This is me for forever

One of the lost ones

The one without a name

Without an honest heart as compass…

Nightwish – Nemo

Oz (The Outer Zone)

From the moment she was born, Azkadellia Andromeda Ozopov showed that she was a child who possessed wisdom far beyond her years. Born to Queen Lavinia, the current living descendant of the great Dorothy Gale and King Nicolai Ozopov, himself a descendant of Lurline, she also showed promise of being one of the most powerful mages in all the realms. Her only flaw according to the Ozian people was that her father was not an Ozian but a slipper named Tyler Bennett and he was a hot air balloonist and aspiring artist from Kansas who was at the Nebraska State fair when his balloon crossed the barrier that divided the worlds and crashed in front of the lake at the summer palace in Finaqua and the then princess Lavinia was smitten. The Queen was not pleased and made several unsuccessful attempts to remove the stranger from Oz but finally relented when Lavinia refused every other suitor the Queen placed before her.

Azkadellia received the education worthy of a future queen of Oz and even some skills no other heir before her ever learned. Her tutors were Miles Toto, a shapeshifter who taught her magic, politics, and history while the queen's advisor Ambrose Benu taught her the sciences since his hobby was inventing things. Both men knew from the moment she was born she would be more than the Queen of Oz. She was one of the four Guardians of the Balance, standing at one of the two most powerful gates: the North Gate. The only guardian whose powers were greater than hers was Rumplestiltskin, who would take his rightful place at the West Gate once he was free of the Dark One curse.

Azkadellia was also an observant child and noticed that not everyone in the realm was pleased with her mother's government, particularly those in the Western part of the country. They were farmers and laborers who felt the palace only catered to the nobles and merchants leaving them to fend for themselves. Her mother never made progresses to that part of the realm, instead she chose representatives to travel to those villages to speak for her. Miles and Ambrose were well aware of the hostilities brewing in the Western realm and tried to convince the queen to be more attentive to them but she was convinced her representatives were capable of diffusing the situation while she devoted most of her time to her growing family.

Azkadellia was seven years old when her sister Dorothia was born. Dorothia had been named after Dorothy Gale herself but everyone called her "DG" for short and once she was born, the queen devoted most of her time and energy to her youngest child. Dorothia was her "angel". Az paid it no mind, she adored her sister as much as her parents did and loved spending time with her but was also adamant about keeping up with her lessons.

One day while she was walking through the woods with her personal guard Jiminy she stopped in her tracks. He'd been with her since she was a baby and was her closest confidante.

"What is it Your Highness?" he asked softly.

"I wish to learn the path of the dragon. Will you teach me?"

"Not yet Your Highness. General Lannot feels that I am not ready to be a tutor yet," he said, shocked that she knew now what he was. The Talons of the Dragon were an ancient order charged with protecting the four Guardians of the Balance and on rare occasions a Talon was chosen to be a Guardian's bondmate. Their training was similar to that of a samurai warrior on the other side with their primary weapons being katana swords. Some Talons were also mages but preferred to engage in physical combat first since using too much magic drained them quickly. A Talon was identified by a specific set of markings and their locations on their bodies depended on which side of the bloodline they protected. An Ozopov Talon was marked with two crossed katana swords on the upper right arm and a sleeping dragon on the right shoulder blade. Jiminy also bore a third marking on his back, the image of a cricket. The Guardians themselves often asked to be trained as Talons, one of them being the legendary Dorothy Gale. Jiminy was also a magician but he only used it when necessary.

"But you're ready. I've seen you spar with General Lannot and you have been teaching me the art of mindspeak and some simple fighting skills. You are ready," she declared.

He led them over to where a large tree had fallen and they sat down. "Only my master can decide if I'm ready Dellia, but I appreciate your confidence. I have no doubt that one day you will be as great a Queen as Ozma and Dorothy, even greater."

Jiminy was the only person Az allowed to call her "Dellia" and he'd been calling her that for as long as she could remember.

"I will not spend my days just sitting on my throne hearing news of the realms second handed. No, I will do as Dorothy and Ozma did and visit them. I will hear their opinions with an open mind and act in their best interests. And I would like for you to serve as my advisor during my reign."

Jiminy chuckled. "You have a long wait before you take the throne, Princess."

"I know but you know as I do, there are problems in this realm that Mother pays little mind to. The situation in the West…"

He sighed. Were he the queen's advisor he would suggest that she visit the realm and speak to the people directly. He feared Lavinia's lack of interest in the unrest brewing in the west would led to secession, mimicking a situation that arose many times on the other side…costly, bloody civil wars.

