The dawn found Kira with her shoulders aching and her mouth dry from thirst. A chilly mist had settled over the beach during the night, and she shivered. The cozy cave by the Silver Sea where she and Jen had once sheltered felt like a lifetime ago.

In the east, the planet's blue-tinted largest sun was just inching over the hills. The growing light glittered on the nearby river mouth, but as tempting as the water looked, Kira didn't dare go take a drink. She knew how to recognize safe water on Thra, but who knew what hidden poisons or sickness might lurk on a world where even the air was different?

As she stirred beside him, Jen opened his eyes in instant wakefulness. He spied the sun rising too, and knew that if this world's orbit was like Thra's, the two smaller ones would catch up to it soon.

"We have to get moving."

"I know."

"How's your foot?"

Kira flexed it, and winced as the wound throbbed. "I think it'll be alright for now." It'll have to be, she thought. There's nothing else we can do.

Jen didn't miss her pained expression, though. "If we can save the urSkeks, UngIm can heal it properly." He tried to give a hopeful smile. "He brought you back from the dead once. A simple cut should be easy."

"Maybe they can give us some food and water too." She thought of AyukAmaj's clear broth, and how refreshing it had looked - how good it would feel on her dry tongue now! Already this rescue was starting to seem like a better idea than it had the night before.

The bohrtog was still curled protectively around their rock shelter, dozing with its chin resting on its tail. When the Gelfling got up, it opened its pearly eyes and watched them curiously.

Jen spoke to it first. "We need to go back to the city. Please take us there."

The bohrtog tilted its head, but gave no other sign it had understood him.

"I should have known it wouldn't be that simple," Jen sighed. "Kira, can you talk to it?"

"I don't know," she replied, soft and uncertain. She remembered SilSol had been able to speak to it, but he and the bohrtog were both part of this planet's song. She concentrated, trying to open her mind and voice in the way that let her soul-speak with the creatures of Thra.

It did not work. She could sense the bohrtog's soul, but it was as alien to her as her voice was to it. The words to speak to it were too strange, and would not come.

She shook her head in frustration. "It's no good. We can't understand each other. We're too different."

Jen's ears flattened. "There has to be some way. Yes, you're different, but you're still connected! You both come from worlds of the Crystal. That has to mean something!"

Kira frowned as her mate raised his voice. It wasn't just being unable to speak to the bohrtog that had him upset, she realized - he was worried about his idea to connect the Crystals, and whether it really could work.

Jen hesitated when he saw her frown. Remembering something, he went on, calmer this time. "Didn't Aughra tell us trine ago that Gelfling are the closest to Thra? Because of how we can connect to dream-space, and the Crystal?"

Kira did remember, though Aughra's words hadn't sat well with her at the time. Yes, it was nice to think of herself as special, but she hadn't liked the implication that her Podling family was somehow less special. Surely there was more than one way to be close to Thra? And that so-called closeness certainly hadn't done the Gelfling any favors when the Skeksis decided it made them the richest source of essence.

But Jen had given her an idea. She remembered the first time she had met him, that morning in the swamp. How she had taken his hand, and in an instant they'd seen each other's entire lives. And the gift wasn't unique to Gelfling - she and Jen had shared memories with Aughra too, receiving her glimpses into Thra's distant past …

Kira reached up, and pressed her hand to the bohrtog's forehead.

Jen stared. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to dreamfast with him."

She closed her eyes, concentrating. It wasn't as easy as dreamfasting with Jen or Aughra; the bohrtog's mind was still different, and trying to join with it was like seeking a distant, unknown shore through an alien fog.

But through the fog, she felt it - no, felt him, like the guiding beam of a lighthouse. Just for an instant, their two minds touched in the dream-space, at the place where all worlds are one. And before the connection went away, she managed to dreamfast three images to him:

SilSol, captive and powerless with the nullifier around his neck.

The Crystal hill, on its peninsula next to the urSkek city.

And the words of the Councilor: "Tomorrow, when all three suns rise."

