§ § § -- January 29, 1994

"I feel like I'm scuba diving," Laura said. Like Kirsten and April, she was decked out in the full spacesuit; at the moment they were all bounding around at the bottom of a Herculean-sized water tank designed to simulate weightlessness. "But you know something? This is a blast!"

"Wait till the real thing happens," April said with a grin that was almost visible through the water to her two best friends. "The Vomit Comet!"

Laura stopped where she was and blinked at the terminology. "The what?"

"Oh come on," April said, "you know. The plane that takes the astronauts up and does a huge loop and dive so you have actual weightlessness for a few seconds. I've heard a lot of the trainees lose their lunches that way…that's why it's called the Vomit Comet."

"Oh, how nice," said Laura faintly.

Kirsten laughed; to each, the others' voices sounded tinny in their communications gear. "Hey, we're already in too deep to back out now. You were as gung-ho as either of us, Laura, so don't wimp out on us now that we're finally gonna be doing it."

"I'm not wimping out," Laura said staunchly. "I just don't know if I'll make it through that airplane ride."

"You will," April said confidently. "This is our fantasy, and Mr. Roarke's granted it, so you won't get sick. After all, a fantasy is supposed to be exactly what you want."

"I guess so," Laura murmured.

"Look," Kirsten said, "just don't eat lunch before we go up, okay? That way you're less likely to see it come back up. Come on, let's do those exercises they were telling us about. We have only another five minutes in here before the next test." So saying, she pushed off the bottom of the tank and performed a slow-motion back flip in the water, making her friends laugh and do their utmost to imitate her.

‡ ‡ ‡

Kristofer, Lukas and Frida had lunch together at the restaurant set on stilts in a small pond, and were in the midst of their meal and getting to know one another better when, to their surprise, in came Brita, Jannike and Gunnar. "Well," murmured Lukas. "The reluctant ones appear…"

"What?" Frida asked.

Lukas cleared his throat, avoiding his father's odd look. "Here come the others; I guess they decided they're ready to meet you at last." He gestured toward the trio advancing in their direction, and Frida watched with suddenly wide eyes, her meal forgotten. Jannike managed an actual smile when the three came to a stop near the table; Brita eyed Frida with a cold look, and Gunnar regarded his half-sister with a suspicious glint in his eye. Lukas introduced them all, and they nodded silently at one another.

Kristofer didn't miss his younger children's hostile demeanor. "Have you no manners, then?" he asked sharply. "Frida is your sister, and she would like very much to know you."

"You might stay and have some lunch," Lukas added pointedly.

"We already ate," said Gunnar shortly.

"Then sit down with us at least," his father said, frowning. Brita, Gunnar and Jannike pulled chairs away from nearby empty tables and took places, while the diners shifted their own chairs to make some room.

After a long moment Frida finally ventured, "So…tell me about Lilla Jordsö. What is it like there?"

"Quiet," said Jannike warily, glancing at Lukas and taking in his angry frown. "We don't see very many tourists. We keep to ourselves and run our café in the city."

"Is it a large city?" Frida pressed on hopefully. "I want to come and see it, and perhaps visit you there if I might."

"Of course," Kristofer exclaimed, clearly stunned that she thought she had to ask. "You'll be more than welcome in our home, little one. You're family." Brita made a rude noise at this, but she was glared down by her father and older brother and left her comment at that. However, she made no friendly overtures.

After a few more minutes of awkward conversation, Frida cast her father a long, regretful look. "I really must get back to my room. My fiancé came here with me, and he doesn't know why I'm really here…"

"Oh?" said Lukas, surprised. Jannike and Gunnar glanced at each other; Brita peered sourly up at Frida. "Does he know you were adopted?"

"Oh, he knows that," Frida said uncomfortably, "but that's all." She cleared her throat. "I wasn't certain how to tell him, or the right time. Perhaps now…" She floundered, glanced furtively at her siblings and shrugged. "Please, excuse me. I promise I will see you soon." She smiled at Kristofer and hurried out.

"So she's engaged," Brita muttered. "I might have known some sucker would fall for a face like that. She probably enchanted him, just like her mother did Pappa."

Kristofer sat up straight and glared at her so fiercely that not only was Brita herself startled, so were her sister and brothers. "You will refrain from making comments on things you know nothing about, Brita Dannegård—do you hear me?" he warned, voice low with fury. "It's clear that you don't care, either; so until and unless you show a little more compassion and approach this with a more open mind, you'll keep quiet. At the very least, you'll treat Frida with the common courtesy you'd afford any stranger."

Brita stared back at him but said nothing. Kristofer watched her for a moment, then apparently decided she'd gotten the message and sat back in his seat.

When she reached their room in the B&B, Frida was disconcerted to find Klaus awake and agitated, pacing the floor. "What happened to you?" he exclaimed when she came in. "You didn't leave a note or anything. Why didn't you stay and wait for me to wake up so that I could join you in sightseeing?"

Frida bit her lip hard and tried to regroup. "You could come now," she offered, her voice high-pitched with nerves. "I know you wanted to see all the exotic plants on this island, and believe me, there are many."

"Oh, I'm sure of that," said Klaus, coming to her and slipping an arm around her shoulders. "But I wanted to go along with you. I know you lived here for several years, so I was waiting for you to be my guide."

