Chapter 26

"Highness, you can not be serious! You did nothing to cause them injury."

"Your words are perfectly true, Shel'b. Nothing is exactly what I did, except to make a decision. One that left the two people I care about the most laying in a smoke filled room when it was in my power to save them."

"No, Highness, it was not." Shel'b said softly, putting a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "You had no choice in your actions the moment I found not two, but three civilians. Once that happened you had to help us get them to safety."

"Highness, even I know that in a rescue situation like that, getting the victims to safety comes first, as they have been exposed the longest," Sher'l said, seeing that Starfire was going to argue. She knelt in front of her so they were almost eye to eye. "If the situation was reversed, you know Robin would have done the same as you did. Do not dishonor his actions this way."

Sher'l was shocked to see the angry look on Starfire's face, her eyes all but glowing with anger. "Do not presume to speak to me of honor, traitor," she snapped, and immediately regretted both her tone and words when she saw the pain, and shame wash over the youngster's face. "Sher'l, I am sorry. . . " she began as Sher'l quickly stood.

"No, Highness, it is I who am sorry. I am but your handmaiden, and not yet a warrior, so what do I know of honor? I forget my place." she said angrily, then bowed stiffly and stormed off.

Starfire looked to Shel'b and saw the shocked and angry look that the warrior was giving her. "I told her I was the sorry," she said.

Shel'b gave her a combination growl and sigh of frustration. "Koriand'r, sometimes saying you are sorry does not help. If you truly do not know that yet, you have much to learn." She started to walk away, but paused and turned her head to look at Starfire over her shoulder. "I trust we will not be staying here overlong? He will expect you to be there when he awakens."

Star nodded her understanding then walked over to the fallen tree that Sher'l was now sitting on, her back to Starfire. "Sher'l," she called softly, then mentally cursed herself when she heard her sniffle. She walked closer then sat beside her, facing the other way. "Sherana, I would tell you that I did not mean what I said, but I would not compound my stupidity, by lying to you, and I will not hide behind the excuse of my distress over recent events. If I could I would take back my hurtful words. You have been through enough, and do not need to bear the brunt of my anger at myself. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me my unthinking words as I have forgiven your earlier actions."

Sher'l turned her head and looked at her, and Starfire could see that although her eyes were slightly red, she was no longer crying. "I thank you for your forgiveness, Highness, but you would do well not to forget my actions that caused you harm. You have more than enough proof that I can be manipulated into those. You must guard yourself from trusting me overmuch. After what I have done I am too close to you for you to ever really trust me again."

Starfire brushed her finger tips over Sher'l's cheek, and smiled softly. "I am glad to see that you have the maturity and insight to realize this, Sherana. I have spoken to Raven, and she does not feel in you any desire to harm me. I am confident that, providing we keep you and your brother from Teranc'r, we have nothing to fear from you." Just then, Starfire's communicator beeped, and she sighed when she saw it was Cyborg calling. "Yes friend Cyborg, I am sorry for hitting you with the star bolt."

"I'm glad to hear that, but I need you here."

Star's brow furrowed as she heard the unfamiliar voice, until she realized who it was. "Doctor Benson? What are you doing with Cyborg's communicator?"

"He felt you wouldn't want to talk to him, so he let me use it to call you. Like I just said, I need you here to help me with Robin."

"How may I be of assistance?"

"I need to check his eyes, but you know how he values his secrecy. You are the only one I know that might be able to keep him calm while I remove his mask so I cam examine his eyes."

'Very well, Doctor, I will be there shortly." she said and closed her communicator. "Sher'l, I want you to fly back to the Tower and get something from my room. On the second shelf in my medicine cabinet is a jar of Gresha ointment. I want you to get it and bring it to that building over there. We will be in a place called the emergency room"

Sher'l looked at the building Starfire indicated, then nodded her head. "As you command Highness, I will not delay."

"Shel'b we are leaving."

