Honey, thyme and Chanel No. 5. That sounds odd, I know. But it's a combination of scents that's uniquely Ileana, that matches and sums up her personality at the same time.

I hope you'll pardon the cliche, but honey perfectly represents Ileana's sweet and loving personality. It's especially obvious when she's around children, whether it's just cuddling with our own daughter or playing with the children that live in the Astrum Domus orphanage. And if it hadn't been for Ileana those orphans of the Darkness wouldn't have a place to live.

Thyme represents her versatility, her ability to wear many hats as it were. Not only does she help run our household as my wife and Nia's mother, but she helps to advise Aron and Miranda in the governing of Coventry. She is also the Protector and teacher for one of the princesses of Coventry.

As for Chanel No. 5...well, Ileana has always had a taste for the finer things in life (her love of chicken wings not withstanding). She likes to indulge in girly things once in a while, to dress up and go to dances and parties.

My answer would have to be both yes and no. The Karsh Antayus of old was definitely more conservative than the Karsh Antayus of the present.

Before I went into exile I wasn't a big fan of change. I was perfectly fine with the status quo, the way things were. I held much of the same beliefs and ideals as the other citizens of Coventry. But then the war with the Darkness happened. Aron died, Ileana and I took the twins and fled to Earth with them. My whole world changed almost overnight, quite literally.

I have to admit, I didn't take it well at first. I wanted to be back home in Coventry, living in the castle and being Aron's adviser. I didn't want to be on Earth, around all of the ignorant mortals and unable to use my magic as freely as I wanted, protecting Artemis and Apolla as they grew up so that one day they would fulfill the prophecy. Unfortunately, I had no choice.

Obviously, I survived being on Earth for twenty-one years and I actually feel like I came out the better for it (and not just because I married Ileana). I don't mind change so much anymore, and I actually find myself getting irritated with those in Coventry who act like I'm wrong because of it.

I've been in awkward situations before, most of them in the course of my surveillance of Alex during my twenty-one year exile. Others have occurred at various social functions especially when I meet new people; the first time I met Camryn's Grandma and Grandpa Barnes is one I won't forget anytime soon.

But the prize winner for Most Awkward Moment of my life (so far) would have to be my first meeting with Ileana's parents after we got married. Normally that wouldn't be a problem for most people and it wouldn't have been for me, except for one thing - they had no idea that Ileana and I were married.

It wasn't like they and I were perfect strangers; far from it. I'd met Beatrice and Hermes duBaer at other palace functions both before and after I had become Aron's adviser, and they had never had a problem with me before. But of course at that time I had no romantic inclinations towards Ileana. It must have been quite a surprise for them to learn after twenty-one years that not only was their daughter alive and well, but she was also now my wife.

I must admit they took it better than I thought they would. Hermes tried to be intimidating, giving me the whole "hurt my daughter and I'll kill you" speech (it worked) while Beatrice pumped Ileana for every detail of our relationship. But once they gave their approval of the relationship the tension eased quite a bit, and we were able to have a fairly good time.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to spend Christmas with my in-laws...

October 31, sometime in the future

"C'mon, Dad! We're gonna be late!"

"No we're not, Nia. Besides, it's not me that we're waiting on." The corner of Karsh's mouth twitched upward as he tried not to smile. His eight year-old daughter glared at him, one hand planted on her hip and the other pointing a fake wand at him in what could be construed as a mock-threatening manner.

It was all Alex's fault, Karsh had decided. She was the one who had gotten Nia hooked that book series in the first place (although he wasn't about to admit that he was a closet fan himself). And when Camryn had announced that she was going to be hosting a costume party for her and Alex's thirtieth birthday it hadn't taken Nia very long to decide what her costume was going to be. At least he had managed to talk her down from dressing as Hermione or Ginny to going as a regular, nondescript Hogwarts student.

Karsh had to admit, he never thought he'd ever look forward to October 31st again. For years he had associated it solely with bad things: the death of Aron, the beginning of his exile, spending twenty-one years in all sorts of weather keeping an eye on the princesses. Each Halloween seemed nothing but a reminder of what he'd lost or given up.

