A/N: And update! Sorry for the wait, went on a Harry Potter binge recently and had to kick my brain into Green Rider mode. Also if anyone's been wondering the Eletian Gael, his name is pronounced "Gay-elle". DISCLAIMER: Any thing, one, or place you may recognize belongs solely to Kristen Britain. Enjoy!

Karigan

Karigan had been dying to have information about what became of the rest of the Blackveil mission. Now that she knew she almost wished she didn't. With the inclusion of Yates, Blackveil had claimed two thirds of their party.

At the news of her friend's death, Karigan felt like someone had punched her in the stomach by one of the foes Drent always put her up against. All the air left her lungs and she couldn't breathe as the sobs she had been holding in the entire journey back escaped in a flood of tears. The logical part of her mind had known that her laughing friend had been dead as soon as Mornahvon had taken possession of his body, but another part of her mind had fought vehemently against that idea. Hearing that he really had not made it, just seemed to bring everything else home.

She was grateful that the Captain and King Zachary kept their distance and did not try to comfort her. If anyone touched her right now she wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to stop sobbing. She would just continue to let the tears fall until there wasn't a drop of water left in her and her body would just crumble to dust. As it was, it was a good ten minutes until she was finally able to pull herself together.

"Lynx arrived back about a month and a half ago. Somehow he and Yates had ended up in the Wanda Plains on Sacoridia's border with Rhovanny. He told us he buried Yates there and brought his brooch and travel log back home," Captain Mapstone told her quietly once Karigan had exhausted herself. Karigan could see the tears glistening in the other woman's eyes. She simply nodded, taking a shuddering breath.

"I'm sure he probably told you his side of things." They both nodded.

"Except for a few things towards the end, and obviously what happened after, I'm afraid there isn't much that I can add."

"We'd still like to hear your side of the story Karigan," the king said. It was so good to simply hear his voice again after so long. Karigan shook her head to clear her mind, now was not the time for that.

"Alright, but once I start please don't interrupt me," she asked them. They both agreed and she began her tale.

Laren

Laren listened to Karigan's tale with a mix of sickening horror and astonishment. She immediately felt guilty all over again for sending her Riders into the forest. In her efforts to separate Karigan and the king from each other, she had sent Karigan straight into a hellish nightmare.

Karigan had started with the moment they had climbed over the D'yer Wall and first set foot in Blackveil. It was as if Laren was standing right there with them, experiencing the bleakness of the forest, the fear as Blackveil began claiming them one by one. She was still astonished when Karigan told them of the Coutre forester trying to kill her. Zachary had been in a rage when Lynx had told them that part of the story. It wasn't until Estora had sworn till she was blue in the face that she knew nothing of it, that he finally calmed down.

Karigan told them of the Sacoridian soldier losing his mind to the forest and trying to turn against them. Her heart ached when Karigan told them of how she and Yates had become separated from the others. This was where Yates had gone blind and Karigan's sprawling writing had replaced Yates's neat script in the travel log. Laren couldn't even begin to comprehend the terror that must have been going through his mind at not being able to see in a place like Blackveil. Slowly Karigan got up to where they had found the tainted Eletian Sleeper grove and Laurelyn's legendary castle. Laren was still in awe that it was all real, fairytales come to terrifying reality.

Karigan finally reached the point to where Mornahvon had returned. She described the horror of the tainted Eletian Sleepers coming out and how Mornahvon had taken possession of Yates's body. Karigan paused here, taking a deep breath as if to loosen the tight grip that her emotions had on her throat. Again Laren's heart twisted in pain and guilt as she thought about her Rider's painful and terrifying last minutes on this earth. Karigan had a haunted and empty look in her eyes as if she were still far away in that forest. Laren knew that no matter how bad her imaginings were, they couldn't even begin to compare to the reality that she knew Karigan was seeing.

When Karigan told the part about the mirror mask, Laren heard Zachary gasp beside her. She vaguely remembered him mentioning something about a mirror mask while he was ill after being wounded. She wondered what the significance of it was. At last they got to the part that Lynx couldn't tell them. Laren listened in amazement as Karigan told them about smashing the mirror, absently rubbing a cluster of scars on her forearm.

"It was like when I broke the link between Amilton and Shawdell. When the mirror broke it was as if we were thrown into the universe. I couldn't see any of the others. All I could see was nothing but an endless sky of stars. I could hear wings beating the air and I was sure I was going to die. This was Westrion finally come to take me. Then everything went dark."

