Adara held her hair back from falling into the crystal bowl of sea water before her. She gazed carefully, clearing her mind. It had been many years since the calling ring on her finger had been disturbed, and its fluent magic had all but dissipated. Another means of contact had to be derived, and this seemed the easiest way.

"Nimiane?"

Except for the burning ring on her finger, today may have been the day that Crevan killed Ondrea, the last obstacle standing in the way of her domination of Quildor. Her heart raced. Why had Nimiane contacted her now?

"Nimiane?" She urgently stirred the water with one finger, allowing her Zalez to drift far under the sea where her sister resided, the Queen of her little Council of Ladies..... ha! Queen! 

"Nimiane!" she commanded the stirring water to whirl further down in the little dish she kept it in, till a bottom no longer contained it, and a corridor opened. This is how the sight pool worked, another gift of the planetary magic. Her sister's visage appeared!

"Sebille!"

Adara's eyes blinked at being called her former name.

"Sister!" 

"I have need of your expertise." Nimiane began without preamble.

"Speak." Adara settled herself on her sofa in preparation for this message.

"I took the dragon out yesterday, and it refused to fly. It would not eat or move, or open its eyes. The time has come to take it to land."

Adara remained silent. The advent of this creature upon the planet could be quite fortuitous. What exactly would it heal? Disease?

How powerful was it?

"Do you want me to take it?" Adara asked quietly, finding impatience in her sister's long silence.

"No." Nimiane's eyes narrowed. She wasn't about to give up her gift now. "I want you to let me talk to Ondrea."

Adara's heart froze. Nimiane could never be allowed to speak with Ondrea! What if Nimiane convinced Ondrea to give her the scepter?

Adara stilled her trembling hands around the edge of the bowl she was looking into, closing her eyes momentarily so that Nimiane couldn't see the malice she held. "I can't access her. Only Quildor can."

"That's a lie." Nimiane barked. "I know you have the vial, and can override her energy."

"The- the vial is long used up." Adara squeaked.

"Used up?!" Nimiane's eyes burned. "Mother said it could never be used up! Its potency was limitless, unless.... Unless it's potency like so many other gifts, was meant to be used for the good of all, and not squandered on the power lust of the few." That was a clear accusation, and Adara knew it. The reference was to her own choice to follow Quildor.

Nimiane's eyes swam back into Adara's view, shrewd and knowing. "Sebille! I see your plans. You have become a nemesis to the balance of life here."

"Would you destroy me, sister? No!" 

"You dare me?!" Nimiane's voice rang clearly and Adara saw the swirling water in her bowl suddenly evaporate and become a whirlwind in her room. She threw both arms up to hide her face, a scream torn roughly from her lips.

Adara cowered against the door, trying to open it as Nimiane's countenance filled the whirlwind. She huddled, powerless against the door, unable to turn the handle, unable to take her eyes off Nimiane.

Brightly glowing, her body tightly encased in warrior armor, Nimiane stepped out of the whirlwind into Adara's chamber, her long hair bound in a single silver and black streaked braid. "Sister!" Nimiane pointed at Adara's cowering form, her eyes glittering with her power. She turned and saw Jerrika, in the antechamber. With one deft motion of her hand, Nimiane gathered the remaining whirlwind around her, pulled it tightly into her hand and then hurled it at the window separating her from Jerrika. The heavy glass shattered and fell to the ground as Jerrika and Adara both scurried far away.

"Why have you come back?" Adara squealed in terror.

Nimiane laughed as she settled the whirlwind around her, her bright eyes ricocheted off each and every accouterment Adara had collected in the room, and once again turned to Jerrika, who was now staring at Nimiane, who she knew and trusted.

"I told you, I need to speak with Ondrea! However, since you refused to oblige me and I had to find my own way here, I have decided to take Jerrika back with me." She reached out a slender finger and pointed it at the tight cords that bound Jerrika to the bed.

"Jerrika? Who is Jerrika? This is Taan's daughter, Kara!" Adara was backing toward her antechamber. Seeing her desire to escape, Nimiane pointed a finger at the door barring her sister's way.

"I am Jerrika!" The trembling girl announced, rubbing her arm where the cords had been loosed.

Adara turned terrified eyes on the girl. "But you have the royal markings! I saw them myself! You are Taan's daughter!"

Nimiane laughed. "Where is dear Ondrea?" She whirled and reached for Jerrika's hand. Jerrika stepped through the broken glass, her eyes hopeful as she grasped Nimiane's hand.

