At least traffic cooperated with me this morning. Not much else was. The sole available parking place-even I had to look for a parking place like everyone else on Corneria-was so tight I fervently wished that the person responsible for parking so close to the driver side portion of my space had at least left a can opener.

Growling, I wriggled my way out of my car and made my way to the hospital entrance. Striding to the desk, I said to the receptionist, "I need to see Hiram Phoenix..."

"I'm sorry, but he's in the private ward..."

"I know, I'm his daughter, Fara. Can you let me in?" I sighed sharply. It was times like this that I realized I probably brought my lack of public recognition on myself due to the fact I rarely made public appearances with my father.

"I'll need to see some..." the receptionist started to say.

Now, I'm usually one of the sweetest, kindest souls on the planet. I wouldn't harm a fly and I'll be nice to you if you're nice to me, and even if you aren't.

Today, though, was not the day to try my patience.

"Look, my father is dying by the second and you're here asking me for my ID. It isn't like I don't have the familial resemblance." I said, through gritted teeth. It was true, too-I was a dead ringer for my father. Too bad I never went out in public with him much. "So I'm asking one more time, nicely, let me in the damn room!"

"Yes...yes, Miss Phoenix. Right this way..." she stammered, and released the lock on the private ward door. Without another word, I yanked the door open and strode in.

I quickly found my father's room and walked into the door. "Father...?" I asked, and for a moment, only the beeping of monitors answered my query.

Fearing the worst, I walked in a little further. The monitors were beeping, all right-but it wasn't a constant whine, which was at least some good news. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, I heard him.

"Fara?" he asked. My...he was a ghost of a man, even more so than when I had last seen him-and running the company day-to-day didn't afford me much time for that luxury. That he was still clinging to life, I realized, took more strength of will than I ever imagined he had.

"Yes. I'm here." was my reply. I took his hand, gently. "I got the message..."

He nodded weakly. "Fara, my dear child...I'm not long for this world and surely you must know that...but there is something else you must know."

Okay, this was a surprise to me. My father never kept secrets from me, and the look in his eyes told me that whatever this was, it was bound to be a doozy. "What is it?"

"Do you still have the necklace I gave to you for your sixteenth birthday?"

"Yes. I'm surprised it's survived this long, but...yes, I still have it..." I said, raising the pendant from where it dangled on my chest. It was a clear blue sapphire, much the same color as my eyes. "What about it?"

He turned to me and strained so that his muzzle was close to the pendant I now held in both paws. Raising his voice-as much as he was able to, I could see the visible effort that took just to make himself even that tiny bit more audible-he spoke. "Activate holorecording. Passcode...Reianne..."

I gasped as a few motes of light flickered above the pendant. Reianne...that was my mother's name. And my middle name.

Before my eyes was something I thought I would never, ever see again, except in old photographs. Something that belonged to someone I was told had died shortly after I was born...

My mother's face. I stared...I looked so much like her.

"Fara, my child..." she spoke, and even though I knew it was just a holographic simalcrum of my mother, I wanted so dearly to reply, for her to hear her daughter's voice again. "I made this so that you could know the truth of who you were, when the time came for it to be made known. I wish to start by saying that I am sorry I had to leave your father, to leave the family we had made together...but there was little time, and you had to be protected..."

I didn't understand. Protected from what? Then the next words shocked me to the core.

"You, and your brother. Fara...like me, you possess the gift of psionics. I'm sure you don't realize this, though...I made your father promise me not to tell you."

I wished I knew why. I could feel the tears on my cheeks, but I didn't care. All I could do was continue to listen. I had so many questions, yet inwardly knew that this recording couldn't possibly answer all of them.

"There are those who would use that gift to enslave or for ill will. You and your brother must be ever vigilant against those kinds of people. To that end, I separated the two of you and left you in your father's care. Your brother, I left to another. I must keep myself separate from the both of you...though how I wish to the gods that I did not have to.

My dearest wish is that you find your brother again. I do not expect to survive long enough to see you again, my child. Already, the hand of darkness comes for me. I will face it with the strength I have always had, to protect those who I love, even if I cannot be with them.

I pray that you can forgive me, Fara. I, now and forever, love you.

With that, the light faded out and again all I could hear was the beeping of the monitors that kept my father barely alive-and the sound of my own sobbing.

"Why didn't you tell me..." I said, my eyes focused on the floor. No matter-the intended recipient of my query responded, if weakly.

"Fara, I promised her I would not tell you for as long as I lived because she asked me to. She told me I had to do whatever was necessary to protect you...because she trusted me."

"But you told me now..."

He sighed weakly. "I wish that Reianne would forgive me but for that slight transgression. I'm dying and I know it. It is merely a matter of moments now..."

"There's never enough time, is there?" I asked. It wasn't as though I had much else to say. Not enough time to answer my questions, to discover who I really was, to say goodbye to my father, or for the one I loved to stay with me just a little while.

"Time and life are both fleeting things, Fara..." I heard him whisper. "You must not squander either one. Go...and find your brother. Find your place in life, in this world...find the one who makes you happy and completes you. I...regret only not being able to see that day..." he added. "Or my grandchild..."

I grasped his paw, and I could feel just how faint his pulse was. "I will, I promise..."

He nodded, peacefully closed his eyes, and breathed his last. I heard the whine of the monitors going off but I didn't care. All I could do was cry until I could cry no more.

After that, there were no more tears for my past. Only the need to move forward.