Transition: Unseen Things, #16

By Duane L. Martin

It was a good run, but their patience has finally come to an end. In the year 2112, the military is forced to remove the government from power due to its deep rooted corruption. Half of the country supports that move, while the other half supports those who were in power, which leads to riots, looting and martial law. Not only that, but China and Russia are at each other's throats once again, the Middle East is a mess, and there's a new pandemic brewing in South America.

Feeling completely disconnected from the rest of humanity, they're left with only three options. They can either mentally manipulate the whole of the Earth's population to put an end to all the social and political turmoil, they could kill off most of the Earth's population, thereby giving humanity a chance to rebuild itself from the ashes, or they could leave their home behind, and move on to greener pastures.

Unwilling to go with the first two options, and with no other options left open to them, the decision to move to the Nathalis dimension is ultimately made for them. Fortunately, this was a move that's they'd planned on making for decades, so their new homes were already built and waiting for them by the time they arrived, thanks to the graciousness and generosity of the elders.

Transition is book 16 of the Unseen Things series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Duane L. Martin
• Release date: May 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311279170

Duane L. Martin

An avid reader since he first discovered the Hardy Boys books in the second grade, Duane L. Martin spent years being educated by some truly great authors. In 2013, after years of dreaming about writing a novel of his own, he finally hit upon a story idea that would ultimately turn into the 22 book Unseen Things series. Currently, aside from the series, he's also published two standalone novels. Cindy's Story, which is a humorous private investigator novel, and a superhero story called The Accidental Hero, which is both humorous, and quite dark at times. Aside from his writing, Duane is also a musician. He took his first bass guitar lesson in 1987 and has been playing bass ever since. He also plays some guitar, and a little keyboard and some percussion as well, with a particular focus on hand drums. As he's always been a great lover of music, he often has it playing quietly in the background while he writes. Born and raised in Northern California, he would later move to Idaho, where he lives the quiet life of a relative hermit with his wife Sharon, and their two dogs.

Book preview

Chapter 1

A month had gone by since they'd returned from battling the akkelet.  The final group of people that were being regenerated and brought back to life after the attack were currently in the tanks down in the garage, while Freddie and Diana monitored them remotely through the use of some cameras they'd installed.  Everything was proceeding along as expected, although most if not all of them were still a bit shaken by the whole experience.  The fact that they'd taken such heavy losses in the attack was a harsh reminder that although they were immortal, they were far from invincible.

Heather's body had been severely trampled in the onslaught.  It took all of the lab folks as well as Derek and Jarrod working on her together to repair the physical damage before they could continue with the normal regeneration process.  Martin had been completely traumatized by what she'd looked like when they'd brought her body home, and even though she was now alive once again, he was still haunted by what had happened.  Things got so bad in fact, that Dylan finally had to take matters into his own hands.  One night, when he found Martin sitting out on the patio just sobbing over the memories of holding Heather's crushed body in his arms after the battle, he sat down with him and tried to talk to him about it.  The problem was that with their flawless memories, he kept reliving that moment in his head in perfect detail every time he saw her, and it was absolutely killing him.

Left with no other alternative, Dylan blanked him, and then left him with a false memory that Heather hadn't been killed in the assault at all.  As far as he would know from that point forward, she'd come back with them to help with all of the others who had been.  Unfortunately, that also meant that he had to link with literally everyone who was involved, so he could tell them what he'd done, and ensure that no one would ever breathe a word to him that anything had ever happened to the contrary.

Once Darla's father completed his therapy and had been fully processed, she moved back into her apartment with him while she waited for Logan to be brought back.  Unfortunately, he was in the last group to be brought back, so she'd been waiting for quite some time. Tina and Sarah tried to take her mind off of things by taking her out now and then, but she was so worried about Logan that it was practically impossible for her to enjoy anything they did together.

