighed, both softly and dangerously; a tone that meant at the very least a serious scolding for the boy when she caught up with him. "Not again..."

And then the girl's open eyes fell on the spot beside where the Crest had lain, where she had thought the vision had shown T.K. leaving something behind. True to her memory, there was nothing there now. Kari might have puzzled over this further, but at that moment the door to her bedroom snapped open quickly.

Gatomon slipped in on silent, feline paws and stared at her human partner with an almost palpable concern in her eyes. "Kari?"

"'morning, Gatomon."

"Kari... are you blushing? And crying?"

The girl, startled, reached a hand up to touch her cheek and found that it was indeed wet with tears. But then, after what the Crest had allowed her to see (and feel), she didn't really doubt that she was both crying and blushing. She shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"T.K. was in here last night, wasn't he?" It was really more of a statement, not a question, and the deadly serious tone of the feline's voice startled the girl just a bit. Wordlessly Kari nodded, confirming what her partner had said. Gatomon's lips pursed together in a most un-catlike way and, after a moment's pause, continued. "I think he's in some kind of trouble."

Kari felt suddenly very cold. When she had seen him through the eyes of her Crest, she also had gotten the idea that the boy might well be in some sort of danger of some sort. To have her partner thinking the same thing... "Wait a minute," the girl said, shaking her head. "How did you know about--"

Without even allowing Kari to finish her question, Gatomon turned and half led, half pulled a despondent Patamon into the room with her. The orangish little digimon just stood there in silence, eyes seemingly attached to the floor and simply unwilling to look up at Kari. Tired of trying to puzzle it out on her own, Kari began. "Patamon? What--"

She never had a chance to get any further, for at that moment the little creature could no longer hold back the tears and all but threw himself at the human girl's feet. "Kari... Kari, I'm so sorry!" he sobbed fiercely, tightly embracing her ankle as his long ears lay limp upon the floor to accentuate his despair . "He... he's gone. I let him go. He wouldn't listen to me!"

Kari, not feeling too cheery in the first place, now felt her heart sink even further. Kneeling down, she picked up the weeping little creature and held him close against her chest. And though they were silent now, she could still feel the sobs as they shook through his furry body and the tears as they fell onto her bare arms. Almost without seeming to stop for breath he poured out what he knew of T.K.'s story to Kari and Gatomon, from the danger Kari was in to the boy's dealings with an agent of evil to the hurried departure of the night before.

Danger... Kari's brow furrowed in concentration. Then, after a moment or so, she focused on the nearly hysterical digimon in her lap. "He wouldn't tell you what kind of danger? What he was going to do?"

Patamon responded with a weak, silent shake of his head, and Kari's frown deepened. Now that was a bit odd. Trying to protect her by keeping something from her would not be totally out of character for T.K. Keeping his partner in the dark about it as well... that most certainly was. The bond of trust and love between the boy and Patamon was very strong, even more so than the naturally strong friendship between a digimon and his 'destined. And how much did Patamon fear for her if he too had broken that trust and come to her clear contrary to T.K.'s wishes?

Now Gatomon was at Patamon's side, removing one of her battle gloves and laying a paw gently across his furry back. Kari, even amidst the turmoil of her own emotions, was quite surprised at this gesture from her partner. Those gloves were a sort of psychological crutch for the little feline... a protection of sorts from too much contact with others. Even Wizardmon, whom she loved dearly, was not permitted to touch her paws without the gloves covering them. In his despondent state, Patamon probably didn't even notice. Kari did.

But whether the little creature knew the significance of the gesture or not, the touch of the little feline across his back did seem to calm him down a bit. Then Kari had a revelation. "Patamon? You said he was bringing a note to leave me, right?"

The other nodded sadly. "I told him that he should just tell you the truth, however bad it was. He said it had to be a note, 'cause you probably wouldn't understand."

Oh, T.K... I understand. I do now, believe me, even if I didn't before. For of course her Crest had allowed her, just for a moment, to feel as the boy felt. Back during the battle in Iwaki two years ago when T.K. had almost died, she had been given a vision by the Archangel Gabriel to hurry her to his side. A part of that vision had been the angel's explanation that T.K. experienced love 'as we ourselves know love'. Kari had never really known what that had meant until now.

And then she remembered, with a blush, how in an early adolescent rush of passion she had very nearly seduced the boy. Twice. In the end he had, unwillingly it seemed, talked her out of what she'd had in mind. And all this time she had been secure in the knowledge that he had done so easily, not feeling for her exactly what she felt for him. Now that she knew his feelings were, if anything, stronger... it made her even more ashamed of what she almost done those two years ago.

Kari sighed, pondering over the missing note... if that was indeed what T.K. had placed on her dresser the night before. Had her mother come into her room earlier in the morning and for some reason taken it away? She looked on the floor at the foot of the piece of furniture. It hadn't fallen... at least, not anywhere where she could readily see it. The girl turned her eyes away from the digimon, seemingly deep in thought.

"I'm going after him," she murmured quietly, as if to herself.

Gatomon, her unsheathed paw still resting across Patamon's back, peered gravely at her human partner. "Kari, I'm not so sure you've thought this through. T.K. had to have a good reason for slipping off without you. If he thinks that there's some kind of danger..."

Kari folded her arms across her chest as she interrupted. "That's just it, Gatomon. He's doing this for me, not for anyone else. Didn't you hear what Patamon said? He's allied himself with a demon. A demon, Gatomon! You know how sick it makes him to just be around one of those things. I may be in danger, but how much more has he put himself in for me? How bad would the trouble have to be to make him do that?"

After a long moment, Gatomon got the feeling that the girl's question wasn't rhetorical. She shrugged. "I don't know. Pretty bad, I guess."

"Pretty bad?"

The digimon frowned, now idly stroking Patamon's long ears with her bare paw. The gesture seemed to have calmed him down, at least. "Okay, really bad. What's your point, Kari?"

