Disclaimer: Ya know, after 22 chapters it's becoming kinda hard to think of witty and amusing ways to say the "Heralds of Valdemar" series doesn't belong to me. So..., yeah, it doesn't. I wish like hell it did, but woe to me as it does not. Now all the OC characters, that's another story. Their mine.

A/N: Hello again everyone and welcome to the next installment! Thank you all so much for the reviews, though as we get farther into this they may begin to tapper off because of the plot. As I've said in the replies I've sent to my reviewers and last chapter this story line is will be quite a bit different and you get a small taste of that here. I'm gonna try and make things more political and unfortunately the only way I can think to do this is by almost going a little sci-fi on ya. If you don't understand what I mean now then hopefully you will in later chapters. Okay, I'll shut up now. Forward!!!!

Ch. 2: Who Wants to Talk to Me About What?

I all but rushed into our apartment and nearly slammed the door in my hurry to run away from my rather unsettling experience. The more I tried to forget about it and brush it off as a trick of the light, the worse and more disgusting I felt. Was I finally loosing the fragile grasp I'd held on reality for so long? Did I really just see one of the very people I'd been wishing with my whole being I could see and talk to again? Was it nothing more than my imagination and the light playing tricks on me? Was it real?

I kicked off my shoes at the door and hurried into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving a trail of clothing as I went. I climbed in and stood there under the steaming hot spray for I don't know how long. My headache had grown into a full blown migraine and I was lucky mine didn't make me dizzy or nauseous. I simply stood there and willed my anxiety and fears to flow down the drain with the rest of the water until I felt a numb sense of calm.

Finally I got out, changed for bed and collapsed onto my mattress, feeling exhausted and spent. This can't be happening, I thought. There's no way this can be happening again. Just calm down and think, will ya? Okay, look at it logically. Sometimes people hear things in a loud room that sounds like someone is talking to them when nobody is. Your head was probably just trying to make sense of a bunch of overheard conversations. As for the guy, it could've been anyone and they were trying to get the attention of someone else. They weren't necessarily hailing you. You've had a long day; you're tired, and then freaked out over nothing. It's okay.

But then my other internal monologue had to chime in and play Devil's Advocate. But, what if it was him? Just what if? Nobody has ever been able to explain where you went and how you got the scars on your back, so it's possible you were taken to Valdemar by Emperor Melles and attacked on your internship by the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog's mutant cousin. Why else do you still use the Gifts you've been trying to convince yourself you don't have? But that still doesn't answer the 'why' and 'how'. Why was I brought back and how? Why is Trine here and how? What does this mean and can I do this all over again when I barely survived the first time?

From the foot of my bed came a soft and insistent mewing that told me Punky wanted up. I sat up wearily and plucked him from the floor, then pulled back my blankets and crawled into bed. There were surprisingly few sounds from the street coming in through my window as the warm summer breeze fluttered the light curtains softly. I laid there petting my purring cat as rampant thought after rampant thought coursed through my mind. Punky then looked up at me inquisitively and gave another small "Mew", as if asking what was wrong. I sighed and looked into his large yellow eyes.

"I don't know cat, what do you think? Have I finally lost it? After nine years of wondering whether or not I've jumped off the deep end, have I finally snapped? But if not, then what the hell does this mean?"

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Over the next couple days I tried my best to forget about the whole thing. I went about my daily routine of working a few hours a day at the homeless shelter, attending my three day a week Spanish class, then going to work at the club. And when the shelter director informed me that weekend their budget was being increased and offered me a part-time position, I was ecstatic. I'd been saving money for a while with plans to go back to school to get a degree in social work, so the job offer only served to further cement my plans and push the possible Trine-sighting out of my mind.

However, the thought didn't stay gone for long.

Monday mornings were the most convenient time for me to do the running around I needed to do, along with cleaning my share of the apartment and doing the grocery detail for the next two weeks. I'd been in a really good mood since being offered the job at the shelter and since Shannon had the day off from her second job at a nearby bookstore, I decided to make something special for lunch. So imagine my surprise when I met her just outside our building looking a little frantic.

"Shan, what happened?" I asked in alarm as many different crisis scenarios played out in my head. She got mugged, someone broke into the apartment, someone upstairs died, someone was murdered, a bomb threat was called in and the police aren't here yet.

