Aura stared down at the datapad with something akin to consternation on her face. The dappled sunlight playing across her skin hid her frown, but the impatient sigh that escaped her lips gave her away. "How did you do this?" she demanded, still perusing the translated equations.

Lounging on the blanket beside her, Carlos gazed out across the lake and just grinned. He knew a rhetorical question when he heard one, and it wouldn't take her long to realize that the only advantage he'd had was the fact that he hadn't been staring at the same numbers for three days on end. He'd managed to balance the fuel ratios she'd been struggling with at last, so he might as well enjoy her incredulity while it lasted.

"Billy will enjoy this," she muttered, tossing the pad down in disgust. "He advised me to let you do the conversions from the start."

"Only because they were mobile," Carlos pointed out. "If I could have been there for the test runs, you know he would have made me do that instead."

"And let you blow up another prototype?" Aura followed his gaze for a moment, watching the late afternoon sun sparkle off the water, but before long her eyes were drawn irresistibly back to the discarded datapad. "I doubt he's overly impressed with your record as a test pilot."

"Hey," he objected, shooting an amused look in her direction. "One, that wasn't my fault. And two--"

Carlos broke off as he caught sight of a girl approaching them, her gaze trained on Aura and an apprehensively hopeful look on her face. Swallowing his complaint that he wasn't much better at math than she seemed to think he was at flying, he nudged his girlfriend and nodded over her shoulder. "Heads up," he said, quietly enough that it wouldn't carry. "You have an adoring fan at ten o'clock."

"You and your clocks," she murmured, glaring down at the datapad. "The rest of the galaxies use bearings, you know."

"Um... excuse me--Ranger Aura?" The girl had hesitated, just within earshot and looking as though she might flee at any moment. Carlos raised an eyebrow at her politely formal address, though; someone had been paying attention during the Aquitian broadcasts last fall.

Aura looked up from the equations as though she hadn't realized anyone else was nearby. "Yes," she agreed, as though the girl had asked a question. Which, Carlos supposed, she had.

"Would you--uh... could I get your autograph?" the girl asked in a rush.

"What do you wish me to sign?" Aura countered patiently. She was much better with these kids than he would be, and when the girl nervously presented a notebook and pen, Aura signed and handed it back with a small smile.

"And you wonder why I like Aquitar so much," Carlos muttered, as the girl all but skipped away.

Aura gave him an arch look. "I always assumed it was because I'm there," she teased, her earlier sourness slipping away.

"That's the most important reason," he agreed immediately, touching her fingers with a grin. She turned her hand over and squeezed his, and he ran his thumb over the glittery nail polish Ashley had given her. "But it's nice to be someplace where Rangers are just ordinary people."

She smiled at that, a real smile that she only wore around people she was comfortable with. "Rangers are never just ordinary people, Carlos."

"Well, Aquitar treats us like we are," he said, smiling back. "And it's nice."

Her amused expression faded, replaced by a pensive look that set off alarm bells in his mind. "What are you thinking?" he wondered aloud, watching her face closely.

She squeezed his hand distractedly. "I am only trying to remember if we have ever been outside of Coralside together. I suspect not... you might feel differently if we had."

"Why do you say that?"

Her thoughtful eyes regarded him carefully, as though trying to judge his reaction before it came. "The Ranger Dome has been located in Coralside for generations," she told him. "The city populace has become accustomed to having Rangers in its midst. The rest of the planet is not necessarily so nonchalant in their dealings with us."

He considered that for a moment, and finally he shrugged. "I guess that's reassuring," he said with a smile. "Earth isn't quite as backward as it sometimes feels, huh?"

Aura's expression stayed perfectly neutral, but her eyes danced. "I did not say that," she pointed out.

"League brat," he teased.

A smile played across her lips. "Seasider."

"So is that why Tideus and Corcus stay in Coralside?" Carlos asked, picking up the conversation as though it hadn't been interrupted. "Because people are used to them?"

She hesitated a moment before nodding. "Many former Rangers live in the city for precisely that reason. Delphine and Cestro stay because their families are there, of course, and I am sure their teammates stay partly to be close to them. But it is no secret that Aurico had a difficult time resettling, even with his wife's connections, and I think the others are not anxious to try it themselves."

There was a brief silence, and when it began to stretch out he let his gaze wander back toward the lake. The ripples on its deep blue surface were lined with sun-gold and cloud-silver as fairweather puffs drifted across the sky above. The beach itself was peppered with people, lounging as they were or watching lazily over children playing in the shallow water.

He could remember a time when he wouldn't have dared to bring her here. To the lake, yes, but not to this beach. Not to this public place, where someone as alien as her would be anything but inconspicuous and anyone might see. Sometimes he wondered whether he had become less responsible or more so over the last two years.

"When I leave active Ranger duty, I suppose I will settle there too," Aura mused aloud.