The bohrtog snapped his head up in sudden understanding. He uncoiled his long body, and the two Gelfling barely had time to scramble onto his back before he rose into the air.

As they flew south along the coast, the green-gold middle sun and dark bronze smallest sun joined their brother in the eastern sky. The last of the stars faded as the sky brightened … but not entirely.

Kira squinted. High in the western sky, a single point of darkness lingered. She rubbed her eyes, thinking some dust might have been caught in them, but the image remained.

Like the shadow of a star, she thought, and her blood chilled.

"Jen, do you see it…?"

He nodded, and tightened his arms around her as they rode. "We don't have much time."

The towers and spires of OmPhaben sparkled in the morning light as they approached the Crystal hill.

The urSkeks had been busy during the night, Jen saw. Each of the eight curving crystalline structures was inlaid with black metal cables. More black metal covered the tips of the structures, making them resemble long, taloned fingers with dark veins.

A new structure had been built around the Crystal itself: three rings of inward-curving mirrors, each as tall as an urSkek and inlaid with crystal focusing disks in the center. There were thirty-two in the innermost ring, sixteen in the second, and eight in the last. The whole configuration made Jen think of a many-petaled flower opening - or a mouth ringed with teeth trying to swallow the Crystal.

The Gelfling could see many urSkeks gathered on the hill. Jen recognized the two Councilors from the day before; they hovered in front of a crowd at the hill's edge, near the entrance arch, and seemed to be addressing them. Another urSkek floated nearby, monitoring the scene through a machine that resembled the huge, ancient spyglass at the Castle, but far newer and sleeker, with dark glass enclosing the lenses.

He did not see any of the Eight.

MbasMbet and her Enforcers were there too. At the sight of the approaching bohrtog, the Commander suddenly flared her corona in signal. SharSet and KalPol paused in their speech, and the Enforcers levitated higher around the hill in a well-practiced circle.

They were expecting us, Kira realized bitterly.

She and Jen clung tight as the bohrtog looped and spun through the air, dodging telekinetic attacks from all sides. For one hopeful moment, it seemed they might escape … but MbasMbet had come to the fight prepared this time.

From inside her robe, she produced a silver dart. Its glass center was filled with red liquid, and needle-like graspers curled around it like Arathim legs. She sent it shooting through the air, swift and straight as an arrow.

The bohrtog snapped around in time to avoid it, and managed to dodge a second dart from another Enforcer. But as he dove down, a third dart pierced one of his wings.

"No!" Kira cried out.

The bohrtog bellowed in pain as the grasping needles dug into his wing. He tried to stay aloft, but his movements were slower, weaker. An instant later, a snare made from more black metal cable flew up and caught him around the neck. A shackle-like muzzle flew up and locked around his beak, silencing his cries.

As the Enforcers hauled the choking, struggling bohrtog to the ground, Jen and Kira could seem them raising a huge net of heavy black mesh, ready to trap them all …

Kira acted first. She couldn't help the bohrtog, but she wasn't going to let them capture her or Jen again. She grabbed her mate around his middle, and together they leapt from the bohrtog's back a heartbeat before the net enveloped him.

She held Jen close, her wings spread as they descended. Out of fear-driven instinct, she brought them down in the only spot on the open hilltop that might offer shelter: directly underneath the Crystal, surrounded by the ring of mirrors.

Now Jen could see what had become of UngIm, SilSol, and the others. In each of the flat-sided crystalline pillars set into the bases of the curving structures, he could see one of the Eight. They were frozen, sealed inside the pillars like light caught in a prism, their faces paralyzed in expressions of terror, grief, and despair.

The eight outermost mirrors were aimed at them.

Even now, with the suns not yet at full strength, Jen could see rays of light from the Crystal being reflected and channeled between the mirrors, gathering strength with each reflection. A final beam of light passed through each of the final focusing disks, stretching out to strike the imprisoned urSkeks - the beam was faint and weak now, but Jen knew it wouldn't remain that way for long.