"In here, Starfire." Dr. Benson called from one of the treatment rooms a few minutes later. "As you can see his face took some injury from the heat, but except for where his mask was melted to his skin it's not much worse than a bad sunburn," she said as they approached the gurney where Robin lay.

"I. . .I am uncertain of what you want of me." Star said, her eyes taking in Robin's injuries, "and why is he the unconscious?"

"I need to know what condition his eyes are in. He's been slipping in and out of consciousness, and getting very agitated when he realizes that I'm removing his mask, but it must come off. If it doesn't, infection will set in, and with it on, I can't examine his eyes to see if either the smoke or the heat may have damaged them. I need you to keep him calm."

"I understand Doctor. I hope I am up to the task." Star practically whispered, then swallowed as she stoked his cheek with her right hand while her left held his hand. She watched as Linda began to gently peel his mask off. She made a small noise as she pulled a section that was stuck to his skin.

"Starfire, don't worry he's not feeling anything." Linda assured her as she started using a small squirt bottle of water to moisten the mask to make it easier to remove.

'Oh yes he is, and so am I.' Star thought as she felt the stinging of the small tear in his skin she had caused on her own face. "Doctor, please distract me, tell me what you will be looking for after you get his mask off."

"Okay," Linda agreed, noticing that Starfire seemed to flinch as she ran into parts of Robin's mask that were more deeply fused with his skin. "I'll be looking to see how transparent the lenses of his eyes are, and the cornea. Also what condition the sclera, or the white part of his eye, the iris, or the colored part are in and whether or not his pupil reacts to light. Ah good that's got it all off," she said as the last piece of Robin's mask came loose. Seeing Starfire's concern, she kept up a running commentary as she looked at his eyes. "The white of his eye looks very inflamed, but no worse than I've seen, given these circumstances. I can see no discoloration in either his cornea or lens," she said, then cut off suddenly.

"Doctor what is it? What is wrong?"

"His pupils are not reacting to light," Linda replied, keeping her voice calm. "Don't worry it's probably a temporary condition." she added, as she kept working. "This is an ultraviolet dye that will show any tears in his cornea when exposed to UV light. I'm going to put some in each of his eyes, then use an ultraviolet light to see how things are.

A few minutes later, Linda peered at Robin's eyes using the UV light, and saw stripes of brilliant blue all through Robin's eyes. She sighed sadly. "I was afraid of this. Jen, call Doctor Kingman and have come down for a consult please," she ordered the nurse that was in the room. "He's the head of our ophthalmic team, he'll be better able to tell you what's going on."

"Highness, I got the ointment," Sher'l said as she poked her head into the room.

"Thank you, Sherana, now please wait outside with the others."

"Ointment?"

"It is a substance from my home world, called Gresha ointment. It is very like your antibacterial ointments, but it also speeds the healing process."

"It does?"

"Here watch," Star said, hearing the doubt in the physician's voice. She put a dab of the bluish cream on one of the smaller cuts caused by the removal of his mask. Less than a minute later, she wiped it back off and the cut was nearly healed. "The only thing I fear is that I have not tried it on his eyes before."

Just then Robin moaned softly. "Star is that you?"

Linda smiled when she saw Starfire's face brighten up at the sound of Robin's voice, despite the fact that it was a barely audible, raspy whisper.

"Yes, Robin, I am here. Now hush, you must rest."

"The people. Did we get them out?"

"Yes, my love, we got them all out safe and sound."

"Ungh, head hurts, feel like I went a few rounds with Cinderblock."

"Robin I had to make a decision when I came back to the building. There was one more civilian to be rescued then I thought, so I had to rescue them and leave you and Raven for a time. Can you forgive me?"

"No. . . .no. . . ." Robin said then slipped into unconsciousness again.

Linda watched as Robin's last words had their effect on Starfire. She watched her flinch back, her face paling, then she stood up. "Excuse me, Doctor, but I. . . ." she began then looked at Robin with sadness and confusion in her eyes, then left the room.

