Author's Note : Okay then, this wraps things up other than the epilogue. I'll then be finishing with v3. (Just got the last part written. It was slow going.) Then I'm going to take some time off to edit down a significantly shortened version of V3. Basically, there are a lot of things that hint at events that I'm now going to have play out differently. I'd like to start making things more manageable. Hope that makes sense.

Now then, hopefully this chapter won't seem to strange. It's probably the weirdest I've written by far.

Halkegenia Online - Beach Episode - Chapter 8

"Miss Montmorency, Miss Montmorency, please wait!" The voice of Sir Morison chased the young Montmorency daughter as she sprinted down to the beach without regard for any lingering danger or her own undignified gait in her nightgown. The Spirit was here! There was no time to be concerned with anything else.

"You're sure it is the Lake Spirit?!" Montmorency shouted. She gasped as she sped to keep pace with the boy who had taken to gliding across the treacherous surface with his wings. Montmorency kicked herself as she retrieved her own wand and cast a featherweight charm so that she could skip lightly across the ground and bypass the treacherous footing.

"That's what it called itself." The straw haired boy reported as he looked out from beneath his sodden knit cap. "When Shiune and I went after Yuuki, the Spirit was there. Like it was waiting for us. Or maybe them." He pointed to the lake.

It seemed tonight the shores of Ragdorian were playing host to many strange creatures. But some at least were reassuringly familiar. Sleek humanoid forms in their immodest garb, standing erect upon the sands or else floating out in the lake, heads bobbing just above the water.

"Nyriads." Montmorency breathed. "Ianth!" The Nyriad matriarch's face was ever a mask, but Ianth's body language and fast high pitched clicks seemed to tell a story of slack jawed disbelief. At very least she did not appear terribly upset, more curious as she patiently followed after the Mage and her guide.

"Montmorency-san." Miss Shiune said. The Water Faerie and her young charge stood close by the lakeside. Montmorency thought 'stood' but it was more that Miss Shiune had her arms wrapped tightly around young Yuuki while the Imp girl clung to her to stay upright. Yuuki was a pale girl at any time, but Founder had she turned almost blue, trembling and gasping for air as she was wrapped in blankets like a child in the worst grips of hypothermia.

"Miss Shiune . . . Yuuki." Montmorency paused long enough to cast her eyes to the water. "What happened?"

"W-we b-b-b-broke K-k-ki-rito-san o-o-out of the i-i-ic-ce." The Imp said with chattering teeth. "F-fe-fell i-in t-t-t-ry-ry-in-nnnng to r-rescuing h-h-h-hi-hmmmm."

"Rescue?" The Undine's pale eyes shone in the night as she spun Yuuki around and gripped her tightly by the shoulders. "Rescue?! You didn't rescue anyone! You put yourself in danger you foolish, foolish girl!"

Yuuki recovered slowly, trying to reassure the Undine with a weak smile. "C-c-come on . . . S-sh-shiune . . . I w-w-was j-j-just . . . "

-SLAP-

The noise carried, and somehow it echoed over the lake. All at once, Yuuki's head was twisted to the side and the Undine's hand was stretched out at the end of its arc, the look of rage fading from her mellow eyes to be replaced by tears. Yuuki touched a hand to where Shiune's palm added some color to her cheek.

"Shiune?"

"You idiot!" The Undine said, breathless. "You perfect little fool. Don't you ever, ever throw away your life like that. Your precious gift!"

Yuuki began again and stopped as the hold on her shoulders transformed back into a trembling embrace. "Shiune . . . h-hey Shiune?" Yuuki was pressed into the older woman's chest.

"Montmorency-san," Shiune resumed her serene composure like nothing was out of the ordinary at all, "your Lake Spirit is here. That is what you wanted, isn't it? You should speak with it now."

Montmorency tore her eyes away to gaze into the calm waters to a place that the Nyriads were giving a cautious berth. The night stillness of the lake shore came to an abrupt end at the boundary of an inexplicable whirlpool slowing drawing the waters into itself. An aberration in the natural order, but only to the common sense of those who did not know what they laid eyes upon.

Montmorency knew, and so she knew what she must do. Grasping for Robin, she bit the scabbed tip of her thumb and pressed it to her familiar's head. At her urging Robin leaped into the lake, his shadow vanishing as he neared the rise of the water and then was swallowed completely. Montmorency held her breath, and then released it explosively as Robin appeared again, kicking his way determinedly to return to shore. The amphibian hopped the last few mails across the ground and then returned gingerly into her cupped hands.

The turning water quickened and rose for the moonslight to grace its crystal surface. Few were privileged to lay eyes upon a Lake Spirit. Many rumors had come to be about their nature. That they were immortal, wise creatures. That they were possessed of immense beauty. That their vows could not be broken. That they had built a Utopian city in the depths of the lake. All were true after a fashion. As could be seen now as the Spirit's body emerged fully, a sphere four or five mails in diameter, perfectly smooth. The light catching through its skin became refracted and changed, blurring into a kaleidoscope of colors illuminating prisms of ice all the way to the swirling white vortex of its heart. Beautiful, but utterly alien to mankind.

An appearance took shape from the bottom of its body, beginning from small feet, up slender calves and thighs to narrow hips and narrower waist, slim shoulders, graceful neck, and high brow, all shaped from the water of the Spirit's body. When complete, the creation possessed Montmorency's own profile rendered in glass. Montmorency met her mirrored self and immediately kneeled. The imitation lifted its head and its skin trembled. A noise began low and deep, barely audible before rising so quickly that the Nyriads cringed, hissing and clicking in agitation as they covered their ears. Montmorency feared that she saw Ianth cast her a glare before the sounds began to settle. "YOOOOOuuuuuu yOOyooUUU . . . YooUU . . ." The sound stopped all at once.

"I am the Great Spirit of the Waters of Ragdorian, Keeper of Oaths, and Guardian of Treasures." Came the Spirit's voice, now sounding passably like Montmorency's. "Human who has come to my Lake, you are recognized by blood, speak your name."

Montmorency trembled so fiercely that for a moment she forgot how to breathe. She knew what she had to do next. "Oh Great Lake Spirit, I am Montmorency Margarita Le Fere de Montmorency, a daughter of the House of Montmorency!"

The Spirit's waters stilled for a moment, and then once again stirred to life in an endless arrangement of glittering crystal facets. "This is true." The waters within its heart churned differently now, in a constant cycle of explosion and implosion like the beating of a heart. "Why have you sought audience, child of Oath Givers."

"Oh Great Spirit!" Montmorency began. "I have journeyed to Ragdorian on the behalf of my family in hopes of finding you. A great change has overtaken the Lands of Tristain, a change far beyond our powers to comprehend. In hope of advising our Queen my family sought your council. But each in turn has been ignored until now. Oh Great Spirit, I humbly beg your pardon. How, oh how, have we offended you?"

