What? No!

Everything.

After two long weeks and some days, Rowan remembered everything. He
couldn't believe some of the things he'd forgotten. Most importantly,
Charlie. Now that he remembered her he couldn't stop thinking about
her. He wanted to see her so badly, and knew that she must be worried
about him. Getting back to Amelia was now an even bigger priority than
it had been before, all because of her.

He also couldn't believe some of the things he had believed.
Namely, the lies Alecis had fed him in his incapacitated state. And
now, after waiting for the right moment, he was finally going to
confront her about it.

They were in the park that they usually stayed at when not at Alyria's house.

"Hey Alecis," he greeted her, not wanting to seem like anything was
wrong yet. "Can I talk to you for a second? I have some questions..."

Alecis had been staring at out the night sky, thinking of how things were going back in Amelia when Rowan came up behind her.

"Can I talk to you for a secong? I have some questions..."

Alecis smiled, "Of course! What is it that you want to know?"

"I was just thinking...about us," Rowan replied, trying not too seem too obvious. He wanted to see if maybe Alecis would admit it or something. "And I was wondering, how did we get engaged again? I don't think you told me and I really wish I could remember..."

Gag, Nym said.

Acid bubbled in Alecis's stomach. She hated lying to him but it wasn't like she could tell him the truth now. She was in too far.

'Well,' Rheis advised, 'if you think he'll be mad now, think of how mad he'll be when we get home.'

The fox had a point but Leci couldn't bring herself to do it. The fact was, even though at the beginning she had lied to protect Rowan, she had grown fond of the lie. She liked feeling this close to Rowan and it was her own selfishness that had keep the lie going.

So, even though she felt bad and wanted him to know the truth, even though she knew it was wrong, she dug herself deeper. "Well, er, we were at the beach and...('the beach?? Alecis, you and Rowan both hate the beach...' 'shut up Rheis') well, you know, you asked me and I said yes."

'That was the lamest lie I've ever heard,' Rheis snorted.

"Oh really?" Rowan asked, now with obviously feigned interest. He crossed his arms. "And nothing about our situation bothered you? Like the fact that we were from different Eilemaiden...or maybe the fact that I have a girlfriend, or not even the fact that we never dated?"

He sat back and gave her a moment to comprehend her position.

"Actually I--

.................................................................

................................................................"

Alecis's eyes grew wide as she finally grasped exactly what he had said. "Eheh, yeah, that kinda bothered me..." She gave a pained expression, realizing she was in for some torture.

"What. Were. You. Thinking!?" Rowan yelled angrily. Of all the things Alecis had done, including back when they hated each other, this was the worst by far. What kind of clio lies to someone about their own life?? "I mean, what reason could you POSSIBLY have for, not only failing to mention important details of my own life, but telling me we're ENGAGED? Tell me, why would you do such a thing!?"

"I, I-- at first, it was the only way to see you! When we first got lost, do you remember? I had no idea you didn't remember anything, I just said it to get into your room. I thought you would know how to get home!"

"And you couldn't, oh I don't know, tell me the truth after that?" Rowan demanded. "You had plenty of chances! Let's see, when I asked who you were, when I asked about my life, every single moment we were together...Or do you have an excuse for all those times too?!"

"Well," Alecis said slowly, wringing her hands together nervously, "It might partly have to do with the fact that I didn't want to screw you up any farther. I thought if I told you the truth you wouldn't trust me. Not that I deserved to be trusted now, but I was afraid Rowan, can't you understand that?"

She stared at his feet, never meeting his gaze, hoping that he wouldn't notice she had left out the other part of her reason.

"No, I can't!" Rowan snapped. "I would have been right not to trust you! And 'being afraid' doesn't give you the right to lie to me about my own life, especially about something as important as who I love. What if I hadn't remembered? What if I'd done something I'd regret!? Goddammit Alecis, didn't you even think of Charlie!? You're supposed to be her friend!"

The fact that Alecis had wronged Charlie was a thousand times worse than that she'd lied to him.