Naelen finally finished his training, after which he returned home and did what he could to assist with the recovery efforts.  Alarwyn, Stephanie, Giles, and Savaric all went with him, each of them taking one of the four Nathalis dimensions to help out with.  Alarwyn stayed with Naelen on the homeworld, while Stephanie went to Sub 1, Savaric went to Sub 2, and Giles headed off to Sub 3.  Each night they would return to the capitol to have dinner, give their reports on the progress, and get some much needed sleep.  None of them had ever used their mental abilities so consistently, and for such prolonged periods of time, so they weren't really prepared for how taxing it would be.  It was great practice for Naelen however, and soon enough he'd mastered it all to the point where it was simply second nature to him.

The damage was extensive on all four of the dimensions, most of it had been caused by the weapons they'd used to slow down the akkelet onslaught, but there'd also been a huge amount of damage done to the land by the akkelet themselves as they stampeded toward their respective targets.  The akkelet were both quite large, and very heavy, so the damage to the areas they marched through was almost heartbreaking to look at.  The land was scarred, but it would recover eventually.  Unfortunately the loss of lives far outweighed the damage to the land.  The total number of dead was still just an estimate, but they'd been correct in their initial assessment.  Well over a million people had been killed across the four dimensions.  It was a number that broke the spirit of the nathalis people, but it was more than just a number.  They had to deal with not only the personal loss, but with all the corpses of the dead that had to be identified and buried.  It was far and away the most painful thing the nathalis had endured as a people since the great wars.

Still, despite all the misery and sadness, some good came out of it as well.  People grew closer together.  Strangers suddenly became family, while those who were already friends or family grew even closer.  The nathalis had never been more one as a people.  Everyone came together to assist in the recovery efforts, though the two who'd caused the whole incident through their ridiculous quest for revenge against the Naethwal family weren't helping voluntarily.

Alarwyn had tortured the pair to the point of madness, and then turned them over to the capitol guards.  They were to be forced to assist with the recovery efforts until they were no longer needed, and then they were to be executed.  Unfortunately, Lorin and Killean had other plans, and those plans would cheat the nathalis people out of the closure they would so desperately need once it was all over.  While out on their third day of cleaning up akkelet remains, Lorin distracted a guard, while Killean grabbed his weapon and pushed him aside.  Before the other guards could even react, Killean took Lorin's head off with one clean shot, and then he stuck the pistol under his chin and took his own head off in a murder suicide plot that saved them both from the suffering they knew would be coming someday when Alarwyn carried out their executions.  They'd already endured two solid hours of her torturing them in the most horrific way imaginable, and their ultimate execution promised to be even worse, so they both decided it would be for the best if they just took the easy way out.

When Alarwyn heard of their suicides, she was absolutely livid, even to the point where she lost control and started to throw things around violently with her mind.  She even wanted to take their bodies home with her, so that Derek, Jarrod, and the others could bring them back and force them to continue with their punishment.  However, after sitting down to have a long talk about it with Naelen, he finally convinced her to just let it go.  They had far more pressing matters to attend to, and the guys back home were already far too busy bringing the others back to worry about bringing back Lorin and Killean.  Still, that didn't stop Alarwyn from reaching out with her mind to tear their remains apart piece by piece, until her desire for revenge had been at least been somewhat satiated.  Unfortunately for the people who'd been dealing with their bodies, that left them with quite a mess to clean up.

Back at home, once everyone had been dealt with and things started getting back to some semblance of normalcy, Billy, Brian, and Andrew threw themselves back into the work of making the new gym equipment, just to take their minds off of everything that had happened.

Unfortunately for Derek and Jarrod, they had no such respite.  They'd been hip deep in helping the others up in the lab practically since they'd come back, and the emotional exhaustion they were suffering from had been beating down on them nearly every second of every day.

That evening, when they walked into the kitchen to get themselves some sandwiches and something to drink, they found Barbara sitting there at the table talking to Patricia.

Hey guys, Barbara said as they walked in.

Hey, Jarrod said with a heavy sigh.

You guys want some coffee?