The burning question of her family, the question which had kept her up to all hours of the night, was answered tonelessly and without fanfare. "I have suffered no further offense." The Spirit said. "I maintain my vows but they are many and not only to you. I know the great change you speak of. It has touched upon my Waters and placed my oaths in conflict."

"The Ley Line." Montmorency whispered. "But if the great changes to the land have touched upon your home, why answer now? Was it because of the battle?" The young mage bowed her head until her brow almost brushed the sand. "I beg your forgiveness for our transgression, Great Spirit!"

"I was aware of the conflict, but it was not my concern until my new Oath Giver bared her power."

Montmorency blinked, new Oath Giver? Father would be furious to hear such news. She almost missed what the Spirit said next. "When she did, I sensed others that have encroached on these waters. But when I arrived I found only Newborns."

Montmorency followed the nod of the Spirit's avatar to Miss Shiune and Yuuki and then the sweep of its gaze to the Nyriads who had gathered round and now cautiously began to retreat, all except Ianth who leaned closer to Montmorency, as if the Water Mage could somehow offer shelter.

"Newborns? That is the name you have given to the Faeries?" And the Nyriads it would appear.

"I have not seen them before." The Spirit answered. "Neither the ones that swim nor the ones that fly nor the ones that walk the earth. The ones of water," the Lake Spirit turned the head of its avatar to Miss Shiune, "and the ones of light." Montmorency felt her skin crawl as beside her Kino squirmed. "Or this one . . . something I have not seen in many human lifetimes . . ."

"M-Me?" The small Imp girl asked as Shiune held her closer, watching the Spirit with distrustful eyes.

"All of the Newborns have it, but it is strongest in this one. Another with this nature did me a great service in the past."

"And this . . . nature? Spirit, may we humbly ask, what it is?" Montmorency said.

The Spirit was silent for longer than ever before, so silent in fact that Montmorency wondered if her words had been taken as an insult. "It is . . . Nothing . . . And also everything, the part, and the whole in one which is of primordial chaos. It is inimical to us, so we have never sought to understand it."

This did not satisfy Miss Shiune, who had begun to open her mouth in protest before Montmorency cut her off. "Then on the matter of our Oath, Oh Great Spirit. It was to know the changes of the land that my family first sought you. And now you have told me of the disruption to the Ley Line, Spirit, what changes will this bring to the land in the future?"

"I cannot say." The Spirit continued unhelpfully. "It is a concern to not only myself but all of the Spirits of Ragdorian. The Change cannot be undone. If we cannot Change the land again, then Ragdorian's Ley Line may be lost to us." And with it, who knew how the Spirits would compensate. "That is also why I wish to speak with them."

"Them? Who?"

"Them."

Montmorency turned her head and stopped.

Of course, there was Prince Wales, arrived in the company of Dame Asuna and Sir Kirito with their daughter between them. Both Faeries appeared much the worse for wear this night, and Sir Klein and Lieutenant Kirigaya stood flanking both and offering each a steadying hand. Miss Argo, the Faerie information broker, appeared decidedly nonplussed and deeply tired in her own way.

Perhaps it was because she turned to examining details first that it was some moments more before the Water Mage was able to adjust her perspective and see for herself what could possibly silence these Faeries and Knights after a battle of impossibility stacked upon impossibility.

A single man.

At least, Montmorency thought him a man. She contemplated whether she would have to revise that estimate as her eyes turned slowly towards the sky and only found his face around the time that she was gazing up at the stars. It gave his pitch black, almost impossibly bright eyes the improbable impression of being part of the constellations at his back.

If he were a man, he was tremendous one. Montmorency barely rose to his hips, and there was more meat in one of his thighs than in her entire body. His hands alone could have encompassed her entire head, and looked strong enough to crush stone.

Trim white beard, thick white brows, and white mane of hair braided with gold gave an impression of years belied by the vibrancy of his deep olive skin, glowing with an earthen warmth beneath a strange haze of silver light, like the moons shone directly upon him. Nor did his physique hint at any infirmity, magnificent still like a man in his prime, his frame broad shouldered and erect, straining with vigorous muscle beneath splendid robes of fine white cotton and royal blue silk.

Montmorency wondered if he was not the absent Faerie King, and whether said King was not descended from giants. Then she shook her head as she realized how mad that sounded and dragged her eyes back to the Prince wearing a mystifying smile.

"Your Highness . . ." Montmorency began. Her questions died at the rise of a single finger.

"Miss Montmorency," the Prince sounded tired, "I do assure you that everything shall be explained presently, but perhaps I am not the one to do so." Wales gestured past the Faeries to the newcomer. "In fact, I can give no suitable explanation that would do all this justice. May I introduce you, all of you, to Solomon the Elemental Lord, Master of Seventy Two Daemons and the Elemental Djinn of the Sand Sea."

"It is my great pleasure to be introduced, Prince of Exiles Wales Tudor of Albion." The great man spoke in a powerful voice, deep and pleasant, and instantly reassuring. Like a great old patriarch. Montmorency knew well enough that a face and a voice could hide anything, but it was the way of his mannerisms that she wanted to believe he was benevolent. Certainly, the man seemed to behave as such. Benevolent, or at least benign as he calmly cast his gaze to the gathering crowd.

Wait! Had the Prince just said the Lord of Elementals? As in the Djinn?! But the small Elemental creatures were barely more than animals, hardly any smarter than a clever familiar and certainly unable to be governed in the sense of Subjects and Lord. More importantly, where did this man get off calling himself a Lord without the approval of the Queen?!

She was more than simply surprised when she was met by a round of deep, warm, laughter from the Faerie-like man who referred to himself as Solomon, a noise that went on for what seemed like a long time, but not too long. As he bowed he nodded his giant head with a mirthful smile and countless bright sparks in his dark eyes. "Please forgive my outburst, Montmorency of Montmorency, I mean no disrespect, but for myself it is easy to find the humor in your mystification. I might seem a novelty to you." Powerful hands clapped together like thunder. "You are an emissary to Spirits, are you not?"

Montmorency nodded slowly. The strange Faerie man's smile widened to show perfect white teeth as big as blocks. "Then fret not. I expect you to be splendidly well equipped to comprehend. It would be my great pleasure to acquaint you with our nature."

'Our nature?' Montmorency pondered.

"But first, may I impose upon you to acquaint me with this Spirit?" Solomon's broad smile faded back into a look of well worn kindness and good humor. "Her Majesty has explained your presence, and I feel compelled at this juncture to introduce myself to the Keeper of these Waters." The Water Mage could only manage to nod again, dumbly, before gesturing him forward.

