The moment I stepped out onto the flagstones and started heading back towards the palace, I'd noticed a change in the air. It felt almost like it would if a northern front had just tossed a southern storm to the side – the air was somehow fresher than it had been before, and my skin tingled as if there were electricity floating on the breeze. I wasn't ready to confront this change, though, being certain that it all had something to do with Dorothy, and in some respects, me. So the moment I stepped out into the world, I pulled my hat down further on my head and began to make quick strides away, digging my hands deep into my pockets as if I was bracing for a strong gale to blow me over. I just couldn't seem to get away from it though, since every person I passed on the street seemed to be chattering about what had happened to the Emerald City Garden, and there was a full-blown crowd at its gates as I passed that was eerily similar to what I'd seen in my mind earlier.

This gave me a momentary pause, and I stopped dead in my tracks and scanned the faces of the people peering into the garden and beyond, seeing if I recognized any of them from earlier. The fact that I did recognize most of them was somehow not shocking but seeing as I'd never been much of a mystic, I'm not sure why I wasn't more concerned. The one thing I hadn't counted on though, were the pointed whispers aimed at the palace beyond the gardens, which now appeared lit up from within, as if someone had come home recently. I suddenly found myself staring just as hard as everyone else at this sight, knowing that the Mystic Man's palace had locked itself down when Matthew had been taken. Not even the Sorceress had been able to get in after he'd shut the doors – it was like it had shut itself down, becoming dormant until the Mystic Man should return, but he never did, which left me puzzled by how his palace was somehow alive again. I wasn't the only one either and I heard several whispers of "The Mystic Man's back?" as I stood there on the street corner looking up.

As I was trying to comprehend what I was seeing – asking myself how this was possible - my head gave a sudden lurch, like it was being pulled onto another plane of existence, and my vision swam. Images that had been clear before suddenly melted into each other, and I thought I heard Matthew's voice, whispering something sounding remarkably like "there's no place like home," before my vision suddenly cleared, leaving the Emerald Palace standing bright and tall before me where everything else suddenly looked bleak and grey. I shook my head, wondering if the action might clear the rest of the cobwebs out of my head, and my sight returned to normal in an instant – the palace had returned to the background, and pedestrians were back to their technicolor status, and bustled past me like I was part of the overall scenery - but none of this happened without leaving me feeling shaken in the process. Glancing around me, it occurred to me that no one had seemed to notice what had just happened – they were all just as oblivious as they'd been before. While I was thankful for that, at least, I still couldn't understand what was happening to me. More than before, especially after my brain had just tried to implode on me, it seemed important to get to the palace, where hopefully, the Queen might finally set a few things straight. Maybe even what was happening to me now.

I made a b-line to the Queen's palace, now keeping my head down in hopes that the lack of visual input would lessen the assault on my head. I was fortunately left relatively unaccosted until I approached the gates of the palace, where I was immediately greeted by the gate detail, who stopped me, speaking in hushed voices as I approached.

"General!" One young private greeted me with an eager salute as he held the large iron gate open for me. I returned the eager kid's salute with an unhappy grunt, and marched ahead, intending to get by without being stopped. When I got near enough to the kid that he could speak without having to raise his voice above a hush, though, he leaned forward and asked excitedly, "Is it true sir? Is the Mystic Man back? I've been hearing rumors all morning."

I stopped and eyed the private, probably looking a little like an old curmudgeon considering how to best get a punk kid to get off his lawn, and the fight suddenly went out of me. He looked so young – not much older than my own son – and his wide brown eyes so hopeful. This was the kind of news people needed, especially kids like this soldier, who'd lived during such dark times. He learned that figures like Mystic Men and benevolent queens were nothing more than dusty old fairytales that had abandoned him. He had no real experience with the OZ as I'd known it as a boy – a place filled with magic and wonder, unlike any other, making it the center of all that was good and true and the envy of the realms that were anything but. I just couldn't perpetuate the idea that everything was business as usual anymore, not when I knew something was happening that hadn't in so long, but I was still completely out of my depth on how to say it.

"You know the Mystic Man can't come back, right? You read the briefs?" I asked the private kindly, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

The kid shrugged at me, showing his age, and he answered sheepishly, "Yes, sir, I did read all the briefs, it's just – the Emerald City Gardens and the Mystic Man's Palace are back, aren't they? My ma always said that that couldn't happen without a Mystic Man. I mean, he wasn't the first Mystic Man, was he? That would mean that he couldn't be the last either, right?"

I'd been on the verge of moving on until that moment, but I felt like the kid had reordered my mind with those simple, leading questions, and I was completely floored. I wouldn't say that I'd accepted anything that was going on with me – far from it – at that point, I was still pretty certain that my head was on the verge of exploding as some kind of weird side effect of having helped DG bring the garden back. It's just that up until then, I'd been avoiding thinking about the Mystic Man directly, as if calling out his memory was somehow dishonoring my friend. The truth was, though, that the Mystic Man had always held a special place in the Outer Zone. On his own, he acted as the steward to the throne, ensuring the continuity of our traditions, but this had never been ideal in the history of the OZ. The Mystic Man acting as a counterpart to the Queen had always resulted in the best outcomes for just about everyone – that is, until the Sorceress messed with everything. Thinking about it only served to remind me of how much I missed Matthew though, not to mention how desperate I was for his advice. Hope is a funny thing though, and even though I knew my friend was truly gone, I felt a tug at my heart, as if somehow, it might be possible that he wasn't completely gone.

