Disclaimer:
These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and producers
of Roswell
Spoilers:
After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is successfully
rescued, and Michael was the one who broke up with Maria.
Pairings: You’ll have to wait and see!
Pronunciation Guide:
Author’s notes: Queen Fadilia
Kedar: Max/Isabel’s mother
King
Alaric Kedar: Max/Isabel’s father
Andaria: Tess’ mother
Radim:
Tess’ father
Kedrans: race from which Royal Four descended
Iturians: race from which Khivar descended, and
overthrew and killed Zan and the Kedrans
Cerideans: special core ops of the Iturian army, mostly
psyonics and telepaths
Kaptar’s
Jewel: constellation in the
Antarian’s star system
Yun’s
Garment: Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights
Saren Dari: desert plain on
Antar
Chapter Fifty Two
***
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
- 1 Pet. 1:6
***
"I
have no more patience for the hybrid scum," the General seethed. "Let him find us."
The
Second Lieutenant nodded quietly.
"Shall I inform the Captain of your orders?" he inquired
softly. The General was definitely not
in a good mood after the Captain had informed him of Rath and Ava's escape, and
even more so when he came back from a private communications with King
Khivar. Everyone in the camp had been
walking on eggshells, doing his or her best to keep a lid on the situation.
"Yes,"
said the robust man of no more than 40.
He stood staring into the dark barren landscape, with only the
unfamiliar constellations hovering above him.
"We will take them tonight.
Inform the Captain we will need to mobilize the troop for battle and to
take five of our best soldiers for the mission."
"Will
you be going with them?"
The
General paused a moment, as if now, with the option before him, he wasn't quite
sure whether his decision was made.
Then with a shake of his head, the high ranking general sighed. "No.
I must prepare for our meeting," he said gravely. "This uprising will end by my
hand."
The
Second Lieutenant clicked his heels together, creating a loud knocking sound,
and saluted his commander. "Yes
Sir!" he shouted forcefully as he had been trained to do. Then the Lieutenant turned and jogged towards
the area where a massive amount of tents had been set up. In the forefront of the living quarters of
the platoon of men was one large main tent.
Other than the main headquarters, which was a dome-like structure built
in a sandscape region of the landmass, the General and other advisors met in
this common area. He acknowledged two
stalwart guards posted outside, lifting the tentflap and entering the room full
of soldiers.
"What
is it?" the Captain demanded, as he looked up from the transparent geographical
map of the area being projected in the middle of the table.
The
Second Lieutenant stood at attention and saluted. "Sir, the General has ordered the mobilization of the troop
and a unit of five of our best soldiers to infiltrate the home and take the
enemies captive. Sir."
"Are
they all in the nest?"
The
Lieutenant shook his head. "No
Sir. But the General says that he wants
it raided and that we will use the captives as bait," he explained.
The
Captain looked around the table of higher ranking officers and moved his head
slightly; the soldiers observed this signal and stood at attention. "The General is ready to commence
Operation 'Obselete'. Captains, I trust
you will mobilize your squadrons as efficiently as possible, and be prepared
for battle against Zan and Vilandra at the General's command." There was a similar expression upon each of
the captains' faces - one of stoic and loyal obedience. "Good," the Captain said
omiously. "Then take your leave
and prepare your troops."
~~~
Liz walked
slowly behind Max as they returned to the Evans'. She felt numb and lost.
Part of her wished that she could have been selfish, and care nothing
about Antar and whether Khivar existed or not; but she knew she could never
have lived with that knowledge, and neither could Max.
Her eyes
were downcast and she didn't realize Max had stopped walking until she bumped
into him. She looked up and saw that
they had stopped a few feet short of the side door of the house. "What is it?" she whispered
cautiously. Obviously Max thought
something was wrong, she could tell by the serious expression that had fallen
upon his face.
"The
door's open," he whispered apprehensively. "Mom never leaves the door open..."
Liz
followed silently behind, as Max slowly approached the house. As they neared the house, all was quiet and
calm. It seemed odd. She looked down at her watch and noted the time. 8:45 p.m.
