"And you are the mother, the mother of your baby child,

The one to whom you gave life, and you have your choices,

And these are what make man great, his ladder to the stars.

But you are not alone in this, and you are not alone in this,

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand, hold your hand."

~Tishmel by Mumford and Sons~

Carolyn awoke to find Vaako standing at the end of the bed watching her sleep. She scrambled to the head of it.

"What do you want?" She asked in a sleep-roughened. She watched as he took a deep breath through his nose.

"Your neck is bleeding. You should see to that." His voice sounded strained.

Carolyn reached up gingerly touching the bite mark and did in fact feel blood. "Thanks."

They continued their stare down. "Is there a reason you're here?" Carolyn finally demanded, climbing down off the bed.

"Riddick has left the planet."

"Ok." Carolyn kept her features schooled but she was crushed. She had every intention of cutting Riddick's balls off the next time she saw him for leaving her. She could tell that Vaako was after a reaction but she was damned if she would give it to him. "Are we finished? I evidently have a wound I need to attend to."

"You're being brought before the Lord Marshal today. I would suggest wearing one of the outfits that is presently in your closet."

"What about my children?"

"They can go with you they just won't be allowed in the throne room."

"Anything else?"

"The Purifier will be here in an hour to escort you."

"Then I would suggest you run along, Commander," she said dismissively.

He opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind. Turning on his heel, he left the room.

"What did he want?" Aereon asked gliding into the room.

"Riddick has left the planet and we're to be brought before the Lord Marshal and it would be in my best interest to wear something in that closet" Carolyn responded with an airy wave giving her best Vaako imitation. The Elemental looked at her sharply but could see the distress in the young woman's face about Riddick and wisely chose to keep her comments to herself.

Aereon walked over and looked in the closet. "How predictable."

Carolyn walked over to see what the Elemental was talking about. The closet was full of Necromonger clothing. Specifically, long sleeved, high necked, floor length dresses that looked like dead things. She cringed. "I'm going to clean up. Why don't you surprise me?" She told the older woman dryly. Carolyn wasn't sure what game Vaako was playing, but she would play along for now.

The Purifier was right on time. Carolyn gathered the children up and followed along behind Aereon making a mental note to ask for clean clothes for them. She had no choice but to leave the girls with the Purifier when they entered the Throne room.

Carolyn stood behind and to the left of the Elemental listening closely to her conversation with the Lord Marshal. Slowly, she was beginning to piece things together, speculating darkly on their meaning and Carolyn suddenly knew that this was the man Shirah had shown her in her dreams. He was the man who had attempted infanticide on Riddick and would surely kill her children if he knew they were Riddick's. As her eyes met the Lord Marshals a mental shiver smothered her. He finally had his fill of harassing Aereon and dismissed them.

The girls, along with the Purifier, were waiting for them at the door to the chamber with what appeared to be different guards than before. As they were escorted back to their room the Purifier fell into step with her. "Lord Vaako and I will be leaving shortly. We've tracked Riddick to a planet called Crematoria." Carolyn looked at him but didn't respond and the rest of the walk was carried out in silence.

When they arrived at their quarters, Aereon and the girls went in while the Purifier stopped her with a hand on her arm, pulling her aside.

"I will do what I can."

"Why?"

He waved the guards back. With his back to them, he unbuttoned his jacket enough so that she could see a Furyan handprint glowing on his chest. The same glowing handprint that was now on her daughter's small chest.

"Because things have changed."

He motioned the guards forward, all six of them. They removed their helmets; "These are the guards that will be with you from now on. Memorize their faces. Don't go anywhere with out at least one of them with you. If the worst should happen they will do their best to get you and your children off the ship. I'm sorry, I wish I could do more." With that he gave her an apologetic smile and turned on his heel striding down the hall. Carolyn looked after him in stunned silence.