Chapter 21

Shockwaves

Meridian

Kopler's field was located about two miles away from the Meridian Castle. It lay on the outskirts of town, and the only people who used it were children as an open space in which to play their games. Nothing of any importance had ever occurred on this field before today. No famous people were born there, no great wars were fought there. But today that changed, as for a few brief minutes, Kopler's field became the most important place in the universe.

The world around the Guardians froze. Even Selna, still full of rage, paused to watch the scene below unfold. Irma kneeled on the ground helplessly, switching between staring at Hoth and Walli. Both the Honor Guard and the R.E.G were experienced warriors, and analyzed the situation carefully, unsure of their next move. Eventually they both came to the conclusion that there was nothing to be done, and watched silently. Only two people did not capable simply watch. The first was Troth, who ran to his fallen brother's side, and the second was Hoth, who was dead.

"W-Walli. What did you do?" Irma said, the first to regain her voice.

"He was going to kill you. I stopped him." Walli said, putting away his bow as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Caleb was next to move, approaching Walli with a look of both anger and sympathy.

"It's not that simple Walli." he said.

"It's exactly that simple. Irma was going to die, and now she is alive." Walli said. "It's what comes next that's complicated."

The world had shifted back to motion. Will tensed up, ready for a fight from anywhere. Selna, either through shock or respect for the dead, had lowered the Heart and now drifted towards the crowed of people below her. Like ghosts in the wind, one by one the Guardians followed. Cautious, but reserved.

"A member of the Meridian military, one of the fabled Honor Guard, has killed a member of the R.E.G without provocation." Balken said. "Meridian had no place in this fight, yet you entered it with lethal force. You cannot deny these acquisitions."

"Nor shall we. Everyone saw it, and we have too much respect for the fallen to lie." Caleb said, hoping to ease tensions. It had the opposite effect.

"Respect? How dare you speak of respect? Murderers! Monsters! You killed him! All of you!" Troth shouted, pointing at Honor Guard members and Guardians alike.

"Come on Balken, let's take them together! They will all pay for what they have done to us." Selna said, raising the Heart. "Today, they will…"

"No." Balken interrupted. "Not today."

"What?" Selna said, turning to the older man.

"Balken, you must…" Troth added.

"If you want them to pay, if you want Balsilide to succeed, then there is a way it must done." Balken said, leaning in close to Selna's ear. "But it is not on their world, without reinforcements, and with an emotionally shattered team. All I ask little one, is a little patience, and a lot of trust."

Selna opened her mouth to protest, but closed it just as quickly. With reluctance, she lowered the Heart once more.

"No!" Troth shouted, lunging forward. "You cannot let them…"

Quickly, Laris held back Troth before he could do any harm. As he was dragged away, still screaming insults, Balken stepped forward and faced Caleb.

"This is far from over, Meridian." Balken said. "Know that war comes for you, and where it goes, death and pain follow."

Caleb looked directly at Balken and was surprised to see not hate in his eyes, but sadness, and resignation. Balken then turned to the Guardians.

"Guardians, I hope you will respect us enough to return us to our world, where we may give Hoth a proper burial, and prepare for the upcoming conflict. Consider this a minor truce with you. There will be no more attacks directed upon you, at least until this issue with Meridian has been settled."

Will wanted to protest, to shout and fight and scream, but she could not. With great reluctance, she opened a fold to Balsilide, and the R.E.G, along with Hoth's lifeless body, returned to their world, leaving the Guardians, Matt, Orube and the Honor Guard feeling very alone in Kopler's field.

No one knew quite what to say at first. Things were happening too quickly for the girls. Irma, for one, had felt her life spiraling out of control for months now, and now it had finally crashed landed. In the end, it was Hay Lin who broke the silence.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked softly.

"Physically, yeah." Will said. "Just bruises, that's all. Irma, are you…?"

"I'm fine, I guess." Irma muttered. "Not sure I deserve to be."

"We're just happy you're alive." Taranee said to Irma before turning to Walli. "Walli, I'm not sure whether to thank you or yell at you."

"Oh, I think Caleb's figured it out." Raythor said, talking a step away from his leader.

"Are you nuts?" Caleb yelled at Walli. " You've killed a man, and you've caused a war between our two worlds! What were you thinking?"

"Irma's life was in danger. I did what I had to in order to save it. I apologize for the consequences of my actions, but not the action itself." Walli said.

"Sorry, but that's not a good enough reason for us to be at war!" Caleb replied, only slightly calmer.

"The life of a Guardian was in danger." Walli said.

"Do you realize how many innocent lives are in danger now?" Caleb yelled back.

"Do you remember the first thing you told me after I joined the Honor Guard?" Walli asked calmly. "The first thing you taught me?"

Caleb paused, then sighed, looking away.

"This is not what I meant." He said.

"Wait, what did you tell him?" Will asked.

"He told me that you five girls were more important then any of us. That the life of a Guardian is more important then the lives of soldiers like us." Walli said.

"What? It is? That's rubbish, I was never told this!" Raythor said.

"Shut up Raythor." Caleb said icily. "Do you really think this is a time for jokes?"

"Based on my experiences with tragedies, which is quite extensive mind you, there's no better time for jokes." Raythor replied.

"Look." Caleb said, turning back to the Guardians. "You know what the five of you mean to me. I don't have to tell you what we've been through, and I shouldn't have to tell you how important you are to all of us. But I also shouldn't have to tell you that Meridian always comes first. For this world to be put in jeopardy like this…"

"Wait a minute, are you saying you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Cornelia interrupted. "That you wouldn't have saved Irma? Or me?"

