Wilykit, Wilykat, and Kevin's Cave, Rhineland, Light World, Hyrule, X-iverse.  Stardate 1 051 975.34; June 21, 2997.

The next morning, on the X-iverse Hyrule, the four guests of the Wilytwins and Kevin were ready to depart so they could return to the Kingdom of Hyrule and, from there, leave undetected.  If they tried leaving from the Rhineland, Ludwig or Mumm-ra's Ganon might detect them.  Wilykit, Wilykat, Kevin, Élisabeth, Guillaume, Geordi LaForge, and Moonstriker were all outside in front of the cave.  "Thank you for letting us stay the night, guys," said Élisabeth to the Wilytwins and Kevin.

            "No problem," said Wilykit.  "You guys get back home and tell the others we're all all right."

            "Sure, Wilykit.  We haven't told you the Tygra-twins are leading the Thunder Cats in your absence."

            "Good.  They need the experience."

            "Well, we'll see you guys later."

            "All right.  If our friends manage to get Wesley and Lana out of Metroid, call us."

            "Sure will."

            "Oh, I nearly forgot something," Kevin said, taking something from his pocket.  "Guillaume, could you give this computer chip to Link, please?  He'll know what's on it."

            Guillaume held out his right hand, in which Kevin put the chip.  "All right, Kevin," he said.  "I will."

            "Well, guys," said Élisabeth, "we'll see you later."

            "See you later," Wilykit said.  "Give our regards to the rest of the team.  And please tell Wesley I think of him every day."

            "Certainly."  Élisabeth, Guillaume, Moonstriker, and LaForge left for the Rhine, which they would follow to the underground path back to the Kingdom of Hyrule.

            "Well," said Wilykat, "I'll go inside and take care of our breakfast dishes."

            "All right, Wilykat," said Wilykit.  "At least your tricorder replicator will clean them more quickly than soap, water, and a towel."

            Wilykat smiled.  "Ha, ha!  Sure will."  He went back in.

            "Wilykit," said Kevin with a facial expression Wilykit had rarely seen from him, "I'm terribly sorry about my behaviour yesterday.  It was inappropriate."

            "You are, and you aren't," Wilykit said.

            "I assure you that I am, Wilykit."

            "You earnestly think you are, Kevin; but, deep inside, you aren't.  You want to be, but you're not.  You don't understand exactly what happened to our souls the day we met.  -Sigh.-"  She crossed her arms.  "Nor did I until Wilykat explained it so plainly that I was shocked not to have understood it all along."

            Kevin's expression was now pure innocence.  It would have fooled any non-telepath for sure.  "What are you talking about?" he asked with the same innocence in his voice.

            "Oh, Kevin, you should know better than to lie to a telepath.  You do it well enough to do it to a non-telepath and maybe to an empath or a weak telepath, but definitely not to a telepath of my power.  You know exactly what I'm talking about.  I know you love Lana, Kevin, but you can never hide from the truth.  Either it eats you up inside, or someone else finds it out and discredits you.  You know lying will make this situation worse, especially if Ludwig and Larry decide to let out word about this."

            "All right.  Okay, Wilykit.  You're right, I don't like talking about this."  With fear in his voice, he continued, "What I feel for you. . . part of it attempts to consume my thought, trying to overcome my physical being, wanting me to make mad love with you every time I see you.  The other part wants me to commit to you for the rest of time, to comfort you and love you with every ounce of my emotional being.  To some extent, I do feel comfortable with a little of that second part.  I just don't get it.  Why do I love you so much?"

            Wilykit gasped.  "You've figured it?" she demanded.

            "I knew it the day we met!  I knew it was love!"

            "Oh, Jaga!  I didn't know it was real love until Wilykat told me!  Why didn't you tell me?"

            "I didn't know you felt this way about me!"

            "I feel every bit of the heated passion and, as well, the powerful emotion love in full force for you as you do for me.  I wish I'd known this, Kevin!  Things might have gone differently."

