With Ansel's pendant in their possession, the group returned to the shrine of the Sky spirits. As far as Kress was concerned, the process to join this piece with the others went a lot smoother than previous ones, but that may have been only because of Rolan's ability. It was better not to think too much of how bad off he might be in reality.

In any case, they had more pressing matters to deal with. The blue light disappeared as usual...and absolutely nothing else happened.

Lucas's expression was heartbreaking to watch. "Why..?"

Kress looked away. "I'm sorry..:"

"Let's get back and think this over at my place," Rolan intervened. "I'm sure that Kress needs to rest."

Rest was not what he had foremost on his mind, but he nodded anyway. He didn't want to stay here either.

~*~*~

"What do we do now?" Mrei asked once they had settled down in the living room.

"I don't know." Lucas leaned his head on his hands, feeling tired and defeated. "I thought for sure that -something- would happen. It can't all be a dead end, not now."

Rolan laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "I want to find them too. Do you have any clues at all?"

"Not really..." Lucas tried to think of anything he might have learned this far. "Kress did say that if they took mother because she was so open in the worship of the Sky spirits, she's probably in some...rehabilitation facility."

Rolan turned to look at Kress. "Do you know which one?"

The boy bit his lip, his eyes closing.

"Kress? Are you in pain?"

"Not any more than usual. But..." He was starting to tremble. Why hadn't he kept his distance? Why hadn't he learned his lesson?

"What is it?"

"Please don't hate me for this..."

"What?" Lucas moved closer. "I would never hate you. We're friends."

"No, you don't understand..." Kress drew in a shuddering breath, fighting back the tears. "I lied to you. I..."

"Take a deep breath, Kress, and calm down," Rolan instructed him. "Whatever it is you want to say, take your time."

Kress's hand closed on the almost-completed pendant. "Lucas, the pendant I had when we first met...it was your mother's."

Lucas was too stunned to say anything at first. Finally he managed to choke out, "What are you talking about?"

"She was locked in that room with me for months. She would talk with me - tell about her people and their beliefs -, comfort me like she were my mother when I was in pain after the experiments. Even when she was suffering just as much as I was. I...I loved her. And she died in my arms."

Now the tears falling down Kress's cheeks were mirrored on Lucas's. Mother...was dead? Had his quest been for nothing all along? "What about my sister? Do you know what happened to Leyla?"

Kress shook his head. "No, I don't. Only that she wasn't there. I saw several heathens, but not a girl even remotely of age to be Romi's daughter."

Rolan cleared his throat. "I understand this is hard for the both of you - it is hard for me too -, but if Romi's key isn't what we're missing, then who has the last piece?" On some level he had given up on ever seeing his sister again in this world a long time ago. Lucas's quest had sparked some tiny hope again, but...he wasn't as shocked as he thought he would have been over Kress's confession. "Don't you think she would have also wanted us to open the path to the land beyond the clouds?"

Lucas nodded and wiped his tears. "Yeah. Mother was always praying for that."

Kress shook his head again, biting his lower lip not to break down completely. "Don't look at me. If your spirits really want us to find the last piece, they need to give us some concrete sign where it is. I don't have any mystical knowledge."

Rolan leaned back, casting his eyes to the ceiling. "Eh, so we really are stuck..."

Just then the front door was forcefully pushed open and a middle-aged, blonde woman burst in, looking around frantically until her eyes fell on Mrei.

"Mrei!" She hugged the girl fiercely. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Tamaris..." She was happy to see her nurse too, but what was she doing here? "How did you find me?"

Tamaris quickly pulled back a little. "That doesn't matter. Let's go back home. Your father is very worried about you too. And...he might not have long to live anymore. He wants to see you."

Mrei's mouth opened once in shock and she had to fight back tears. "No, I can't. We're so close! We will find the land beyond the clouds -and- a cure for daddy."

She turned to Kress. "Show her please! It's almost complete!"

Kress slowly stood up and inched back.

"Kress, what's wrong?" Mrei asked.

"Nothing with me. Something is wrong with her." He couldn't name what it was, but something was resonating like it had not when they had escaped from Delavia.

She looked at Tamaris in confusion. The woman had always been there for her. There was no way she was dangerous or anything. "What?"

Suddenly Tamaris dropped to one knee. "I'm sorry, young highness. I should have known the messenger would be able to tell."

Mrei reached for Lucas's - who had moved to her side - hand for safety. She was scared. "What are you sorry for? You're like a mother to me..."

"You are the heir to the sixth clan of the sky people, princess Mrei. My mother and grandmother and her mother all the way to the fall from Tavali - the place people now call 'land beyond the clouds' - have been your line's guardians from the shadows."

None of the occupants of the room could believe their ears.

"No, that can't be right," Mrei protested. "It's Lucas's people who are descended from sky people, right?"

"Your ancestor, the Dawn King, did not want the truth to be known. He took advantage of the technological knowledge left by our forefathers to build his great kingdom, yet wished to hide where that knowledge came from. But we who watch over you never forgot," Tamaris explained.

"Then why do we treat heathens the way we do?" Mrei asked. Before meeting Lucas she had never even thought how the Skyfall tribe was portrayed in the kingdom, down to the media shown to small children, but after talking with so many of them she had come to understand that what she had always been taught might not have been the entire truth at all. "If we're all descendants of the sky people, why is there so much hate just under the surface?"

"That's-" Tamaris started, but was interrupted by more people entering the room. Three soldiers wearing the kingdom's uniform and...chancellor Varlon. She quickly moved to shield Mrei with her own body.