Everyone would have been home by then.
As they
entered the kitchen, Liz noticed the strewn chairs and several broken
dishes. It looked like someone had a
major fight in the room. Her chest
tightened as her thoughts turned to Maria and Kyle. Max had told her about Jesse's kidnapping and how he had asked
Maria and Kyle to check up on Isabel; now by the looks of the house, they could
have returned to finish the job.
"Isabel!"
Max bellowed, sidestepping a chair and stool and cautiously peering into the
living room, and then the hallway.
"Maria?"
"Mrs.
Evans?" Liz called. "Mr.
Evans? Is anyone here?"
Liz
couldn't figure out why the FBI would leave such a mess. For the most part, she figured their M.O.
was to leave everything neat and tidy - no trace of a struggle. She walked down the hallway, as Max ran up
the stairs to check the upper rooms, and with trepidation checked each bedroom
for any of the missing people. There
was no one; and as she approached the last door at the end of the hallway, she
felt a lump grow in her throat. Liz
swallowed nervously as her hand rested upon the doorknob. After taking a deep breath, she turned the
knob and pushed opened the white painted door.
"MAX!"
she screamed shrilly. "Max! Get down here!"
She fell
to her knees and pressed her index and middle finger against Jesse's
unconscious neck. Her heart was racing,
and she searched her memory for the CPR/First Aid training she had taken during
high school. What was she supposed
to do?
Liz heard
Max's thundering footsteps rush down the carpeted stairway and down the hall to
her location. She bit her bottom lip
uneasily as she focused on whether Jesse had a pulse. His face was pale and his lips dry and chapped.
"Where
the hell did he come from?" Max exclaimed in shock.
Liz
glanced over her shoulder at him and shook her head. "I don't know. I
just found him lying on the ground," she said tersely. "He has a pulse, but he doesn't look
good Max."
She
waited patiently as he stepped over Jesse's sprawled form and kneeled beside
him. He glanced once at Liz before
placing his hands upon Jesse's chest.
Suddenly a warm white glow emitted from Max's hands. She watched Jesse's face regain some color
as Max finished healing Jesse's body.
When Max lifted his hand off of Jesse's chest, the dark Hispanic lawyer
startled himself awake.
"Isabel!"
he cried, as his eyes darted around the room.
"Where's Isabel?"
Max
glanced anxiously at Liz, and then turned to Jesse. "How did you get here, Jesse?"
Jesse's
eyes were wild with fear and uncertainty.
"Where's Isabel?" he repeated, agitated.
Liz placed
a comforting hand upon Jesse's leg.
"Jesse, you have to help us.
We don't know where everyone is," she explained calmly. "We came back to the house and found it
a mess. Do you know what
happened?"
Jesse's
brow was creased with worry, and he fidgeted nervously, habitually rubbing the
back of his neck like he had been bit by a mosquito there. "I...I...I don't know!"
Max
grabbed his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Do you remember how you got
home?" he asked forcefully.
"How did you get here?"
Jesse's
face was blank.
"You
were taken by the FBI somewhere," Max prompted, reiterating the facts he
had been told by his mother. "Now think...how
did you get back here."
Jesse
pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, shaking his head. He began to rock himself back and forth,
humming eerily. "I was dying...I
was going to die..." he mumbled frantically. "I was going to die and I saw Isabel...but it was only a
mirage...only a mirage."
Liz
looked worriedly at Max. This was getting
them nowhere. Jesse seemed to be in
shock and nothing was jogging his memory.
"Jesse,"
Max called his name with authority.
"Listen to me. Isabel is
probably in danger. We need to know
what happened to them!"
"I
was trying to save her. Keep her safe..." The ramblings were beginning to become more
coherent, yet they still didn't tell Liz or Max what happened.
"Jesse,"
Liz said softly, resting her hands on Jesse's arm, coaxing them away from his
face. "We know you love
Isabel. Do you think you can help her
right now?"
