1. How they met during the Summer Solstice Festival.

2. How Father proposed to Mother.

3. How Father proposed to Mother, my mother's version. According to her not everything went as smoothly as Father always told me it did. But in the end she decided to marry him anyway.

4. After their wedding, my parents honeymooned on Earth. My parents. Honeymooned. On Earth. Still haven't quite wrapped my head around that one...

5. After Father found out that Mother was pregnant with me, he went out drinking all night in celebration with a few of his closest friends. Of course, that story doesn't compare to the one about his bender the night after I was born...

6. How Mother chewed out the headmaster at school after I was punished for something that either Thantos or Fredo had done.

7. How proud they were when I was appointed by Aron to be one of his advisers. Father bragged about it in our village for weeks, and Mother framed a copy of the announcement and hung it in the study.

8. After Ileana and I were reportedly killed by the Darkness, Thantos tried to get access to some of my private papers. He claimed that it was necessary for the war against the Darkness, so that he could advise Miranda properly. My parents refused and actually barred Thantos from our home.

9. My father's death. He died of a heart attack when the Darkness tried to take him.

10. My mother's death, two years after Father passed on. The doctor said it was natural causes but Miranda believes that Mother simply died of a broken heart.

Is redemption truly possible?

Honestly? No. It's not. Sure, people like to believe that it's possible; there are still some people in Coventry who believe that the twins didn't have to kill Thantos, that he somehow could have been saved and turned back to the side of the Light. They believe that Minerva shouldn't have been banished for attempting to murder Miranda but counseled until she turned away from the Darkness. And for those people, I have two words.

Bull. Shit.

People like Thantos and Minerva don't change. They're not like the Furies, high school kids who do what they do for kicks and giggles. At some point in their lives they crossed the line between Light and Dark; it's reflected in their magic, for God's sake! They don't understand concepts like love and family and friendship anymore. It's impossible for them to cross that line again, and even if it were I sincerely doubt that they would want to.

A Light can be shined into the Darkness, but it can't change Dark into Light. So until that happens, my answer remains no.

1. That I had a brief relationship with a mortal woman during my exile on Earth.

2. That I hated being paraded in front of her guests at her parties.

3. The time that Aron, Thantos and I snuck to Earth on Halloween and what we did while we were there.

4. What it was like being trapped in the Darkness.

5. That I almost got into a fistfight with Issac Fielding.

6. That I was nearly run over by a car in Montana.

7. Why it took me twenty-one years to propose to Ileana.

8. That I thought it was actually a bit funny when Ileana turned everyone in our village into donkeys.

9. That after we thought Aron had been killed and before Ileana and I found the twins, I had been ready to give myself up to the Darkness.

10. That I actually like doing housework.

Believe it or not, I was fired once.

It happened a long time ago, after Aron and Miranda had gotten married but before the twins were born. The war against the Darkness was still in its earliest stages so there was a lot of disagreement about how to battle against it. There had never been a threat of that magnitude in Coventry before, at least not in its recorded history. Personally Aron and I had many differences of opinion about the war.

Those differences reared their ugly heads one afternoon, a couple days after the Darkness destroyed an entire farming village. Aron was advocating a frontal assault against the Darkness while I was trying to convince him of the foolishness of such a decision. After seeing just what sort of destruction the Darkness was capable of I had calculated the probabilities of Aron surviving such an attack as astronomical. But nothing I said could make Aron change his mind, not even reminding him that he had a wife and an unborn child who still needed him.

It was the wrong thing to say. Aron ordered me out of his office, and told me not to bother showing up for the council meeting the next day as he no longer needed my services as an adviser. And I left, not only Aron's study but my apartment in the castle as well; if I was no longer welcome in Aron's court then I obviously wasn't welcome in his home either. With no place else to go I moved back into my parents' home and debated what to do next. I didn't tell very many people what had happened. It was embarrassing to admit that I had been fired by my best friend.