The girl looked to be on the verge of tears, but bit her lip hard to keep them from falling. "My point is that T.K. is so worried about being brave and noble that he hasn't thought about his own safety for an instant. A demon... a demon will betray him at the first chance it gets, and if the thing he's going to fight is so powerful that he's willing to chance joining up with one then he can't fight it on his own. He's going to need me... need us. He doesn't want me along because he thinks I'll get hurt, but I'm going because I'm sure he will."

The little feline frowned. "Kari, don't you think he's already thought of that? I mean, even if the thing is helping him, he wouldn't trust it. He's smart enough to look out for himself."

Kari's brown eyes were unreadable. "Really, Gatomon? Listen to yourself. You know T.K. almost as well as I do. If he thinks I'm in danger do you suppose he's taken even one passing second to think about his own safety?"

Gatomon opened her mouth, a retort ready to spring from her lips when she stopped, Kari's words slowly sinking in. "Exactly," Kari continued at seeing the recognition dawn on her partner's face. "He hasn't thought about anything. That brave, stupid heart of his has run off with his body and left his brain behind again! How many times can that happen with one guy?"

The more Kari thought about it, the more frustrated she got... and Gatomon could tell. Right now she was just mad at T.K., but in a moment or so after she'd come to the obvious conclusion that if it weren't for her T.K. would be perfectly safe, and then would start getting mad at herself as well. So to divert that train of thought and the tantrum that would be sure to follow, the little digimon gave in. "So we're going after him. Okay. I haven't had a good fight in a long time now."

Kari, just on the verge of getting her ire up, was seemingly confused by the other's sudden agreement. "But how are we gonna find him?" the little feline continued quickly, before the girl could get started again. "Do you know where to look for him?"

Kari frowned. "No," she confessed, then turned to look at Patamon.

The digimon shook his head sadly, his long ears still laying limp upon the floor. "I'm sorry, Kari. He didn't tell me where. He didn't need me to take him, so I guess it can't be too far away."

"Or the demon's got another way to take him," the girl said with a frown. "What I wouldn't give to know what was in that letter. And whether this whole thing was his idea or the demon's. I just can't imagine what would be so desperate for both of them to join together." Kari seemed to ponder this last thought for a moment, then started to stroke the talisman around her neck with her fingers.

"Kari?"

The girl waited a moment, then forced onto her lips a smile that she did not feel. "I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. I can follow him... I think. If the Crest of Light will help me. It always knows where the Crest of Hope is, after all."

************

Though it was a cool evening, a sweat of heavy exertion pooled on T.K.'s head after an arduous trek up the steep mountainside. The demon had led him to this place in silence, the dark creature flitting about the treetops over the boy's head and flickering into and out of sight every few seconds or so. It could have, it now said, had T.K. at their destination within seconds if the boy would just allow it.

"I'd rather walk," the boy replied coldly to the other's suggestion, stopping for a moment and scowling over his shoulder at it. The look in the child's eyes was unnerving to the creature, and was almost deadly with disdain and a raw, seething fury. "There's no use in pretending that we're friends, demon. You're using me and I'm using you to get something that we both need to have. I want no help from you unless I would fail without it."

The creature did not seem outwardly offended by the boy's inhospitable manner, though he did seem a bit unnerved that his interim partner refused to even take notice of the fact that he had a name. During the day and a half that they had known each other, he had refused to call him anything but 'demon'. Almost as if he did not even want to honor his existence as a sentient being.

It was a long, difficult hike until T.K. finally reached the point that the demon had led him to. Bitterly cold as well, he noticed. It was also, though the boy did not know it, the very same peak atop which Myotismon and Roan had first spoken some years ago and produced the idea for the crystalline Fiends of Terror, Brutality and Hatred. One of the only areas in this section of the world where the lining between worlds was weak enough for a minor demon to tear it and allow a journey beyond one's own plane.

T.K. nodded and took off his backpack, fishing out a bottle of water and taking a long drink as the demon peeked over his shoulder. It frowned. "No weapon but the Sword of Ages, then?"

The boy bowed his head at the question, and his eyes fell upon the Crest of Hope. The little relic warmed a gentle reassurance against his chest, calming his nerves when he would have lashed out at the demon for being so close at his side. "I'm through with weapons. God willing, your brother will yield and take an oath to never trouble Kari again when I confront him with Michael's blade in my hands. If he will swear upon it as you have, I will send him scurrying back to the dark without fighting for even an instant. Then there will be no more fighting for me, not ever again."

The demon frowned and said nothing in response. This was not turning out for the best. He had hoped (though honestly not expected) that after a time that this human Exemplar might eventually come to trust him and begin to let his guard down. That if he behaved in what the humans described as a 'friendly manner', then perhaps his new partner would trust him, if just for a little bit.

In this venture, his timing would need to be almost split-second to both save his life and to fulfill for himself the plan that his Brother had set into motion. The note that this child had left the girl, the one that pleaded with her to trust him and to stay safely at home he had already seen to, stealing and destroying it not an hour after the boy had departed upon his winged stallion. He had sworn to do the girl no harm while he was cooperating with the boy; stealing the letter that he had left hardly qualified as 'harm'.

He knew, after speaking with others of his kind who had watched the human female, that she would follow the Paragon to battle. The note might have convinced her to stay away, and of course he had no intention of allowing that to happen. For while his life depending on keeping his Brother's hands off of her, it would make things all the more convenient for him if she were close at hand when this fight was finished so that he could take her for himself.

"This is hardly what I had been expecting, human. It had been my understanding that you and the Exemplar were always eager to bring battle against those you deem evil."

T.K. stopped drinking, screwed the lid back on the water bottle and placed it back in his pack. With a thoughtful, distant look in his eyes, the boy turned to stare at the distant lights of the city, now just visible against the orangish sunset. "I've been fighting for very nearly half of my life. Seven long years I've fought, and I've come to hate every second of it. If I could wake up tomorrow and be told that I would never have to fight again, I'd be the happiest person on the earth."

