Kari was seething.  And the worst part was, she had no idea why.  Heka had been acting strangely around her for the better part of two weeks, and her lessons with Yurrnwol’ha had decreased in rigor dramatically.  No one bothered to tell her why.  Perhaps it was because she was exhausted all the time, now.  Every time she woke up from a good ten to twelve hours of sleep, she felt as if she had only had two.  Why was that?  And then there was the nausea.  She couldn’t even look at food without needing to run to the bathroom.  The toilet had practically become her best friend.  She probably spent more time next to it while she was awake than she had since she got the flu three times her senior year in high school.  Surely, she must’ve caught some kind of stomach bug.  But, the doctors who saw her only spoke with Heka and he refused to tell her anything.  Did that mean it was really serious?  Was she going to die?  No, Heka would be a lot more freaked out about whatever it was if she was in any immediate danger of dying.  But, why wouldn’t anyone tell her anything? 

She felt like chucking the pen in her hand across her room as hard as she could.  So, she did.  It hit the wall with a satisfying thump and broke into pieces on the floor.  Sadly, she felt no better.  Yunho’s worry flowing through their bond didn’t help.  She hadn’t seen him in person since that night almost a month ago, but they still met in their shared dream almost every night.  She told him what she thought about what was going on with her, but he seemed to know even less about what could’ve caused her sickness that she did.  He was no help at all.  He did try to offer polite suggestions about food that was good for helping an upset stomach, but she usually just snapped at him and then apologized, wondering why she got so angry at him. 

Well, sitting here staring at a blank sheet of paper was getting her nowhere.  She was so angry that she couldn’t even draw a stick figure correctly.  Sighing, Kari got up, turned out her light, and walked to her window.  Somehow, looking out at the night sky and seeing the thousands of stars twinkling on the black backdrop calmed her.  Well, that and the fact that she could feel Yunho’s presence drawing near.  That was really odd.  Kari was positive that Heka was in the living room and Yunho would never risk coming to see her if he knew Heka was anywhere near her quarters.  Once Heka knew Yunho could break out of his dorm at night, the jig would be up.  They would probably be moved to separate compounds.  Yunho might even be severely punished.  What if they hurt him?  What would happen to Kari if Heka guessed what had happened while he was away?  Did the Tu have any laws about cheating spouses?  She shook her head, trying to clear away the sudden fear that had gripped her heart.  She had to warn Yunho before it was too late.  But how?  The only way they had to communicate over long distances was through their shared dream, and they both had to be asleep for that to work.  Maybe her fear would warn him.  No, most likely that would just make him want to come even more, to try and protect her or save her from whatever was causing her fear.  Panic started rearing its ugly head.  Yunho was practically at their door.  Right on the other side of it, actually.  No, this couldn’t be happening.  Someone had to stop him…from ringing the door bell?  Surely he wouldn’t have rung the doorbell, knowing that Heka must be there.  And, was Heka actually answering the door?  Kari put her ear against her door and listened as hard as she could.  Were they having a conversation?  What were they saying?  She couldn’t make out any words, but it didn’t sound like Heka was upset at Yunho for being there at all.  In fact, he sounded a bit relieved.  Why?  This didn’t make any sense.  Confusion chased away some of her fear.  The rest was banished by a spike of relief from Yunho.  If Yunho was relieved, then surely nothing was going to happen to them. 

Kari backed away from the door as she felt Yunho drawing closer.  There was a knock.

“Enter.”

As the doors opened, Yunho stepped through, blinking in the darkness.  “Kari?  We need to leave, now.”

“Leave?  As in escape?”

Heka stepped into the room.  “Yes.  I’ve arranged for a ship to take you and Yunho back to the Elanari.  From there, they should help you get back to your home planet.”

Kari wasn’t sure she was processing all of this information correctly.  “But why?  I thought you didn’t want to go against the wishes of your grandfather?  What made you decide to help us escape?”

Heka regarded her with a stern look she had never seen before on him.  “You did.  But, we don’t have time to discuss this.  You must leave now, before our window of opportunity closes.  Yunho knows where to go, you’ll be in safe hands with him.  Go.”

At that, Yunho pretty much shuffled her through the door.  He had almost managed to push her through the door leading out of Heka’s quarters when she stopped and turned around to see Heka standing in her doorway, a sad look on his face.  Something in her heart wrenched to see him like that; he looked as if he was at the deathbed of a very good friend.

“Heka, come with us.”

“What?”

“Escape with us.  You can write your poetry or do whatever you want on Filarin.  You don’t have to live under your grandfather’s expectations for you anymore.  You could be free to live your own life.  Please.”

“Kari, I – I can’t.  I mean, I would love to, but my life is here.  My family, my friends, my people.  Everything I’ve ever known.  Besides, I don’t think the Elanari would be very welcoming of a renegade Tu.”

“But –“

“My mind’s made up.  Go, before you run out of time.”  He started to turn away, “Oh, and take care of yourself, okay?”

She barely had time to nod before Yunho pulled her into the darkness of the corridor.  Kari let herself be dragged down the halls of the building housing the quarters of mid-level Tu magickers like Heka, her heart pounding as every shadow seemed like some security guard out to catch them.  Her imagination could really run away with her sometimes.  Though, sometimes it wasn’t just her imagination.  The second time they had to quickly duck into a corner to avoid one of the guards, Kari started to think that getting to wherever they were going would be pretty tough.  With all the security out, she wondered how Yunho had ever made it to her quarters that night almost a month ago.  Why were there so many?  Had someone sounded an alarm?  Did they know that Yunho and Kari were making a run for it?  And besides that, where was Yunho taking her?  He hadn’t said a word to her since they left her room, and although she knew that silence was imperative if they were going to make it to wherever they were going, she couldn’t help but feel more than a little miffed that he hadn’t told her exactly what was going on. 