She yelped and turned like someone had just pinched her, then visibly relaxed when she saw it was me. "There you are! I expected to find you at home and when you weren't there I didn't know what to tell them."

"I always try and do the shopping on Monday mornings before class, you know that," I said as I looked at her curiously. "What did you mean when you said you didn't know what to tell them?"

Shannon took two of the rather full bags from me and bit her lip, giving me a look of apprehension. "Jennifer, who's Trine Whitecroft?"

What the fuck? The last thing I expected to hear from Shannon at that moment was Trine's name. I hoped the look of confusion I tried to return didn't betray the feeling of icy fear that had just washed over me. "Trine Whitecroft?" I asked slowly, trying to make the familiar name sound foreign. "Never heard of them."

"It's a guy and you're positive?" she inquired as we climbed the brightly lit stairwell.

"Yeah. I think I'd remember a weird sounding name like that." Remember him, yes. Willingly admit to knowing him and explain why, hell no. Not without concrete proof.

"Then why is he in our apartment right now with two CIA agents, claiming to be a close friend of yours?"

That stopped me dead in my tracks. I nearly dropped the three sacks I was carrying in shock as I turned to gape at her. "WHAT?! Shannon, did you just say there's a man I've never heard of, claiming to know me, in our apartment with two Federal Agents?!" Shannon nodded.

We stood in silence while I continued to stare at her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. And they want to talk to you pretty badly. Something about a new lead in your disappearance case."

I couldn't move. I was in so much shock my feet had frozen to the floor as my mind assimilated the information. He couldn't be up there, it was impossible. Unless I was about to become privy to classified government information concerning inter-dimensional travel or some other crappy B-movie explanation, there was no possible way Shannon could be telling the truth. But how do you explain the fact she knew Trine's name? And then what about Thursday night?, my small inner voice asked.

The whole premise was insane. If my memories were to be trusted, the spell that Melles and his boy Rassil had used to bring me to Valdemar had been a one-way trip. It only went to Velgarth from Earth. Plus the document had been destroyed soon after I was brought there so there was little chance of a modification. It was magic, and technology couldn't replicate magic. Logically speaking, Trine being in our apartment was impossible.

"Come on," Shannon said softly, breaking my thought train. "We probably shouldn't keep them waiting."

We climbed four more flights of stairs to the fifth floor and walked to the end of the corridor in silence, where our apartment was the last one on the right. Shannon opened the door and held it open for me as we entered the joint kitchen and living room area. Sure enough, there were two men dressed in suits waiting for us, and a third red-haired man was standing on the balcony with his back to us, looking out at the view of the neighboring buildings. I silently hoped he wouldn't turn around.

"Jennifer Keller?" one of the men asked calmly as he and the other man appraised me. I nodded as Shannon took the bags from me and began to put things away. "My name's Agent Glazer, and this is Agent Hill," the tall gray haired man introduced himself and motioned to his slightly younger looking companion. They both showed me matching badges identifying themselves as CIA agents. "If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a few questions about you disappearance nine years ago."

I gulped and nodded, then made my way over to the chair next to Agent Hill and sat down. It was a good thing I did because my knees had just about been ready to give way.

For the next half hour, the agents asked me a bunch of general questions along the line of how I'd been faring, what I'd been doing as of late, and if I truly remembered nothing of the six years I'd been missing. I answered as truthfully as I dared and tried to feign ignorance with a couple questions that sounded a little loaded. Plus they seemed rather interested in my desire to be a social worker.

When they were satisfied with my answers, Hill and Glazer changed their tactics on me. They asked Shannon to take a seat and Glazer went over to the sliding glass window leading to the balcony and brought in the man I'd tried to forget was out there.

Oh, my, God. I went cold and ridged in my seat as my jaw dropped and eyes widened. He looked really odd, wearing jeans and a blue button-down shirt, but there was no mistaking the familiar bright blue eyes surrounded by laugh lines and the flaming red hair. He smiled warmly at me and I could tell it was a test of his self-control to not wrap me up in a friendly hug.

"Heyla, Jenn," Trine greeted me with a small chuckle. "I see you found your clothes from the other night."

"Ah hell no!" I jumped up and yelled. "This is impossible! There's no fucking way this is possible!" I cradled my head in my hands and began to pace around the room. That seemed to be the cue for everyone to start talking at once.

