She remembered her many lives. Of all the ones she's lived a few of the most recent stood out.

Rachel.

Tara.

Jean.

And what was her most treasured of all, Lily.

She had been in turn a warrior, a follower, a leader, a ravager and a mother.

In all her lives, only as Lily had she borne a child from her own body, temporary though it was.

The love and light in those beautiful green eyes helped her when the span of space became too long and lonely.

One of the Lessers watched over him now, as a favor to her. Though she could not be with him physically, a part of her always would be and he would always be protected by one of her kind.

He had even named one of his own children after her in that life.

Her little boy had made her so happy.

She had thought it impossible to be so completely happy after she had experienced the depth of darkness in her life as Jean. It had taken all the power she had shoved into her temporary shell to stop the madman from killing him when he had destroyed her link to her shell.

She would have died in truth for that little life a hundred times over.

Her travels took her through dimensions and realities, worlds and universes.

But always she would come back to this tiny blue planet, teeming with life.

Toomin had spoken truly when he called the Earth a remarkable treasure.

Her time spanning the cosmos was growing weary again, and she wanted to once more tread the Coil as one of them, live a life with others, and perhaps be a mother again.

Not as a human this time, the thought of that when her human son was so close and yet so far hurt too much.

One of the Others brushed against her awareness.

Perhaps a small deal could be brokered.

"You mourn for your children."

"How can I not?"

"I would help you, if you would help me."

"To what end?"

"I wish to live again, walk the mortal coil for a time."

"And in exchange?"

"You know I am Life. I would bring back the three lost on Earth, help where I can, and fix the folly of the Dynasty."

"What was their folly?"

"They gave to the boy, but not his intended. It will slowly but surely destroy him. I have lived a life like that. It is not a curse I would wish on an enemy, let alone an ally."

"And your solution?"

There was gentle laughter down the link, like warm breezes and sunlight and fluffy down feathers.

"I am Life."

"You offer much for little gain."

"It is gain enough for me."

She felt the other presence warm as his aura buffeted gently against hers.

"I would have let you join them without any return, Life. All you had to do was ask."

She smiled and brushed his aura with a sense of peace and contentment.

"I know that, Temperance, but it would not sit well with me. A life along the Coil can teach much. I am best as a Healer, and perhaps a Voice."

"So you are."

The energies of the two beings spread and joined, flaring in a brilliant display of power.

"The accord between us two, Phoenix and Primus, has been agreed and granted. To help heal the children of Primus, Phoenix shall walk the Coil as one of his own for as long as her life as such can last. So say we both, so mote it be."

"Wow, look at that 'Bee. There's never been an Aurora this intense this far south! And with the full moon up too!"

"There were no spots or fields detected by any equipment. I wonder what's causing it."

"Sure is pretty though."

"True enough. Kind of makes me feel tiny."

The chuckled softly, never taking his eyes off the cosmic light show.

On a hill top on a tiny planet called earth, two different species watched the display of color and light against the night sky.

For just a moment they could have sworn they saw a bird in the dancing lights and hear a cry of joy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~several miles away~*~

The ground shook as the volcano rumbled in its sleep. A vent let loose a glowing river of rock that hissed as it touched the nearby stream.

A snap, a crack, and the flow of rock was cut off, the hole sealed again.

And where the rock had broken away from the green-covered hillside a shiny mass of metal, tangled in the roots and vines of the many trees, was bathed in moonlight.