Yeah, that'd be great, thanks, Derek said as he and Jarrod sat down at the table with Patricia, while Barbara headed over to the cupboards to pull out a couple of mugs for them.

Everything going ok? Patricia asked.

Yeah, we're in the home stretch now.  I just hope to hell we never have to go through anything like this ever again, Jarrod said.

Tell me about it, she said dryly.

How are you feelin'? Derek asked as he looked over at her questioningly.

Fine, thanks to you guys.  Look, I know I haven't been overly chatty since you brought me back, but I just wanted to say thanks, she said, leaving both Derek and Jarrod looking a bit uncomfortable.

Yeah...no problem, Derek said awkwardly.

What's wrong? she asked as Barbara brought their coffee over and set it down in front of them.

I don't know.  It's just kinda weird being thanked for that I guess.  It's not like we did it as a favor or something.  You're family.

Well, thanks anyway, she said before taking another sip from her own mug.

What's it like? Jarrod asked suddenly.

Being dead?

Yeah...

Barb was just asking me about that.  I told her basically the same thing that Logan told Derek when he came back.  There was absolutely nothing.  I just sort of shut off, and that was it...at least, as far as I can remember anyway.  I guess since our memories are stored throughout the body, once the body dies, you're not really storing any new memories.  For all I know, there could have been this great and glorious afterlife that I don't even remember.

What were you thinking when it happened? Jarrod asked.

Oh man.  Well, at first when that thing gored me, I guess all I was thinking was that this was the end, and I felt like I was letting the rest of you down.

God Patty, you didn't let anyone down.  Far from it, Barbara said with a sad look.

The thing is, I had just killed one, and then I spun around with my swords just in time for that damn thing to spear me with its stupid horn.  I dropped my swords when it happened, so I couldn't do anything about it.  Brian saw it happen and he killed the thing right away, but God knows where I'd have ended up if he hadn't.  He didn't have time to pull me off the horn though.  All I could do was choke out a goodbye to him, and then I had to pretend to die before I actually did, just so he wouldn't be distracted.  He would have gotten overrun if he'd have tried to help me.

You think he could have saved you if he'd have had the time? Jarrod asked.

No way in hell.  That thing went right through my spine.  Even if he'd have had all the time in the world, he couldn't have fixed me enough for the serum to take over and finish it.  At the very least, even if he'd have gotten that horn out of me and I could have somehow managed to heal enough to stay alive, I'd have been paralyzed from the chest down, so I would have gotten trampled to death anyway.

God Patty...I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Derek said.

I guess I got off easy compared to some.  To be honest, the way a few of those blue fins looked, I still can't believe you guys managed to bring 'em back.  From what I hear, Heather was in really bad shape too.

Everyone was.  Logan had ribs sticking out, and his left arm was only being held on by a piece of skin.  Mom was pretty much the same way.  She was a mess.  You know, when Jarrod suggested that we learn all that stuff, at first I thought it'd be boring as hell.  I really didn't see much use to it because I didn't know how much we'd actually use it.  I figured we'd just sorta heal random people once in a while, or heal up our people faster than normal if anything ever happened.  I never in a million years thought we'd end up using it for all of this.

Me either man.  You know, I think I've kinda been feeling a bit of survivor's guilt too, Jarrod said.

Yeah? Barbara asked.

I mean, we've been able to bring back all of our people, but there's over a million dead nathalis out there.  No one's bringing them back.

Maybe we could bring back some of the important ones, Barbara suggested.  Military people and such.

Everyone's important to someone, Derek said flatly.  I don't wanna be in a position where we have to pick and choose who to bring back, because all it'll do is create this huge resentment that we brought one person back, but not another.

Yeah, that's true I guess.

Besides, it was hard enough bringing back our own people.  Even if we trained every last one of us to do this, bringing back over a million would take forever.  It's all we'd ever be doing from now on.  It's just not realistic.

People die in war.  That's just the way it is unfortunately, Patricia said.  At least it's all over and dealt with now, so they won't have to worry about it ever happening again.

