4

DG left the door to her room open. She was looking at herself in a mirror. She was trying to decide if she liked the dress she had on.

Within the first week after the eclipse, the Queen had sent out flyers, printed by Azkadelia's own people, bearing a picture of the reunited Royal Family, and explaining everything that had happened.

By the third week, legitimate tribute was making its way to the tower. Some, they redirected back to the palace in Central City. Others contained foodstuffs, necessities, no doubt arranged by the Queen through her newly prolific correspondence.

Soon, unfortunately, representatives of various regions of the Zone, as well as noble families would start arriving. The matters of manners and wardrobe had become the forefront of DG's concerns. It had taken a vigorous battle to retain her jeans and biker jacket. She'd found out that a similar machine to a motorcycle was available in Central City, and she longed to acquire one and escape for a few hours. Heck, she'd even take Cain along, it's not like he got in the way much.

Thoughts of Cain had her frowning at her reflection. His changed attitude still bothered her to no end, but she couldn't put her finger on why it made her so angry.

She had to admit, she was often hyper-aware of his presence. And the closer he got, the more she felt him. It was like, they both had invisible auras, and when he got close enough, those auras brushed, and she could feel the heat of it. The hair on her arms would stand up.

DG didn't consider herself a fool. She'd giggled over the hottest movie stars and rock stars in high school, just like the other girls. But she'd never quite felt the sort of desire the other girls claimed to feel for a guy. And she'd had sex, but while it had been nice, it wasn't like she was actively seeking a repeat experience.

But she had to admit to herself, there were times when she looked at Cain, and her breath caught in her throat. He would turn his head away, looking around, and she would glance up at him, and her eyes would be drawn to his collar, which he almost always left open, and she'd look at the point where his neck joined his shoulder, and just want to…. do SOMETHING. Jump on him, leap at him so he'd be forced to catch her and hold her, anything.

She put her hand to her cheek, feeling the blush hot in her skin. Footsteps in the hall startled her, forcing her to drag her thoughts back under control. The open door was DG's subtle signal that anyone, family or friends, could stop in and chat.

DG turned, wondering who was stopping by, when the bottom dropped out of her stomach. Standing in her doorway, Cain looked at her calmly, but he was turning his hat over and over in his hands. He wore his coat and vest, and she could see the butt of his gun in its holster. His collar was unbuttoned.

Swallowing hard, DG said, "Hey Cain. What's up?"

Cain seemed to straighten his back, though he always stood straight and tall. "Princess."

"C'mon in," she waved and turned back to the mirror. Trying to keep her cool, she didn't bug him about the mode of address, but instead started to ramble. "What do you think? I like blue, but I'm not sure this flatters me. I mean, first of all, it's a dress, which is bad enough, because you know me, I like my jeans. But secondly, I think it's a little too, um, little girlish, you know? God, I'd kill for the latest Cosmo to show people around here. Some of this stuff is just ridiculous. Although," and she turned, checking her profile, "I bet it would look better with my jacket…"

"Princess…" Cain interrupted her, his voice just the slightest bit strained.

Turning her patented wide-eyed look at him, DG asked, "What is it, Cain?"

He seemed to wince a little, but said, "I wanted to let you know, you'll be getting a new detail soon."

"What?" DG said, startled. "You're getting an assistant?"

Cain turned his hat over in his hands, looking down. "No." He looked back up at her. "A replacement."

DG felt like she'd been kicked in the gut. "What do you mean?"

Cain's face turned to stone. "I'm leaving. For a while. Got a mission from the Queen, to the unwanted's realm. I don't know how long it will take."

"My mother gave you a mission? Away from here?"

Cain's lips seemed to tighten before he replied, "I requested it."

DG couldn't believe her ears. "Why?" she whispered.

"I just need to get away for a while, that's all. Out of the tower a bit."

"I would like to get away for a while too," DG said, her voice wistful.

"Yeah. Well, at any rate, I'm going. Your new detail man will be here tomorrow morning. At least now, I won't annoy you anymore." He tried to smile, to make that a joke, but the curve of his lips didn't actually form a smile, and it came nowhere near his eyes.

DG felt like all the air had gone out of the room. She couldn't think of anything to make him stay.

After a moment of silence, Cain nodded. "Well, that's it. Take care of yourself, Princess." He put his hat back on, pulling it low over his eyes. Turning on his heel, he strode out of the room.

DG stood staring after him, her hands limp by her sides. "You said, it would only be that one time you wouldn't be with me..." she whispered helplessly.

Cain got ambushed in the stables. Glitch and Raw were waiting for him. He knew for sure it wasn't zipperhead who figured out his plans, so it had to be Raw who brought Glitch for back up.