I didn't want to get all misty eyed in front of one my men though, so I cleared my throat and answered as honestly as I could without saying much at all. "You're right, solider, he wasn't the first Mystic Man, and maybe there is a new sheriff in town, but no one's answered the door yet. You keep an eye out though, and let me know when something changes okay?"

Far from being disappointed, what I'd said had somehow encouraged the kid more, and his eyes were just about sparkling with excitement when he saluted me again, barking out a "Yes sir!" with so much enthusiasm that I thought I might have found Glitch's younger counterpart. He at least let me leave, which I was grateful for, and I did as quickly as I could, not wanting to be slowed down any more than I had to. Finding the Queen was not quite as easy as I thought it might be, however, because for some reason, Lavender Gale seemed to have taken a page out of DG's book for once. Rather than keeping to her usual schedule, where she would ordinarily just be leaving sessions to meet her consort for lunch in the family's dining room, she was absent, having apparently left Azkadellia in her stead. For once, though, Azkadellia looked anything but happy about her assigned task, and looked almost grumpy about having to cater to council members all vying for her ear at one time.

I stood at the back of the council chamber, watching the end of the session, just about marveling at how diplomatic she was with those overgrown vultures – actually simpering graciously where anyone else might have told them where they could take their concerns. They'd all began to circle her with questions after she'd just closed the session, and it was almost at the point that I might have stepped in, except Azkadellia handled the attention so expertly that the council members backed up without having to be asked, allowing her to take a breath.

"Your Highness," one particularly irritating ferret whined, nosing his way in between two other council members to reach the front of the cue, where Azkadellia stood, patiently taking one question after the next.

Knowing Azkadellia as I did now, I could tell she was more than a little irritated by the man, but she smiled anyway, and turned to fully give him her attention.

Seeing that he had the Princess's ear, the man plowed into asking her his questions all while Azkadellia's mask of patience slowly fell. "Can you tell us when the Queen will be joining sessions again?" He began pleasantly enough, not even bothering to let Azkadellia answer before he asked another even more sensitive question. "And where is Princess DG? Shouldn't she be attending these sessions given what you relayed to the council last week? On that note, how were your introductions with the representative of Ev? And what is this rumor that the Mystic Man has returned? We've been hearing whispers about it all morning."

That last question had definitely thrown Azkadellia, and she deflected the council member as well as his cohorts, replying, "Oh, I'm sorry. We'll have to bring these questions up at next week's session. You'll have to excuse me though gentlemen, because I believe General Cain has something to speak with me about."

The small gathering of straggler council members disbursed in a muted chorus of grumbles, and Azkadellia said very little until they'd all left. "Did you find her?" she asked hurriedly, bustling up to me with a sudden burst of energy.

I shrugged, knowing it was enough to answer her question, and answered instead, "You know, you're getting pretty good at managing the stuffed shirts," I commented sarcastically as I pushed away from the back wall and strolled forward, "but what's this about DG attending sessions? I thought that was part of your training, not hers."

Azkadellia was trying to find a way to answer me diplomatically, but I'd already fixed her with one of my patented cop stares, and she huffed impatiently just before she answered. "If you must know, it is about to become part of her training instead. When you get her to come back, that is. I'll be otherwise occupied before too long, if you hadn't noticed Lord Melburn's slurry of questions. I'm supposed to be playing the field as it were."

Something about what Azkadellia said was still throwing me off – if both princesses were supposed to attend council sessions, and both were supposed to be entertaining suitors, then why wasn't Azkadellia just as invested in lightwork as DG was?

"I hope you don't mind the observation, Princess, but I noticed you don't have lessons with Tutor like DG's been having. I thought you two were pretty much joined at the hip. What gives?" I asked casually.

Azkadellia eyed me cautiously, her mouth screwed into a thoughtful frown while she considered how to answer, and finally she sighed, apparently having decided not to deflect me. "You know," she answered in an equally casual way, "if you were anyone other than you, I'd probably give you about a dozen excuses to throw you off, but seeing as you'll find out soon enough anyway, I might as well tell you." She paused dramatically, taking a deep breath before she explained, her voice now sounding somewhat hoarse, "my light is tainted, Mr. Cain, and I don't hear the OZ anymore."

I might have paid enough attention in school to pass a history exam, but the relevance of what Azkadellia was telling me seemed to have missed the mark. I understood alright that she couldn't heal the OZ like her sister could, but for some reason beyond my pedestrian understanding, she was still very much upset about this, and obviously irritated that I hadn't caught her drift.

"Do you want to translate for those of us that didn't grow up taking princess lessons?" I asked lamely, wincing at her when I expected a hailstorm of DG-like outbursts in response to my lack of understanding.

"Really Cain?" Azkadellia replied wryly, "Without my light, I can't rule the OZ. That's why DG's supposed to start attending council meetings. That's also why I asked mother to start inviting suitors to the palace. I have to help in any way I can, and this is apparently it."