But not lately, not since the girls had defeated Thantos. Now he found himself looking forward to every Halloween, reminding him of not only what he'd lost but what had been returned and gained over time.

"How do we look?" Ileana's voice brought Karsh back to the present; he looked up as she walked into the living room.

"Very Luna-ish," Karsh complimented. Ileana blushed, then grimaced as she pried one of her radish earrings out of the fingers of the baby Crumpled Horn Snorkack in her arms. Elias fussed a little as he was transferred from his mother's arms to his father's. "Are we all ready to go?"

"Ready!" Nia chirped. Ileana nodded, and Elias just blew a raspberry.

"Then let's go." With those words they filed out of the apartment, through the portal that led to Earth and the Barnes home.

It was going to be a good day.

The first thing he was aware of was the pain; a dull, consistent ache that seemed to have settled in his left shoulder, right leg and his head. The second, he was lying in a bed, his bed. But he couldn't at the moment remember how he had gotten there.

"...sh? Karsh? Karsh, can you hear me? Get Ileana; I think he's coming around."

"...Aron?" Hearing his friend's voice nearby Karsh opened his eyes and struggled to sit up but found himself restrained, by a firm hand on his good shoulder and the pain in his left shoulder as it flared from dull ache to sharp stab. He bit back a cry of pain but it came out a groan as he allowed Aron to push him back down on the pillow.

"Take it easy, Karsh; it's all right," Aron assured him. But the utterly relieved tone of Aron's voice did nothing to ease Karsh's worries. "Do- do you remember what happened?"

Karsh blinked as his memory started to come back, albeit in bits and pieces. He remembered being at his family's ancestral home, searching for something. But what that something was was still out of Karsh's grasp. Then someone had broken into the manor...

"Vey and Tsuris... How long was I out?" Karsh asked, looking up at Aron.

"Three days, thanks to that blow you took to the head," admitted the Lord of Coventry. "You also dislocated your shoulder and twisted your knee. I hate to say it, but you're going to be out of commission for a while."

"Are Ileana and Nia all right?"

Aron nodded, reaching out even as Karsh tried to rise again. "They're fine Karsh, don't worry. They've been staying in mine and Miranda's wing of the castle, and they always have a guard if they need to go out."

Karsh started at this news. "A guard? Then- Vey and Tsuris-"

"Are still at large, I'm afraid," Aron finished. "We're practically turning Coventry upside-down searching for them, and the girls are keeping an eye out on Earth. We'll find them."

Leaning back against his pillows Karsh closed his eyes. He was frustrated, he was in pain, but most of all he was just tired. Sensing this, Aron rose from his chair. "Why don't you get some rest?" he suggested. "I'll go find Ileana and Nia."

Karsh nodded, already half-asleep. Aside from seeing his wife and daughter and making sure they were truly safe, he didn't want to do much else for the moment.

Ileana's always loved sketching and drawing, but to be honest I'm not that much of an "art guy". It's true that both Coventry and Earth have produced many great pieces of art and equally great artists but they have never held much interest for me.

That said I've always had a fondness for a particular work - Starry Night by the Earth artist Vincent Van Gogh.

Don't ask me what my opinions are on the artist's technique, his style, his color choice, etc. You won't get any answers. Like I said, I'm not an "art guy"; I've never studied the subject. I probably couldn't tell water colors from markers.

What I liked most about Starry Night was how much it reminded me of the Coventry countryside, of home. The scene looked like it could have come right out of the village where I grew up. When I first saw it I first thought that it was a piece of art that had somehow been transported from Coventry to Earth, or else the artist had briefly gotten a glimpse of Coventry.

I have a print of the painting that I bought during the exile on Earth. It hung in my bedroom in the apartment, and now that we've returned to Coventry it occupies a spot on the wall in my study. It's probably the only piece of art I'll ever own.

Are people born evil, or is it something that they choose as they follow their path in life?

It's a question that's been debated quite frequently in Coventry since the discovery of Thantos duBaer's connection to the Darkness and his subsequent defeat. Before that discovery the people of Coventry firmly believed that evil witches and warlocks were born that way. More to the point there was the belief there were certain families, at least in Coventry, who were either inherently good or inherently bad. As the rulers of Coventry the duBaer family, naturally, was one of the "good families".

