Buffy took a deep breath, trying to carm herself.

It didn’t work.

"What exactly do you mean by that Commander?" She asked in a tight, low voice.

Everyone at the table drew in their breaths tightly. They knew she wasn’t going to like this, actually, they knew what her exact reaction would be.

The Commander in question paled slightly and a panicked look appeared on his sweating face.

"I was mearly stating that it is not safe here at the moment Lady Everynne. We have to take action."

Buffy kicked out of her chair and was on her feet in an instant.

"SO YOU WANT TO START A WAR!?" She yelled.

Bringing her fists heavily down on the large wooden table everyone could see the rage radiating in her startling jade eyes.

"Lady Everynne, please calm down. Of course we dont want to start a war. But we have to think fast, time is running out, and we have to think of the best course of action." Commander Verran said soothingly.

"I will tell you now Commander, my mother never had to start a war and nor will I!" Buffy yelled still furious.

One of her minsters on the far side of the table rose hesitantly and began to speak.

"Lady Everynne, we know you angry, we all are, but we do have to do something. The Vanquishers are getting closer to the planets with every passing hour. They are a plague m’lady, a virus, and if they are aloud to enter The Alliance they will peratrate Allrelen’s atmosphere you do know what they will do then, dont you?"

"What?" Buffy answered in a tired weak voice, not sure if she really wanted to know.

"They will kill you m’lady." The minister answered regretfully.

Buffy froze.

"What?" She finally managed to get out.

"They are a form of vampire Lady Everynne, an elite race of born killers. They are coming to Allrelen for a purpose, and that is to kill you and your family." The minister didn’t want to put it so bluntly but she had to understand.

"Nimisha...." She whispered. "Oh my God, thats the reason for this meeting isn’t it? What we are going to do about Nimisha." Buffy said shocked.

"It is not safe here for Lady Nimisha at this present time. If they attack Allrelen they will come after your daughter especially. She is our future, m’lady, the future of not only our planet, but the whole Alliance. It is her destiny. And because of this they will need to dispose of her first." Commander Verran said.

Captain Asten rose from his chair and took over the talking.

"Lady Everynne we have come up with a solution. We have to send your daughter away from Allrelen, hopefully to a planet that is on the outer rim of the Alliance. If we keep her hidden they have no chance of finding her...." He paused and Buffy could tell he wasn’t finished.

"Spit it out Captain!"

"...we think you should go with her. We can not risk you, my Queen, you are to valuable, if you were to be harmed..... Nimisha is to young to take over m’lady and you know it."

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement.

Buffy just looked sadly at the Captain and the rest of her

audience."I can not leave Allrelen, my friends, and you know that. This is my home. These are my people, I will not desert them in this horrible time. They need me here and I will protect them the best I can."

Her minsters sighed in defeat. They new she would not want to leave Allrelen, but they had to try.

"We need to find a suitable planet, m’lady, one that is out of the way, one of the farming planets would be preferable I think." Commander Verran said quietly.

He left his place at the large table and went over the wall behind were Buffy herself was seated.

Gently he touched the wall with his finger. A large, 3D screen appeared. The Commander looked at it intently and touched the screen again, widening the view. When Buffy looked over her shoulder at him he had brought up a star chart. She got up of her seat and walked over to the Commander.

Getting in front of him she did the same, and looked intently at the chart. She touched it a few more time and when she was finished they could see she had brought up a full scan of the Alliance. Looking at it Buffy could see Allrelen in the centre will hundreds of planets circling her.

These were her planets, they belonged to her.

Looking at the chart Buffy could see the hundreds of planets that made up the Alliance. The Alliance was on the far side of the galaxy, it took light years to get to it either way. It was a group of about 1000 planets that formed rings around the main planet, Allrelen.

Buffy was very proud of her position in the Alliance. As their Queen she held the most important title in the galaxy. But it wasn’t always easy though, and she missed her friends terribly. And now she was about to send her only child away from her home, away from her mother. Buffy racked her brain but couldn’t think of a planet that would be suitable to send her daughter. Maybe to her Altarian cousins on Altar? No she never did like the holidays we had there. Knowing Nimisha’s love for adventure Buffy knew that it would have to be somewhere she had never been before. But then, she would have to familiar with her surroundings and the people around her.

And then Buffy knew the perfect place.

"Earth" She whispered to herself, her eyes widening at the thought. Slowly she turned around and faced her Allrelen Council.

"Earth" She repeated, louder this time. "We will send her to Earth."

The room was silent. No one even breathed. Then the room erupted in noise.

"You cant be serious!"

"You cant send her there!"

"M’lady be reasonable!"

The Captain quickly silenced the room with a raise of his large, brown hand. Shooting dirty looks at the people who had exploded he turned to Buffy and said in a quiet, reasoning voice,

"Lady Everynne you cant be serious, Earth is on the other side of the galaxy, it is barely even part of the Alliance. Its a backwards, primitive planet and they have the highest report if Vampiric activity Ive ever heard of in a planet of that age." Looking sheepishly at the scientists around the table he once again turned to his Queen before speaking,

"And quite frankly, we really dont know anything about the planet m’lady, she would be in more danger there than here on Allrelen."

Not convinced, Buffy turned to the Captain. When she spoke her voice was firm and everyone knew she would not be changed in her opinion.

"I lived on Earth for the first 18 years of my life Captain. I think I would know if it was safe or not. Nimisha might be my daughter but she is also half Slayer and half Vampire, she can look after herself." As the people started to disagree Buffy silenced them.

"She has been training with me since she was three years old. She is as strong as me, maybe stronger in some places." She gets that from her father Buffy said to herself.

They were still not convinced. "Where will she stay? She doesn’t know anyone on Earth M’lady, she will be so lonely." Commander Verran said, trying to change her mind.

Buffy thought this over, then told everyone,

"Willow. She will stay with Willow." They started to disagree again but Buffy cut them off.

"I know I can trust her, my friends, she would never hurt her."

"I hate to bring this up Lady Everynne, but dont they think your dead?." Lieutenant Bravear spoke up.

Captain Asten shoot the Lieutenant a disgusted look for saying such a disrespectful thing, but Buffy just laughed. She liked the Lieutenant. He might have been a outspoken, wild, young man but he came from Debrein, and they were all like that.

"Well Im not to sure on that matter, Lieutenant. With no new Slayer called they might suspect that Im still alive, but with Faith still alive and kicking, Im not sure if a new Slayer would be called at all."

The Lieutenant smiled at his Queen. He found her really easy to get along with.

Thian Bravear was 18 and had been in the Royal Alliance Military since he was 15. His father was one of Lady Everynne’s personal advisers and he had lived on Debrein with his mother and sister all his life. He used to love it when his father came home on leave, he would sit him on his knee and would tell him all about Allrelen and the beautiful city and the Crystal Palace, that had stood there for over 10,000 years. He would tell him about their new Queen and how beautiful she was, and how she was so much like she mother

Semarritte.He would go into detail about their little Princess, and how lively she was, and how different she looked from the Queen. With her long, raven black hair, she was completely the opposite from her mother, but not her eyes. They were the same large green emeralds as the Queens. Thian had sworn to himself that when he was old enough he would join the Royal Alliance Military and serve his Queen just has his father did.