"I have spoken with her." Jerrika drew close to Nimiane's side. "She does reside here. She has been teaching me Zalez, and she gave me the illusion of the royal mark so as to pass me off as Taan's daughter."

Nimiane stared in consternation at the younger woman, and then whirled to Adara. "Give me the vial, sister."

Adara looked stunned. "No! I will not!"

Nimiane backhanded the witch, sending her stumbling across the room. She lifted the shell on its stand and picked up the vial that had been Adara's. When Adara sat up, holding her bleeding head, Nimiane loosened the cork on the vial and allowed one tiny drop to explode onto Adara's foot.

"No!" The witch who was her sister screamed and writhed in angry agony. She clutched her foot. "No! Nimiane! No!"

Nimiane laughed harshly. "You thought you could change the balance of power here? You thought you could control Ondrea and the scepter by controlling her daughter?" She glanced at Jerrika whose eyes were round and staring in disbelief.

"This is just a part of my revenge, sister! You are bound! This drop has taken your powers and your abilities!"

"Nimiane! How could you do this to me?"

"I can, and I do! I will yet see my plans fulfilled! One more drop of this vial, and you will be cursed forever."

"Don't do it, sister! Don't! It will kill me!"

The final drop fell and Adara screamed, as Nimiane corked the vial and turned her back. "She is not a part of my plans!" 

"Council Woman, you have killed your own sister? To what end? She was no threat to freeing me!"

Nimiane considered Jerrika. "She is no longer necessary."

Jerrika recoiled at the hatred she saw in Nimiane's eyes. "Why are you here?" She whispered as fear of this new and terrifying woman crowded her already shocked mind.

Nimiane held the vial close to her heart for one instant, and then with a smile, she whirled and left the room.

Jerrika took the two steps that led to the hallway Nimiane had just disappeared down and then turned and ran the opposite way.

****** 

Nimiane easily remembered the way, and she encountered no one as she moved silently down the halls. Accessing Adara's chambers had been easier than she'd expected, and freeing Jerrika even easier, although letting her go to return to Galantyne was perhaps a mistake. Now Jerrika was free to search again.

Never mind that, she thought, knowing she had a very short amount of time to find the scepter and kill Ondrea. Then finding Jerrika again would be no trial.

She was amazed that the planetary magic she'd received and cultivated during her time on the surface years ago still worked so well. She had not used it in the undersea domes. She had studied and experimented with her Zalez gifts and perfected them even more than Adara had.

She leaned against the doorway to Quildor's rooms, and softly she let her mind seep into the passageway, searching for the scepter. What she sensed were guards inside the closest chamber. This meant that Quildor was indeed inside. She knew Quildor was paranoid about intruders. Nimiane closed her eyes and projected mind numbing oblivion into the atmosphere and especially into the minds of the guards nearby. As soon as the threat was gone, she slipped through the door, careful not to disturb the four guards now staring vacantly across the room. She projected intense weariness into their minds and watched as they dropped without alerting anyone.

Staying close to the shadows Nimiane projected a buffer between herself and the natural currents around her, moving undetected toward the inner chamber. Nimiane knew Quildor's personal chambers were even more heavily protected, and she would probably not be able to slide inside unnoticed, but it was very likely that the scepter was hidden outside his sleeping chambers anyway. There was another room, past the sleeping chambers, highly protected, but still penetrable if one knew the correct passageways. Nimiane stopped outside Quildor's doors, leaned her cheek against it, and projected herself into the room.

Her mind caught the relaxed frequencies she remembered from her youth. Quildor's deeply entrenched inner recesses still admitted her while he was in this unaware state. He may have set up traps for this type of invasion, but only a wife would know all the core areas a man might be breached.

Inside his mind, Nimiane found herself in a large and spacious cavern, dark and dry, a green fog permeating the air. It smelled metallic, bitter. She covered her mouth and nose and squinted into the darkness, finding herself on one side of the cavern, away from the side she realized she needed to be on. She edged around the narrow ledge she was on, feeling as if she were being watched, as if Quildor, even asleep, didn't trust anyone and kept himself aware.

Nimiane focused all her energy. She projected a thin layer of light into the gloom and pictured Ondrea's scepter as if she had just seen it yesterday. Soon, a silver gray beam came into focus leading her across the cavern and down a hallway. Inside a room, she saw the scepter lying in a box surrounded by red and black.

Concentrating hard, she failed to recognize the slithering currents of Quildor's awareness.

********