Rikke looked at Charianna standing there at the edge of the square and his heart swelled with pride and gladness.   He was glad that he knew this remarkable woman.   And he was proud of the way she looked.   Dressed in a simple white shift that was nearly transparent, wearing golden sandals, with her blonde hair in ringlets that fell to just below her shoulders and with the way she was lit up, Charinna looked every bit like an angel.   How could he not be proud of this serene, supremely confident woman?

   The crowd gaped at Charianna in wonder and awe -- even those that had already seen her this way.   But more importantly, the Junior officer, whom power had evidently passed too, was gaping at her in awe and wonder too.   Rikke wondered later if the tableau would have remained frozen that way forever if someone hadn't intruded.   That someone was the emperor.

   A great fanfare arose from the direction of the Emperor's Palace.   All eyes turned that way.   The huge, diamond and gold double doors swung wide.   The emperor, flanked by the imperial gauard and an individual Rikke didn't know, stepped through the doors and came to a stop at the broad top step.   The crowd parted for Charianna as she headed towards the palace and the emperor.   In Charianna's wake Rikke and Tarlmissa followed.

   When the trio had reached the bottom step, Charianna still in the lead, Charianna came to a stop and her halo went out.   She stood there a moment, gravely regarding the most powerful man in the world for a long moment.   Then she said, with a huge smile, "So we meet at last!"

   The Emperor regarded Charianna as if he was looking at an interesting artifact in a museum, studying her with a quizzical look from every possible angle.   Finally he spoke.   "So you're Charianna?"

   "I am." Charianna said with simple dignity.

   The emperor went back to studying her for a few more moments.   Charianna just stood there, still smiling at him, completely poised.   At last the Emperor spoke, "Those were pretty neat tricks you did.   Can you teach me to make my voice that loud and show me how you lit yourself up like that?   It might come in handy at some of my more formal affairs!"

   Rikke wondered as he listened to this exchange if Charianna was going to allow herself to be baited.   Obviously the emperor was trying to get her rattled.   The emperor might belief as he Rikke had that it was just a trick or he might not believe that, but it was obvious that he couldn't allow Charianna to get the upper hand here.   He would lose the confrontation before it had hardly started if he did that.   Rikke, was betting, however, that the emperor DID think it was all a trick.   People with his sort of power only believed in what they could see.   Rikke sighed with relief when he heard Charianna's answer.

   "If you want real power then you must become my disciple and renounce your position as Emperor." Charianna said, giving him a very gentle smile.

   The emperor rebuffed Charianna's gentle smile with a very wicked one.   "Oh, I have plenty of power.   I don't need your tricks.   They might convince those with simple minds.   And to prove it to you, as if I had to, I have a couple of people I think you'll want to meet." He turned to the indivual standing beside him, "Alltutha, bring our guests out here, won't you?"

   Alltutha, a tall thin man with gray hair down to his shoulders, a sharp chin and who was dressed in a long black robe, bowed to the emperor, turned back towards the palace and disappeared inside.   Since he reappeared almost immediately, the two people, a man and a teenage girl, he was leading must have been waiting right inside the door.   Obviously, they were the emperor's hole card, Rikke thought, wondering who they were.   He turned to look at Charianna and saw by the look on her face that SHE knew them!

   It was Jevstan and Frika, Charianna saw with surprise and dismay.   Then firmly Charianna calmed herself and stood there impassively, just waiting.

   "Ah!   I see by the look on your face that you know them!" The emperor said with a sneer in his voice.   "Aren't you glad to see them?" he finished sarcastically.

   Urgently Rikke leaned forward and whispered in Charianna's ear, "Who are these people?"

   Without turning to look at Rikke, Charianna said tightly, "This is my ex-husband and my daughter."

   "Ah, yes!   Faces from the past that you thought to never see again!   Or perhaps I should say feared you WOULD see again?   What sort of woman leaves her husband and child and goes off pretending to be some kind of angel or goddess or messiah?" The emperor said in that same sneering tone of voice.

   "I did not leave them!   They drove me from my home!" Charianna said with icy calm, but her clenched fists by her sides belied the calm she was projecting.

   Rikke wanted to ask Charianna why she hadn't told him.   But he didn't for three reasons.   First because he was sure that Charianna had a perfectly good reason -- he knew he knew her well enough by this time that he could trust in that.   Secondly, he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself.   And the third reasons was that he didn't want to distract Charianna.   In this confrontation with the emperor she needed her focus complete.   So instead he simply turned towards Tarlmissa and whispered, "Can you help her somehow?"

   In Tarlmissa's eyes Rikke saw the same trust that he was feeling.   His daughter whispered back, "I'll give her whatever support I can."