And now he was here. A Lieutenant no less, and a very good one. He had gotten himself a place on the Council when he had bumped into the Queen while he was out walking in her famous palace gardens. He had been horrified that he, a Lieutenant, had dared try to grab her arm to stop them both from falling over. It was unheard of for anyone to even touch her without her letting them and there he was, grabbing her. But she had just laughed and told him that she had people trying to grab her harder than that. Then he remembered that she was the Slayer and that on Earth people had always been trying to kill her. He had gone red with embarrassment but she had put her hand on his arm and told him not to worry, that she thought he was a polite, caring young man and that he had to come over for dinner one day. She had said that he was only a couple of years older than her daughter and she didn’t know to many people from Debrain. She had heard that they were a wild bunch. She had then put her lips near his ear, away from the ever listening range of her minders who followed her everywhere, and said that she didn’t want her daughter to grow up a stuffy, boring, little girl and she needed someone fun in her life, that he would be a good influence on her daughters personality.

That was a couple of months ago and he had still not managed to keep his promise of dinner because he had been so busy with his new role as a Lieutenant. He had gotten to be very good friends with Nimisha though, and the two of them were always together. It was common knowledge that they were friends, and everyone was hoping that it could lead to something more. Thian had been to a few Council meeting and now here he was sitting in on one asking his Queen questions.

He shook his head and tried to pay more attention to what was being said.

"....I can trust her Captain. She was my best friend." Buffy said. "Willow will understand, I know she will."

Everyone could tell that she was getting angry and that she didn’t like people disagreeing with her judgement.

The Captain sighed and finally gave in. "Well the only good thing about this is they will never think of looking there...I still dont like it my Queen, but I guess your right."

Buffy couldn’t believe the final agreement.

Her daughter was going to Earth.

"Thank you people for your insistence. Its final, Nimisha will go to Earth. I will go with her a first, I have to be the one to explain things to Willow, in person. I will return to my position as soon as possible. Now if you dont mind I will go to my child and tell her that she will be leaving."

Buffy looked at her watch and said, " I want you all at the gate room in 9 hours, is that clear? We have to get her off this planet as soon as possible."

And with that she spun on her heals and briskly walked out of the room, her skirts flowing behind her.

As soon as she was out of range from the Council room Buffy fell to the ground and covered her face with her hands, weeping silently. She couldn’t believe it, her daughter was going to Earth. A place she herself hadn’t been in 4 years.

She could still remember the last night she was in Sunnydale. Has it really been 4 Earth years?, Willow, Xander, Anya, Oz, Riley, and herself had all gone to the Bronze and had a great time. Her friends had been so happy, and she had sat there knowing that this was her last night in Sunnydale, her last night on Earth.

When Afraya had introduced himself to her one night on protrol two weeks before she hadn’t believed what he had said to her, she had told him he was crazy. He had said that she was pregnant with Angel’s baby, that the day when she had gone to LA after him at Thanksgiving didn’t not happen the way she thought.

That he had been human.

Human.

And he had gone and made them change him back.....for her. He told her that even though the day was taken back she still had her child, her Body Heir, he called it.

Then he had told her that her mother had been killed and she had to come and take the throne. She had almost had a heart attack. Her mother was dead. But he had noticed her reaction and casually said: not that mother.

She had stared at him.

She remembered asking her what the hell he meant by that, and he had said in a casually annoying voice that the woman who she thought was her mother, was not her real mother. He had then come up to her and placed one of his light blue hands on her forehead and told her to relax, to close her eyes.

She had, and had gotten the biggest shock of her life.

She remembered.

She remembered everything, who she was, who her mother was, and what she had to do. Her real name was Everynne Tessionare, and at her birth the whole galaxy had celebrated. She was to be the forth Queen of the Imperial Alliance.

But her world was at war. Her mother, Queen Semarritte, had known that she had to get her daughter, her Body Heir, off Allrelen, or the Vanquisher vampires would hunt her down and kill her. So, when her daughter was just two weeks old she put her in a time capsule and send her back in time. She sent her to Earth, the furthest planet that was in the Alliance. Even though it was in the Alliance, nobody on it knew anything about the other worlds. It wasn’t colonised because it was to dangerous, there was just to many vampires there.

So Buffy would be born to another woman, but she would still be Semarritte’s child, she mearly implanted her child in the woman’s womb, the egg was already fertilised. The woman would never know the difference.

But then it had all gone wrong, they had lost contact with her. Semarritte was frantic. She didn’t know where her child was. Then something strange happened, somehow the child had retained her natural Tessionare powers.

Everyone born to the Tessionare line was stronger than everyone else, it was because they were born to rule, the were born Queens, only girls. Each new born child was the clone of their mother. They were born with the memories of their ancestors before them, they were born to rule, to command. So Buffy was born, the clone of her mother Semarritte....but not with the memories. Her mother had placed a block in her mind so she would not get her memories, and she wasn’t meant to get her powers until it was time to come home.

The war had been won 3 Allrelen years later, the whole Alliance had rejoiced, everyone knew that the Queen had hidden their little Princess away on a far away planet, and now she would be coming home. The happiness was short lived however, when Semarritte had to tell the worlds that her child had been lost, that no one knew where she was. Everyone was horrified, their little Princess was on a distant planet, away from her natural mother, and no one knew where she was.

It took them 30 years to find her, and when they did they got a shock, she was only 18. They discovered that time was different for the two planets, while it was the year 4000 on Allrelen it was only the year 2000 on Earth. Only 18 years had passed on Earth while 30 years had passed on Allrelen. No wonder the planet was so backwards, it was 2000 years behind everyone else.

They tried to learn everything they could about the planet the child was stuck on, and found that it was only a new planet, in a relatively new solar system.

They found that their child had been called as a Slayer, that she had new powers as such, that she was stronger than anyone of her line before her, that she had been trained to use her powers to kill vampires and demons. They were horrified. The thought of the Princess, getting hurt hunting demons, applaud them. They knew that they had to get her off the planet as quickly as possible. But they also knew that with her Slayer powers were desperately needed, for the Vanquisher’s - the vampire race - terrible ships were still thrusting through space, and they were carrying death within them.

Then Queen Semarrite was suddenly murdered. No one knew how, or by who, but after ruling the Alliance for over 1000 years she was finally in peace. Tessionare woman were immortal. The Alliance had been going for 10,000 years and in that time they had only had 3 Queens, the first was Dimeara, her daughter and Semarritte’s mother Tandira, and then Simarritte. Now they had Everynne.