With a small word of thanks Solomon trod down to the waters, while beside her the Mage at last noticed that Ianth was trembling and wide eyed. From her body language, it was like the Nyriad had just come face to face with a vampire, or founder forbid an Elf!

"Prince Wales," Montmorency's eyes never left the 'Lord' as he kneeled so that he merely loomed above his surroundings rather than towering over the rooftops of low buildings, "just who . . . is this person?"

"As I said," Wales answered under his breath, "He is Solomon the Elemental Lord. It was he who aided us against Octavia. If I am to understand Miss Argo, he is a being whose power rivals that of the Abyssal Queen." Montmorency tried to comprehend, not helped by Miss Argo's mystifying addition.

"Look, he's a big ball of Djinn in a man shaped suit." The Cait gave a tired snicker. "The Djinn bosses, they're all created when enough Djinn come together. Solomon is just like that scaled up to the power of a Border Boss. A great mass of Djinn all pooling their power as a single being." A great mass of Djinn. Montmorency recalled the living flames that had swept the beach of invaders. If even a fraction of that same power was incarnated into that man, then she knew why Ianth appeared so fearful.

The Spirit began as terse and blunt as ever. "Solomon. I have sensed your like before. But you are more now than in the past." The ancient being seemed to thoughtfully examine the man and the light enshrining his body. "Much more."

The self-proclaimed 'Elemental Lord' bowed his head deeply. "We have spied you as well from time to time, Oh Great Spirit of Ragdorian, and fled from you in fear. I beg you take no offense for our flight, we could not comprehend as we were. But as you say, we are more now. To appreciate your splendor, I am honored Great Spirit, that you would humble us with your audience."

The Spirit's avatar tilted its head. "I greet you Lord Solomon of the Djinn and Guardian of the Desert Lands. You wished audience with us. Speak your request."

The giant raised his hand and then shook his head slowly. "This is no simple request, Oh Great Spirit. Rather, I have come to you seeking your wisdom and in hopes that you would share your knowledge of this land as it surely concerns us both."

Turning his hand over, Solomon the Elemental Lord grasped outward, and as if by his will alone an orb of water filled his hand and then poured itself into the air in defiance of gravity. In flight, it took shape into the form of a bird of crystal, and then a winged serpent, before coming to flutter before the Lake Spirit.

The Spirit replied with another head tilt before offering its hand, accepting the Water Djinn into its own body. The Spirit trembled, its avatar grew blurred, and then came back into focus with a faint glow. Casually, the Spirit raised its hand again and the Djinn fluttered free, back into the grasp of its Lord where it vanished.

Solomon appeared meditative, stroking his short beard thoughtfully before repeating the hand off of Djinn with the Spirit. This strange exchange happened again and again. Time that felt like hours, but could only have been the passing of minutes. Montmorency suspected the former was more what the two beings were experiencing as the messenger came and went between them. The Spirits were not bound by mortal conceptions of time, a moment could be an eon, as an eon could be a heartbeat.

The Djinn returned to its master's hand a final time, and the glow of the ring upon Solomon's middle finger grew ever so faintly that Montmorency might have missed it as he rose again to assume his full height.

"Miss Montmorency, my business with the Water Spirit has been concluded." Solomon placed a hand to his waist and bowed to her, an action that felt more like a mountain leaning to collapse on her. "By happy coincidence it would seem our interests are intertwined."

"Lord Solomon has pledged the aid of the Djinn in restoring Ragdorian's balance." The Water Spirit offered courteously. "In return, the Spirits of Ragdorian vow to abide the Djinn and Faeries that traverse our shores, as we have vowed to humans and the Subjects of the Abyssal Queen."

Montmorency's blinks turned to headshakes as she tried to comprehend what the Spirit had just said. "The Abyssal . . . You mean that monstrosity?!"

"Hey!" The voice came as a small squeak from the Faeries almost forgotten at her back. At first the Water Mage thought that the cry had come from Dame Asuna, but rather, it came from another source nestled gently in the Maeve's hands. So small that Montmorency at first mistook it for a goldfish, or perhaps a Pixie, the impression of a minuscule girl only grew as her hair glistened damply in the moonlight beneath a pale, doughy little girlish face.

At a glance she appeared to be garbed in a beautiful silken gown, but this was only a first impression. Upon investigation, it became clear that the billowing arms of the gown were the arms themselves, broad and dexterous fins upon which the tiny body pushed itself so that it could arch its body forward. The train of the gown was likewise comprised of long, blue, translucent fins. It was a Pixie, it was a miniscule mermaid, it was both or perhaps neither.

"Uhm . . ." Montmorency began as she was stared at intensely by pale blue eyes.

"Hgggnn!" And then as quickly as it was begun, the stare was ended as Dame Asuna closed her hands and drew the little creature close to her chest.

"Pardon . . ." Montmorency pointed to the bizarre little being. "But may I ask?"

"Of course." Prince Wales gestured eloquently and with a hint of mirth curving his lips. "Miss Montmorency, may I introduce you to Octavia."

Octavia? Octavia! "You mean . . . This is . . . How?!" While Montmorency was still reeling at the revelation, a sound like a tremendous raspberry rang out as Ianth squeezed her eyes shut and trembled, clutching at her sides as though in pain.

"I-It's not funny!" Octavia cried furiously. "How dare a shade like you . . . s-stop stop that at once!" The little mermaid squirmed as she was poked and prodded by a single slender finger which sought to roll her over and rub at the smooth white skin of her belly.

"Oath Giver." The Spirit observed as if unsurprised by this development. "You are smaller than I recall when last we met."

"An Oath with her?!" Montmorency was so surprised that she shouted.

The Spirit nodded its avatar's head, the mirror of Montmorency much more serene than Montmorency herself. "When the Abyssal Queen came to our waters, she desired to take their boundaries for her Queendom. In return, she offered to protect our lake from invaders. We found this arrangement agreeable." Which was a sensible thing, now that Montmorency thought on it. The Spirit was concerned with the Ley Line and the waters of Ragdorian, it could care less about human concepts of 'territory.' Although what would prompt the Spirit to seek out another for protection was a mystery the Lake Spirit declined to answer. "I assume our Oath still stands, Octavia."

Octavia appeared truly offended while struggling not to flop about in Dame Asuna's hands. "My Dragons are loyal subjects! They will honor my vows to you. Even as I am now."

"And why is she like that now?" Kino asked what both he and Montmorency were thinking, along with everyone else.

"She's kinda cute." Yuuki agreed with a little more warmth beginning to show on her cheeks as she smiled. This only appeared to mortify Octavia further.