   The emperor, oblivious of the byplay between Rikke and Tarlmissa -- or perhaps not caring -- spoke in mock sadness, "That's not what they told me!   They said that you left them because you believe in some force that is witchcraft or maybe it's just a power that blinds men's eyes."   He then pretended to study Charianna with distaste, "Which is it?   Are you witch or powerful hoaxster?"

   Charianna ignored the emperor.   Instead she held out her hands to Jevstan and Frika in mute appeal, "Why don't you speak for yourselves, Jevstan, Frika?   Why didn't you come to me?"

   Frika looked for a moment as if she might go to her mother.   But then she just turned her head away instead.

   After a very, very long moment Jevstan spoke.   In a voice as cold as the tomb he said, "I have a question of my own.   Why have you never tried to come back and see us?"

   Tears trickling down her face, Charianna said in a voice tautly controlled, "What good would have that done?   It would have just re-opened old wounds best left alone!   Would a meeting have changed your mind?   I know the truth of what I do!"

   Jevstan looked for a moment like he was going to weaken.   In fact he started to raise his arms as if he was going to take Charianna in his embrace, but then he dropped his arms back by his sides and turned his face away.

   Tears streaming down her face even more freely and her voice cracking a bit now, Charianna turned to her daughter.   "Will YOU give me one last hug at least?   I am your mother and I will never see you again!   Please?"

   Frika just stared at her mother with a stony face, her hands hands held rigid by her sides.   But Rikke was pretty sure he saw a tear leaking from the corner of her left eye.

   The emperor, watching this byplay with evil intent, broke in, "Speaking of never seeing them again, did you know that they offered themselves to me as hostages?"   When Charianna ignored him and instead turned her face away to surreptitiously wipe the tears away, the emperor went inexorably on, "Yes.   They said that this was probably the only way to stop you!   Were they right?"   Again, Charianna refused to answer him.   "Well, let me make it a little easier for you to answer me!   It means that unless you disband this false religion of yours and order these people to leave this square I will have them excuted right here in front of your face!   What do you say now?"

   Rikke had caught something he was sure that the emperor had not cued in on.   What did Charianna mean when she'd told Frika that she would never see her again?   How had she known what the emperor's intentions were?   Or did she mean something else?   Rikke had a very bad feeling about what the next few minutes were going to bring.   He wanted to stop whatever was going to happen, but he didn't see how he could.   Instead he just stood there, riveted with dread.

   Suddenly Charianna straightened to her full height and looked at the emperor in icy calm as if she had fought some kind of inner battle and won.   In a voice as loud and hard and as clear as a giant bell being rung, she said, "You will do no such thing!"

   Several things happened at once.   Rikke yelled, "Charianna, NO!"   The emperor made a gesture to two of the the troops standing beside him.   The emperor and Alltutha got out of the way.   The two troops raised their weapons and aimed.   Jevstan and Frika became translucent like soap bubbles.   They flickered like a heat mirage.   Then they simply disappeared in a shower of rose colored bits of light that vaguely looked like falling rose petals.

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   "Wait a minute!" I asked Perki, turning to look at her in surprise and a little bit of shock, "Where did Jevstan and Frika go to?"

   "In order to see that we need to take a little trip in Edgar" Perki answered, not looking the least bit surprised or shocked or even a bit upset.   I took that as a good sign.

   As Weslee got into Edgar ahead of me I saw that he had somewhere in the proceedings changed his T shirt again.   This one read: "Miracles are really a, um, er, ah, miracle!"

   Chuckling wrly at the truth involved in the statement on Weslee's T shirt I joined him and Perki.   Edgar's doors went shut and we were off.

   I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see -- other than nothing extreme or harmful -- when Edgar's doors opened.   But as it turned out I was nonplussed by what I saw when Edgar's doors opened.   "But this is America, circa 1950!" I exclaimed. "Why here?   And how would Charianna know?   And why would she never see them again if she sent them here?"

   Perki answered me with a twinkle in her eye.   " My don't you have a lot of questions?"   I gave her a look that said I wasn't amused.   Perki spread her hands apologetically and explained, "Didn't someone say that this was the best time in America's history?   And the PQ is capable of seeing all time and all space simultaneously.   Charianna knew that Jevstan and Frika would -- once they got over their culture shock -- be able to survive here.   Afterall, if she had sent them to an age on earth that was comparable with the age on Fremala that they were used to they would not have survived.   But here in America in the fifties, at the end of this world's age of innocence and dignity and yet the beginning of the age of understanding, they would survive!   And when she said that she was never going to see them ever again it was for two reasons.   Because she will never leave Fremala.   She has too much to accomplish.   And there would be no reason to contact them anyway.   What good would it do?   But the best part of it all is that it leaves us with another journey to make after this one.   We will want to see how Jevstan and Frika made out, right?   In fact Charianna is counting on us to do that!   But -- in the meantime -- shall we return to Fremala and see this business through to the end?"

