The next Story was in another forest. Once there, Eve couldn't ignore the heart-wrenching sobs coming from her friend. Every sound that Lana made sounded as if her heart had been broken into a hundred pieces. Never had Eve thought her adventure would come at such a terrible price. She wanted to comfort Lana, but didn't know how. To lose your mother in front of you ... how terrible was that?

Merlin looked awful. His face was pale and sweat stuck his hair to his forehead. Whenever he looked at Lana, he had to hastily dash away tears. It was hurting him, perhaps more than it was hurting the rest of them. The Story around them was silent and appeared uninhabited.

Finally, Merlin broke the silence in a low voice. "Lana."

The girl had curled up and was still sobbing. She made no response. He went over to her, touching her shoulder. Still, she didn't respond. "Lana, look at me." Nothing.

"Can't you do something?" Eve asked desperately. Desperate to stop those heartbroken sobs. Desperate to hear her friend laugh and sing again.

Merlin nodded. "I can do something. The same thing I did to her when she was a child." The sadness in his voice seemed to stab Eve in the heart. She said nothing as he rolled Lana onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and her breath came in ragged sobs. Tenderly, he stroked her hair out of her face. "Oh, Lana ... I'm so sorry." He laid his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes.

Eve chewed her lip worriedly. What was he doing? Would he hurt her? Instinctively, she knew he wouldn't, but her mind was trying to argue with her instinct. Lana was suffering. Whatever he was doing would hopefully alleviate the suffering, not increase it. She hoped.

After a few minutes, Merlin pulled his hand away and looked satisfied. Tired, but satisfied. "There," he said. "It's done."

None of the others said anything. Eve wondered if it was really a triumph having removed Lana's memories of her mother's death. Would that mean Lana wouldn't even be able to remember Ellen's face at all? Merlin saw the quizzical look Eve was giving him and returned it with a small, bitter smile. "I did what I had to, Eve," he told her. "You saw what she was like with those memories. Not only had she seen her mother shot and killed, she had remembered what her father had done as well. I had ... no other choice. Her fragile mind simply could not handle it."

"I know," Eve admitted. "It's just—well, it feels wrong. She deserves to have her memories, yet she can't control herself when she does. I just wish that something could be dome. You're a sorcerer! Can't you bring Ellen back?"

"Nobody has powers over life and death, Eve. But yes, she's in Final Death, and technically I could let her come back into The story for a brief time. However, any longer than that and her very presence would being to tear The Story apart. I think it would be more terrible to bring Ellen back then force her to return. And worse for Lana as well."

"I understand, Father," Emrys said. "What do we do now?"

Merlin sat back on his heels. "Lana needs to rest," he said. "You need to remain here with her and make sure nothing happens to her."

"What about you?" Rampion asked, catching the use of the word you.

Merlin didn't look happy. "That's a bit more complicated, I'm afraid. Since Nimueh stole almost all of my magic and what little I had left I used on Lana, I'm a beacon for Nimueh to come find."

"But she'll finish the job, won't she?" Gwaine said, frowning in concern.

His father shrugged. "Yes, I believe she will. Or drag me off to join my friends."

"Then what are we sitting around for?" Emrys demanded. "We need to get moving!"

This time, Merlin gave him a sad smile. "Arthur, my son, there are many things you don't understand. This is one of them. What I have to do for you—what I have to give up for you ... but it's worth it. I'm leaving."

That stumped them all. All four of the children stared at him, utterly flabbergasted, unable to say a thing. Then Gwaine stammered out, "But, Father ... why?"

"I can't risk Nimueh catching you as well as me," he answered simply. "Running won't do us any good. It's time that I let fate take a hand. Arthur, you can do it. You and Eve can lead the children. I have faith in you."

"I'm glad you do, but I certainly don't!" Emrys said. "I can't even speak to a stranger without getting tongue-tied without you."

"Tongue-tied?" Eve questioned. He hadn't gotten tongue-tied when he'd met her.

"Arthur gets terribly shy around people who might pose a threat to him," Merlin explained.

"That's everyone," Gwaine said, laughing. It was terrible of him to laugh, and Eve glared at him.

Emrys stared at his feet. "Father, we need you."

"I certainly hope not, because you're our last hope," Merlin replied. Standing, he went and kissed his son's forehead. He did the same for Gwaine. "Good-bye, my boys. No matter what happens, know that I love you both and that I'm very proud of what you've done. Eve, Rampion ... you've made your parents proud, I know it. Should I see them, I'll tell them what you've done."

"Please don't leave," Rampion whispered, looking like a child more than she'd ever looked before. Tears glistened in her eyes.

Merlin gave a smile that belied the look in his eyes. "Don't think of it as scary or difficult," he chided her. "Think of it as me placing an adventure at your feet, no adult supervision allowed. Once Lana wakes up, I need you to get as far away from here as possible. Understand?"

"But where will you be imprisoned?" Eve asked.

"I don't know. She may kill me straight-off. I really don't know. Whatever the case, know that I won't die easily. Farewell, everyone," Merlin said, and walked off.

Emrys stared after his father a long time after he'd disappeared through the trees. "Father," he whispered.