"Dellia, all we can do now is hope that your mother decides to act in the best interests of Oz and its people. Come on. I should be getting you back to the palace or you'll miss your magic lesson and Toto will turn into a dog and bite my ankles."

The princess giggled knowing it was something her bodyguard never enjoyed having done to him. "You haven't answered my question. Will you teach me the path of the dragon?"

Jiminy found it impossible to say no to her when she looked at him with those wide brown eyes. "I'll teach you the basics. The sword fighting you can't learn until you're thirteen. That's the law."

She threw her arms around him. "I will be thirteen in two months! You don't know how much this means to me!"

"Oh, I think I do." He took her hand in his and escorted her back to the palace. Lavinia was sitting out on the gazebo swing holding DG on her lap as she sang to her.

"Two little princesses dancing in a room

Spinning fast and free on their little toes

Where the light will take you there's only one way to know

Two little princesses dancing in a room…"

"Ah, you're back. Perfect. Azkadellia, you may relax a bit. I'm going to conduct DG's lessons first," Toto said to her.

"Go along my angel…" Lavinia murmured.

Az sat on a bench in the garden to read a book while Toto and DG were standing beside the lake. Toto held a doll of DG's in his hand. "Concentrate DG. You must let the light flow through you effortlessly. Remember…light as air."

"Toto…"

"It's Tutor. Now focus."

"I am but this thing won't float," the six year old whined. Az jumped off the bench and approached her, placing one hand on DG's shoulder and using her free one to take DG's.

"It will. It wants to. Just concentrate Deege," she coached softly, sending her sister some of her magical energy as she'd been taught to do years ago. The girls' hands glowed with a golden light and they closed their eyes as they concentrated on the task at hand. Slowly the doll rose in the air and begin spinning wildly like a ballerina on a stage.

"Yes! Yes!" Toto exclaimed. The North and South gates, bound by love and blood. Together they will stand and defeat any enemy, divided they will fall.

The girls opened their eyes, identical smiles on their faces as they observed the rewards of their teamwork.

"Well done, my angels," Lavinia applauded. "Well done."

"Thanks Az," DG said and hugged her sister.

"It's going to take you some time to get used to using your magic and you'll have a bit of trouble at first but I'll be right here when you need me," Az vowed.

Jiminy stepped out of his hiding place and approached the queen, amazed by the power radiating from the two girls. Toto was an excellent teacher but Azkadellia had far more patience with the headstrong and adventurous DG. "Your Majesty, the council is requesting your presence."

"I will only be gone for an hour or two. Do not go too far my angels and remember that you are not supposed to venture into the woods alone. Jiminy, come with me."

"Your Majesty...I must remain with the Princess..." he protested.

"There are some matters that require your presence," she informed him.

"Yes, Mother," Az said softly. "Go with Mother, Jiminy."

"Yes Your Highness."

Once the others were out of sight DG turned to her sister, giving her the puppy dog look. "I'm hungry. Can't we gather some apples?"

"You heard what Mother said…"

"We won't be gone long. Pleeeeaaassee!" DG begged.

Az was feeling a bit famished herself and performing complex spells required her to eat to recover her strength. "All right but we're just going to pick some apples, not go wandering too far into the woods."

Az knew from her own walks in the woods with Jiminy that that some of the apple trees were a cantankerous lot and tended to become hostile when people wanted to pick the fruit from their branches. As Az reached up to pick a juicy red apple from the first tree they encountered, one of its limbs struck her and knocked her to the ground.

"Begone! Pillage one of the other trees!" it yelled.

"We mean you no harm," said the land's guardian. "We're only hungry and would like to eat some of your delicious apples, if you would be so kind…"

"No. Go away and bother some other tree."

"But yours has the ripest fruit…"

As DG stood there witnessing the exchange between her sister and the tree she could see in her mind the legendary Dorothy Gale and Scarecrow talking to the very same tree, the Scarecrow taunting it and making faces so that it would throw fruit at them. She smirked.

"Come on Az. That fruit looks ripe but it probably has ugly old worms in it just like that old tree." She blew as raspberry at the tree.

"Why you little brat! See if these have any worms in them!" the tree yelled and chucked apples at the fleeing girls. They kneeled down and gathered up as many of them as they could, using their aprons as baskets. "And stay away!" the tree called after them.