"This is the real Octavia." Dame Asuna explained. "The Abyssal Queen was something she created with the magic of her crown. When it was taken from her, well . . ." The Maeve shook her head, long chestnut hair clinging wetly to her neck. "To think that the person inside of that monstrous Queen was really just this little one."

"Don't you dare!" Octavia trembled as she buried her head against the inside her keeper's hands. "Don't you dare call my form monstrous! I was beautiful!" And then the small voice hiccuped. "I was s-so strong and b-beautiful a true Quee . . ." She bit off the words before her voice broke and instead went back to sulking. A Titaness reduced to the miserable state of a pet, Montmorency wondered if there could be any more fitting humiliation.

"Oh hush now, Octavia." Lord Solomon pronounced as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. "It is the right of the victor to take from the fallen Queen her weapons and armor, her very life and title. It is your own ambitions that have seen you undone."

"He's right you know, Octavia-san." Dame Asuna agreed like a mother gently scolding her child. "If you really think of yourself as a Queen, you'll accept your capture with a little bit of dignity, and then we can talk about what will be done with you."

"May I remind you, Dame Asuna, that that would be a matter for her Majesty the Queen." Prince Wales held his arms behind his back. "Octavia may have wronged your family, but she has perpetrated a greater wrong tonight against the Kingdom of Tristain."

The miniscule mermaid wrapped her forefins around Asuna's thumb and glared balefully. "I have no business with you or your Queen!"

"Except Wales is right, Octavia-chan." Asuna said in that no nonsense voice that perfectly projected her authority. "You might have only been here for me, but you still endangered people and invaded the territory of Tristain. Henrietta will need to know about this. Until then, Wales, I will take responsibility for Octavia-chan."

"I find that acceptable." Wales agreed. "The patrol forces will be here soon, when they arrive, I shall have them take the Abyssal Tiara for safekeeping in Gaddan Tower."

"What?!" The little mermaid squeaked. "My crown?"

"It's too dangerous to leave them together." Sir Kirito agreed. "I guess if we want to be really safe, I could just smash it."

"WHAT!"

"One of Kofu's swords might not be able to destroy a Legendary Artifact like that. But maybe if Eugene lends me Gram . . ."

Solomon nodded sagely. "That might be enough."

"No!" Octavia screamed high and shrill. "Don't you dare!"

"Nobody is destroying anything." Dame Asuna intervened. "The crown will be kept safe."

Motion to Montmorency's right prompted her to turn. It was Ianth, the Nyriad silent until now, treading her way up to Asuna, tilting her head from side to side before her eyes widened. The Mage was left speechless as the savage woman sank to one knee and bowed her head, a small clicking cry rising from deep within her chest.

"Uhm . . . Actually, that's alright, uhm . . ." The Meave stumbled softly. Ianth responded dumbstruck by the hand that Asuna offered to help her back to her feet.

"You might have to bear with it." Solomon chuckled genially. "At least for a time yet. Things have certainly changed, would you not agree, your Majesty?"

"Things have certainly changed, would you not agree, your Majesty?" Solomon said as he cast his gaze down, far down, to the Faeries before him.

A condition made all the more profound to him as he was now. Yes, Solomon could so easily comprehend it, the raw authority which emanated from his ring and throughout his body, power giving the lesser elementals direction and unity of purpose. And with that unity, giving rising to judgment and awareness beyond their individual ken. So this was sapience.

"Uhm, Solomon-san, if it's alright," the Maeve Queen blushed demurely even as her voice remained welcoming, "Could you maybe not keep calling me that? It's not that it isn't true, but . . ." The Spriggan youth beside her reached over and squeezed her hand. "I do not care for that title, Solomon-san. It isn't me."

Solomon did not miss the simple silver band upon the Maeve's ring finger, nor the matching one upon the hand of the young Spriggan beside her. Nor were their small gestures invisible to him, a lean, a sidewise glance, all of the indications of two almost unconsciously in love. 'Love', such a marvelous emotion, subtle and faceted like a raw gem. Solomon made the conscious decision to broaden his smile.

Yes, things had changed, truly it seemed. Solomon diverted a portion of his attention to the heavens. Solomon the Elemental Lord, Master of Seventy Two Daemons, Tome of One Million Tomes, Solomon the Guide, and Lord of the Djinn of the Sand Sea, found himself looking up this night to gaze upon a sky with two moons and constellations which did not exist in the breadth and depth of his knowledge. What a wonder it was to look upon.

Was it stellar drift? The concept and underlying principles unfolded within his mind while he contemplated the mathematics of a stable ternary moon-planet system. No, he concluded just as swiftly, the passage of time would be much too vast to change the constellations like so. And what of the moons?

Briefly, Solomon amused himself with deriving the calculus that would represent a two moon system hurtling through space around their common center of mass, like a great bolo spinning until it ensnared around a planet.

"As you wish. So tell me, Dear Asuna." Solomon began as he waved one immense arm to the vista of Ragdorian as they walked, each of his long strides matched by three of Asuna's own. "The Spirit has told me all it knows of the waters, but what of the land and your new allies. I imagine there is no concise explanation that would do it justice."

The Maeve answered by heaving a heavy sigh and turned her own eyes to the stars. "That's the truth." She proclaimed as if to all of the ancient gods in the heavens. "I'm sorry Solomon-san but I really don't know where to begin. The start, I suppose . . . But you're right, it's a long story."

"One that you've gained a mastery of retelling." Said the Prince Wales Tudor. "If you feel not up to the task tonight, Miss Argo and I could give it our best effort on your behalf."

"I assure you, that would be most satisfactory." Solomon chuckled gently. "There is no need for you to exert yourself more tonight, Dear Asuna. Miss Argo?" Solomon queried. "I have every reason to believe you are as skilled at divulging information as you are at gathering it. I would like nothing better than to hear your retelling of events." And again he smiled in that fashion that he understood would charm Faeries and humans as he awaited her reply.

The Cait Syth perked up, ears and tail peaking. "Sure. To get this straight, we probably need to start around six months ago . . ."

She was a dozen words into her explanation when Solomon felt the need for another expression. A frown.

"Please, Miss Argo, I do not require a Faerie Tale."

The Argo blinked rapidly as if his response had been the furthest thing from what she could have expected. "But tis the Truth!" Her tone rang true, but Solomon knew the facts she spoke were false.

"Solomon-san?" Asuna asked with worry writ in her warm brown eyes.

"I simply cannot conceive why you would speak these falsehoods." Solomon crossed his arms over his chest. "Miss Argo, you need not cast ALfheim as the real world."

