Epilogue

Allura woke up.

She felt weird sensation for a moment, and that jolted her out of much-needed sleep. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Turning her head, she looked out the window and saw nothing out of the ordinary. The Arusian sun was beginning to rise over the horizon and the sky was bathed in light pinks and oranges as it did. Nevertheless, she reached for her communicator.

"Castle Control..."

After a brief pause, Keith's voice--always a comforting sound in her opinion--came on. "Good morning, Princess. Is something wrong?"

"That's what I was going to ask you."

There was a pause as Keith checked over the latest plantary scans. "Everything looks pretty normal. What happened?"

"I just had this feeling," she said vaguely. "Thanks, Keith."

"No problem. See you at Lion practice." She could almost see the smile on his face. "You have another half an hour to sleep."

"Thanks," she said wryly. "See you then."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Her smile softened and she didn't have to see him to know that he was smiling too.

"Me, too," she said.

"Are you bored, Mulder?" Scully asked, stopping her typing and pinning him with a half-amused, half-wary gaze.

"How did you guess?" Mulder said dryly.

"Women's intuition. How about getting me some coffee? That should ease your boredom."

He made a face at her. "Thanks, Scully. I knew I could count on you."

She tucked away a smile and turned back to her computer. Mulder went to the coffeemaker and went through the motions of making a new pot. Only when he had finished measuring the grinds did he realize that the coffeepot was missing.

"Scully, where'd you put the coffeepot?" he asked when a quick scan of their unofficial snack table told him that it was nowhere in sight.

"Check underneath the table," she suggested, looking around her computer monitor.

He pushed aside the tablecloth where Scully had created a little nook for some supplies they might need. His head disappeared underneath its folds as he searched for the missing coffeepot. Then, she heard him chuckle.

"What?"

He emerged, holding a tin in his hands. A scene from their not-so-distant past flashed through his mind. *

They sat in the car, engrossed in one of their deep discussions when Scully confessed, "I wouldn't put myself on the line for anyone but you."

Surprised and unsure how to take her sincere words, his reply was glib, though his eyes told a whole different story.

Gesturing to the brown paper bag she held in her hands, he answered, "If there's iced tea in that bag, it could be love."

Throwing him a cheshire cat smile, Scully held it out to him. "Must be fate, Mulder. It's diet soda."

Needless to say, he was disappointed.

"Iced tea, Scully?" he said, coming back to the present and unable to keep from smiling.

She shrugged. "So? I thought you liked iced tea."

He winked. "It is love..."

She snorted.

Lance crept down to the archives underneath the castle. It was an hour or so before Lion practice and he had some free time on his hands. Unbeknownst to the others, he had unearthed old tomes from Arus' past. Most of them were histories which he just skimmed, but some were tomes of the more interesting sort. The kind of dusty old book that people always dream of finding. Spellbooks.

Wouldn't it be a hoot to turn Keith into a frog and the only cure be Allura's kiss? he thought with a chuckle as he walked briskly along the drafty tunnels.

The room he had found the books in had been hidden behind a brick wall. He wasn't even sure that Coran knew that it had been there. He had accidentally found it while exploring during one of the his few sleepless nights. There had been a hole in the wall where a brick had come loose and he had discovered the room when he peered in.

He frowned when he noticed a light coming towards him. He stopped dead in his tracks, waiting to see who it was. His hand drifted to his blaster.

"What are you doing down here?" Nanny demanded. "It's drafty and you could catch your death of cold."

"I...er...uhm...."

"Go on back upstairs. If I catch you down here again, I'll make sure Commander McKnight disciplines you thoroughly."

"Sure, Nanny. But what are you doing down here?"

She threw him a pointed look. "I can go where I please. You cannot. These tunnels are not to be used because they're unstable."

"Alright, alright. I'm going back up."

Nanny watched him head back to the lift. When she was sure that he was out of sight, she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and leaned against the wall for her knees felt like they were about to give way. She had succeeded. Lance had been averted and no one would ever find the spell books again. She had made certain of it by making sure that they could not be seen by the human eye. They were still there, but they would never be found. At least not by someone who wasn't looking.

"Are you coming, Nanny?" Lance asked, looking over his shoulder.

Her steps light, Nanny caught up with him. She smiled, making him wonder what she was up to. If only he knew...

~Fin~

*From the episode, "TOOMS". The quotes may not be exact. If you know the right one, let me know.