Yugi, still dressed in his light summer clothing, walked out into the cold, crisp Astalan atmosphere. He concentrated and transformed. He'd be much more comfortable in his Loramyshan form anyway.

The others came out of the port and shivered in the snow. Thirty degrees, Yugi had told them. It felt more like twenty.

"I-is there a place w-where we c-could ch-ch-change?" Tea asked, shivering. It was burning hot in Klyndeneya, and they had all arrived in Poranis port wearing shorts and tank tops.

Yugi pointed to a restroom to their right. They all piled in, but it wasn't much warmer than outside. A few minutes later, they emerged, now dressed in appropriate attire.

"I hope I never have to change in an ice-bucket again…" Tea commented, walking back up to Yugi, who was waiting patiently by an ice sculpture of an exotic bird.

"Uh, guys…" he said hesitantly. "Do… do you think we could take a quick detour?"

"Sure we can, dude. Where do you want to go?" said Tristan.

Yugi played with his fingers. "Do you remember when I told you about my grandmother?"

Tea nodded. "She's the pro-human rights activist named Pijana, right?"

"Yes, well, she lives around here," Yugi said. "I'd really like to go see her again…"

"Of course we can go see her, Yugi," Atem said. "It's not as if there's a time limit on this missions. Besides, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

Yugi grinned. "She'll be happy to meet you, too! She loves learning about human ways, but she can't exactly go to Earth because she can't transform like half-humans can."

"Well, what are we waitin' for?" Joey said.

They walked down the snow dusted streets that were made of a dull, black rock. "It's shelja." Yugi explained. "All Loramysha get really sick when they eat it, so it keeps people from trying to chew up the roads."

The windows on certain buildings had a frosted look about them. They only appeared frosted from the outside, so it allowed homes to have a nice privacy from peeping toms.

"This is it," Yugi said suddenly, stopping outside an igloo-like dome shaped home. "My grandmother's house." Yugi wondered if seeing Pijana again was the right thing to do, but he decided that nothing truly horrible could happen.

He rapped on the shelja door. A bit of shuffling was heard, and the door finally opened. The woman had aged well. Her face was adorned with a few laugh lines and common wrinkles, but her frosted hair still spiked rebelliously on top of her head, and a number of white rings hung from her ears. She looked about 5 feet tall herself. It seemed that all Loramysha were short.

"Yugi…?" she said disbelievingly. "My derdensha…?"

Yugi smiled. "It's me, Dermeina."

Pijana laughed aloud and took Yugi into a fierce hug. "It has been nine years, you silly half-breed!" she laughed. "And not one letter from the Earth that I fought for! Have you been so busy?"

"Well, I did save the world about three times," Yugi said. "And high-school alone has kept me busy."

Pijana peeked at the humans behind them. "You have brought friends. How wonderful! Come in, come in!" she said, waving them into her cozy home. "So, tell me your names."

"My name is Atem, ma'am," Atem said, mimicking the hand gesture Frenji had given to Yugi. He hoped it wasn't something that could seriously embarrass them, but he did his best with the sparse information Yugi had given him.

Pijana smiled and nudged Tea in the ribs. "Cute one, isn't he?" she said slyly. "And so polite."

Tea giggled. "You're so right, Mrs. Pijana. Oh, I'm Tea by the way."

Pijana invited them to sit down on a fir-covered couch. "It's very nice to meet you both, Tea and Atem. And none of this 'Mrs. Pijana' business. Call me Dermeina."

"It's a pleasure, Dermeina. Joey speakin'," Joey said, extending his hand for her to shake. Yugi held his head. Loramysha didn't shake hands. Noticing Pijana's confusion, Joey clarified, "Uh, ya have ta grab it and shake it."

Pijana grabbed Joey's hand with her frozen one and wrapped her long fingers around it. Joey winced. Atem was right—Loramysha really were like blocks of ice. Joey began to pump their hands up and down. "There ya go, Dermeina."

She smiled. "I love learning new human customs. I hope you and Yugi have some interesting things to tell me." Pijana noticed Tristan, who was curiously examining a jar full of colorful pebbles on the table. "And who are you?"

"My name's Tristan, Dermeina," he replied. "It's really nice to meet you, after hearing what you did for the humans and all."

She laughed. "I'm glad someone appreciates it. Not many Loramysha have been crowding around to thank me."

"I don't get that," Tea said. "I mean, what you did was totally awesome. We wouldn't even know Yugi if you hadn't done your whole rally thing."

"Not many people know half-human half-Loramysha, I'm afraid," Pijana sighed. "Though I appreciate your support nonetheless."

Yugi took a small blue stone from the jar and popped it into his mouth. "So what have you been doing, Dermeina?" he asked, his mouth full of lapis lazuli.

"Not much has changed since I saw you last," she replied, taking a seat on her comfy couch. "Still living here, trying to find out all I can about humans. I learned quite a bit from your father, but it will never be the same…"

She trailed off as she saw Yugi's face. Hearing about his parents always saddened him. They had just gone off on a simple mission on the Lothine Plains in Senmar, but they had never come back. Kanae and Ichigo were experienced and formidable fighters. What kind of horrors could have killed them?

"My daughter was never afraid of death, Yugi," Pijana said to him. "You will see each other again."

Yugi smiled softly and nodded. "I know. But I can't help but wonder if they had anything to say… anything to do…"

The humans in the room looked on with pity. Yugi never talked about his parents. Deep inside, there was a loss that had never been expressed. They wondered if he had pretended that everything was alright, if he had put that sweet, innocent smile on and shrouded himself in fake happiness. Two weeks after his parents' death, he was taking tests to live on Earth, and developing falsehoods and webs of lies to distort his past. Had he ever stopped to deal with what happened?

"Kanae never lived with regrets. You know that she did whatever she felt was best and didn't look back," said Yugi's grandmother compassionately.

"But I miss her, Dermeina!" Yugi said, his voice cracking. "I can't help it sometimes! Whenever I see something of hers, or something of Rehja's, I feel this emptiness inside…"

"There used to be a person there. It's normal to feel the way you do. But don't let that feeling keep you from expressing everything you shared together. She would hate to see you give up your heritage just because of grief."

"She's right, Yugi," Atem said. He put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "There's so much that I want to know about you. You can tell me."

Yugi's eyes softened. He had been shy about sharing interterrestrial things ever since their trip to Kryos. He had always thought that Atem would be uncomfortable, or that he didn't really want to know. And every time he spoke about his childhood, that gnawing, burning sadness churned his insides. He couldn't live like this forever. He couldn't deny the first half of his life. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, Atem."

Atem smiled, and shivered slightly. It seemed even colder inside Pijana's dome than outside. "Chilly?" Yugi asked. "It is getting late, and we shouldn't try to climb Mt. Fortanya in the dark. It's gets much colder when the sun goes down."

"Why don't you spend the night?" Pijana offered. "I have plenty of guest rooms, but no guests."

"We'd love that, Dermeina." Yugi said. "Thanks a lot. For everything."