Disclaimer: Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. I'm simply borrowing them until the Season 2 DVD's get released.

Chapter Seventy – Two – The Story Unfolds

A stunned silence filled the room; nobody knew what to say. Finally Jim broke the silence.

"Why don't we go someplace a bit more comfortable and figure this out," he said. "No offense against your throne room or whatever it is, but it isn't really a welcoming kind of place."

Drinian roared with laughter. "Jim Valenti, I do like you," he said. "I haven't quite forgiven you for knocking me out back on Earth, but even that worked out to our advantage."

"Why don't we return to the family quarters?" suggested Kitana. "It is far more comfortable, and we can relax and talk there."

"Um, we may not want to go there," Isabel said, quietly. "Kivar took them over as his own."

"He is unable to erase the memories that already exist in that room, my daughter. We spent many happy times there together, and no power on Antar could remove those memories," Kitana explained, reaching out to take Isabel's hand in hers.

They traversed the hallways of the palace and found themselves standing outside the doors to Drinian and Kitana's private rooms. Drinian pushed the door open and stepped inside. He surveyed the charred but still recognizable remains of Isabel's clone on the floor, and quickly stepped back into the hallway and closed the door.

"Perhaps we need to find another room to talk in," he said, placing himself between the group and the doors.

"What is it?" questioned Kitana. "What has happened?"

"There was some fighting in there," said Drinian. "The room needs to be cleaned, that is all."

"That isn't all," said Kyle, suddenly, "And Isabel needs to see it. She can handle it."

"See what?" asked Isabel. "What do I need to see?"

Drinian reluctantly stepped away from the door, and allowed Isabel and Alex to step forward and open the door. Isabel's hand hovered over the handle. She didn't want to go in there, but she knew that if Kyle said she could handle it, she could handle it.

"Isabel, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," said Alex.

"No," she said, resolutely. "Kyle thinks I need to do it, so I'll do it."

She squared her shoulders and pushed the door open and walked into the room, Alex still by her side. She stopped and stared in horror at the charred remains of her duplicate on the floor.

"He killed her," she whispered. "It's my fault that she's dead. She saved me, and he killed her."

"I'm not really sure about that, daughter," said Drinian. "I think she did it herself. If Kivar had done this, no part of her would have remained. I believe she fired an energy bolt into her own body. She was not completely consumed because when she died, the energy supply to the bolt would have been cut, of course."

"She was far more noble than I could ever dream of being," said Isabel, wiping a tear from her eye. "She saved me from that monster, and then, rather than be with him, she took her own life. I'd like to think she realized in the end that he was evil." She turned to Drinian and Kitana. "Would it be possible to honor her in some way?"

"Why as me, daughter? You have been chosen to lead, as have the others. The decision is yours," said Drinian.

"Then I say we do it," Isabel said decisively. "But I also think you are right, Father," she added, testing the word for the first time. "This is not the place for us to talk."

"Come with me, children," said Kitana.

"Wow, look at her," Ava whispered to Maria. "She's really slipped into mother mode."

"I heard that," Kitana said with a grin. "Behave, Ava, I am your aunt after all."

Her words sent a shock waves rippling through Michael. He hadn't made the connection yet. Che'koth said his sister was Michael and Ava's mother. He smiled slightly when he felt Maria's hand creep into his. She squeezed his hand and smiled up at him.

"Looks like the Christmas card list is getting bigger this year, Space Boy," she whispered.

Michael laughed appreciatively, but deep inside, he was thrilled. He loved Maria, and there was no doubt she was his life, but finding out that Ava was his sister had filled an aching void in his life. And later, when he found out that Max and Isabel really were family, he felt that void fill even more. Adding an aunt and uncle to the mix really rounded things out for him.

Kitana opened a door, and led the group into what Liz took to be a drawing room, a very formal drawing room. She looked around at the elegant furniture, looked down at her own dirt smeared clothing and sighed. There was no way she could sit on any of the furniture looking like this.

Kitana passed her hand over a dark spot on the wall, and a panel slid back to reveal a door. She pushed the other door open and led the group into a room that resembled a family room back on Earth. The furniture was much simpler, and looked pretty beat up already. In fact, it looked suspiciously like a room where two small children could grow up and play, without fear of ruining something of value.

"I know this place," said Max, looking around.

