"HA-ANK!" A rosy, country-faced woman fluttered down the deck steps, holding a pitcher and a handful of glasses. Her frizzy, corn-colored hair bobbed as she stood at the edge of the lawn. "I'VE GOT THE LEMONADE READY, HONEY! COME ON! IT'S CO-OLD NOW!" Her husband waved from the lawn, and ground the lawnmower to a stop. The roar in the air died down, and he cried back out her in a roaring, hearty voice, "SOUNDS, GREAT, JOAN! I'M THERE, YEP!"

Tethera flashed to a stop in mid-air, looking around her wildly. What had he done? The mindless Scum! She whirled around in a full circle, staring. Where was she? Where was Karkoar? Light and emerald sparks glittered about her in her anger.

She had expected the duel between them both, at the foot of the Corlastin Stair, to be the last, to decide the war at last. Kokoar would have fallen. What she had not expected was him to reach out, at the final moment before she struck him down, and seize the Inta Core of the Stair. He had torn a bloody cut through dimensions, into a different Worldrealm, the IDIOT!

"Hiya, HANK!" Elderly Joe waved from his porch next door, seeing Joan coming out with the lemonade. His own, white-haired wife was sitting behind him. Joan set down the pitcher, and one glass, then lifted a hand back.

"Hi, there, Joe!" "Have some with us, take a break!" Hank said, starting to step away from the lawnmower. "What a scorcher today, eh?"

Squinting, Tethera concentrated. She had to find him again, to find some way to fight in this world. Curiously, she glanced down at the figure beneath her. It almost looked recognizable, luckily. She took a closer look into the form's spirit. A female. Even better.

Joan suddenly stiffened where she stood by the porch, her eyes snapping wide. She almost dropped the glass she was holding. Her brow suddenly narrowed, and she began to glare about her.

Tethera stared about her in confusion in her new body. She had not been ready for a change into a different Worldrealm. Casually, she glanced down at her hand, and saw the twirl of madly flickering light-spots dancing on her palm. Once, the whirl of light had been the Wand of Evta, the greatest weapon in the entire Jai Province, but now she needed a new form to place it in, or she would lose it in this world. She noticed the strange, clear object her host's body was holding, and focused on that. It would do. But Kokoar had not wasted any time, either.

Hank's body also stiffened in a spasm, and he froze beside his lawnmower. Next door, Joe shuffled closer to the fence, wondering if anything was wrong.

Joan suddenly leaped halfway across the lawn, holding out her glass in her hand, her eyes flashing. Hank was suddenly standing in a defensive stance, holding out his lawnmower in the air with one hand as if it were a shield. The last fully hewn sword of the Acklara's, actually.

Tethera roared out at him in rage, "YOU FOOL, you slipped us into a Realm without magic! IDIOT!"

"Sorry, love." Kokoar winked at her, holding out his new weapon. "Couldn't resist. All the new adventure and unexplored stuff, you know. Lots of fun for us, though."

"You had no idea what you were doing!" yelled Tethera, brandishing her glass.

"Less escape here than anywhere in Solton! Die!"

KOOM! The lawnmower lashed up, and an arc of light from the lemonade glass crashed into it like a sonic boom. Kokoar backed up a step, spitting, "You take this duel to death stuff so seriously, love. The Province won't win anywhere, least of all here. I thought it would be an interesting twist to our battle. Take a joke, now and then. Or take death, if you want."

"Yoo two 'right, thair?" asked Joe tentatively.

SHRACK!

"Crossing a dimension to another world! You FOOL! You'll destroy us both!" "Not dead yet, love! How 'bout you?"

CRACK! Kokoar swept the lawnmower to the side, and a wide spread of Joe's fence was torn in half by the strike. The next moment he was leaping away, Tethera pointing her glass forward, and the other half of Joe's fence dissolved into ash in a flash. Both of them went dancing across the lawn, blue fires and red lashes of light exploding around them.

"Ya know.....Ann' lee...." Joe rubbed his stubbled chin, staring at his neighbors. His wife rose from her seat to stand by him. He continued, "I alwez was a'thinkin' them two wez what you'd a'call in the Wit-ness Protectchee-in Program, I did. Lairk that show we a'watched thah othair nigh'." "Oo!" said his wife. "Should I a'go in and call the 911?" "Nahrp." said Joe, taking a slurp of his coffee. "Won't bothar it. Nevair liked that thair fence much dang-no-how. Let's a'just go on in." He shuffled off the porch.