sigh... Well, Iamagod looks to be my only reviewer/reader. Didn't know people wanted fluff stuff all the time.... Oh well, I'm just stubborn enough to keep plowing through. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: duh!

Chapter 7: Tales for Acquaintance

"Who is that?" Phikel asked as she peered over Zari's shoulder.

Zari sniffed and nibbled on her bottom lip. One hand held the mirror while the other touched her collarbone, searching for the fine chain that secured the pendant around her neck. Her fingertips fluttered over the chain and followed it until they traced the delicate silver tubes that wove themselves around the amethyst stone. "Who is Pikel to you?" Zari asked.

"Oh..." Phikel said. "I see..."

Pikel came up behind Phikel and put his arms around her waist. "Where is he?" he asked.

"Where he's always been I guess," Zari replied. She wiped away the tear streaks and gently placed the mirror back in the blue velvet nest.

"So why aren't you there?" Phikel asked. "What happened?"

"That's a long story," Zari replied.

"We have time," Pikel said quickly. Phikel pinched his forearm and gave him a stern look. "That is... if you feel up to it."

Zari sighed, "I suppose then that I should start with who he is.

"His name is Shin, he's the Supreme Kai of the eastern corner of the universe. When we first met, he had become a prisoner in his own mind. After an odd ordeal... only at the time... I managed to release him and thaw his skin that had been frozen solid by shadows lead by my greatest enemy. I didn't know this at the time but as I became exposed to the trials he had to go through, and took part in one myself, I gradually came to understand..."

"Understand what?" Talme asked.

"Understand where I came from and who I really was," Zari replied. "Though Kalilo never knew... I never told him."

"But..." Phikel said hesitantly. "Why are you here?"

The light in Zari's eyes dimmed.

"So then you mean to say that he banished her?" Junid asked, shocked by what Agi had told them after the elder's persistent questioning. "Just because-"

"Bibi-Dee used his magic to destroy her unborn son and then used what was left of the tissue to recreate a child in his own image. Hence Babi-Dee," Agi answered. "She wouldn't allow Shin to end Babi-Dee's life because she believed she could change the course of his future. Shin knew otherwise, he had no choice but to follow protocol."

"Poor lass," Junid said. "But then... so Shin wasn't only tending to the overseeing of the universe but taking part in an endless search as well. That part I knew, but I never knew why. I simply thought they had an argument of some kind and she left him. But that would be out of character for the both of them."

Agi nodded.

"Feh!" the elder spat. "It's his fault for getting involved with that woman in the first place."

"That woman!" Junid snapped as he got to his feet. "That woman was the life of this planet. Not only is she the kindest soul I've ever come to know-"

"That doesn't matter!" the elder interjected. "If she was so great then why didn't she fight back? If she loved that pitiful kindergarten Kai so, why didn't she stay with him? Huh?! Answer me that!"

"I still don't understand," Pikel said.

"What don't you understand?" Zari asked quietly through tight lips.

"The child wasn't yours. Why'd you try to save it?"

"Motherly instincts I guess... kicking in at the exact inopportune moment. It appeared at the time that the only way to ensure the safety of the universe was to kill the child. But he was still innocent. His hands had yet to be stained with the blood of those his future foretold. I just didn't want to admit that I couldn't do a damn thing to help him. So I said no."

After a choking silence, Zari asked Pikel and Phikel of their origins. Both were simple stature individuals of opposing backgrounds. They had been secret playmates their entire lives... then things, feelings, escalated (as they tend to do) and the elders found out. They were faced with a few choices: leave each other and marry respectably, take each other and live on their own (which they did), or take each other's lives and live happily in Eternia Pikel's entire family turned their backs on him and Phikel was about to send word that she would leave him to his own destiny without her. But when she went to tell him face to face, one look in his eyes and she knew he would take his own life out of despair, and that knowing his death, she would have done the same.

Not much was said after that. Talme tended to the burns on Zari's legs and carried her to the bed (where she remained the following week).

Upon the eighth day, the scar tissue had nearly dissolved completely. Talme was moving around on her own, although either Pikel or Phikel were never far from her side. Zari took frequent visits to the Eosye mirror, only to finally turn away when the pictures moved beyond her last night with Shin. But even that medicine was not enough to bring the light entirely back into her eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm not healing as quickly as I usually do," Zari apologized as she, Talme, Pikel, and Phikel were finishing the evening meal.

"Nonsense!" Talme said with a smile. "I told you that you could have as much time as you wanted."

Zari smiled, "Thank you." Her eyes turned to the pixies, secure in their own world, their hands entwined, loving smiles in their eyes. Despite her smile, she resented that such small creatures could take hold of love with both hands and keep it. Whereas she, (a Jewel Light, beings who, aside from the Kais, held the greatest responsibility and were owed a reward) never got her promised due. She turned her eyes away, feeling them grow cold. "If you'll excuse me," she said. Her arms wobbled as they pushed her up out of the chair, but her legs reinforced them. Retrieving the same walking stick Talme had used, she leaned on it and bowed. "Hopefully with another good night's sleep I'll be nearly back to normal. So I bid you all goodnight."

"Good night," Talme called after her.

She nearly ran to her room and collapsed on the bed, shaking with sobs. Her hand reached for the Eosye but never came close to touching it. An hour wasted away. Tears stained the blanket beneath her face. Summoning what strength her emotions had yet to drain, she pulled herself in the middle of the bed, curled up like a baby, and wept until sleep cast its spell.

The next chapter takes a pretty cool twist if I do say so myself. But as you know (Iamagod) I have some other projects I should be working on. Till next time.