So I was surprised when, five days later, the Lord of Coventry showed up on my doorstep. Aron was contrite, apologizing for losing his temper and saying he knew that I had had his best interests in mind, and wanting to know if I would consider coming back and acting as his adviser again. He joked a little, saying that he couldn't handle Ileana and Miranda by himself.

I knew it wasn't a direct admission of being in the wrong on his part, but I also knew that it was as close as I would ever get from Aron. So I accepted his apology and agreed to return to the castle and to my post. I moved back that very day.

That's not to say that Aron and I never disagreed again; we did, trust me, several times. But we were careful afterward not to let it get to the point where it got in the way of our friendship.

"Karsh? What do you think?"

Karsh looked over at Ileana, unsure of how to respond. What did he think? A loaded question if there ever was one.

It had begun with a visit that Ileana had paid to the palace healer earlier in the day. She hadn't been feeling well for the last week or so. But Karsh hadn't been too concerned, believing that it was probably just a bug that she had gotten the last time she was on Earth. Some medicine, perhaps a couple days' quarantine in their apartment and she'd be fine.

Then Ileana returned and gave Karsh the news. She wasn't sick.

She was pregnant.

Pregnant. Ileana was going to be a mother. Which meant, logically, that Karsh was going to be a father.

Fatherhood. Was he ready for that? Would he be a good father? He'd had no doubts that he and Ileana would be parents someday. But in the back of his mind he'd always thought that "someday" was still a long time off, that he would have time to prepare.

And what about the child? Would it be a boy or a girl? Would he have a son to carry on the Antayus line and name, perhaps serve the duBaer clan as he himself did? Or would it be a daughter, a little Daddy's Girl whom he would have to protect from potential suitors as she grew older? What if Ileana had twins as Miranda had? What if she didn't survive; would he be able to handle raising a child on his own?

"Karsh?"

Ileana's voice brought Karsh back to the present. He noticed that she was looking at him, her expression both hopeful and fearful. "Are you all right?" she asked. "What do you think?"

He blinked, and smiled. "I think it's wonderful news, Ileana. And I think you'd better tell Miranda and the girls before they have to hear about it through palace scuttlebutt."

Ileana's eyes watered. "Oh, Karsh..."

Karsh reached out and hugged her. "I love you, Ileana," he murmured in her ear.

1. Ileana.

2. A photo of Ileana, if bringing my wife along isn't an option.

3. My father's old journal.

4. A picture of the twins with their parents, both biological and adopted, that Camryn sent out in her Christmas cards last year.

5. A wallet that's tucked away in one of my dresser drawers. It has cash, a couple credit cards an a false ID card, enough so that I'll be able to get by if I have to flee to Earth again.

6. An old locket that belonged to my mother.

7. A couple stones from my collection.

8. A lock of my daughter's hair.

9. The key to the secret passage in my old home where I used to play as a kid.

10. A photograph of Sarah Fielding.

I was almost an older brother.

I was about...seven or eight years old at the time. My parents were thrilled, Mother especially because she was hoping for a daughter. Father, I remember, claimed that he would be happy with either a boy or a girl but I think privately he may have been hoping for a daughter as well, perhaps with dreams of a marriage to one of the duBaer princes.

And me? I was confused. All I knew was that soon my whole world was going to be turned upside-down, and I was going to have to share it - and my parents - with this tiny stranger. I received plenty of sage advice on how to be a big brother from Aron, who in my opinion was the Voice of Experience in the matter of all things sibling-related. After all, he was already a big brother twice over. So, I went along for the ride. I waited, and I watched as Mother and Father prepared our home for a baby once again. I participated when they decided on names, and I remember feeling proud when Mother decided to use my choice, "Maia", if the baby turned out to be a girl.

But sometime during Mother's seventh month, something went wrong. Father got Mother to the healer as quickly as she could but it was too late. The baby had died while still in the womb, and had to be delivered dead.

It was a girl. I would have had a sister.