            "What kept you from knowing this?"

            "I had never been in love before, darn it!  And Wilykat knew we were in love with each other the day you and I met.  I wish I'd known!"  She began crying and sat down under a tree.  "And now we can't do a thing about this!"  She buried her face in her hands.

            Kevin knelt down beside her.  Oh, God, please forgive me for this, and let Lana and Wilykit forgive me, Kevin silently prayed.  Part of Wilykit's left cheek was exposed to him.  Nervously, Kevin gently kissed her there.  That drew from her face the most curious expression he had ever seen.

            "What was that for?"

            "Are you mad?"

            "No, but why'd you do it?"

            In his upper tenor range, Kevin said very kindly and softly, "You were sad and confused.  I was just trying to make it better."

            "You're every bit as sweet as Wesley and Wilykat can be."

            Kevin smiled slyly.  "But that's not the only reason I kissed you."

            Wilykit returned the smile in perfect detail.  "I know, Kevin."

            Kevin's smile vanished slowly.  "Oh, God."

            Wilykit was gravely concerned by the look on his face. . . so much that she was temporarily ignoring her telepathy.  "What is it?"

            "Look over there!" he said, indicating the forest to her right.

            Wilykit turned, "What?  Why, there's nothing. . ."  Kevin quickly put his arms around her and kissed her on the same cheek again, this time with much more passion.  "Hey!  That's cheating!" she laughed.

            "Hey, if it fools a telepath!" said Kevin, smiling.

            "Is this how you behave with every woman you're in love with?"

            With indubitable honesty, Kevin replied, "Only you, because I'm trying to get in my share of tricks before you.  You are, after all, a Wilykat."

            Smiling joyfully, Wilykit threw her arms around him.  "You're as good at this as a real Wilykat."

            "I know you well, 'Kit.  I've almost learned when someone can toy with you and when one can't."

            "Oh, Kevin, I would love you just for that!  I can be very unpredictable.  To know you can be. . . oh, I just love it!"

            "I've known you for over a thousand years.  I like that you decided to become my friend and that you let me be your friend."  His look became serious.  "If we use our logic first, we can see that, at least for the time being, we should remain just friends."

            Wilykit felt his honesty.  It pervaded her being.  Anyone could tell when this man was being honest because it radiated from him like bright light radiated from a sun.  It was one of his most attractive qualities.  "You're right, Kevin.  Can we. . . you know, just. . ."

            "I think so."  They looked in each other's eyes for a moment.  Then, their lips slowly neared.

            Right before their lips touched, however, the door to the cave opened.  In an instant, Kevin and Wilykit were standing, and they were a good ten centimetres apart.  Too late to see Wilykit and Kevin even moving, Wilykat stepped out of the cave and went over to them.  "Well, they're done," he said.  "Now, what'll we do today?"

            "Wilykat, you have a brilliant, impeccable sense of timing," said Wilykit, with brazen sarcasm only slightly on the edge of her voice. . . a million times more than enough to let him know she was being sarcastic.

            Wilykat temporarily ignored it.  "Why, thanks, 'Kit."

            Kevin said, "Well, I was thinking. . . since my kids can now walk and talk easily, I was thinking we might take them on a walk today, if that's all right."

            Wilykit smiled.  "Good idea, Kevin.  We could teach them some things about the forest."  Wilykat noticed a little more in his sister's smile to Kevin than mere friendliness.  Yet, he let it go. . . for now.

            "Sounds good," said Wilykat.

            "All right," Kevin said.  "I'll go get them.  You can wait here."

            Once Kevin had gone inside, Wilykat asked Wilykit, "Why do I have great timing?"

            "Well, Wilykat, Kevin and I almost kissed again, and we had things pretty much under control this time."

            "Hm.  Did you tell him he was in love with you?"

            "He knew it the day we met, Wilykat.  -Sigh.-  We agreed to let it go only as far as a kiss, but you interrupted that."

