The throbbing pain in Corvan’s head increased as a light came on overhead and shone directly into his eyes. He was laying on his back on the floor of a round room; a much smaller version of the prison cell where he had first met Tyreth and Morgan.

Twisting his head to one side, he located the door, just before it slid opened and a figure in white appeared. Tyreth? He blinked hard to clear his vision. No, it was Kate! She was calling to him and holding out the glowing medallion. Relief swept through him. Tsarek was wrong. She hadn't taken the medallion to the evil master after all. Corvan tried to call out to her but instead she faded away, along with the overhead light.

"He's coming around." A girl's voice echoed in a large room, as if he were inside the stone church in Fenwood.

"I'll get word to our guardian." A second voice responded from somewhere across an open space.

Corvan managed to open his eyes. High above, a curved dome with painted faces stared down at him, but it wasn’t the Kadir library; this ceiling was clean without any trace of dirt and smoke. Although the paintings were not as detailed as the ones in Kadir, the faces were kinder, less angry. This must be the library where his father had given the message to Gavyn.

He tried to move but his arms and legs were tightly bound to a hard surface. Lumps beneath his back reassured him that he still had his grandfather’s pack on. They obviously had not searched him.

Tipping his head back, he winced as a lump on the side of his head pushed against the restraints. A pleasant face appeared upside down above him. A girl with the greenest eyes Corvan had ever seen. She glanced over her shoulder, then bent lower and laid a hand on his cheek. "I'm so sorry Leena hit you so hard but you scared us when you were thrashing about and making that awful sound."

Footsteps approached and the green-eyed girl stood to attention. Corvan shifted his body to get a better view, but the ropes dug into his wrists.

An elegant woman with long white hair and wearing a flowing dress, stepped in next to him. Her smooth skin was that of a young girl, but her eyes betrayed an aged sadness. Pushing his left hand open she examined each fingernail, then lifted up the sleeve of his robe and probed his forearm. "Stick out your tongue." Her voice was soft, but it carried the weight of a command and Corvan obeyed without hesitation. She tilted his head forward and gently felt along the bump above his ear.

"Unbind him. He is no danger to us now," she said, then placed her hand on Corvan's forehead. "Give the boy something to eat and drink, and when he is able to walk, bring him to my garden." She left his side, crossed the room, and engaged in a whispered conversation with someone else before leaving.

The green-eyed girl jumped to his side and quickly untied the cords. Corvan lay still and measured his remaining lumien strength. The white-haired woman was right. He was no danger to anyone. There was barely enough lumien energy in him to keep his heart pumping.

"You can sit up now," the girl said, taking his arm and helping him forward.

Corvan pushed himself up on the edge of the table. The room tilted crazily around him and he closed his eyes. Hands grabbed him from both sides.

"She hit him too hard." Another girl spoke. Her husky voice carried her annoyance well.

"I told him it wasn't our fault,” the grey-eyed girl whispered. “Leena takes things too far. She’s always so serious."

"Help me carry him to a bench,” the husky voice replied.

Corvan was whisked across the room, his feet barely touching the ground. The dizziness was passing and when he opened his eyes, they were helping him sit on cushioned bench set in an alcove along the wall. He tried to talk but his dry throat would not let the words out.

"Here." The green-eyed girl offered him a leather-like sack that sloshed in her hands. "Drink from my flask." Pulling a cork from the narrow end, she held it up to his mouth. He didn’t like that it tasted like the purple fruit Atiya had given him, but he drank deeply before giving it back. She smiled at him as she twisted the stopper back in place.

"Thank you." he croaked.

The other girl pushed onto the bench beside him. It was the short girl from the power station, and it looked like she was strong enough to have carried him to the bench by herself. Taking a packet from inside her tunic pocket she unwrapped the end and held it out. "Try some of this." It was the shape and color of a thin hamburger patty but tasted like raisins. He bit off a larger piece and the girl smiled broadly. "It's one of my favorites too."

The green-eyed girl squeezed in on the other side of the short bench. "Would you like another drink?" Corvan nodded and took the flask from her hand. As he tipped his head back to drink, he caught sight of the tall girl name Leena he had seen both at the falls and the power station, striding towards him with the handle of her short sword cupped firmly in her hand. The girls on either side of him jumped to their feet as Leena stepped in front of the bench.