Leave it to Azkadellia to be the one to fill in the blanks, again. She'd answered so much that had been hidden before, also confirming in the process why the Queen had been so secretive in the first place. Her days were numbered according to Azkadellia, who'd helped to spell it out better than I could have hoped for. Without light, there was no monarch, and although the Queen had some light, she had to be experiencing some decline, otherwise she wouldn't be pushing DG so hard. This thought struck me so hard that it felt almost as if someone had hit me over the head with it, and I nearly forgot what I was doing standing in the council chambers.

"I've gotta go see the Queen," I murmured to myself, turning to walk away.

Azkadellia's voice rang out like a bell, shaking me back into reality with her irritated huff. "Good luck, Cain. Mother hasn't been seeing anyone all day. Me included. I only found out that she wanted me to take control of the council meeting from Ambrose. He won't even tell me where she is so I can go complain about being treated like a convenience."

I stopped and sighed at myself, turning to apologize for my sudden loss of sanity judging by the dig the princess had just thrown at me. "Sorry Princess, I guess I just have a lot on my mind. Didn't mean to be dismissive."

Azkadellia's expression softened, and she smiled kindly. "You're allowed Cain. I'm sure my sister's got you tied in knots with her latest stunt. Did my letter help?"

Azkadellia's question reminded me that I was still withholding her sister's letter from her, and seeing as I'd found DG, I didn't need it any longer. I reached into my coat pocket then, emptying it out in favor of the Princess, and handed the letter back with a short reply. "Thanks," I rumbled, pausing only when I noticed a smile ghosting her face. "You knew, didn't you?" I asked pointedly, holding the letter hostage momentarily when she tried to swipe it, ensuring that she was paying attention.

Azkadellia's smirk when she took back the card seemed to confirm what I'd thought, and she shrugged almost as if to mimic my earlier non-reply before when she answered back. "Take care of my sister, Mister Cain," she said with an edge of warning in her voice, adding suggestively, "and don't hurt her. I may not have much in the way of light, but I'm still pretty creative with retribution."

I raised a challenging eyebrow at the princess and smirked briefly before I answered earnestly, "I love your sister, Princess, so you've got nothing to worry about. Not from me at least." I tipped my hat to the now dumbstruck princess as I then left, not wanting to give her any more ammunition to spar with me on. Not now at least.

Finding the Queen was easier than I'd anticipated after that flash of insight that had hit me seemingly from nowhere. Although she was rarely in her quarters at this time of the day, something just told me to go there, as if there was nowhere else she could possibly be. Far from dissuading me, Azkadellia's warning had only spurred me further – something was very wrong about how the Queen was playing games, like she was intentionally giving DG an out so she'd leave before catching wind of something – and I felt certain it was something we'd need to know before we left Central City. Her guards didn't seem too keen either, to let me find out, and held their ground resolutely as I approached.

"I'm sorry sir," one guard greeted me, "but we're under orders from the Consort. The Queen isn't to be bothered – by anyone."

The was a glint of worry in the captain's eyes as he'd explained his position, probably being a little afraid I'd demote him, but this was something I wouldn't have done on a bad day. It was a bit of a hindrance now though, and I huffed internally while I tried to determine what to do next. I was just about to turn away, thinking maybe I might find Glitch, who somehow always got the Monarch's ear no matter the time of day. It became moot when one of the double doors creaked open, and the Consort's head poked out, looking almost relieved to find me standing on the other side.

"General!" The consort breathed out, his voice exuberant but cautiously quiet, "I was hoping it was you. Come in, please!"

Before I knew it, I was being ushered inside by the Consort, who looked a little like he'd been running on nothing more than adrenaline and caffeine for a few days. Watching the man carefully shut the doors and turn to face me, I realized that he seemed to have aged in the past week – his hair hung limply around his neck and worry lines had replaced the wrinkles from constant smiling. His clothes too were beginning to look a little ragged, like he'd been sleeping in them. Looking on him, I remembered that I'd always got the impression that this was a person that always seemed to have a deep well of positivity within him, that he dipped into regularly to keep himself going when things got rough. By the look of things though, he was starting to run dry, and as he crept carefully into my close proximity, it was hard to miss.

"Lav's been a little under the weather, General, but she wanted to speak with you as soon as you got back. If you'll follow me – " The consort trailed off almost as if he wasn't sure what else to say. I watched him closely when he stepped away towards the Queen's bedroom door, clearly beckoning me to follow, recognizing that unmistakable air of mourning that hung around him. It was like the smell that follows after something has rotted somewhere in the walls of a house – you can't see it, but you know it's there, and although part of you wants to ignore it, hoping it will go away, you've already swallowed the sobering fact that you're going to have to deal with it sooner rather than later. The fact that no one else talks about it either only bonds you to each other in a macabre sort of way, that is until those that have the luxury of being able to leave inevitably find somewhere else to be.

It was like that with the Consort, and I'd sensed almost immediately that he was relieved in a way to share this privileged information with me. I felt almost bad for the man, and if my visit had been under any other circumstances, I might have easily seen myself sitting down to keep him company awhile. As it was though, I was on a timetable of sorts, and neither DG nor her mother would be very happy if I delayed. Then again, my own estimation of time also shrank exponentially the moment the Queen's bedroom door was opened to reveal the woman herself making the chances of hanging around for the Consort almost nonexistent.