So you can imagine how shocking it was for the people of Coventry to hear that Thantos and the Darkness were one of the same.

The arguments started almost immediately and they haven't stopped. Most of the people in Coventry couldn't believe that a member of the royal family could have even an ounce of evil inside of them, so they started coming up with reasons for why Thantos had turned to the Darkness. The theories run the gamut, from jealousy of his brother to a potion experiment gone wrong. There are even some who insist that Thantos wasn't the Darkness, that he was framed and it's a conspiracy by the royal family to tarnish Thantos' good name.

Unfortunately it's a question we'll never have the answer to, not unless Thantos decides to come back from the dead to answer it for us. And I'd rather not he do that any time soon.

When Ileana and I returned to Coventry from our exile on Earth one of the first things I wanted to do was to return to my ancestral home and see my parents, to let them know that I was safe and whole and alive. I realized that probably just the sight of me would cause my mother to faint and possibly give my father a coronary, but in the greater scheme those things didn't matter. I wanted to see them.

But before I could portal home Miranda stopped me, and gave me the bad news: my parents were dead. They had passed on only a few years after Ileana, the twins and I had supposedly been killed by the Darkness, Father dying of a heart attack and mother from a broken heart.

That has been my one and only regret about going into exile on Earth, that my parents died without ever finding out that I was still alive. After we first arrived on Earth part of me wanted to return to Coventry, if only briefly, to let them know that I had survived. To ease their grief. But then the rational part of me points out that I would have only put them in more danger if I had done so. In all likelihood Thantos could have gotten the information somehow (my mother was notorious for being unable to keep a secret for very long), and then used that information to locate the four of us on Earth. And then all would have been lost.

I'd give anything to see them again, and to apologize for worrying them so. Maybe then I wouldn't feel so guilty about their deaths.

November 2005

It felt so odd to be back in Coventry again. True, he and Ileana had returned at least twice before the defeat of Thantos but in those instances they'd been forced to hide, keep anyone from knowing that they were back in-country. Karsh couldn't begin to count the number of times he dreamed about returning to Coventry, what it would be like.

The reality was nothing like the dream. His first day back at work as Miranda's adviser was almost as awkward as his first day as Aron's adviser over twenty years ago. There was not one familiar face among the castle staff; Karsh spent more of his time that first day writing down people's names than getting anything of substance accomplished.

But what really surprised him was how...alien Coventry felt after being gone for so long. How strange it was to be able to use his magic freely and without fear of being seen by the wrong people after twenty-one years of having to hide. How odd to be waking up in his quarters in the castle rather than his and Ileana's shared apartment on Earth.

It was hard for Karsh to admit it, but Coventry no longer felt like home.

The best advice I've ever received, to date anyway, came from Aron.

It was shortly after Ileana and I were married, and the two of us had our first fight. Sure, we had fought with each other before; we had twenty-one years' worth of arguments behind us. But this was different. It was our first argument as a married couple, and it was a doozy.

I can't remember what the exact reason for the argument was. I'm fairly sure the reconstruction of Coventry was involved, since Aron and Miranda had begun work on that almost immediately after the wedding; it probably had something to do with the resettlement of refugees who had lost their village to the Darkness and what the best way to handle it was. What I do remember is that it didn't take long for the attacks to become personal and in the end both of us stormed off to separate areas of the castle.

When Ileana didn't return after a while I began to get worried. I feared that something had happened to her, but mainly I was afraid that things between us were ruined and that our marriage was over before it had a chance to start.

Fortunately Aron stopped by before I could worry myself into a panic and let me know that Ileana had stopped by his and Miranda's quarters, and they'd heard about the fight from her. In my relief I ended up telling all of my fears to Aron about screwing up our marriage. Aron assured me that all married couples fought at times, and that it was nothing to be upset about. He also told me that the absolute worst thing that I could do when Ileana came back would be to not apologize, especially if she apologized first. If we couldn't admit when we were wrong, Aron advised, then the anger between us would last longer.

To make a long story short, I took Aron's advice that day and every other time that Ileana and I have gotten into a disagreement, and it's worked. We still argue from time to time, but we always make up and are able to talk it out afterward.