"You're going away?" Raw asked.

Glitch turned away from his examination of a piece of tack to smile at Cain. "You're going, Cain? Where are you going? Are we going too?"

Cain grimaced slightly. "Yes, away, no." He tossed a set of saddlebags over the back of his white horse and tied them down.

"Why?" Raw reached out, covering one of Cain's hands with his own. The Tin Man didn't have the heart to shake him off.

Sighing, he explained, "She's gotta trust her detail. She's gotta be comfortable. And I'm just annoying her all the time. So I got her a new guard, and I'll make myself scarce." Unwillingly, thoughts of DG filled his mind, mental pictures of how she looked, posing before the mirror in a dress only a shade or two lighter than her eyes, her dark hair pulled over one shoulder, looking up at him. Her eyes, wide and deep like a lake, drawing him in. He remembered how the dress dipped lower in the back than the front, revealing an expanse of smooth creamy skin, and he had to concentrate to keep from reaching out for her.

Recognizing what was happening, Cain shook his head and took a step back. "Don't," he snapped harshly, shooting the Viewer a glare as he yanked his hand away.

Raw sighed heavily. "Sorry."

"Sure you are."

Glitch looked from one to the other, confused. "But, you can't leave now!"

Cain gave him a sympathetic look. "Hey, I'm sure those two alchemists that showed up yesterday will do right by you. And you can take your time healing up, and be fit and raring to go when I get back." Without physical contact, it would be harder for Raw to spot the lie, Cain hoped. He had no intention of coming back, even when he finished the Queen's mission.

"You make sure you take care of him," Cain told Raw as he cinched the girth on the saddle. He swung up on the mount, settling his hat firmly on his head. "And…. keep an eye on her too."

Both Raw and Glitch nodded solemnly. Cain gave the horse a solid boot, and rode out of the tower without looking back.

High above, on a balcony, DG watched him ride away.

"DG? Deeg?" Ahamo poked his head around the doorway to his younger daughter's room. The door was open, which mean either DG would welcome some company, or someone was cleaning. He didn't spot any staff, but the glass balcony door stood open as well. Ahamo followed the trail, finding DG standing stock still on the balcony, staring out towards Central City. "Hey, honey. Honey?" He walked over to her, and was startled to see the trails of tears on her cheeks. "Oh sweetie, what's wrong?" Ahamo wrapped an arm around her.

"He's gone," DG whispered hoarsely. "He left."

"You mean Cain? Yes, he left this afternoon. He…" Ahamo frowned. "You mean he never discussed it with you?"

DG looked up at him, and shook her head wordlessly.

"He just came up here and announced he was leaving?" Ahamo demanded. At DG's nod, he cursed under his breath, then pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, honey. Your mother and I, we thought you knew. We thought it was a decision you and he had made together."

DG hiccupped a little, her tears wetting Ahamo's shirt. "Why, dad? Why did he go?"

Ahamo sighed and stroked her hair. "Because sometimes, sweetie, men are idiots."

When she finally stopped crying, all DG felt was numb. It was like a huge part of her had been torn away, though she couldn't explain why.

She told as much to Az, who came to sit with her in the dark, the elder for once comforting the younger. "He's gone, and it hurts, even though he was kind of driving me nuts."

"He's your friend. Of course his leaving hurts you," Az said, trying to be sensible. "And I think, maybe, he wasn't really driving you crazy the way you think he was." She leaned over, to catch DG's eyes from where she'd left a little gap in her cocoon of blankets. "You were… accustomed to having him nearby. Now, you shall have to become accustomed to his being away." Azkadelia had her own ideas about her sister and the handsome Tin Man, but since DG was being so unbelievably obtuse, Azkadelia was not going to spell it out for her.

DG nodded. "You're right, of course. It's stupid. I've only known him for what, a month? I should be missing the folks back in Kansas, like Tracey and Karen, more." She thought of the girls who'd been her closest friends in high school, but actually, they'd gone away to college two years before, and their friendship was never quite the same after that.

Azkadelia stroked DG's head comfortingly. "And I'm sure he'll be back as soon as his mission for Mother is complete."

"Right. I can chew him out then."

But days passed with DG simply going through the motions of her life, and no word from Cain arrived. Finally, the sixth day, a terse message came, reporting that he'd arrived in the underground realm and made contact with some of Ahamo's informants. No words for DG were included in the note.

Every day, DG got a little thinner, a little more listless. And her eyes, formerly so full of life, became hollow expanses where no one lived.

Everyone worried about her. Yet at the same time, she almost managed to act normally. Not long after Cain left, with Raw's help to connect his mind, Glitch and the two alchemists came up with a plan to restore his brain. It involved a lot of time, the powers of the two princesses enhancing the abilities of Fang, the Viewer healer, and some very delicate surgical work.