We had a brief, private funeral service for her, and she was cremated afterwards. For years I thought that Mother and Father had scattered my sister's ashes somewhere in the countryside, but when cleaning out my father's study recently I came across a small, enameled box. Inside of it were Maia's ashes. I suppose...that he wanted her near him. So I went out, and I scattered her ashes on both Mother and Father's graves.

Like an older brother should.

1. Growing up in the Antayus ancestral home.

2. The parties my mother used to throw, and how she used to parade me in front of the guests dressed in the most uncomfortable and embarrassing outfits and coo over how much like a little gentleman I was.

3. Meeting the duBaer brothers during one of those parties and winding up in a bit of trouble by the end of the night; most of the memory is fuzzy, but I'm fairly certain there was mud and the dessert for that night involved.

4. Seeing Aron a couple of years later when I started school. Thus began one my longest and most treasured friendships.

5. The first time I was invited to hang out with Aron and his brothers at LunaSoleil palace.

6. Briefly meeting one of Aron's cousins during a birthday party; I believe her name was Ileana...

7. The Halloween night that Aron, Thantos and I snuck to Earth and decided to tour a haunted house.

8. Attending my first royal ball and dancing with Eupheme Hazlitt.

9. The death of my grandfather, Aristotle Antayus.

10. My mother's miscarriage.

Yes, there is a domesticated animal in our home but he's not mine. Boris belongs to Ileana, and as far as I'm concerned, she can have him.

Ileana adopted Boris about five years ago. According to her, she had been hanging out at an animal shelter where Camryn was volunteering and to avoid detection had turned around and pretended to look at the cats. Unfortunately Ileana's always been a cat person, so what started as feigned interest turned out to be real. To make a long story short, she fell in love with this orange butterball of a cat that the shelter people had dubbed "Boris". The next thing I know, I come home to our apartment after keeping an eye on Alex all day and see that Ileana had brought home a new roommate.

I swear that that cat hates me. Ileana can pet him all day long, but the minute I reach out a hand to even try to touch him, Boris bares his fangs and I get hissed at. I can't begin to count the number of times I've almost tripped over him, which I swear he does on purpose. And let's not forget the times I've woken up in the middle of the night to find Boris either wedged between Ileana and myself in our bed, or laying on my chest and staring at me.

Maybe I should look into getting a dog...

1. The history of Coventry, in particular the Antayus and duBaer families.

2. Everything about the war against Thantos/The Darkness.

3. How to successfully blend in on Earth without looking like an idiot.

4. How to use magic.

5. That people from the Earth realm are just as good as those from Coventry, even though they don't have magic.

6. About Sarah Fielding, one of the strongest mortals I've ever known.

7. That everyone is deserving of the gifts they have, and that those gifts should never be taken away because someone else says you can't be "trusted".

8. (to his sons) How to properly treat a woman.

9. (to his daughters) How to protect themselves from a young man who doesn't treat them properly.

10. What family really means, not just as it pertains to bloodlines.

October 31, 2005

Okay, in hindsight maybe it wasn't the best idea. After all, he was just one warlock against the Darkness, a warlock whose powers were very limited due to the sun being down. But Camryn needed every chance she could get in order to make it to safety in Coventry.

But when Ileana gave him that kiss and encouraged him to "be strong", Karsh knew he was in trouble.

The Darkness crashed through the front door just as the girls were rounding the corner at the top of the stairs, heading for Cam's bedroom. Even though it was a futile effort at best, that didn't stop Karsh from attempting to lob a ball of magic in its direction. When that didn't work, as he knew it wouldn't, Karsh turned and tried to run up the stairs. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd make it up to where he'd opened the portal.

He'd just made it to the landing when the Darkness reached out and grabbed him around the waist.

It was the strangest feeling, really; like all of a sudden his legs and lower torso didn't exist anymore. Frantically he tried to grab at the railings, trying to find something to hold onto to pull himself out. But it was useless. As the Darkness dragged him, screaming, down the stairs he realized that it was over for him.

It's up to you, Ileana, he thought as the Darkness' cold brimstone closed over him. Coventry's last chance rests in your hands.