SharSet's corona flickered with interest (and wariness) as she watched the Gelfling. "So they did come back. Impressive. Primitive or not, they're brave, loyal creatures."

"What are you waiting for?" KalPol barked at the Enforcers. "Get them out of there before they damage something!"

The Enforcers had them surrounded, but Jen and Kira could see they were hesitant to enter the circle formed by the curving pillars. The Gelfling could hear snatches of thought-speech as they hung back, wanting to obey the Councilor's orders but uncertain what the alien life forms might do.

"What are they?"

"Grab them!"

"No, you might hit the reflectors!"

"Don't let them touch it!"

They're scared, Kira realized. When one of the Enforcers started to approach, she reached for the closest mirror as if she meant to shove it over - instantly, the Enforcer drew back.

Jen straightened up. "We don't mean any harm!" he called to the Councilors and the gathered crowd. "We want to help you!"

"But you have to let us go!" Kira added. She looked to the edge of the hill, where the downed bohrtog lay bound in the net with MbasMbet watching over him. For one awful moment she thought he was dead, but his sides still moved faintly. Alive, then, but drugged, and who knew how badly hurt he might be? "And let him go!"

The urSkeks still watched them, but didn't appear to have paid attention to their words.

"What's wrong with them?" Jen whispered. "Can't they understand us?"

"... I don't think they can," Kira suddenly realized. "Don't you see? These ones have never been to Thra. They don't speak Gelfling."

Three more Enforcers started to approach. Kira grabbed the edge of the mirror this time (and winced at how hot it felt to the touch) - two paused, but the third reached out, holding the mirror in place with his own telekinetic grip.

"We can't keep this up much longer," she insisted, watching the advancing Enforcers with wide, frightened eyes. "Jen, if you think you can make them listen, now is the time!"

Desperate, Jen did the only thing he could think of that the urSkeks might respond to. He pulled his firca from his tunic, brought it to his lips, and began to play urSol's song once again.

The Enforcers halted again, and stared in puzzlement this time. Among the gathered crowd, he could see other urSkeks watching and listening, eyes wide and coronas flickering white.

The urSkek operating the spyglass-like machine (it was a holocamera, something Thra-kind had never heard of) turned the device on Jen. He had been summoned here to broadcast the day's events to every population center on the planet, and saw no reason why this new development should not be included. As thousands of faraway urSkeks witnessed, he remarked, "The being knows our music."

"Be silent!" KalPol snapped at the holocamera operator. "Your place is not to speak. Do not forget, this creature is a former pet of the Fallen. It may have learned to imitate a few notes from them, but that does not make it sentient."

"It's playing an instrument," one of the crowd spoke up. "Mindless lifeforms do not do that."

KalPol glared at the speaker, his corona darkened. "A mere trick -"

"It's not a trick!" Jen interrupted.

He had the attention of all the urSkeks now. They couldn't understand his language, but if they were open to the idea that the Gelfling wanted to talk at all, then that was a start.

"We know how to stop the Star-Shadow!" he went on. He pointed up to the sky, to where the single point of darkness still hung in the west.

It's growing, he realized with dawning horror. When he held the tip of his finger over it, blackness spread out around the edges. It's getting closer.

"Please!" Kira looked around at the captive, frozen Eight, and pointed to them. "I know you can't understand us. But if you let them out, they can speak for us!"

An urSkek in plain ivory robes empty of symbols moved his way to the head of the crowd. "Councilors, perhaps I can assist?"

"What use can you be, purposeless one?" KalPol scoffed.

But SharSet took interest. "EzhLeng, what do you mean?"

"Before the space exploration program ended," EzhLeng quietly spoke up, his corona muted, "I was the Xenolinguist. My gift was in reading the thoughts and intentions of sentient aliens, so that the first lines of communication could be opened." He watched the Gelfling. "I believe I could do so with them, if you will permit me to try."

SharSet paused, considering his offer.