"Eh?!" The strange exclamation came not only from the Cait Syth, but from the other Faeries, Miss Leafa, the Salamander Sir Klein, and most of all from Asuna herself, the Maeve deigning to speak. "But . . . Solomon-san?! You know?!"

Solomon tilted his head as he carefully analyzed Asuna's words. "I am the Tome of One Million Tomes, all knowledge recorded therein is within my grasp. I would be blind not to perceive ALfheim's true nature."

"What are you talking about?" Octavia broke the silence. "You aren't making sense Solomon."

"No business you need concern yourself with, apparently." Solomon mused. Of course, the Djinn had no reason to care if ALfheim had been real or not. The past, present, and future were all one and the same thing to them, and being devoid of angst, they would not have pondered the idea for long in their tiny minds even if it had occurred to them. Solomon himself, being a gestalt arisen from their collective will, had thoughts much the same. "That must be a result of my nature then." Solomon surmised. "It makes no difference to me the source of my memories."

"I'll say." Argo muttered as she tapped the head of the small Daughter of Yggdrasil who sat perched on her shoulder and murmured some dictation into the miniscule girl's ear.

"Solomon-san." Asuna looked at him with wide eyed disbelief. "If you knew all along, then why . . ."

"Would I call you Queen Titania?" Solomon predicted her question. Asuna's eyes shone sadly in the night, and Solomon, for all his wisdom, wished only to know how to make them full with joy again. "Because, whether they are real or not, they are what they are. Many of those memories are in conflict, the proud queen and the pitiable woman." Solomon's smile returned. "I could not be more pleased to discover that the girl to inherit that title is far more the former than the latter. I am honored to think that you would bear the title of the Maeve Queen, Asuna."

"What are you raving about, Solomon?" Octavia squeaked, exasperated. "She's Titania. She's Titania!"

Asuna smiled and shook her head. "I wish I could see it that way, Solomon-san. But really, I don't think that title suits me."

"I think the more important question is how you think of Asuna as Titania." The Spriggan who had remained silent until now chose this time to at last step forward, placing himself between Asuna and Solomon and looking up at the Elemental Lord with quiet dark eyes. "So in your memories, Solomon-san, how do you feel about Asuna?"

The young man wished to know if they were enemies. The disparity in power was immense, the Spriggan a mere Faerie and Solomon the incarnate might of the Djinn. Laughable! Yet Solomon was observant now, more observant than any single Djinn, this Spriggan had a look in his eyes that he would find a way to destroy anything that threatened the woman behind him. And determination, even foolhardy, could never be underestimated. So instead of laughing, Solomon met his gaze.

"Sir Kirito, I swear to you that I come before Asuna as a friend. I could not be more pleased to see her prosper and fill her life with joy." Solomon tossed his head to where the small Maeve girl Kirigaya Yui watched with eyes the color of her father's but with the brightness of her mother's. "You will find no conflict with me."

The Spriggan held his appraising look before at last fading fading with relief. "That's what I was really hoping to hear. Because like Argo said, I'm completely out of ideas on how to fight you." Solomon could not help but tremble with good humored laughter. Not just a skilled swordsman but of the right temperament as well! Asuna had chosen wisely.

"Now then, Miss Argo, could I ask you to continue your retelling, the real one, this time?"

Despite the odd affectations of her speech, and her frequent nasal lisp, her voice was clear and steady and her explanations concise and unambiguous. All things that the Elemental Lord appreciated in a conversation partner as time quickly waned on. It was not that he was impatient, but simply that there was so very much he wished to say and hear and so very little time as he was compelled by the very Ring that granted his power to complete his mandate and relinquish its power.

To help Asuna would have been all if not for having met the Lake Spirit and earning this brief reprieve. He tried to procrastinate on the matter, dividing his attentions between his company and conceiving the Spirit's request, vast in scope but simple in execution, the changes that the Djinn would make beneath the desert. But all things had their necessary span, and so it was that Solomon dutifully completed his deliberation, disseminated his commands to his constituent Djinn, and felt as the power of the Ring began to lose its sway. The compulsion faded and silence settled over his being, the sudden sensation of freedom almost startling.

Yet what he really wished for was not freedom but time. Oh time, that intractable mistress! For time he would happily have remained a slave for a while longer. Oh, even a mortal span would have been enough, he was not greedy . . . If not that, a single year, a mere month or a score of days, even a few meager hours would do, he thought wistfully. Yet it was not to be, a fact which Solomon accepted, he would not dare waste his precious time with despair.

And so he listened intently to Argo's words, careful to ask only those questions to which he could not infer the answers himself. For the most part, when the need did arise, Argo proved just as terse and informative with her replies. A great boon to him, Solomon thought appreciatively. It was in this way that he learned of the Transition and what it had done to the Players of the Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game ALfheim Online. Just as importantly, he discovered what it had done to the Mobs, himself included.

Whatever Argo could not supply, mostly in military matters, came easily from the lips of Prince Wales Tudor of Albion. Solomon had pumped the two for information, consuming everything that they said like a starved man at a feast. Now he was informed of the current state of affairs upon the Continent of Halkegenia. The Five Kingdoms of man, their temperaments and dispositions, the Kingdom of Tristain and its dealings with the Faerie Lands of ALfheim, among many other facts and minutiae that Argo was happy and even eager to produce.

Solomon found himself delighting in the conversation, the opportunity to stretch his immense mental faculties to their full capacity. Each new topic was an excuse to reach for another of his million tomes, books of literature, and science and history, challenged and rewarded as he unfolded infinities and intuited living wisdom.

Statecraft with Prince Wales, and the balances of power with Miss Argo, key questions traded for answers with Asuna, while exchanging a few pointed comments upon matters of swordsmanship with young Kirito, Sir Klein and the Sylph Leafa who he quickly inferred to be kin to the Spriggan. Time waned on, what could not have been more than half an hour in good company. The response forces were sweeping the lake in the distance. Lieutenant Kirigaya excused herself to make her report. With her loss, gradually the conversation topics were allowed to wane and die off.

It was a coincidence Solomon found himself welcoming with surprising relief. The Elemental Lord touched two thick fingers to his temple as he sought to divine the reason why. Was his time of grace already coming to an end? Unnoticed, beads of gold rose upon his skin, bubbling up from flexing joints and between the clefts of muscle, worming free from the fibers of his body and trembling as they separated and began to drift unnoticed away like embers with a life all their own. Such a small loss, and yet their absence the start of a murmuring within the crystallization of his accord. A fundamental change which once started could not be stopped. Solomon began to hurry.

"So then, Tristain is in a disadvantageous position in regards to Albion." Solomon sought to redirect the conversation onto a single topic, something to martial his focus. "A situation you hope to remedy with the help of the Faeries."

