One afternoon, the Koori men had sat with Sarah and described the subtleties of their culture. As time passed, she felt a closer and stronger bond with their ways, as it was through the Great Snake that she had acquired—or, if the snake's words were true, discovered—her gifts.

As they chatted, Albert had been whittling a snake into a small, knobby bit of wood he had found in the flatlands. When he finished, he pulled a red sharpie out of his jeans pocket and started accenting certain shapes in the piece.

"That's lovely, Albert," she said, looking over his shoulder.

When Albert had finished, he handed his wooden creation over to her. "Maybe it helps your concentration, like a talisman."

"You mean, when casting spells?"

He nodded.

Sarah held the piece gently, turning it around in her hand to observe his handiwork. The patterns were simple, but still very appealing. She ran her fingers over the grooves thoughtfully. As she pondered the red lines of the snake, a picture formed in her mind.

She held the talisman aloft and tried to open the portal. It didn't respond. Her stomach sank a bit, as she had hoped it would be a solution to their problem of transporting the armies.

"Wonggu, do you have your knife with you?"

"You don' cut agin', no? You still be healing."

"Don't worry," she answered, smiling. "I'm getting better at this."

He seemed satisfied with her answer and handed her his knife, with the hilt pointed toward her. She took the small, sharp blade and pressed it to the tip of her finger, then rubbed the small bit of blood over the top of the snake pattern, taking the place of the red sharpie on the design. Again, she held the talisman before her and concentrated on the pattern of the snake on the surface as she brought forth the energy to open a small portal. This time, it worked.

"I see. You don' need be der to open doors, we can make you more talismans, you can pass to the armies like keys to de gates."

In the distance, there was a sudden commotion at the main campsite. Sarah turned to look, then turned back to the Koori men, who rose from the logs they had been sitting on and moved to follow her back to the camp.

She moved through a crowd of excited guinea pigs and mice until she could see the source of their interest—a helicopter landing in the middle of the camp, with Kermit's green face emblazoned on the side.

Once the vehicle was settled, two figures emerged from the open door in the back. That of Sage, holding a woman's hand.

Sarah approached them in haste, hugging each without hesitation. "I didn't expect you here so soon!" She turned to Marlena. "It is so lovely to meet you. I see now where Vindar gets his sharp looks."

Marlena seemed to become wistful at the mention of her son's name. "Well, I'm not sure about that, but I do look forward to seeing for myself in person." She squeezed Sarah's hand. "I've heard nothing but wonderful things about you—the whole you, of course." She winked at her playfully.

Sage hugged Sarah after the women had finished their introduction. "I can never repay you for this reunion," he whispered into her ear.

"You already have a million times over, my friend," she said with a soft smile.

The commotion that had seemed to settle with the unveiling of the mystery of the arriving helicopter seemed to renew as Isabelle and Vindar approached, running through the crowd hand in hand. As soon as Vindar saw his mother, he ran straight for her, wrapping his arms around her easily, as they were the same height. "Oh Mother, how I have missed having you in my life."

Tears were already falling heavily from Marlena's eyes. "Yes, love." She quickly reached for him. "I have a son!" she exclaimed, as they held each other more tightly.

"And I have a mother."

Sarah watched with a light heart, almost crying her own happy tears at the odd scene of the tall elf and his mother hugging, towering over the shorter, beaming Sage. The two laughed at their instant connection, but did not hesitate to kneel low so that they might include Sage in their embrace.

Sarah looked at Isabelle, who had stood on the sidelines, a face shining in excitement over her beau's happy discovery.

The girl suddenly exploded from her position and crashed the hug party, giggling with pure joy.

Vindar grabbed her hand quickly and introduced her to Marlena with the other. "Oh yes, Mother, this is my companion, Isabelle. Is she not the loveliest flower you have laid your eyes upon?"

"She certainly is!" Marlena answered, holding the girl by the shoulders and admiring her. "I have a family!" the woman almost squealed in her mounting excitement.

"Finally, the fog is lifting," Sage answered, his face flush with happiness. "No more fumbling around in the dark."

Sarah was so overwhelmed by the scene of her friend's newfound happiness unfolding that she had to work hard to keep corporeal. Finally she snuck away to her tent, so that she might better concentrate on not literally dissipating with pure joy at their reunion.

##

"This is the one." Gail stood in front of the music shop window with Toby, where she faced a purple guitar that almost looked candy coated.

"It's perfect," Toby said, leaning in closer to admire it. "What are you gonna do with it when you buy it?"

"I'm gonna show you how to make a talisman."

"You can make a guitar into a talisman?" Toby said with excitement.

Gail smiled. "You can make just about anything into a talisman."