Unexpectedly,
Jesse stopped his rocking and looked up at both her and Max, as if seeing them
for the first time. "You
guys...when did you....when did you get here?" he gasped, pulling on Liz's
arm. This made her fall forward onto her
hands.
"Jesse,"
Max grimaced; his patience had worn thin.
"Do you know how you got here?"
Isabel's
husband paused a moment, trying to pull himself up to his feet. He leaned against a nearby dresser, to
steady his balance. "I think...I think
Isabel found me," he stammered, as if trying to see through a hazy
curtain. "I was in the middle of
the desert and I thought I was going to die...I kept seeing Isabel, but
everytime it was a mirage. She vanished
whenever I got near to her."
"How
did you get to the desert?" Liz asked curiously. "Is that where they took you?"
Jesse
furrowed his brow again, rubbing his temple.
"No, the agents took me to this warehouse," he recalled
slowly. "And they told me that
they were NSA, not FBI."
"How
did you get away?"
Jesse
shrugged. "I don't know. They stuck me with some needle, which I just
thought was sodium____. I thought they
were going to use that to get me to tell them everything." He shook his head warily. "But I must have been wrong, because
the next thing I remember is waking up in the hot sun. I thought I had escaped, but I couldn't
remember how."
"But
that wasn't what happened?"
Jesse sat
down on the edge of Isabel's bed.
"I don't know. Don't ask
me, because I don't know," he breathed, his expression dumbfounded. "But the last thing I remember is
seeing a car driving towards me and Isabel getting out."
"But
what about happened tonight?" Max bellowed. "What happened to Isabel, Kyle, and Maria?"
Liz
watched Max throw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Max," she said soothingly. "Jesse's been through a lot. You have to give him a little space." She glanced at the last member in the elite
group of people who knew about what
Isabel, Max, Michael, and Tess were. He
hadn't taken the news as well as the rest of them had. In fact, she would have never guessed that
Jesse would turn information in on the Four to the Feds, but he had. This brought little sympathy from most of
the group, but she could see that Jesse loved Isabel and he was trying his best
to help them.
"Well
it's not the time to have amnesia!" Max growled. "Isabel, Kyle and Maria are out there somewhere and I get
the feeling that this has nothing to do with the FBI or the NSA."
Liz
frowned. "What are you talking
about?"
"Even
with a small army, there is no way that the Feds or the NSA could have taken
Isabel, Kyle, and Maria down that easily," Max breathed irritably. "So that means something else is going
on. And I have this gut feeling that is
saying that this has to do with Michael and Tess' return to Antar."
Liz
scratched her head unconsciously and began to pace back and forth. "Well can you contact them or
anything?" she suggested, thinking back to the new found abilities Max
seemed to have acquired. It didn't seem
much of a stretch.
Max
closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing his body. Liz watched as he squeezed his eyes tight
and the expression on his face begin to intensify. There was a long silence in the room. She glanced anxiously at Jesse whose gaze remained fixed on
Max. While she waited for Max to come
out of his trance, she continued to pace back and forth, wringing her hands
nervously.
Liz
didn't know why she felt so helpless. She
had received some of Max's powers, even managing to become adept at
manipulating atoms and molecules.
Though she had never tried to contact anyone, Liz felt confident that
she had that ability too. But she was
hesitant to use them with Max right there.
Liz felt liket there was still a reason she had those powers - she just
had to figure out what it was.
~~~
Kyle
cautiously surveyed his surroundings as he sat, bound in the dark van. Isabel was a few feet away, he could make
out her long svelt figure in the shadows, lying unconscious. Maria was also awake, though, sitting
awkwardly in the opposite corner of the van from where he was. She looked terrified.
The whole
attack had been unexpected and frightening.
Men in strange military uniforms entered the house while he, Isabel, and
Maria sat in the kitchen. They seemed
to know exactly where everyone was, and took Isabel without the slightest
struggle. The men seemed to have
identified her as the major threat to their operation. But what they didn't expect was Maria's
feisty attitude and her quick thinking.
She grabbed whatever was near at hand, and whipped the hard objects at
the soldiers. Maria even managed to tag
one of them with a glass plate before being subdued. It would have been amusing if it wasn't so frightening.
