When he awoke, at last, he found himself lying on the ground, blinking the sun out of his eyes. Sir Estil was hovering over him. "Are you all right? Have you come to your senses?"

Arai slowly sat up. It all came flooding back to him then -- he was on the island of Tapil, looking for Black Roses with Sir Estil. He remembered fighting the moss-man, and then...

He frowned. Had he been dreaming? He must have been. He had seen Maya, and Odo, and Vex, and been inside his father's house, which was long gone. The conversations he had had with his friends hadn't felt like dreams, though; they had felt real.

"What happened?" he asked Sir Estil. He noticed that the knight had a hand on the pommel of his sword.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"The moss-man." He started. "What happened to it? Is it still--"

"It's gone," Sir Estil assured him. "I destroyed it, just as it was about to strike you."

He relaxed. "Oh."

"But you passed out a moment later, and when you woke up you started wandering around, talking nonsense. And then you attacked me."

He blinked. "I...attacked you?"

"I managed to fend you off," he said, "but you were fighting like a man possessed."

Arai climbed to his feet; Sir Estil helped him up. "I was...dreaming," he said. "I dreamed I was fighting Lord Pierce, at the top of Fort Drakness." In his dream, Lord Pierce had been remarkably fast, and had gone out of his way not to hurt him. Was it really Sir Estil he had been fighting? It must have been. But what in the world had gotten into him?

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked the old knight, chagrined at the thought that he had attacked him.

"Not at all," he said. "But we should get out of here. This place is dangerous." He opened his hand, revealing a handful of black flower petals. "I found these while you were passed out."

Arai nodded. "We've got what we've come for, then. Let's go." He was still confused, however. Where had the strange visions come from? Had he really spoken with Illu Matté again? Emi had mentioned that there was some kind of magic on this island that made people lose their minds, but Silus was supposed to protect him from hostile magics, and whatever had happened to him obviously hadn't happened to Sir Estil. It was all very strange.

He followed Sir Estil back to the boat, and a few minutes later they were off, on their way back to Lark. Arai was quiet; he was still trying to make sense of what had happened to him.

"Are you all right?" Sir Estil asked him, after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes," he said. "I think so."

"It must have been some kind of spell," the knight opined. "It confused your senses, made you see things that weren't there."

Arai remembered the strange statue they had seen in the clearing -- the boulder that had been carved in the shape of a monstrous human face. Could it have been some kind of zemi? But if it was, why hadn't Silus protected him from its magic? "Why didn't it affect you?" he asked Sir Estil.

The knight shrugged. "I seem to have a unique ability to resist these kinds of magical assaults -- Valtun's attempts to brainwash me back in the Dolorous failed as well, you'll recall."

"Ah."

Sir Estil looked at him thoughtfully. "What did you see?"

"Lots of things," he said. "I was back in Velon, and married to Maya. I spent a morning splitting wood with my friend Odo. But Maya..." He chewed on his lower lip, trying to recall the details of the dream. "Suddenly she had Lillandra's face. And there was a little boy standing next to her, a boy I didn't recognize. It was strange." He shook his head. "And then I was at the Nightfall, the tower where I fought Lillandra. I spoke to Vex. I fought Lord Pierce at the top of Fort Drakness. And then I saw Illu Matté, the sorcerer-smith who forged Silus. He asked me some questions, and then he told me to wake up."

Sir Estil regarded him seriously. "Visions."

"That's what they felt like, yes. I wonder what they meant."

"Perhaps they didn't mean anything. Perhaps this magical force was simply filling your mind with nonsense."

"Perhaps," he conceded. It hadn't felt like nonsense, though. His meeting with Illu Matté had felt particularly meaningful, and his conversation with Vex...there had been something very strange about that.

"Tell me more," Sir Estil said.

He related to Sir Estil everything he had seen, in greater detail. He also explained how the images had made him feel, though with some trepidation -- the knight was the first person he had ever really opened up to since he had parted company with Odo.

Sir Estil considered all that he had said. After a moment he asked, "How do you feel about this Maya? Are you in love with her?"

"I thought I was," he admitted. "Now I'm not so sure."

"And Lillandra?"

For the first time, he forced himself to confront his feelings. "I don't know. I care about her, certainly. We've been through so much together. But...it's complicated."

"Because she's the Night Queen?"

"Partly. How could I have fallen in love with the woman who brought Velon to the brink of ruin?"