The other, despite the absence of a face, managed to look puzzled. "Then why? There are none that can harm you. You, in fact, could already have been free of this world and all of those earthly troubles some years ago, safe in paradise. The purpose of your return was not to fight against us?"

T.K. almost had to tear his gaze away from the beauty of the sunset. Just once more, he promised himself, the voice in his head sounding sad even to himself. Once more, I swear, then never again. "You wouldn't understand, even if I tried to explain it to you, and it's getting cold up here. Where is this Brother you've told me of? The one who threatens Kari's life and yours? Take me there so that I may put an end to all of this."

The demon turned his back on the enigmatic human in silence, weaving together enough of his dark power to split the air and open the doorway between worlds. Now here was something he simply did not understand. This was a truly blessed soul, yet one which had declined his reward and chosen to return to this miserable pit of mortals. One who was willing to suffer through dark times but who shied away from greater battles on his Master's behalf. Why...? The female child couldn't possibly mean that much to him... could she?

And then, with the piercing sound of a great cloth being ripped in two, the air in front of the warriors seemed to separate. Where the dim light of dusk was still on the horizon here, beyond the space where the air had been split there was nothing but darkness. Black, suffocating darkness, stretching out before T.K. like the entrance to a labyrinth whose exit he could not see. The boy frowned. "In there?"

The other nodded, as if he understood the point of the other's question. "You are afraid. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Mortal eyes were never supposed to see this place, and none who have entered here with their eyes open have come out the other side unchanged. Close your eyes against what you will see here, and I will guide you through."

T.K. turned his eyes to scowl at the creature. "There is nothing in there that I haven't seen before, demon. Your kin tried with everything at their disposal to cow me when we fought those two years ago, but this," here he held up the dimly glowing Crest of Hope, "is proof against whatever horrors are there."

Despite the two being allied, for a time at least, the creature wanted desperately to believe that the human Exemplar would indeed be affected by the aberrant spirits that resided in that place between worlds. His demonic pride almost demanded it. Yet somehow, distressingly, he could not bring himself to doubt the other's word. "Very well then," he said, and led the way into the darkness with T.K. close at his back.

***********

Eloan rubbed his sore rump as his slid off the back of the four-legged Saurian creature, staring daggers at the back of its dark-haired rider as he did so. Despite the fact that he and his partner had done nothing at all to suggest that they were not who they had claimed to be, he would still feel better in confirming the fact that the King Jeron was in fact here and consulting with his mother. Asking permission to cross her land, as the boy had repeatedly reminded the pair.

"Now, scamp, hurry back to your mother," the first rider said, glancing down at him. "And tell her to thrash you for not having learned better manners to display in front of your elders. The son of divine T'Kai certainly should have learned such respect by your age." And with a haughty laugh, the larger a'ladon pulled on the reins of his mount and led his partner away.

"Only when those elders are worthy of respect," Eloan murmured under his breath as he stared after the two, an unexpected feeling of insolence rising in his chest. His eyes narrowed. Riding behind a Northerner on top of a Saurian. He'd never get the smell out.

Eloan straightened his back as he turned away from the pair and hurried his way through the tall grasses of the Valley on the way to his mother's house. Along the way, he saw a great many of the orphaned children who now called this land home engaged in recreational activities of one sort or another. A conservative estimate of their numbers now had not less than two hundred or so young people living there in the shadow of Mount Cypress. At the very first, some five years ago, Eloan remembered that it had only been six or seven. But as word had gotten around and a'ladon from around the land continued to vanish, the numbers had steadily grown.

"Eloan!" called a light, merry voice from somewhere off on his left. "Come and join us! We need one more for our game!"

The boy gave a silent, inward groan, recognizing Delia's voice. She was an energetic, charming little female his own age who had come to them just over a year ago, her little brother in tow. Like the others, his mother Kiara had put them up in the valley with no questions asked and with the same instructions that she gave everyone: 'While here you will obey my rules, and when the harvest time comes you will be asked to help.' It was all that she ever asked of anyone who stayed.

Eloan returned a friendly wave, as if he did not understand the girl's shouted invitation. It wasn't that he didn't like Delia, of course. It was just that she was so... so...

So what? a little voice in the boy's head demanded.

Shut up, Eloan replied after a moment, turning his head and quickening his pace along the path. Even if he'd wanted to stay and play with Delia and the others, he had a task to accomplish.

Just as he scurried around the final bend on the way to his house, Eloan heard a high-pitched voice echo to his ears from up ahead. "No, no, no Jeron! Absolutely not!" it exclaimed, and the young a'ladon winced. Oh boy. He was late getting home, he smelled strongly of Saurian, and his mother was upset.

Kiara's house was the largest in the valley, of course, for it was here that she welcomed all visitors as well as wandering children looking for a place to stay. And it was where the residents of the Valley, how ever many hundred they numbered now, came to celebrate all holidays and the like. Like many of the houses, it was build around one of the solid oak trees that grew in the Valley, encompassing the tree so that the trunk grew up through the house and covered the ceiling with its canopy of leaves. In keeping with nature, his mother had explained to him.

A pair of soldiers like the two that had taken him home stood at attention at the front door, telling the boy that the King was indeed in attendance at his home. Eloan stifled a curse under his breath. That meant that his mother would be meeting with him in the front hall of the house, just where they would see a tardy boy who might open the front door and walk on in. The young creature folded his paws over his chest as he thought the matter over. How did Ailora always get in...?

"How 'bout the window?" a mild, seemingly uninterested voice suggested from the branches of a nearby tree. Eloan turned at once, his eyes scanning through the thick foliage to make out the speaker. The voice seemed somewhat familiar, but...

And then with a great shower of leaves, a young a'ladon boy dropped from the middle of the tree's canopy and landed gracefully at Eloan's side.

Eloan grunted noncommittally, raising one eyebrow in response. "You're mistaking me for my sister again, Shay."

The other made a great show of brushing off his silvery pelt, displaying a great deal of panache even in this little bit of grooming. He flashed his dazzling smile at Eloan, then replied with a flamboyant and superior accent that was more in line with his character, "Hardly."