Kyle had
tried to protect Isabel and Maria by throw kitchen chairs on the ground,
putting obstacles in their path so the girls could possibly escape, which
failed miserably. The kidnappers were
organized and quick; it was almost like they were not human. After the men had them tied and bound,
leading them out to the sleek black van, an unexpected event raised the stakes
in the whole matter.
Mr. and
Mrs. Evans' had returned home at the most inconvenient time. The kidnappers seemed in disarray when they
came bounding down the driveway, yelling at the men to stop. Kyle would have told them to run if the
kidnappers hadn't duct taped his mouth.
All he could do was watch as two kidnappers pulled out strange looking devices that emitted two
separate bursts of light, each hitting its intended victim and knocking the
Evans' unconsicous.
Kyle
looked down at his feet where Mr. and Mrs. Evans lay, unwittingly witnessing
the handiwork of the American covert agencies at their best. The only thing that brought him some relief
was that Liz had run off earlier, and that she wasn't in the van with him. If his gut instinct about the kidnappers
were right, these men or their leader, whoever was in charge, were planning on
leaving no witnesses. The kidnappers
had worn no masks or any type of accessory that would disguise their
faces. Usually, as he had learned from
his father and watching too many kidnapping movies, if the criminals had any
intention of letting their hostages go they would have disguised themselves, so
they would be unidentifiable - this wasn't the case here.
Suddenly
the van stopped moving. It felt like
they had been driving forever, and Kyle had no idea which direction the armed
soldiers had gone. The three armed men,
who remained in the back of the van with them, began talking amongst
themselves. Kyle couldn't make out
everything they were saying, but he caught words and short phrases like, 'The
General', 'separate them', and 'expendable'.
Each word or phrase added to his growing fear of dying once he stepped
out of that dark van.
Meanwhile
the other two soldiers unlocked the back doors, allowing the stark contrast of
night to stream into the van. Suddenly
Kyle was jerked to his feet and dragged out of the van, along with Maria, and
the other three unconscious hostages.
When his feet hit the ground, his knees buckled and he fell flat on his
face. He expected asphalt when he
kissed the ground, but found himself with a mouthful of sand.
"Get
up," one of the soldiers ordered, as Kyle felt the thick, steel-toed boot
dig into his side.
Kyle
groaned as he pulled himself into a kneeling position. What he saw not only stunned him, it brought
him to a new and unexpected level of fear and horror. Before his eyes were hundreds of canvas tents, stretching as far
as they eye could see. Under the dim
torchlight, which encompassed the army's headquarters, Kyle watched in awe as
10 to 12 units of uniformed soldiers went through intricate exercises with
their commanding officer standing in front of them bellowing out orders.
He turned
to find Maria, who was being dragged to her feet and led over to where Kyle
stood. When her eyes met his, he could
see the wonder and utter despair that had clouded those usually bright and
spirited blue spheres. But his
attention was turned away from Maria and the mass collective of armed soldiers
when the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Evans' were tossed at his feet.
"Take
these to the iron cells," said a new soldier on the scene. He was average height, Hispanic, as were
several of the other soldiers who kidnapped them, and wearing the same grey and
black uniforms as the army of men he had been observing. But it was obvious to Kyle that he held a
higher ranking than the men who had taken them. "But this one," he pointed to an unconscious Isabel,
"take her to the isolation chamber."
Kyle
struggled under the obedient soldiers' grip.
He tried to free himself, but it only seemed to irritate the soldier, who
shoved him forcefully toward a canvas tent, which was identical to the hundreds
behind him. Isabel, on the other hand,
was lifted by two soldiers and carried toward a bluish-grey dome. Kyle strained his neck to see what they were
planning on doing to her, but she silently disappeared into the eerie and
intimidating metal building, about a hundred paces away.
And that
was the last Kyle saw of Isabel.
~~~
Michael
felt his one knee graze the cool grey floor, as he pressed upward, grasping the
smooth wooden bow firmly in each hand.