That was the one thing that Buffy liked about the whole "Queen thing". The immortality. She was 18 when she left Earth and would be on Allrelen forever. Her mother looked 18 when she had died, and so had all of her ancestors. That meant that Nimisha had a few more years of growing then she would stop. She liked to think of it a present for Angel. The ironic thing is that it came to late, but she always thought that if she ever got to see Angel again that he would be happy for her, that she gets to live forever like him.

But the Alliance had no Queen. They knew that they had to get Buffy back and that she had to take her place as Queen of the Imperial Alliance.

So they had sent Afraya. Not only was he one of Semarritte advisers but he was also her best friend. He was sent to find Buffy and take her home. She didn’t want to at first, even after she got her memories back, but she knew she had to, that not only her own planet depended on it and the Alliance, but the whole galaxy. Buffy was not foolish enough to think that if the Vanquishers over threw the Alliance, that they wouldn’t attack Earth as well.

So she went. In the middle of the night, she packed her bag with the most important things of her life so far. Most importantly she got photos. Photos of Willow, Xander, Giles, Oz, Cordelia, her mother, she hesitated with those but threw them in anyway. She wanted something to show her daughter when she was born, she wanted her to know that she had people on Earth that loved her, and if they knew about her, that they would love her as well. She had also gotten some drawings of Angel’s that he had given her before he left for LA, ones of the both of them, so Nimisha could know what her father looked like.

She had climbed out of her dorm window in the middle of the night, bent down and kissed a sleeping Willow on the forehead in the prosess, in the pouring rain, and had left. Without a note or anything. She had walked down the street and around the corner, there she came face to face with Afraya, who had hugged her tear ridden body to him.

She had burst into tears as he helped her into the car, shut the door, and told the driver the get them "the hell out of Sunnydale". They had been sitting in the freezing car when Afraya had leaned over a touched her arm and all of a sudden the two of them had disappeared.

The next second they were in Ireland, in the middle of nowhere, out in the forest somewhere and standing in front of a huge marble circle. It was huge, maybe 6 or 7 times as big as she was and about the same wide. It had symbols all over it, but they were in another language so she didn’t know what they meant, but they looked a lot like Willow’s runes to her. She remembered asking Afraya what it was, and he told her it was a gate. A Gate To The Stars he said, if can take you anywhere.

He then went over to a large mushroom looking thing sticking out of the ground by the gate with matching symbols on it. He said it was called a Transceiver. He then began to push symbols one by one and where his fingers had once been the symbol started to glow. Then after he had pushed about 10 symbols the gate started to glow, and a great blue wave appeared out of it. Afraya lead Buffy over to the gate and gently pushed her in. She disappeared and when she came out the other side she was on Allrelen, surrounded in people, who when they saw her, all bowed deeply.

And the rest is history.

Buffy shook herself out of her day dream. She shouldn’t be thinking of the past, she told herself. Suddenly she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She stiffened and spun around. When she raised her tear filled eyes she found herself looking up into Afraya kind light blue face.

"Oh Afraya what am I going to do?" She sobbed. He sat down beside her on the marble floor and took her into his arms. He was about 30 and her best friend here just as he was to her mother. He was probably the best father figure she had ever had.

"Hush now Buffy, its ok." He was the only one, apart from Nimisha sometimes, who called her Buffy. He always had and she found it oddly comforting.

"I have to send her away, Afraya, they are making me send my baby away, just like mother."

She started crying harder now and Afraya was glad it was the middle of the night and the Palace was empty, for he didn’t want to have to explain himself to the Palace guards if they found him on the floor hugging a sobbing Queen in his arms.

"Maybe its the best thing for her at the moment Buffy. Put it this way, she will get to see her father."

Buffy stiffened in his arms, and slowly lifted her head to look Afraya in the eyes.

"I guess." Then she started crying again, "He is going to be so angry at me, if he finds out, I just know he is."

"No, actually I dont think he will be. He’d be very proud of you, and I know that for a fact. But remember you dont have to tell him about Nimisha. She is going there to be Willow’s cousin, the rest of them don’t have to know anything about her"

"That is an option I agree. But he does have a right to know about her Afraya."

"Yes he does Buffy, but its up to you."

Wiping the tears from her eyes Buffy got up off the ground and turned to face her friend.

Quickly giving him a tight hug Buffy whispered in his ears, "Thank you so much Afraya. If it wasn’t for you, I think I would go mad sometimes."

He chuckled and said, "Well, you have been ruling for just over 16 years, Allrel Time. I cant imagine how hard that is for you. I mean, when you got here you were thrust into taking your mothers place from day one, so if you did go crazy I wouldn’t really blame you."

They both laughed quietly and he slowly released her tiny form.

"Now go to your daughter and tell her whats going on, you know she doesn’t like to be kept in the dark on important matters."

Buffy nodded and with a last grateful look at Afraya walked down the hallway and into her daughters room.

Buffy found Nimisha in the main room of their joint wing of the Palace. She was in the main sitting room, just off from the Parlour, comfortably sitting on a mass of different coloured pillows, about 3 feet of the carpeted floor. Buffy paused and leaned against the side of the doorway just content in watching her. She was quietly talking to her tutor while pondering over a book she held on her lap.

Watching her, Buffy couldn’t believe how different she was to her, and how much she looked like her father. Long jet black hair fell to her waist in loose curls, and her huge green eyes had a look of frustration as she couldn’t work out the problem. She was 16 and side by side Buffy and Nimisha looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.

Body wise, Nimisha was the same as her mother, pitite and graceful, she was barely the height as Buffy. But she also had the same regal aura to her as her mother, everyone said that when you talked to her, you knew you were talking to Royalty.

Frustration finally setting in, Nimisha threw up her hands in defeat and started to gracefully rise from her seat on the pillows. When she finally raised her large green eyes and saw her mother standing there, leaning on the side of the doorframe, her face broke out in a beautiful smile. She jumped up, ran over to her mother and threw her arms around her neck giving her a great hug in welcome.

"Mother! Guess what? Me and Tanda played four games of cards and I won all of them! Im getting really good, soon I will be able to beat you!"

Buffy laughed at her daughters enthusiasm as she put her arms around her tiny shoulders and lead her over to the nearest couch and sat down. Buffy flicked a finger in the direction of the tutor and the girl silently gathered her things and discreetly left the room, leaving the two scions in private.

Nimisha had noticed her mother’s quietness and quietly asked what was wrong,

"Mama, are you alright?

Buffy did not answer right away, thinking over her response. She was staring out the far window of the room when she answered, anywhere but her daughters sweet face.

"No, not really, baby." She said quietly.

Nimisha looked at her in concern wondering what could be up with her usually carefree, happy mother. Just looking into her face Nimisha could tell that they was something terribly wrong.

She reached up and put one beautifully made hand on her mothers cheek, drawing her face around to look her in her eyes.

Nimisha drawled back in shock. Never had seen her mother looking so scared. Her eyes were full of such pain, and such fear, that Nimisha snatched her hand back in fright.