He blinked, setting his mind to focus on the conversation again. "Coralside?" he asked reflexively, just to confirm that they were still talking about what he thought they were talking about. Then the rest of her sentence caught up with him. "Wait, when you leave active Ranger duty?"

She gave him an amused look. "Where were you?"

Sheepishly, he admitted, "Just thinking about how much things have changed. You're not planning to quit the team, are you?"

He was half-kidding, but he was still relieved when her lips curved upward at the idea. "No, of course not.

"I have only been a Ranger for two years," she added, surprising him with the same number he had just been contemplating. "The average tour of duty is four, and I have no intention of giving up the Power just yet."

"Four years?" he repeated, not sure whether the figure itself or the fact that it existed surprised him more.

He knew that Adam, the Ranger who had chosen Carlos to inherit his Power, had kept his morpher for almost that long before passing it on. He knew too that Andros had had his morpher all his life. But those were the only two examples he had, other than his own, and there didn't seem to be a lot of middle ground... he'd never considered an "average" length of time.

"For Aquitian Rangers, that is," she said, glancing sideways at him. "Billy says that most Earth Rangers do not hold the Power that long."

"No," Carlos agreed slowly. "I guess they wouldn't... Justin says he was the only Ranger not in high school when he was recruited, and we're the first to keep the Power after graduating." He thought about it for a moment, wondering why it had never occurred to him before. "I guess that makes us the oldest Rangers."

Aura was smiling again. "Not so old, on Aquitar," she told him. "Even in Aquitian years, our entire team is older than anyone on yours."

"Except your leader," he retorted, rolling his eyes at her deliberate omission.

"No," she murmured, an odd look floating across her face. "I suppose that's true."

He raised an eyebrow. "You suppose? Cestria told me that Cetaci's eighteen."

"Nineteen, now," Aura corrected absently. "She would have graduated next year, had she stayed in school."

Seeming to come back to herself, she focused on him again and added, "Nonetheless, it takes Aquitar longer to circle its sun than it does Earth. Even at nineteen, she is several of your years older than you."

"And you still only hold the Power for four years?" Carlos had once done the Aquitian-Earth conversion for Aura's age, and he found it was better for his peace of mind if he didn't think about it too much. "The first Turbo team only gave up their morphers because they had to get real jobs. If they could have been Rangers longer, I think they would have."

"Do you?" She studied him. "It is true that our worlds approach Rangering differently, but whether one becomes a Ranger before or after one finishes schooling, all teams have in common the fact that they are made up of young people."

"You just finished telling me how old everyone on your team is," Carlos reminded her, his tone teasing.

Her lips quirked. "Relatively speaking," she insisted, but there was a slightly petulant note in her voice that told him he'd made his point. "Being a Ranger requires three characteristics that youth has in abundance: physical conditioning, invincibility, and a willingness to be consumed by something else. None of those things last forever, least of all the last. Rangers that do not pass on the Power burn out. There are no exceptions."

"Well, damn," Carlos said, rolling over onto his back to stare up at the sky. "Here I thought being a Ranger required five close friends, an obsession with a single color, and amazing good looks. You've completely destroyed my belief system. I hope you're satisfied."

Beside him, she put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands and offered, "If it's any comfort, I have often wished a deadpan sense of humor had made the list."

He put his hands behind his head and grinned up at her. "Then you're in luck, because that's one thing that just gets better with age."

She smiled back at him, but her question surprised him. "What will you do when you relinquish the Power?"

He shrugged as best he could in his current position. "I'm doing it," he pointed out. "Like you said, we do Rangering differently here. No threat, no duties, so unless some new villain comes along to threaten Earth, we'll just keep on with our lives."

Her expression grew thoughtful, and he turned the question back on her before she could say anything. "What about you? What will you do in two years, or whenever you decide to leave?"

At that, she frowned. "You make it sound like abandonment," she murmured, though her tone wasn't particularly accusatory. "There comes a time when a Ranger is more of a liability than an asset, you know."

"Not really," he said frankly, keeping his gaze fixed on hers. "I don't know much about the other Earth Rangers, but Andros has been the Red Ranger all his life. He's not a liability to anyone."

"Except himself," Aura said softly. "He grew into the Power while his world was at war and there was nothing more heroic than immersing oneself in battle. Now that is changing, and Andros has driven away everyone close to him to keep doing what he does."

Carlos opened his mouth to protest, but then he remembered Ashley's bleak expression when asked why she had left KO-35. "It was for the best," she had said, only three months after she had sworn her undying love for the Ranger that had drawn her there.

"Being a Ranger takes everything you are." Aura was watching his face, and he tried hastily to smooth his expression over. "There is little room left over for family, or friends... or anything else, for that matter. Few Rangers have meaningful relationships outside of their team."

