"You're very lonely, aren't you, Asuka?" Amaya asked. The little girl was already awake, though Zedd still slept in his bed.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Asuka replied. "I'm not lonely, really...I have you and Zedd, after all."

"But still, you look so sad all the time."

"I'm not sad, exactly," Asuka sighed. "It's just-I feel like everything I was before I lost my memory is completely lost to me. I don't think there's any way I can get it back."

"I'm sorry," Amaya replied. "I wish I could do something, but I don't know what I could do. Everything seems so confusing and scary sometimes, but I'm glad to be with you and Zedd. I like you both a lot. Are you going to get married?"

Asuka felt herself blushing. "No, I don't think so, Amaya."

"But don't you love him?"

"You...embarrass me," Asuka said softly. "I don't know if I can love anyone if I don't know who I am. I do like Zedd. He is a good friend to me. But I think that he is in love with someone else."

"Then why do you live together?"

"He wants to help me get my memory back."

"But you don't think it's possible?"

"No, I don't. But he is sure that it is possible, and wants to help me, so I suppose it is worth a try, at least."

"What if you don't get your memory back?"

Asuka looked at Amaya sadly. "Then I will probably die."

"You can't die!" Amaya gasped. "You're all the family I have! Oh, you have to get your memory back, you just have to!"

"Amaya, just meeting you has made me happier than anything else I can remember," Asuka replied. She sighed and looked away. "What was your mother like?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I...I just was wondering."

"Her name was Jyo-chi, and she was our woman-who-sees," Amaya replied. "But the others didn't like her much. They spoke badly of my father, and though they respected mother, they hated her, I think. It seemed like she was the only one who loved me."

"You are Doi, then?"

Amaya nodded. "You look like you are, too," she said. "I thought northerners were blond."

"They usually are," Asuka replied.

"Then why are you different?"

"I don't remember," Asuka lied.

"It's so confusing," Amaya said. "I still don't know why I'm here, but I'm so glad that I am, Asuka! I was so afraid, but I feel safe, now, with you and Zedd. I want you to get your memory back, so you don't have to die, because you mean everything to me."

"You mean everything to me, Amaya," Asuka replied. "Someday you'll understand just how important you are."

*

"My brother told me why you're not training the Riders anymore," Krissen said, letting herself in to Hacia's room when no one answered the door. The brown-haired woman was sitting on her bed with her face in her hands, not crying, but obviously very hurt and afraid. She did not say anything. "Hacia, what's wrong? Why are you isolating yourself over this?" Still no reaction. "Is it just that you don't love my brother enough to stay with him? He's like a living ghost over this! How could you-"

"I love Nikain more than anything," Hacia finally replied, her tone angry. "Too much to burden him with this! It's my own stupid fault, and he doesn't have to be involved. He'll get over it soon enough."

"Nikain loves you, don't you see that?" Krissen shouted back.

"Nikain feels responsible, that's all. We were stupid. I-"

"You're afraid," Krissen said softly. "You have a chance to be with the person that you love, but you are too afraid to take it."

"I don't want to ruin his life," Hacia replied.

"You are, though, don't you understand? You're ruining his life, and your own, and the life of your child. But you can't see that, because you are afraid."

"Who are you to talk to me about being afraid?" Hacia shouted. "You ran away from your company because you were afraid of your powers, and then you ran away from Zedd because you were-"

"Love is the greatest destructive force there is," Krissen hissed. "How many lives have been destroyed, how many hearts broken in its noble name? And yet, as human beings, we seek it, we crave it above all else. A wonderful destruction indeed. I've had enough of love. There's none left for me. And you can throw away whatever's left for you, for all that I care."

*

The song Josef was playing on the harpsichord was written by Jedrick Roseclayne himself, and the minstrel smiled to hear it. The scholars of the palace were having a minor gathering in one of the smaller meeting-rooms of the palace, and Josef had invited Jed, as well as any "friends" he might desire to bring with him. The red-headed girl he danced with was Adine, the young woman who had somehow managed to capture his heart. She was beautiful indeed, but she didn't look like the type of woman Jedrick usually fell for...in fact, she more closely resembled the type of girl Josef considered within his reach, pretty and kind, not too proud but noble.