The tall, muscular soldier whom he had chosen as his sparring partner
smirked as he bore down the brunt of his weight on Michael. Michael narrowed his eyes and gritted his
teeth. Cocky. With one swift movement, Michael twisted his
upper body, allowing his opponent's bow to come crashing down with a 'crack',
as it hit the granite floor. While his
opponent was recovering from his own attack, Michael followed through with his
bow and brought it forcefully behind the crease of his opponent's knees, taking
the soldier's feet from underneath him.
And with one quick twist he brought the end of his bow to his opponent's
throat, signalling the end of the sparring match.
There was
a round of applause by the surrounding soldiers.
Michael
looked up to see that the men who had been sparring around him had stopped
their matches and were watching him intently.
He swallowed uneasily, as he wiped the sweat that had formed upon his
brow with the back of his hand. The
soldier whom he had been sparring with had risen to his feet and bowed
respectfully to his opponent. Michael
did the same, bowing to his opponent and then walking over to him and grasping
his hand in a firm shake. "Good
match," he huffed, trying to catch his breath. "You almost caught me there."
The
soldier smiled wryly. "I would
have too, if I hadn't..."
"If
you hadn't been overconfident, Captain Babich," finished General Steren,
who had quietly came up behind them.
"Well,
I'm surprised I got out of that one," Michael admitted. "I've never sparred in my life...and to
pick up a bow and do those things...well, let's just say I'm amazed that I was
able to keep it in my hands." Captain
Babich seemed disturbed by this remark, but General Steren just nodded
knowingly.
"Though
you haven't trained this body to respond physically to those attacks, Rath's
stimulated memory response came into effect tonight," General Steren
explained. "But that doesn't mean
that you can rely on this. You must
continue to train and hone your skills.
We've seen shades of your former self tonight, but I've seen traces of
untapped potential."
Michael
smiled faintly and nodded. "I kind
of like it," he breathed heavily.
"It's an adrenaline rush."
He could hardly contain the rush of excitement that filled his
veins. His mind was running overtime,
picturing every move and its counterpart.
Michael didn't know how he could have possibly done without it all these
years on Earth.
"Well,
if that's true," Cpt. Babich groaned, pointing irritably at Michael. "Then I definitely want a rematch. I can't believe that was someone 'without'
years of practice." He chuckled
and shook his head.
Michael
smiled wryly at the challenge. But
then, General Steren motioned with a tilt of his head for the tired captain to
exit stage left. As he watched the well
trained soldier jog towards 'the showers', he looked curiously at the
General. "Is there a reason you're
here?" Michael thought the General
would have more important things to do than to watch him spar.
"Fadilia
will see you now."
Michael
stopped mid-stride. "The Queen
wants to see me?" he asked, startled by the news. "But it's late, maybe she wants to do
this tomorrow, when she's not so tired?"
His pulse had slowed since the sparring match, but now it leaped again,
as his anxiety level rose.
General
Steren shook his head. "No,"
he said demurely. "She will see
you tonight."
"Uh,
great!" Michael muttered. He
couldn't think of what there was to say to the Queen. General Steren walked him to the showers, seemingly unfazed by
Michael's reluctance to hold a private meeting with the Queen.
"Queen
Ava has already had a private audience with Queen Fadilia, and now she would
like to see you."
Michael
glanced briefly at the General. He
nodded. "I'll be ready."
~~~
Fadilia
had debated whether she should wait to speak with Rath...Michael, but in the
end, she felt the need to gauge where he stood in the whole scheme of
things. Tess was completely committed
to the rebellion against Khivar and returning Kedra to its place on the throne,
but there was a part of her that doubted the viability of the Prophecy. She let what was seen cloud her judgment,
and was unwilling to believe there were many unseen things at work for the good
of Antar.
"Queen
Fadilia?"
Fadilia
was startled from her musings and confronted by the rugged image of a young
commander of the Royal army. He was
dressed down, wearing a loose black tunic and a pair of fitted black pants. Michael looked very striking.