Shay was about the same height as Eloan, and both were considered quite tall for their age. But height and age were perhaps the only two things that the pair had in common. For Shay was everything that Eloan was not... actually more like Ailora than her own twin brother was. He was brash. He was noisy, and very proud. Eloan knew that he was not one of the orphaned children who lived in the valley, but nevertheless he often came to visit. Sometimes for as long as a week, and usually to see Ailora.

The twins had often thought that Shay was probably a member of the gentry, or perhaps even the nobility from Kelmuir, a good-sized town about a day's travel from the Valley, because the manners that he displayed around any adults that he met were very polished. It was only around the twins and the other children of the valley that he allowed his true self to be seen. This duplicity had at first annoyed Eloan to no end, but after a while he had begun to see that Shay's ostentatious behavior was mostly harmless.

But Shay would never talk about where he was from, even under direct questioning from Kiara. Somehow (and Eloan swore to himself that he would make the other boy tell him how) he always managed to deflect those type of questions in the most charming and harmless way possible, leaving his mother completely satisfied. It was nothing short of astonishing.

"How long ago did Ailora get back?" Eloan asked with a quick glance at the other, knowing he would have been watching.

"'bout a half hour. Right before the pompous jerk and his toadies got here," Shay answered, jerking a thumb at the two watchmen outside. The boy's brown eyes fell on the tear in the corner of Eloan's long cloak. "What happened? Come out on the short end of a fight with a tree again?"

Eloan felt his ears grow warm. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Huh. You usually don't. 'nother daydream about Takeru and Hikari?"

"They are not daydreams!" Eloan insisted hotly. "They're visions! Important ones."

The other boy shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess. Did your 'visions' happen to give you any ideas about how you're supposed to get inside without your mother catching you and pulling your fur out one hair at a time? She hates it when you're late, you know."

"You don't have to remind me," Eloan replied sourly, glancing up at the branches of the tree that Shay had been sitting in and recalling his suggestion. A few of them did grow quite close to the limbs which extended from his own house's windows, and...

Shay noticed where the other boy was looking, then grinned. "Oh, this should be good," he said, biting back a chuckle. "Any last words you want me to pass on to your family?"

Eloan sighed. He supposed that if he was entirely sensible, as most people gave him credit for, he'd just walk right in the front door and accept whatever punishment his mother chose to mete out. After all he wasn't that late, and he could always explain what had happened in the forest to make him so, but something inside the boy refused to accept what he knew to be right. He would not be humiliated in front of Jeron. "Yeah. Tell 'em I never would have tried it if it weren't for a certain silver-haired troublemaker of their own acquaintance."

"Oh, no," Shay said, holding up his paws defensively. "I just was kidding. I clear myself of responsibility for this whole thing."

Eloan brushed his paws off on the corner of his cloak. "Too late for dodging the blame now," he replied shortly, then hopped over to the thick trunk of the tree and latched onto it with both claws. How he wished he had gotten even just a little bit of his sister's agility!

Shay watched with a poorly disguised, highly amused look in his brown eyes at Eloan's climbing technique. Whereas most a'ladon who were adapt at climbing would simply have gone claw-over-claw and scrambled up the side, the red-haired boy was embracing the tree with both arms and knees and was slowly inching his way upwards. Adding to the silliness of the scene was the fact that Eloan's harp, still dangling from his shoulder, every so often managed to snag one of the smaller branches and resounded with a deep thrum, one which Shay thought sounded suspiciously like a death knell.

But eventually and despite his clumsiness, Eloan did manage to reach one of the longer branches near the middle of the tree whose tip came close to the branches of the tree inside his own house. After flashing a triumphant grin down at the evidently astonished Shay, Eloan latched on tightly to the branch with all four claws and crept slowly along it.

Shay had, at least, the courtesy to give a friendly wave to Eloan as the red-haired boy vanished into the window of his house. Considering the boy's astonishingly poor balance for an a'ladon, that had actually been quite impressive...

Eloan crept cautiously down the stairs which led from the second level of the house to the first. Already he could hear his mother's voice echoing from the front hall. A few of her words were gentle, coaxing... most of them were not. Apparently what he had gleaned from the words of the king's patrol in the forest had been correct. From the sound of things, King Jeron himself was wanting to enter the lair of the demon Da'saan in Mount Cypress.

When the boy reached the bottom of the stairs, he caught sight of Ailora standing stiffly across the hallway from two more of the King's troupe. At the far end of the hall where the chairs had been placed, he could see (and thanks to his mother's shrill voice, hear) the two adults in their heated discussion.

Eloan crept over to his twin's side, then stood next to her at attention as if he had been there all along. "She notice I wasn't here?" the boy murmured hopefully out of the side of his mouth.

"Don't know," Ailora murmured back, keeping her eyes on her mother and Jeron as she responded. "How'd you get in?"

The boy gave a brief gesture with his head. "Window."

The girl's eyes opened in a gesture of surprise, and she turned her head away from the adults' conversation to stare at her twin. "And you're still alive? Amazing..."

Eloan frowned. "You're as bad as Shay, you know that? I admit I may not be as nimble as either of you, but I'm not the lumbering clod you make me out to be either."

Ailora ignored that. "Shay's here?"

Eloan stifled a grin, try to stay as serious as possible while in view of the pair of the king's guardsmen. "You care? I thought you were still mad at him."

The girl quickly covered up her astonishment so as to make it clear to her brother that she did not, in fact, care that the silver-haired teen was waiting outside. "I am still mad at him, Eloan," she said in her most annoyingly superior, sisterly voice. "No one says the things that he said about the Lord Takeru and goes unpunished. He'll get what's coming to him... sooner or later."

"You know he just does that to make you angry."

Ailora's eyes narrowed fiercely. "That's no excuse for blasphemy!" she snapped.

