A/N: This chapter is for Narshia, whose comments gave me the starting point AND the kick in the rear I needed to get this next chapter up.

I'm thrilled beyond belief to find someone else who loves the world of Lunar as much as I do.

Ruby found herself at a loss. They had to wait for the water level to fall just a little more before attempting the water ruins, but Hiro had gone sullen the moment they'd arrived.

The Rememberizer crystal had lit up the moment they'd stepped foot on the springs and, well, Hiro hadn't been the same since. So far, Ruby was fairly positive that he hadn't really looked at the orb, but she wasn't sure that he needed to, either.

Hiro seemed happy enough when everyone else was paying attention, and he was more than determined to reach Lucia. He just seemed . . . less alive somehow without her.

Meanwhile, there was something even more odd happening between Lemina and Ghaleon, and that bothered Ruby, too.

What was a red dragon supposed to do when nothing seemed to be working out exactly right?

.

Lemina couldn't shake Ghaleon's constant companionship, even if she'd wanted to.

The day he'd agreed to help, she'd dragged him off of the deck of the Dragonship Destiny, and practically forced him to stay up most of the night drawing up plans with her.

Ghaleon had so many secrets revolving around Vane, and Lemina refused to let him go until he'd divulged them all.

To her surprise, however, there was little prodding to get the man talking. If she hadn't have known better, she'd have sworn Ghaleon was lonely, and homesick for his Vane, instead of the pile of rubble he'd been left with.

No, it wasn't quite rubble anymore. He'd fixed up the gardens, and he'd been studiously drawing up new plans for repairs. Plans that widely eclipsed the treasury of Vane, given its general lack of members save for Lemina, her own mother, and her few friends.

But Ghaleon refused to be deterred.

It was, therefore, no surprise that she found him in the tiny cafeteria on the ship, scrawling away on a paper—despite the fact that the sun had only just begun to rise.

Lemina, however, was not an early riser. She was a late night owl, far more inclined to stay up late reading tomes or studying the quality of whatever gems she got her hands on or, on occasion, to spend hours on her window sil, staring up at the moon as she tried to work her way through another poem.

"You're certainly up early," Ghaleon greeted her, though he didn't look up from his scroll.

She glared at him. "Jean likes to do karate in her sleep," she informed him, huffy, as she rubbed her eyes. "And she has the bottom bunk." She barely refrained from rubbing her bottom, still rather sore from Jean's strong punch that had landed squarely on the bottom of Lemina's bunk.

"There are plenty of rooms aboard this vessel." Ghaleon dipped his quill in ink, and then scribbled something else on the paper. "You could also sleep outside, given that we are currently located by Althena's Spring."

Lemina sniffed. "I'm not sleeping on wet grass if I don't have to." She glowered at him, wondering why she even bothered to explain. "And Jean," Lemina hesitated for a moment, because it felt like an invasion of her friend's privacy to share why Lemina shared a room with her. Then again, it was highly possible Ghaleon already knew; Jean certainly didn't keep her screaming to a minimum.

"She gets nightmares." Lemina sighed as she shuffled closer, wanting to look at whatever new plans Ghaleon had come up with. "I don't know if she's ever been able to sleep alone since she escaped."

Ghaleon didn't reply, so Lemina took that as proof that he did know about Jean's traumatic past. She thought about asking him how he knew, but then decided it didn't matter. He'd probably been spying on them back when Zophar had still been around, or something.

Instead, she hovered behind him, studying from over his shoulder the plans he'd so carefully sketched out. Vane had a huge crystal structure behind the grand manor, complete with two large towers that stretched almost beyond the borders of the paper. The manor itself was almost three times its current size, and Lemina guessed that the majority of the structure had housed the schoolrooms, dormitories, and practice rooms. While the current Vane had only six other structures besides the testing chambers and the manor, this Vane had eight, and they were far more impressive than the structures that still stood today.

The large fields used for outdoors training, and the statue of Althena stood exactly the same as they were now, but they were the only items on the sketch that still seemed familiar to her. Despite that, the fields had clearly been redrawn, looking carefully maintained rather than being left to wilderness as they were now.

What captured her gaze the most, however, was the clear water that had once been the lifeblood of the floating city. The aqueducts had been restored, and Ghaleon had even added in the suggestion of running water.

"Is that what Vane used to look like?" she breathed, reaching out to trace the dried ink with reverent fingers. It looked like paradise, like what she'd always imagined Vane should have been, if it hadn't have been grounded.

He flinched slightly, and the only reason she even noticed was because of her proximity. "It is," he confirmed, but he didn't shift to look her in the eyes when he spoke as he usually did.

"It's beautiful." She turned to smile at him, but all she saw then was the stone of his imperfect face. He'd turned his head just enough that she couldn't see more than his rocky features. "Ghaleon? Is something wrong?"

He didn't move, but she could hear his slight intake of air.

"No," he answered her curtly. "You're correct that this is what the old Vane had looked like, and it is what Vane shall soon look like again."

"I know it will," she told him with a sniff. "But are you okay, Ghaleon?"

She wasn't sure who her concern startled more, him or Lemina herself, but either way, Ghaleon finally turned to look at her, eyes widened.

"I'm fine," he stressed. "Merely distracted by how to help that boy along so we can return home."

She beamed at him, thrilled that he was willing to consider Vane his home once more. "It won't take us long," she told him with a wink. "Hiro's mega determined to return to Lucia. In fact, he's almost as determined as I am in my own quest!"

She sat down besides him on the bench. "Right now, the water level's still a little too high, but Ronfar thinks it should recede in a day or two. So," she clapped her hands together and gave him her most beguiling look, "we have plenty of time for you to explain what those towers were before, besides kidnapping Luna!"

She'd already heard that story from Nall.

"A most apt pupil, aren't you, Lemina Ausa," Ghaleon said, with the faintest hint of a smile. "Very well. But," he added, rolling up the scroll as she squeaked in protest, "not before we eat. I refuse to have crumbs ruin my hard work."

Lemina pouted, but even as she reached for the map, Ghaleon easily moved it out of reach.

"Ah, ah," he admonished. "Food first, little premier."

She folded her arms across her chest. "My mother is still premier," she reminded him, annoyed. Her mother might not have been able to restore the history and traditions of Vane herself, but she was still premier until she chose to step down for Lemina.

Ghaleon, however, shook his head. "In name only, perhaps," he allowed, "but a premier of the magical guild of Vane is defined by what he or she does. You are the one acting as premier, Lemina, not your mother. She is grasping at crumbling rocks, while you are building, one stone at a time."

As Lemina tried to swallow the fact that he'd just paid her a mega handsome compliment—Ghaleon, of all people!—the once-Magical Emperor rose from his seating and made his way to the nook that passed for a kitchen.

"The more time you waste now," he said silkily, "the less time you'll have hearing about the purpose of those towers later."

Lemina had never moved so quickly in the morning in her life.