"Mother whats wrong?" She said a bit louder, a frightened note attached to her voice.

Buffy finally looked her daughter fully in her eyes, wanting to take the fear away from her face.

"Oh Nimisha sweetie, Im alright."

"No, your not mama." She said forcefully.

Buffy took her daughters hands in hers and held them tightly.

"We were discussing something very important in the Council meeting tonight. Something that was actually on right on the top of the list...you know that the Vanquishers are getting closer to the outer Alliance dont you, Hon?

"Yes, of course I do mama, Afraya came and explained it all to my a couple of hours ago."

"Good. Im glad, he was always able to explain things better than me....." Buffy replied.

"....Yes well, it seems that they are getting through our scout ships faster than we first intended.

And if our calculations are right, they should be penetrating Allrelens atmosphere in 10 days and 3 and a half hours."

"What?" Nimisha whispered.

"They’re coming, baby, they’re coming here, to our home." Buffy’s voice come out as a sob. Nimisha looked her mother silently before saying,

"That’s not the only thing is it?"

Buffy looked down at her shaking hands for a moment trying to find a suitable answer, finally she gave in a said,

"No. No baby, its not."

Nimisha just looked at her mother with a hard face, telling her to continue.

"Captain Asten thinks we should get you off Allrelen." Buffy blurted out in a rush.

Nimisha stared at her mother like she was mad. She snatched her hands from her mothers warm embrace.

"And do you agree with him Mother?" Buffy winced and Nimisha’s cold, hard voice.

"Oh Nimi, do not be angry with me, I have no choice." "Of course you do! There is always a choice! You rule this planet, Mother, you make the bloody choices for Christ sake! Just tell those stuffy, boring old men that Im not going!" Nimisha was furious. How could her mother do this to her?

Buffy layed her hand on her daughter’s check, turning her face round to look her in the eyes.

"I think, my child, you dont know just how important you are to this world, to our very existence. We can not risk you, my love. Everything stands in the balance, and if anything should happen to you...the worlds would all perish....You do know why that is, dont you, baby?"

Nimisha regarded her mother with what Buffy would say was "Angel’s unreadable brooding look".

"Its because of my blood isn’t it?" He daughter said in a quiet voice.

Buffy smiled fondly.

"Not only your blood, my child, but your whole existence. You are your mother’s daughter..." "...And my father’s." Nimisha finished the old family saying.

Knowing how much Nimisha loved her family history, Buffy decided to open up a little.

She looked at her daughter for a while, really looked at her. She sat there, on the couch with unconscious dignity. She was a Princess right down to her dainty toes. She was mature and had the grace of a cat. Sighing Buffy decided that it was time that Nimisha knew the whole truth of her existence. She was going to be very shocked, Buffy knew that, maybe even a little hurt.

There was a great deal more to Nimisha than most people thought. She wasn’t just the Buffy’s daughter, Princess, and the future Queen, she had a unique history herself, and a amazing destiny to fulfil.

So Buffy began, quiet, and hesitant at first, but slowly building volume.

"In the Old Books, written by my great-Grandmother, Dimeria, it talks of a great warrior. One that will save our worlds and stop the ever-going war with the Vanquishers. It was said that she would unite the two races, Human and Vanquisher, and we would live in peace forever to come."

Nimisha regarded her mother in confusion. Buffy had been telling her stories of their ancestors since she could remember, but she had never heard this one before. Even though she wanted to be angry with her mother, she felt herself drawn to the story, for it was faintly familiar in a strange way.

"It said that she was the link. The link that, with her blood inside her, would unite the worlds and put a final stop to the killing."

"Oh my God." Nimisha said, catching on with what her mother was hinting.

Buffy smiled sadly.

"So you see, my child, you are the future. Your father is a Vampire, and your mother is the Slayer. Only you, with your vampire blood inside of you, can hope to stop them. Vampire vs Vampire, its the only way, beat them at their own game. You have powers inside of you that even I dont know about, that, when your ready, will be unleashed and you will bring to our worlds hope, and to our people, the knowledge that they must not give up, and that we will all be united once more.

So you have to go, my love, we can not risk you. We both have to play our part. We are the two most important being’s in the galaxy, and I know now, that we were send here for a reason, that the Powers That Be have a plan layed out for us to follow, and that eventually we will be together and happy at last.

As much as I hate to admit it, Allrelen is in trouble. If the Vanquishers manage to come here, they will come after us first, baby, and I will not let them take you. I have given up to much, felt to much pain, to let those, those...bastards come here and take my home, my planet, without a fight."

Buffy looked down at her daughter’s face anxiously dreading her reaction. And as she feared Nimisha face was masked in horror. Slowly she brought her hands from her mother’s grasp and raised them to her face covering her mouth.

Then she burst into tears.

Buffy couldn’t handle it anymore, all the fear, dread, anger, and pain she had been bottled up inside for the past few weeks came pouring out, as she took her only daughter, her Body Heir, and only reminder of her past, in her arms and joined her crying as the world they had worked so hard for, that Buffy had left everything for, came crashing down around them.

They must have drifted off to sleep, because when Buffy awoke a couple of hours later she found Nimisha still curled up in her arms.

Buffy looked down at her daughter’s sleeping face and was pained to find that tears still stained her pale checks. I t was quite strange for Buffy to look at Nimisha sometimes. Since all Tessionare woman were meant to be clones of their mother, and have all the memories of their ancestors before them, Buffy kept expecting to see a replica of herself whenever she faced her daughter.

Males weren’t really important to the Tessionares. Whenever a child was needed, a contract would be signed and a match would be made with the a noble standing gentlemen of one of the Capital planets. They were never recognised as being the other parent in the social circles but in private, more than once, it had come to be that the father enjoyed his child company and often made arrangements to spend as much time with her as possible.

Occasionally, in the lower social circles, offers were put forward, and the highest, or best offer won the right to father the child, with the mother’s approval, of course. But with the First Families, such as the Boyntons, the Savangels, most importunity the Tessionares, and many others, it was a matter of class, and the father’s reason, increasing status in First Family circles. It didn’t really matter who they finally decided on in the long run, for the child always looked like her mother. The only thing the father really did was fertilise the egg.

But Nimisha was a different story completely. Never before had a child been fathered by a vampire, so no one really knew why she didn’t look like her mother. But since Angel was Nimisha’s father she look equally like him, even more than Buffy actually, with her pale skin that never darkly tanned no matter how long she stayed in the sun, and her dark hair. She had only been born with half of the Tessionare memories, which horrified the Allrelen Council Ministers. But Buffy actually enjoyed teaching Nimisha all about her family history, mixed with her history, of Willow and the rest of the gang.