"What about neighboring teams?" He had to try and lighten the mood a little; she was so solemn. He couldn't help thinking that maybe the teams on Earth, while having their own problems with secrecy, might have been spared some of the more difficult aspects of Rangering on other planets.

She smiled when he tapped her knee, tickling her bare skin with his fingers. "Some manage to make inter-team relationships work," she allowed. "But you cannot deny that you have had difficulty making time for anything other than the Astro Rangers at times."

He chuckled ruefully. "There were weeks when I lived and breathed that uniform," he admitted. "And it's never stopped being my first priority."

"On some planets," Aura said quietly, "Rangers live and breathe their duty for as long as they wear a morpher. There comes a time in every person's life when that kind of commitment is no longer possible, when one can simply no longer give all that they have to others. Eventually, one has to get something back, something other than the rush of Power and the adrenaline of battle."

He frowned at her, concerned. "Are you..." He didn't know how to finish the sentence.

She smiled at him, a sincere smile that lit her eyes and warmed his heart. "I have you," she said simply. "And," she added, her smile taking on a fiercer cast, "I still thrive on it. The action, the responsibility and the risk--"

"The toys," he interjected, giving the datapad in front of her a significant glance.

She came that close to laughing as she followed his gaze. "The toys," she agreed. "As you well know, I put as much time off-duty time into Rangering as not. And as long as it means so much to me, I will continue to be an asset to the team."

He felt compelled to point out, "You can't really think you'll ever be a liability to your friends, no matter how much things change."

Her expression sobered a little. "There is a difference between the team and my friends, Carlos. The team is something that we do. Friends... that's something that we are."

He smiled. "Very poetic."

"But true," she countered. "With the exception of Cetaci and Delphinius, who are as likely to kill each other as marry, we will never stop being friends. But for each of us there will come a day when we realize someone else could give more to the team, and one by one, we will step aside."

He considered that, wondering what a similar philosophy would mean for his own team. "It's funny," he murmured, half to himself. "Andros doesn't seem to look at it that way."

Aura was silent, and for a moment he thought she wouldn't answer. At last, though, she asked, "And if Kerova presses the issue? What then?"

Now he found that he was the one without an answer.

***

There was no answer at Carlos' door, so she left him a message with a post-it and a pencil. Neither he nor his roommates had bothered to buy a message board yet, but she hoped the bright yellow would catch his eye. It told him to meet them in Tessa's room when he got back, and she added the numbers "227" in case he had forgotten.

As she turned away, Ashley saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. She spun, but there was no one there. With a sigh, she reminded herself that Andros was far too busy trying to explain Kerovan politics to the others to bother catching her alone right now. She should just go back down there and listen, and pretend she cared whether they wanted her morpher back or not.

He hadn't even called her back. She wrinkled her nose as she headed for the stairwell. Granted, she hadn't made her message sound particularly urgent, but there was a time when he would have come just because she had said "hi", not because his planet's government had tried to counter a decision he had made about the Rangers. She tried not to be upset about that.

He was here out of concern for them, after all. Even if it wasn't for her specifically, at least he was worrying about something other than KO-35. It wasn't like he had come just because his authority had been threatened--

She rounded the corner and came up short, her eyes widening in surprise. What had she just been thinking about him trying to get her alone?

"Andros," she managed. Her eyes traveled down his frame before she could stop herself, and she felt a frown trying to establish itself on her face. "Why are you..."

She trailed off uncertainly. He was wearing his Astro flightsuit here in the middle of the dorm, and he looked--off, somehow. It could be the fact that his hair was free of its ponytail for the first time in days, or that Zhane's phoenix necklace hung on the chain that usually held Kerone's locket. Or it could be the lack of recognition in his expression... she could have been anyone, anyone at all, and he would have given her the same look of bored indifference.

She took a step back in confusion, and he was gone. Just like that--no warning, no movement, no nothing--just gone in the time it took to blink, and she was left staring in shock at the empty stairwell.

By the time she reached Tessa's room, she was sure she'd looked over her shoulder a dozen times. She knocked tentatively, giving the hallway one last glance as Tessa called, "Come in!"

Ashley stuck her head into the room and looked them over carefully, locating Andros first--dressed in a short-sleeve Kerovan tunic and stonewashed California jeans, he paused at her intense scrutiny and gave her a questioning look. He stood by the windows, Zhane at his left shoulder with his white hair glowing in the slanted sunlight and the red-banded communicator still lurking on his wrist.

Kerone sat on Karen's bed, alone without being apart. The phoenix necklace hung over her t-shirt as it had for months, glinting in the suddenly silent room. Across from her, TJ and Tessa were side by side on the other bed, and Ashley was aware of everyone's eyes on her.

"What's wrong?" TJ asked, as she finally slid into the room and closed the door behind her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

She opened her mouth to tell them what she had seen, but something stopped her. What could she say? That she was having hallucinations about the boyfriend she'd gone to live with at the beginning of the summer and then moved out on three months later? That she had been thinking about him and he appeared as though summoned in front of her? That would go over well.