"I thought you didn't blame her for that."

"I don't. But I've been hearing stories about the Night Queen's wickedness my whole life. I spent two years believing she was responsible for my father's death, two years searching for a weapon I might use to kill her. I can't just forget about those things." He sighed. "I feel as though falling in love with her would be like...betraying my father's memory. Like betraying myself, and all that I set out to do. I know things are different now -- I know she's not the monster I thought she was at first --- but still..." He trailed off.

"The heart wants it wants," Sir Estil said. "You can't talk yourself out of falling in love with a woman. Believe me, I know."

Arai gave him a questioning look. The knight caught the look, and smiled sadly. "Yes, I was in love once, a long, long time ago."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Who was she?"

"Princess Rin. King Arthorius' sister."

"...Oh." Arai could see how a love like that might have caused trouble.

"I think she loved me, too," he said, "but I was lowborn, and she was promised to another, besides; our love was doomed from the start. I sometimes toyed with the idea of stealing her away, of taking her to Addis or some other faraway place, where we could be together, but I couldn't bring myself to dishonor her, nor to break the oath I had sworn to her brother. So I stayed away from her."

"What happened to her?"

"She married, of course. She had a family. One of her grandchildren served as my squire for a time." He shrugged. "I'm glad now that I followed my head, rather than my heart, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some regrets. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had chosen a different path." He looked at Arai squarely. "Circumstances kept me away from Rin, but there's nothing keeping you from Lillandra...nothing but your own misgivings."

"And Julien," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Forget it." He hadn't told Sir Estil about Lillandra's plan to resurrect the long-dead swordsman; he wasn't sure the knight would approve. "But don't get ahead of me. I'm not sure of my own feelings yet, and I certainly don't know how Lillandra feels."

"Well, you've both got plenty of time to figure it out. It's a long way to Velon, isn't it?"

* * *

They found Lillandra and Shell waiting for them at the pier, in almost the exact same spot they had left them several hours ago: according to Shell, Lillandra had become utterly despondent after Arai had gone and had refused to leave the shore until he came back. "She's been crying for hours," Shell said wearily.

When she saw Arai, however, her tears dried instantly, and she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him so tightly it hurt. "I'll never let you go again," she said. Arai rolled his eyes.

"Did you find the Black Rose petals?" Shell asked.

Sir Estil showed them to her. "Thank goodness," she said. "It was funny at first, but Arai's right -- this stupid love potion's driven her out of her mind. I can't stand her like this. Let's go fix this, huh?"

They went directly to Emi's shop. "You're back!" the freckled sorceress exclaimed. "That didn't take long. Did you find the petals?"

Sir Estil handed them over, and she went to work immediately, grinding them up with a mortar and pestle, and adding cinnamon, apple juice, a couple of crushed-up beetles, and several other ingredients to the mixture. Every once in a while she stopped and moved her hands above the concoction as though she were kneading an invisible lump of dough; Arai assumed she was manipulating magia.

It took about twenty minutes. When she was done, she poured the mixture into a bottle, stoppered it, shook it up, and poured it into a little glass. "Here you go," she said, offering the drink to Lillandra. "A Drop of Dying Ardor."

Lillandra, who was still clinging to Arai, looked at the drink skeptically. "I don't want it."

"Drink it," Arai said. And then, in a much gentler voice, he added, "Please?"

And that was all it took; Lillandra was so utterly devoted to him that she couldn't help but obey. Although she still looked a little hesitant, she dutifully drank the potion.

She made a face. "It's sour," she complained. She blinked a few times, then began to look faint. This time Arai was ready for it, though, and he was able to catch her before she passed out. When she finally came to, a few moments later, and found Arai holding her, her eyes went wide at the sight of him.

She made a strange sound, a sort of embarrassed eeep!, and without another word, ran out of the shop. "Lillandra!" Arai called after her. He whirled on Emi. "What's wrong? What's happened to her?"

But Emi was not alarmed; in fact she was smiling. "I'd say that's a pretty typical reaction," she said.

"I don't understand."

"You will. Ah, but before I forget..." She went into a back room and returned with a set of potions -- at least a dozen stoppered vials containing a variety of multicolored liquids, arranged within a leather pouch. She handed the potions to Shell. "I checked and double-checked these," she said. "They're all labeled correctly, and I included a set of instructions for proper dosages and so on." She bowed to them all. "I hope you'll find these potions useful, and I hope they'll make up for the trouble I caused you. There's healing potions, truth serums, sleeping aids..."