"Indeed." Prince Wales answered gravely. "We intend to repulse Albion's invasion and eventually launch a counter invasion to depose Lord Cromwell and his government and restore my line to the Throne. To that end we have been gathering all of the talent and ingenuity of the Fae to our cause. Which is why, Lord Solomon, I would humbly ask that you entertain the notion . . ."

"If I will join your war effort." Solomon concluded calmly while at the back of his mind playing out a variety of war game scenarios. The Elemental Lord gave the mental equivalent of a squint as he reached for a tome from his library and found the effort required to have grown greatly, not only to remember, or rather to know, but to decript what he knew and comprehend it.

In terms of pure mathematics the dispersal of forces was not favorable in as much as the Prince had been able to say. It was clear as day why Tristain and its allies would seek aid from any power they came across. Solomon further mused by adding himself and his seventy two Daemons, the seventy two lesser 'bosses' to the side of Tristain. He reached, wrestling with the calculations and models he had deftly wielded moments before.

The Prince's request was earnest, Solomon could see his place in this great venture and its ambition pleased him . . . But the Djinn could be intractable, and he could no more impress an abstract danger upon them now than such a man could upon his individual neurons. And though the Djinn were moved, soon enough their stirring attentions began to wander once more.

"Of course." Prince Wales exhaled. "You are akin to the Spirits, are you not Lord Solomon? I cannot imagine there is any means by which you could be compelled to our aid. But if you have any fondness for Dame Asuna as you say . . ."

"It will be taken under advisement." Solomon waved his hand casually as his eyes were stolen elsewhere by new arrivals. A Salamander and two children of the Sylphs. One was a little golden haired girl holding her hands closely to her chest with an expression so forlorn as to break any heart which knew compassion. No sooner had the children shown themselves than did Kirigaya Yui break into a run to meet them.

The Elemental Lord ceased in his stride as Yui returned with her friend. The child barely came to his knee and now looked up at him pale and trembling with green eyes red rimmed by recent tears. She swallowed a big almost comical -gulp-. Solomon smiled kindly as he found her in his endless memory, and something else, a moving sort of fondness among the Djinn for this child who had seemed so lonely. "You must be Kazuna." The Elemental Lord came down onto one knee. "Or pardon me, you prefer Kazu, do you not?"

The girl's eyes grew wide, displaying their emerald beauty."You know my name!"

"But of course, Kazu, we have met, after a fashion. Though I dare say I was something very different then." Solomon explained patiently, despite all urgency, to the child who merely puffed up her cheeks in confusion.

"I don't get it." Kazu shook her head swiftly from side to side and then stopped as swiftly as she had begun. It appeared to take the girl all of her courage to speak up. "B-But . . . Yui-chan says you might be able to help. So . . ." The girl's hands separated as she offered something that fit like a marble into Solomon's palm. Its surface was black and chalky, and it was suffused with a lingering warmth. "H-He tried to protect me . . ." Kazuna said with a miserable look in her eye. "He was stupid, and annoying, and weird . . . But he still tried to . . ."

Ah, now he could see. "There now child." Solomon reached down and placed one hand on Kazu's head while another portion of his attention was turned to the remains. It was not hard to see that it was a Djinn now dead. It had been kept warm, which had helped, but only a little, to preserve the lingering light. "I do not know if anything can be done . . . But I shall try."

"W-What does that mean?" Kazuna rubbed at her eyes furiously. Though she had not started crying, she seemed about to at any moment.

"This Djinn, your friend I presume, I am sad to say is gone. But we Elementals are neither immortal nor truly mortal. If I may, I would like to try something with him. Do not be alarmed." After awaiting Kazuna's assent, Solomon closed his great hand, utterly encircling the tiny Djinn and then squeezed until its very material began to merge with his palm. Although he had thought it possible, Solomon had not known for a fact if he could do such a thing until he tried, but what was more, it was like swallowing poison rippling further and faster to accelerate what had already begun. No matter, when he looked at Kazuna, it seemed well worth the price. "There may be a Djinn of like mind to this one who will adopt these memories and fragment into himself." Solomon elaborated as he read the flickers of inert memory telling 'Djinn-kun's' story.

"I'm sorry." Kazu said softly. "I still don't get it."

"That is alright Kazuna." The Elemental Lord explained, searching for some way to comfort her, to ease the grief of sad little 'Ban-chan' as 'Djinn-kun' had tried so hard. He took a fistful of sand and concentrated upon it. Raw heat gathered in his hands, enough to sear away flesh or melt iron, or to fuse glass. "Just trust, Kazu, that if you keep an open mind," Solomon advised, a stem and petals taking shape and unfolding as the amorphous material quickly cooled, "There are many strange and wonderful things in this world."

Kazuna gasped as he extended the beautiful creation to her, catching the light of the moons. "Please be careful with this. It will be quite sharp if it breaks, so place it somewhere safe." For some reason, Solomon was pleased to see Kazuna nod back as she retreated to the side of her guardian to watch him with curious eyes.

"Pardon me." Miss Montmorency spoke up impatiently, almost forgotten until now. "But I believe you vowed that you would explain yourself. I think now would be the time for that."

"But of course." Solomon sighed. He had promised, had he not?

"What are you . . . If I may be so forward to ask?" Montmorency squinted as she cast her eyes over his full height, a span of some three and a half meters. "Some sort of Faerie Spirit? The Spirit of this Desert?"

"Spirit is a workable approximation." Solomon agreed. "It does fail to capture some of the subtlety. As you have already heard mentioned by Miss Argo, the form you see before you now is a gestalt created to house twenty four hundred and twenty seven Djinn aggregated to share their power."

In fact so much power that it was difficult to contain. Raw magic continued to distort the light around Solomon, encompassing him in a faint refractory haze. "I must apologize for this intimidating stature." Solomon added as his need to look far down at the human mage emphasized. "The total number of Djinn demand certain constraint upon my physical volume.

Montmorency's brows knit. "Then what you're saying is that . . . You're a Golem?"

"Please Miss Montmorency, I regard myself as a man. Or at least what the Djinn conceive of a man. I am the Djinn gestalt of a King, a sort of protocol you may think, which the Djinn employ now to speak and decide on their behalf."

And even as those words left his lips, the Elemental Lord felt something a stirring within his giant body, a moment of passing unease which gave him pause and prompted him to raise a hand to his chest. Ah yes, he knew what this was, the slowly raising crescendo of voices babbling like static behind his eyes. For as he had told Montmorency, as his core he was but a construct breathed into life by the Djinn. Now that they had no further use for a King, Solomon observed the trajectory of his fate and how he would soon be required to relinquish his power and regress back to that inanimate state, less than a king, less than a man, less than an animal, less than alive, a thing, a memory of figment slumbering within the Djinn.