The boy would have responded, but at that moment the heated conversation at the far end of the room drew his attention. Falling silent, he focused on his mother and her conversation with the king. "Jeron, listen," Kiara said, clearly trying to contain her impatience. "Nothing good can come of you going into that mountain. There's nothing there but a bunch of poisonous gases and black rocks."

"And the blade of your husband's sword," the other corrected. "And whatever is left of the demon."

Kiara gave a soft sigh, and Eloan knew by the sound that she was already quite frustrated. Oh, pray she hadn't noticed his absence... "And which of those are you willing to risk your life to behold, Jeron?"

Eloan blinked that his mother had the audacity to address the king by his given name. But then, the other didn't really seem to mind that much. After all, the boy supposed, Kiara was a very important person among the a'ladon... almost as much for what she had done as what her husband had. Almost.

Eloan couldn't see the king's face, but from his body position he got the distinct impression that the other responded with a gentle smile at these words. "Kiara, it was T'Kai's sacrifice that united our people and recreated the monarchy. It was, in great part, because I was the one who had sent him into that battle that the crown fell to me. You've had your chance to say goodbye to him... I never did."

Kiara shook her head. "You'd be better served to do that here, Jeron. Nothing of him was left in there. His body was brought back here, to this very spot, by Our Lord Takeru. In fact it is the ashes of his body that give this place its name, as you well know. It was the tears that I wept for him that do the same. If you want to honor him, honor him by stopping whatever it is that is making orphans out of the children who have come to live here. A pilgrimage... what good will that accomplish?"

"You're straying from the subject, Kiara," the king chided, clearly loathe to discuss the other matter as he held up a paw to silence the woman where she would have interrupted. "Don't force me to make this a royal command. You have the authority to stop all others from entering that place, but this is one time when the request of your king must supersede even that duty that Father Cheyne passed to you."

Kiara (looking suddenly very tired and worn to Eloan's eyes) shook her head slowly and sighed. "Very well Jeron. I've done my best to dissuade you. My conscience is clear. But please be careful."

The other nodded. "Of course, Kiara. Though I go to pay homage to T'Kai's spirit, I assure you that I have no intention of becoming one myself."

And then the king (in all honesty a rather short, unassuming a'ladon) took Kiara by the paw and led her down the hall to where his guardsmen were waiting. Both men bowed at his approach. But as the adults drew nearer still, he stopped and looked attentively at the twins. "Kiara?" he asked, turning his head to the side.

"Majesty," she said, switching to a more formal manner of address in public, "these are my children and T'Kai's. This is Ailora and this, Eloan."

"How the years pass," the king said, his voice sounding surprised as he again peered closely at the two. "It seems like only yesterday that your father was this age. You both favor him greatly."

A seemingly awkward moment passed without a word or action from anyone before Kiara affixed the pair with her light-brown eyes. "Children, your manners," the woman murmured.

Ailora gave a charming smile and dropped a graceful curtsy in front of the monarch, bowing her head. Eloan stopped himself from snorting at this. Much like Shay, Ailora around adults and Ailora around those her own age were two very different individuals indeed. The girl sounded almost shy as she said quietly, "I'm honored, Majesty. My mother has told you much of you."

There was a glimmer of... something... in the king's eyes as he listened to the girl. "Alas, though, she has failed to tell me a great deal about you," he replied smoothly, and Eloan consciously held back a frown as he thought he heard something behind the words that did not entirely agree with him. Ailora herself, however, and Kiara did not seem to notice, and after a moment spent lingering on the girl the gaze of the king fell upon her brother.

The eyes of the two locked, and for an almost unnoticed moment there was the spark of conflict in that stare. Eloan, like his mother, felt that the man before him should have been doing more (well, really anything) to stop the unexplained disappearances of a'ladon in this part of the world. The boy also wondered if the king had ever considered what he had determined once or twice in his life: that under all of the laws of the a'ladon that had ever been written, Eloan himself was the one who should have been king. He was the one who was descended in a direct line from King T'Kay so long ago. It was his father who had died to deliver the land from evil. Jeron, while not strictly a usurper, was hardly entitled to the crown that he wore.

And also... there was just something about the other that Eloan did not like. He couldn't say what it was, but something about the man just rubbed his fur the wrong way. The almost imperceptible lechery that he had heard when the elder creature had spoken to his sister hadn't helped matters much.

"Eloan..." Kiara murmured.

The boy caught the hint of a promised thrashing in his mother's voice and forced himself to bow, though he kept his eyes locked on the other's at all times. Hopefully his was misjudging the monarch, but...

"Eloan!" his mother snapped, noticing with a maternal attentiveness the exceedingly uncharacteristic disrespect and defiance reflected in the eyes of her son.

But Jeron seemed to shrug it off, not seeming offended in the least, though he also had to have noticed the eyes of the boy. "No matter, Kiara, I have a son that very age myself. Believe me, I know what a pawful that they can be."

And then the king turned his back on the pair as Kiara continued to stare daggers at her son. The monarch motioned for the two guards to join him, and together the three left by the front door.

"Ailora!" Kiara said, not once taking her narrowed brown eyes off of the boy. "Bring me a switch!"

********

It was much, much later that night when another unusual visitor, one with even a greater name among the a'ladon than the first, journeyed down from the mountains and into the Valley of Ash and Tears. But unlike the first two times that he had visited that land, this time the visitor did not need to wonder why he was there or for what purpose he had come. This time his eyes were set straight ahead to their destination, seeing through to a purpose that only he could see. He had thought this particular crisis had been dealt with some years ago. Evidently he had thought wrong.

But this time he would see it through to the end. This time he would leave no doubt. This time... Kari would be free of danger. Once and for all.

Somehow, T.K. was not surprised to find that he was back in the land of the a'ladon, though he now knew that there were at least a hundred worlds on which this Demon could have gone to arrange his dark wedding. T'Kai had given his life to seal the body that the groom was to inhabit. Now, somehow... that seal had been broken.