At this point Karigan trailed off as she turned her head to gaze into the water. Laren and Zachary both looked at each other. Before she had turned away from them, Karigan had looked terrified. What could be worse than what she had already told them? Both of them wanted to know, but they sensed that this was something that Karigan would have to tell in her own time so they held their tongues and waited. After another five minutes Karigan spoke, but she was so quiet that Laren and Zachary had to lean in closer to hear her.

"When I woke up it was dark. You've never seen such a darkness. Even if I held my finger to my eye I still wouldn't have been able to see it. It was completely void of light. The only way I knew I was awake and not dead was that I hurt too much to be dead. I tried to sit up, but smashed my head against a granite ceiling not three inches above my head. I started exploring around with my hands and discovered that I was in a stone box much like a tomb. I was completely trapped. The walls were smooth as glass, with not even a single crack or crevice for me to grab onto. It was the most terrifying experience of my life."

Karigan shuddered involuntarily. Laren found herself shuddering as well as she took in a deep breath to ease the tightness that had settled in her lungs at the thought of being buried alive. Gods, that was going to give her nightmares.

"I had no idea how long I had been in there before someone found me. Everything seemed to run together after a while. To me, all of time could have gone by outside and it wouldn't have been long enough. Somehow I had ended up in a cairn in an Eletian Sleeper grove on the edges of the Elt Wood. The Eletian who found me, Gael, was as shocked at finding me there as I was at being in Eletia in the first place. He took me to his home where he explained to me that he was the caretaker of the grove and had been doing an inspection when I guess he heard me move or something, since the next thing I know there's this searing light and an Eletian looking at me. When I asked him what day it was, I did the calculations in my head and figured out that I had been in that cairn for a month."

Laren's eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. A month trapped in a dark, stone box? A month with no food or water? Aeryc and Aeryon, how on earth was Karigan even sitting here right now? When she glanced over at Zachary, she saw that he had a matching expression of astonishment on his face.

"You're probably wondering the same thing I was. How could I be alive after spending a month trapped in a cairn with no food or water? Gael explained something about how I was under some kind of suspended sleep state much like the Sleepers," Karigan shrugged. "I still don't quite understand it all. I stayed with Gael and his family. They fed me, tended to my injuries, and gave me a place to stay while I recovered. I will be forever grateful to them. After three weeks I couldn't wait any longer to come back here, so they gave me a horse and provisions and two and a half weeks of hard riding later here I am."

There was complete silence once Karigan finished her tale. They had been outside for a few hours now, long enough for Laren to notice that the shadows had lengthened considerably since they had been sitting there. Karigan sat there with one hand idly trailing in the water.

Once again Laren was stunned speechless by Karigan's tale. If the tale had come from anyone else, Laren would thought they were crazy, but Karigan was one of the most down-to-earth people she knew. She would never make something like this up. Of course, it helped that she had witnessed some of Karigan's adventures first hand. Honestly, she had no idea as to how the Rider was still sane after all that she had been through.

She looked over at Zachary to see what his reaction was. He was looking at Karigan with a conflicted expression of awe and pensive thought. She wondered what was going through his mind at the moment. She felt only slightly guilty about burning the letters her old friend had given to her for the woman sitting in front of them, but it was best for the whole of the country that the king and Karigan stay apart. She wished it could be, but the nobility of Sacoridia would never accept their monarch choosing a commoner for his queen. For her part, Karigan had been trying to put some distance between herself and the king. She knew what was best for the country, even if it wasn't what was best for her heart. Now if only Zachary could get it through that thick head of his. Although a certain Weapon might be willing to help with that, Laren thought, thinking back to how Fastion had been looking at Karigan this morning when they had walked into the room. She almost laughed, but caught herself before it escaped her lips. She never would have expected it of the Weapon, but then again Karigan always seemed to be surrounded by the unexpected.

"So Mornahvon's back?" Zachary asked, breaking the silence and bringing Laren out of her musings.

Karigan nodded, turning to fix her eyes on him, "Yes, Your Majesty. He's back."

A/N: So as always I would love to know what you think. Please leave a message after this note. ~Naomi

PS: To all my guest reviewers I cannot PM:

machlud: thaks! I enjoy a good a k/f fic too! ;)

taylor: I have been going through Karigan withdrawals as well. I'm glad you think that I got Zacahary and Laren's POVs pretty accurately. Thanks for reading!