"We do not have time for this," KalPol tried to insist to the Senior Councilor. "The Enforcers can seize them now -"

"And risk damaging the reflectors in the process," she coldly interrupted him. "Once again, Councilor, you must learn patience . EzhLeng might be able to convince them to cooperate peacefully."

While KalPol's corona turned darker in humiliation and anger, SharSet turned to the former xenolinguist. "You may try to speak to them. But be quick!" She glanced at the sky. "Our time is indeed short."

EzhLeng approached the center of the hilltop, taking care to avoid the brightening beams. The two Gelfling ducked cautiously behind a mirror, and he held out a long, pale hand in greeting.

As he drew closer, Jen noticed something curious. EzhLeng's robes were empty of any decoration, but wrapped around one branch of his thalli , nearly invisible except up close, was a white silk ribbon patterned with gold.

"Do not be afraid, little ones," EzhLeng said, slowly and gently. "I am a friend. Tell me what you want."

Jen's nose wrinkled at 'little ones', but he couldn't afford to waste this chance.

"I am Jen. She is Kira. We are Gelfling, of the planet Thra." He kept his words simple, hoping it would make translation easier. Gesturing to the captive Eight, he stated firmly, "We want you to let these ones go."

EzhLeng concentrated. His thalli glowed brighter, pinpoints of light shining through the bit of ribbon. "... This one is named Jen," he said to the Councilors at last. "He says he wants us to release the condemned."

KalPol's corona flickered. "That is not an option. They have been sentenced, and they must pay for their crimes."

"It is a deeply unfortunate matter," SharSet added, facing the still-recording holocamera. "And not a decision that the Council made lightly. But only by the deaths of the Fallen can we save the rest of our people."

EzhLeng turned back to the Gelfling. "The Councilors say -"

"We heard them," Kira snapped.

"And they're wrong." Jen stepped out farther from behind the mirror. "There's another way to stop the Star-Shadow. A way where nobody has to die."

"... He says there is another way," EzhLeng translated. "One without sacrifice."

"Of course he says that," KalPol sneered. "If he wishes us to spare those he cares for."

But the former xenolinguist shook his head. "I sense no thoughts of falsehood from him. He believes what he is telling us."

"It is true!" Jen looked up at the three suns. It wouldn't be long before they reached their zenith and shone down directly on the Crystal, and the Eight would be doomed.

But their words were having an effect, Kira realized. The coronas of the watching urSkeks - even those of one or two Enforcers - were flickering in uncertainty. Some of the crowd shared thought-whispers between themselves.

She tried to think what else might convince them. The urSkeks seemed to respect rank, she'd noticed, and an idea came to her.

"... I am the heir of the All-Maudra, the ruler of all Gelfling. I know what these prisoners have done. They've committed crimes against our world too. Against my people - my family. I have more reason than any of you to want them punished." She swallowed. "But I still say to you now: don't kill them."

Jen stared at her in surprise, while EzhLeng's corona brightened in keen interest. "This one also asks us to spare the condemned. Furthermore, she says she is the highmost leader of her people." He concentrated once more. "And I sense no thoughts of falsehood."

That got their attention. Kira could hear the thought-whispers in the crowd growing louder, and saw MbasMbet's corona dim as the Commander finally considered that, just maybe, she might have acted rashly by taking the Gelfling hostage.

From across the hilltop, SharSet watched them closely. Jen noticed, and addressed her directly this time. "Our planet is in danger too. If we work together, we can save both our worlds. But you have to let them go first!"

"He still insists the condemned be released before all else," EzhLeng translated again. "But he says he does wish to cooperate with you, and prevent the destruction of our planet and his own."

"... And how does he propose to do this?" SharSet's corona was a cool, skeptical blue-gray.

"Why are you listening to him?" KalPol demanded of the senior Councilor, still smarting from how she'd scolded him earlier. "There is no better solution than the one we have. The Council decided on it an Age ago! You agreed with it then. How can you doubt it now, with the Star-Shadow already darkening the sky? There isn't time -"

"Hmph! That's one thing you're right about!"

To Be Continued…