   Of course we went, knowing exactly what Perki meant about the 50's in America: Despite the cold war, despite the communist fever, despite the political upheaval and all the other bad things -- the common people were not too concerned.   The war was over, America was experiencing prosperity like it hadn't ever before and people were beginning to look towards a bright future that they believed in, while at the same time maintaining the best of the past.   In that easy world, Jevstan and Frika would be accepted like they wouldn't any other time.   And yet it wouldn't be all easy.   I was looking forward to seeing them again!

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   When we got back to the square Rikke was asking the same question I had.   His face white with shock, he urgently whispered, "Charianna!   Where have they gone?   What have you done?"

   Charianna gave him a rreassuring smile. "It's OK, Rikke!   Trust me, it really is OK!   They'll be fine!"

   The emperor looked as astounded as everyone else did.   But only for a moment.   Then he gave Charianna a crafty smile, "All right magician, What have you done with them?   You think by this trickery to thawrt me so easily?"

   "If I told you were they've gone, you wouldn't believe me!" Charianna replied, calmly.

   "Perhaps I should hold you hostage and execute your friends until you see the wisdom of telling me the truth," The Emperor said, with a menacing grin.

   "But I have told you the truth!" Charianna said a bit hotly.   Perhaps I should prove it to you by sending you somewhere too?   In fact I think I will!   That is the only way you will believe me!"   So saying Charianna concentrated for a moment.

   "I don't know who you think you're fooling!   Guards arrest this --" the emperor began.   But just like Jevstan and Frika he grew transpaprent and disappeared.   Only in his case the little flecks of light that were left showering down after he was gone were blue and looked like snowflakes.

   "Rikke looked aghast at Charianna.   Are you sure you should have done that?"

   Tarlmissa started giggling uncontrollably.   After a moment Charianna joined her.

   "Why are you two laughing?   This is hardly a laughing matter!   What are you laughing about?" Rikke asked more in exasperation than fear.

   Charianna and Tarlmissa either couldn't or wouldn't tell him.   They just kept laughing until they both had tears running down their faces and were holding their sides.

   The crowd, those that were near enough to see what had happened to the emperor, gasped.   Then they looked at Charianna and Tarlmissa in confused consternation.   The word of what had happened to the emperor was quickly spread throughout the crowd and Rikke could also hear speculation that their leader had gone mad spreading through the crowd.

   Apparently Alltutha also thought that Charianna had gone mad and that she had left him no other choice.   He turned to the nearest troop.  "As the emperor's next in line I order you to execute this woman on the --"

   Before Alltutha could complete the order, the emperor popped back into sight.   His eyes were bugging out of his head!   First he screamed in obvious terror!   Then he screamed in exultation, doing a little dance of joy.   Finally, when he had control of himself a bit, his eyes not near as big anymore, he turned to regard Alltutha and loudly exclaimed, "You should have seen it, Alltutha!   It was the most wonderful place I have ever seen!   And it WAS real!   I was really there! I could feel the air on my face, I could feel the ground beneath my feet, I could actually hear the most amazing sounds and I could taste the -- well, never mind what I could taste!   But it was real!   First I was afraid to be there and then I was afraid when I was yanked back out!   I mean, it was paradise and I was afraid that I was being sent to some place worse -- because ANY place would've been, could've only been worse!   But I was brought back here!   HERE!   And that means that I can do it!   I can really do it!"   With a sob of joy he threw himself prostrate on his face at Charianna's feet.

   Alltutha just stood there, looking amazed and very befuddled!   "Where have you been, my Lord!   And why are you now worshipping this woman?"

   The emperor rose to his knees and and twisted to look at Alltutha.   "It's real power, man!   Can't you understand that?   Real!"   Twisting back around to gaze at Charianna in subservient awe, he said, "What shall I do first?"

   Alltutha wasn't about to be put off that easy.   With an imperious gesture, he shouted at the troops, "The emperor has obviously gone mad!   And this woman has been the agent of his madness!   Arrest the emperor for his own good and execute this woman now!"

   Hearing Alltutha attempting to usurp his authority, the Emperor rose to his feet to face the troops.   "I am still the emperor here!   Arrest this man instead!"

   "I have a better idea!" Charianna interjected.   A wave of her hand and Alltutha was gone!

   "Where have you sent him?" The emperor asked, in a voice that said he didn't really care, was just asking out of curiosity.

   Charianna replied with grim satisfaction, "Let's just say that he won't like it nearly as much as you did!   But he had it coming for conspiring with Jevstan and Frika's lives!"

   Alltutha obviously already dismissed from his mind the emperor said, happily, "OK.   Where were we?

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