"I wouldn't have let you do anything you'd regret! The most we've done is hold hands and even that wasn't even romantic! Of course I thought about Charlie! How dare you? Of course, I, I..."

But she was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. She was wrong a hundred times over and no fancy wording could change that. Oh how she wished she could scream back, it would be so much simpler if she still hated him, but all she felt now was pain. Pain for him, pain for Charlie, and pain for herself. Though she didn't deserve anyone feeling sorry for her, not even if she was the one feeling it. Tears spilled from her eyes as she thought about her actions, all they had caused was Rowan hating her.

Rowan wasn't seeing the sad, crying Alecis right now. He was seeing the Alecis from many months ago, the one who had taunted him and insulted him and set out to make him miserable every chance she got. He'd finally had enough.

"If I find a way to get back," he said in a cold voice, "I'll find a way to let you know. Until then, don't come looking for me."

He turned to leave.

"But, but, Rowan!" Alecis sputtered, reaching out for his arm, "We'll never find the way back on our own! I know you hate me, but we need each other right now. Please, please come back."

She reached up and wiped tears out of her eyes, trying to see clearly.

Rowan hesitated. He didn't want to admit it, but he didn't have a clue how to get back. He remembered falling through the rift at the Ruins, but he had no idea how the rift got there or what it really was. As much as it pained him, he had to cooperate with Alecis to figure this out...at least for now.

"...Tell me whatever you know about the rift," he said without turning around. "But I'm not promising I'll stay after that."

Alecis nodded frantically, willing to tell Rowan anything he wanted to know, the truth this time.

"Well, it was snowing, and Rheis and I were just walking through the ruins, looking at the stars--Hey! The stars, we were looking at them and all of a sudden there were like thousands of shooting stars all over! It was the weirdest thing, and then we heard this ripping noise so we turned around and we were sucked through this big, swirly, colorful thing."

Not knowing how Alecis could not make the connection, Rowan said in a deadpan, "Well then obviously there's some kind of connection to the star pieces and the star beings." A thought struck him. "Oh, and that's why we can't use our Eilemaiden. We don't have the star pieces."

He waited to see if there was anything else she could tell him.

Alecis, through her tears, smiled wider then she had the whole time she had spent on Earth. "Rowan, I knew you would figure everything out! I knew it." Her heart beat a million miles per second as her mind whirled around the information. Star beings, star pieces, falling stars. Star beings, star pieces, falling stars.

"Of course! Why didn't I figure that out?"

"Anything else?" Rowan asked sardonically, shooting one look at Alecis but then quickly looking back away. "If we're done here, I'm leaving."

He actually kind of hoped she had more information, because what they had to go off of wasn't enough to figure out how to get back. But at the same time he wanted the conversation to be over so that he could leave. Nonetheless, he waited for her answer.

"Well, perhaps the stars effected the rift? I mean, obviously they have something to do with our Eilemaiden, but what if they caused the rift too? And those letters, who exactly wrote them? They have something to do with this too! If only we could get the letters and have an Overloridian meeting..."

Alecis sat down on one of the benches and thought hard about what had been written on her letter.

"I don't think the letters will tell us anything useful about getting home," Rowan replied. He had seen four letters, and none of them mentioned anything about interdimensional travel. The two in his possession he practically had memorized, and he couldn't make any connection between them (both from a 'star being' named Silia) and the rift. "Even if they are connected, they won't help us now. The ones I have won't anyways, and I don't remember the others well enough.

"The stars, on the other hand..."

He looked up at the sky, even though it was still light out. It didn't make sense. How could falling stars have anything to do with a rip in space?

"But what have they done? I mean, I get where you're coming from, star seems to be the theme here, but how do they all fit together? It's all so confusing..."

Rowan had all the information he was going to get from Alecis, apparently. "I'll find you if I figure anything out," he repeated in the same colorless voice as before.

He began to walk away again. He just wanted to get away from Alecis, who had finally crossed the line. For good. He wanted to get back to Amelia. He wanted to see Charlie...

Rowan really hated life sometimes.