"Hang on."

Mint stopped short. They weren't even out of sight of Claire's cabin yet.

"What?" Rue asked, confused, stopping and turning back to her.

She gestured back to where they'd come from. "Who was that guy, anyway?"

Rue blinked. "Didn't your sister tell you about him?"

Mint scowled. "Maya never tells me anything," she grumbled; "not unless I beat it out of her, anyway."

Rue tried not to take that literally. "He's my brother," he told Mint, answering her question. "His name's Ruenis."

"Your brother?" she repeated. "Like, one of Valen's dolls?"

Rue nodded. "Yeah."

"And that's why he knows that stuff about Valen and the Western Desert?" Mint asked. "He has all his 'memories' and stuff, like Doll Master did?"

"Yes," Rue answered, not sure where she was going with this.

"Does his life stone work, like yours?" Mint asked.

"Uh…We haven't exactly…tested his powers…yet," Rue replied slowly. "I'm not sure what exactly he can do."

"But his life stone isn't dead like Doll Master's was, right?" Mint pressed. "Like, it does more than just give him life like Doll Master - it gives him powers and everything, right?"

"Yeah, it's fully functional," Rue answered; "or at least, it looks like it is."

"Then why the hell isn't he coming with us?!" Mint exclaimed, already turning back. "He'll be able to help - probably even more than you!"

She was right, and the insult didn't hurt Rue, but he ran in front of her to stop her all the same.

"He should stay with Claire," he told Mint firmly. "I'd feel bad about leaving Claire alone."

Mint scowled again. "She did just fine on her own before she met you, didn't she?" she pointed out rudely.

Again, she was right, and again, Rue didn't take offense, but again, he stopped her as she started to shoulder past him.

"He doesn't need to get caught up in your issues," he told Mint. "I'll come and help you, but Ruenis can stay out of this."

"Bah," Mint grumbled, but she didn't fight any more. Rue was actually surprised that she gave in - that wasn't something she normally did. Still, he was glad when they started walking again, even when the forest fully obscured the view of Claire's cabin. He was almost afraid to admit it to himself, but it was kind of invigorating to be going on a long journey again.

~o~

It quickly became clear to Rue that Mint's willingness to drop the issue of Ruenis was because her impatience to get going outweighed her interest in the doll - they actually ended up going by foot for a few days before meeting up with Klaus and his family. Just as Mint had said, all of the family had come along with Klaus, even Prima Doll. It really is just like last time, Rue thought as greetings were exchanged. Except this time, we won't have been wandering for years before having somewhere specific to go.

He worried, now, that his lost memories regarding Valen would turn out to be a hindrance after all - that maybe Ruenis should have come along. It's better that he stays with Claire, he kept telling himself. Now that they were back with Klaus and his family, it was easier to not worry about that.

He also felt kind of funny at seeing Elena again. She was a rather airheaded girl, and this had caused difficulties for him more than once, but he couldn't deny that she was really sweet, too. She was the naïve sort of person who saw nothing but happiness and fun everywhere, full of an utterly childish innocence, and it made Rue sometimes feel oddly protective of her…after all, someday, she would realize that the world is full of bad things, too. However, it seemed that that day hadn't come yet - she was exactly the same as he had remembered her, and very happy to see him again, as he was her.

They were only halfway to the Western Desert - it was quite a ways, really, especially on foot, and they were only so far already because Claire happened to live a lot closer to the West of the continent than East Heaven Kingdom or even Carona; and while Mint had learned a lot of magic on her last [relic] quest - and even more since returning home - she didn't have the power to transport two adults, two young adults, one young adult Aeon doll, and one child magic doll to the other side of the world all together. There was no real rush - things were already going a lot faster than the last [relic] hunt had - so even Mint didn't complain about the slow going, and the six spent the travel time catching up.

At one point, Rue asked Mint about the others.

"You said Belle and Duke and Rod are going to be there?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Probably. The Western Desert isn't as empty as it sounds, apparently - supposedly, there's an entire town out there. Between that and the ruins, it's the sort of place they'd go. Besides, it's not like this trip is secret or anything - Rod was the one who delivered the message from Klaus to me."