Hey bro, we need to pop down to your house and check on our guests to see if they need anything, Derek said.

Oh man, tonight?  Can't we just get a good night's sleep and go in the morning? Jarrod said hopefully.

Let's just do it and get it over with.  God, I hate to say it, but I'm sorry we even brought 'em back.  The timing of it couldn't have been worse.

You've still got five more to bring back, don't you? Barbara asked.

Yeah, Derek said with a heavy sigh.  I seriously don't even wanna think about it right now.

Well, you started it, so you're gonna have to finish it, Patricia said.  You still planning on making Raina and their captain one of us so they can go back and...

No! Derek and Jarrod both said in unison, cutting her off before she could even finish.

Jeez...ok, Patricia said with a surprised look.

We're either gonna set 'em up with a life here, or we'll send 'em home.  We're both too tired to deal with it.  Maybe we'll go over to their dimension after we've had some time to rest and take care of the situation there for 'em, but not right away, Jarrod said.

Ok, whatever you guys think is the right way to go is cool with me.

Raina didn't seem all that jazzed about going back anyway, even if she was one of us.  She wouldn't really know where to start with fixing things, and I can understand that.  Taking down a worldwide corporate government is a pretty monumental task.

I figured once we get 'em all situated, we could send 'em to the base to live and work there, Derek said.  It wouldn't be much of a life since they'd probably be limited on where they could go and who they could have contact with, but at least they'd all be together, and we won't have to worry about 'em anymore.  Plus, maybe with some of their advanced technical knowledge, they can teach those guys some stuff, or point 'em in new directions that they hadn't thought of before.  You never know.

Well, it's a better life than they'd have had if they were dead, so I guess they can't be too awful picky, Barbara said as she got up and went to the refrigerator.  You guys hungry?

Yeah, totally, Jarrod said as he slouched down in his chair and let out a heavy sigh.

All right.  I'll fix you something.  I know it won't be as good as what Giles would make you, but I'll do my best, Barbara said with a halfhearted smile.

Hey, Derek, Sarah said as she poked her head into the kitchen.

Yeah babes, what's up? he asked, even though he knew she was probably going to ask him to do something that he totally didn't feel like dealing with at the moment.  Unfortunately for him, he was right.

Darla's here.  She's asking if she can see Logan yet.

Fuck me, Derek said bitterly.

Want me to just tell her no for now? Sarah asked.

Nah, it's all right.  I'll take her to see him.  It's not fair to keep her away.  I know if I was lying in that tank down there, you guys would be pretty desperate to see me too.  Tell her I'll be out in a minute.

Ok, will do, Sarah said.  She started to leave, but then she turned and came over to give him a kiss on the side of the head.  It's sweet of you to do that.  She really needs this.

I know she does.  I just didn't want her to see him while he was all fucked up the way he was.  He's pretty close to being ready to wake up now though, so I don't see any harm in letting her see him.

I'll let her know.  She's waiting for you in the living room.

Why don't you and Tina come in here for a bit so they can talk alone, Patricia suggested.

All right, sounds good, she said as she turned and headed back out into the living room.  A few moments later she and Tina returned, as Derek got up to go see Darla.

Good luck man, Jarrod said.

Thanks, he said, throwing Jarrod an appreciative look for a moment before he walked out to the living room.  When he got there, Darla was sitting there on the couch looking nervous and distraught.

Hey Derek, she said when he came and extended his hand to her to help her up.

Hey.  Come on, let's go, he said.

Really?  I can see him now? she asked with a hopeful look.

You can do more than that.  I think he's about ready to wake up.  They were just waiting for Jarrod and I to be available before they did it.  I was gonna call you over for it, but since you're here now, I guess we might as well just do it.

Oh my god!  Really? she asked again with a sudden look of excitement.

Yeah.  There's something you need to be prepared for though.

What's that?