"Come
in," she smiled, clasping her hands together. Michael seemed awkward in her presence - it had been the same
with Av...Tess. She found it amusing. They were sweet children to think of her in
such a reverent way. "I hope they
have made you comfortable since your arrival.
I know the workings of the underground tunnels can be
overwhelming."
Michael
nodded and smiled faintly. "Uh,
yeah. They've been nice." His tone betrayed his unease at the
situation.
"Perhaps
you'd like to sit down?" Fadilia suggested, gesturing to the various seats
in the living area.
"Okay." He walked stiffly towards a tan chaise with
two large cushions that would conform easily to an individual's body form, and
sat down.
"You
seem uncomfortable around me," she said slowly, not wanting to make him
feel guilty for the reasonable response.
"I had hoped that we would be able to overcome that feeling in
you."
"I...I...I
guess I'm just not used to being around royalty." His eyes darted around the room, unable to
meet her gaze.
"I
would hazard a guess that you did not behave this way when in the presence of
my son or daughter." Fadilia
looked at him coyly. "If it would
make you more comfortable, you could call me Fadilia? I've already told Tess this," she offered. Michael seemed surprised at what she said
and looked curiously at her.
"Tess?"
Fadilia
tilted her head and frowned.
"Yes...Tess. Isn't
that what she prefers to be called? I
asked her...did I get the name wrong?"
Michael
shook her head. "Uh, no," he
replied. "I just didn't think we'd
be using the names we had on Earth...well, here."
Fadilia
sighed contently. "Well, I thought
about it during the celebration, as I explained to Tess, and I thought it would
be appropriate to use your given names.
Though you are 'Rath' in some sense, I believe that you are not
'exactly' the same person; and we need to distinguish this for our
people," she explained thoughtfully.
"I've already informed those who dwell within the mountain, and
told General Steren to inform the army."
She paused, tapping her index finger lightly against her lips. "That is all right with you, is it
not?"
Michael
seemed stunned at the news. He blinked
several times before responding to her question. "Th..that's great. I
just hope that's not confusing for everyone," he said hesitantly. "Because if it is, then..."
"Then
it is settled," Fadilia interrupted.
Michael
nodded.
"Well
then, I hope formality is out of the way?" she smiled, sliding into a wicker-like
chair, beside Michael.
"Uh
sure," he stammered. "Is that
all you wanted to speak to me about?"
He looked hopefully at her.
Fadilia
tilted her head slightly, studying Michael's chiseled face. He was very different from Rath. His demeanor was less intimidating, and he
seemed to have softened during his life on Earth. But still, behind the nervous boy-like behavior he was
presenting, there lurked a brooding heart, unable to express his feelings.
"Could
you tell me about my daughter, Vilandra...or what is it she goes by now?"
Michael
seemed taken aback at the request. He
cleared his throat and shifted uneasily in his seat. "Uh, Isabel. She
goes by Isabel now," he said uneasily.
Michael's behavior changed with the mention of her daughter. His gaze became distant and his look, far
away. "What do you want to know
about her?" Michael coughed.
Fadilia
bit her bottom lip and entwined her fingers together and rested them upon her
lap. "Tell me what she's like
now. What does she like to do? Is she happy?" It hurt her deeply that she could not answer any of these
questions. The most mundaine details of
her daughter's daily routine - what she liked to eat, what her favorite color
is - things a mother should know.
Michael
sat back in his chair and seemed to think deeply about the questions she posed
for him. "She's as stubborn and
willful as she used to be," he chuckled.
"But I think we've lost a little bit of our edginess since we lived
on Antar." He looked at Fadilia,
this time, directly in the eye.
"She is beautiful; she hasn't lost a bit of that sparkle
that draws men to her. In fact, I don't
think she's been more beautiful than she is now," he said wistfully.
"And
why has she stayed on Earth?" she asked curiously. Fadilia knew the answer from the reports she
had received from General Steren, but those had been partial reports. She wanted to know where or if Michael fit
into this equation at all. From the way
he described her daughter, he was definitely in love with her.
"She's
married," Michael said mournfully.