"Our guardian will see him now,” she stated flatly. “You two can return to your quarters."

"He's still a little dizzy, Leena," the stocky girl replied. "He might need our help to walk all the way to her garden."

"If he falls, I can get him back on his feet." She patted the hilt of her sword.

Corvan held out the drink to the green-eyed girl, but she shook her head. "You can keep it for now. I'll get it back from you later." She smiled at him and stepped away.

The shorter girl pushed another wrapped cake into his hand. "Please take this with you. I find one is never enough."

The tall girl only shook her head and gestured firmly for the others to move along. As they left the green-eyed one giggled and gave a final small wave before they turned the corner.

"Ignore the behavior of my companions," Leena said tersely. "They have never been around a male of your age." She motioned for him to follow and turned on her heel.

Corvan pushed himself off the bench and followed her across the marble floor. He wasn't dizzy but his head still ached. "There are no men here?"

She didn't look back. "Men, yes. Boys like you, no."

Corvan fell back a step and looked at his feet. He still had the special slippers on, but they had taken away the tunic of the Sister's that Atiya gave him, along with the sword. He checked around his neck and was relieved to find the medallion Madam Toreg had asked him to take to Tyreth was still safe.

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Leena was moving quickly, and he had to jog to keep up with her long strides. Her name was what the Rakash leader had whispered in the power station before she had hit him. Maybe she was keeping it a secret that the leader of the Rakash knew her. He would need to be careful what he told her.

Turning away from the long wide hallway, Leena led him into an open portico in front of a small garden. In the center of the garden, water cascaded from the hands of the statue of a child and splashed into a small pond. The white-haired woman stood off to one side of the pool; her were eyes closed and her hands were also held out, palms up.

The tall girl pushed Corvan down on a stone bench and stooped over to whisper in his ear. "You will wait here until she has completed her meditation. I will be right behind you." She pulled her sword out a few inches. "Don't try anything. You are as good as dead now that you have consumed our light." She withdrew behind one of the pillars surrounding the garden.

After a long wait, the older woman opened her eyes but then only stared straight ahead as if she were looking right through the statue. Her hands slowly came up until her fingertips touched together. She stayed in the pose for so long it appeared she had also turned to stone. Corvan occupied himself finishing off the drink and the round cake. Finally, the woman took a deep breath and turned toward him.

“I see you have received food and drink. We all need to be refreshed in our bodies." She beckoned to him. "Come with me. I have a nicer place for us to talk." She walked around the pool and Corvan followed, leaving the flask behind on the bench and casting a nervous glance behind him to make sure a sword wasn't swinging in his direction.

On the far side of the garden a low trellis was draped in vines covered with silky grey leaves. She pointed to a long couch, its cushions embroidered with green vine leaves and tiny purple flowers. "Please make yourself comfortable," she said, slipping into a cloth sling chair suspended from the trellis.

Corvan sat stiffly on the edge of the cushion.

She smiled at him. "It is permitted to lie down. You should rest your head. That’s quite the bump Leena gave you."

Corvan lay back and let himself relax. With so little lumien left in his body, the walk to her garden had left him exhausted.

Tucking back into the suspended chair, the woman drew her feet up under her. "Now you must tell me how you managed to get past the barrier."

Corvan took a deep breath. Finally, he had meet someone down here who understood where he was from. "It was a difficult journey. The first time I would not have made it through except there was a small crack in the Cor shield."

The old woman stared at him. "I don't think you realize how much trouble you are in. Do not tell me fancy stories. It is important to know how you got through to Anamir. If others like you come through from Kadir, in no time we will suffer the same fate as their ruined city."

Corvan sat up and ran a hand over his face. She was talking about her own city, not how he got into the Cor itself. She likely didn’t even know anything about the surface world. "I followed the river from Kadir and was accidently swept down over the falls. The water creature at the net almost caught me and then the girls came to see why the lights had failed." He pointed to the garden. "The tall girl, Leena, was leading them. You can ask her."

The old woman studied him and Corvan wished he could take the words back. Now they would know he was the one who had pulled down the vines in the tunnel. Her face grew somber. Placing her feet on the ground she swiveled the chair toward the fountain. "Leena."

In a flash the tall girl was beside her, sword drawn and ready.

"Put your sword away, girl. I just wanted you to clear something up for me."

The sword was sheathed and Leena stood at attention.