"Star, how is he?" Cyborg asked, then frowned as Starfire looked as though she was confused by the question. She seemed to sake herself mentally before she answered, and he grew more concerned at the flat almost emotionless tone of her voice.

"Doctor Linda Benson says he should recover and she has a specialist coming that will look at his eyes."

"Star, are you alright?"

"Yes Beast Boy I am uninjured."

"That's not what I meant."

Before any of them could say anything else, Linda came out of Robin's room. "Starfire I have something I want to ask you."

"Yes, Doctor, I will answer as best I can."

"The girl that brought you that jar of ointment, why did she address you as Highness?"

"Because she is the crown princess of Tamaran, the next in line for the throne." Sher'l replied.

Linda thought for a moment, "I thought you had an older sister. Is she on the throne or your parents?"

Starfire looked away sadly, her hand going to her shoulder. "My parents are both dead," she said softly, "and you are correct I do have an older sister, Blackfire. She does not, and will not rule my home world."

Linda nodded, then changed subjects. "What was it that you asked Robin to forgive you for?"

Starfire sighed softly, her expression getting sadder as she looked at the door to Robin's room, "I truly hope it was a misunderstanding. Now if you will excuse me, I wish to be alone right now."

Linda watched the redhead as she walked down the hall her frown deepening as she wondered what happened to the high spirited young woman she had released from her care not long ago. She turned to talk to Cyborg, and saw that he too was watching Starfire, his expression mirroring her own. "What happened at the rescue, and what is it that Robin won't forgive her for?"

"Whaddaya mean he won't forgive her?"

"Robin regained consciousness for a short time and asked if everyone had been rescued. Starfire told him that they had, and said something about a decision she had to make and asked him if he would forgive her."

"And he said no?"

Linda nodded, and looked down the hall that Starfire had walked down. "It took her by complete surprise, and hurt her deeply. What decision did she make?"

Cyborg sighed heavily, then looked at Linda and saw her genuine concern. "Starfire and two other Tamaraneans went back into the building because we had lost contact with Robin and Raven who were looking for two more people to be rescued. Star and the others found not two but three people and Star made the decision to get them out first then go back for Raven and Robin."

"I take it something went wrong."

Cy nodded. "The whole floor had been filled with thick smoke, and right after Star and the others had gotten the victims to the waiting ambulances there was a flash fire."

"So that's how they got hurt. Raven and Robin were still inside."

"Right, and Starfire is having trouble believing she made the right decision, which it truly was."

"And now she thinks Robin blames her for his getting injured."

"How bad is he anyway? Star said something about you having a specialist look at his eyes."

"Well the fire caused a lot of heat to build up behind his mask, and it's had a very bad drying effect on them. Doctor Kingman believes it'll be a temporary condition, but right now he can't see, even if we didn't have his eyes bandaged. We'll know better in two weeks."

Cyborg gave a small chuckle when he thought of Robin not only confined to a hospital, but blind for two weeks. "This ain't gonna be pretty." he muttered.

Starfire took the elevator up as far as it would go, then took to the stairs, and finally ended up at her destination, the roof. She was glad that Saint Mary's Hospital was one of the tallest buildings in Jump City, as it now gave her an unobstructed view of the bay as the sun started to sink into it for the night. She pulled her crystal from under her neck piece her fingers running over the facets of the red glowing gem. "Red because he is unconscious. . . . .because of my decision." She stood there watching the sunset, and feeling the breeze toying with her hair. "Yes my decision, the only one I could make, or was it? If I had taken both Robin and Raven that would mean that Shel'b would have had to take two of the ones we were sent there to rescue. No that would not have worked as the one I carried to the medical people was having trouble breathing, and carrying her face down would have practically blocked her breathing passage. Robin knew that we most likely would not have gotten to them any quicker than we did, but he could not have foreseen the explosion." She paced along the edge of the roof in the gathering darkness, her thoughts racing. She continued to voice them in an effort to work through them. "But his knowing about the explosion would not have mattered. Had there been a bomb with its display counting down he would have ordered us to take the innocent bystanders and go while he tried to diffuse it." she stopped her pacing and groaned in frustration. "Erraaggh, this is getting me nowhere, just going in circles." blowing out a frustrated breath, she took the lotus position and calmed her mind feeling a small pang as she remembered it was Raven who had taught her to meditate, and even let her use her mantra. After a few moments Star had relaxed enough that she could take a mental step back from her earlier train of thought. She studied it for a moment, then re-examined the situation and her decision. "Based on the available information, my decision was correct for the circumstances. Robin will just have to see it that way."