1. Get my curriculum together for Alex's next lesson.

2. Come up with an idea for Ileana's Valentine's gift.

3. Start coming up with ideas for Ileana's birthday present.

4. Get an update on the search for Minerva for Aron and Miranda.

5. Organize my journals.

6. Go through Mom and Dad's belongings - I've put that off way too long.

7. Water and trim my bonsai tree.

8. Find that sock I lost last Thursday.

9. Explain the concept of the "Super Bowl" to Aron before David's party on Sunday.

10. Finish that budget report.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun.

Readjusting to being back in Coventry was harder than I thought it would be. On Earth I'd dream at night of returning to Coventry after Apolla and Artemis had defeated the Darkness and falling effortlessly back into my old routine, like I hadn't even been gone at all.

But I didn't. I can't. Too much time has passed since Ileana and I left Coventry and our home isn't the same; it's not the Coventry that I remember. While we were on Earth keeping watch over the twins Coventry was going through twenty years of war. And the rebuilding process has only just started.

I'm not the same, either. As much as I'm loathe to admit it, spending twenty-one years on Earth did affect me. But the people of Coventry expect Ileana and I, as well as the twins, to sweep it under the rug and to act as if it had never happened.

Which is impossible.

1. The year Miranda and Aron were married.

2. 1984. The year that the twin princesses were born. The year that the Darkness took Aron. The year that Ileana and I took Artemis and Apolla into exile on Earth.

3. 1989. The twins turned five. Sarah Fielding kicked her deadbeat of a husband Isaac out of their lives for good. I nearly got run down by a car in Montana.

4. 1994. Camryn and Alex turned ten.

5. 1997. Cam and Alex have their thirteenth birthday.

6. 2001. Alex and her mother moved to Marble Bay from Montana. Ileana and I briefly broke up.

7. 2002. Cam and Alex turned eighteen.

8. 2003. The twins graduate from their respective high schools. Sarah Fielding was diagnosed with lung cancer.

9. 2004. Sarah's cancer came back.

10. 2005. Sarah Fielding died. Cam and Alex turned twenty-one and were finally reunited, first with each other and then with their parents. Thantos/The Darkness was defeated not once, but twice. Oh, and Ileana and I got married.

Sometime in the future

Karsh winced as another shriek echoed through their apartment, punctuated by the thud of one solid object hitting another (presumably a wall). She was really angry now if she was resorting to throwing things. But even though the urge was great he forced himself to remain in his seat.

Don't give in, he thought to himself. Remain firm; it's the only way that she's ever going to learn.

There were few things about being a father that Karsh wasn't a big fan of, and punishments were one of them. Oh sure, doling them out as a school teacher and magic tutor was easy enough mainly because he didn't have to do it that often. But when it came to disciplining Nia... Of course, Ileana said it was because their daughter had him proverbially wrapped around her little finger.

Well, today was going to be different. Nia had been up to mischief practically since Ileana had stepped out the door; it was a miracle Karsh was even able to keep up. Finally he had caught her in the study, scribbling in one of his journals with the crayons Cam had given her for her fourth birthday; that had really been the last straw. Karsh's solution?

A five minute time-out.

It was a move Karsh was now beginning to regret. He was just thankful that she hadn't yet come into her magic or else things would be worse off than they were now.

He was so busy mulling his thoughts that it took Karsh a while to realize that things had quieted down considerably. In fact, he didn't even notice until he heard a meek voice ask, "Daddy?" Karsh looked up to see Nia standing in the doorway of her bedroom, looking contrite. "Has it been five minutes yet?"

Karsh glanced up at the clock on the mantle, then smiled at his daughter. "Yeah, sweetheart, it has. Time-out's over."

My hopes are many.

I hope that Thantos is really and truly gone. Considering that Aron ended up blasting his brother down the Bottomless Well in the North Tower there is a very slim chance of him returning. But then again, that's what we thought when Alex and Cam defeated Thantos the first time.