"I would hope so," said Drinian. "You spent much of your childhood here, playing, and then, when you started your education, you would study here. And now, I think it is fitting that we have a kind of summit here to answer the questions that I am sure are echoing in your minds."

"Why didn't you ever tell us who you were?" demanded Max before anyone had a chance to sit down.

"You certainly aren't wasting a lot of time, are you, Max?" said Drinian. "But, it is a fair question, and I will do my best to answer it. It is a long story though, and I suggest we all make ourselves comfortable before we begin."

Drinian waited until everyone was seated, before he began his tale.

"When your pods were sent to Earth, along with the Granolith, it was with the intent that you would remain in stasis, and not emerge until you were adults. At the same time, the memories we implanted in you were supposed to develop and mature, as you did, so that when you left your pods, you would have a full working knowledge of life on Antar. However, you exited the pods early. Why, we do not know. It is possible that the pods were damaged when the ship carrying them crashed. But you emerged far sooner than anticipated and with no memories of your lives on Antar."

Drinian paused, waiting to see if they had any questions for him, but the group sat, spellbound, waiting to hear what he would say next. Taking a deep breath, he continued his story.

"As I said, it was planned that when you emerged, you would know how to activate the Granolith, and find your way home, if you chose, to fight for your world."

"What do you mean, if we chose?" Max asked.

"Max, the decision for you, for all of you, to come back here could only be made by the four of you, not by me. I was, am, your parent, not your master," said Drinian. "In any event, you emerged as young children, and had, for the most part, wonderful lives." He glanced at Michael, the sorrow in his eyes revealing the pain he felt at Michael's upbringing.

"When the eight of you activated the Granolith, it was cause for celebration here on Antar, or so I thought. At first, I thought it was the four of you, but when I saw you there, all of you there, my heart was filled with both joy, and sadness."

"Why?" asked Liz.

"I was overjoyed to see that my family was alive," explained Drinian, "But when I saw how happy all of you were together, how you belonged together, I knew I couldn't ask you to come home and fight this war."

"You keep talking about how it was our choice to come back or not," said Max. "But you never gave us the choice. By remaining silent, you made the decision for us," accused Max.

"I want you to think for a moment, Max. I knew almost right away that Liz was with child. I also had some inkling of the terrible evil you were going to be fighting in Tess. Suppose I had told you everything, right then and there, would you have left Liz, your unborn child, and everyone you'd ever known to come back and fight this war?"

Max couldn't say anything because he realized what his father said was true. He could never have left Liz. He thought about what his father said, and came up with another question.

"Fine, after everything was said and done, and we were here, willing to fight, why didn't you tell us who you were?"

"And how fair would that have been?" asked Drinian. "I believe your Earth expression is laying a guilt trip on somebody? How could I do that to you?"

"He tried to tell you so many times," Kyle said. "If you had just paid attention, you would have known."

"Oh, and I suppose you knew?" Max asked, anger and frustration making his voice harsh.

"Yeah, I did know," said Kyle. "I've known for a while now."

"Right, and did Liz tell you, or did you tell Liz?" demanded Max, some of the repressed jealously he felt towards Kyle coming to the surface.

"Neither, you dumb jackass," said Kyle. "The love Che'koth felt for you was easy to read. It just poured off of him. Besides, if you had just listened to him, you could have figured it out on your own. He kept urging you to access the first Zan's memories, as well as he memories of the royals that came before you. If you had done that, you would have found that your father's memories weren't there. They couldn't be, because he was still alive."

"How did you know, Liz?" Isabel asked. Did Kyle tell you?"

"No," said Liz, quietly. "I just listened to Che'koth talk. He treated you, well all of us, actually, exactly like our parents do. Plus it was pretty easy to see the love he felt shining in his eyes. I called him on it a while ago, I was going to ask him outright, but he reminded me of the position I was putting myself in if he did tell me. I would have been forced to either keep a secret from Max, or share something Che'koth didn't want us to know. So I didn't ask him."

At this, Drinian laughed. "Instead, she asked me if the face I wore as Che'koth was my true appearance. I could truthfully tell her that it wasn't, and then, she asked me to please reveal my true appearance to her. I did, but I never truly confirmed her suspicions. Your wife, my son, is a very clever woman indeed."

"I have a question," said Zan, who had, up to now, remained silent.

"Yes, Son, what is it?" asked Drinian.

"The Granolith, what the hell is it, and what happened when it showed up on top of the palace?"