"And she doesn't remember like Tess and I do." His eyes turned towards the portal which had
been dug out from the side of the mountain.
It looked out towards the far mountain range, where the ships would
enter and dock.
"Married
to a human?" Fadilia asked gently.
"Yes. His name is Jesse," he said
stiffly. "But I'm not sure whether
she's with him anymore."
Fadilia
furrowed her brow. "Why do you say
that?"
"Well,
before we left, Isabel was deciding whether she was going to stay with Jesse
after he lied to all of us...and especially to her." His tone was full of disdain and
resentment. "He told the
government about us, and gave them information about us that put us in
danger," he explained. "And
so Isabel went away for a few days with Max to sort things out."
"And
do you think she'll forgive this...this Jesse?" Fadilia was disturbed that her daughter would pick such a man for
her betrothed, but in some way, it did not surprise her. She had only to think of Khivar to realize
her daughter's recklessness when it came to men.
Michael
stared blankly at her. "I honestly
don't know," he groaned. "I
was supposed to see her when she came back, but obviously that never
happened." He gestured to his
presence in her chamber.
"Why
is it that you never..." Fadilia
paused, uncertain whether this was her place to ask such an intimate
question. Then she decided to change
tactics, instead asking, "Were the two of you close?"
Michael
had seemed to sense the direction of her previous question and tensed, but when
she changed her question, his body relaxed once more - able to answer her
question.
"We
were very close," he said reflectively.
"You
love her?" Fadilia asked tentatively.
She knew his answer would leave him vulnerable; and it required trust on
his part to reveal his true feelings for her daughter to her. In the past, Rath had confided in her about
his feelings about Vilandra; he had always kept a tight lock on his feelings for
her daughter, but he felt that he could trust Fadilia with the truth. She had always felt like a mother to him; it
was so even now.
Michael
ran his fingers through his hair, as if debating whether his feelings should be
voiced or not. Finally, he lifted his
dark brooding eyes to meet her gaze and let out a pensive sigh. "Yes," he blurted out. "I love her, but I was too stupid to
see that until it was too late."
"What
do you mean?"
"I
fooled myself into believing I was in love with another girl, and by the time I
realized what 'real' love was, it was too late. She was already in love with Jesse and married to the guy,"
he sighed in frustration. Michael
pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to the scenic portal. "You have no idea how many times I've
wanted to say that out loud."
She
understood where he was coming from.
Even in their mountain base there seemed to be a little melodrama
amongst the young. But all was in the
hands of the Creator. She always had to
remind their people of that.
"Trust
that the 'One has a plan, and it is being worked out," Fadilia said
reassuringly. "The Prophecy says
the Four will return, and I believe my son and daughter will return to
us."
Michael's
loud mournful sigh voiced his doubt at the possibility. His heart was worn on his sleeve at the
moment, but soon it would be tucked away, inaccessible to those beyond her
door. Fadilia closed her eyes
tiredly. His bittersweet revelation
touched her heart. This man who stood
before her was like another son, and to watch him go through so much pain
because of the folly of her architects and of herself, it was almost too much
to bear. Her thoughts turned to prayer;
and the knowledge that such true love as Michael had for Isabel and Tess, for
Max, made her heart ache. It hadn't
been easy for these children to find each other the first time - Zan had been
blessed to realize his love for Ava so quickly, but it was not the case for
Rath and Vilandra.
Rath had
mistakenly left his love for Vilandra unsaid, believing his request for her
hand was declaration enough. Fadilia
couldn't remember how many times she had urged him to express what he truly
felt for her in words, but he had been reluctant and it had been his
downfall. Vilandra, on the other hand,
had been unwilling to believe Rath's marriage proposal was anything more than a
duty as right-hand man to the King.
Neither would speak what each felt in their hearts. And it led Vilandra into Khivar's tangled
web of deceit.
Now their second chance was marred by the interference of others. The 'One' certainly was putting the Royal Four through trials of fire and torment. Fadilia sighed. Would they be forged under the scorching flames? Or would her children allow the trials to separate them from those they need most?