Well, we couldn't save his head, so we had to transplant the head of one of the blue fins we couldn't save onto him.  He'll still have all of his old memories and all, but he just won't look the same anymore.  Hope that's ok, he said with a totally deadpan expression.  The look on Darla's face was so absolutely priceless that he finally just lost it and started laughing.

God damn it Derek!  How could you? she said angrily.

I can't believe you fell for that!  You already knew we brought all the blue fins back, he said as she gave him a hard smack on the arm.

Yeah, but...

But?

Oh, shut up! she said indignantly, though she herself was smiling now.  Take me to see him already.

Ok, let's go, Derek said as he led her down to the underground garage where all the tanks had been set up.  Several people were still regenerating, including Derek's mother Sheryl, who was also close to being ready to wake up.  He wanted to bring Logan back first though so she wouldn't have to start worrying about him right after she opened her eyes.

Where is he? she asked when they got down there.

Third tank on the right.  Hey Freddie, is it cool to wake Logan up now? he called out.

Hang on, let me look at the monitors, Freddie said through the intercom system they'd set up along with the cameras.  Yeah, he looks good.  You can wake him up whenever you're ready.  All his vitals and brain activity are where they should be.  Just take him out of the tank, and then hit him with a few volts.  That should wake him up.  He'll still be under heavy sedation, but that'll wear off soon enough.

Ok, thanks man, Derek called back to him.  Turning his attention toward the tank, Logan's body floated up out of it, and then all the serum that was covering his body suddenly drained off of him and fell back into the tank.  Once that was done, he floated him over to the table that was set up next to the tank, and gently laid him down there.  Darla ran over and looked him over thoroughly, as though she were trying to convince herself that he was actually there and alive once again.

So, what now? she asked as she brushed his hair back gently with her hand, and then caressed the side of his face.

Take off his oxygen mask and hang it over there on the stand while I pull out the probes, Derek said.

Ok, now what? she said after she'd done what he asked, and he'd finished pulling out the last of the probes.

Now this, Derek said as he held his hand out over Logan's chest and sent a charge through him so hard that it bounced him up off of the table.  Logan groaned weakly and rolled his head back and forth as one would do when they were just waking up from a deep sleep.

Derek!  What the hell are you doing? Darla practically shouted.

This, Derek said with a grin as he sent another hard jolt through his brother.

Derek stop it! she shouted.

Hey, bitch.  Wake up.  You got a visitor, Derek said as he patted Logan's face less than gently a few times to bring him back to his senses.

Huh?  Oh, hey Derek, Logan said as he stretched himself out and yawned.  Suddenly, all the memories came flooding back to him.  His eyes opened wide, and he quickly got himself up into a sitting position as he looked around wildly.

Oh my god, how many did we lose?  What happened? he asked, totally ignoring the fact that Darla had pushed Derek out of the way and now had her arms wrapped tightly around him.

We lost a lot bro, but we didn't lose the war.  Naelen and Andrew showed up with a jamming device just in time, and then they fed it through the satellites so we could use our abilities again.  We wiped 'em out on all four dimensions.

Did we lose anyone for good? he asked tentatively.

Fortunately no, but the nathalis lost well over a million between the four dimensions.  Ally, Steph, and the guys are over there with Naelen right now helping 'em with the recovery efforts.

Oh man...

Dad said you fought like a demon right up to the end.  I'm really proud of you bro, Derek said as he reached out and mussed his brother's hair a little.

There were just too many of 'em.  We were totally outnumbered.  It was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a trash can lid.

Mom's here.  She's in that tank over there.

What about Dad?

He made it.  We lost a lot of people bro.  Beth, Patty, Edward...a whole bunch of 'em.  We had to bring in corpse freezers and all that to store everyone, and then prioritize 'em by how bad they were damaged.  We brought back the least damaged ones first.

How bad was I? he asked.

Well, you were in the last batch.  It was pretty bad bro.

Did you see..., he asked, looking over at Darla.