"I confess that I do not know, Exemplar," the unnoticed demon at the boy's back whispered into his ear. "It is quite true that he could not truly be wed in this world without a native, physical body to inhabit. But such a possession would leave him quite weak and certainly not ready for the conquest which he has planned. Seizing and maintaining control of one who is unwilling is extraordinarily difficult, you see."

T.K. did not even look back. "That's what I've said, demon. You yourself said 'unwilling'. The body that he seeks to inhabit will not be one that is averse to being taken."

The other hesitated. "A willing slave...? I cannot recall that such an occurrence has ever come about in my lifetime."

T.K. pushed through a thick overgrowth of bushes in his way, steadying himself as he felt some loose gravel on the path start to give way beneath his feet. They were almost out of the foothills and into the valley now. "It will have now, demon. I doubt seriously if your Brother will be caught unaware of great opposition to his undertaking, and no ordinary, mortal body would suffice for him to survive it. If the place he is bearing towards is indeed Mount Cypress, then he must be looking to resurrect Dassan's body. Nothing else is there."

The boy heard an ugly noise at his back, not unlike a pig's grunting, as the demon stopped to sniff the air. "There are mortals near," he hissed, an undisguised revulsion in his voice. He paused for a moment. "But had you not said that your ally, the other Exemplar, had already sealed that body away?"

T.K. nodded. "And very nearly destroyed the soul inhabiting it. Which makes it, I think, all the more likely that your Brother will go there. Dassan's body is enormous... powerful, and though T'Kai wounded and imprisoned it, we could not destroy it. Whatever spark of that monster's soul remains behind in his body will no doubt welcome the strength of your Brother's spirit to help free him. It would seem to benefit them both greatly."

"But first they would have to have a mortal -- a mortal acting of his own accord, no less -- to remove the barrier to the body," the demon pointed out once again. Really the only part of the puzzle that T.K. had not deciphered yet. "The broken blade of the last Exemplar of this world, yes?"

Now, after almost an entire day of walking, T.K. finally stepped foot into the small, yet somehow sprawling village. "Begone," he commanded the dark creature at his back, not wanting to rehash T'Kai's sacrifice for the demon once again. He simply didn't have the emotional strength to remember that battle right now. "I'm going to stop here to see if anyone will agree to help me... us. I don't want you to scare them."

The other made a sound that might have been a growl, but soon realized the wisdom of what the human had said. His presence, if it could not cow an Exemplar, would doubtless throw the villagers below into an unholy terror. "Very well. I will remain hidden until you call. But do not tarry long here... remember, the life of your bride-to-be depends upon all haste."

"Away with you!" the boy snapped in response, wheeling angrily on the creature only to find that it had already flown away. But then, while the other's words were hateful to him, he did take them to heart while quickening his pace.

***********

Eloan sat in bed glumly, rubbing his tender backside with one paw. All in all, it hadn't really been that bad, he supposed. His mother's heart clearly had not been in the thrashing that she had given him, and evidently she had not been aware that he had been late and away from home well after she had rung the chimes. Jeron's visit had been good for distracting her, if for nothing else.

Also, he had a suspicion that she had gone easier on him because she agreed with him... at least somewhat. Not with the outward showing of disrespect, certainly, but at least the reasons behind it. She didn't trust Jeron either.

And then, as the boy sat and continued to try and numb his pain, there came a faint glow... a golden curtain of divine light... from the corner of his room. And as the vivid cloud started to coalesce right before the boy's eyes he leapt excitedly to his feet, the pain in his backside forgotten. His father had come to him again.

Eloan stepped forward, gingerly stretching one paw towards the light and consciously forcing his eyes to stay open against the now brilliant, almost blinding glare. "Oh, Father..." he murmured.

A brief moment passed. A silent, solemn moment in which the corporeal boy and his ghostly father faced one another, standing together as equals as the divine champion T'Kai desired. Then... "Hello, Son."

The young a'ladon smiled. T'Kai's wise, steady voice never failed to calm the boy even at the worst of times. "Father... I'm so glad you're here."

"Eloan, my Son." And now, as his eyes slowly became acclimated to it, Eloan could actually see through the golden halo of light to the tall, noble figure of his father. Holy T'Kai... the heroic martyr of the a'ladon. In the paw of the elder creature was the shattered stump and hilt of his great sword, and upon his chest he wore a fine suit of light, silvery plates... the Armor of Paragon. "Eloan... Son. It is time for you to grow up... to leave behind the ways of your childhood and seize the heritage which you have been born to."

The boy looked confused for a moment and was about to question the reason for such a charge... but then shortly bowed his head in embarrassment, realizing that his father must have been referring to his behavior from earlier that day. Such uncharacteristic distrust and disrespect as he had shown towards the king and his men was almost certain to draw him a strict and deserved reprimand. "I'm sorry, Father."

But then, unexpectedly to the boy, the figure of T'Kai answered him with a smile. "Do not apologize for what you have thought of them, son, unless you now feel as though you were in error. You do not feel that you were, and so I expect you to rely upon your judgment in these matters. Actually allowing your dislike of them to be seen, however, is an entirely different affair... one with which your mother has already dealt, I suspect."

Much of Eloan's shame fell from him as he nodded an affirmation to his father.

"Then that matter has been resolved. But tonight I have come to you for another reason, son. Tonight I do not come as a correcting father, but as a messenger."

"Listen closely and mark my words Eloan, for evil, once banished from this land, has come upon us again. And this evil is not one to be satisfied with half-measures and minor schemings, but comes with all of the strength and power that our Enemy can muster at his back. It is a Power greater than any who have ever walked upon the mortal plane, and he comes to fulfill a plan which will make him deadlier yet."

"An evil? But... but father. I thought that you had already defeated the evil."

T'Kai's face... a wise, holy face... shown with a solemn smile. "I did, son. But not yet the final victory. That cannot be won until the End Times, and that victory will belong to one who is no mortal. And until the Victory, we mortals must fight with all that we are to save those whom the great Evil would corrupt and destroy. That is the great duty of the Paragon..."