As they walked into the store, Toby asked, "Why are you gonna do that?"

Gail lifted the guitar out of the display window. "We're gonna sing everyone a lullaby… Except this is a lullaby that will wake them up." She put it on the counter, where a fiery that looked oddly like Jerry Garcia was waiting. "We'll take it."

##

The day dragged on, all sense of time completely gone now that the sun no longer shone.

Sarah sat alone with her thoughts. It was all going wrong. The thought of the coming battle plagued her mind, riddled her with guilt. Would they kill innocents? Would these people die in a battle, only to wake up in the aftermath, the story closed, all just a bad dream? The consequences of having no stand off at all seemed worse, though—the world disappearing into shadows, lost and forgotten. There would be no artifacts to dig up, no evidence that anything ever was. It would just be gone.

Wasn't war better than the alternative? She didn't know, except that she didn't like it at all. If it had been up to her, war would not have been the option. She would have attempted to infiltrate her other half's stronghold alone.

She wondered what she was going through, what it would all be like once they were once again whole. Would they remember what had happened? What kinds of memories would her darker half bring? Could she live with them? Would she feel proud of the outcome, with her pride back?

But she was proud, and that was something she didn't understand. She had assumed the pride would have gone to her counterpart, that she would be left with only guilt. But she felt proud of pulling the lost souls out of sleep, proud of the effort she was making. Not proud in a sense that she felt like she had gone above and beyond all those around her to come out on top, but a sense of self, a sense of having accomplished what she was meant to accomplish. There were missing pieces, ones that she was increasingly incapable of sensing. She couldn't raise herself to anger. She didn't care what happened to her, even if she was curious. She could die now, and it wouldn't matter.

As a matter of fact, she was dying. Or, at the very least, disappearing. She didn't tell anyone because she didn't want them to worry, but she had at times found herself unable to pick up solid objects, phasing in and out as a ghost. It wasn't obvious until she slipped, until the cup went through her fingers, until her foot began to slip just a bit through the hard earth beneath her feet, or she started to float above the ground. Whenever she did, she would sometimes not notice it right away, because she would be so caught up in the sensation of ascension, of drifting into a better realm. Then she would catch herself, slip away casually, and let the episode ride itself out.

It took more and more of her will each time to keep from giving in to her spirit's attempt to escape. She was drifting into the very dream-world she had learned to control. She was the anti-thesis to reality, the hope and the light.

But someone had noticed her phasing. The woman caught her alone in the tent, her bright red hair falling in great heaps around her shoulders, her green eyes penetrating and pure. "You're disappearing, aren't you, Sarah?" Marlena asked softly as she peeked through the flap of Sarah's tent.

Sarah nodded somberly. "Not all the way yet. There's still time."

Marlena reached out for her hand, but could barely get a grasp on it. "If you disappear, it's all lost."

"I know." Sarah sat down, bringing all her concentration forth to give her body shape again. It was difficult, but she managed it.

"Maybe this war plan isn't such a good idea," Marlena mused as she sat next to Sarah.

Sarah brushed her fingers through her hair nervously. "I think it's the only way. Granen told me that he's heard rumors from some of the incoming that she's showing her face less and less, that the castle is growing over in vines, becoming more treacherous to enter."

"It's almost like she is building a hard shell to protect herself." Marlena didn't like the idea at all, and a chill went down her spine.

"Yes, it seems that way," Sarah said sadly.

"Do you think you can understand her? Figure out an Achilles heel that we might put to use?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. I don't even really remember who she is." The words hung in the air. "I only know she is there because the people around me help me to remember. If she wasn't such a hot topic of conversation... Well, I'd have no notion that she was there at all."

"So we need war to bring her out in the open," Marlena answered with a solemn nod. "What do we do then? Once we have her?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Sarah said quietly. "But, I think I will know when I am there."

"You're coming to the battlefield?" Marlena asked incredulously. "She might try to kill you."

"Not unless she found a way to separate us. Even then... I really couldn't tell you if she would. But I have to be there. We have to rejoin."

Marlena looked into the distance, contemplating an excess of memory, thinking about her life to that moment—a luxury she had not been afforded in many years. "In much of myth, the hero is a symbol for the world's journey, a challenge the entire world is facing, or, at the very least, a challenge that her world is facing. Picked out of a common world, the typical example of the type of struggle the world is facing, she must conquer the trouble herself so that she may conquer it for the entire world."

Sarah found her words interesting. "I'm no one."

"What do you mean? You're queen of Sunset City."

"It doesn't change the fact that I am an average woman thrust into abnormal circumstances."

Marlena looked at her and smiled. "That's how heroes start."