Nimisha loved it, she would sit in the Palace gardens, under a tree, and run through her head all the incidents that Buffy told her about: her first day at Sunnydale High, meeting Giles in the library, her first conversation with Angel in the ally, the other Slayers, Kendra and Faith, Angel loosing his soul, sending him to Hell, then coming home again, Angel and Cordelia leaving for LA, and lastly about her own departure from Sunnydale, and how hard it was on her. She had always to imagine what they were like, but she never could.

And now she was going to going to get a front seat view of what Buffy’s other life was like.

That thought brought Buffy back to the present and she knew she had to get here daughter ready for her departure. Gently she shook the girl’s tiny shoulder and Nimisha slowly opened her eyes.

She looked up at her mother with such love and trust that Buffy had to contain herself from crying again.

Nimisha was struggling to sit up and was rubbing her eyes when she turned to face her mother on the couch and said in a tired groggy voice,

"It kind of just occurred to me that I dont even know where Im going."

Buffy smiled and said with a laugh,

"Earth."

Nimisha looked at her mother in shock.

"You have got to be kidding! Your sending me to Earth?" When Buffy nodded Nimisha let out a happy yelp.

"This is so cool! Finally." She suddenly thought of something and she grabbed her mothers shoulders forcefully,

"Where am I going to stay? I dont even know anyone of Earth, there are only a few Alliance members living there anyway, just to keep an eyes on things, and I dont really want to live with them."

"Your going to stay with Willow." Buffy said.

Nimisha froze.

Slowly she turned around at looked at Buffy.

"Really?" she whispered.

Buffy nodded again.

Nimisha didn’t really know what to say. She had heard so much about her mothers best friend on Earth, but she never ever, in a million years, thought she would even see her, let alone live with her.

"Wow." Was all she could manage to get out.

Suddenly Buffy jumped up off the chair and headed for Nimisha’s closet.

"We have to get you packed. I told the Council we would meet them in the Gate room in 9 hours, and due to our little nap we only have 3 hours left." She said over her shoulder as she opened the huge twin doors and looked in side.

Nimisha stood and started to joined her. Then she stopped in the middle of the floor and looked at herself in the mirror on the wall.

"Ahh... Mama? I think we have a problem."

Buffy turned and looked at Nimisha in confusion, before realising what she was talking about.

"Oh yes, we do dont we?."

They both looked down at their clothing.

Buffy was wearing a suitable Palace medieval gown made of the finest silk. It was royal blue and fell to her feet in a cloud. She looked like something between Maid Marion in Robin Hood, and someone out of a King Author story .

It had very low shoulders and the sleeves were long, and they widening the closer they got to the wrists, but they had splits up the sides, allowing her arms to be seen when the material was moved a certain way, medieval style. It wasn’t really a puffed out gown, like in Gone With the Wind, but the skirts fell in loose swirls to her toes. It had a low neck line, showing her bare neck and the top of her young breasts. Her hair, which had grown long on her 16 years on Allrelen, fell to her waist in golden waves.

On top of her head sat a beautiful crown. It was made of thousands of diamonds, which sparkled in the sun. It fitted on her head snugly, and from either side of her crown fell two tiny, silver chains. They met in the middle of her forehead were they met with a small birthmark on Buffy’s forehead. It was pale silver in colour and the shape of a crescent moon laying on its back. It was her Queen birthmark and she had it ever since that fateful night Afraya had approached her on protrol when she remembered her memories. On top of her birthmark, and what actually fell from the two silver chains, fitted a replica of the mark in the shape of a small crescent moon, laying on its back, also made from diamonds. It was the World Wide symbol of The Alliance, and if anyone saw the crown, or the birthmark they knew who she was just from that.

Nimisha gown was similar, but it was light violet in colour. It wasn’t as extravagant as her mothers, but it was coming in close. Nimisha’s had cut of shoulders, leaving her arms and shoulders bare, which she covered with twin white arm gloves. Her black hair was neatly made up on the top of her head, and nestled in the middle was also a crown. Smaller than Buffy’s, but also made of thousands of diamonds. She also had the falling chains and matching moon that covered her silver moon-shaped birthmark, although it was slightly smaller than her mothers, pointing out her heir title.

Together they knew that, here on Allrelen they might have been wearing suitable Royal clothing, but on Earth they would stick out like a sore thumb, which was not they wanted at all.

"I guess we are going to have to go shopping." Buffy said laughing loudly. Then she clicked her fingers,

"I have just the thing." She then walked out of Nimisha’s room and into her own, her skirts flowing behind her. A few minutes later she returned carrying a old backpack in her hands.

Nimisha recognised it at once, it was the only thing Buffy took with her from the other world, and inside were the photos that Nimisha’s almost knew off by

heart."When I left Earth I brought some extra clothes with me...dont ask me why."

Buffy then proceeded to rummage through the packpack until she had found two suitable outfits. Handing Nimisha one, she left her daughter’s room and changed. Buffy returned a few minutes later, and laughed when she saw Nimisha standing in front of the mirror, having a dreadful time getting into the pants she had given her.

Nimisha began to throw daggering insults at her mother, standing in the doorway, but took one look at her and her mouth fell open.

"WOW! And you used to wear this stuff everyday? Goddess, I feel sorry for the males at your school. You look great Mama, you really do. You look so natural, and *so* like a teenager in that stuff!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows and went and looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t stop thinking how different she looked, now that all her special Tessionare’s traits had kicked in and were working in full force, she still didn’t know all of them, and was discovering new differences, from herself and humans, everyday.

She was wearing a tight, bright purple sundress, which had straps and came up to her mid thighs. She had purchased it only two weeks before her departure, on a unusual shopping trip with Willow.

Her hair, which she usually wore up in the day, was loose, and fell in a shimming mass down her back. It had lightened up quite a few shades since she had left Earth, and shone a beautiful golden colour which was very uncommon on Allerlen. It also had acquired array of different types of blonde streaks, all different colours of yellow, it was actually quiet hard for people to tell what the colour was. Her hair had also gotten unusually curly, it now fell in very loose ringlets to her waist.

Her face was floorless, of course, as all Tessionare’s were. Her brilliant green eyes, which were unnaturally jade in colour, were piercing and regal, just as they should be. Her beautiful creamy skin was soft like silk, and lead down to her glossy red lips. They were slightly parted and revealed glimpse of pearly white teeth.

She wore no makeup.

Over all, she looked unnaturally beautiful, almost unearthly.

Looking at herself, Buffy groaned and slapped her forehead. Nimisha looked over in startled surprise, still trying to do up the back of her pants. She still had trouble getting used to some of Buffy’s Earthly actions, like slapping her forehead, why would anyone want to do that?

"What, by the gods, is the matter?" She asked her mother.

Buffy turned to face her daughter, raising her arms to point to her own face.

"That is the matter! Anyone from the Other Galaxy, looking at me, is bound to know Im not from Earth. Look at me, Nimi. Ive been here to long, I don’t even look human anymore!" She stamped her foot and said in a angry voice, "Shit!" Then, noticing her daughter, she groaned again, a angry note easily noticeable.

