A/N: Again, just to reiterate . . . no canon couples shall be harmed in the making of this fanfic. All of the single characters, however, should be prepared to lose all sanity!

The first few chapters of this fic will be moving quickly enough to the point of Zophar's demise, but that's when a lot is going to be changing for our lovely cast of tortured—er, I mean, excited characters. Much of the story will be taking place in the epilogue . . . and there will be some minor plot changes as well, so bear with me.

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Lemina had had every intention of complaining about Ghaleon's actions after she'd left the garden, but Borgan's usual antics with her mother had prevented her from doing just that.

The bucket of lard had once again been trying to woo her mother, and Lemina would have fire-spelled his butt into the next galaxy if her mother hadn't stopped her.

All they had left to do was defeat the false red dragon and lay claim to Ruby's power before taking on Zophar, but Ronfar was as ready to finally be there for Mauri as Ruby was unready to claim her power, and the drama had unfolded from there.

In the end, Lemina had ended up not saying a word.

She had been too busy helping Hiro and the others save Ronfar and teasing Ruby because of Nall's actions to even think much on what had happened with Ghaleon. It wasn't until they returned to Vane after defeating the false red dragon for supplies—though Lucia had almost left without them in her quest to save Althena—that Lemina even thought about the events of that day.

And it was all because of Borgan.

"Oh, Lemina pumpkin, don't you worry. Miria and I are going to take care of Vane while you fight Zophar," Borgan's deep voice rumbled through the decaying hall of Vane as he loomed in the entrance of the great receiving room of Vane. "Maybe," he added, his entire face and neck turning a splotchy red, "then you'll be ready to accept me as your stepfather, Lemina."

"Two words, Borgan: hands off!" Lemina snapped, covering her face as she shrieked in revulsion. "As if Mother would ever be interested in you! I'm warning you, Borgan, that my fire magic is powerful enough to hit you no matter where I am!"

"Lemina!" Miria's calm voice rang out. "Be more polite and considerate of our guests. Borgan has every right to be here and be treated with the same respect as you do."

Lemina opened her mouth to let out her list of reasons as to why Borgan's actions were unacceptable—after all, she'd helped Borgan and she did want Borgan to become better; she just didn't want Borgan involved with her mother in the process—but her mother's glare had her closing her mouth again.

In both disgust of Borgan and frustration of her mother's continual forgiveness, Lemina escaped to the worn gardens of Vane.

She stopped short when she saw the state of the garden and gaped.

All of the dead plants that had been littering the ground had been cleared away, and all of the debris had been cleared from the pathways and the two small pools in the garden. The missing cobbles from the pathways had been replaced, and the once-dry pools had been polished and refilled so that the water glinted a blue mosaic upon the stones it flowed over. The dead plants had all been replaced with seedlings and saplings that would no doubt be blooming and shooting up by fall, and were all arranged with such precision that the artistic touch was hard to deny. Three stone benches were strategically placed to be in the sunlight without distracting from the gardens themselves, and a lute had been left atop one of them, abandoned.

Lemina couldn't stop her own gasp of wonder.

The gardens had been one of the first things to fall into ruin, especially once the buildings themselves began to crumble. As a child, Lemina used to imagine what the gardens might have looked like a thousand or more years ago, in Vane's golden age, but she'd never had the opportunity to see them as anything but dead and dying. No one had any time to spare on the gardens though, or the drive, so she'd been left wanting.

It was one of the first things she'd wanted to fix with the silver she'd collect in fees for new recruits to Vane, but even she had to realistically agree that things like the roof and walls had to come first. Ramus had once offered her silver to help her restore Vane once he figured out how to turn his store around, but Lemina had refused to marry him to save Vane.

She had had every intention of saving it on her own—at least, until she'd met Hiro and the others and realized that she couldn't do it on her own. Still, she wouldn't give up until Vane was even better than it had been before.

"Vane seems much smaller now, especially the manor and school. It may not be the Vane I knew, but I felt the urge to attempt to restore at least part of it to its former glory."

Lemina nearly jumped at Ghaleon's voice as it came from behind her, and she whirled around to find Ghaleon staring off into the gardens as he had before, instead of her.

"Most of the original manor has decayed or fallen apart," Lemina replied, feeling compelled to answer though he seemed to pay no attention to her. She couldn't shake her mother's lecture on being polite, and she knew that despite Ghaleon's past that her mother would not allow Ghaleon to be the exception. "The ruins are so dangerous that Mother closed off most of the manor and had the walls sealed so no one could get hurt. There also were some mega modifications done, too, by Premier Mia Ausa, including the removal of the prisons and the towers."

"Hmm. It's hard to believe that timid child grew to be a capable leader . . . but then, she did have her mother's spirit." Ghaleon moved over to one of the stone benches and sat down, raising his head to the sky as if he enjoyed the sunlight on his face.

Neither one of them spoke for several long moments, but Lemina finally couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Was this the way the gardens of Vane used to look?" she blurted, curiosity finally getting the better of her as his words finally set in.

Ghaleon had been the one to restore the gardens.

Had he done so with his own two hands? Or had he brought some of the Chosen with him?

Somehow, she couldn't see him relishing the idea of the Chosen following him around to do the real work, so she supposed he must have done the work himself.

How long had it taken?

"It is just a garden," Ghaleon replied nonchalantly in his usual dry tone. "Don't look too much into it, girl. I just had a momentary desire for the past."

"It's beautiful." She inhaled slowly, loving the smell of fresh air and the vitality of life growing around her. Vane needed this, she realized. She couldn't just repair falling buildings. She had to bring the life back to the city. "I never thought the gardens would look so mega cool."

Again, she wondered about Ghaleon's true allegiance—why bother restoring a garden when Zophar had the intention of destroying everything? What were his true motivations?

Ghaleon had turned around by the time she turned her gaze back to him. "We will meet again, girl, in this very spot."

He disappeared before Lemina could question him further.