A/N:  I'm soooo sorry that I haven't posted in a such a long time.  Grad school is taking up ALL of my time.  Anyway, I'll post as often as I can.  But, between teaching two classes, working as a tutor, and taking three grad classes, I'm so busy that I dream about having enough time to finish my homework.  But, enough whining from me.  This chapter was rather fun to write, so I hope you guys enjoy!!!! ;)

“I’m telling you, I haven’t felt anything since that first day.  Maybe we should try a different approach.”  Yunho sat cross-legged on the floor of the living area of the only place on the Elanari ship that didn’t make him nauseous.  He had been trying, unsuccessfully, to feel the bond between himself and Kari for the last two weeks and was beginning to think that it wasn’t there at all. 

Reina, who sat across from him, sighed for the umpteenth time that day.  “Yunho, don’t give up hope.  I promise you that the bond is there, you just need to find it again.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”  Yunho’s negative attitude surprised even himself.  He wasn’t usually this pessimistic about anything, but lack of sleep combined with his loneliness and frustration to put him in a really bad mood.  He hadn’t slept more than an hour every night for two weeks, and he had spent every hour he was awake searching his mind for the bond.  If he could only sense where Kari was, then they wouldn’t have to guess what direction to go to find her.  They might’ve even caught up to the Tu by then.  But no.  He couldn’t sense anything, and the Elanari suffered his presence on the ship with an arrogant resignation.  Luckily for him, the Elanari didn’t like to spend time with ‘lesser lifeforms’, so they hardly ever came to the quarters he shared with Reina.  Yunho began to dislike the Elanari more and more every day he spent with them.  They were arrogant, self-centered, and he got the impression that the only reason they wanted to get Kari back was to keep their precious treaty intact.  Though, how Kari getting kidnapped interfered with the treaty, he couldn’t even begin to guess. 

“Maybe it’s time for a break.”  Reina struggled to stand and, when she finally did, stretched and sighed.  “That feels better.  I hate sitting like that for too long.”  She looked down at him.  He hadn’t moved at all.  “Aren’t you going to take a break?”

“No.”

“It’s not good for you or the bond to keep pushing yourself like this all the time.  You need sleep and food.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “Food first, then sleep.  We’ll try again after you’ve rested for no less than 10 hours.”

“I don’t need to rest, I need to sense this bond so I can find my wife.”

“And I admire your dedication, but I’m afraid that by pushing yourself so hard, you’ll damage the bond.  Then we might never find her.”

That got Yunho’s full attention.  “Is that possible?”

“Yes.  Especially since you were unable to make the full connection.  The fact that you haven’t been able to speak in your dreams since the first contact speaks to that.”

Yunho closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands.  He would listen to Reina.  After all, he could risk losing the bond; even if he was only half convinced it was there in the first place.  After a moment, he smelled food.  Reina must’ve requested one of the Elanari to bring them something.  She set a steaming bowl of broth in front of him. 

“Here, drink this.” 

He took a sip.  It was flavorful, rich even, but it tasted bland to him.  For that matter, all food seemed tasteless ever since Kari was taken.  He ate because he had to, but food no longer held any appeal for him. 

Reina let him finish the broth in peace before handing him a piece of warm bread.  “Eat this, then go to bed.  You can try again in the morning.”

Resigned and tired, he did as he was told.  As soon as the door to his room closed behind him, he stripped down to his boxers and climbed into the much too spacious bed.  the empty sheets beside him, Yunho thought of Kari.  He hadn’t seen her since the dream two weeks ago.  But, then again, he had only tried searching for the bond under Reina’s gentle but strict guidance.  Maybe he should try now, by himself.  He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of everything except his memories of Kari.  It wasn’t hard to do.  Ever since she had been taken, Yunho had thought of nothing else.  If he tried to focus on something else, like food or the Elanari or his surroundings, his mind kept bringing up memories of Kari or started wondering what she was doing at that exact moment.  He literally could think of nothing else.  It was as if something kept bringing her to the forefront of his mind, regardless of whether or not he wanted to think of her.  And, over the past two weeks, he would’ve welcomed anything that would distract him from thoughts of Kari, if only just for a moment.  He sat up suddenly.  What if that was it?  What if his bond with Kari wasn’t quite what he was looking for?  What if the bond had been subtly pushing her into his thoughts, not letting him focus on anything else?  Maybe that was the key.  Maybe the bond wasn’t some inner compass pointing the way to her, but something a little more understated:  a feeling, intuition.  Maybe he had been looking for something that was already found, just not in the way he thought should be. 

Excited, Yunho threw off the covers and started to dress to go tell Reina what he had figured out.  As he was pulling his pants on, he stopped.  It occurred to him that this might be his chance to see Kari again.  What if he lost this feeling of understanding before he tried to sleep again?  What if this was his only chance to dream of Kari?  He put his clothes down and got back into bed.  He would tell Reina in the morning.  If his idea worked, that is.

When Kari opened her eyes and saw the grey fog for the first time in two weeks, she quite literally jumped for joy.  This was the very same dream world where she had last seen Yunho, when he made the promise to find her again.  After two weeks of waiting and wondering, she was ecstatic that she would finally see her husband again. 