"Nothing," she lied, trying to smile reassuringly. "I just... I wasn't sure I remembered Tessa's room number right, that's all."

"My name's on the door," Tessa pointed out, looking as confused as TJ.

"Yeah, well..." She shifted uncomfortably, not sure what other excuse to use.

To her infinite relief, Zhane came to her rescue. "So Carlos wasn't there, huh?"

She shot him a grateful look. "No, but I left a note on his door. When he gets back he'll know where to find us."

"Andros was just telling us that the Council doesn't have the final say in Ranger matters," TJ added, though the penetrating look he gave her said he might not drop it that easily. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to Kerone, trying to avoid his gaze. "Apparently, they can't force the team to split up if we don't want to."

"There's such a thing as Ranger law," Zhane put in.

Andros shot him an odd look, but all he said was, "I'd like to think we won't have to resort to that."

"What does that mean?" TJ wanted to know. "Ranger law?"

"It means that if the Power had wanted the Council to make decisions about the Rangers, it would have given them the morphers in the first place." Zhane leaned insolently back against one of the girls' bureaus, a smirk on his face. "They can't tell us what to do."

Andros sighed. "Zhane..."

"What?" Zhane didn't bother to straighten up. "Isn't that what you were saying this morning? That Rangers are above Council law?"

Ashley frowned, looking over at Kerone. Andros' sister caught her eye, and if the puzzled look she saw reflected back at her was any indication, Kerone had caught an undercurrent of hostility in that question too. Since when had Zhane been anything but open about his feelings?

"I didn't say that." Andros' gaze was locked with Zhane's now, and the rest of them might as well have ceased to exist. "I said that they earned those morphers, and I won't let the Council think otherwise."

"Guys?" TJ interrupted. "Hello? 'They' happen to be right here."

"I'll go." Ashley tried not to wince as every eye in the room turned toward her again. "That's what this is about, right? It's not whether we deserve to have the astromorphers or not, it's whether the morphers are doing any good when we're here on Earth.

"If they want a team that lives in the Kerova system, then I'll go. Live there again, I mean," she said, when comprehension seemed to evade everyone except Kerone. The sorceress looked as though she had expected nothing less. "If I'd thought someone wanted me there, I wouldn't have left in the first place."

The words escaped before she could think about how they would sound, and that statement made Kerone's eyes widen where the others had not. But that was nothing compared to the look of hurt on Andros' face. He stared at her as though she had just announced he was the lowest scum in the universe.

Tessa cleared her throat, speaking for the first time since Ashley had returned. "I'm not saying you shouldn't go, Ash, but... that's not really going to solve the problem, is it? You can't *all* go." She looked to TJ for support.

He shook his head firmly. "I understand what the Council is saying, Andros; I really do. But I'm not moving--and frankly, I don't see why I should have to give up my morpher. What if Divatox comes back? What if some new villain decides to attack Earth? We don't have a team, no, but at least there are some people here now who stand a chance of fighting back."

Andros swallowed. "That's... I guess, that's--" He couldn't seem to finish the sentence, and it occurred to Ashley distantly that he hadn't been so speechless even when she'd announced she was returning to Earth.

"The Alliance," Zhane said, covering for his friend as he always had. "You haven't heard anything from them, have you?"

TJ and Tessa exchanged glances. "Us?" TJ asked, when no one else said anything.

"You, Ashley, anyone." Zhane was frowning. "I didn't think of it until you said that just now. The Alliance isn't going to like this at all. I hope the Council hasn't made any kind of official statement."

"They are Kerovan morphers," Kerone pointed out, with her usual lack of concern for what anyone would think.

TJ frowned. "Earth Rangers used Eltaran morphers for three years. I don't see that this is any different. The Power chooses people who need it, regardless of where they're from."

Tessa looked at him in surprise, and he shrugged sheepishly. "I did some studying."

"I guess," she murmured, but she looked pleased.

"Is that someone in the hall?" Kerone was frowning at the door.

There were voices outside the door, but there was nothing unusual about that--until the familiar accents made Ashley sit up and call, "Come in, Carlos!"

Tessa gave her an amused look, and she ducked her head in apology. "Sorry," she offered ruefully, but Tessa just grinned.

Carlos leaned around the doorframe and inquired, "Dinner?"

Only then did Ashley remember how hungry she was, and she saw Tessa's eyes light up at the word. "Food!" the blonde-haired girl exclaimed, nudging TJ with her elbow. "Remember what that is, TJ?"

"It's not that late," he complained good-naturedly, glancing at his watch. "Well, all right--it's almost that late. Sorry about that."

"We were discussing the Council's request," Kerone offered. Carlos held the door for Aura when he realized no one was jumping to their feet, and as he entered behind her he gave Kerone a wry look.

