Sabrina did a brief walk-through of her redecorated apartment, mostly with approval, while Ford sent Marie to retrieve Tristan. The cat was delighted to be reunited with Sabrina and demanded her complete attention for a while, so Ford listened to Marie's account of what had happened in their absence.
"And then a week ago Father came home and—"
"What?" Ford demanded sharply.
"Father came home. A week ago," Marie repeated impatiently. "And ever since, Mother's been down in Giandrah."
"Father's here? Where's Khediva?" Ford frowned.
"Oh, he's not here now. He left again. He didn't want to but something happened somewhere else. Kashmia said—"
Ford got to his feet, glancing at Sabrina. She hadn't been paying attention to their conversation, and she raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "He came back before we did, deliberately!"
"Who?" Sabrina frowned.
"Father! Scotty's down in Giandrah with Mother right now, apparently!"
Sabrina gasped and got up, much to Tristan's dismay. He let out an annoyed yowl. "Then—then we'd better go see—" She stopped, swallowing hard. It had been a week, and Mara evidently had not been able to help Scotty. That surely meant she couldn't. "No. I can't deal with this. You'd better tell her to stop before she collapses, Ford. It's obviously not doing any good if it's taking this long."
"I can't just barge in there and interrupt her," Ford mused. "I know. I'll call Aurora! She'll tell us what's happening."
"But I already told you!" Marie protested.
"Yes, and we appreciate it," Ford said, tweaking her nose. "But you really should be with your tutors right now, shouldn't you, brat?"
Marie sighed heavily. "I guess so."
"You'd better get back there, then," Sabrina said. "I don't want you to miss my oath-swearing ceremony, after all. And Mara said you could only come if you'd be good and not miss lessons."
"I know," Marie said in an aggravated tone. She rubbed at Tristan's head for a moment, earning a loud purr, then left.
Ford disappeared for a little while, then returned. "Aurora's on her way up. She was down in Giandrah with Mother. Evidently some progress is being made, but I get the impression it's very slow going."
Sabrina held Tristan in her lap, rubbing her cheek against the top of his head. "How can Mara be doing any good? It's not a question of healing, it's a question of reordering his entire mind. It's too big a job."
"For one person, yes. For the Crystal...well, who knows. And certainly his new genetic structure is far more sensitive to the Crystal than his old one."
Sabrina simply looked at him and shook her head. The Miahns always acted like the Great Crystal was all-powerful, but she knew better. It hadn't saved Shariara, or her children, or any of the countless millions who had died in the Xoentrol War. And if Sabrina hadn't been able to talk Homeworld into a temporary alliance against the Reissians, the Great Crystal would not have been able to save them from that either. Or from Homeworld.
Granted that Mara must be significantly more powerful now after a century of practice, but there were still definite limits to what she could achieve. Sabrina had seen her friend work miracles, but she couldn't believe in this one. It was too painful. How could she ever begin to work through her grief if she kept having hope thrust at her?
They didn't speak again until Aurora arrived. The Miahn glided into the room and gave Ford a brilliant smile. "Var! Welcome home. You look terrible."
Ford laughed. "Thanks, Aurora. You're a real pal. Actually, you look pretty terrible yourself."
"Sleep has been difficult to come by," she admitted.
"Aurora," Sabrina said, "why is Mara doing this? She must know it's not doing any good. Why does she keep at it?"
"It is doing some good," Aurora replied. "Welcome home, Sabrina. I'm sorry we don't have better news; we all hoped to present you with a healed Scotty when you arrived."
"Is that why Tirqwin came back in time to bring Scotty home?"
"I think so. He wanted to spare you any more waiting, if he could. He meant to be here, but something important called him away. I do know that he and Her Majesty have been in contact through their link since his departure."
"What do you mean by 'some good'?" Sabrina asked.
Aurora sighed. "Her Majesty started by blocking all his memories. Then she began filtering them back in, helping him set them in order. It's very slow work. I'm afraid it will be quite some time before his entire memory is restored. But he is lucid, and able to communicate."
Sabrina blinked in surprise. "Lucid? You mean—stable?"
"Yes."
"Then—I can see him?"
"Certainly, when the session is finished. Her Majesty has been devoting as much time to him as she can manage, but her other duties are pressing. The Conservator of the Chamber is able to help a little while she is elsewhere, but Scotty responds much better to the Queen."
Sabrina gaped at the Miahn in astonishment. Then, to everyone's surprise, including her own, she burst into tears.
