"We will have only each other at the last."
- Guy Gavriel Kay, The Summer Tree

AC 182
Sank Kingdom

The man watched the sun set over the remains of the Sank Kingdom, the dying rays momentarily brightening the dusky orange of the still-smoldering embers. The light spread, encompassing the splintered and blackened furniture lying abandoned, fingers creeping into the fissures that defaced the once-stately buildings. It highlighted the burnt corpses of the unfortunates, piercing the eyes of those who still tenaciously clung to life. Following the light's path, the man's eyes surveyed the destruction, pausing periodically upon a smashed portrait, a broken window, and a blackened, out-stretched hand. But the sights did not deter him for long. He continued to search the scene before him, finally stopping when he found his target.

The boy stood next to a pile of rubble, head bowed, platinum hair stained copper in the light. The man began to approach the boy, then halted several feet away from his goal. Upon closer inspection, the stillness of the tableau was broken, as he could see the boy swaying -- of exhaustion? fear? sorrow? -- with clenched fists. The boy's nails were torn and caked with dirt; his hands were scraped and bloody. Red-rimmed eyes, set in a dusty face streaked with the trail of tears, stared blankly at a spot on the ground. His jaw, once resolute, now trembled with the effort of biting back further sobs.

The man narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the wreckage. It seemed he had missed the action once again. Only this time will be the last time, he told himself. The next time he met his brother, he would have the upper hand. The corner of his lips turned up slightly as he savored the scenario. All he now needed was this boy in front of him. The man took a determined step toward the boy and laid his hand on the boy's thin shoulder.

"Boy. What's your name?"

The boy started, whirling around to face the intruder. He then straightened his back and raised his head, answering proudly, "I am Milliardo Peacecraft of the Sank Kingdom."

The man, pleased by the boy's response, smiled slightly. "Why are you still here?"

"Because I had to be," the boy said.

Sou ka, the man thought. It was good that the boy had not splintered with grief. He was merely six, but he would suit the man's purposes well. The man looked at the pile of rubble at the boy's feet, noticing the small inscription reading "Peacecraft" scratched on the most prominent stone. The man smiled further. The boy would suit his purposes quite well.

"My name is Quinze Barton. From now on, you are mine, boy."

The man walked away, his boy following.

* * *

AC 184
Somewhere on Earth

"Otou-san, tell me a story," the girl asked.

"Which one?" her father said.

"The one about the stars," the girl replied eagerly.

"But I've already told you that story many, many times, my little Lucrezia," said her father with an indulgent smile.

"Please?"

"Oh, all right."

With that, the girl scrambled into her father's lap and looked up eagerly.

"There was once a man who had everything. He was the ruler of a golden country, and he had all he could ever ask for: diamonds that sparkled like the sun, exotic spices from lands that existed only in dreams, and a glittering array of servants who anticipated his every whim. But the man didn't care about these things, exquisite though they were, for he was in love.

"Much as he would have done anything for her, his princess (for that was what he called her, though she was as far from being a princess as he was a pauper) would not hear of it.

" 'You are the ruler of your country," she said to him, "and I am not of your world. It cannot be.'

"But still the man persisted, for she was the one he loved and the only one he would ever love. He courted her with his words, awkward and stilted, with his flowers, faded and imperfect, with his songs, uncouth and unpoetic, and with his heart, which was pure.

"And she was moved, for she saw that his clumsy gifts were from his pure heart, and they were more precious to her than any riches he could have bestowed upon her. And she knew that he had done her more honor with these gifts than could be done with all the wealth of his kingdom, endless though it was, for he had deemed her dear enough to make a gift of his soul.

"Then she went to him and told him that she loved him, though there would be a price to pay. He rejoiced at her words and was content to simply be with her.

"Theirs was a fairy tale romance, for in those days, fairy tales were possible. But the existence of fairy tales meant also the presence of dark despair, even for a man who had everything. Their life together was broken when he woke to find her gone from his side. Grieved beyond all measure, he trekked through all the countries of the known world, and through some lands that existed only in dreams, giving up his kingdom and exhausting his boundless riches to find the merest trace of her breath. When he was at last poor and friendless, he remembered the words she had told him a long time ago.

" 'When I am not with you, I shall look unto the stars and find you there.'

"With that, he gathered all his determination and headed out toward the distant stars, never sparing a glance for the world he was leaving behind, for although she had told him their love was a forbidden love (as she was an immortal star, once fallen from the heavens), he believed still that its purity and strength would lead him to her. He searched and searched, at last unable to search any further, for his mortality weighed him down. But the Creator, touched by the man's sacrifices, pitied him and lifted him to see his love whenever the moon could not cast its disapproving eye upon the two."

The girl was silent for a few breaths. Then: "Is that the star?" she asked, pointing toward the brightest object in the moonless sky.

Her father smiled down at her, nodding, not having the heart to tell his daughter that her distant star was, in actuality, a colony.

"Did they live happily ever after?"

"Yes, dear heart, very happily."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because your mother and I love like that, and whenever two people love like that, they can only live happily ever after."

"Oh. Okay." The girl curled up in her father's lap, seeking warmth.

Huddled on the pavement, with only a few crumpled newspapers for shelter, they held tight to each other as a sharp wind blew past the bombed-out skeletons of buildings, the decaying asphalt of the streets, and the shrapnel embedded everywhere.

A high-pitched whistle cut through the air to warn them of an impending attack, and the girl and her father hastily made their way toward an abandoned warehouse.

"Faster!" her father said as he broke off to find her mother and her sister.

The girl complied as best she could, willing her legs to move more quickly, to take larger strides. Panting and disheveled, she ran into the warehouse and wedged herself in an empty crate, just as the rest of her family reached shelter. She watched with wide eyes as guerrilla soldiers retreated into the warehouse, pursued by Federation bullets. Burrowing further into her hiding place, she tried desperately to block the all-too-familiar sound of metal ripping through flesh.

A grenade lobbed at the Federation exploded in midair, causing the girl to flinch at the noise. When the smoke cleared, she saw her baby sister crawl out from under her mother's slackened arms and into the confusion and carnage of the attack.

"NO! Oh, God, not the baby!" The words burst out of her mother's mouth, a desperate plea to whomever would listen, as her mother shot out from under rusted machinery. Her father quickly followed suit, dodging gunfire and explosives to reach the two.

The girl froze, her limbs useless and dead with fear. And as she numbly, helplessly watched the scene unfold, a cold steel bullet caught her sister.

A scream tore the air as her mother reached the dying child, the sound quickly silenced as she toppled to the floor in a crimson flash. And before the girl could comprehend what had just happened, her father fell as well, landing lifeless on the bodies of his wife and child, their blood forming a dark stain on the dirt floor.