Arai was too tired and distracted to refuse the gift, and the young sorceress did seem sincere. "Thank you," he said.

She smiled, which dimpled her cheeks. "Thank you," she said, "for shopping at Emi's! Come back anytime!"

* * *

Arai found Lillandra standing outside the shop, her face buried in her hands. When she saw him approach, she began looking around like a frightened animal, searching for an avenue of escape. She refused to speak with him, and she refused to ride with him, as well, after they collected their horses and set out again -- she rode with Sir Estil again, while Shell rode with Arai. Her face was red, and she refused to meet his gaze.

"Did I do something wrong?" Arai wondered. "Did Emi's potion turn her love into hate?"

"I don't think so," Shell said. "I think she's just embarrassed."

"Embarrassed?"

"How would you feel, if I fed you a potion that turned your feelings inside out, that made you act like a lovesick fool and say all kinds of silly things?"

"Embarrassed," he admitted. "But it's not my fault. And it wasn't her fault, either; it was the potion that was making her do those things."

"I'm sure that's what she's telling herself. Don't worry. She'll get over it eventually."

Arai shrugged. The fact that Lillandra was now keeping her distance bothered him a little, but at least she wasn't throwing herself at him anymore.

It was two days before Lillandra finally deigned to speak to him, however. They were camped out on a hillside, on the edge of a great forest, just before dusk; Sir Estil, sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, was playing his flute, while Shell was feeding apples to Duke and Jennie. Arai was sitting by himself, looking up at the gorgeous star-filled sky, when he heard Lillandra approach. She sat down next to him, and without so much as a greeting, said, "I'm sorry."

He blinked at her. "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"I've been avoiding you. I know it's not your fault, but..." Her face was red. "I just...I can't believe I did all those things."

"I understand."

"I'm sure it made you uncomfortable." Then she snorted at herself and said, "Of course it made you uncomfortable. You risked your life on that island, looking for those Black Rose petals, when you could have just let it run its course."

"It did make me uncomfortable," he confessed. "But..."

"Yes?"

He turned to face her. "You kept telling me you loved me. I didn't risk my life on that island because I hated hearing that, or because I found it embarrassing. I did it because I was starting to like it a little too much, and because if it had gone on much longer, I was afraid I might not have been able to...resist the temptation."

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"Well, I am a man," he said, shrugging, "and you're a beautiful young woman. Do you think I have ice in my veins? Do you think I'm made of stone?"

"Beautiful?"

"Anyway, it's all over. I know it was...awkward, for both of us, but I hope we can move past it now."

"Yes," she said, nodding, although she still sounded a little nonplussed by what he had said. "Yes, I'd like that."

"Good." He turned his gaze back up to the starry sky. "It's a lovely night, isn't it?"

"I suppose so." She frowned. "Sir Estil said you had a series of visions while you were on the island."

"Yes. I think it must have been some kind of magical attack...but if it was, why didn't Silus protect me from it?"

"The statue you saw...it looked something like the idols we found on that island in the Phantic Gates?"

"It was similar," he said.

"It may not have been magic you were dealing with, then. It might have been the demon-craft. Some kind of old curse, left over from the Harrowing. Silus wasn't made to defend against the kind of magic demons used...if you can even call their obscenities magic."

"Ah." That made some sense.

She hesitated, then asked, "Did you see me in any of these visions?"

"I saw a lot of people."

"But did you see me?"

"Yes, you were there."

"As the Night Queen?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," she said airily, although Arai suspected there was a little more to it than that.

"You weren't the Night Queen," he said. "You were Lillandra."

That seemed to satisfy her, though he had no idea why. "I see."

He didn't add that she had been his wife in the dream -- well, sort of -- nor did he mention the little boy he had seen. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea. "Well, anyway," he said, rather lamely, "Isn't it about time for bed?"

"I think I'd like to stay up a little longer," she said quietly. "Will you sit with me for a while?"

He nodded slowly. "All right."

And they sat there, together, looking up at the stars, listening to the melancholic tune Sir Estil was playing on his flute. After a few moments, Arai reached out and gently placed his hand over hers.

She didn't acknowledge it -- in fact she didn't even look at him -- but she didn't pull away, either.

And that, Arai decided, was good enough for now.