None of the girls at this party seemed to be paying the young man at the harpsichord much attention, however. That is, until one-a woman with short blond hair in a tiny ponytail, tapped him on the shoulder. She carried a flute in one hand.

"Do you know 'The Price I Would Pay'?" she asked him. Josef raised an eyebrow and nodded.

Jed and Adine made their way over to Nikain. The archivist was sitting dejectedly in a corner, his head in his hands.

"Nikain, I'd like you to meet my fiancee, Adine," Jedrick announced.

"Charmed," Nikain replied without looking up.

"Nikain, there's someone else I'd like you to meet. She just arrived in Corus today-"

"And just about gave me a heart attack," Adine interrupted.

Jedrick cleared his throat. "Her name is Brenne, and she's my daughter."

Nikain coughed.

"I'm going to go talk to Kallista," Adine told Jedrick, and she kissed his cheek and departed.

"I never knew you had a daughter," the archivist choked out.

"I didn't see her much. My old teacher, Auris, took care of her better than I ever could."

"What about her mother?"

"Her mother is dead. She died in childbirth."

Nikain coughed again. "Why...are you telling me this?"

Jed blinked innocently. "You tell me."

Nikain sighed. "How did you guess?"

"I put a few things together. Now, basically, you look a lot like I did when I found out I was going to be a father."

"How did you handle it?"

"Well, I offered to marry Halaina, of course. And she refused. We ended up agreeing that I would help to support the child until she reached adulthood, or Halaina got married. Things didn't work out like we planned, though..."

"I never even thought of that as a possibility..." Nikain murmured sadly.

"I certainly didn't know what to do about it," Jed said. "Her brother blamed me for her death, and almost wouldn't let me near my daughter. I thought he might've killed me if Auris hadn't stepped in, and I still don't think he's forgiven me...but that's neither here nor there. I haven't been as good a father to Brenne as I should, but I'm hoping to change that."

"I don't think Hacia's going to give me much of a chance to be a father at all," Nikain sighed. "She thinks that...sleeping with me was a stupid thing to do, and her mistake. She doesn't want me in her life at all."

Jed frowned. "I didn't know that part," he said. "I assume that you don't feel this way, though?"

"I can't stop thinking about her," Nikain said, "but she simply refuses to listen to me. I know that I love her, but I can't do anything. And I have the feeling that if she weren't pregnant, we'd still be together now. But somehow this has changed everything."

"Halaina didn't want to tie me down to her, and she didn't want to be tied down to me," Jed sighed. "We knew that we didn't love each other. Even so, she knew that I didn't want to be alienated from Brenne. She's my child, and I love her...even though I haven't been so good about showing it. You show a great deal more responsibility than I did at your age...which, I suppose, is why you are in charge of the Tortallan Archives, and I am just a disreputable minstrel."

"But everyone's heard of Jedrick Roseclayne...nobody knows who Nikain Heransra is."

"That means nobody's mothers tell their daughters to stay away from Nikain Heransra, either," Jed replied with a grin.

"What do you suggest that I do, then?"

"Start out by telling her you want to be a part of your child's life, I guess. You can move on from there."

*

Zedd awoke.

"About time you got up," Amaya said cheerfully. "Asuka went down to take a bath, but she told me to stay and watch you."

"I see," Zedd replied. "Great. Now I need a seven-year-old to take care of me. Just lovely."

"She said you were in danger. That someone wants to kill you."

"Just what I needed to know." Zedd stretched, yawning. "How long have you two been up?"

"I dunno. Maybe an hour."

"And you didn't wake me because..."

"Asuka didn't want to. I don't know why."

"I see."

"You have to get her memory back, Zedd. She'll die if you don't." Amaya said pleadingly. Zedd blinked.

"Huh?"

"She told me yesterday that she would die if she doesn't get her memory back. She said that you think that you can help her. Please, don't let Asuka die!"

