"But…" Kana continued to argue, and Lana wanted to roll her eyes in frustration.

"No buts," she said firmly. "It's too late anyway. I talked to Nasher, and it's a done deal. You will be Knight Captain, and I will retire. I'm not cut out for this, Kana, and you know it. You are though. You will do a much better job than I ever could. Maybe I was the right person for this thing while sinister forces were conspiring to destroy the world, maybe not - but that is done and over with, and now it's just driving me crazy. Admit it, I am driving you crazy. Plus, you are doing most of the work anyway."

Lana saw the reluctant grin on the other woman's face and knew she'd won this argument. As she knew she would, because in the end, Kana had to be very well aware that this was where things were headed. No one with a brain could have expected Lana to stick around for a desk job forever.

"What are you going to do?", Kana asked.

Lana just shrugged. "Don't know yet. Travel, see the world, see if trouble finds me, as it always does. Do some good, maybe."

Find some meaning. Find some peace.

"Alone?" Kana asked,

Lana swallowed. That thought hurt so bad as first a pair of steely blue closely followed by warm honey colored eyes flashed into Lana's mind.

The two men she had lost - one her great love, the other… a great potential. Slipped through her fingers like sand.

Lana pushed the pain back and answered as lightly as she could: "Not sure. I thought I'd ask Khelgar if he wants to tag along, he's going as bonkers sitting around on his ass with nothing to do as I am. I might ask Sand as well, but I guess he'd not want to part with the love of his life - the library of the keep."

Kana grinned, acknowledging the truth in that. She opened her mouth and said something, but suddenly Lana could not hear her anymore. A weird, wrenching feeling made her body seize, while a single thought wiped out everything else in her mind.

Bishop.

Something was wrong, something was happening to Bishop. She knew it. She could feel his fear, his horror, his revulsion.

Without thinking twice, she tried to follow this strange link she felt in her mind, tried to find him, to see what was happening, but a strange gray fog seemed to descend in front of her eyes, and she blinked, trying to get rid of it, but within seconds it was the only thing she could see. She could not feel her body anymore, could not move, and felt like she was just floating in that weird mist.

It seemed to last only a few seconds though, not even enough time to panic, then she crashed back into herself again. The image that formed in front of her eyes was not her office in Crossroad Keep though, although it was still eerily familiar.

Lana's feet stood in a puddle of black, murky water. Small, twisted trees grew all around her, and vines, moss and ivy seemed to choke every surface they could find, horizontal or otherwise. A musty, heavy smell of rotting vegetation filled the air. A thin fog was creeping over the ground.

There was no question about it. She was in the Mere.

How…?

Lana shook herself. Never mind how. That was a question for later. For now, the question was, how was she going to get back?

Slowly, Lana turned in a circle to take in all of her surroundings. And her gaze found a pinpoint of light in the distance.

Moth to flame springs to mind, she thought wryly, but then shrugged. This moth had hellfire, so whatever was waiting for her along the road could just suck it up.

She made her way along the swamp, her feet unerringly finding the spots of firm ground among the pits, falling back into the old pattern effortlessly.

As if I never left.

And wasn't that a depressing thought.

Walking, she realized that the point of light was a campfire, and not as far away as she had thought. A lone figure sat in front of that fire, staring into the flames. And all around… the ruins of charred houses, overgrown with weeds, stark and bleak.

And she knew where she was. Who was sitting in front of that fire.

Her heart beating fast, she picked up her pace and stepped out of the undergrowth. The man's head turned to her, as she knew it would. A deaf person could have heard her stomping through the mud. And the one sitting in front of the fire was anything but.

Her stomach doing flips at the sight of the messy mahogany hair and the amber eyes, she stopped and stared, not trusting her eyes despite seeing exactly what she expected. His own eyes went wide in surprise as he jumped to his feet; obviously shocked to see her.

At a loss for words, she took a step closer to him.

What is happening here?

Bishop took two quick strides, closing the distance, and reached out. She could see his hand trembling as he hesitatingly touched her face. A shudder ran through him at the contact and he closed his eyes.

"You are here", he whispered. "This is not my mind playing tricks on me? Are you really here?"

Her heart clenched at the pain and fear in his voice. "I'm here", she said softly.

His eyes opened, still wide and unsure, as they searched her face.

And she knew which version of Bishop she was seeing. Tears sprang to her eyes as she closed the remaining distance, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

"I thought I would never see you again", she said, her voice quaking a little, much to her embarrassment. "I thought I'd lost you."