"Funny," he said, pulling the door shut. "So were we. Come up with anything interesting?"

"Just that the Alliance is going to be ticked," Ashley muttered, irritated at the reminder of Carlos' and Aura's perfect relationship. Something occurred to her, and she made herself catch Andros' eye again. "I suppose KO-35's going to want the zords Zordon gave us, too."

He just stared at her, saying nothing. Beside him, Zhane shrugged. "That's a good question. The Mega Vs are sort of linked to the astromorphers now, aren't they?"

"Ashley." Andros was clearly paying no attention to the conversation. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Zhane glanced at him uncertainly, and Ashley saw Carlos and Aura exchange puzzled looks. "Sure," she said with a shrug. She stayed where she was, watching him.

He swallowed. "Outside," he said, more quietly.

She felt Zhane's blue eyes on her, but where his gaze had been sympathetic before, now the intent behind it was just as readable. His expression said, Have a little compassion, clear as day. Don't do this to him.

Suppressing a sigh, she got to her feet. Carlos gave her a concerned look even as he stepped out of her way, but she didn't say a word until she was out in the hallway and Andros had closed the door behind them. For a moment, he too was silent, and her impatience bubbled over.

"What?" she demanded, as quietly as she could. She didn't care if people in the hallway heard her, but their voices would carry through the door as easily as Carlos' and Aura's had. "What did I do now? If this is another lecture on diplomacy, don't worry about it, because I can't embarrass you anymore."

She knew that wasn't why he wanted to talk to her, but this was just too reminiscent of so many other mid-situation meetings when he'd felt the need to impart some piece of information or just a plea for tact--or silence. She knew she wasn't the best diplomat in the world, but he didn't have to rub her nose in it all the time.

His response was quite possibly the last thing she had prepared herself for. "God," he whispered, leaning back against the wall. "I'm so sorry, Ash."

He'd never sworn to a god before, not that she could remember anyway, and she wondered where he could have picked that up. She watched him, feeling that she should say something but unable to deny that part of her thought he deserved this small anguish. It was a horrible thing to think, she scolded herself, but that didn't banish the thought.

"Look," he said, straightening up and reaching out to touch her shoulder. He withdrew his hand at the last second, as though he wasn't sure she'd let him do it, and the look of sadness that crossed his face made her wonder what he was thinking.

"I know I've screwed up," he said softly. "I'm sorry you thought I didn't want you there, because nothing could be farther than the truth. I'm sorry I let the whole Ranger thing get so big that I thought there was nothing I could do to make you stay, because there must have been something. Maybe it was..." He closed his eyes and started again. "Maybe it was as small a thing as letting you know that having you with me was the best thing about KO-35."

He was staring at her again, and she hadn't even noticed when he opened his eyes. "My home is nothing to me without you, Ash, and since you've been gone--nothing's right anymore. Kerone won't talk to me, Zhane's mad at me, and all I can think about is getting you back. I don't know what to do."

The forlorn look on his face was her undoing, and she wrapped her arms around him without another thought. "It's okay," she murmured, hugging him hard. "It's going to be all right."

She thought she felt him sigh, but there was nothing cynical in his voice when he whispered plaintively, "Promise?"

She closed her eyes, knowing that to keep his arms around her she would promise him anything. "I promise," she said, just as quietly.

Bizarrely, there was a knock from the other side of the door, and she heard Carlos' voice coming from inside Tessa's room. "Hey, you guys still out there? No offense, but some of us are really hungry."

Ashley didn't move, afraid anything she said would break the spell. Twirling the ends of Andros' ponytail around her fingers, she sighed when she felt him pull away. But he just put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her gently, almost hesitantly. *I love you.*

She wasn't sure which of them said it first, but suddenly it didn't seem enough to keep it inside their heads. "I love you," she repeated aloud, kissing his lower lip gently. "I'll always love you."

"I love you too," he murmured, kissing her again.

"Guys?" This time Carlos pushed the door open, and she knew without looking that he was rolling his eyes at them. "If you don't want to eat you could just say so, you know."

"The dining halls won't stay open forever," TJ was saying. "How long do we have, again?"

"I'm not sure the dining hall can take this conversation," Tessa answered, over the rustle of her windbreaker. "Maybe we should just order pizza or something."

"We can't do this without Cassie." Zhane sounded unusually firm. "We should see if we can get through to Elisia."

"The Megaship," Andros said, keeping his arm tightly around Ashley's waist as he braced his other arm on the doorframe. "Let's go up to the Megaship, eat, call Cassie, and figure out what to do from there."

***

The comm on his dashboard beeped, and Saryn regarded the blinking light quizzically. There were very few callers who would be automatically routed from his home comm to his jetcycle, and no one but the other Rangers could tap into the jetcycle network directly. And the other Rangers were only moments gone, if that.

