Ondrea sank to the ground. "Jerrika has gone back."

Mathilde sank beside her taking her cold damp hands. "Don't give up hope."

Ondrea's hands were like ice as she allowed Mathilde to hold them. "Besides the fact that all may be lost if she does not bring Avarona and the Ladies to us here, will I ever be allowed to actually see one of my own children?"

"Of course you will, love." Mathilde laid her cheek next to Ondrea's still one, and lowered her eyes. "Don't give up hope. Call to her again."

Ondrea's closed eyes were moving back and forth under her almost transparent lids. "I sense them all, and yet cannot communicate what needs to happen to any of them."

"Please Ondrea, stay focused, don't give up—"

"I know!" Ondrea snapped pulling her hands away and jumping to her feet. "Don't say it again, please, Mathilde, don't say it again. We've come to this with too little too late. Ask the dragon. Is it too late? If they don't come, what will happen?"

Demor was perched on the lid of her jeweled box preening herself. Mathilde went to her and held out her finger. "If they don't revoke their kai they will die or be assimilated by the planet."

Mathilde gasped. "But why? Why Demor?"

"When Talisman allows the air to be healed, it will be toxic to all who have active kai."

"There is still hope." Demor stated calmly.

"What hope? Hope for Jerrika? She is melded to her kai!" Ondrea spat.

"If she were to make it to Carrigah, there will still be that undersea dome for a time. She will be able to breathe that air until a way is found to revoke her kai meld."

"I thought it was irreversible."

Demor blinked rapidly, not saying anything and then finally seemed to nod in understanding. "I have spoken to Talisman and he agrees with Darci and Delfi that Jerrika should get to Carrigah, and she will wait until the way is found. It won't be found until after the toxic air has been Cleansed. She should get to safety soon. Talisman says it is but hours away."

Ondrea pummeled the ground with her fist. "Jerrika! Jerrika! Come to me! Come here, now!"

"I can't mother! Kahlest and the Aerie are in trouble! The war has started! I must help!"

"You have to believe me, you can't help. Please come to me."

"I can't leave them to die!"

"They stand a better chance than you do, my child! Turn back. Come here to me."

She felt the rebellion inside Jerrika as she weighed the pros and cons and finally negated her mother's warnings, and flew on.

Demor cocked her head to one side. "You are strong Ondrea Aquaria Taan, call on your other daughters."

"Avarona! Avarona!" Ondrea pleaded into the stillness as the wind picked up around her. 

"Yes, Mother! I am in the fortress. We are not able to leave here!"

"Avarona, you must leave! Do whatever you have to do. Take as a many as will come  and get out."

"Pellanor has been quarantined, Mother! How can I leave her?"

"Oh, Avarona! Oh no! Is she quarantined because of the plague? Is the entire fortress under quarantine?"

"I'm not sure, Mother, give me some time. I will find out. If I can get out with the Ladies, I will."

Ondrea turned her face toward the east as if she could see without eyes into the minds of her two children by Taan. The way was obscure, both of them were wispy and indistinct. A sense of distraction overcame her and she fell back against the sand in exhaustion. "I am just not up for it, Demor. I can't reach them."

Demor was about to answer when Ondrea sensed another probe enter her. The tendrils of wonder and doubt pushed into her consciousness little by little until full frontal access met her Zalez. She held her breath without realizing it and waited as the probe moved through her consciousness searching.

"Where is Kara?" Came a strong male mind voice, a voice well acquainted with Zalez.

"I don't know." She answered truthfully.

"Somehow you must know. She is alive, isn't she? She is acting of her own volition. Give me your thoughts, Ondrea, give me your ability so I can find her."

Fear coursed through Ondrea's mind in great waves. "Who are you?" For a split second a very familiar signature was making its way into her mind. The voice was distinctly male, yet the feeling was familiar in more ways than one. On one side of her thoughts, the memory of a Lady intruded, on the other side the clever ambition and determination of a man she had once admired. Ondrea gasped.

"I am Rion Etrusia." His powerful mind linked to hers. He knew who she was, knew her relationship to Kara.

"You are the son of Quildor and Nimiane!" 

Ondrea burst into his Zalez, searching for sabotage. She found that Rion's one goal was to reach Kara because he loved her. That was all. His next goal, was to kill Quildor, and secure the healing of the planet so he could live with Kara and not be subject to anyone's tyranny.

Ondrea opened her mind to one even more skilled. She let him use her to channel her link to her daughter. 

Kara. He found Kara.