"Miss Keller, please sit down and we'll explain…"

"Jennifer, what are you talking about? What's going on?"

"I rather figured you'd react this way."

I spun around again at Trine's words and ripped into him. "Oh bullshit! What the hell do you know? You're not supposed to be here! You're nothing more than a character in a book! You're not real!"

The agents and Shannon shut up and Shannon looked like she'd been slapped. Trine, however, nodded, looking mildly amused. "You're still going on about that? I'm not surprised. Well, if I'm not real then how can these men and your friend see me and talk to me?"

"Because I've finally snapped and gone crazy, that's how! I only think you're here because I want you to be! This is nothing more than a hallucination! I'm probably locked up in a padded room somewhere, drooling and shouting at nothing!" I screamed at him.

Trine's face went from slightly amused to stern in a millisecond. He hurried across the room to me and grabbed both my wrists in a vice-like grip before I had a chance to move away.

I looked away instead. "Jennifer, no you're not. You're not dreaming, you're not crazy, and you're not hallucinating," he said forcefully. "Look at me, Jennifer, and trust me. Please."

I shut my eyes and shook my head, refusing to believe. The minute he touched me, the wound that my memories of Valdemar had caused had been ripped open and was bleeding afresh. And it hurt. It hurt to know that according to my senses one of my friends who knew everything was there, but I didn't dare let myself give into the aching in my heart. And it hurt to know that my mind was partly saying this wasn't real, and the other half jumping up and down screaming "I fuckin' told ya so!!"

"Jenn, look at me, please. Open your eyes and look at me. You need to trust your senses and believe I'm really here." Trine continued to plead with me but I wouldn't listen. I was able to put up a weak mental shield in case he tried to Mindtouch me again but he stopped me with one of his own before I could strengthen it. "Oh no you don't! You're not shutting me out that way! Don't you dare put up shields to keep me out or I'll rip them down. Jennifer look at me!" With his last shout he broke through the weak shield I'd put up and Mindspoke to me again.

:If you won't listen to my verbal words then maybe you'll believe me this way. You know we can't lie mind to mind. Jennifer, I'm here. I'm really here. I know you think you've gone crazy but I can assure you you're not. This is real, I am real, and if you remember anything at all it's all real too. My friend, please open your eyes and believe me.:

I slowly opened my eyes and found him looking right at me. His face softened into a relieved smile and relaxed his grip on my wrists. "I'm really here. You're not making me up."

Suddenly the desire to believe overtook the desire to disbelieve and I felt tears start to well up. I reached forward with a shaking hand and touched his face, needing to feel warm skin as a way to further convince my mind and senses.

"Trine,…I'm scared. I…I can't Feel her anymore. I can't even Feel Shay anymore," I finally croaked out.

He nodded and pulled me into a tight hug, and I found myself melting into the much needed embrace. "I know, I know. I'm here to help you and to see that you get better. You're not crazy. It's going to be alright now, I promise you." My knees finally gave out and I fell to the floor in a crumpled, sobbing heap. We sat like that until I cried myself out and to sleep.

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When I woke up, it was early afternoon still and I was in my bed. I felt horrible, and for a moment thought I'd overslept that morning and had just had one hell of a crazy dream. But then I heard two voices carrying from the living room, Shannon and a deeper male's voice that I recognized from my memories as Trine. Is it possible? Did that really happen?, I thought as the encounter of earlier came flooding back. Instead of getting up and finding out, I laid there and listened to the conversation.

"But why didn't she say anything to me? We've never had any secrets so why would she keep this from me?" Shannon asked dejectedly, her voice slightly muffled as it came through the door.

"If I had to guess, it was because it was too painful for her," I heard Trine explain. "For the six years I knew her, Jenn's biggest fear was that she'd mentally snapped and I'm quite sure she believed she had. You heard what she said, about being only a character in a book. She never really explained about the books your people have about Valdemar, but as much as she acted like and said she was alright with being there, I highly doubt she was. It was more a way to protect herself from herself and not have others think she was crazy."

There was a pause before Shannon spoke again. "So the things she's been saying in her sleep, this Shayna and Tashir and Kris, they're all real people? Jennifer has these "Heraldic Gifts" you're talking about? She can do magic?!"