He reached out to acknowledge the signal, but the light went dark before his fingers could touch it. Cassie must have picked up--Cassie must be home, he realized, looking up. He scanned the exterior archway automatically, hoping to catch a glimpse of her through the corner windows. He couldn't, of course, not if she was by the comm, but the gesture was instinctive.

Mirine's jetcycle was already parked inside and abandoned by the time his joined it, but he hadn't expected her to wait. He had told her that he and Cassie wouldn't be joining the others for the evening meal, and he knew that she had more to take care of this evening than they had yet accomplished. The burden of team leadership still lay with her, despite his return, and he knew it might be that way indefinitely.

When he was honest with himself, he didn't know whether to consider the situation trial or gift.

He stepped out onto the promenade again, absently keying the garage closed behind him. He stared out toward the horizon, soaking in the winter shadows of the early sunset. Though the primary sun was setting on the other side of the compound, reflected color was beginning to tinge the eastern skies as it dropped ever nearer to the planet's surface.

He took in the evening's serenity for as long as he could before curiosity drove him inside to see whom Cassie was talking to. She looked up and waved a greeting as he entered, hanging his jetcycle gear by the door and smiling over at her. She was still dressed in her fair clothes, and he couldn't help thinking that the Elisian style suited her.

"Here's Saryn," she was telling the comm screen. The transparent display let him see her teammate's face from where he stood, but the projector was on her side and he would be invisible to Ashley until he moved around to join her.

"How did it go?" she asked, as he came around the end of the counter to do just that. "Is the Defense going to get involved?"

Without a word, Saryn laid a hand on her shoulder and drew her close, burying his face in her hair. He didn't care if Ashley saw, and he didn't care if half the compound felt him let his shields down. The day had been longer than he liked, mentally trying if not physically difficult, and he would not be denied this moment of peace.

"Hey," Cassie murmured softly, not protesting the onslaught of emotion. She wrapped an arm around him and squeezed, whispering for his ears only, "Want me to call them back?"

He took a deep breath, getting himself under control again. "No," he breathed, pulling away. Giving her a grateful smile, he added in a more normal voice, "You look nice. I trust you were well-received at the fair today?"

"Don't change the subject," she chided, but she gave him a beatific smile for asking. In truth, he couldn't for the life of him remember what she had wanted to know when he walked in.

"Will the Defense get involved if KO-35 tries to reissue the astromorphers?" Cassie prompted gently, the concern on her face telling him that if he didn't do better than that she was going to shut the comm down no matter what he said.

"Not--as such," he said, struggling to turn his attention toward the face on the screen. Ashley couldn't be the only one watching this transmission. "They will not involve themselves in a system's internal politics."

"I'm sensing a 'but' in there somewhere," Ashley remarked.

"The Alliance," Andros' voice said from somewhere offscreen.

"The Alliance," Saryn agreed tiredly. "If the Alliance takes up for Earth, the Defense will have no choice but to support Kerova. Mirine will find herself in a most awkward position," he added, glancing at Cassie.

She frowned, looking from him to Ashley and back again. "I don't understand. Why would the Alliance have a problem with... oh."

Comprehension flashed across Cassie's face even as Ashley offered, "If KO-35 takes the morphers back, Earth won't have any Rangers."

"And after all the trouble we went to get Alliance recognition," Carlos added, leaning into the frame, "Aura thinks they probably aren't going to ditch us now."

"They will not," Saryn confirmed. "Earth's Alliance membership will ensure its League status whether there is a Ranger team present or not, but the Inner Alliance will not let allow a member world to lose its first line of defense."

"Its only line of defense," Cassie corrected, looking troubled. "Earth doesn't have anything that can go up again villains from space. Nothing but the Rangers, anyway."

"Hey," Zhane's voice objected. "It's not like the Kerova system is the bad guy here. KO-35 is a lot more likely to be attacked than Earth is."

"It is not a matter of good and bad," Saryn pointed out, trying not to wince in anticipation of the outburst Zhane's comment might provoke. He couldn't take any more of that today. "Both sides have a valid argument, but it comes down to the fact that one team cannot defend three worlds."

"What does Mirine have to do with it?" Cassie was doing her best to divert the others' attention too, for which he was grateful, even if the answer to her question should have been obvious.

He reached out and stroked her hair gently. "You have one of the morphers Kerova wishes to recall," he reminded her. "Her loyalties will be questioned no matter what position Elisia takes."

If he hadn't been staring directly at her, he might not have seen her shimmer. He wasn't even sure that was the right word, but for a brief moment that seemed to stretch into one unnaturally long, she became less substantial before his eyes. He had time to think that she might vanish altogether, he had time to realize that her expression of shock wasn't due to his words, and he had time for his heart to constrict painfully at the possibilities--but he didn't have time to act.