            Wilykat took on that sweet, sad look she always fell for. . . the one that let her know he had done something wrong but that he did not want her to be angry at him.  "I'm sorry, 'Kit.  If I'd known. . ."

            "It's all right.  You don't need that look today, Wilykat.  I don't feel like anything could make me mad today."  She sighed calmly.  "I feel more myself today than I have in a long time.  Kevin reminded me of how you and I used to behave."  She smiled.  "With a very worried expression, as though he had seen Ludwig or MotherBrain or something else, he told me to look in the other direction; then, while I was looking the other way, he put his arms around me and. . . well, he kissed me on my cheek.  He had just done it a moment before, but the first time was very sweet and caring because I wasn't too joyous.  That second time had all that, plus it was. . . oh, how can I describe it?"

            "Well, as long as he doesn't try to hurt you."

            "Wilykat, how can you even suggest such a thing?  He'd never intentionally harm a good being or a harmless being, and you know it."

            "I know, but. . ."  The door opened again.

            "Come on," said Kevin kindly to his children.  Curiously but cautiously, they exited.  They had already started to take after Kevin and Lana.  Kevin came out and closed the door gently.

            Smiling, Wilykit said, "Hi, Thomas and Kelly."

            "Hi, Wilykit and Wilykat," said Thomas.  "Dad, where are we going?"

            "Oh, I thought that we would take a walk through the forest," Kevin said.  He was very careful with his language around his children.  He wanted them to learn to speak properly, and the best way was to do that himself, because they would imitate his method of speaking.  In fact, he was teaching them other languages, such as French and Italian, so that they could absorb those like they had English.

            "Well, then," said Wilykat, "shall we go?"

            "Sure," Kevin said.  "You can lead the way, Wilykat."

            "All right, Kevin."  He began walking to the east, and the others followed him closely.

            "Dad," asked Kelly, "why. . . why can't we go home?"

            Why. . . that was one of the most powerful questions of all, Kevin felt.  Sometimes, there were no answers or no satisfactory answers.  "If we go now," said Kevin slowly and deliberately, making sure he said just the right thing, "we risk subjecting our home to something bad.  If we stay, we may be able to stop that bad thing from happening."

            This seemed to satisfy little Kelly.  "All right.  You make home sound so wonderful.  We'll help you protect it, Dad."

            Thomas agreed, "We certainly will, Dad."

            "Thank you, guys," said Kevin.  "Ask any questions you wish about the forest, guys."

            "We know what several of these plants are," said Thomas.  "Several trees, quite a bit of grass on the ground, several flowers."

            "I see birds continually flying around," Kelly said.  "Probably gathering food for their young."

            "Yes," said Kevin.  "Some may yet be building nests, but most are most likely getting food for their children."

            "What happens to animal children if they don't have their mother, only their father?" Thomas asked.

            "That depends on the species," Kevin said.  "In many species of small wood birds, the father and mother both take part in raising the young, so I imagine the father would take the responsibility if something happened to the mother.  Ordinarily, in reptiles and mammals, the mothers are the ones who care for the young.  In those species where the fathers care, the fathers usually tend to get food or to teach the young males.  Humanoids tend to handle matters differently.  I do my best to care for you two because I love you and I want you to grow up to be good people."

            "Thank you, Father," said Thomas.

            Kelly asked, "Why do males pair off with females?"

            "Well," Kevin said, "it's natural for opposite genders to attract.  Males are often attracted to females and vice-versa.  This is natural because a male and a female are able to produce young, and producing young keeps the species going.  When you're older, you'll understand how we produce young."

            "Will we ever see our mother again?"

            "I sure hope so, Kelly, because I dearly love her, and I'm certain that you would, too.  I'm not entirely sure, myself."  They continued on their walk through the forest.

            * * *

            Norfair, Metroid, VideoLand, Milky Way Galaxy, Q-niverse.

