Kira looked back at Mari, staring into her mother's eyes. "I don't know who I am."

"Who do you want to be?"

Kira sat at her desk after her mother left, frowning at her reflection in the room's mirror. Who did she want to be? She'd never be her mother. Just like now. Her big, important job was a date with a very awkward boy. Her mother had slain dragons, and she went on difficult dates. "That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?" she asked her reflection. "Mother saves the world, and I try to be nice to an obnoxious guy so he'll tell us a few more things."

Kira spun her chair about, gazing out the window, wishing that she could fly away to some place that had never heard of Lady Mari or the daughter.

How could Urth be in danger from something on Dematr? What kind of danger did the strange people on the ship pose to this world?

If she could help answer those questions, she'd have to try. Kira realized that in that much, at least, she was her mother's daughter.

Chapter 3

Kira had decided that the definition of awkward had to include calling a ship from another world on a far-talker, while her parents hovered nearby, and asking to speak with a boy she barely knew to invite him over. She wondered how much harder it would have been to fight a dragon instead.

Standing outside as night fell, Kira thought that for something that wasn't supposed to be a date, it felt suspiciously like a date. "If he tries to touch me, I am going to hurt him," she told her mother.

"Don't do any permanent damage," Mari replied.

"I won't." Sometimes her mother was almost cool. "Remember not to say anything about what he told me until he indicates it is safe," Kira told her mother and father.

Something that resembled an egg the size of a large coach came into view in the sky, flying straight for the house. The egg stopped directly overhead, then dropped to land gently not far from Kira. As with the bigger Urth ship, an opening suddenly appeared in the side, this time revealing Jason seated within.

He swaggered out of the egg. "Pretty cool, huh? I, uh, brought you something." Looking both worried and bashful, he offered her a small package.

A gift? From a boy she hardly knew? Kira glanced at her mother, who indicated it was up to Kira. Resigning herself to the inevitable, she accepted it.

Forcing a smile, Kira pried open the box, which at least was reassuringly just a box rather than some amazing technological device. Inside was an earring identical to the one she had worn the day the Urth ship arrived. Kira stared at it, then at her mother. "It's…it's jewelry. Jason, I can't accept this."

"Jewelry?" Mari gasped.

Jason's worry increased. "Um…yeah…It's an exact copy of the one you—"