She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to accomplish what she wanted, but figured it was at least worth a try. She looked at the pictures of Max, Michael, and Tess, trying to commit them to memory. It might help, and she wouldn’t be able to look at them later.

Best to start with the easiest first. She closed her eyes and concentrated until she could form an image of Max in her mind. The familiar vertigo hit her, then she was standing on the streets of Roswell as people ran in panic around her. A helicopter flew overhead, and Isabel caught sight of Max as he began to run down the street.

“Max! Max, wait!” She ran after him, calling, and finally he slowed to look at her, his eyes wild and confused.

“Isabel. We have to go. They’re after Liz. They’re at the Crashdown.”

She grabbed his arm to hold him in place. “No, Max. It’s just a dream. But I’m real. I’m here.”

He was still caught up in the dream, but something inside him made him stop, responding to the truth of Isabel’s presence. “Why?”

“Michael’s been having dreams, too. I want to try to link us together to see if we can find out what’s causing them.”

The understanding slowly came over Max.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I’m not sure. Take my hand. Now, I don’t know what will happen in minute but I want you to concentrate on me. Just keep thinking about what I look like now, and try to keep my image here.”

She tried to close her eyes again, but found she couldn’t in the dream.

“Oh my God, Max. I need to see Michael, but I can’t. I can’t close my eyes to picture him.”

In her panic she followed Max blindly as he pulled her along the street and up the stairs of the Crashdown. He burst into the Parker’s home and she saw it all. The FBI agents, Michael shot down, Liz soon after. Still holding Max’s hand, she knelt beside the dream Michael’s body.

“It’s only a dream. It’s only a dream.” With Max’s help she turned him so she could look upon his face. The vertigo again...

Then everything was transformed. Now she was downstairs in the dining room of the Crashdown. Max wasn’t there and for a minute she worried that she had lost him, but she could still feel the phantom of pressure against her hand, symbolizing that the connection had not been broken. It was difficult to divide her attention like this, but she did her best to look around the room while keeping her connection with Max. Isabel saw Michael and Maria against the counter and wasn’t quite sure of the best way to intrude on the situation. She cleared her throat, causing them to pull away from each other in surprise. Isabel couldn’t understand the look of guilt on Michael’s face. He began to say something, then anger filled his eyes as he looked past her. She turned to find Agent Pierce standing behind her, an amused smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?”

“Michael, no. He’s not real.” Isabel’s head was beginning to throb. She could feel Max slipping away and knew she couldn’t last much longer. “It’s time to stop these dreams. Give me your hand.”

He was torn between the unexpected appearance of Isabel and the desire to defend himself against Pierce. The dream Pierce stared at him, his smile mocking, but didn’t move.

“Now, Michael.” Hesitantly, Michael reached out to Isabel. Isabel’s head spun as their hands touched, and the Crashdown dissolved around them.

**********

The preparations were going well. People scurried around, making the final adjustments to the decorations and cleaning frantically so everything would look perfect for the festivities. Kronar smiled, pleased with the way things were coming together. He wasn’t so isolated from the city that he didn’t know what was going on. People were trickling in from the outlying villages with rumors of attacks, feeding a restlessness that was getting greater everyday. A wedding was just what was needed to bring some peace.

“Ah, here she is. The radiant bride.”

His sister nodded for her handmaidens to continue on without her and joined her brother as he walked through the halls.

“Kronar, I have heard the stories coming in from some of the distant settlements. I wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to postpone the ceremony.”

“Postpone? Or cancel?” She was ashamed that he had guessed what she was thinking. “Eibach is one of our best friends. We grew up with him. You love him.”

Inanna sighed. “Yes, like I love you.”

“He’s the commander of our armies, aligned with a prestigious clan. This marriage will bring security to our people.”

“Is that the purpose of marriage, to bring security?”

Kronar smiled tightly. Inanna lowered her head in embarrassment. She had no right to complain of this to him. “It is for us. We have the blood, we have a responsibility to our people.” He was lost in his own thoughts, reflecting on the disappointments his status had meant to his own life. He shrugged them away with practiced ease. “And part of that responsibility is hosting a banquet tonight, and we are running out of time. Your bath should be hot by now, go get ready.” She nodded and retreated to her chamber where her handmaids were waiting.