The alchemists were able to stabilize the brain, making it possible to lift it out of the sustaining fluid. Glitch was strapped to a table, sedated also by the alchemists' chemical injections. With small and careful cuts, the head alchemist was able to remove the zipper. The second alchemist carefully prepared a strip of skin from Glitch's leg. It would be used after the brain was restored, grafted onto Glitch's scalp, in the space formerly occupied by the zipper. Later procedures would even be able to regrow his hair.

With excruciating care, the head alchemist removed the brain from its bath, disconnecting the wires that passed control into and out of the machine. He carefully aligned it in Glitch's skull, a magical stasis field maintained by Azkadelia keeping the patient stable. Once the placement was correct, he nodded to Fang and Raw. The two Viewers went to work. Raw and Fang held hands, their free hands on Glitch's shoulders as they stood on either side of the operating table. DG covered their joined hands with both of her own, pouring her own power into the Viewers, for their use. The second alchemist swiftly placed a sterile steel skull plate into place, and both worked to replace Glitch's scalp and graft in the skin from his leg. Glitch's head had been shaved, the easier to work with, though it had taken a great deal of reassurance from DG to assure the man that his hair would grow back.

With Raw's ability to See, and even more, his understanding of how Seeing and Healing could interact, he and Fang were able to handle the internal repair, reconnecting the cerebral cortex, the central nervous system, and doing a great deal to encourage the reintegration of Glitch's neural pathways. DG had done a lot of explaining the last few days, trying to recall high school biology, with some help from Ahamo, who at least had completed a college education before Slipping. Together with the alchemists, and Glitch's own formidable intellect, they'd managed to give the Viewers a good idea of what was needed.

The entire process took more than two hours, at which point both Viewers staggered back, breaking all connections and gasping with exhaustion. DG felt the sweat running down her temples, and down her back. Azkadelia had the last job, carefully releasing the stasis field, while the alchemists checked Glitch's vitals.

Finally, the head alchemist nodded. "Pulse rate steady, pulmonary activity normal. We'll let him rest a while before checking for ocular responsiveness."

"Are you sure?" DG asked, intellectually engaged. "After all, lack of response would indicate problems. If his pupils react normally, we can rule out any bruising of the brain, like a concussion." She wasn't sure she was right, but seemed to remember that from television shows.

The lead alchemist, a man who'd gained his Mastery while Lavender Eyes was still a princess, eyed DG speculatively, but then nodded to the other alchemist. "She has a point. Check him."

After a moment of shining a small light into an unconscious Glitch's eyes, the second alchemist reported responses normal, and everyone sighed a little in relief.

Glitch was wheeled to the infirmary for recovery. The Queen hugged both her daughters and the two Viewers, much to Fang's shock, and thanked the alchemists. "I'm so proud of you," she told her girls. DG smiled weakly, but Azkadelia flushed a deep rose, and demurred.

"Majesty," said the lead alchemist, "should your younger daughter wish to pursue a mastery in Alchemy, I would be most honored to have the teaching of her." Everyone stared at him in surprise. Addressing DG directly, he said, "You have impressed me this week with your knowledge and your innovative ideas. Your innate understanding of form versus function, of mechanics and biology, and your powerful magic, lead me to believe you could attain Grand Mastery over all the alchemists in the O.Z. in time."

"I – I – " DG stammered, floored by the offer. "I haven't thought about pursuing anything! I was just helping."

The Queen intervened. "Perhaps we can table this discussion. It was a trying procedure, and I'm sure you're all tired. I am overjoyed with your success."

They parted then, the alchemists to their chambers, the Royals to their upper level floors. Emily had agreed to watch over Glitch, and notify them all if he should wake on his own before the next day.

In her chamber, DG stripped off the protective jumpsuit she'd worn. The latex-like material clung to her, but once removed, left her skin clammy and cold. She immediately stepped into her bath.

Letting the heat of the water sink into her bones, DG stared up at the ceiling. "We did it. We fixed Glitch. We put his brain back where it belongs. They think he's going to be fine." She sighed. "I wish you were here to see it."

DG's new detail was an older Tin Man from Central City. Whereas Cain had always looked like either the outlaw or the hero, Bill Johnson looked exactly like a lawman from the western movies DG remembered. He had dark salt and pepper hair, and a dark salt and pepper handlebar moustache. He carried two guns, instead of one. His voice was deeper, gravelly. Like Cain, he never voiced any opinions about DG's activities. Like Cain, he was a silent shadow most of the time. And very much unlike Cain, DG didn't really care one way or the other about him.