A shadow appeared in the fog almost directly in front of her.  It was Yunho.

“Kari?”

“Yunho!  I’m here.”

She heard his sigh of relief.  “I’m so glad it worked.  I didn’t know if it would or not.”

“What worked?”

“The bond, I think I made a break-through on it.”

“Really?  Does that mean we can meet in our dreams whenever we want?”

“I think so.  I wish I could actually see you, though.  Seeing your silhouette in the fog just isn’t the same.”

“I wish I could see you, too.”  Or touch him.  She tried to take a step closer, to close the distance between them, but couldn’t move her legs.  What was wrong?  She had been able to jump earlier.  Why was it different now?  “Why can’t I move my legs?”

“What?  You can’t move?”  He sounded a little shocked.  “But, I can.”  He took a step closer to her.  They were so close that if she moved an inch in his direction, they would be touching.  If she could move, that is.  She could, however, see the details of his face.  That was much better than before.

“Why didn’t you do that earlier?”  Kari knew she sounded whiny, but she didn’t really care at the moment.  She didn’t think Yunho did either.

“I…I didn’t think about it.  It’s like the dream is fighting me, not letting me think clearly.” 

“Well, I can’t move my legs.  But, you can walk.  Can you move your arms?”  His answer was to reach up and cup her face in his hands.  The moment he touched her, the fog was gone.  It didn’t dissipate; it was simply gone, like it had never been there to begin with.  In its place was their bedroom, sunlight streaming in through the windows.  Yunho looked around, his hands still on her face. 

“That’s strange.”

Kari would’ve shrugged, normally, but she couldn’t really think straight with him touching her.  “It’s a dream.”

Yunho’s eyes met hers.  “It feels real.” 

The look in his eyes made her blush and a warm feeling spread throughout her body.  It felt real, alright.  His hands slid down her neck and arms, then wrapped around her, pulling her into him.  It definitely felt real.   Their lips met and Kari found herself lost in a wondrous world of wonderful sensations.  She wrapped her arms around Yunho’s neck, in part because she wanted to and in part because she could no longer stand without help.  She was so lost in the kiss that she didn’t even realize they had been backing up until she felt her back hit the bed.  Then, Yunho was on top of her and any remaining thoughts in her head vanished. 

BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP

Kari pulled back from the kiss.  “What was that sound?”

Yunho looked really confused.  “What sound?”

BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.

The dream began to fade.  Something or someone was trying to wake her up.  No.  She didn’t want to leave.  She couldn’t leave now!  But, she couldn’t hold on to the dream any longer.

Kari awoke to red lights flashing and an awful beeping noise filling the quarters she was forced to share with her rather unwilling captor.  Heka was tucking in the shirt of his uniform without his usual carefulness.

“What’s going on?”

“Kari.  Good, you’re awake.  Get dressed.  There’s an Elanari ship that’s been spotted on the long-range scanners.  We’ve been requested on the bridge.”

“We?”

“Yes, we.”  He gave her a strange look.  “I don’t know why, but for some reason they want you there, too.”  He walked over to the door.  “I need to take care of something before I go to the bridge.  You know the way, I’ll meet you there.”  With that, he left.

Kari looked around at the flashing lights.  The annoying beeping sound finally stopped, but the lights showed no sign of stopping.  She sighed.  Just when she had finally seen Yunho again, things had to go wrong and rip her away from him.  And what timing!  She blushed, thinking about what had been going on before they were so rudely interrupted by the alarm.  She shook her head.  This was no time to be thinking about that.  As she stood to change into her day clothes, she noticed something different.  There was something in the back of her mind that hadn’t been there before:  a little knot of feelings and emotions that weren’t her own.  It felt magical in nature, and yet, at the same time, not.  She probed it carefully with her magic.  Suddenly, she knew whose emotions she was feeling:  Yunho’s!  She could actually sense his emotions and where he was.  He was on that ship that was following them.  And, she could point to it.  This was absolutely amazing!  She wondered if he could feel her emotions, too.  Maybe it worked both ways. 

She shook her head and dressed hurriedly.  The Tu would send someone to come looking for her if she didn’t show up at the bridge soon.  She wished she could just spend some time exploring the bond, finding out exactly what she could do with it.  Could she sense everything about Yunho?  His thoughts?  Could she see through his eyes?  She would have to think about it later. 

The way to the bridge was pretty clearly marked.  She could have found it, even without studying the schematics of the ship as she had since she had been there.  Heka had beaten her there, though not by much, apparently.  He was walking in as she rounded the last corner on her chosen path.  The general in command of a significant portion of the Tu’s military forces and the majority of his council turned to stare at her as she walked in.  The doors closing behind her sounded like a prison door.  Oh joy.  I can already tell that this is going to be a wonderful meeting.

“Kari.  Come.”  The general motioned for her to stand closer to his captain’s chair.  “We wish to ask you a few questions about the Elanari ship that has just come into scanning range.”  Yep.  A wonderful meeting, indeed.