"Your not much better, Nimisha, look at you, you look bloody perfect! Damm this families unusual genetic makeup!" She then spread her hands wide, "Okay, most of the time, I’ll admit I love looking like this, and having the special family traits, but sometimes, I just wish I looked normal."

Buffy walked over to her daughter and did up the back of Nimisha’s pants for her. She was wearing a pair of flared blue jeans and a light blue singlet top. Over top she wore a see-through summer over top, with short sleaves. Knowing Nimisha preferred casual clothing to anything fancy, Buffy had decided to bring her daughter into the world of fashion gently.

"Oh well, we will just have to deal with that when we get to it." Giving her daughter a quick hug she produced a small travelling packpack from Nimisha closet and gave it to her daughter.

"Pack what you want to take, nothing big though, and no clothes, Willow and I can take you shopping at the mall when we get there."

Nimisha was just about to ask what a Mall was, when Buffy turned to walk out the door, towards her own room.

"I’ll leave you alone for a bit, you can go see your friends if you want, say goodbye, I will come back and get you in an hour here, okay?" She asked in a gently voice. Noticing her daughter suddenly sad, and frightened face, she came up to her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders and gave her a warm hug, Nimisha returned it and Buffy gently rocked her daughter from side to side.

"Oh Sweetheart, its going to be okay, I promise. It will only be for a few weeks, 3 at the most, just until we make sure the vanquishers are well clear of Allrelen. Then you can come home and we will all be together again."

"But we wont Mother! We wont all be together again! Its not fair!, Im finally going to meet my father for the first time in 16 years and then I have to leave again, and he wont even know who I am! When is it going to end Mother? When is all the pain really going to stop?"

Buffy remained silent, just content on rocking her upset daughter in her arms.

Because, honestly, she didn’t know the answer herself.

Buffy spent the remaining last hour on Allelen walking around the gardens. She was quiet scared. This would be her first time on Earth in, 16 Allrelen/4 Earth years. The lengths were exactly the same length as Earth years, 365 days, but somehow they just seem to go quicker if your out of the Alliance time zone, nobody could explain it, but that was just how it was.

She couldn’t stop thinking how different her friends are going to look, they would be 22 now, and finished collage. And her she was, still the same at 18, and at the same, looking so completely different.

What would they all be doing? Would Willow be this rich scientist? Would Oz be famous with the band? What about Cordelia? Would she be a big and famous actress? And Xander...to come to think about it, Buffy actually couldn’t think of a job for Xander. What frightened her the most was Willow’s reaction. Would she be mad at her for leaving, and making everyone think she was dead? Or would she be happy that she had finally found her place in the universe, her own people, people that were like her?

Buffy shook her head. No, not everyone was the same though. Allelen was the main planet of The Alliance, and as such, was not only the Royal planet and home of all the palaces, and of course the main one, Buffy and Nimisha’s home, the Crystal Palace, but it was the centre for the trading and economic businesses. Off Worlders were always coming and going from Allrelen.

Although most of the Palace staff and the Allrelen Council were from Allelen, some were not, Thian and Afraya for example. Thian was from Debrien, and Afraya was from a distant Planet called Foltare. His light blue skin was proof of that.

Araya was among the only people that were immortal as well as Buffy and Nimisha. He was made immortal because he had been the Life-Mate of Buffy’s mother. Someone that, although was lower than her, could always be with her in her lonely position. Life-Mates did not help the Queens rule, they were only for comfort, and protection, (they were trained as bodyguards of a sort), but as far the Tessionare’s were concerned, they were the best idea in centuries. When Semarritte was killed Afraya was heart broken, he had taken the death worst then the general public, (if that was possible, for everyone loved Semarritte), but he thought that it was his fault. He had not been with her at the time of her death and he had always beaten himself up for it.

Since there had been peace in the Alliance for over a thousand years, it was a happy time. All the planets got along and there were no disputes. The war with the Vanquishers had recently been won and everyone thought the peace would hold. They had sent Buffy to Earth years before, and were still looking for her.

And so *nobody* thought there would be any threat to Semarritte, so she often took long walks in her favourite gardens by herself to get away from the ever-constant noise of the palace.

......Then one day she did not come back.

When they had finally found her, in her favourite garden, they had been horrified when they turned the corner and found her laying on the ground, with a poison knife inbeded in her back. She was not dead, but very close, the guards knew just by looking at her that she would be dead in a matter of minutes.

Afraya, who had sent the search party, had fell to her side, and cradled her head in his lap. Crying, he had told her to be brave, the doctors would be her soon. But she had just looked up into his deep blue eyes, with a look that held such love, that Afraya knew that Semarritte knew she would not live to see another rising of the moons. She was barely alive but she had managed to bring her hand weakly up to Afraya’s cheek and told him that she loved him, and made him promise her something that he would never forget.

"Find her...my love. Please by the gods, find my daughter Afraya.... And when you do...please love her, love her like you loved me....tell her she is my world...and how much I love her...and I will see her again soon...tell her I will never leave her."

She died then, in Afraya’s arms.

Buffy wiped the tears that were falling on her cheek with the back of her hand. And he had, she thought. Afraya had done all that Semarritte had asked, he had spent every waking hour looking for Buffy, and when they had found her on Earth, the Allrelen Council knew they had to send Afraya to collect her, as fulfilling a dead womans dieing wish, and a dead Queen final command.

They had a wonderful relationship, Afraya and Buffy. Afraya had worked his way up from Buffy’s first friend, to her Second in Command. She had not passed one rule or order that she had not asked Afraya’s thoughts on first. After all, he did know more about ruling the Alliance than Buffy actually did, he had been doing it for over 1000 years with her mother. But they were not only business, and personal friends, Afraya was also, really, the only link that Buffy had to her mother. She would come and ask him questions and they would sit for hours in her room, Afraya on the couch, and Buffy sitting on the floor, her head resting in her arms on his knees as she peered up at the only living link to her past on Allrelen.

Buffy knew it must be hard for Afraya to look at her, quiet frankly she didn’t know how he did it. After all, she was a living ghost to a dead woman. He tried to hide it, but Buffy would sometimes catch him looking at her out of the corner of her eyes, with a look of such love, and such yearning, that sometimes she thought he would come up a grab her and never let her go.

He could have left years ago, after he found her on Earth, saying that it was too hard to look at her, and she would have understood, but deep down she was glad he had stayed, she didn’t know if she could have made it this far if he had not been by her side.

Buffy also knew that if she said so, he would have taken their relationship to the next level in a flash. But she could not to do that, not to her mother and most of all...

not to Angel.

She loved him to much, after 16 years of not seeing him she still loved him with all her heart. And that was reason she had not taken a Life-Mate. She couldn’t bring herself to let some other man touch her, looking back she couldn’t believe she had even let Riley kiss her at all. And she could not do it to Nimisha. Her daughter knew better than anyone how much her mother loved her father. And seeing her with some other man, Buffy knew, it would break her heart.