"It was clever of you to trick that old tree into throwing fruit at us,"Az praised when they were out of earshot.

"I heard tell of it once…in a story from the past," DG explained.

"We should get back before Mother realizes we're gone or we'll be history too. We are not supposed to be out here alone. She says there's wild animals in the forest."

"Did she say what kind of…wild animals….?" DG inquired shakily, spotting a bear nearby.

"Lions and tigers and…"

"Oh my!" DG cried out. The girls dropped their apples when the bear started stalking towards them. DG grabbed her elder sister's hand and pulled her back. "Az!"

"Just hold my hand Deege. Nothing can hurt us if we stay together!" Az begged, keeping a firm hold on DG's hand and casting a protection spell around them as the bear stood on its haunches and let loose a loud roar. Both girls were terrified, Azkadellia knowing that her spell would not hold if DG released her grip. Seeing her older sister being so brave was making DG feel brave and she held on tighter.

The bear gazed at them for several minutes, contemplating its next move until it realized it was in the presence of two of the Guardians and realized any attack on them would lead to its own demise. It lowered its head in submission and retreated back into the woods from where it came. Az released DG's hand, both of them sighing with relief.

"We really do need to get back," Az reminded her and the two of them raced out of the woods, frightened when they found their mother waiting for them with a frown on her face.

"What did I tell you about going into the woods alone?" she demanded angily. "Azkadellia, I expected better from you!"

"It was my fault Mother. I wanted some apples so I tricked that mean old tree to throw them at us and Az wanted to come back but we saw a bear. She was so brave….she made me feel brave and we made the bear go away with our magic!" DG rambled.

"I'm sorry, Mother," Az said sadly, her head bowed in shame.

"I am very disappointed in both of you and as punishment you are confined to the palace for a week. Come along."

Azkadellia kept herself occupied during her confinement by reading and practicing her magic. In three weeks she would turn thirteen and hoped that Jiminy would keep his promise to her and begin training her to fight with a sword.

"I haven't forgotten my promise, Dellia. Your sword is being constructed as we speak."

"It is?"

He removed his own from its scabbard and held it out to her. "Do you see the image of a cricket here? That is my symbol and this sword cannot be used by anyone else but me. Yours will be the emerald itself."

"Why?"

"It's who you are. You are the North Gate, keeper of the stone of the land."

"I…I'm a Guardian…one of THE Guardians?"

"You and DG. She is the South, the keeper of the chalice of water. The West Gate is Rumplestiltskin and the East will be one of his kin."

Az shivered. "He…he's the Dark One!"

"His curse will be broken and you will be instrumental in breaking it…along with his bonded, Lady Belle Lavalliere and the East Guardian."

"He's on the other side now, isn't he…without his power…because of a curse cast by Queen Regina?"

"He is but recall the prophecy: The darkest of curses by Strogoff taken and through his sacrifice in the names of those he loves, the curse by a Strogoff shall be broken," Jiminy recited.

"The death of a Guardian will disrupt the balance,"Az reminded him. "Unless a new one has been chosen."

"One has but I think Ozmalita has been too hasty. The person she has chosen has no magic in his blood at all while Rumplestiltskin is a pureblood as all Strogoffs are. He will break his curse. I'm certain of it….once he learns his bonded still lives."

"She is believed to be dead."

"But she's not, not according to our spies. It would disrupt the balance more than it already is as long as the four of you are unbound."

"Who is my bondmate?" she asked, wishing with all her heart he would answer that he was. For so many years she thought of him as a friend but in recent months her feelings started to change. She knew he was much older but she didn't care. There was no one else she wanted to be her consort though her mother presented her to the boys from every noble house in the realms as a possible candidate for her hand.

"I don't know, Dellia. That answer is locked in your heart's memories and it will only be revealed to you when the time's right. Come on. Your father wants to take you and DG to his art studio today."

"Perhaps it's you," she declared boldly. He blinked several times and gaped at her.

"Me? But...but...that is impossible! I am much older than you...a century at least because of my enchantment."

"But it's not forbidden," she reminded him. "Dorothy was to be bound to her Guardian, the Tin Man."

"And we both know that did not go well," Jiminy reminded her. "She didn't return his love and he died in agony, his remains melted down into the sword that has been locked away for centuries."

"I would love you if you were my bondmate."

"Dellia, please...let's not have this discussion. It's inappropriate."

"I am to be a woman soon. I must know these things."