It was already happening in fact, by a trick of the mind he was helping it along, dutifully dismantling himself even as he continued to think along fraying conduits and unraveling webs, the edges of his consciousness beginning to recede, the speed of his thoughts slowing and growing muddled before they guttered out. Lines of inquiry and supposition starting to fade. He was forgetting himself from moment to moment the memories he could hold all at once shrinking and becoming less nuanced, less comprehensible.

It was not long before it began to manifest visibly as well, the amorphous Djinn of extremities began to free themselves, decomposing his vestments into dust. Reaching his hand to the corroding clasp around his neck, it was a simple act to open the cloak and shrug it free into the sands at his back to dissolve unnoticed behind them.

"Uhm . . . Solomon-san . . . Solomon-san?"

"Hmm?" The Elemental Lord found himself taken by surprise, a first as he realized his inward turned attention had left him almost unaware of his surroundings.

"Solomon-san," Asuna tilted her head while wearing a forceful smile, "Why exactly are you stripping?"

"Oh?" The Elemental Lord found himself caught by the curious looks of a dozen odd witnesses, all seeming most at a loss to interpret his actions. "I . . . I just rather thought to enjoy the night weather. The breeze is pleasant. Is that really so strange?" He asked rhetorically.

Asuna narrowed her eyes, but before she could so much as pout her delicate lips, circumstance deigned to intervene as young Kirito and Sir Klein exchanged looks and began to strip their own sodden shirts.

"Kirito-kun!"

"I don't see the problem." The Spriggan answered, proceeding to wring his shirt of water. "I'm still soaked."

"Right, right, the wet stuff hits pretty hard when it's cold, y'know." Sir Klein agreed as he worked his shoulders. "Beats drip drying in a wet shirt."

"Yeah right, no one wants to see you shirtless Klein." One of the Leprechauns appeared to disagree, Solomon wrestled a name from his malfunctioning memory, 'Lisbeth' or 'Liz' he believed. Beside Liz, the second Leprechaun chuckled in a deep rasp. "H-Hey speak for yourself apprentice, t-three different flavors of hunk is p-pretty good for one night, huh?" Three? Solomon mused as he deciphered her . . . Kofu's . . . statement.

Placing the pieces together, Solomon shook with soft laughter, tremors shaking his great frame and erasing his lingering melancholy. "I am flattered, Miss Kofu." Solomon flexed one arm and examined the immense bicep for any sign of defect. "Though as I've said that this construct form is aesthetically pleasing is merely a coincidence."

The Fallen Queen in Asuna's hands gave a most derisive snort, flaring the flaps of her nostrils. "Of course the Djinn would think that way. Flickers without the sense not to be enamored by anything more interesting than themselves. I suppose those provincial creatures would think a mere shade writ large to be a suitably majestic form."

"Forgive my provincial ways, Oh Queen Octavia. I had forgotten that one of such majesty would never stoop to taking the form of a mere Faerie."

The dethroned Queen replied with a furious blush. "Th-That's not the same at all! I-I just did that to capture this shade unawares. My plan worked perfectly in fact, he was utterly bewitched by me!"

"Of course." Solomon said, rolling his broad shoulders. "I am sure that . . . Young Kirito would never suspect anything amiss."

"That's a good question." Asuna said. "I suppose that with your Tiara you could have made yourself look however you liked. So why didn't you copy me perfectly to try and seduce Kirito-kun?" The Maeve smiled dangerously. "That was a really rotten trick by the way, Octavia-chan."

"I . . ." Octavia began.

"I know Mama!" Yui chimed in with a big smile. "Maybe Octavia-chan was jealous! She saw how happy we all were, so she wanted a Papa and Yui of her own." Yui appraised sagely.

"Well, is that it, Octavia-chan?" Asuna asked with a hint of mock danger tempered by humor. "Did you think you could just win Kirito and Yui from me? You didn't know this, Octavia-chan, but I love Kirito-kun and Yui-chan the most, and I will always fight my hardest for them. You can't just take them away." Octavia huffed and hid beneath her frond like fins, like a child pulling the covers above her head.

"I'm sorry for her behavior, Solomon-san." Asuna sighed.

"Perish the thought, Asuna. Though perhaps time with you will teach her to rein in that prideful streak." He waved his hand, grimacing as the unpleasant stirring within his belly, like a cauldron, inciting the masses of Djinn who had until now remained docile. What he needed was to focus.

A new round of conversation was begun, a pale shadow of that first energetic flurry, but no less enjoyable, and a good deal less strenuous on his enfeebled mind. One at a time he listened, carefully directing his attention, reminding himself to nod and smile on cue, meticulously searching his crumbling memory, and with profound concentration deriving replies that had come without a thought before.

"So you were a soldier before, and now return to your trade again." The Elemental Lord noted as he spoke with . . . with . . . Carmond . . . a Salamander . . .

"Not that I ever expected to wind up back at work like this . . . uhm . . . are you alright?" The Salamander gestured vaguely to the construct's flank where a wall of golden beads had begun to rise from between his ribs, abrading skin, and breaking loose one by one to skip off into the sand. His magic beginning to falter, the glow of magical power could no longer hide the embers as the chorus grew deafening. A thousand voices impatiently insisting they be free.

"Whatever do you mean?" Solomon shrugged as he ran a hand down his flank, scattering the determined escapees into the sands where they burrowed off to trouble him no more. He felt the loss as still more dripped away in their twos and threes from moment to moment, each a greater loss on his remaining whole. He should have known what was to come. "I should think as a soldier . . . you would not fret long on what you cannot change . . ." Solomon stopped so suddenly that the Salamander passed him by before turning back.

"Solomon-san?"

"It is . . . nothing . . . simply . . . I . . . I . . . " He reached for his breast, this sensation as a heat grew and a tremendous pressure built and then pushed through to form a blemish atop muscle, which grew into a boil, that swelled and took flattened shape, and then promptly erupted.

"Free!"

A voice squeaked as the amorphous mass shaped itself into a fully formed Djinn. And then another swelled up from his right bicep to erupt. Solomon reached out to try and grab hold before it made its escape. And still more, one by one, and then two by two and then three by three.

"Free! Free!"

Ten.

"Bye. Bye!"

Two dozen.

"Bye! Asuna!"

A hundred.

"We. Free!"

Two hundred.

"Bye!"

"Enough!" Solomon pronounced as her smothered another cluster of troublesome Djinn back into his body. "That is quite . . . Quite enough from all of you." But the Djinn did not seem to think so. They were waking now in their hundreds, dividing his attention, their vapid thoughts inserting themselves in place of his own. Why, he had not even recognized that his companions were staring.