"I want to help Asuka with all my heart," Zedd replied. "She really deserves a second chance, after all her memories were stolen from her." He was quietly thoughtful for a moment, and then brightened.

"We must return to Geyshard's castle," he said. "The key to returning her memory must be there."

*

"Kris!" Before she could react, Krissen found herself being struck by an 11-year-old torpedo, intent upon hugging her.

"Hello!" she cried upon impact, a word that came out half oomph.

"She's okay now? Completely sane?" Jacea, another page, asked. She and Bradley hung back, though Jayshar showed no signs of letting go of his teacher & mentor anytime soon.

"I'm fine," Krissen said. "Hey, guys..." she trailed off as Bradley and Jacea hugged her, too. "I'm not your mother, y'know. I'm your teacher. Aren't you supposed to fear and despise me?"

"We're just glad you're okay," Bradley replied.

"C'mon, we're supposed to be practicing, here! You go get your padding on, then get back out here."

The three children bowed to her and scurried off.

I really have turned into their mother duck, Krissen realized. Me, the one who's never even held a baby! Well, eleven- and twelve-year-olds aren't exactly babies, but it's a start, I suppose.

"Your name's Krissen, right? Nikain's twin?" someone asked. Krissen turned to see Josef Brennert, the young man who had played the harpsichord at the party the night before.

"That's right," Kris said to him. "Why do you ask?"

He blushed. "Well, I, uh...my name's Josef. Josef Brennert."

"Nice to meet you," Krissen replied in a businesslike manner. "You played the harpsichord beautifully last night."

"Thank you," Josef replied, blushing even redder. "You were very good on the flute, too," he managed to stutter out.

"Thank you-" Kris began, and then blushed, as things started to make sense. "Oh no, you can't be thinking that I-damn, I must be ten years older than you, Josef!"

"Only nine!" Josef corrected her.

"Oh, huge difference there," Krissen sighed.

"Krissen, I've never met anyone like you. Besides, I'm only three years younger than Zedd-"

"As if Zedd wasn't immature enough," Krissen interrupted. "No, Josef. There are plenty of girls your own age about. You don't need to obsess over an old woman."

"You're not an old woman! You're beautiful..."

Krissen felt her own face growing red. How was she supposed to handle this? When she had been with the Griffins, it never crossed any man's mind to fall in love with her. Now, since she'd come to Corus, there'd been three!

And there was only one whose feelings she had returned, however clumsy and misguided they might have been...as if she had somehow fumbled upon love, then let it slip through her fingers. Someone whom she could escape during the day, but came to haunt her in her dreams.

"Josef, please understand, I think you're a very good, nice person. I respect you. I like you. But I do not love you, and I never could. I'm sorry if it hurts you, but that is the truth. I'm sure it will not take you long to understand that this is the way things are, and move on."

Josef turned away, looking dejected. He shuffled over to a bench and sat down, casting a reproachful look towards Krissen once in a while.

She ignored him, and got on with the lesson for her "ducklings."

*

Krissen was awake. She dressed and packed quickly, not certain why she believed Asuka's words, only certain that she had to. She wrote a note for anyone who might wonder where she had gone, and went down to saddle Morning Star.

"Sorry to do this to you," she whispered to the horse, feeding it power with her Gift, "but I don't have much of a choice." She mounted the horse and rode out into the empty streets...

Unaware that she was being followed.

*

Zedd sat up in bed, his head in his hands. For the first time in a few days, Krissen had not been a part of his dreams. In a way, he realized that he missed her. He looked around, and saw that he was alone. "Asuka? Amaya?" There was no reply. He slipped out of his bed and walked to the doorway, peering out into the hall. Then he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around-but the face he saw was unfamiliar.

"I'm sorry, Zeddicus." The woman's voice was smooth and sleek, as was her clothing of black leather, a short, sleeveless tunic and leggings, tucked into knee-high, laced boots. All her hair but her bangs had at one time been shaven, but now stuck up in a dark fuzz, while long strands in front framed her dark Yamani face. A tiny pendant glistened on her chest.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Zedd demanded.

"My name is Tsuriko," she replied. "I'm here to kill you."