Eloan's face fell once again at those words, his ears burning with humility at his realization of what the other was saying. All of his life he had strived to be like T'Kai. To be the standard of goodness for the a'ladon as he had been. But now, just as it appeared that the charge would be laid upon him, he understood that he was not ready. He was almost on the verge of tears as he said, "Father... I'm sorry. I am no Paragon. I'm not even a warrior. Ailora says I'm not even very good at pretending to be a warrior."

"Listen to what your sister means, son, and not what she says. She loves you greatly, and believes in you more than you may think. But to say that you are no warrior, Eloan? That is indeed distressing. Do you not know the meaning of honor?"

Eloan blinked. "Honor, father? I... I suppose that I do."

"And of faith?"

"Y... yes."

"Of compassion, duty, and devotion?"

"Of course, father, but I--"

"Then you have all that any Paragon could want, son." And as the figure of T'Kai spoke, Eloan realized that he had should have known the point that his father was trying to make. "Eloan, the strength of our calling is not in skill at arms. Anyone, for good or evil and with enough practice can learn to wield a sword with skill. But what makes a great warrior in the army of the One is not the strength of his body, but is instead the greatness of his soul. For any mortal body, no matter how strong, can be slain. But if the Spirit is alive within you then you can never truly be defeated."

Eloan blinked, what his father had said slowly sinking in to his consciousness. "I... I'd like to say that I understand, father, but I don't think I do. At least, not completely."

"No one can, son, until you hear the words from our greatest. It is enough that you have listened... and that you have spoken truly of yourself."

The boy bowed his head in response as a young solider who would honor his captain. "Then I will do as you have said, father. How am I to know the evil when it comes?"

The great figure of the holy Paragon nodded in satisfaction and a fatherly pride at his son's assent to his task. Then he spoke. "Tonight, son, by chance and not by design, my house shall receive a guest. A great soul, even by the standards of the Paragon. Go with him. Aid him. And when you stand with him together as servants of the One, evil will turn tail and flee at the sight of you."

And then the spirit of the great Paragon of the a'ladon smiled and cast the hilt of his shattered sword at the feet of his son. Eloan blinked once at the solid, metallic sound that it made as it landed, then knelt on the ground and picked it up. "Father? It... it's real."

"As real as my love for you, Eloan. I must go now to visit my wife and daughter in their dreams, for it is only there that they will see me. Remember to watch for he who comes in the name of the One, and remember always that even the least bit of hope can bring healing to all who are not whole..."

************

Kiara stirred vaguely within her deep sleep as the sound of a hollow, wooden knocking echoed through the walls of her house. Stirred, but still did not waken as she clung desperately to the dream that had come upon her. T'Kai. She dreamed of T'Kai, the husband whom she had met, loved, mated with and lost all in the span of three days in her youth. And that had been the cruelest mark of the whole affair. They had been destined to be together since birth, had known of each other's presence in the world for their entire lives... and in the end, had been only given three short days.

In the years after his death, Kiara had been certain that she did not have the strength to go on living without him. A great part of her own self had died that day with T'Kai, and only the promise of Father Cheyne that they would one day be together again and the great responsibility of raising the twins had kept her from dying of a broken heart. Many scoffed at her, saying that such a thing was not possible. Kiara assured them that it was.

No... Kiara's thoughts echoed into the darkness as she tried to clutch hold of the fading dream while the hollow sound of knocking tried to drag her back to reality. No, T'Kai... Please, please don't leave me again. I need you. I can't do this without you anymore, dearest. It's just too much for me. Please... I need your strength...

And then the dream's final promise, the one that it always gave, pierced through the darkness like a warm, soothing balm upon her soul. My strength you have, love. Persevere, dearest, and complete the journey that has been marked for you. And I will be there at the last to lead you to where you belong.

Kiara sat up in bed, the sheet falling from chest as the knocking continued at her door. The woman blinked and rubbed the sleep from her brown eyes as she turned wearily to the window. It was still a good five hours before dawn. "Who could that be at this time of night?" the woman murmured weakly, her heart aching at not being able to stay longer with T'Kai. She could feel the tears wet against the soft fur on her face... how she missed him.

But still she drew a paw across her eyes to wipe away the wetness and bit back the others that would take their place, grabbed the robe that dangled from the corner of her bed and forced herself from bed. At this time of night, it was all the more likely that more orphaned children had made their way to the valley seeking shelter after losing their parents to the unseen, anonymous abductor who had come upon their land.

The woman sighed. "Very well, very well," she murmured, stumbling sleepily through the hallways of her home, her feet knowing each bump and crack along the floor by touch.

The door squeaked as it swung slowly outward on its hinges, Kiara pushing it open and peering out into the night in anticipation of seeing one or two... or perhaps three dirty little a'ladon faces peering back at her. Instead...

Ailora and Eloan, both in their nightclothes, dashed from their respective bedrooms and converged in the hallway as they heard their mother's shrill, wordless shout. The eyes of the twins met for a moment as they passed, communication passing wordlessly between the two as they dashed down the wooden stairs to their mother's side. The thoughts of both children were of the missing adults, and both feared that whatever the abducting force was, it had finally come to the valley.

Ailora was the first down the stairway, the nimble girl covering the last seven steps with a great leap and landing on all fours at the foot of the stairs. Eloan followed her as quickly as he could, seeing his mother caught in the evidently smothering embrace of some tall, bare-skinned creature just inside the doorway.

And then the newcomer released Kiara, the two separating. "Eloan!" Ailora shouted over her shoulder. "Get mom!"

The boy barely heard the words as he snatched his mother away from the creature, rolling her quickly out of harm's way as Ailora struck the tall creature in the midsection with a fierce tackle, sending them both down to the wooden floor with a heavy thud. And then, in almost the same motion, the girl plopped down upon the creature's chest and placed all of her weight on his torso, pinning him (for they could now see that it was apparently a male creature) to the ground. Ailora clenched her fist and pulled it back, apparently ready to pummel her victim senseless when she stopped to stare down upon at the creature which she had trapped.