An instant and an eternity later, she was drooping under his frantic gaze and as solid as he could have wished when he gripped her arms to hold her up. "Saryn," she gasped, her head twisting as if to rid her mind of some vision as one hand went to her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut in a grimace of pain, and he tried not to flinch at the disconcerting echo that seemed to emanate from her.

"Cassie?" Ashley's horrified gaze made it clear that whatever had just happened had been obvious to her too. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm--okay," Cassie said breathlessly, leaning heavily on him as he helped her into a chair. But her gaze didn't leave his, and her words only worried him more. "It was dark," she murmured, staring at him. "Everything... it was all burned..."

Then she wrapped her other arm around her stomach and leaned forward, as though she could hurry the fading pain on its way. "That hurt," she whispered, her only audible concession to the stabbing sensation he had felt in his own gut.

"Saryn?" Ashley was trying to ask something, but he paid no attention. He pulled Cassie's arms away from her stomach and laid his hands there instead. Closing his eyes, he directed the healing ability of his Power into her body, willing the damage away.

His eyes opened in surprise when he felt the echo again--the same thing that had intensified her pain now doubled the feeling of comfort radiating from her. He pulled away carefully, and she smiled warmly down at him. "Thanks," she murmured, and her expression left no doubt that she meant it.

"I'm okay," she said, in a louder voice as she looked up over his shoulder. Only then did he realize he was kneeling on the floor in front of her. "I'm fine, really. I just--things got all fuzzy there for a second."

"*You* got all fuzzy there for a second," Ashley retorted, studying her as closely as the comm link would allow. "What happened?"

"I--I don't know," Cassie admitted, and Saryn fought the almost overwhelming urge to rest his head on her knees and close his eyes again.

*No more,* he whispered, to a power that might or might not be listening. *Please just let us be. Let her sing, for as long as it brings her pleasure, and let me listen, for the rest of our days. Is that so much to ask?*

He felt Cassie's concern as she had no doubt felt his dismay, and a moment later her fingers were in his hair, brushing it away from his face in a casual gesture that would likely mean little to anyone watching. But she did it again, and again, letting the darkly highlighted strands slide through her fingers until he had to pull away or risk letting her friends see far more than they should.

He tried to glare at her, but she just smiled that innocent smile and laughed at him from behind dancing brown eyes. "I saw something," she told the screen, but she didn't look away from him. "The whole room changed for a second, and there was this pain in my stomach, and then... Saryn was holding me, and you were staring at me like I'd turned invisible or something."

"You almost did," Ashley informed her. "You sort of faded, just for a second."

Cassie frowned, glancing over at the screen before looking back at him. He nodded in agreement, but neither of them could find any words.

"What did you see?" Zhane's voice wanted to know.

Out of the corner of his eye, Saryn saw Ashley look over her shoulder. She was replaced by Zhane a moment later, and the Silver Ranger repeated his question. "What did you see, Cassie?"

"I saw a burned room," she said softly, still holding Saryn's gaze. "Saryn was gone... there wasn't anyone else in the room."

He was distantly aware of Zhane turning to talk to someone else, but all he could hear was Cassie in his mind. *It's going to be okay,* she promised him. *Don't look like that.*

"Andros saw something strange this morning," Zhane said at last, facing the screen again. "We were at Aquitar for the races and he thought he saw Ashley. The Aquitian Rangers couldn't find anything that could have caused it."

"I--I saw something too," Ashley offered, from somewhere offscreen. "Andros, in the hallway, when he was really in Tessa's room. He looked different, too."

"When?" Zhane demanded. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"This afternoon," she answered. "And why didn't you?"

"Has anyone else... seen something inexplicable?" Saryn asked, so quietly he wasn't sure the comm would pick it up.

Cassie opened her mouth to repeat his question when Zhane did it for him. This time, the voices offscreen were too far away to be intelligible, and they had to wait for Zhane's attention to return. Meanwhile, Saryn let his hand drop possessively to Cassie's shoulder and entertained the idea of simply switching the comm off. Why did the Astro Rangers seem to attract trouble so?

"Carlos and TJ, too," Zhane said at last, turning back to the comm. His statement did not surprise Saryn in the slightest. "They were alone when it happened, but I was looking at Andros and he sure didn't fade the way Cassie did."

That was it. That was all he could take. Saryn turned and walked away.

He settled in the corner by the windows, as far as he could get from the comm and still keep an eye on Cassie. He doubted he would be able to let her out of his sight at all after this, and that would just lead to the old familiar drama. She would complain that he was overprotective, and he would growl about losing her, then she would roll her eyes and he would frown... it was a road they had been down too many times before.

He had rather grown to like their new routine, where they endured mock-battles over Jetson and taunted each other out of bed in the morning. Where the only thing he had to worry about was what public place she would chose to ambush him in next time, and all that made her complain was how long his hair was getting... Why this new threat, and why now? Hadn't they paid their price for happiness?