"Then I suggest you discuss women's issues with your mother!" he cried.

She looked away. "I have. But there are many other things I only feel comfortable discussing with you."

"You know can confide in me Dellia, except for womens' issues. Those you should discuss with your mother. Come. You shouldn't keep your father waiting."

Az smiled. It was the first chance she'd get to spend time with her father in weeks. He and Lavinia had finally been forced to travel to the Western realm to put down a small rebellion and little as she liked it, the council recommended the ringleaders be hanged in Central City square.

Ahamo set up an easel in front of the studio and made a sketch of the forest for his daughters to paint, making sure that the objects were large enough that DG could paint them easily. Both of his girls were artistic but DG seemed to be better at sketching. Once the painting was finished they handed it to their mother to be framed and hung in the gallery of the Finaqua palace. In the winter they would travel to the Northern Island palace.

"I think I'll go for a walk," Lavinia said softly.

"Hold on, I'll come with you." Ahamo offered.

"Can we come too, Daddy?" DG asked.

He smiled. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you two wait here and make me something…something that I can keep forever?" he suggested.

"We can do that," Az declared happily.

They found some clay in one of his trunks and spent most of the afternoon sculpting them into human shapes and painted them, DG's was a little girl in a red dress and yellow boots while Azkadellia's was a preteen in a green dress and black boots, the same outfits they were wearing that day. The girls took the dolls into the studio and Az placed them on the table.

"Leave them here. He'll find them when he comes back with Mother."

"Do you think Father will know they're from us?"

"Well he told us to make him something he could keep forever and he did teach us how to sculpt clay."

"What if they're touched with our magic?"

"Good idea." The girls held their hands over the dolls and they began to glow with white magic, near where their hands were nearly joined together. "Now he'll definitely know. C'mon."

Ahamo and Lavinia were delighted when they found the little gifts their daughters made for their father. Ahamo couldn't have been more proud. On the other side his daughters would have been famous for their talents. One day Az did want to journey to the other side to see what she could learn from it that could help her in her most ambitious project when she took the throne in her own right; modernizing Oz.

"Daddy, do you want to skip stones across the lake with us?" Az asked him. His face fell.

"I'd love to honey but I have a meeting with the council. There's been another rebellion in Central City."

Az worried for Jiminy's safety; he'd been called to the front lines along with most of the queen's guards.

Az picked up a flat rock and skipped it across the water. "Flat rocks glide."

DG picked up a round stone and tossed it but it sank into the the water. "Round rocks die."

"We need to find the perfect stone. Come on!" Az said excitedly and the two of them began searching the grounds. As DG was searching she discovered a flat stone that was almost the shape of a heart.

"It's perfect," she cried, holding it up. "Let's save it."

"We'll hide it…for the perfect day," Az declared. The girls buried the stone under a pile of rocks and sang softly.

"Two little princesses dancing in room

Where the light will take them no one ever knows

Two little princesses dancing in a room..."

DG glanced up at her sister. "What's the matter Az? You look worried."

"I'm worried for Jiminy. We haven't heard anything from the royal army."

"You like him don't you?" the younger girl inquired with a smirk.

"Of course. He's been my guard since I was a baby."

"No...I mean like...like a suitor."

"Deege!"

"You do! You're blushing! Does Mother know?"

"No, and you're not gonna tell her either!"

"Do you think he likes you?"

"Not that way. He thinks he's too old for me. I'm only thirteen. Oh I wish I were older!" Az sighed longingly. "Mother would say my feelings were just a girl's passing fancy but I don't think so. I've always felt a connection to Jiminy but lately...I've felt so much more when I'm around him."

"Like what?"

"My heart...it beats faster when he's close to me. Oh, he keeps himself at a distance as he's trained to do but even at a distance there's so many things happening with me that...I've read so many of those books from the Other Side that...that I think I'm in love, Deege and it's a wonderful feeling but frigtening at the same time."

"Why would love be scary, Az?"

"Because I worry that Jiminy will not love me in return once I'm old enough."

"If love is so scary, I'd rather not be in it," DG muttered.

"You say that now Deege but wait til you're older."