Cyborg was still talking with Linda when he caught sight of Starfire walking towards him. Although he couldn't say that she looked happy, she looked considerably more sure of herself.

"I have decided that this misunderstanding between Robin and myself will have to wait until he regains consciousness to be resolved. Until then my place is here with my friends. My decision was correct, and I will deal with Robin's feelings on the matter later. I wish to apologize for my earlier mood, and for turning my back on you, my friends. I have been remiss in one other thing. How is Raven?"

"Right now she's in a healing trance, and we have her on oxygen to help clear the smoke from her lungs. Other than that I'll probably release her when she wakes up."

"Thank you doctor, I am gratified to hear that she is doing so well. Friend Cyborg, I wish to apologize for my actions on the scene when I disregarded your telling me of the danger of my going to save Robin and raven, but as I told you then the danger to myself, Shel'b and Sher'l was minimal."

She opened her mouth to say more, but her eyes suddenly widened and she paled considerably, catching both Cyborg's and Linda's attention.

"Star?"

"Starfire are you alright? What's wrong?"

Starfire suddenly found both her voice and the ability to move, as she grabbed Linda by her shoulders. "Doctor something is wrong with Robin!" she cried, her voice terrified. Linda watched as she pulled a chain from under her neck piece which was connected to a crystal. "I. . . .X'Hal no! It is blank!"

"Star what is it? What does the crystal being blank mean?" Cyborg asked, and was surprised when Star threw her arms around him and buried her head on his chest. What she said next stunned him even more.

"He is dead! I can not feel his mind any more and the crystal is no longer picking up his life force."

"Starfire calm down. Nurse Ramsey is in there with him, prepping him for the move upstairs to his room, and I assure you that if anything had gone wrong she would have called me instantly."

"Come on Star let's just go take a look," Cyborg suggested, and Linda was surprised at how gentle he could be.

"Oh good Starfire you're still here." Jennifer Ramsey said as she came out of Robin's room. "I know you and Robin are going steady, so I think it would be best if you held onto these while he's here," she explained, taking Starfire's hand and placing something into it.

"Oh thank X'Hal his crystal!" Starfire cried in relief as she looked at the crystal and Mitzpah medallion laying in her palm.

Cyborg felt her sag against him in relief. "Linda, I know that patients aren't usually allowed to wear jewelry while they're here, but is it possible to make an exception in this case?"

"Certainly," Linda agreed. "This is why you had me distract you while I was removing his mask isn't it?"

"Yes. It is called a Shinrah crystal and it has certain properties that enable Robin and I to tell what the other is feeling. While you were removing his mask, the combination of my touching him and his being foremost in my mind caused me to feel his pain as you peeled his mask off."

They watched as Starfire slipped the chain back around Robin's neck and slid the crystal under his hospital gown. As she slid her hand back out she sighed in relief as she saw her crystal resume it's red glow. "Mine is red because he is unconscious," she explained, holding up her crystal, then she slid Robin back out from under his gown. "His is green because I am physically alright."

"I'm sorry Starfire, I didn't know."

"It is alright friend Linda. I am just relieved that this is all that was the cause of what I felt. I did not realize just how much I had grown used to having this link with him. Now if you will excuse me I am going to go sit with Raven ."