"Looks like everybody I was looking for is here," Varlon commented, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.

"Chancellor Varlon, what are you doing here?" Mrei asked. "If my father ordered you to find me, go tell him that I will be back soon."

"It's not you I'm interested in, princess."

"You are -not- taking Lucas or Kress!"

"Oh? And how are you going to stop me?" Varlon drew a solar gun from his belt and tapped it against his other hand. "A little girl like you?"

Mrei was stunned. And then she was feeling mad. "I'm the heir to the throne and you are supposed to do what I say!"

"Some heir to help criminals escape and run away without a word to anyone. But no matter, I no longer need to deal with your childish whims."

Mrei looked like she'd start yelling at Varlon from the bottom of her lungs any moment. She didn't understand anything anymore and she hated it!

"Please just let me take princess Mrei and leave. We'll never come back to Delavia," Tamaris pleaded.

Suddenly Varlon pointed his gun at her and pulled the trigger. A beam of intense light hit her square in the chest. Tamaris fell back.

Mrei screamed and buried her face in Lucas's shirt.

"Stop your wailing, princess," Varlon stated coldly. "Solar guns are only lethal instantly when shot to head. Without medical treatment it's only a matter of time, though."

"Why?!" Mrei yelled at him.

"Because I no longer need her. And I can't stand people who are happy to be the shadows for their entire lives. It's my turn to bask in the spotlight and rule this continent." He looked at Kress. "Now..."messenger". Will you take me to the land beyond the clouds?"

Kress eyed him in a very, very hostile way. "Impossible without the last piece."

Varlon chuckled. Then he took a pendant just like the others out of his pocket and tossed it to the floor at Kress's feet. "Was that all?" He waved his gun to Rolan's direction. "Or do you need more persuasion?"

"The Sky spirits will never allow you to set a foot to their sacred land," Rolan warned in low voice.

"Sky spirits? Bah! Do you seriously expect me to believe that garbage, heathen? Tavali was a nation of unrivaled technology. There never were any spirits!"

"They have guided us for generations through their legacy. They sent the messenger for us. How can anyone claim they don't exist?"

Varlon flipped back the tiny switch in his gun to charge it for another shot and took aim at Rolan. "Then tell me...If I pull the trigger now, will your spirits save you?"

"Stop it!" Kress snapped, his voice pained. "Please. No more death. I'll do what you say."

"That's a good boy." Varlon nodded to the soldiers accompanying him, "Take the kids to the airship. And...Tamaris too. Better to take her along."

"But...but..." Mrei couldn't help stammering. Tamaris needed hospital care!

"Once we reach the 'land beyond the clouds', we should be able to locate your 'miracle cure' soon enough," Varlon said. "She'll be fine if you all cooperate." And if they didn't find it, it wasn't really his problem. Whether or not Tamaris lived didn't matter anymore.

One of the soldiers herded the three children to the direction of the rope ladder leading to the airship hovering just a little above the roofs of the houses, while another helped Tamaris walk to another group of soldiers waiting there. The last one kept a careful eye on Rolan, her gun trained on him all the time.

Chancellor Varlon stopped in front of Nassa. "Thank you for your assistance. I will also fulfill my part."

"Mother?!" Rolan exclaimed, shocked. "How could you? To betray our people and the spirits this way..."

"What have the spirits actually done for us?" the old woman asked, her voice bitter. "The king's soldiers took my daughter and granddaughter. My husband died. And the spirits did nothing."

"We can't expect them to solve all our problems. We have to stand on our own feet."

"My dear son, that's what I'm doing. The chancellor promised to return Leyla to us if I only provided information about the messenger's actions."

"Leyla is alive?" Lucas asked, surprise and hope clashing in his heart.

"She has been in a rehabilitation facility in Aselan for a few years now," Varlon commented. "Once I'm back in Delavia, I will see her released and returned home." He added to the soldiers, "Hurry up. Get those kids in."

"No, you can't just take Lucas!" Nassa protested. She had never intended to trade one grandchild for another. All she had wanted was the remaining members of her family with her on her last years - upon learning about Leyla's whereabouts she simply hadn't been able to choose a land of myths over that, but never had she thought she'd lose Lucas.

"If all goes well, I will return him soon enough. Right now he's too closely connected to Kress." He didn't think the boy cared about Tamaris in the slightest and Mrei's pleas might not be enough, so he needed some kind of ace in his hand. Someone Kress loved - whether it was for the heathen boy himself or his mother - was perfect.

Of course there was also Mrei, whom Kress seemed attached to, but personally Varlon wasn't sure if he could bring himself to directly harm the princess. Her spoiled ignorance may have annoyed him at times, but he had still watched over her almost all her life.

"Wait," Rolan said. "The key isn't complete yet. The messenger must take the pieces to the shrine of the Sky spirits first."

"Is that so?" Varlon asked.

"I have no reason to lie." He didn't know what would happen once the key was complete, but he was hoping it would be something in their favor.

"Don't you? Perhaps you're hoping to stall for time?" Varlon turned to Mrei. "Is it true, princess? Don't forget that every moment we delay might be the last for your dear nurse."

"It's true," Mrei quickly said. "That's what we've done with all the other pieces."

Varlon gestured to Rolan. "Then by all means, lead the way."

Rolan showed them the way to the shrine in silence. If he ran, he could easily lose them in the winding tunnels, but that would leave the kids with them. And there were more soldiers - a lot more - outside. Ones who could burn his entire hometown if they so wished.