Sliding back into her own reality, Buffy found that she had unconsciously walked into one of the separate gardens. But when she looked around she gasped when she discovered just which garden she had walked into.

Her mothers garden.

The place she died.

The garden had been locked after Queen Semarritte’s death, the orders of Afraya. It had been locked and the key hidden in one of the older files. Buffy had only found it by chance, she had been playing a game of hide and seak with Nimisha, who had been 4 at the time, in the older wings of the Crystal Palace, it was one of the rare times that she could spend with her daughter alone, she knew how much it meant to her. So after Buffy had practically ordered her minders away, she had spent the whole day playing in the wings that she had never been in before. While Nimisha had been hiding she had looked around the files, and to her surprise she had found the key, hidden under a stack of papers. After summoning enough courage, she asked

Afraya what the key fit to.

Bad idea.

He had hit the roof. Demanding where she had gotten the key from, and yelling at her that he had locked the garden for a reason, that it carried death, and nobody was to go in the again. Buffy had been equally angry, saying that he had no right to lock the garden, that if people wanted to go the place where their Queen died and morn than it was not his decision to make. And in a rare moment, she had used her position to get what she wanted. She had told Afraya that she was Queen now, and if she wanted to go in the damm garden then there was nothing he could do about it. He had backed down of course, there was nothing else he could have done, but Buffy knew that he was hurt by her decision. They did not talk to each other in a week, and everyone in the palace was noticing the friction whenever they were together, Nimisha especially, she had always gotten on with Afraya very well, and he adored her in return.

So for Nimisha’s sake, and for there own, they compromised, Buffy would be aloud to open the garden, but only for herself and Nimisha, no one else would be able to enter it. It suited everyone fine.

Buffy often took Nimisha there for some quality time together. When Nimisha was little, Buffy would often sit her on the tree swing that Queen Semerritte had died on, (because it had been later proofed that she had been sitting on the swing when the attacker attacked her from behind), and just swung her for hours, and they would sit on the ground, Nimisha in her mothers lap, and watch the leaves, and flower petals fall to the ground from the tall trees above. More times than once Buffy had carried the sleeping little child back to the palace in her arms, after she had fallen asleep on her mothers chest.

And that was were she was sitting now. On the swing that held so many memories. She was rocking slightly and just content on listening to the trees move and the birds sing from the tree tops above. It was late Autumn and the ground was covered in leaves. The wind was blowing softly and it was picking up and playing with her long blond hair. Buffy felt suddenly quite cold in nothing but a Earthly sundress, and she started to shiver slightly.

"Oh Mother.." She whispered to the air, "Im so scared, what if something happens to her? And im left all alone on this planet? I dont know what I would do if anything happened to her, Mother, She means the world to me..."

And it was then that she remembered what Queen Semirritte had said to Afraya only seconds from her death,

"...tell her she is my world..and how much I love her...and I will see her again soon..."

Buffy felt the tears falling down her checks and she brought her hands up to cover her face, sobbing quietly.

"Oh Mama, why did you have to leave me?" She demanded to the empty air, "I never even got to see you once..or not really, those two weeks don’t count." She gripped the swing’s ropes tighter in her small hands, as she looked up into the blue sky, "Please dont take her away from me, mama, she is all I have how, she is all I have left, I’d die if she was taken from me...please...I just dont want to be alone anymore." She was crying harder now, and she felt suddenly quite alone in the world.

Oh, but she could see her so clearly. With her beautiful kind face and her wonderful blond hair, looking up at her Buffy thought she looked like an angel. And as Buffy sat on the swing, she could see her, she was surrounded in light, and she could see her. And she looked at her daughter with such love in her eyes, and a smile on her face. Buffy found herself smiling as well, as she felt a ghostly finger reach out and touch her face. Buffy closed her eyes and fell into the touch. The finger slid over her cheek and wiped the tears away. Buffy moved her cheek into the palm of the hand, her eyes still closed.

"You are not alone, my child, remember...you will never be alone....Just look in yourself and you will find me...I promised you I would never leave you....and I never will...I promise"

And as she started to rise again, and Buffy felt the touch disappear, she smiled down at the girl sitting on her swing.

I am so proud of you, my love....."

Buffy started to cry again, as she felt the presents leave her, but she knew it would be okay, she knew everything was going to be okay.

And she opened her eyes.

The ghostly presents was gone.

Looking around Buffy noticed that everything had gone dead quiet. No tree seemed to move, and no bird sung in the tree tops. Actually, all the birds seemed to be staring at her, wondering as well, what just took place.

Feeling her body come back to her Buffy found that she was no longer cold, in fact, she seemed to have a warm flush on her cheeks, and he whole body felt toasty warm. Looking up at the sky once again, Buffy wondered what just happened.

"Thank you mama." She whispered to the empty sky.

Buffy collected Nimisha a few minutes later from her room. Together they walked to the gate room, gripping their hands together so tightly as if they feared they would loose each other. There backpacks were flung over their shoulders.

They walked down the main corridor of the palace, people stopped what they were doing and stared, the atmosphere was a frighten gloom, but the two scions were indifferent to it all, they didn’t speak. There was no need, everything had been said.

People followed them, wondering what could possibly be wrong, and why they were wearing such strange clothes. As they passed the public boundaries the guards fell into place and the crowd was forced to stop, they could go no further. As Buffy and Nimisha kept walking, guards fell into step beside them and Buffy looked over her shoulder at the crowd of people behind them. They were looking at her with dread in there eyes, if they knew something bad was going on, something that shouldn’t have to happen.

Buffy locked eyes with Tanda, Nimisha’s tutor, and the girl of 27 years had a look of old wisdom, and pain in her eyes that Buffy could swear that the girl thought that her charge was never coming home. Buffy smiled sadly at the girl, as if trying to reassure her dark thoughts, and Tanda smiled back sadly to her Queen. The girl was one of the only people who knew what dreadful event was going to happen, the public worlds would be told when Buffy and Nimisha were well off Allrelen.

Buffy tore her eyes from the tragic sight. She held her head high, straightened her back, and strode ahead of the others, pulling Nimisha behind her. The guards hurried to keep up with the pair.

And as they walked under the massive archway leading into the ancient gate room, Buffy raised her eyes and looked at the huge symbol of the crescent moon, the same as on her forehead, which was hanging from the archway, it had been there ever since the beginning, when her great-grandmother Dimeria had first formed the Alliance 10,000 years ago.

Buffy took a deep breath and walked under the huge archway, and the gate suddenly formed in her view.

It was huge. That was the only thing that could be said. The giant ring stood tall and proud, the most dominant thing in the room. Looking at it, Buffy had mixed feelings, for it was what had taken her to Allrelen, and given her Nimisha, but it was also what had taken her away from her family, and friends, and the life she had known.