Storybrooke, Maine

Alemedia was enjoying her new surroundings. For centuries she longed to have an opportunity to cross over to the other side and her vessel and his former apprentice provided her with the perfect opportunities to do so. Her magic was inactive in this land and it would be until Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter broke the curse that had been cast on this town called Storybrooke. Still, the people in the town feared her and Rumplestiltskin who was known as Robert Gold in this land. That fear was what sustained her through the years of boredom and to her disappointment she still could not find a trace of Rumplestiltskin's bondmate, Azkadellia's bondmate or the East Guardian. They were on this side. She was certain of it. She would take care of them and Bastinda would destroy the others in Oz. The seal to the gates of Ephesis was weakening as it came closer to the time of the final eclipse. Soon her apprentice would call out and the weakest of the Guardians in Oz would answer.

Oz (The Outer Zone)

In the distance DG could hear a voice screaming out in terror.

"Did you hear that?" DG asked her.

"Hear what?"Az hadn't heard anything.

The voice screamed out again.

"We should go see what it is." DG insisted.

"No, we should get back. Mom said to stay close." Az advised.

"If we did everything Mom said we'd never have any fun. Come on, it's like an adventure!" the little girl said excitedly and ran into the woods.

"Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble!" Az warned, hurrying after her.

DG followed the voice deep into the woods and down a hill to a cave. Az noticed some markings above the entrance, recognizing them as being part of the picture language of the ancients, chronicling the battle of the first eclipse where the great Dorothy Gale, Glinda the Good, Nicolai Ozopov and Alexander Strogoff defeated the dark witch Bastinda and imprisoned her for all eternity.

"Do you hear that?" DG asked again. It sounded like a child crying for help.

"We should go get our mom and dad," Az said. DG started to go into the cave, almost as if she were being drawn to into it. "Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble!" she reminded her sister again, hoping she would come back but DG was determined to have her adventure. Frustrated, she followed her sister into the cave.

She found a lantern on the ground and lit it with her magic, finding her sister staring at another series of drawings on the wall of the cave.

"Look at this."

"It's the picture language of the ancients."

"Can you tell what it means?" DG asked her.

"Some. At the dawn of time, good battled evil and the light conquered over the darkness…and something about an evil witch."

They went further into the cave and suddenly Azkadellia stopped, tired of exploring. "Well, that was fun." She spun on her and started to exit the cave. DG stood still.

"Wait."

Az held the lantern up, her eyes wide with horror as she saw a large face made out of rocks staring back at them.

"Whoa!" DG cried.

"What is this place?" Az asked fearfully.

"It looks ancient." DG observed.

And terrifying, Az thought. All the more reason to leave!

"Maybe it's a tomb," her sister went on.

"I'm not sure but that face creeps me out. Let's go!" Az said firmly.

"Don't you hear it? There's someone trapped in there."

She reached her hand inside the mouth and something on the other side grasped it.

"DG!" Az yelled, reaching for her sister's hand to pull her back. A large piece of the mouth shattered.

"What have we done?" Az asked, horrified.

The cave had been unexplored for so many centuries that Bastinda had begun to lose hope that she would ever escape the prison she been placed in by that silly girl Dorothy Gale and the prince Ozarian. Then suddenly she felt it…the presence of two powerful young sorceresses, a prepubescent girl named Azkadellia and a child nicknamed DG but her true name was Dorothia. She had been named in the honor of the witch's nemesis. She watched with pleasure as the younger girl's arm reached through the keyhole of her prison, unleashing a powerful burst of magic once it was combined with the elder's. Then she felt it, the presence of two of the Guardians of Balance. Keeping a firm grip on the younger girl's hand, Bastinda reached into her heart memories to learn the identity of her bonded. In the girl's memories she saw an image of a tall adult male with short blond hair and blue eyes wearing a grey fedora hat, brown leather vest and grey duster with a tin star badge on his chest. His name was Wyatt Cain. She smiled with satisfaction. Lurline's angel Ozmalita had released Nick Chopper's heart and soul and merged them with Cain's. That meant the girl's heart and soul had been merged with Dorothy Gale's. She probed deeper and was given another vision. The young girl, her elder sister, Rumplestiltskin and another whose face she couldn't see would combine their powers and lock her in Ephesis forever. Now was the time to act. Both girls were unbound and without a bond, consummated or not, their souls were ripe for the taking.

She was in the form of a little girl, standing against the wall sobbing softly.

"Hey, are you okay?" DG asked her. She was about to approach her when Azkadellia took her arm and pulled her back, sensing the girl was not what she appeared to be.

"No. Wait. How did you get here?" she demanded.

"Help me," the girl sobbed.

"Our parents aren't far, we'll go and bring back help."

"NO!" the witch snarled and turned around. "Please, don't leave me alone. I've been waiting….calling…I thought this day would never come!"