"Oh." It felt almost bothersome, how conveniently fate had arranged for all of them to be in the same place at the same time once again. It had done that before, brought him - him, one of Valen's dolls, though he'd completely lost any memory of being such - to Carona along with all the other people he'd need to bring the Dewprism back into the known world, all at the same time, all while they had the same goal. Well, all of them with the exception of Rod, anyway, and the almost eerie coincidence attached to Rod was the fact that he just happened to have the Pulsar-Inferno Typhoon Omega, which had been an invaluable asset in their quest. Oh, and the Dewprism had just happened to be under the care of East Heaven Kingdom, Mint's home. The more he'd thought on it since coming home, the eerier the coincidences had seemed to be, and already it looked like things were headed in that direction yet again. It made him feel…trapped. Like destiny wasn't something that could be entirely denied.

And he hadn't forgotten Ruenis's comment that Valen had spent a lot of time in the place that had become the ruins they were all journeying to see. Valen had declared, even in defeat, that he would one day return and become a god and reign over all of existence - that that was his destiny. Even if the seal at the lake ruins had been a one-time deal, surely there were other access points, if Valen still believed in his dreams…and Ephlesia was a likely place for one. With every day that passed, every step they took, he could only wonder if he was being led by a leash, bound by fate…

"You've been very quiet this entire trip, Rue."

Rue jumped at the sound of his name. "What?" he asked, looking up from the fire he'd been gazing at.

Mira gave him a small smile; the others were looking on, signifying a shift in the conversation.

"You've hardly said anything in the weeks we've been walking," Mira said. "You seem as serious as you were when we first met. Is something bothering you?"

"Um…" Rue looked into the fire again, the dancing flame giving him a hypnotic pattern to gaze at. "I'm just…thinking about how odd it is that we're all coming together again."

"It's not that odd," Mint scoffed. "We're searching for a [relic]. We're not the only ones who do that even at the best of times, and we met in the first place because we were all looking for the same thing. It's something we have in common…unfortunately." This last was obviously a reference to Belle and Duke, and anyone else who would like to claim the [relic] before her for that matter.

"I know, but…" Rue sighed. She was right, and he couldn't figure out how to put his uneasiness into words that would make sense in the face of her logic. "I guess I just don't want to keep having to deal with things involving Valen," he said at last.

"You think I do?" Mint asked cynically. "It sucks, no two ways about it. But if there's a [relic] in it for me, we'll just have to deal with it. Again." She grimaced, her face reflecting the very same displeasure with Valen-related affairs that Rue felt.

"I don't think the [relic] we're looking for belonged to Valen," Klaus inserted. "For that matter, I'm not entirely sure there's a [relic] in the ruins of Ephlesia at all. Even if there is, it will be much more manageable than the Dewprism, from what Mel explained to me."

"Hopefully not too much more 'manageable'," Mint grumbled just quietly enough that the others could pretend not to hear her.

"If it wasn't made by Valen, which Aeon do you think made it, Doctor?" Rue asked, realizing he should have asked this sooner. "Valen made the Dewprism, and Atenacius made the Book of Cosmos…" He thought for a moment. "What other Aeons were there, anyway?"

"Oh, there were hundreds!" Klaus replied enthusiastically, and his family knew then and there that there would be no more talking tonight except Klaus going on about his research. "Many of them used their exceptional powers in an attempt to comprehend some aspect of the universe, some with more success than others. The greatest Aeons were very few, relatively speaking, and Valen and Atenacius were the most powerful of all. The Aeons were an entire race, essentially, varying in overall strength and ability and in outlook on the universe and the concept of society.

"Of the highest order, apart from Valen and Atenacius, well, for one, there was Ragnar. He's best known for pyrology and his studies of subterranean energy - he was convinced that far below the Earth's surface exists an infinite energy source, and he also worked to understand the very nature of fire itself, everything there was to know about heat. His [relic] was the Red Spear.

"There was Vierna, the biologist, who sought to control the very essence of life. She never really achieved control, but her understanding of the nature of life still far surpasses anything modern humans would have been able to discover without the guidance of her research. As a matter of fact, after you and Mint left Carona, I looked back through some of her materials on a hunch, and I believe her work did indeed have a great deal of influence on Prima's creation, possibly even yours. Her [relic] was the White Heart.