"And she's damn good at it too. She's still considered the top Mage Valdemar has seen since Vanyel Ashkevron, and he lived roughly six centuries ago." I then Felt a small Mindtouch and a feeling of happiness before Trine continued. "But why don't we ask her?" Footsteps came down the short hall to my room, followed by a knock on the door and it opened. "Heyla, you. Feel up to a conversation?" Trine asked.

I sat up slowly. "I guess so. I've got a lot of explaining to do, don't I?"

"Would you like us to come in here or do you want to come out to us?" he asked.

"Come on in. I don't feel much like movin'."

Trine motioned to Shannon to come, and as soon as the two of them got comfortable, the questions started. Trine had already filled her in on all the big stuff, like the fact I was a Herald-Mage and everyone thought I'd died, but it was the smaller questions she needed to ask.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Shannon asked when I'd finished explaining my version of events, not bothering to mask the pain in her voice. She was sitting cross-legged next to me on the bed and Trine had pulled over a chair from the corner. Punky was curled up next to me, napping.

I hung my head in shame. "What was I supposed to say? If I told you any of it you would have gone straight to a shrink and I'd be on even more medications, or worse, locked up 'for my own safety'. It's like Trine said earlier. I've spent the last nine years wondering whether or not I'd gone crazy and the last thing I needed was for someone here to validate that. It was easier to say I didn't remember anything and just try and get on with life."

"Okay, that I get. But Trine said you can do magic? That that's the reason you're hair is white," Shannon said hurriedly.

I nodded, deciding to give her proof. I held out my hand and conjured a small Magelight. Our faces were suddenly cast in a light blue hue, causing Shannon to gasp and start. "It's a simple Magelight, one of the easiest things I can do."

Shannon starred at the glowing ball in awe, unable to believe her eyes. "How are you doing that?"

I smiled and shook my head. "It's not really complicated to explain but in a nut shell, I just think about it and it's there. I could do more, but I've been out of practice for so long that I don't dare try. I remember how to do almost everything but I won't unless I'm in a workspace with another Mage. I don't know how or if things work the same here as they did…do over there."

"Wow, this is…wow," Shannon muttered to herself and no one could think of anything else to say. I took that chance to ask Trine one of the two big questions I had.

"Trine, the first of many questions. What are you doing here? I'd ask how, but I don't think I'm ready to find out just yet."

Trine's eyes darkened slightly and he sighed heavily. "It's Shayna."

"What, what's wrong? Is she hurt?" I said in near panic. Oh no, please let Shay be alright. Please, please let her be fine.

"She's not hurt, really," he said taking my hand. "Jenn, we thought you were dead when you disappeared, but she was the only one who swore you were still alive. We tried to get her to Choose again but she refused. Shay was alright for a time, but then she slowly started separating herself from the rest of the Companions and now hardly speaks to anyone. She's been spending all of her time out by the stream you two liked to sit at so often, and then about two weeks ago she stopped eating."

Trine waited a few moments for the facts to sink before he continued. "She's pining herself to death over you and no one can talk any sense into her, not even Rolan. And since we don't know what the Herald-Companion bond will do between the two of you, if it still exists, if she dies there's the very real possibility you could soon follow," he said bracingly.

My heart and stomach lurched as I felt tears start to prick at my eyes again. "She's not eating? Oh no, please no…" and I started to cry again.

"Jennifer, I'm here so I can bring you home. Not just for your sake because the gods know the Mind-Healers here can't do anything for you, but for Shayna's as well." Trine started to say something else but I cut him off.

"When do we leave?" I asked and hastily wiped away my tears. Trine looked a little taken back as Shannon let out a startled yelp.

"What? Leave? Jenn, you can't go just…" Shannon started.

"Why not?" I all but yelled at her. "Shayna is my Companion, my soul-sister, quite literally my other half. I have an obligation to her and if she's sick then I need to be there. Shannon, she could die! And if she goes then I may go to!" I turned my attention back to Trine and asked again.

"When can we leave? I can be ready to go in about an hour."

Clearly not expecting this reaction, he had to grope for words. "Um…, the agents are waiting downstairs. I'd have to ask them. We'd hoped to bring you with us tonight, but thought it would take more convincing."

"I've heard all I need to." As if someone had turned a switch inside me, I felt a surge of calm and purpose that I hadn't felt in three years; a calm and purpose I'd come to associate with being a Herald-Mage. I was ready to return to duty. "Go tell them I'm getting my things packed. I'm going back."