*****

She swam against the current until her breath gave out and then pushing into the deeper crevices, she melded with the mountain and found herself in a tunnel near the river. She rested against the living rock wall, feeling the trembles and rolling from deep inside. 

The air inside the mountain was putrid like something had died. Sentinel was about to die! Talisman was right, the healing was taking place, and none of them were ready! She took several large breaths and melded back through the mountain into the river, frantically pulling and pushing along toward the center core.

She supposed as the end of one's life approached, different events and recollections would fill one's consciousness as an inventory or balm. She had not thought to die this day, but then, she had almost died several times and had not thought any of them were her last moments either. 

She pictured her brother, Galantyne, his eyes, merry and jovial, as they danced at a festival, or as they competed in archery with Korlon on the training field. Oh, how she loved him! She saw him through the eyes of a little girl, swinging her high into the air, letting her go so that she flew, and then catching her against him, laughing. She saw him sitting at a desk, sparse and fundamental, studying, and she, over his shoulder as he explained the history, the twisted desperation that fueled both of their compulsion to save the people. She ached with his overwhelming belief. There was no one like Galantyne.

Further through the dark cold passages, she swam as hard as she could, pushing deeper, closer and closer to the core, hoping she'd know what to do when she got to it. Her held breath threatened to black her out and she melded with the mountain and breathed it's deeply musty air. 

Heat blasted her as she staggered against the walls dripping and splashing in the darkness. She held to the rock tunnel and felt the molten energy readying itself to spew forth through the large passageways that would lead to the outside. There were miles of tunnels, Kara realized, this might not be the only outlet. 

She dove back through the walls into the river and this time thought of Rion as she swam with determination further and deeper until she came to a darkly lit luminary fork in the ways, and the brine of salty sea met the fresh water of Sentinel. There were natural barriers if she could but move them, larger rolling stones that would cover the passageways. She had to direct the water to this passageway only. 

She pressed against the wall to meld once more and found to her horror that the other side of this wall was the sea. That was what Talisman had been telling her. She had to let the sea in, and let it fill the bowl. First, plug up the feeding tubes to the mountain, and then open the sea portal. There was no place to meld, her lungs felt like they were on fire, and her vision began to find bright stars. She knew she had only seconds.

Kara used her legs to push the stone that would block off the tunnels. Pain seared her as the stone budged ever so slowly. She pushed against it, levering herself between the wall and the stone. 

If only she could be with Rion! His power with hers combined would be enough! She remembered how it had felt before, even when it was barely a concept for either of them.

"Rion!" she thought frantically. "Rion I can't move it against the current! I'm going to pass out, and if I do I will drown! My love! I can't fail!" Her mind voice pleaded for help from the one person who had helped her before. 

"Kara!" His essence rushed to her over the Zalez waves in her mind. His presence filled her with ecstasy and she wanted nothing more than to twine around him in her Zalez and revel in the glory of being reunited even if only in this way. She could feel his inner presence touch in her mind, his stalwart security, his love for her. And suddenly she felt his arms as if they were hers, and the stone went sliding along its track into place cutting off the waterway. She turned to the wall where the sea water ran behind, feeling the shaking of massive currents, thousands of pounds of crushing hydro. She knew she'd be killed in an instant when the water surged into this tunnel. Swirling bubbles forged cracks in the rock under her questing hand.

"Help me again!" 

"Kara! You will die!"

"I know, but it will save so many lives, it must be done and I am the only one to do it! Rion! I love you! You know that! I love you!"

She felt his powerful mind trying to find a way to free the life-giving water as well as preserve her life, he raced ahead of her along alternative pathways, but each one brought him face to face with her imminent death. His excruciating denial met her frantic pulling of rock as she found the identical stone that would roll away from the wall and allow the sea water access.

"Help me, Rion! It's the only way!"

"Kara! No!" She felt him surge into her weaker muscles and shove with all their combined strength to remove the rock barrier. It had to be done, she knew she was about to lose consciousness. Her arms felt lifeless, she heard the rushing of mighty currents forcing their way through. Huge chunks of rock dislodged, flew past her, missed crushing her by inches. It was too dark to truly see, and her eyes were blinded by white spots anyway.

"No, Kara! Don't give up! Let it carry you to the surface! Go, Kara!"

It was too late to form coherent thoughts and she was vaguely glad she'd managed to move the stone barrier. In just a few seconds the water itself would remove any last vestiges of rock, and she would be hit full force with its surging weight. What little air she had left trickled out of her mouth and she drifted, floating in a sea of barely conscious swirls. She no longer felt her limbs or the coldness of the water. 

Death was imminent.

 At least she had said good-bye to her love.

*****