The room itself was as dark and quiet as a tomb, and a silent apprehension seemed to hang on the air, setting the hairs on the back of my head on edge. Heavy curtains blocked out all daylight, leaving only one source of light, issuing from a dim table lamp on the bedside table, to light my way. The light threw a warm light on the Queen's face as she lay in the large bed, propped up on pillows and beckoning me weakly, making it apparent why she'd decided to hide herself away. It struck me hard just how ill Lavender Gale truly was: the color in her face had completely drained, leaving her gaunt and sunken somehow, and her eyes were vacant, like she hadn't slept well in days. Raising her hand to wave me over seemed to take a good deal of effort too, and when I sat in the chair that she'd motioned to beside her, she finally dropped it, and it sounded like a heavy weight when it hit the pillow. Now that I was so close, I wondered how I hadn't seen this before, and how long she'd been masking her condition before she just couldn't any longer. Given how weak she was compared to when I'd seen her last, it seemed more likely that she'd deteriorated rapidly, making me wonder if a sudden strain on her light could really do such a thing so quickly – and a small voice in the back of my head returned to DG back at Ana's apartment. She'd been so drained from the effort of healing the garden, and suddenly the correlation between the two women made my gut twist when it struck me how very close to the edge DG may have actually been. This had to have been why Lavender Gale was so worried, and possibly why she'd put me on the case, probably knowing that DG would do it regardless of what she said, leaving her vulnerable in the likely event that she tried to heal the OZ on her own.

As troubling as this train of thought was, I was rapt by the Queen's physical state, and I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for her to speak. It didn't take long, and just as I'd leaned forward to be closer to her, she sighed heavily while eyeing me knowingly. "I suppose there is no point in trying to hide any longer, is there General Cain," she grumbled weakly, a hint of a sad smile picking up the edges of her mouth as she spoke.

"Fraid not, your Majesty," I replied kindly.

The Queen seemed to pick up on the questions in my mind as if they were scrolling across my forehead, and her smile widened when she asked rhetorically, "I suppose you will probably want to know what caused this, General, and the answer is as simple as looking at my daughters." She paused to take a deep breath, and then charged headlong into what I was sure was going to be a long explanation. "You know, of course, that I gave my light to save Dorothy. What you may not know is that I might have died a long time ago were it not for Azkadellia's statis field."

She paused then, waiting – I'm sure – for me to ask the obvious question. It was in this moment that I realized that it wasn't often that one gets full access to the Monarch in such a way – not even her own daughters were being afforded this – so I knew it had to be important that she was talking to me. That said, there didn't seem to be a reason to hold back now.

"I'm not sure I understand, Your Majesty, you said Azkadellia's statis field?" I asked, not bothering to hide my confusion.

Lavender laughed weakly before she answered in a hoarse voice, "You heard me, General. Azkadellia's. She admitted to me not long after the eclipse that it had been her idea that she had planted in the Sorceress' mind. The Sorceress was blinded by ambition and spite, you see, and had no idea that saving DG would inevitably kill me. How could she, since she had no real knowledge of the Gale's symbiotic link to the Outer Zone? She did not know that what little light I had left was being used to maintain the balance of our world, but Azkadellia did."

I thought back to Finaqua. To the Fields of the Papay. To the Northern Island. To Central City Garden. These places had been ravaged by the annuals under the Sorceress, bringing her comment into grave question. "But it didn't work, did it? Maintaining the balance, I mean?" I thought out loud, causing Lavender to shake her head sadly.

"No," she replied sadly. "Even before I was placed in the Sorceress' prison of sorts, my remaining light was failing, and it has been steadily getting worse now that I have been released and my brother is gone." When I shifted uneasily in my seat, she moved on quickly from the topic of the Mystic Man, and asked hopefully, "but I did feel a fluctuation earlier today. It was almost enough to give me a small burst of energy. Do you have any idea what that was?"

I nodded and answered simply, "I found DG, your Majesty. This morning. It wasn't too long after that that we – I mean she – healed the Central City Gardens."

The Queen laid her head back and sighed in relief. "Oh, I was hoping she would follow her heart. I am so glad – but wait – you said we. Were you involved General?"

The Queen was sitting up further than she'd ventured before now, as if she'd regained some energy. Really, it was more likely that what I had said had somehow given her a spike of adrenaline given how her eyes had regained some clarity as they stared me down in what I could only describe as cautious excitement. I couldn't really say anything though – I didn't know how to answer, and she didn't seem to want to wait for an explanation. Perhaps she'd already guessed that there was something going on between me and DG and she simply didn't want to know any of the details. I wouldn't blame her if that had been the case, but it didn't seem like it would come up just yet anyway, because before I could explain, she'd already stretched her hand out.

"Give me your hand, General Cain," she commanded quietly, trying her best to curb her excitement.