She stopped and looked up at the thing, loathing and loving it all at the same time. She knew, as she took in the symbols all the way round, that they was one of these on every planet of the Alliance. This was how people travelled from planet to planet, through this gate. Every planet had a gate on its surface, and every planet had a code. If you wanted to go to a certain planet all you had to do was typed the code into the Transceiver, and when the gate was activated you stepped inside, when you come out the other side, you are on your destination.

Queen Dimeria had discovered the original one years before she formed the Alliance, and had her scientist clone the foreign metal and make thousands of them, one for each planet. Earth had one of its own, it was in Ireland, of all places, but Buffy thought it fit. That what Buffy and Afraya had used to get off Earth the first time, and it is what Buffy and her daughter would use to go back there today.

That thought jolted Buffy back to the present. Looking around she noticed that everyone was waiting for her. Nimisha was ahead of her and had stopped to see what the matter was. Buffy gave her daughter a reassuring smile and fell into step with the others. As they climbed the ramp leading up the Transceiver and the gate itself, Buffy could feel every set of eyes on her, looking up at her, as they waited for her to complete her part in the process. Turning around she sort of a particular set of eyes.

Finally she locked eyes with Afraya and gave her head a little nod, telling him that he could continue. He nodded in return, and proceeded to tap in Earth’s code of symbols onto the Transceiver. When he had finished the gate came to life. The symbols on the gate that matched the ones Afraya had typed in on the Transceiver glowed blood red. But still the gate would not open, it seemed to be waiting for something, and Buffy knew exactly what it was.

If you are travelling to a nearby planet, one that is not on the Outer Rim, which is actually 98% of the planets, you can use the power of the Transceiver to make the distance. But if it is not, you need to far larger source of energy than the Transceiver to power up the gate. And there is only one of being in the galaxy that has enough power in her that is more than the gate’s ‘receiver, and that was the Queen. Dimeria had made it that way so it would not get out of hand, and the criminals could not run to the Outer Worlds.

So slowly Buffy walked up to the front of the gate. Straightening her back and raising her head to look the gate straight on she raised her right hand, her left laying comfortably at her side. She could feel the power pulsing through her veins. Flattening out her hand she pointed it palm first, fingers up, towards the gate.

She felt the birthmark come to life on her forehead, as the power was called forward to do what it was born to do. Without looking at the moon she knew that it had turned a bright silver and to anyone looking at it, the outline would seem to be flashing. Naturally Buffy closed her eyes as she guided the power up from the deep, and felt it’s need to free itself. Suddenly, a royal blue flame shot out of Buffy fingertips, and into the gate itself. Tendrils of the power branched out and attached over the each flashing symbol.

Buffy could not explain it, but whenever she did this: opened the gate through her Tessionare powers, she always felt incredibly light, and carefree, it felt as if she was coming home.

Finally, when all the symbols were covered, Buffy sent a final burst of energy, and the gate opened. A shimmering blue wave flew out of its centre and then withdrew, forming what looked like a horizontal wall of water, but Buffy knew that if you were to put your hand on it and push, it would go straight through to the other side.

Slowly she let her hand drop to her side, cracklings of energy still dancing on her fingertips. When she finally opened her eyes, she brought her fingers up to gently touch the still flashing moon on her forehead. With the contact of her skin it started to withdraw, and change its colour back to normal pale-silver. Weakly she dropped her hand back to her side, as her head started to spin. Stumbling, she didn’t hear the occupants of the room cries of dismay, and she didn’t notice the nearby guards reaching to steady her from falling.

It just took to much out of her. She, and everyone else, were glad that she only had to do it once or twice a year, for they all knew what it did to her, it nearby drained all her strength, Slayer or not. She might have been the only one who could do this, but it still was hard. It was amazing in its self that she had enough energy to open it in the first place, because it just took up so much power, that it almost killed her to do it.

She faintly noticed that Afraya had taken her arm and was steading her. He, better than anyone, knew what a hard ritual it was to complete, he had seen with his own eyes, Semirritte bed-ridden for days after only one transfer. It just left them so weak, that more time than once, Queens had collapsed from the shear exhaustion of it, and were left unconscious for days before they got their energy back.

He started to lead her over to a nearby chair but when she noticed his intention, Buffy made to push out of his arms. But Afraya ignored her protest and firmly sat her down in one of the seats.

Looking around she noticed that Nimisha had been lead over to one of the closer seats and she was talking to Thian, who had just handed her a cup of steaming liquid. Nimisha was enjoying the conversation but she would keep shooting Buffy anxious looks over her shoulder. When she locked eyes with her daughter, Buffy smiled weakly and Nimisha returned it with a smile of relief, knowing that she was okay.

After Buffy knew she had regained enough strength to stand on her own she handed back her half drunken cup and proceeded to rise from the seat, ignoring to protest from the people around her.

"Im fine, dont worry." She spread her hands wide, "See, I can walk and talk, and I think I have just enough energy to walk over to the gate without help." As she tested her step she found that she could, and breathing a sigh of relief, started to move around more freely. Afraya still guided her over to the gate entrance, Nimisha once again at her side, Thian not far behind. Everyone else stayed back, just stood and watched Buffy, Nimisha, Afraya, and Thian walk up the ramp and stand before the opened gate.

"Are you sure your going to be alright?" Afraya asked, worried.

"Yes, we will, I can handle it, Afraya." Buffy replied

He was still worried, and Thian too, had a worried look on his young face.

Buffy sighed, "Look, you guys, we can handle it. Its going to be okay, nothing is going to happen, I swear. I will be back in a few days, think you can run the fort here until then?" She asked the two men. They nodded silently, and Buffy knew that still didn’t want to have to do this.

To reassure them, Buffy embraced Afraya first, giving him a warm hug of thanks, and then Thian, saying thank you as well. Nimisha did the same.

"Are you both very sure you can path’ that distance? You’ve never been in a situation where you had to before, so are you both very certain? " Afraya asked.

"Well, honestly dont know, but we should be able to, right

Nimi?"Nimisha nodded, her eyes flickering over the imposing gate, not enjoying the fact that she had to walk in it.

"Remember, when you get out the other side, port’ straight to America, straight to Sunnydale if possible, just get as further away from the gate and Ireland as you can in the quickest amount of time, you dont have much of it, so use it wisely." Thian said, reminding them what they had to do.

Knowing they had to get going, Buffy gave Afraya and Thian one last reassuring smile and followed Nimisha up to the top of the gate. When they stood only a few centimetres from the doorway, they stopped.

Nimisha hesitantly reached out her hand and slowly pushed her finger through the wall, it disappeared. Drawing her hand back, Nimisha frowned and said,

"I really hate going through these things, mama, they creep me out." Buffy laughed, still weakly holding on to Nimisha’s arm to steady herself.

"Me too, baby, me too. Come on then, better get going, we will be here forever otherwise."

So, not looking back, the two scions gripped hands and, as one calmly walked into the gate.

They disappeared.

And hundreds of people waiting outside, started to scream, as they sensed their lives would never be the same again.