***********

Eibach made his way across the balcony, keeping an eye out for anyone who might observe his progress. Sure that he had not been spotted he slipped through the doorway into the royal chamber. His queen sat on the polished couch, rubbing the scented oil on her skin.

She didn’t turn as he came up behind her, just pointedly continued massaging until her skin was shiny and lavender. “You came.”

He placed a hand against her back and began coaxing the molecules beneath his hand to move in his own particular rhythm. “I always do.”

She smiled and leaned against him, enjoying the sensation. “Inanna might find out.”

She caught his hand and pressed her own against it, altering the vibration of her molecules to match his, causing the flesh to melt together. He sighed in pleasure. “I don’t care.”

**********

Kronar stood in the courtyard. The great symbols in the front of the palace had worn down greatly since his own wedding. Now the workmen were re-carving them, and the fresh, sharp lines made him think back to that day. Inanna was upset about marrying a man she had known her whole life. He had waited here, even younger than she was, still reeling from the death of his father. Barely adjusting to the mantle of power newly placed on his shoulders, he had met the woman that in a few hours he would be joined to for the rest of his life. At the time he resented it, as Inanna did. But there was nothing to be done, the choice had been made for them long ago.

Kronar heard a low rumble. A workman stumbled as he walked past, then Kronar felt the ground shake beneath his own feet. The people in the courtyard began to scramble towards the shelter of the doorways as his own guards came to swarm around him protectively. The lead guard grabbed his arm and began steering him toward the throne tower.

“Sir, it’s an attack. We must get you to safety.”

He began to follow, then saw the ship materialize above the palace by the family chambers.

“Freyka.”

The guard pulled on him again. “The queen’s guards will protect her.”

They ran into the palace, but in the main hall Kronar broke free of the guards and ran up the stairs to his private chambers. He paused long enough at the doorway of Inanna’s chamber to see the handmaids. Wounded, they reached out to comfort each other and tended to the dying and the dead. Inanna floated lifeless, the bath oil around her glowing brighter as her blood flowed into it.

**********

So consumed with the pleasure of joining, Eibach barely registered the first explosion as the intruders gained entrance to the palace. Slowly he extricated himself to find the enemies had already surrounded them. He placed himself in front of his queen protectively.

“How did you get in here?”

The man with the ranking insignia sneered. “Ask your queen. She’s the one who lured you here, then emptied your guard houses so we could get past the perimeter barrier.”

She nervously straightened her dressing robe, not meeting his eyes, until in a rush of emotion she grabbed his hand, pleading. “I had to do it. Kronar’s ideas are causing our civilization to suffer. Our people are dying, starving to death. Look in the great books. The time of our alliance with the Anasazi was a golden age. There were no wars, no starvation. I’m doing this so we can bring those times back.”

Eibach shook her hand away. “It was a golden age, but only because we were slaves to the Anasazi. No one starved only because so many died of punishment and misuse. Kronar wants a better life, too. That’s why he’s cutting out the corruption. It will hurt until the people get back fully what was theirs, then we will be stronger than ever.” His eyes narrowed, disgusted by the sight of her. “But you can’t see that. Now you have sacrificed the blood of your king, of you husband. The blood that has kept us free for so long.”

Freyka shook her head. “No. No one is going to die. You and I will convince Kronar to step down, and you will take over. The Anasazi will support our claim. We’ll build a new world, together.”

“You fool.” He turned towards the guard, who lifted an arm and a bright light engulfed Eibach. Kronar arrived at the doorway just in time to see his skin glaze and crackle as he melted towards the floor. Freyka watched, the horror in her face growing with the realization of what she had done. Kronar ran to her but she was already caught in the light and shrinking away.

The soldier sneered. “The king, too? This really has been too easy.”

Kronar stared at the bodies on the ground as the blinding light seared through him.

**********

The connection broke and Isabel fell back into herself. Her bed felt hard as concrete beneath her as her senses came slowly back to her. She was confused at first to still feel a pressure around her hand, but as the room came into focus she could see that Max was already there.

“Isabel, are you all right?”

She carefully sat up. “Yeah, I think so.”

“You shouldn’t have done that. We don’t know what might have happened.”

“I’m okay. And we learned something about who we were.”