"I didn't say that…" Caleb said.

"I guess you didn't have to." Cornelia replied sharply.

Once again, the field went silent. Cornelia hated herself for saying what she did. She still thought about Caleb daily, and her frustration at being apart from him had been released in a burst of anger. But as she looked back at Caleb, she saw the compassion and love in his eyes that she had first seen years before. Perhaps he did still feel the same way he always did, and the thought of that left Cornelia more confused then ever.

"Perhaps it would be best not to have these discussions in the heat of the moment." Julian said. "There is much work to be done, and perhaps a change of scenery would do us all good."

"My father is right." Caleb said. "Guardians, it would be best if you returned to Heatherfield."

"You don't have to tell us twice." Hay Lin said as Will opened a fold.

"We're really sorry." Will added. "For everything. I never should have brought us here…"

"You did not know." Caleb said. "No one did. Now if you'll excuse us…"

Caleb watched them go with a clenched jaw before turning back towards the castle.

"We have a war to plan."

Heatherfield

Irma didn't think it was possible, but the next half hour was actually worse then the one on Meridian. It wasn't until they returned home that they got a chance to really think about what had happened, but Irma didn't want to see or talk to anyone. She wanted to crawl into some corner of the universe and disappear forever. She wasn't alone however, and as long as the girls were around she had to keep herself together and be the Irma they knew. Or at least act like it.

"In his defense, it was a nice shot." Irma said once the girls were one Heatherfield.

"Irma," Will said, but not sternly.

"I know, I know, too soon." Irma said, putting her head down. "But what do you want me to say?"

"What happened anyways?" Hay Lin asked. "I barely saw anything."

"Selna knocked me down. Hard." Irma said. "Before I could regroup, Hoth was on top of me."

"And Walli… stopped him." Corenlia finished.

"I'm sorry guys, I just froze when I hit the ground." Irma said.

"It could have been any of us." Taranee said reassuringly. "It was nobody's fault, we just got into a situation that we couldn't get out of. If we just could have made Selna understand instead of just hating us…"

"You mean by not killing her parents maybe?" Irma interrupted. "So it is my fault, just in a different way."

"I didn't say that." Taranee quickly added.

"You didn't need to." Irma said.

The rest of the walk home was a blur for Irma. Everyone tossed around ideas as to what to do next. Everything from trips to Kandrakar, Meridian, Balsilide and even the Silver Dragon were suggested.

"Grandma will know what to do." Hay Lin said.

"She couldn't do anything during the battle, why would she be able to now?" Cornelia replied.

"Let's just go to President Rikar and convince him to call off the war." Will suggested.

"He won't listen to us. Especially not now." Taranee said. "We'd probably just make him madder."

"Then let's just grab some dinner and figure something out." Hay Lin said.

"We don't need more time to dwell on what happened." Taranee said, glancing over at Irma.

"Then let's take action!" Will said.

"No. We're running on adrenaline alone right now." Taranee said. "This is a delicate matter, and not one we can just punch in the face until it goes away. Rushing in would only make things worse."

"So what do you suggest?" Hay Lin asked.

"Go home, eat a good meal, get some rest, and tomorrow we'll figure something out when we're calmer." Taranee replied.

Taranee got very little argument from the girls, who were beginning to feel their fatigue. Irma mumbled a goodbye and headed home. Although she was not hungry, she forced herself to sit down at the dinner table and eat like she normally did, making sure that no one noticed any thing wrong with her. She avoided conversations when she could, but she could not escape all of them.

"You got something in the mail this afternoon Irma." Her father said. "From the school."

Irma froze. Letters from school were rarely, if ever, good. She finished her meal quickly, and rushed to her room where the brown envelope waited for her. With tired fingers, she opened it up, and read the letter inside. Her eyes darted over the letters, and it didn't take long to understand the meaning of the words.

Failed. She had failed the math exam, and the course with it.

Irma felt, in every sense of the word, finished. She felt as if there was nothing left she could do. She would have to retake the course, maybe even in the summer. Would she fall behind a year? Would she no longer be able to take classes with Hay Lin? Would she be able to pass it the second time?

These questions and doubts squeezed in beside the others already floating around Irma's brain. She was directly responsible for the death of two innocents, and now indirectly responsible for one more. And the man who shot the arrow, the man whose life she had ruined forever, was the one guy, the only guy she had ever really thought…

Irma couldn't think any longer. She threw herself on to her bed and, with tears in her eyes, waited for the day to end.

Kandrakar

Yan Lin had always been known as a calm person, who did not let her emotions get the better of her. Standing in front of the Kandrakar council now, however, she was finding it hard to live up to that reputation.

"You see?" She said. "You see the consequences of our inaction? While we sat here and did nothing, a good man died at the hands of another good man, and two worlds are now plunged into war! A war we cannot prevent, since provocation has been provided, no matter how much we might want to!"

"What would you have had us do, Elder Yan Lin?" Tibor said, standing from his seat. "Should we have followed my advice? That of Elder Asana? Elder Uyegi? Elder Bara? Elder Lupa? The countless others put forth? Each was valid, and each was risky."

"We should have done something!" Yan Lin replied.

"And yet, who knows what the consequences of those actions would have been?" Tibor replied. "We could have made the situation worse."

"Tibor is right." Halinor said. "Without proper leadership, which we sorely lack, Kandrakar is useless."

Yan Lin pondered on this. Halinor had only put voice to what Yan Lin had been thinking for a while now. There was only one thing that could make Kandrakar work again. If they were going to stop this war, or this prophecy, they were going to need an Oracle. And they all knew there was only one man for the job.