Yunho led her into the main building in the complex.  It housed most of the classrooms and administrative quarters for the academy.  It was also home to the medical center where Kari had been healed from her time in the general’s hands.  Why would he take her there?  There was nothing that they could use to escape the planet in the main building.  In fact, the academy’s space dock access elevator and landing pads were in the opposite direction. 

The tall hallways were dark at this hour; all the rooms emptied save for the occasional professor’s office, but those were easy to avoid.  Any professor who would be working this late would be absorbed in whatever it is that kept them from their beds and not looking for any trespassers.  They eventually made their way to the medical center.  Its entranceway was dark, but there were always people on hand to handle any emergency that might arise.  If Yunho was going to lead her in there, they would have to tread extremely carefully to avoid detection.  What was he thinking?

After a few close calls, they made it to whatever room they had been trying to reach.  Yunho stopped in front of the closed doors and gently tapped out a code while glancing around to make sure no one was watching.  The doors slid open, flooding the hallway in light for the brief moment it took them to rush inside and push the button to close the doors behind them.  Yunho heaved a sigh in relief.

“You’re cutting it awfully close, Yunho.”  What was Yurrnwol’ha doing here?  And for that matter, what were she and Yunho doing here?  How was this going to help them escape?

“We had to take a few detours to avoid the guards.  And, the goodbyes took a little longer than I expected.”  Yunho glanced at Kari and she felt a sliver of jealousy through their bond.  Was he jealous of Heka?  She shook her head.  They had bigger problems to deal right at the moment; like escaping the Tu homeworld with their lives.

“Well, no matter.  I’ve spoken with her and she has agreed to take you back to Elanari territory.  Though, I imagine that was part of her mission from the beginning.”

“Good.”

Kari couldn’t take being in the dark any longer.  “Wait.  She?  Who is taking us back to the Elanari?  And how are we getting back?  Why did we come here?”

Yurrnwol’ha gave Kari a serious look.  “We really don’t have time to sit here and talk about this.  But, I will tell you this:  the person who will you back to the Elanari is an Elanari herself.  I believe she was sent here to rescue the two of you from us, but was captured during her attempt.  Her ship is being held at the landing pads.  I have had people I trust outfit it with our cloaking technology, adjusted to hide the ship from our sensors.  I’ll let Yunho fill you in on the rest of the details after you have made it safely out of the sensor grid surrounding the planet.”

“Oh.  I have just one more question.”

She sighed.  “What?”

“Why are you helping us?  You’ve only ever tolerated us.  Why stick your neck out for us like this?”

Yurrnwol’ha was silent for a moment.  “I’m not doing it for you.”

Of course.  Yurrnwol’ha was helping them at Heka’s request.  But, Heka had been adamant about Kari resigning herself to her new lot in life.  What had changed his mind? 

At that moment, a very tall, very woman stepped into view.  Her golden eyes made it clear that she was the Elanari Yurrnwol’ha had spoken of.  Nothing marred her golden brown skin except the empty holes on her ridged ears that were obviously used to holding large earrings.  She eyed the two of them for a moment before turning to Yurrnwol’ha and speaking in Elanari.

“And you are sure my jewelry cannot be returned to me.”

“I don’t even know where to begin to look for it.  Believe me, if I had found it, I would have given it to you.”

“Alright.  It is enough that I will return with these two.  If we ever meet again, Tu, I will make sure you are rewarded for your help.”

“Just get them out of here; that’s reward enough for me.”

The Elanari nodded and motioned for Kari and Yunho to follow her. 

“Do you know where we’re going?”  Yunho asked.

“Of course.  I have a bond with my ship and I can feel its presence halfway across the galaxy if need be.”

“Alright then.  Lead the way.”

Her eyes narrowed a little at his tone, but then she was out the doorway and down the hall before Kari even registered that she had taken a step.  She had to practically run to keep up. 

The way to the landing pads was much faster and much more terrifying than the journey to the medical center.  The Elanari woman took no care at all at hiding from guards or even being quiet, though her steps seemed to be naturally muted somehow.  But, for some reason, no one stopped them.  One guard even walked right in front of Kari, but acted as if he saw no one.  That was strange.  By the time they got to the Elanari’s ship, Kari was thoroughly confused and freaked out.  Why had no one stopped them?

The Elanari (she had told them to call her Sae-hantya, though Kari had no idea if that was her name or not) managed to open the hatch and motion for them to climb aboard without raising any alarms.  Kari, with a little help from Yunho, managed to climb into the spherically shaped starship without too much trouble.  They were swiftly followed by Sae-hantya, who shut and sealed the door behind them. 

“You two.  Straight ahead on your right is a door.  Go into the room and strap yourselves into the chairs.  This might be a bumpy ride.  I’ll let you know when it’s safe to unbuckle.”  She then entered a door on the left and shut it behind her.

Yunho shook his head and gently pulled Kari into the room on the right.  There were several chairs with straps, a single table and absolutely nothing else in the room.  There wasn’t even a window or porthole or whatever it was called on a starship.  As soon as she was buckled in, Yunho took the seat next to her and strapped himself down.

“Well, that was probably the longest and most polite thing any Elanari has said to me since this whole thing started.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.  Now, will you tell me what’s going on?” 

Yunho sighed.  “Kari, we really need to talk about something.  So, before we start, let me start by saying that I love you.  Now, there are about to be some very big changes in our life…”