As much as I wanted to know what was going on with me, I was starting to get a little antsy about the Queen's reaction – I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not – but I placed my hand in hers anyway, holding my breath for what she might say next. The act of touching the Queen's hand seemed to trigger something though, and without any warning, it felt as if I was being catapulted into some kind of fast-moving carnival ride. I might have still been sitting in that chair, but I wouldn't have been able to guess by the images flashing before my eyes – they moved so fast that I barely registered what was going on, and as each successive burst of images flew past me, I could feel a sort of wind whipping around my ears.

"Breathe, Wyatt," I could hear a soft voice coaxing me. It seemed like a good idea, so I did what I was told, ignoring the fact that I had no idea who'd said it in the first place.

The images then slowed enough that I could make out what was going on – after a few more scenes had past – some of children playing, others of the OZ long before the Sorceress – I realized that I was watching Lavender Gale's life. Then suddenly, Matthew appeared in a flash, looking almost as young as me, with clear eyes and a brilliant smile. His voice seemed to float around me then, sounding calm and suggestive as if I was a student for him to teach.

"The Outer Zone is held up by four corners, all balanced at its center with a singular, blazing star," his voice seemed to instruct me, just before the images sped up again.

I could feel my stomach twisting and lurching as the ride continued, now throwing flashes of DG and our recent past into my view, and then it suddenly stopped with a jolt, and I felt myself coming to a rest. Although I felt myself sitting in a chair, I still could not move or speak, and before me, a small dark-haired girl played on a blanket on some unknown grassy lawn ahead of me. The suns threw a soft, dreamy light on everything, and the toddler before me seemed to almost glow in the golden light.

Then I heard my own voice from somewhere behind me, and she looked up at me, her brilliant crystal-like eyes sparkling when she flashed a heart-wrenchingly beautiful smile at me. "Lizzie," I heard myself say to the girl, "how old are you?"

The child held up five fingers proudly, and I heard myself laugh along with another familiar voice, sounding smoky and sultry as well as amused when she chimed in. "No, sweetheart," I could hear DG's voice, "You're three. Can you put the extra fingers down to show us?"

The cherubic kid then curled two fingers down into her palm and giggled. "Two down, mommy and daddy!" The child announced proudly.

That churning feeling in my gut had stopped, but now instead, my chest felt like it might burst. All I wanted to do was stay in that golden afternoon with the daughter I didn't have yet. Although I wanted to tell myself this was nothing more than a fiction invented by my hopeful mind, something greater told me that this was just one of many possible futures. If I could just stay there a little longer – figure out how to make it real – maybe… but then I was suddenly jerked back into the present, where the Queen had just released my hand, and was smiling gently at my winded face. I could see in her eyes that she'd gleaned something from taking my hand, but whether she'd gotten a peak at the visions that I'd just had, I didn't know. It didn't seem to matter though, because now, more than ever, I just wanted answers.

"What's going on with me, Majesty?" I asked hoarsely.

The Queen's smile remained, and she answered with a question of her own. "Could you please tell me what transpired between you and my daughter just before the garden was healed, General?"

Her voice was a near whisper, and there was a kind of warmth in her eyes, like I was being dressed down by my own mother. It softened the remaining nervousness in the pit of my stomach, and I felt compelled to speak honestly. To be completely frank, I unloaded rather than spoke – I told her about DG's sudden insight to go to the gardens, about her remembering her uncle – remembering us, and then I told her about telling DG that I love her. It wasn't until I got to the part about letting DG's light surround me, and how the feeling of being flooded with warmth and light had seemingly repaired something deep inside me that the Monarch finally reacted.

Her smile widened, and she shook her head in disbelief, "I can hardly believe it," she murmured to herself. She then returned to looking me in the eye and explained, "It seems, General, that the OZ has bestowed a gift upon you – one that has not been gifted to a man outside the Gale line for many annuals – not since before the time of the original slipper."

I still didn't understand, and I certainly wasn't seeing this as a gift for how it had been scrambling my brains. "I still don't understand," I rumbled, refusing to believe what she'd hinted at.

The Queen sighed and laid back on her pillows, preparing herself for another potentially long-winded explanation. "Throughout the known history of the Outer Zone, there has always been a connection between a fair few and the land itself. Many believe that the Outer Zone itself bestowed certain powers to this minority of Ozians – often the Monarch and their offspring - as a way of ensuring the continued wellbeing and magic of the place, but there have been times when this has been – difficult."

"Occasionally," she continued after a short pause, "such as during the reign of King Pastor, the OZ has bestowed these gifts on a second individual other than the ruler as a way of creating a failsafe of sorts, and on rare occasion, this failsafe rules as steward in the absence of a Monarch."

"You're talking about the Mystic Man, aren't you?" I asked darkly, knowing already where this was going, and shaking my head to myself in disbelief. "But I'm no Mystic, your Majesty. This can't be what's going on with me. I don't believe it."

The Queen huffed impatiently, "Be that as it may, General, you cannot deny the visions that you have been having." She paused to watch my reaction, and finding me stubbornly stony in response, she prompted me with a series of questions to jump-start my compliance. "I will surmise, for instance, that you have been having flashes of insight since you and Dorothy healed the garden, yes? I will also assume that when you touched my hand just a moment ago, you saw my past, present, and future, correct?" When I emitted a sigh in response, she finished with a final damning statement that I had a hard time ignoring, "The powers of the Mystic Man are often very different from their female counterparts, General Cain, and although there may be some overlap in ability, the Mystic Man gets his name from his ability to see time. Whether you believe it or not hardly matters given the circumstances, and I invite you to consider the possibility. We have so precious little time, after all."