"And then there was Xeptyr, the meteorologist. He achieved full insight into weather patterns, and his research is still used to predict the weather today; in his prime, he was said to be able to conjure and dispel hurricanes at will. His [relic] was the Cloud.

"Also, there was Rinsol, the astronomer, who studied the sun, moon, stars, and sky. While his power was never great enough for him to change the orbit of the stars at will as Valen or Atenacius could, his celestial comprehension was so strong that some legends say he could literally speak to the moon and stars and ask them about the mysteries of the universe. In addition to his studies and the knowledge he left for man to make use of after the Aeons' time, records indicate that he actually played a key role in Atenacius's creation of the Book of Cosmos - some even speculate that the two were brothers, though this has never been confirmed. Rinsol's [relic] was the Crystal Sextant.

"There were also many other Aeons, of various levels of power, who made minimal contributions to modern science and magic but had their place among the Aeons all the same - Tenar, Altius, Raykin, Yuetti, Nyali, Kairin, and many, many others. The Aeon [relic] we might find in Ephlesia belonged to one of these lesser-known Aeons, though I'm not entirely sure which one. The most likely candidate would be Ruehi-"

"Ruehi?" The name startled Rue, as he recognized the root in the name that was also characteristic of all of Valen's dolls - 'rue'.

"Yes," Klaus said, nodding; "almost ironic, really."

"How so?" Rue asked, more than just curious now.

"Ruehi is best known for speaking out against Valen, refusing to accept him as a peer," Klaus told Rue, and the feeling in Rue's gut tightened. "Writings recovered from her atelier suggest that she was suspicious and fearful of Valen long before the completion of the Dewprism, and frequently made overtures to the greater Aeons - especially Atenacius - to keep a close eye on Valen's doings or, if possible, subdue or even kill him. She was dismissed for several centuries…"

"Until Valen completed the Dewprism," Rue finished.

"So it would seem," Klaus confirmed, nodding. "Ruehi was gracious, or so records indicate at least, glad that the truth of her warnings was realized before Valen managed to do any real damage."

"I wonder how she knew what he was going to do," Rue mused out loud.

"Some say - and there is no shortage of evidence to support this - that Ruehi, though not recognized as one of the greater Aeons, used her power making significant efforts to comprehend the nature of consciousness and the psyche," Klaus told Rue. "It's likely that she recognized early warning signs of hubris and narcissism in Valen." He went on to describe some of the better-known aspects of her research, and he and Rue spent several hours discussing the various Aeons, long after everyone else had gone to sleep. When caught up in his hobby, Klaus seemed inexhaustible, and Rue was more than willing to hear everything Klaus had to say about the Aeons. He himself had been an Aeon creation, but he had never really thought to learn more about them before; now, he was curious to hear about the world and beings that had lead to his birth.

~o~

"There it is."

After two more weeks of travel on foot, Klaus and his family and friends finally arrived at Avalon, a town on the edge of the Western Desert relatively close to the ruins of Ephlesia City.

"Whew…we made it," Mint sighed with relief, bending over and panting.

Rue was silent, looking around at the buildings on the outskirts of the town, waiting for that same prickle of familiarity he had felt upon seeing Carona that would tell him that this was a place that he, as one of Valen's dolls, was supposed to seek out. So far, he felt nothing, but his uneasiness remained.

"We need to find a place to stay before anyone goes ruin hunting," Mira said, a hint of sternness backing her tone.

"Of course, dear," Klaus said, almost quickly.

"My dear sister, what are you doing?"

The sudden, unexpected reprimand startled Mint so much that she fell over.

Everyone turned around in surprise to see Princess Maya, Mint's younger sister, standing behind them, glaring at Mint. Rue stepped forward as Mint picked herself up.

"Princess Maya?" he asked.

"Hello, Rue," Maya said, sparing the small crowd a brief, faint smile, "and everyone else. I'm sorry to bother you, but my dear sister here has some explaining to do."

"You didn't tell her where you were going?" Rue asked Mint softly.

"Well, duh," she mumbled back.

Rue closed his eyes and shook his head, sighing.

Maya took a step forward. "You have been gone for weeks!" she chastised Mint. "You left entirely unannounced, and I've had to handle all of the kingdom's affairs without you, including the current negotiations with the ambassador from the North! You communicate with the slippery bastard so much better than I do - how could you have left me at his mercy?!"

