Zachary awoke crying silently. The tears slipped down his cheeks as he sat in bed, remembering his dream.

He had been hunting a doe. It had been very nervous, hiding behind the greenery of the woods, and running whenever he came near. He was hunting, but he didn't want to harm her. He had wanted the doe to come to him, but she had always fled. He had chased her out of the trees and into a moonlit clearing. Out in the open he could see her soft, velvety nose and wide brown eyes, scared, yet somehow trusting. He'd had beckoned to her with a handful of oats, and she had slowly neared him. Then suddenly there was a hail of arrows. None had hit him; he had been protected by the deer. She, however, lay on her side panting, her legs struggling as blood poured out of her midsection from arrow wounds. "No!" he had cried, but it was too late to save her. He watched as her warm brown eyes closed for the last time, as tears poured down his cheeks. "Kari..." He whispered, distraught. "My Kari..."

He quietly climbed out of bed and grabbed his blue duffel coat, shrugging it on and sniffing it. He liked to think there was still something of her scent on it, but it largely just reminded him of that one night he had watched over her as his love had cried herself to sleep on his shoulder in the hayloft. It had been early morning before he had left, unwilling to waste even a minute of his time with her. He had planted a soft kiss on her forehead, before covering her in his blue duffel coat and climbing back down the ladder, back down to reality.

He sniffed the coat again as he left the room, catching a slight smell of horse. He smiled to himself as Fastion silently peeled himself from the wall and followed his king down the hall and up onto the roof. The Weapon retreated to the shadows and pretended not to notice Zachary wipe his tears on his sleeve.

The King looked up into the clear sky above. The stars glittered in the deep blue black of the night, and he lent back against the parapet to better see them. They were so far away. So distant. So pure and beautiful and beyond his reach. Rather like his Karigan.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. It seemed even the night sky, where he had previously come to calm down after a hard day, could no longer give him solace.

He looked out over his kingdom, watched candles flicker in the windows of Sacor City. It had never truly been his home, as his spirit lay in his home province of Hillander. However, they said that your home is where your heart is, and most of the time Karigan was in the castle, so he supposed it was his home on some level. And when she wasn't here, his heart flew on the wind beside her as she rode around his kingdom. He wished she could stay where he could protect her, but that was not her calling. The magic of the Green Riders urged her out there, into the wide world where anything could happen. Karigan had certainly proved that.

She was a hero, yet always came back different. He felt like he was losing her every time her rode out.

He lowered his gaze to the castle grounds, and was suprised to see a young woman sitting on the wooden fence rails around the Green Rider horse paddock. She was facing away from him, watching the horses, but he knew who it was.

Her long brown hair was loose around her shoulders, rather than in her usual plait, and she was missing her green uniform, sitting only in brown trousers and a white shirt. She was unfettered, free.

And yet as unobtainable as the stars themselves.