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Bez waved him silent without looking up. He was finally getting a focused reading on Ai, not a verbal one, but he wasn't too sure he wanted one with Ai just then, not as upset as he was. His swedh's mind was like a trap, twisting and turning inward upon itself. But they needed the reading to determine where he was and he had been doing things like this since before the "fall", it really wasn't all that hard. Normally he would be able to do it with only a half a thought, but he couldn't afford not to pay attention, otherwise he would get sucked in. It wasn't madness per se, at least it wasn't a form of madness he could identify with. He had touched Ai's mind once before when he had been caught up in the claws of insanity and the present state of his swedh's thoughts had nothing in common with the sinking depression that had marked Ai's slow spiral downward at that time. This was something new, a red hot angry sensation of entrapment... a true savage animalistic madness. Ai was angry at someone, most likely his kidnapper, but he had never touched a mind so full of twists, turns and dead ends as Ai's was just then. He dared not touch it fully, linking with him in this state was nigh on foolishness of the utmost design. Still the anger provided them with a fairly accurate compass and as loathed as he was to use it, Bez wasn't about to kick a gift horse in the mouth.

Looking up, he gazed off toward a mountainous ridge in the distance, a rim of rocky peaks that surrounded the lowest of Paradisio's planes. "He's over there... somewhere... most likely down within. I have to warn you, Kero... he's not exactly sane right now... not rational... he's angry... I've never seen him this angry... and I don't know what he'll do when we find him."

Standing up, he shouldered his great blade and nodded towards the mountains. "Shall we? I'd say fly, but that would make us rather visible and right now I'd rather not be found before we find him. Besides, we might miss something on the ground... a clue or something that would tell us who we are working with here."

Hearing his Sira singing, Kero slowly detached himself from the memories, seeing now the larger picture instead of the details he had lived. He and Bez had found Ai, oh yes. And so had they found her kidnapper.

Miku, another angel on the same caliber as Ai and Bezernia, was the one who had stolen her away.

All had seemed lost. Bez and Kero did not want to fight the angel, yet he refused to release Ai. But then, a miracle. Ao himself, the maker, had stepped in, solving all things in a classic deus ex machina. He had gently shown Ai and Kero how their child could herald great doom, and had offered to shelter him, for male it was, in Paradisio. Although reluctant at first, both Ai and Kero had had no choice but to agree.

The child now slept in a crystal egg, the egg Kero had dreamed of during his conception. Sheltered by Ai's love, and Kero's too, he would always know his parents loved him, though he might never know Kero was his father.

And now Tam's singing brought the young lion back down to Earth. And this...this was a song he had never heard. Was this how he had come to be?

As the song slowly wended its way into Kero's mind and heart, he began to see things. Disjointed images. Powerful memories. The visions of yesteryear and all the years gone before. Jarring and powerful, Then, suddenly, it appears bright and clear inside his brain, an image of himself standing before Tam. XII had remembered it wrong all along. Tam had been there, had accepted the duty before speaking to Lyssan. Kero had rejuved in his arms, hugging Tam close as his life ended, and began again.

And now Kero finally stirred, the memories of that horrible time beginning to return to him. How he had tried his hardest to fight the spells, how he had devised technique after technique to defeat the moon's power over him in his previous life. And now he truly believed. It had never truly jarred with him who he really was. Now it did. Now he felt the power, looming all around him. He felt the great responsibility settle on his shoulders...and he stood up then. He shouldered the burden...not without fear, not without pain.

But he shouldered it all the same, as his ascension began. nothing was visible yet, but as Tam sang and the memories returned, it would soon be clear that a Voidmaster once more wore the Cloak of the Night.

Now, the sadness felt by Kero made itself known, slightly. The Voidmaster sighed, his tears welling in his eyes. How he wanted to remain who he was, the innocent little cub, studying magic with Mica and Shar, seeking out a mate properly...but too much had happened. He had fathered a child with an angel, and seen that angel rescued from the grip of Heaven, which for Ai had been a personal Hell. Now, he had to take up the mantle...now, he would be Kerobian vules-Noctuslain. But what did it mean?

Listening to Tam, Kero relived the moment of rejuvenation, which Tam had slightly embellished...but he also remembered when Tam finally agreed to take him in. How long ago that had been, how many years had flown by. Twenty years, a blink of an eye to a Voidmage. Yet in these twenty years, he had grown from cub to lion to Mage.

Feeling the snap of cloth in his ears, Kero reached up, gently grabbing for the sheet of star-speckled black silk he knew was waiting. Wrapping it around himself, to the amazement of the people who could see him. He gently got off his stool, and stood in the aisle of the inn, listening to Tam as he began to sing once more.

Smiling now, having shouldered his responsibility, Kero stood up, blurring into the familiar elven form he so loved. Tentacles once again hidden beneath a star spangled cloak, Kero moved to into the aisle, prompting murmurs from the townsfolk who saw him.

"Who is that?"

"When'd he come in?"

"What is he?"

"Is that..."

"It can't be..."

"He was just right here..."

"I think it is..."

Ignoring them all, Kero made his way to Tam, sitting down before him, kneeling Japanese style as he waited for his sira to finish the final verse. Now he knew what he needed to do. His sira needed to go home, and not to run either. It was time for Kero to give back the security Talesian Firemane had given him.

And so he sat, and waited, listening as Tam began to wind down. When he showed signs of beginning the last verse, Kero stood, moving up to Tam and placing his hands underneaths the bards chin, forcing Tam to look into his hypnotic eyes, eyes that just now were simply filled with a love that would last through the ages.

Kero still loved him very much...but micxed into that love was the iron duty Tam had always associated with his former friend. Tam had given a greater gift than serenity, or love, or even a child to Kerobian. He had given him, finally, the power to balance the real world with his duties within the endless Void.

And so the Voidmaster looked the Angel of Love in the Ai, smiling at him as he opened his mouth to sing the final verse together with his beloved Sira.

"Nor have you need to, Sira. I will always be with you, and you with me." Kero smiles, gently getting down to nuzzle her once more. "You know I do not leave those I love. Should you ever feel alone, or need a place to stay, my doors are always open to you. I may be the Voidmaster, but I am still your little cub. And I will always love you."

Turning aside, Kero wrapped the white lioness in a hug, his cloak settling over his body quite comfortably as he did so.

"Now, we know each other, better than ever we thought we would. But I am still me, and you are still you. I just have a job to do now, that's all. I'm still your mischievous cub...so don't be surprised if you find your sheet music missing or your bowl laced with pepper from time to time." Kero laughed, kissing her gently on the head.