Mint looked at Maya with a bored expression, completely unperturbed by her sister's fury. She shrugged. "Hey, you're the high-and-mighty crown princess," she said; "you can handle it."

"We are both in charge of our kingdom!" Maya snapped. "If you had affairs to attend to, you were at least obligated to announce your departure! I have been searching for you everywhere for a week!"

"Only one?" Mint asked, sounding almost disappointed, and Prima had to stifle a chuckle at how Mint both didn't want to be bothered by her sister and considered herself important enough to be sorely missed.

"Ohh, you are hopeless," Maya moaned, rolling her head back and putting a hand to her forehead dramatically, the golden ornaments on her crown-like hairpiece swinging wildly. "As co-monarch, you have a duty to our kingdom, and Father is lying on his deathbed pleading to speak with you day and night-"

"Wait, what?!" Mint exclaimed. "Father's dying?!" She put a hand to her mouth, completely taken aback. Rue and the family of four they'd been traveling with all grew wide-eyed with surprise; Mint had never so much as mentioned her father to any of them.

Maya blinked. "Our best healers have been battling with death for days to keep him alive while I tried to find you," she said, sounding almost confused. "You do know how he fell ill…don't you?"

Mint couldn't speak.

Maya resisted the urge to put her hand to her face again. "You've been gone so long that you didn't even hear about that, haven't you?" she asked, making it more of a resigned statement.

"Well…um…" Mint said sheepishly.

Maya sighed. "That's it," she said, "you are coming home this instant. I don't care what you could possibly be doing all the way out here, it will have to wait." And without even waiting for a response, Maya stepped forward, grabbed her sister by the arm, and both of them disappeared in a flash of light.

Rue, Klaus, Mira, Elena, and Prima all stared at the spot where the two princesses had vanished from in shock. Rue was the first to recover.

"What should we do, Doctor?" he asked, turning to Klaus.

"Let's find a place to stay first," Mira said. "After that, you can wait for Mint to come back or get started without her."

"I'd like to see what we can do to get settled and planned out as soon as possible, so we may well have to start before she rejoins us," Klaus said.

No one could think of anything more to say, and after another moment's hesitation, they all turned and walked into town. Elena fell back to walk beside Rue.

"Do you think Mint's gonna be okay?" she asked Rue.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," he said; "she won't let Maya keep her away for long."

"What about her dad?" Elena asked.

Rue sighed, unsure how to tell Elena that in all likelihood, Mint would have to say her goodbyes and maybe stay at East Heaven for the funeral. "I'm sure everything will be fine," was all he could think to say.

~o~

"Mint…"

The soft croak did not befit the King of East Heaven. No longer the voluminous, authoritative monarch he had once been, the retired king was now lying in his bed helplessly, a shrunken look about him due to his rapid weight loss outpacing the elasticity of his skin. He was on his last few breaths, and would have been cold and dead already without the numerous magicians acting as life support.

The spells keeping him in the world of the living at this point were considered forbidden magic unless circumstances were dire - the Kingdom of Sorcery had long ago decreed, and to this day enforced, the rule that death was a necessary fact of life and that all living bodies be allowed to die when their time came unless important affairs remained to be taken care of. The former king had begged to be kept alive so that he might speak with his eldest daughter before passing away, and his High Council had decreed that this was important enough to warrant the forbidden magic.

Now, at long last, Mint was present for her father's final words. Despite her normal self-centered demeanor - not to mention her bitterness at her father's decision to uphold the vote to revoke her right to the East Heaven throne - she couldn't help getting slightly choked up at seeing her father in this state.

"Dad," she said softly, taking his clammy hand.

The dying man gripped tightly, his clouded eyes finding his older daughter's face. Something sparked in his expression that Mint couldn't read.

"Mint," he said again. "I'm…so sorry."

Mint blinked; this was not what she had expected.

"I never did right by you," the old man went on, surprising her further. She couldn't have agreed more, but saying so seemed wrong, so she kept silent.

"I thought…I could shape you," her father went on. "I thought…I could change you. I…was a fool. I punished you for my own foolish mistake." He closed his eyes and made a sound like a weak chuckle. "If you only knew," he rasped. "If only…you could know…the fate I tried to give you…to keep from you…"

"Father…?" Mint was baffled. Her dad's words made no sense to her at all.

