"Will it work?" Cestro asked, regarding the device inscrutably.

Billy shrugged. There was only one honest answer to that question, and they both knew it. "It has to," he said simply.

Before them, sleek metal casing glinted in the predawn light. The Hydro Contaminators would come with the sun, racing across the ocean toward the cliffs on which they stood--and the city beyond. This single weapon, perched at the edge of Aquitar's most venerated falls, was all that stood in the enemy's path.

This weapon and the Power Rangers, of course. Billy glanced over at Cestro and found the Blue Aquitian Ranger's eyes averted. He followed the other's gaze, and his own eyes widened.

"Who is that?" He asked the question before he realized that Cestro was no more likely to know than he was. The solitary figure on the precipice below them was too far away to be recognizable.

The Blue Ranger surprised him. "That will be the Keeper of the Falls," he answered, scanning the rest of the supposedly evacuated cliffs. "She is the only one here exempt from Ranger authority."

"Exempt?" Billy repeated, startled. The Aquitians had told him that it would take only their word to clear the area. "Who's exempt from an evacuation order?"

"The Keepers follow a different path," Cestro replied, rather cryptically. He didn't seem inclined to elaborate, any more than he seemed concerned by the thought of a civilian in the line of fire.

He glanced toward the horizon again. The expanding glow heralded the rising sun, and he saw Cestro reach for his communicator. The other Rangers were not far and could hardly be any less aware of the time than they two, but the call to rally had to come from someone.

"This is Cestro," the Blue Aquitian Ranger announced. "The weapon is complete, and time grows short."

"Acknowledged," Delphine's voice answered promptly. "We will assemble at your coordinates."

The figure on the cliffs hadn't moved. Billy frowned down at it--at her--and finally shook his head. "She's not planning to wait out the battle down there, is she?"

"I have had little success in predicting the actions of Keepers in the past," Cestro replied, inspecting the weapon once more. "I would not, however, be surprised if she were to do exactly that."

Billy was still wondering how to respond to that when Cestro changed the subject. "Dephine will not order you away," he remarked, not looking up. "Your history and your skills are without question. Circumstances being what they are, however, you would almost certainly be safer elsewhere."

"I could say the same thing to that Keeper," Billy retorted. He tried not to take offense at the Aquitians' obvious protectiveness toward him, but it was hard not to bristle at the reminder of his lost Power.

Cestro's reaction was not at all what he had expected. "I wish you would," the Blue Ranger murmured. He spoke quietly enough that Billy wondered if he had been meant to overhear.

"What?" Billy frowned at him, but it didn't take long for his brain to catch up. "You don't want her here."

"It is not my decision to make," Cestro reminded him. "The Keepers--"

"Follow a different path, right. So you said." Billy studied him for a moment. He wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he needed *something* to do. "Let me go talk to her, then. Try to convince her, as you asked."

"If you tell her that you come at the Blue Ranger's behest," the other replied, his tone tinged with rueful humor, "I assure you that you will convince her of nothing."

Billy raised an eyebrow, amused and simultaneously aware that Cestro had not dismissed the idea out of hand as he had expected. Indeed, Cestro almost seemed to be encouraging him. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"That is one way to describe our relationship," Cestro allowed. He caught Billy's eye at last, and his expression looked resigned. "She is my brother's daughter."

"Your niece," Billy offered, wondering at his friend's attitude.

Cestro inclined his head. "As you say. I can give you exact coordinates," he added, seeing Billy reach for his communicator when he didn't continue. "Unless you prefer to test your skill."

Billy threw a pointed glance at the ever-lightening horizon. "Not this morning," he said wryly. "Not if I can help it. Thanks anyway."

His communicator flashed a confirmation of Cestro's data transfer just as the rock ledge on which they stood lit with the glow of teleportation. Aurico appeared beside them, and Corcus flashed into being immediately afterward. The battle was almost upon them.

Billy nodded to Cestro and took a step back. "I'll be back as soon as she's somewhere safer," he promised. "May the Power protect you."

Aurico and Corcus saluted automatically, responding to his imminent departure. Cestro looked as though he was about to say something, but the white glow that preceded Delphine's arrival kept him quiet. Instead he merely pressed his fingertips together as his teammates had and echoed Billy's words of farewell.

Delphine shot a curious glance in his direction as the teleportation stream swept him up, but the scene faded before Cestro had time to explain. He couldn't help wondering whether Cestro would say more about his niece to Delphine than he had to Billy--and what that something more might be.