No, he wouldn't let me.  He said he didn't want me to be stuck with that memory for the rest of my life.  This is the first time he's let me see you since it all happened, she said as he turned himself so that he was sitting on the edge of the table.

How long's it been? Logan asked.

About a month, she said.

Damn...

We've been through a hell of a lot bro, trying to bring everyone back.  I'm surprised we were even able to recover a few of 'em they were so bad.

Did they ever find the guys that caused this whole thing? he asked.

Yeah, actually.  It wasn't the sisters like they thought.  It was a guy and his son who were related to the sisters.  They tried to set 'em up to take the fall for everything that happened.  Ally caught 'em and tortured the fuck out of 'em before she brought 'em back to the capitol for Naelen's guys to deal with.  Steph popped back here a couple of days ago and told us that they'd just heard that those two ass holes got a weapon off of one of the guards and killed themselves.  Ally was beyond pissed.  She wanted to have a public execution when it was all over, just to give the people some closure.

Yeah, I'd be pissed too.  So, brother dear...I don't suppose you thought to bring me any clothes, did you? Logan asked as he looked down at himself.

Nah, I figured you guys would wanna get right to it after you woke up, so I didn't bother, Derek said with an amused look.

You know, I totally would, but I'm still pretty tired from all the sedatives, Logan said, pretty much ignoring his brother's little joke.

Tell you what..., Derek said as he opened a portal.  We got all your stuff moved into your new room while you were down.  I'll take you up there, and then you can go ahead and get a shower and stuff.  I think you could probably use some food too, huh?

Yeah, I'm starving.  I guess you just didn't feel like bothering with feeding all of us dead people, did you? he said with a comical sneer.

Well, excuse us for being too busy with bringing your stupid ass back to have the whole event catered, Derek said with a grin.  Come on, let's get you to your room.  Barb was makin' Jarrod and I some food before I brought Darla down here.  I'll have her whip some up for you guys too.  Just come on down when you're ready.

Ok, thanks man, Logan said as he carefully placed his feet on the floor and stood up.

You ok to walk bro? Derek asked.

Here, put your arm over my shoulders, Darla said as she inserted herself under his arm.

Thanks, he said, grateful for the assist, even though he didn't really need it.  Mostly he was just happy to be able to have physical contact with her again.

All right bro, let's get you up there.  Oh, we didn't know where to put all your skin mags either, so we just stuck 'em in your sock drawer with all the crusty socks, Derek said casually.

What do you mean skin mags? Darla asked, giving Logan the stink eye.

Derek, stop being an ass.  I just woke up, Logan said as Derek started laughing.

Sorry.  I'm just messin' with you because I missed ya bro.  It's been too long.  I'm glad we got you moved in here now though, so I can mess with ya any time I want.

Yeah, fun.  Thanks for doing that though.  I really appreciate it.  Hey, what about Mom?  When are you gonna wake her up?

Get yourself cleaned up and lookin' good, and then we'll get Dad over here and wake her up.  I didn't want to wake her up until you were up and around again, otherwise she'd just worry about you and stuff.

I guess she was pretty bad too then, huh? Logan asked.

Yeah, she was.  She was an absolute mess, but she'll be back soon enough.  Let's just get you to your room so you can get cleaned up and dressed, and then we'll get some food into you guys before we wake her up.

Ok, thanks man, Logan said as the three of them all stepped into the portal and disappeared.

*   *   *

That evening, everyone gathered in Naelen's office to give their daily progress reports, and every last one of them looked absolutely exhausted.  The first thing Stephanie did was to get herself a mug of reptilian booze, which she promptly downed in one go.

Things go that well for you today? Savaric asked dryly.

I used to be a fucking accountant for Christ's sake!  Now I'm hip deep in bodies all day long, she said as she pulled another mug of booze and handed it to him.  Here, you look like you could use this."