His own arms closed around her, holding her fast, his face buried in her hair as he inhaled deeply. "I don't know what happened", he said, roughly. "We did that ritual, and suddenly all went gray, and then I was… here." His hand lifted from her back and she could feel him gesturing at their surroundings.

"After what you told me it's not hard to guess where "here" is", he continued, a bitter note creeping into his voice.

Lana lifted her head to look at his face, and he let go and stepped back a bit, his hands driving through his hair. "And it seems I am stuck at this place. Wherever I go, I just end up back here again. Every path leads back here. I have no idea how long it's been.. There's no night and day, just never ending twilight. Nothing moves here. Nothing lives. Just me, and the… ruins." He closed his eyes, his voice shaking a little. "Nothing but me and the ruins."

Lana's brain tried to process what he said.

That must mean that this is not a real place. Where am I? Is he real? Am I?

Damn.

She thought hard for a couple of moments, reaching out and taking his hand. Touching him just felt so right. Other than this place, which did not feel right at all. What Bishop said about it, how he was stuck here… and the weird way she got here, by trying to follow that sudden connection she felt to him, how he got here…

Could it be…? Were they somehow stuck in Bishop's mind?

Did that even make sense?

In a way it did, she decided. Because this place here was what Bishop's mind always had been stuck on. The one thing out of all the terrible things he'd done that somehow broke him, made him hate himself as much as he did the rest of the world.

So… his second half being stuck here as well somehow made sense.

But… how did I get sucked in here?

A mystery for later. For now, they had to find out how to resolve this quandary.

"What happened?" Bishop asked. "After we did that spell?"

"You regained your memory", Lana said, a bit absentmindedly, as she mulled over the possibilities.

"Well, that sounds ominous", Bishop said drily, then registered the expression on Lana's face. "Oh hells. What did I do?"

"Wasn't you", Lana murmured, her thoughts still whirling in her head, trying to sort this riddle out.

Bishop's hands gripped her shoulders just this side of painful and shook her slightly, and Lana mind snapped back to reality. Or whatever this was.

"Did I hurt you?", he asked sharply.

"He tried. I got away. As I said, it wasn't you you, so let it go, alright?"

Bishop let go of her shoulders and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Damn, I hate that bastard", he growled.

Lana could not help but giggle. "Well, self hate kind of always was your thing, so what is new?", she teased.

"Very funny", he replied, but Lana saw the corner of his mouth quirk a little, and he relaxed.

"So, what now?" he asked. "How come you are… here? Don't get me wrong, I am damn glad you are, I kind of got sick of my own company pretty quickly. And…" he reached out to gently run his fingers over a lock of her hair, his eyes seeking hers, and she swallowed.

Yes. And.

"I missed you", she said, softly. "There is so much I wanted to say to you after you were gone, and by then it was too late."

He swallowed and drew her close, his mouth seeking hers in a tentative kiss. It felt more right than anything had for months, and Lana sighed, melting into his touch for a moment before she drew back.

"Hold that thought", she said. "First, we need to find a way out of here, back to the real world. There must be something here that keeps you, binds you, some kind of anch…"

He stopped as her searching eyes found something strange in the burnt out shell of the hut closest to them. She squinted, trying to see it better, and stepped closer, Bishop following on her heels.

"What?" he asked, bewildered. "What is it?"

How did he not see that?, Lana wondered. His eyes were so much better than hers, after all.

Stepping closer, she realized what she saw. Bishop's old dagger, the one that kid in Ember gave them. It was sticking out of the wall of the hut. And the hut… was bleeding. A steady trickle of blood seeping out under the blade, running down the wall, forming a puddle on the floor.

Lana stared at it as a small smile spread on her face.

"Bingo", she said softly.

Bishop stared at her like she had lost her mind. "Bingo what?" he asked.

She turned to him, unbelieving. "Do you not see that?", she asked, annoyed, pointing at the dagger.

His eyes followed her finger. "See what?" He seemed totally confused now.

Lana stared at him, and then at the dagger, as she processed this.

Thinking about it, that made just so much sense. What good would an anchor be if he was aware of it?

So what now?

She had no idea how this worked. She should sit down, think it over, and come up with a sound plan of action.

Yeah, well, screw that.

"Hold on tight", she said to Bishop, grabbing his hand, grinning like a lunatic as she took the dagger with her other hand, and yanked.