He opened his eyes again, and his gaze locked with hers. "Can you ever forgive me?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Anyone who knew her would have expected her to say no. Under any other circumstances, she probably would have. But seeing her once high and mighty father like this, the despair and desperation in his eyes…Even she wasn't heartless.

"Yes," she said softly. "I forgive you, dad."

"Ah…" The king closed his eyes, never to open them again, as he let out a breath. "Then perhaps…I was not so wrong after all." He was silent for a moment. "The top drawer…" he finally breathed, so softly Mint could barely hear him. "My desk…The letter…you…were born…the last…binding…not…human…forever…Mint…a scene…"

Mint stared blankly at the dying king as his whispered words made less and less sense. Whatever he was trying to say, it would probably never be known. Then, the last of the magic that had been sustaining him finally broke, and he was gone, leaving behind more questions than answers for the former crown princess.

~o~

Mint walked out the door slightly in shock, the courtiers hurrying in behind her to prepare the deceased king for the funeral.

"What did he wish to say to you?" Maya asked Mint. She had been waiting outside, as the king had wanted to speak to Mint alone, but she couldn't hide her worry.

Mint shrugged. "I dunno," she said. "He said a bunch of stuff that didn't make sense. Basically, he wanted to apologize…for something…and ask if I could forgive him." She shrugged again. "He seemed really upset, so I told him I forgave him. Then he rambled for a bit, and then he died."

"What exactly did he say?" Maya pressed.

Mint repeated her father's dying words to her sister. Maya pondered them thoughtfully, especially the bit about the top drawer of her father's desk. That drawer had been forbidden to access for anyone; now, perhaps, it was time to find out why.

"Well, it was interesting," Mint said dismissively at last, shrugging again. "I'm gonna go back to Avalon now."

That brought Maya back to the present.

"You will not!" she exclaimed. "You will remain for Father's funeral at the very least! I can't believe you would even consider leaving sooner, you hopeless, disgraceful, selfish-!"

"Well, if I'm so awful, maybe I should just go and quit making such a disgrace of myself, then!" Mint snapped.

Maya's fists clenched. "You will remain here for the funeral," she told Mint icily. "As co-queen of East Heaven, I absolutely forbid you to leave a moment before the services are finished. If I must have the High Council place a binding spell on you to keep you here as long as you are obligated, I will do so; you have one chance to avoid forcing my hand."

"Okay, fine, sheesh," Mint said, throwing up her hands in surrender. "Whatever. Can I please go to my room right now, Your Royal Highness?" These last words were imbued with so much disdain that they implied the opposite of what the words meant on their own.

Maya sighed. "That's probably the best place for you," she said resignedly. "Go."

"Thank you ever so much for your permission," Mint said sarcastically, and she walked away.

Maya stood outside the door to her father's room for a minute, thinking. Her father's desk wasn't in his room, it was in what essentially correlated to an office…She had been there frequently since half-taking the throne, used the space and even the desk itself at times, but the top right-hand drawer of the desk had been sealed with more than just a lock. Surely, this was what her father had been talking about in his final ramblings…What had that been about a letter and Mint's birth? Whatever it was, Maya felt spurred by a curiosity she hadn't really known was in her before - she was the calm, more practical-minded sister, after all…but what was in that drawer that was so meaningful her father would think of it in his dying moments?

She had to see.

~o~

The palace was quiet, most of the staff and all of the courtiers in mourning. The ambassador from the North had left upon hearing of the death of the king, understanding the implications and ready to deliver the news to his home kingdom. The office where the king - and later, his daughters - had conducted various meetings was dark and silent. Maya almost felt guilty as she crept across to the desk, as though she was breaking some horrible taboo.

But she had to know, and she had to know before her sister did.

The auspicious drawer was completely unlocked now, the spell apparently having broken upon the king's death. Inside was an envelope that shimmered, almost glowed, with a silvery light, and a leather-bound tome that Maya only had to glance through for a moment to recognize as a diary.

Her father's diary, and a mysterious letter. She clutched both to her chest and hurried to her room to study them, feeling guilty but more concerned about what she might find. If it had to do with Mint, she had a feeling it probably wasn't good.

Hours later, she found she had been proven entirely right.