Eve started pacing anxiously. She'd half-expected Merlin's plan to fail and for Nimueh to come barreling through the trees, throwing fireballs and other spells at them. Nothing of the sort happened, but it did little to ease her nerves. They were five children alone in a world they knew nothing about, with a "resting" part of their group possibly permanently scarred. One noblewoman, a girl with magic hair, an unconscious bard, a young knight, and a tongue-tied sorcerer. "We make a fine group," she muttered, angry at Merlin for leaving them.

"It's not Father's fault." Emrys came to Merlin's defense. "He wanted to protect us."

"Abandoning us is a fine way of protecting us!" Eve replied, turning on him. "Face it, Emrys! We're in the middle of who-knows-where. None of us have any experience of the outside world of our own Stories, much less other people's. Let's face it. We may as well have gone with Merlin and gotten ourselves caught or killed, because we stand as much chance of surviving without him as we did with him!"

"We can figure this out," Emrys insisted. "We just need to keep our cool and make sure we're extra cautious. If we can keep out of Nimueh's way and conduct some ..."

"Covert searching," Gwaine suggested.

"Yes. Covert searching," his brother agreed. "If we can conduct some—covert searching, we might be able to uncover the secret of where Nimueh is holding our parents. I don't know about you, but I'm not giving up on saving my parents. Unless you want what happened to Lana's mother to happen to both your parents?"

Eve scowled. "We can't go anywhere until Lana wakes up."

"Not necessarily," Gwaine piped up. "You and Em can go look around. Find out where we are, figure out if the natives are friendly, things like that. Me and Rampion will wait here for Lana to wake up. Then we'll be your backup."

"I'm not going anywhere with him," Eve said flatly.

"It makes sense, Eve," Rampion told her soothingly. "A person with magic per group. And you two need to learn to get along if this is going to work."

Eve tried not to put out her lip in irritation. She didn't want to pout, but she also didn't want to go with Emrys. The others didn't leave her with much of a choice, though, and five minutes later, they were walking through the forest together, leaving Gwaine and Rampion with Lana. After a moment, Emrys looked at her with a smile. It was just a little condescending. "Am I really such unpleasant company, Lady Andric?" he questioned.

Eve snorted. "Yes. You are. You have no personality, you are incredibly irritating, and you are everything my logical mind claims cannot exist."

That made Emrys look at her oddly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're ... magic," Eve said. "I never believed in it. Logically, I would have said a few days ago that it didn't exist. That it couldn't exist. I don't trust what I don't understand, and on top of your magic—there's something about you I don't understand."

"But you trusted my father," Emrys pointed out.

Eve shook her head. "To a certain extent, maybe. Would I have lain my life in his hands? No. I trusted him only because my mum vouched for him. And even then he failed my trust."

"You must live a lonely life," Emrys noted. "How do you expect to be able to meet anyone and become friends with them if you don't let anyone into your world?"

"What I want to know is if you're so shy and tongue-tied, why weren't you like that with us?" Eve challenged him.

The short sorcerer shifted uncertainly. "I ... I just felt like I knew you," he stammered. "Like my father said, it's just from people I don't trust. People that might—might pose a threat to me or my family."

Eve scratched her nose. "I had no idea," was all she said.

The two reached the end of the tree line and Eve's eyes widened. "What is that?" she said, her voice squeaking. "It's huge!"

"I think ... it's a beanstalk," Emrys answered. His eyes were as wide as Eve's. "My word, it's huge. Come on, let's have a closer look at it. It must have taken enormously powerful magic to create such a thing!"

Reluctantly, Eve followed Emrys as he went up to the gigantic beanstalk. Craning her neck back, Eve couldn't even see the top. It seemed to go straight up to the sky. "Care to climb it?" Emrys asked with a spark of mischief in his eyes.

"C-climb it?" Eve didn't have a crippling fear of heights, but she also didn't want to climb the beanstalk. At all.

"Sure," Emrys said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could fall and break every bone in our bodies."

That didn't seem to faze Emrys at all. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Anger flared up in Eve, and she drew herself up to her full height. "This isn't a game, Emrys!" she snapped. "This is dangerous. People can die. People have died. My mother's best friend died!"

"My father is your mother's best friend."

Eve shook her head, her black curls bouncing around. "No. I don't know what disturbed world you're living in, but my mother has known Ellen since before I was born. She spent much of her time in her company, even if she wasn't a lady."

"And what does that have to do with climbing a beanstalk?"

"You should have done something!" The words exploded from Eve. She'd been bottling them up since she'd seen Ellen perish. "You or your father! What good is magic if it can't save the people you care about? It's your fault she's dead! You stood by and did nothing, and she's dead because of you and Merlin!"

"You could have done something," Emrys retorted, his face reddening. "Just because we're the only two with magic doesn't mean we were the only ones who could have saved her. You can't blame just me for her death! None of us saw it coming. Gwaine tried to warn her. I didn't even see what was happening!"

Eve didn't bother responding. She grabbed one of the vines entwined around the beanstalk and started hauling herself up. "Let's just go. The sooner I can find my parents, the sooner I never have to see you again," she bit off.

Once she'd gotten a decent way's up the beanstalk, Emrys started following behind. "That would please me immensely!" he shouted back.

Eve didn't bother replying.