"Oh, for goodness sake, Sabrina," Ford said in affectionate exasperation as he crossed the room to her. He sat down beside her on the edge of the bed and put his arms around her, hesitating only slightly when Tristan hissed at him.
"She's overwrought," Aurora said, laying a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "And no wonder, with everything that's happened."
"Can't we go down there now?" Ford asked. "It can't matter that much to Scotty in the long term, and I think she really needs to see him, talk to him."
"Yes," Aurora said. "I can see that. All right."
Ford gave Sabrina a little hug and released her, helping her to her feet. "Come on, Sabrina. Let's go see for ourselves, shall we?"
——————————
This time she didn't make a fuss about being led into the tunnels. It was true they were better lit and more traveled than they had been during the Regency, but she supposed she would always associate them with the horrors of the Battle for Dansestari and Rayland's death. Ford and Aurora seemed completely at home; doubtless they had played here as children, or something, she thought.
Aurora led them to the Guardian's resting chamber, just off the main Crystal chamber. It had been entirely redone since Sabrina's last visit and no longer had the dusty, faded atmosphere she recalled. Instead it seemed bright and cozy, and she wondered if Mara had decorated it personally. It still had that faintly unpleasant electricity in the air, though. Sabrina wondered if she would ever get used to it, if she lived the rest of her life in proximity to the Great Crystal.
Sabrina sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs as Aurora left again, but Ford roamed around, studying the knickknacks on the walls and end tables. "The Inner Sanctum," he intoned, grinning. "I haven't been down here since I finished my training."
"It's changed a lot since the last time I saw it," Sabrina said. "I slept in here once or twice during the Regency, for security reasons."
Ford raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? Well, I can't imagine anyplace more secure than this."
"It's a lot more, um, livable nowadays."
"I imagine so." Ford was about to continue, but broke off when the door opened. Sabrina got to her feet anxiously as Mara entered.
"Welcome home!" Mara smiled at them both. She looked tired, but not exhausted, as she hugged Ford first, then Sabrina. "Scotty will be along in a moment; Aurora and Llevandeer are with him. It always takes him a moment to reorient himself after one of our sessions."
"How is he?" Sabrina asked, her voice trembling.
"Better," Mara said. "There is still a great deal to be done, of course. But he has enough memory to know who he is and who we are—though some of that is new learning rather than retrieved memory. He knows the story of his role in our history, including most of what happened on Stanos. We've let him have free access to the education and history databases, and he's devoured everything he could get his hands on. It will mean more, of course, when he is able to remember from his own experience, but it's lessened his confusion tremendously to be able to place himself in context. I'm afraid his knowledge of Earth is considerably less; I've had to wait until I had you here to consult with to do much about those memories, Sabrina. But he knows who you are, and some of that really is memory." Mara smiled. "He remembers the oddest things."
"I know I'm going to be embarrassed about some of that later on," Sabrina said, "but right now I'm just glad he's stable. It was awful, Mara, what he was like before."
"I know," Mara said. "Tirqwin could hardly bear it. Oh, I am to pass along his profound apologies at not being here. He certainly meant to be, and will return as soon as possible. But we'll talk about that later. And also about some of the proposals that have been put forth about Scotty's retraining. Ah, here he is."
They all turned to the door as Scotty and Aurora entered, followed by Llevandeer, Conservator of the Chamber. Scotty's expression lit with a huge grin on seeing his sister, and he spread his arms and shouted, "Rina!"
Sabrina couldn't speak, throwing her arms around him instead. For a few seconds they engaged in a competition to see who would suffocate first. Then Scotty drew back and looked closely at her.
"Do you really remember me?" she managed at last.
"Sure," he chuckled. "Some things, anyway. I know you're my sister, and in your spare time, Regent of Praxatillus. I know you hate to be called Sea Creature, and that when we were little you used to poke me in church so I'd cry and you could volunteer to take me to the nursery instead of listening to the sermon."
Sabrina swiped tears from her cheeks and gave a small laugh. Ford said, "Embarrassed yet?"
"Oh yeah," she replied, not taking her eyes off Scotty. "But just you wait until I start telling stories about him!"
Scotty laughed. "I can't wait! Have I got questions for you, sis."
Mara smiled. "Come along, Ford, Aurora. Scotty, I'll be back shortly. Try not to drive Sabrina to distraction before I return."
"Uh huh," Scotty said. As they left, they heard him say, "Mara says I'm like a jigsaw puzzle. What's a jigsaw?"