"Were you at the river tunnel yesterday, by the falls?"

Leena nodded. "Yes, just as the light was fading."

"And what did you find?"

"It appeared one of the Broken had come over the falls from Kadir and tried to steal a lumien from the light strings. It pulled three lumien bulbs down from the ceiling before the Volisk drowned it."

The old woman stood to her feet. "And why didn't you report this?"

The girl shifted uncomfortably. "I did. I reported it to the gatehouse."

"To the gatehouse? Why not to me?"

The girl pointed to Corvan. "For this very reason. You do not take the theft of our lumiens seriously. Lumiens have been going missing from the garden for more than two segments and you have done nothing about it. The gatehouse guards asked me to report directly to them the next time it happened, so I did."

The woman put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. "Leena, I do care about the thefts and have been investigating who it might be, and how they are gaining access to Anamir. This was important information that you should brought to me. It was your duty as one of the Sisters of Anamir."

The girls jaw tensed, she swallowed hard and pointed to Corvan. “This one took a seed from the energy house. If we lose our source of light and the city is dark at night, we will be open to attack from either end of the river.”

Corvan struggled to his feet. "I didn't eat the seed in that building, the leader of the Rakash did."

Leena leapt forward, grabbed Corvan by the collar and lifted him off the bench, her voice thick with anger. "Do not mention their name in our city. It is forbidden." She thrust him back into a heap on the cushioned bench.

The white-haired lady jumped down from her hanging chair and pulled the angry girl away. "Stop it, Leena. I do not think this one understands the rules in our city."

The girl twisted away from her hand. "Then send him back through the gatehouse to the city of darkness where he belongs."

"How would that help him?” the older woman said gently. “He would either go mad with the hunger for more or find his way back here again. This was one of the downsides of our plan for survival. We divided this city to control the desire our males have for the lumiens, but now we have no way to help those that fail."

Leena turned away. "Once they start, they are beyond our help. We must turn them over to the gatehouse to be banished beyond the barrier. It is the only way to keep the city cleansed of their kind."

The older woman shook her head. "I think there is a better way. Look at this one. We can see he has eaten a seed but it has not been many; definitely not one of the huge seeds in the power station. Perhaps we can help this boy to conquer the temptation. He is young and we can teach him to live with lumiens close at hand, to enjoy their lifegiving fruit but never eat another seed. If we can find a way to do this, our families could live together once again."

"The gatehouse says that's not possible," Leen said, shaking her head firmly.

"What if they are wrong? I often think of your father. He had only eaten one seed on the terrible day your mother died, yet he was immediately sent to the gatehouse. He even went willingly for he thought they would help him recover and then he would come back to you."

Leena's lower lip trembled. "But he never came back." Her eyes filled with tears. “None of them do except to steal our lumiens.” She turned quickly away, striding off through the garden to disappear behind the statue.

The older woman looked hard at Corvan. "Is this what you want for your life? Ruined lives left behind while you enjoy the pleasure of lumien seeds? If you do not stop now, that is the only path open to you. Pay heed to the account of Leena's father and think of those most precious to you. You must decide now that you will stop for their sakes."

She wiped tears from her eyes and gestured to the couch. "Rest there while I find out what the gatehouse is up to. It may already be too late if they are coming for you."

Corvan watched as the woman left the garden. She was right about the seeds. Each time he consumed another one, the pleasure was decreasing, and it was taking more to give him the same sense of power.

He lay back on the couch. The older woman was wrong. Obviously, he cared about others more than himself. It was the very reason he returned to the Cor; to find Kate, rescue his father and take the sadness from his mother. She was right that he needed to give up the seeds, but he couldn't, not yet. Without more of the lumien power he wouldn’t be able to rescue his father or find Kate. At the thought of Kate, Corvan put his hand over his heart and the sharp points of the medallion poked his fingertips through the fabric. He pulled it out and examined it closely.

This new medallion Madam Toreg had given him was different than the glowing one Kate had taken from the cellar. Maybe, just like the two pieces of blue and white glass he and Gavyn used to connect with each other, the medallions were bringing he and Kate together in the small round room. He had been unconscious at the time from Leena’s blow to his head so most likely he had to be asleep for it to work.

Wrapping both hands around the medallion, he sank into the cushions, closed his eyes, and focused on the soothing sound of the water falling from the statue’s hands into the pool.