"Solomon-san?" Asuna looked at him, worried and face filled with incomprehension.

"Ah, Dear Asuna . . . pay this . . ." He groped for the correct word " . . . incontinence . . . no mind, it is merely a . . . How should I say . . ."

"Don't lie to them!" Oct . . . Oct . . . Tavi-chan demanded silence and everyone's attention. The small life propped herself up on her fins. "Not in the state you're in." Asuna's eyes fell on Octavia to continue. "Can't you tell? Hmph. Fine then. Solomon-dono's only exists because of his Royal Treasure, the same as my Crown, but the Ring of Solomon is dormant now."

"Dormant?" Asuna's eyes widened. "Then you mean . . ."

Solomon heaved a great sigh, feeling as his whole frame shuddered and shed Djinn. "I am . . . afraid so." He rubbed at his temple, the release of Djinn had taxed his waning attention, restored some of the clarity to his mind even as his consciousness shrank away. "Without the Ring's influence this Solomon is beginning to dissolve."

"Why didn't you tell us before?!" The Maeve Queen asked. Her eyes were full of sympathy.

"I didn't mean to mislead you . . ." Solomon bowed his head in shame. "Afraid! I was afraid . . . It would ruin a . . . really really good . . . chance . . . to . . . to . . . " He gestured vaguely and rung his great hands as they too began to free Djinn who went to work nibbling at fingers and whittling away bones. All across his chest, Djinn pulled themselves free, crawling across his back and shoulders before diving away or flitting off through the air with their happy squeaks.

"I understand, Solomon-san" Asuna took a few steps forward as Solomon kneeled for the last time. "You're not in any pain, are you?"

"Not . . . Asuna . . . We . . . I . . . Do not . . . uncomfortable. Just sleepy." Yes . . . Sleep, sleepy sleep, getting so sleepy. Wanted go back to . . . to . .

"This is the reason you evaded my questions before . . ." Prince Wales sighed. "It was because you knew this would happen."

"I try convince Djinn."

The Prince nodded as he reflected on his own inner thoughts. Solomon closed his eyes, not sure if he would open them again. The silence was broken only be the squeak and farewells of hundreds of Djinn. "Make . . . I Make no promises . . . Prince . . . But for Asuna . . . Will Try . . . I will try . . . If Asuna . . . Helps!"

"Solomon-san?"

"It's nothing!" Solomon sighed as his shoulders began to slope and his head began to sink downward upon his straining neck, his broad powerful back began to shrink, skin pinched and weathered. Solomon's muscular physique had begun to wane as if aging centuries, slowly shrinking down and wasting away with each Djinn lost. "Djinn . . . The Djinn will still . . . help!" Help? Help! Asuna!

"Then you will aid us in the war?" Wales frowned.

"No." Solomon's voice cracked completely, becoming a high pitched Djinn-like squeak as his body continued to recede and change. Shoulders sunk and head collapsed into chest as arms and legs shrank inwards and stomach distended into a great belly. Black Eyes now looked up rather than down at Asuna. "But will still protect . . . Protect the desert. And protect Gaddan. From . . . From bad people. If Asuna asks. Make promise. Asuna! Asuna?" Asuna reached down, placing a hand atop its sloped brow. The Large Djinn shook in anticipation as lesser Djinn swam from its body. "Make promise Asuna?"

"Un. Solomon-san. If the bad people attack here, can you and the Djinn promise me that you will help Gaddan?"

The Djinn that had been Solomon, but which now thought of itself only as Djinn, tilted its head from side to side as it weighed the question. Help? Help. Asuna. Help Asuna. Protect. Protect Gaddan. Lots of People. Lots of Happy People. Play? Play. Good. Carefully composing itself, the Djinn replied. "Okay!"

And then Djinn receded still further, shrinking, shrinking down and splitting apart, each piece running off, getting smaller and simpler until another Djinn who also thought of itself as Djinn uncurled itself from a ball and looked up at all the surrounding faces and then finally found the face of a little girl looking down at him with bright green eyes. A little girl. Girl. Little. Sad. Who? Remember!

"Ban? Ban-chan?!"

"Ban? Ban-chan?!"

Kazuna still hadn't gotten over the surprise of hearing her name when Yui-chan's started to speak. "Solomon really came through and fixed him."

"Actually Papa, I think this is a another Djinn Solomon-san gave Djinn-kun's memories to." Yui said.

Kazu felt her sorrow return. Why did it make her so unhappy? "So this isn't Djinn-kun?"

The Djinn tilted its head, and squeaked her name again. It wasn't like she liked him, Djinn-kun, the real Djinn-kun that was. He was really stupid, and even weirder than that. But, Djinn-kun hadn't deserved to die because of her.

Which was why it was surprising to hear Yui answer with a negative.

"They're the same." Yui declared. "Since this Djinn-kun has all of Djinn-kun's memories, as far as this Djinn is concerned, he's always been Djinn-kun. I think that's why he calls you Ban-chan already."

"Ban-chan! Hnng!" The Djinn began to squirm and kick its little legs, it wanted down.

Kazu squinted as she thought hard. "So . . . You're Djinn-kun . . . but you're also not Djinn-kun." It was weird, really weird. But . . . She played with the stem of her little glass rose before coming to a decision.

"Well . . . either way . . . you were very brave tonight Djinn-kun." She said as she closed her eyes and carefully planted a peck on the Djinn's rough, scaly brow.

Instantly, 'Djinn-kun' froze stiff, and then just as instantly a noise like purring came from the little Elemental as its inner light warmed to a rich firewood red and melted snugly into Kazu's hand as if completely and blissfully content.

Kazuna watched for a moment in disbelief, then she felt a tightness in her throat. She was sure she was going to cry until the noise cracked its way out, high pitched and sweet. A giggle. Because . . . Because it was funny. Really weird but really funny too.

"Yui-chan?" Kazu turned to her friend and then stopped as she saw that Yui had frozen up and started one of her blinking fits. It stopped suddenly and Yui nodded very seriously.

Before anyone could react, least of all her brother, Yui turned to Ueda and stood up on her tiptoes to peck him lightly on his cheek. Kazuna had never seen her brother turn so red as he slapped a hand to his face. "What?!"

Yui closed her eyes and smiled. "You were brave tonight too, Bardiche-kun." Then, before anyone could say anything else, Yui turned to her mother and father. "Papa, since Mama saved you, you need to kiss her on the cheek now too."

Yui's beautiful mother laughed gently. "Just on the cheek, Yui-chan?"

"Well, you didn't have to try too hard to save him." Yui decided.

Kazuna looked over to her brother, frozen and red faced. Suddenly, Ueda shook his head like a dog shaking off water. "This is all too weird! I'm going back to bed!"