The seal now weakened awakened the mobat demons from their slumber in Ephesis. They appeared on the ceiling of the cave, ready to merge with their new vessel.

The two girls stood side by side, hands joined, combining the power flowing through them combined with a deep affection for each other.

"The magic is strong in you. Let go." She said maliciously, keeping her cold eyes focused on the young Dorothia who was terribly frightened.

"No. Don't let go!" Azkadellia warned her younger sister.

"But I'm scared," the little girl whimpered.

"We have to stay together." Azkadellia insisted.

"You can let go little girl," the witch said sweetly to the wide eyed, frightened DG.

"No!" Azkedallia ordered.

"Let go!" the witch hissed.

The little girl screamed in terror and released her sister's hand, fleeing to the entrance of the cave as the witch forced Azkadellia to her knees, merging her essence with the girl's.

Release me, Azkadellia demanded.

Never. As long as you are in my power you will do my bidding.

DG raced through the woods with tears streaming down her cheeks. She found her mother just as they left her, on the swing. Lavinia picked her daughter up and held her tightly.

"DG, my darling you're shaking like a leaf. What's wrong?"

"Az…..she fell…and I let go," the girl sobbed.

"What are you talking about. There's Az right there."

Bastinda returned to the gazebo of the Finaqua palace in Azkadellia's body. It felt wonderful to be young, beautiful and free once again even if she was now limited to the meager powers the young girl possessed.

"Azkadellia?" Queen Lavinia asked. "Are you all right?"

The witch smiled. "Of course Mother. I've never felt better."

Through the elder child she would succeed where she failed centuries earlier, kill all the guardians and at last the dark goddess would rule as queen of the mortal realm and she, Bastinda would be the queen's most loyal servant.

Two days later a badly injured Jiminy returned from the front.

"Jiminy!" Az screamed when she emerged from her chambers to see him being carried on a litter to the Healer's Ward. The commotion brought DG out of her own room.

Lavinia reached for her younger daughter and pulled her back. "Go inside my angel. Az..."

Az spun around and glared at her mother. "This is YOUR FAULT" she raged. "YOU DID THIS TO HIM!"

"Az, darling...I..."

"Shut up!" the elder princess snarled. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses. If he dies I will NEVER forgive you!" She raced down the hall to the Healer's Ward while the physicians were tending to Jiminy.

"What is his condition?" she demanded.

"He is suffering from severe magical drain Your Highness but the wounds..." The physician gestured to the cuts on his chest and legs.

"Jiminy..." she sobbed and took his hand in hers, pressing it against her chest, near her heart. His eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at her.

"Dellia...don't cry..." he pleaded weakly.

"I can't lose you. I won't!" she vowed, a bright light emitting from her chest. The physicians stared in amazement as the light flowed out of her into his body, healing the wounds that had been inflicted on him, restoring his strength.

"Dellia, what have you done?" he whispered.

"Healed you," she murmured. Because I love you...and I'll have no other for my bondmate but you, she thought. She only hoped that some day in the future he would learn to love her as she loved him.

Lavinia had sensed a disturbing change in her eldest daughter's demeanor since her accident yet the girl continued to insist that she was well. She sought out Ambrose, the royal advisor and trusted friend and explained the situation to him.

"The princess's sudden mood changes are normal, Your Majesty. You experienced them yourself when you grew to womanhood, did you not?"

"Yes, but it was not like this Ambrose. She is distant with DG and that has never happened before. No matter what was troubling her, she never allowed it to interfere in their closeness. And she blamed me for Jiminy being injured on the front..."

"Perhaps a change of scenery will do some good," he suggested. "Being here at Finaqua brings back reminders of the accident. The Northern Island?"

"We could go there after my visit to Central City. Jeb Mysticos has been asking me to visit for some time now and I have missed him."

"I'll make all the preparations, Your Majesty." He said and left the room, leaving the queen still lost in her dark thoughts. She longed to talk to her husband but Ahamo was at his cabin working on another art piece and never wanted to be disturbed or he lost his concentration. They'd spoken often of Azkadellia's accident and he didn't share his wife's concerns that there was a growing dark presence around her. She and Toto reached into the deepest part of her magic to trace the source only to find a powerful wall blocking her. Azkadellia's magic alone was not strong enough to produce so powerful a barrier. It was good that she would be making the progress to Central City. She had so much more to discuss with the Mystic Man than just his well-being.