The Queen struck on something that had been bothering me, and it fortunately afforded me the ability to skirt our current topic of conversation, so I was quick to grab it. "DG's got it in her head to finish healing the OZ. What will happen if she takes too long doing it?" I asked carefully, watching for any sign that I was overstepping, and hoping that I was somehow wrong.

Unfortunately for me, the Queen did not flinch at the question. In fact, she seemed to welcome it, although with a fair amount of grim acceptance in her voice when she answered. "I will most certainly die, General, in either case, but if DG fails either by not healing all the scars, or by taking too long, the Outer Zone may cease to be what it was. I cannot fathom what that would look like, but we can assume that the magic of our world may fade into nothing eventually, and when that happens, all else may fail as well. The place may become truly uninhabitable, and all magical creatures will be in immediate peril."

"So, nothing great then," I answered with equal grimness in my voice.

The Queen shook her head. "No," she replied, "and I am losing strength rapidly, so time is growing shorter much more quickly than I initially anticipated."

Admittedly, the Queen did look weaker than when I'd first walked in even, and I knew that my window for asking questions was going to close soon. She too seemed to realize this but she also seemed just as stubborn in shutting me down. There was a sense of urgency to every word she spoke as if she too could sense time. For me, it was as if someone had inserted a clock into my brain, and rather than hearing an incessant ticking within my skull, I could sense the hands moving as if I was tied to them somehow. I knew that DG and I had limited time to accomplish the task assigned to us, and I could feel that time speeding up with every second.

"Do you have any idea where we might go?" I asked urgently, eliciting another tired sigh from the Monarch.

"No, I am afraid I cannot say. Since my time as this realm's keeper is ending, I can only guess. It is a matter of the heart, but rather Dorothy's, yours, and the Outer Zone's as opposed to mine. You and Dorothy will have to determine this yourselves as this task has been handed to you, although you will have every tool at my disposal to assist you," She answered, her voice becoming weaker as we continued to speak.

With a flick of her eyes, Ahamo suddenly appeared at her side, ready to do anything she asked. In many ways, that small gesture had done a lot – called her husband to her and effectively ended our interview for starters. I hadn't even realized he was still there until he rushed in, and in doing so, it was like a spell binding us together suddenly broke and my concentration switched from her to the room around me. It was just as well though, since we'd covered just about everything of import that I could muster, and some that I was still refusing to acknowledge for the most part.

"Ahamo will ensure that anything you might need will be arranged, General Cain. You may rely on him for anything, so please do not hesitate," the Queen explained.

This was my cue to leave, and I didn't have to be told, so instead I arose from my seat and offered the royal pair a bow. "I'll let you know Majesties, if there's anything we need. For now, it'll probably just be keeping the counsel off our backs. I'm not sure I'm ready for them to know about anything we've discussed, but you have my word that I'll consider what you said," I said in parting.

The Queen inclined her head in response to me and replied weakly, "Please have Ambrose assist you with the Counsel. He'll know what to do." When I said nothing more and began to stride away quietly, she added, "and please give our love to DG. I would have very much liked to see her again before she departed, but I worry that seeing me like this might cause her to delay. Please tell her I am sorry."

I'd nodded to the pair sitting on that bed, wondering if they had been right to keep their daughter in the dark, but hating it all the same. I'd been tempted to ask, of course, why they'd been playing DG. Why the queen hadn't just gone out and told her – it was like she said, we had so little time, that it seemed almost a waste to play these games. If it really was as easy as just going out and saying it, that she was dying and needed DG to step up, then why didn't she? Recalling the anguish in their faces as I left that room was enough of an answer though, so asking wouldn't have been necessary to ask. The truth was that although it might have been easy for either of them to just tell the truth, sometimes the truth doesn't get you what you want, and given that they'd only just started to reacquaint themselves with their daughter, they had no idea if what they were asking would be met with resistance or not. The hard truth was that they didn't know each other yet, and asking DG to go on another potentially dangerous mission on their behalf might destroy what trust they'd managed to build between the three of them. The pain of that knowledge was written in their faces, and my gut twisted with the knowledge that unlike me and Jeb, the queen might not get any more chances to rebuild her relationship with DG, not if we didn't succeed.

I wasn't sure either if I liked the idea of telling DG that her mother was dying just before we packed up and left Central City. I couldn't blame her if she didn't want to leave after that, nor could I blame her if, in the alternative, she got so angry that she decided to leave the OZ as her parents had probably feared. This train of thought had me as clouded over as if I had my own personal thunderstorm hanging over me, and it distracted me so much that I barely registered other people passing me as I stalked the palace, making my way to my office. It also didn't help that each successive vision I'd had that day had only increased the intensity of my headache, and it now felt as though a spike were being driven through my temple. I was becoming desperate to quit the place and go check on DG – maybe take a rest myself - but I'd have to get a few loose ends tied up before either of those things could happen. Given my state, it was a wonder that I didn't run into walls, but rather than that, I ran straight into Glitch and Raw as we turned the same corner.

Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed Glitch's shoulders when he walked into me. Although this kept Zipperhead from tumbling to the floor like a sack of potatoes, it also had an unfortunate side-effect of sending me into another vision. This one was disjointed and confusing, and the quick flashes of Glitch's past and present life were so jumbled that I worried that they would scramble my own brain, so I let go quickly, grasping my head as I stumbled back and leaned on the wall.

"Ugh," I grunted, "remind me never to give Raw a hard time about reading you, Glitch. How you can walk around with a headful of disconnected memories floating around at random without losing your sanity, I'll never understand. It's making my headache worse."

"I like to think of them like an old family photo album. I know they're all related to me somehow, and some people and places you know, but others – hey how did you know that?" I could hear Glitch over me, sounding at first thoughtful, and then confused and concerned.

"Don't ask," I grunted, then to Raw I muttered, "do you think you could do something about this headache, Raw? I can barely see."

Then there was the shadow of Raw hovering close by, and his voice rumbling quietly at my shoulder told me that he had come close enough to help me. "Cain fine Glitch, you not worry." His voice softened to a whisper now, and he asked me quietly, "Cain will adjust to change, need rest."

It registered in my mind that Raw had picked up on what was going on with me but given that I was still unwilling to deal with it myself, I wasn't too keen on talking too much. Instead, I straightened myself and surveyed my friends through a wince after Raw had released his careful hold on my head. Glitch still looked moderately baffled, and Raw almost reverent in how he averted his eyes, but thankfully silent.

"Look, I gotta lot to do in the couple of minutes I have, so if you want to talk, you'll have to follow," I rumbled, gesturing down the hall towards my office.

I didn't really wait to see what the pair of them would do next, because I already knew they'd be tagging along behind me like two lost puppies. Sure enough, I could soon hear Glitch puffing along at my left shoulder, and he asked as we continued to speed walk, "So did you find DG?"

"Mmm hum," I hummed as we entered my office.

I crossed to the desk without looking back, and hearing the door click shut, I knew Raw had shut it to give us the privacy I was thinking about asking for. For a second, I thought about thanking the furball, but before I could speak, he'd already nodded as if he'd heard me thinking it, and I returned my gaze to the paper I'd just pulled out instead.

"So, where is she? Did you bring her back? What's up Tin Man?" Glitch asked excitedly.

"Too much to explain in a lot of detail," I replied as I finished writing a note, and I continued after I'd put the pen down, now looking at the pair of them. "The short answer is, you know that mission we thought we'd finished a couple of cycles back?"

Glitch nodded slowly, "Yeah, you mean where we all kept the OZ from being plunged into unending darkness?"

I nodded back, "Yeah, except we didn't finish it, and now the Queen is dying, and I suspect the Outer Zone as well. So no, I didn't bring DG back. I'm going to her, and then we leave Central City as soon as daylight tomorrow."

"So where are we headed?" Glitch asked eagerly after he'd swallowed the more difficult parts of what I'd just told him.

"We're not going anywhere, Glitch," I answered with a shake of my head, indicating to the three of us, "DG and I leave tomorrow. I need you to stay behind and help Azkadellia run interference with the counsel."

Glitch's mouth hung open and he protested unhappily, "But Cain!"

I shook my head again as I pulled out a requisition report and orders and began filling them out. "Look Glitch, it's simple. How much does the Counsel already know about the Queen's condition?"

Glitch stopped grousing almost immediately and huffed. "Not much. I mean, they know that DG will ascend instead of Azkadellia, but the Queen gave me strict orders not to tell anyone about her condition. She said that she would when the time was right."

I nodded silently as he spoke and picked up the phone sitting to my left, hitting a few numbers while he wrapped up and waiting until I could hear the palace operator on the other side of the line to interrupt him, "Please see that Gates and Ana come down to my office right away. Thanks," I said to the operator before I hung up and returned my attention to Glitch. "Then that's what you need to keep doing, making sure no one knows just how severe her condition is until she says so," I commanded firmly, adding on one further imperative per my conversation with the Queen, "Adding to that, I don't want the Counsel getting wind of our little mission – the last thing I need is either a panic or a power grab, especially when I'm not here to calm things down again. Got it?"

Glitch huffed again, but rather than argue, he nodded sadly. I turned then to Raw and handed him the slip of paper I'd first scribbled on. "This is the address of where you'll find DG. She's going by Dottie right now, and the doorman's a bit nosey, so tell him that I sent you to check on her when he asks."

"You not coming?" Raw asked as he examined the paper, confusion crowding his brow.

"Oh, I'm coming, but I don't think it would be a good idea if we're seen together just yet. We're a bit of a recognizable pair, given our history with the eclipse. Better you come on your own, so we don't draw attention to DG's location." I explained, trying to sound calm even though my brain was ready to run another race.

Just as Raw nodded in understanding, there was a knock at the door, and Gate's head appeared in the crack that was formed by him opening the door. "You asked for me and Ana, sir?"

I motioned Gates to enter, and he and Ana filed in behind Raw and Glitch, who moved aside so the pair could be completely unobstructed as we spoke.