I hope that Minerva doesn't make good on whatever threats she made to the royal family. As I said before, Miranda's twin can be a real piece of work. We just got done with a two decade war against the Darkness, so we really don't need Minerva stepping in where Thantos left off.

Although, I suppose it could be worse. They could be working together.

I hope that Ileana and I can make the most of our married life together. Marriage is a big step up from dating off and on for twenty-one years. And given how often we fought and sniped at each other when we were just dating, I admit there are times I've had my doubts about whether or not we can see this thing through.

But then I look at Ileana, just watch her doing some mundane, everyday task...all I can hope is that I'll remain lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with her.

Autumn 2001

Karsh barely looked up from his book as Ileana fairly burst through the door of their rented apartment, looking angry enough to hex somebody the consequences be damned. "Date go well?" he asked dryly.

"Hah." It was little more than a short exhaled laugh and she shot her flatmate a Look as she hung up her jacket. "And just what are you implying by that?"

"Nothing!" Just in the door and already Ileana had him on the defensive; sure weren't wasting any time tonight, were they? "I just wanted to know how your night was, that's all."

Ileana's shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry. It's- I've...it's been a long night."

"Went that bad, huh?" Karsh put his book down and went into the kitchen, filled the kettle with water and then put it on the stove. Sure, he could have magicked up two cups of tea but he preferred the old-fashioned manual way.

"Brice is a nice guy, really," Ileana defended weakly. "He just...almost everything he said tonight had some double meaning attached to it. He couldn't even read through the appetizer menu without making some sort of innuendo."

Karsh rolled his eyes. "That sounds familiar." He immediately recalled his days in school, hanging around with the duBaer brothers. Aron may have been Crown Prince of Coventry, Thantos the suave and debonair lady-killer, but it was the youngest, Fredo, who was the Innuendo King. He couldn't go five sentences without making at least one sound dirty.

Ileana nodded; she remembered, too. "I swear, I felt that if I closed my eyes it would be just like our big family dinners. Fredo always tried to get me to blush bright red before dessert was served." In a quieter voice she muttered, "It always worked, too."

A whistle from the kitchen saved Karsh from making the first awkward response he could think of. Instead he used the time spent preparing the tea to collect his thoughts.

"Well, tomorrow's a new day," he remarked as he came out of the kitchen, bearing two teacups. "You'll watch Camryn, dodge people, try to remain inconspicuous and forget all about this guy."

"Actually," Ileana admitted sheepishly "that's how I met Brice in the first place."

Karsh rolled his eyes. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye on the girls, not picking up dates, Ileana..."

Girls
1. Nia
2. Penia
3. Iris
4. Lunet
5. Eupheme

Boys
6. Jonas
7. Elias
8. Aron
9. Caleb
10. Draco

Magic and spying. Two things you wouldn't think would ordinarily go together. But for Ileana and I no tool was of greater importance than our magic during our vigil over the twins.

We had to utilize a variety of different spells in order to maintain our cover on Earth. After all, it wouldn't do for either of us to have been arrested for having an "unhealthy" interest in Apolla or Artemis. Teleportation spells, for example, were very useful in getting out of an area quickly before we were discovered as were spells of invisibility. I remember one evening in Crow Creek, I would have been run down by a car if I hadn't teleported myself away in time.

I will admit, we tried to use our magic as little as possible out of safety as much as an attempt to blend in with the population of Earth. After our escape we weren't sure what the situation in Coventry was like; Miranda could have been killed and the castle destroyed, for all we knew. And neither Ileana nor I wanted to take the chance of the Darkness somehow tracking us to Earth through our magic. It took us about five years before we felt comfortable using it again on a semi-regular basis.

But overall, when it comes to spying, it doesn't hurt to have magic powers.

1. Introduction to Magic

2. History of Coventry

3. Advanced Transmutation

4. Horticulture

5. Alchemy (dropped after two weeks)

6. Divination

7. Protective Rites

8. Advanced Stones and Crystals

9. Introduction to Philosphy and Spiritual Awareness

10. Purification and Cleansing