My dear, your powers of observation are absolutely miraculous.  Unfortunately, I'm in the same situation over on Sub 2, only the bodies have been getting rained on repeatedly, so the smell is absolutely horrendous.  Don't even get me started on all the dead akkelet.  They probably smelled bad to start with, but now that they're dead, breathing around them has become difficult at best.  How are things on Sub 1? he asked, looking over at Giles.

The same...minus the rain, Giles said as he grabbed a couple of mugs and filled them for both Alarwyn and Naelen, before filling one for himself as well.  God, we've gone through half a barrel already.

At least there's plenty more where that came from.  What I wouldn't give to be doing something simple like booze runs right about now, Savaric grumbled.

You and me both, Giles agreed.  Naelen stretched himself out, and then slouched down in his chair.

You know, I've heard tell that there are people questioning why we didn't just bomb 'em all while they were farther away from the capitol, he said through a yawn.

That probably would have been the prudent move, but it would have been absolutely devastating to the surrounding area.  Z-pods will vaporize everything for about three miles and then blow the ever living hell out of everything for about another two miles after that.  Is that something people really wanted us dropping randomly without knowing what was in the surrounding area?  How many people might we have killed simply because we didn't know they were within the blast radius? Savaric asked.

Probably a whole lot less than the number that died because we didn't, Naelen said flatly.  It was a decision that was made when there was very little time to be making such decisions.  It's easy to criticize those decisions in hindsight, but when you're right there in the middle of everything, it's just a judgment call.  Sometimes you make the right call and sometimes you don't.  There's nothing you can do about it after the fact.  You just have to learn from it and move on, as horrible as that sounds.

Is this gonna be a problem? Alarwyn asked.

No, I don't think so.  People are just shaken and hurting right now, so they're looking for someone to blame for their losses.  It's perfectly natural they'd be feeling that way.

The only blame here lies with Lorin and Killean.  I still think we should bring 'em back, just so we can execute 'em both publicly, she said bitterly.

Now now Ally, we talked about that already.  People don't need more death right now.  They need recovery.  They need to feel safe again, Naelen said with a gentle tone.

Yeah, I know.  It just pisses me off that they got off so easy.

Me too, Stephanie agreed.

"I don't know if I'd call what you did to them getting off easy," Naelen said.

Well, they fucking deserved it, Alarwyn grumbled.

Yes, they did.  They absolutely did.  To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of surprised you stopped after only two hours.

I got tired of listening to 'em scream.  It was giving me a headache, she said before taking another sip from her mug.

Ally..., Savaric said quietly.

What?

Can I speak with you alone for a moment? he asked.  She looked at him curiously for just a quick second, wondering what he'd have to say to her that he couldn't say in front of the others.

Ok.

Come on, let's go for a walk.  If you'll all please excuse us...

Yes, of course, Giles said as the pair got up and left the office.  Once they got out into the hallway, Savaric took her by the hand, and they started walking together.  Nothing was said between them until they got out into the courtyard, and had sat themselves down on a bench beneath one of the large trees that was growing there.

So, what'd you want to talk to me about? she asked finally.

Ally...

What?

There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it.

Say what? she asked, growing more and more curious by the second.  He let out a heavy sigh, and then he turned and looked into her eyes as he spoke.

Sweetheart, you're letting your bitterness over this incident consume you.  You have to stop.

Excuse me? she asked indignantly.  Don't I have the right to be bitter over it?

Yes, you do.  You absolutely do, but you can't let it consume you the way you've been doing.

I haven't! she protested.

Yes my darling, you have.  Do you want to know how I know that you have?

How?

Because, I'm very well acquainted with what it's like to have bitterness consume you.  It consumed me for centuries.  I crawled into a bottle and stayed there to try to deal with it, but it accomplished nothing.  No matter how much I drank, I was still bitter about my situation.

What does that have to do with me?  I'm not drinking to deal with it.

"No, but what you're doing is worse.  You're just not yourself anymore.  You're angry all the time now...and believe me sweetheart, I totally understand why.  I'd feel the exact same way if I were you, but it's been a month now since it all happened.  The men who brought about those events are both dead now, and