"I'm so sorry, Mink,"

Shortly after a passable evening meal, the shortwave spat out another set of code words. A few hours later there was the usual thump, followed after several seconds by Kaa'saht shuffling through the front door.

I lifted my head from the throw-rug, gestured my greetings. "Another meeting, Kaa'saht?" I asked wryly.

Kaa'saht gave me his diffident smile and bowed respectfully. "Yes, my Lord, I'm afraid so." Stefan chose that moment to come drifting in; Kaa'saht took a moment to gesture his respects to him before continuing. "It is to be held tomorrow morning, and Lady Dithra has asked for your presence again. She says this meeting is quite important, my Lord."

I nodded. "She said as much after the last meeting," I confirmed, then smiled. "Could be we're getting to the end of this mess." I changed the subject as I glanced out the window. "Seems you've visited us with a storm nipping at your tail again. Will you be staying over this time?"

Kaa'saht smiled again, a bit broader this time. "Yes, my Lord, I will," the smile faded "but I'm sorry to say that the reason for my staying may bring someone whom I respect a measure of distress."

He then turned back to Dithra's senior agent. "My Lord Stefan, Lady Dithra has asked that I forward to you a personal message." Kaa'saht bowed to me again. "My Lord, may we be excused?"

I hesitated, but then gestured assent. The young dragon murmured his thanks, then asked Stefan into a different room. Stefan glanced at me, a faint trace of puzzlement on his usually impassive face, then silently led the young dragon out. They returned several minutes later, Stefan's expression stiff and slightly pale. He came directly over to me, and bowed. "My Lord, I understand you will be leaving in the morning. May I beg you for transportation?"

I blinked in surprise. Stefan hated hitching rides with me. The process left some of those who traveled with me via the sphere quite rattled, and more than a little queasy. (After my little Nantucket sleigh-ride with Ashadh, I was beginning to understand why.) It had to be something quite important for him to volunteer for another ride. "Stefan? What's wrong?"

Stefan hesitated, grimaced, then made the draconic gesture indicating something trivial. "A personal matter, my Lord; it does not affect anything we are doing, but I must leave for a short time, two days at the most." I felt my eyes widen with concern, but Dithra's agent anticipated me. "Young Kaa'saht will be here, my Lord, as will your men." Another pause. "My Lord, if you believe the risk is too great, I will of course remain here."

My eyes cut over to where Kaa'saht waited, and almost asked if he were up to it. I stopped myself before voicing the insult, however, reminding myself how much the young dragon had already endured for us, and that Stefan would never have made the suggestion if he had any doubts as to Kaa'saht's abilities. Finally, I gestured reluctant assent. "Very well; we leave at first light." I then raised my head, fixed Kaa'saht with a gimlet eye. "I expect you to make regular check-ins. Get with Wolfman, and he'll help you set something up."

Eyes wide, and evidently a little worried by the amount of responsibility we were dumping on him, Kaa'saht bowed deeply. Seeing his distress, I eased-up a bit. "Don't worry young Kaa'saht; it is indeed a large thing, but you will have good people with you. Talk with Lucifer if you have any doubts about anything."

"Yes, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord."

Later that night, I finally gave up on trying to sleep and opened my eyes to scan the dim room. Everybody had by now gone to get some shut-eye except for Grease, who was out on patrol. The kids were asleep as well, curled up in their little nest in the corner. I desperately needed some sleep myself; the pace of the past several weeks were weighing heavily on me and beginning to muck-up my thinking, but with a quiet sigh I got up and padded outside, then had the sphere materialize before me with its usual snap.

Reaching up, I plucked it from the air and held it before me, stared into its swirling depths for a long time. "Damn you, I have to know," I hissed to the thing at last, then placed the sphere between my jaws.

That strange, but not-unwelcome feeling of connectedness came over me again, and I could feel it expanding to encompass the immediate area, then further, but I ignored it. Instead, I tried to remember what my frame of mind had been, back in that hellish place that Niata had dragged me to in her bid for power, back when I was searching for an answer to a question. . . .

. . . .Maybe you should try hitting the F1 key. . . .

Suddenly it was back, that strange feeling that someone was behind me, watching me. Reflexively I looked back, once again found nothing there. Information came flooding in. It was a different question, but the knowledge came nonetheless, pouring into my mind like a torrent of icy water. I blinked, momentary stunned by the sudden influx, then, tentatively, used that knowledge.

For a long second, I thought I had failed once again. Then there was a flicker, then another. Abruptly a silvery glow flared into life around me, riming my metallic scales with frost flowers of light as I felt the power of the sphere smoothly harness itself to my will.

I held that incredible power to myself for perhaps a minute, then I released it. The glow guttered and died, and I let the sphere slip free from my jaws as my body sagged heavily to the snowy ground, my eyes burning with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry, Mink," I whispered into the darkness "so very sorry. I didn't figure it out in time. I was too damned stupid to figure it out in time, and I got you killed for it. Ah, God, Ancestors, I'm so sorry. . . ."

At last I banished the sphere and returned to the house, returned to the place on my throw-rug and coiled there, the heat from the stove no longer comforting. I closed my eyes, prayed for the oblivion of sleep.

It was a long time in coming.