"Here Gates, this is a requisition form that I need you to take care of asap. You're to take the items from that form straight from logistics to the transportation depot outside of town before the suns set. Don't delay, and pack yourself a bag for a couple days rough hiking with me and the princess while you're at it. No uniforms. We'll meet you at the depot by eight hundred hours tomorrow. Understood?"

Gates took the form from me with a surprised look on his face. I didn't have time for more explanations though and turned to Ana instead. "Ana, I need you to pack a rucksack for DG, and make sure she's got something warm in there in case we end up heading north. Don't worry about food though, Gates has got that covered. You already know what she has on her, so feel free to take that into account when you pack. When you've got her packed up, hand the bag over to Gates so he can take it with him." With Ana covered, I returned my gaze to the pair of them and added, "Everything we've discussed here is classified. Do not, under any circumstances, speak to anyone about what you are doing, or why." I held out a set of orders to Gates and added as he took them and looked down to examine them, "hand this to Captain Wallace. This should keep him off your back. Dismissed."

Despite looking as if I'd grown an extra head, the pair of them left silently, leaving Glitch and Raw standing silent before me once more. Glitch looked like he might cry for being left behind, but after chewing thoughtfully on his lip for a minute, he finally spoke, sounding a bit more like Ambrose than an empty-headed scarecrow. "I'll deal with the Counsel, Cain. You have my word, but what am I going to do about these Mystic Man rumors? Do you want me to send a detail over to the palace and knock to see if anyone's home? I mean, if you're worried about a power grab, that's where I'd lay odds on it coming from if the Queen's illness gets out."

Sometimes, Glitch's sudden insights floored me. It was enough to make our friendship truly interesting, and at that moment, I knew I would sorely miss him on our latest adventure. I could feel the beginnings of a smile twitching on the edge of my mouth, and I found myself clearing my throat to dislodge it while I glanced covertly at Raw. Furry Lips was thankfully silent, but I could tell that the current topic was truly testing his fortitude, because his hands began to fidget, and a minute whimper escaped his lips. All I could do though was to narrow my eyes at him warningly, hoping it would suffice in silencing him before Glitch caught any subtext.

"Let me worry about the Mystic Man," I answered tersely.

"But Cain –"

"Listen," I interrupted Glitch with a hand held up between us, "I'll check it out on my way to DG, alright? If I learn anything different, I'll let you know. Until then, you just tell the Counsel that there hasn't been any confirmation that the Mystic Man is back. Okay?"

Glitch had given me a conciliatory nod before he and Raw filed out, leaving me to pack my own bag. Thinking on it, I knew I'd have to face down whatever was going on with me, and probably figure out why the Mystic Man's palace was lit up, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it for some reason. Maybe it was because I'd always hung my hat on practical matters – things that I could physically touch and see – and left the light wielding to the nobility. I was just a simple man, after all, and I was doing my part. It seemed almost like I'd jumped the line somehow; except I knew there were no real rules to how prior light-wielders had been given their gifts. After all, the original slipper had been a simple girl from the Otherside, thrown into the OZ by a rouge travel storm, and the first Mystic Man had appeared out of nowhere just as King Pastor was falling ill. I guess I was just feeling a little guilty about how I'd come by it all, but putting this aside, I also didn't really have the time to deal with it now anyway. I had to get a move on.

I'd decided to bypass going to the Mystic Man's palace on the way back in the end, being that the second I got back out onto the street, I found myself in such heavy foot traffic, that I could hardly keep from being bumped into. Still being so new to this vision business, I kept forgetting not to right myself or anyone else with my hands, but I soon learned my lesson. My head became so quickly stuffed with a cacophony of disjointed visions and energies from random people I passed on the street, and it wasn't long before the headache returned with a vengeance. By the time I'd gotten close to the Emerald City Gardens, I could barely see, and the pain in my skull was so overwhelming that I hardly knew where I was going any more. I knew I'd be home-free soon, if only I could walk a little further. I was reaching out now, knowing somehow that my destination was just in front of me, and when I touched the door, I sensed the cool glass give. Certainly, the old doorman had seen me coming and had decided to open the door for me, but I couldn't speak any longer to thank him; the pain was just too great. When the door shut behind me, the sound was more jarring than I'd expected, and the echoing sound, sounding almost like an iron suit slamming shut, boxed my ears so hard that I collapsed to the ground, clutching my head and panting as a kind of post-traumatic stress tried to overtake me.

I was exhausted though, and the tiled floor felt so cool to my fingertips. A part of me just wanted to lay down on it, thinking maybe the coolness of it would soothe my pounding skull. I decided then that the voice telling me that was probably right, and I felt my body willlingly crumple at last. Laying there, on the floor, I tried to open my eyes, thinking maybe I might get the doorman to go get DG, but the ceiling above me looked nothing like DG's apartment building, and I winced up at it, dazed and confused.

As the image of green glass swam in and out of my blurred vision, I heard a soft, effeminate voice whisper almost as if in greeting, "Home is where your heart is. Welcome home, Mystic Man."

I'd probably imagined it, and I was convinced that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but the floor felt so nice that I just stayed there, breathing deeply as my awareness of the world around me finally faded to black.