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I return to my Jeep and drive back toward the road When I reach it there is another car waiting forup at the stars She hardly seelances over as I park and walk toward her, the lances at me and smiles

"Hello, Alisa," she says, and the southern accent is gone

My finger is on the fire button "What are you doing here?" I ask softly

She shrugs and gazes back up at the sky "Just enjoying the night Isn&039;t it beautiful?"

"Yes Did you follow me out here?"

She pauses "Yes"

"I see" I a else to say, Stacy Baxter?"

She looks atme, very closely "No, Alisa Perne," she replies quietly

I shift uncoht

"Are you one of them?" I ask finally

She shakes her head "Not me"

"Who are you?"

"A friend"

"No I don&039;t know you" I shake the weapon "Why are you here?"

"To help you, if you want my help"

"What&039;s your real name?"

"Alanda," she replies "Sita"

My heart pounds "And you are another incanta?tion of Lundulf&039;s?"

Sorrow touches her face "You suffered there"

I bite my lip "Yeah, I suffered But what&039;s it to you?"

She lowers her head "Everything you have experienced--it means a lot toago?"

"Yes"

I fidget on ic dictates that I should This desert is filled with monsters Chances are she is one, too Certainly she is not nor to defend herself, even to plead her case, and I find it difficult to strike down the helpless

"Do you know this weapon I carry?" I ask

"Yes"

"I kno to use it" I pause "I will use it"

Alanda is staring at the stars again "Then use it"

"You are impossible I will kill you, just as I killed the others out there o You saw that, didn&039;t you?"

"Yes"

I am sarcastic "Why didn&039;t you come to my aid? Friend?"

"It was not allowed"

"By whom?" I demand

"You had to refuse them To offer to end your life before they would take it fro but kill Because they answered s" I pause and sweat over the trigger "I think you are one of them"

For the third time she looks at me, and for the first time I really see her Her blue eyes--they are veryinto a mirror Yet it is more than a physical resemblance The person behind the eyes, the soul within the body, seems to reach out and touch me in a way I cannot explain For ato destroy--I feel profoundly cherished Suddenly she is more than a friend to me, she is a part of me Sometimes when I looked at Suza at the divine child, I would sense this same expansion of consciousness, as if reater mind It is only in that reat stature, someone who loves me more than I aers, lands in the sand A tear rolls over my cheek and joins it in the dust I don&039;t knohy I cry, perhaps because I am happy Alanda is an old friend

Yet I don&039;t re my blood

"I don&039;t understand," I whisper

She co ain "My Sita"

But I am not a child I am a monster I cannot be comforted even if the space between us is suffused with the vitality of reunion I cannot turn to this creature that I do not know for help or solace In a swiftmy back on her If she wanted, she could pick up the matrix and vaporize me But I know that is not her intention She letsis hurried in her, I realize She has waited long for this encounter, and I feel I have as well Yet I feel exposed before her, and that is a feeling I have never enjoyed I have always been theco ht froine

"There is no need for i to you as ht breath "You are telepathic then?"

"Yes As are you"

"No I cannot read your mind"

"You can You&039;re just afraid, Sita"

"How do you know my name?"

"Because I know you"

"From when? From where?"

"From before Fro, al her, I say, "Where&039;s your spaceship?"

"It&039;s co"

That remark makes me take a step back

"Are you here to take me away?" I ask, and I hear the hope in lorious life, yet there has been too much pain Alanda&039;s love seems to flow to me in waves The desert is dry, her eyes are moist I cannot help but benoith a faint blue light

This blue glow, it reht they shine above us

Almost as if they have moved closer to Earth

But Alanda&039;s face is both blissful and concerned

"No," she says "You cannot leave this world now, not until what has been ruined has been set right"

"Suzama said as much Do you know her?"

"Yes She is a sister, like you"