Kiara, the wind apparently knocked out of her by Eloan's rescue, seemed to be trying to desperately signal something to her children. But the boy was ignoring his mother at the moment and was instead watching his sister as she hesitated. "What are you waiting for, 'lora? Hit him!"

But still the girl hesitated, seemingly frozen to the spot as her trembling fist remained high in the air above her, ready to strike but never falling. Eloan, frightened for both his mother and sister, seemed ready to leave his mother's side and go to Ailora's aid when Kiara finally found her voice. "Children! Stop!" she cried with all the voice that she could muster while catching her breath, her eyes wet with tears but a joyous smile upon her face.

"Mom?" Eloan queried, looking from Kiara to Ailora and back again.

Ailora's eyes were locked on the creature beneath her, her mouth sagging open in stunned silence as she studied the perfection of his face. The great, golden mane of hair that so crowned his noble head, a few strands of which dared to fall in front of the azure perfection of his eyes. Eyes so full of wisdom and of goodness. Beneath her she could feel the powerful muscles of his chest contracting and expanding as he sought to catch his breath, and the scent rising from his mouth as he exhaled those same breaths was like an intoxicating perfume to the girl.

And then Kiara was at her daughter's side, gently touching her shoulder and ushering her off of the chest of her victim. The girl, seemingly still spellbound as she continued to gawk at the creature beneath her, could not move of her own volition... but neither did she put up any fight as her mother pulled her aside. And as his sister was moved away and the stranger rose to his feet, Eloan got his first real look at the other.

The boy a'ladon moved forward slowly, his blue eyes locked on the those of their guest; eyes which perfectly mirrored the color of his own. Eloan's memories flashed wildly through his brain for a moment as he recalled with a sudden and absolutely clarity the stories of his mother and father. The yellow hair atop the head... the eyes... the golden talisman dangling from his neck. But even if he had never heard those stories from his parents, he was certain that he would know this one to be Paragon.

He swallowed deeply. "Lord... Takeru?"

T.K. stepped forward into silence, almost as stunned as Eloan as a flood of painful memories, once buried within his soul, rushed to the surface. T'Kai. T'Kai. But then also, not T'Kai. The hands were a little less delicate than the other boy's had been, the feet a bit larger and the tail somewhat bushier. But the eyes... oh, the eyes. It was T'Kai... and Mylam... all over again.

And then the human found his tongue as well. "Eloan?" he asked, his hand reaching gently forward for the other.

"Lord Takeru," the a'ladon repeated, this time the tenor of his voice more fervent and shrouded in deference and respect. The stories that his parents had told... they did not do him justice. They had called him a child, and perhaps he still was... but there was a righteousness about him, surrounding him like a second skin, that Eloan could not deny. The same holiness that his father wore, only now standing before him as flesh and bone. Without another word he stepped forward and sank to one knee, pressing his forehead against the human's hand, showing respect here even where he did not show it to his own king.

And then Ailora was at his side, seemingly having found the ability to move again. The girl fell to both knees, taking T.K.'s other hand and repeatedly pressing her face against it as tears of awe washed away the dirt from his bare wrist. But unlike Eloan, whose strong emotions were well defined as great admiration, the girl's were all a jumble. For an instant, she too felt the respect of her brother. But the next, she felt fear. Then adoration. And last of all and most frightening for her, a deep, unexpected... and almost unrestrained passion.

Many times in the past, whether to tease her or because they honestly believed it, both Eloan and Shay had both accused her of having a romantic infatuation with the Lord Takeru. At this she had scoffed. Her love for Lord Takeru was not the love of one mortal being for another, she had snapped in return. It was the love of a servant to a master. Of a mortal to an immortal. And though she had often enough wished for his return while he remained the same age as she was, it had never once occurred to her that her brother and Shay might be interpreting her feelings better than she was.

Never... until now. She tried desperately to fight it down, horrified as she felt it creep into her heart and establish itself there. No! she shouted at herself as she continued to caress the other's hand lovingly. That really is blasphemy! Eloan's right! He... he's not even the same species I am! I'm just a child to him! I... I...

And now the girl released her grip on T.K.'s hand and sank back down onto her knees, her head bowed beneath the weight of a reality that she did not want to admit. At her side, Eloan had apparently gotten over himself just a bit and was now on his feet and actually speaking with Takeru. But Ailora heard none of the words. Disaster... a disaster that she could never had anticipated, had fallen upon her.

And then, as they spoke, she heard the voice of the Lord Takeru. That voice! She would have known it to be his even if she had not seen him. She was certain of it. And as she listened to him, she remembered the story that her mother had once told: How before departing the last time that Takeru and Hikari had spoken over her and Eloan and had blessed them both as they slept within their mother's womb.

Ailora felt a paw tight upon her shoulder. "Ailora?" Kiara murmured softly in her daughter's ear, kneeling by her side. She knew how much Tekay would disapprove of this display of reverence by her children. "Aren't you going to say hello to Lord Takeru?"

The girl's eyes snapped wide open. Say hello? No, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to leap to her feet and embrace him, to stare into his eyes and to kiss him. She wanted to run and hide, to dig a hole so deep that none could ever find her. She wanted to sing, she wanted to dance, she wanted to vanished from the face of the earth. But to say 'hello'? No... that was something that she simply couldn't do.

"Come on, Ailora," her mother urged, lifting the girl to her feet and then continuing to hold her up when her legs would have buckled beneath her. "This is what you've been waiting your whole life for."

Ailora was trembling like she never had in her entire life as Kiara stood her in front of T.K. She had always, in all of her fifteen years, been the strong one. Had always been confident. Whether by luck or by skill or simply by persistent determination, nothing had ever gotten the best of her. In the children of the valley's games, her team almost always won. In an argument, her quick mind, resolve and relentlessness always assured her of the last word.

All of that strength vanished at once, like so much smoke against a wind as she stood before the one that she had idolized since birth...