"Trained with Cain, back in the day, Ma'am," Johnson explained when Azkadelia, trying to stir some interest from DG, questioned the man about his background. "Hung 'em up back when, well, when the troubles started. Kept my head down, unlike Cain. He always was a hot head."

DG's head turned to look at him fully for the first time. "You knew Cain all this time?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"But.. excuse me, but you look much older than Cain."

"Well, he spent eight annuals in a Tin Suit, so I hear. Rest of us had to live that time."

"Thank you," said Azkadelia smoothly. "I'm sure you'll provide the very best protection for my sister."

Johnson had tipped his hat, a different style than Cain's, and took up his position outside the door.

"What did he mean, Az? About the Tin Suit?"

Azkadelia sighed. "The Tin Suits aren't just a prison. They're sort of a stasis field, like what I used to stabilize Ambrose. But the spell is anchored in the suit, self-sustaining. Theoretically, someone could live indefinitely in one, though to be honest, the longest I've ever heard of anyone living in one was Mr. Cain." Azkadelia thought, did a little math. "It's basically as if, when he was put in the suit, he stopped aging, until he got out again."

DG stared out the window. "So he's not really that much older than I am. Not really."

"No," Az agreed. She wished DG would realize what seemed so obvious to everyone else. Her little sister was in love with the Tin Man. Az knew if DG just sent word, asking him to come back, that Mr. Cain would probably ride all day and all night. Because Az could tell that Mr. Cain loved DG back.

She sighed, wishing she could be so lucky. But Azkadelia was afraid that her love had been sacrificed a long time ago, and now matter how much healing went on, it was probably never coming back.

Cain slipped through the streets of the Realm mostly unnoticed. There were a number of things going on here, unsavory things that he was spying out and reporting on. Cain didn't mind that part of the job, it was for the greater good. Even after he'd done what he set out to do, which was let certain individuals know it was safe to return topside, he kept on moving in and about the Realm, taking notes, making reports, using a little strong arm persuasion now and then.

He wasn't the law, not really, but he sent and received messages of interest, and acted on them if necessary.

Almost a month had passed since he'd ridden away, and every moment, she haunted him. At first, once his initial mission had finished, he'd tried drink, and then he tried a whore, and then he tried drink and a whore together. But the drink didn't so much as blur the memory of DG's eyes and smile, the whore didn't excite him in the least, and the two together just made him feel disgusted with himself.

So here he was, stalking the Realm. In his bleaker moments, when he could be honest, he told himself he was hiding, and that he was an idiot. No matter what he told himself, he wasn't able to lock away the feelings he had for DG, and every night when he woke from dreams of having her in his arms again, he'd berate himself for forlorn hope.

But what he was doing was important work. The initial mission, to find certain contacts of Ahamo's from when he'd been the Seeker, had worked out well. These people were in fact representatives of noble houses sent underground by the Witch's evil. People who could have led the Resistance faster and more effectively, had not the Witch started her reign of terror by hunting them down like sport animals. Many noble bloodlines had been decimated. But those that remained had developed a network of contacts, and Ahamo's information let Cain quietly pass the news of the Witch's defeat. The population of the Realm had fallen almost noticeably as people returned topside.

There were places in the Realm where Cain could walk up to the bar, order a drink and sit. From there he could listen to the conversations around him.

Every once in a while, someone would sit near him. After a moment, that person would pose a soft question, usually "is it true?"

In his own way, Cain would pass on minimal information, letting them know yes, it was all true. At that point, the person would usually buy Cain a drink, and disappear again. The next day, another shack or enterprise would be closed up, the tenants returning to their homes above.

There were other places in the Realm where Cain slipped in, moved to the darkest corner of the room, and settled in. He kept his back to a wall, noted and watched every possible exit. He kept his mouth shut and his ears open.

Growing grimmer daily, Cain haunted the dark corners of the Realm. And one day, it turned out to be a good thing.

He didn't catch much of the conversation. The latest gossip had the Royal Family finally relocating to Central City just ahead of the rains, so when he overheard something about Royal and Central, he initially dismissed it.

But then he caught three specific words that arrested his attention.

The first two bothered him: "Princess" and "plan".

The third chilled him down to his bones.

"Zero."

TBC

A/N: Hello again and thank you all for the lovely reviews! WOOT! I'm probably going to start posting even faster than one chapter a day, because I want to get this out before certain elements become cliche or fanon. In answer to one comment: yes, Cain leaves, and maybe it is a little cliche already, but the man is damned stubborn and probably won't get it until he gets his face rubbed in it. At any rate, I started parts of this fic, concepts and elements, before the series even finished, so hey: if we're all on board with the same ideas, all I can say is, we're all in excellent company...