"Of course," Frida said, smiling tremulously. An idea occurred to her then and she seized on it. "Why don't I introduce you to Julie? She owns this house and I lived here with her. She was born here, so she would know even more than I would."

Klaus lit up, relieving her enormously. "What a great idea! In that case, let's find her."

Julie was in the kitchen and brightened like a neon sign when they walked in. "Frida! It's about time I got to see you! I guess Yvonne must have checked you two in here." She dropped a spoon into a bowl and hugged Frida hard; Frida returned the gesture with like enthusiasm. "And who's this good-looking fella?"

Frida giggled. "He is Klaus Rosseby, my fiancé. Klaus, this is Julie MacNabb. She gave me a home when I had nowhere else."

Julie shook hands with Klaus. "Good to meet you. Yep, Frida was my housemate for several years, and not only that, she worked for me too. It seemed so lonely after she left, especially when we never heard a word out of her." She eyed Frida with mock reproval. "How come you never wrote to anyone?"

Frida repeated the reasoning she'd given Leslie, and Julie nodded. "I guess I can understand that. Well, at least you finally came back for a visit, and about darn time too. You look terrific! Have you seen your friends yet? Well…you must've seen Leslie, since she and uncle were there to greet you coming off the plane, but what about the other girls? And I know you had a bunch of friends other than Leslie and her gang. Of course, I don't know how many of them are still on the island, but you can always look them up. There's a phone directory in your room." She grinned. "Did you notice I put you in your old room?"

Frida giggled, slightly overwhelmed by Julie's eager chatter. "Yes, I did! It felt good to see that it hasn't changed. I was thinking of trying to contact my other friends later, but I think I should ask Leslie first and see if she can tell me how many are still here."

"I'm sure Leslie would know, yeah," Julie agreed. "So have you two had lunch yet?"

Frida winced, but Klaus answered for them both. "Actually, I'm not very hungry. We had a lovely breakfast in Honolulu before we boarded the charter. Frida said that you might know where the best flora is on this island, since you are a native. I have never seen so many wonderful, rare, exotic plants in my life, and this place looks like a botanist's paradise. I really want to learn more about them and try to catalog a few."

"Oh, a plant lover," said Julie, grinning. "Then I guess you'll have a full weekend. We have loads of plants that don't exist anywhere else on earth; so no matter where you decide to start looking, you'll have plenty to see."

"Wonderful," Klaus agreed and turned to Frida. "You mentioned your friends here. I won't force you to come with me and be bored. I'll look at the plants, and you should find your friends and speak with them." He kissed her. "If you or Julie will only tell me where to look, I'll go myself."

Julie and Frida described a few paths he could start with, and he thanked them both and rushed out of the house with an eager, anticipatory mien about him. Frida watched him go and sighed deeply. "He is so easy to please," she said softly. "So good-natured. But when I tell him…"

Julie, alerted by both her tone and her words, pivoted sharply on one heel to stare at her. "Wait a minute—let me get this straight. Klaus doesn't know you're adopted?"

"Oh, he knows that," Frida said morosely. "But he doesn't know that I came here to meet my birth parents at last. And more than that, he doesn't know I have…powers."

Julie nodded slowly, comprehension suffusing her features. "I get it." Her dark eyes gleamed with sympathy and a touch of reproach. "Frida, I don't want to act like I'm your mom or anything. But when you lived here, you used to come to me for girl chats now and then, remember?" Frida nodded. "And remember the time you asked what I thought you should do about Camille Ichino and the awful way she treated you back then?"

"You told me that I must regard her with pity, for her lack of understanding," Frida recalled, reluctantly meeting Julie's gaze.

"Yup," said Julie. "You did an admirable job with that, as I recall."

"Is this how I must treat Klaus?" Frida exclaimed, making a connection Julie hadn't intended. Julie winced.

"No, that isn't what I was leading up to," she said and sighed. "I think what I'm getting at here is that Klaus has a lot more significance in your life than Camille did. I mean, geez, Frida, you're engaged to the guy, after all. He of all people deserves to know your full background. And sooner or later, you'll have to tell him why you're really here, and introduce him to your family."

"I know," Frida said, "but I am afraid that when I do tell him, he will hate me because I didn't have the courage to tell him in the beginning."

Julie bit her lip and hugged Frida again. "I wish I had a quick answer to that one, but I don't think even uncle could give you one of those. The only thing I can tell you is that, if he hates you for being afraid—or for not explaining about your powers or the reason you're here—then he wouldn't be the right man for you. Let's face it, the whole subject of your powers in particular is hard enough to broach. But you've always had excellent control over them. I'm not saying hide them from Klaus, but you can cite your control and explain that you'd never intentionally do him any harm with them. I don't know if that'd be enough, but at least it's a start."

"But if he leaves me because of them…?" Frida asked.

"Then like I said, he's not the man for you," Julie told her.

"Then perhaps no man would be the man for me," Frida said bleakly, "because what man would not fear a power such as mine?" Without waiting for an answer, she left the house through the kitchen door; Julie stood helplessly behind and watched her go, wishing she could provide her former housemate with some simple answers, knowing there was no such thing.