That was the exhaustion talking, a distant part of his mind noted. He was cross and sullen because he had been bombarded with intensity and secret agendas all day long, and all he had wanted on returning home was to share the evening meal with his wife. Instead, he had found her teammates and their ridiculously involved puzzles coming in to complicate things again.

"Sulking?" Cassie suggested softly, coming toward him with a smile on her face. He hadn't even seen her get up, but the comm was off and there was a hint of sympathy in her tone. "Rough day, huh?"

He held his silence, but his fingers clenched together and she didn't miss the gesture. Her knowing look was too much, and he blurted out, "I try to block it out! I try, but it's so loud and diplomats never know how foolish they sound! All I want--"

He drew in a breath as she lowered herself into the chair beside him, more in his lap than not as she put an arm over his shoulders and rested her head against his chest. "All I want is for it to be quiet, sometimes," he finished, more gently.

She didn't say anything for a moment, but at last she remarked, "There's more than one reason empaths aren't allowed in politics, I guess."

He sighed, the frustration draining out of him slowly. "Linnse and Tobin would protect me if they could," he murmured. "But they don't know what it's like. And Mirine has other things to worry about. I miss--"

He broke off abruptly, but she caught the name he didn't say. "Lyris?" she said softly.

He sighed again. "I suppose it is selfish to miss him for the way he used to shield me," he murmured. "He understood, the way you do. But... I begin to think that I may not be able to do this without him."

She stilled, frozen in place, and he slid his other arm around her. "Not *this*," he said, hugging her as tightly as he could. "Just--the politicking."

"Maybe the Frontier Defense could find someone else," she murmured, echoing his own thoughts. "Do you think?"

He nodded slowly, rubbing her arm with his free hand and reveling in the feeling of having her so close. At the end of the day, she was more than his love--she was his solace. The emotions that raged around him quieted in her presence... or maybe they were just overwhelmed, by her, by her flamboyance and caring and everything that made her who she was.

"I do think so," he whispered. "More and more often, of late."

He felt her smile, and just like that the image of her fading assaulted his memory again. He frowned down at her dark head. "Don't ever leave me, Cassie," he said suddenly. It was half command, half plea.

She didn't so much as twitch, but he knew she understood what he meant. "You know I won't," she replied quietly.

***

Tessa hadn't been on the Megaship in some time, but it hadn't changed much from what she remembered. In fact, it hadn't changed at all, except for the fact that having DECA's presence manifest itself physically--or at least photonically--in the form of a hologram was something she had never quite gotten used to.

"Eight o'clock class tomorrow?" TJ whispered in her ear, and she nodded wordlessly.

She didn't want to leave, but the conversation was dying down. There were only so many times that one could review the lack of knowledge they currently had, and even fewer during which they felt comfortable bringing up the Alliance/Defense conflict. She hadn't completely grasped what the problem was there, but Tessa gathered that Andros' and Zhane's world was part of one organization while Earth belonged to another. And apparently the Astro Rangers couldn't be on both sides.

"Hey, guys," TJ said, pitching his voice low to avoid waking Aura. The Aquitian had fallen asleep an indeterminate amount of time ago, and Carlos had mentioned it being mid-morning on Aquitar by now. "We're glad to stay and help clean up, but we'd better get moving pretty soon or the alarm clock is going to be our worst enemy tomorrow morning."

"The alarm clock is always my worst enemy," Carlos countered, but he spoke too softly for the words to carry much conviction.

"We'll take care of the dishes," Ashley volunteered. "I don't have to get up till late tomorrow anyway."

"Hey, speak for yourself!" Zhane looked indignant. "I'm not offering to do anyone's dishes."

"What, the only Silver Ranger in the history of the Kerova system can't do a few dishes for his teammates?" Andros' tone was mild, but his words were all it took to make Zhane throw up his hands in disgust.

"All right, all right! We'll do the dishes," he grumbled, sparing an unconvincing glare for TJ and Carlos. "Go put your girls to bed, or whatever you do at night."

Tessa tried not to giggle, she really did, but she couldn't help it. Was there anything Zhane wouldn't do if his best friend asked it of him? He didn't even do a particularly good job of feigning reluctance. And really... "'Whatever you do at night'?" she whispered to TJ.

He leaned over and kissed her temple. "I think we'll let that one lie," he murmured, before pulling away and offering her a hand up. "Come on, Physics Girl. Let's get out of here before they change their mind."

"Yeah, and 'thanks' to you too," Zhane muttered.

"Good night, everyone," TJ said, ignoring him. "Thanks for cleaning up, guys."

"Keep us posted," Tessa added, stifling a yawn. She might not have all the details down yet, but she had come to realize that being involved with the Rangers meant one never had all the details until after the fact. If then, she thought wryly.

Andros gave them a half-salute as TJ pulled her close to teleport. "Will do," he assured her.