"If you agreed to provide us with a genetic sample, we could use that to help spot your daughter's location. Our drones could be provided with the necessary biometric data. I know you are worried about her safety and would want to do everything possible to help locate her. It would be terrible if something awful happened to your little girl because we were unable to locate her in time."

Tired and worried, Mari hesitated. She knew this was a transparent attempt to gain the genetic material from her that the people from Urth wanted, but as far as she knew it would also help in the search.

She didn't trust Talese Groveen at all, but the woman's self-interest lay in finding Kira because that would mean finding her son and the device he had taken.

Millions of lives. But those were abstract, a possibility in the future, in a place very far from here. One life was in real peril here, the life of her only surviving child. Mari knew how much she had given to this world, how much she had risked and lost. Was it too much for a mother to want in return the safety of her girl?

Alain was beside her, leaning close, his voice a bare murmur. "What would Kira want? She is our daughter. What would you want her to do if your roles were reversed?"

Mari looked down, breathing slowly. "My Mage, you know I'm only human. Not the perfect, wonderful daughter of Jules that everyone else wants to see. And you know what I would want in Kira's place, because I have made decisions like that, no matter how much they hurt. Do you think Kira would forgive me if the worst happens and we someday meet again in the dream beyond this that you speak of?"

"Kira is our daughter. She would forgive and understand. Mari, we want her to believe in herself. That means we must also believe in her, and show that by our actions as well as our words. And lest you doubt," Alain added, enough pain entering his voice that Mari could hear it clearly, "I do not wish to make this decision. I do not want Kira harmed. But we must believe in her, or doom her to the insignificance she already fears is her fate."

Mari nodded, knowing that if something happened to Kira her next words would forever echo with inner guilt. She looked at the woman from Urth again. "I am sorry, but that is not possible."

"Not possible?" Talese Groveen sounded puzzled.

"I am aware of why you want my genetic material. Using the danger to my daughter as leverage to pry that from me is cruel."

"How could you…?" The Urth woman's eyes narrowed, her outward appearance of sympathy and friendship vanishing. "My son told you something? Whatever he told you, he lied."