            MegaMan, MegaMan X, Samus, Tragg, Jean-Léonard, and Rogue had continued with little problem down into Norfair, the hottest and deepest region of Metroid.  "I must give you all the protection of a Varia-beam," Samus said.  "You need it because some regions of Norfair are very, very hot, in great excess of the boiling point."

            "Proceed, please," said MegaMan.  Samus shot everyone with the beam.  "Lead the way."

            "I'd expect our friends to be way down next to Ridley's lair."

            "Very well.  Let's go."

            They descended down to the lair.  When they reached the door, Samus commented, "That was uncharacteristically easy. . . like we're walking into a trap."

            "Well, let's get this over with," MegaMan said.  Samus opened the door with a plasma-blast, and they continued into Ridley's lair, which was empty.

            "This room is empty.  What seems more suspicious, that door is blue!  It should be grey and turn blue after Ridley's defeat."  She called, "MotherBrain, I know you're watching us, you huge brain!"

            MotherBrain's hologram appeared.  "You are most perceptive.  What's keeping you from opening that door?  Your pals could very well be within."

            "It's probably a trap."

            "If so, then you've already sprung it by entering Ridley's chamber!  Thus, it won't hurt you any more to go into that room."

            "All right, you foul brain."  She shot the hologram to get rid of it.  "Let's go."  She shot the door to open it.  All six stepped through and entered the room.  "No one's here."

            Six Borg materialised in the room.  "It is a trap," they announced.  The door shut. . . grey, so Samus could not open it.  "Resistance is futile.  You are now prisoners of MotherBrain."

            "Great," said Samus.

            Jean-Léonard and Rogue felt a tingling feeling.  "What was that?" demanded Rogue.

            "Now, you will all live forever, thanks to Prince Ludwig's eternal longevity device," the Borg announced in their dreary monotone.  "Get used to it."

            Tragg said, "This is just dandy.  Well, someone will have to come rescue us unless we find a way to escape."

            "You're right," said Samus.  "In this particular circumstance, I hate to say it, but you're right, Arthur."

            * * *

            Command Centre, Hawkhaven, Limbo, Milky Way Galaxy.

            Steelheart pressed a button on her computer console.  "Steelheart to the Palace of Power," she said.  "Kid Icarus, please respond."

            Kid Icarus's image appeared on the screen.  "Kid Icarus here, Commander," he said.

            "Have you heard from our friends on Metroid?"

            "No, I haven't."

            "I fear they may be in big trouble."

            "Not good at all-icus.  What will we do about this?"

            "I'm not sure, Kid Icarus."

            MotherBrain's hologram appeared.  "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the evil brain.  "I did pretty good, Steelheart!  I got your six pals in my trap almost without lifting a tentacle.  I must advise against endangering more of your friends."

            "Let them go, MotherBrain."

            "Oh, really!  You insult your own intelligence, Commander.  Why should I let them go?  You really have no leverage to use against me."

            "Maybe not at present, but in the end, you will fall."

            "I do not deem that highly likely.  Well, it's been fun chatting with you, Commander, but I have other things to do.  Tah, tah!"  She disappeared.

            "I hate her to the maximus," Kid Icarus said.

            "Me, too," said Steelheart.  "She's right, though.  We would be stupid to try to send more people to Metroid.  It's like trying to invade Russia."

            "Right, Steelheart."  He knew more than enough of Earth history to know what she meant.

            * * *

            Mime's Cave, Rhineland, Hyrule, X-iverse.  Stardate 1 066 945.21; June 10, 3012.

            Mime was sitting at his anvil, pounding on a sword. . . the ten billionth sword, it felt to him.  "Curse it!" he exclaimed.  "I pound and hammer on swords, and that boy, who commands I do this, breaks them in half as though they were useless toys, though they would serve the mightiest giants well.  He's much too strong.  Nothung, the only sword that would never break in his hands, was broken in two on Wotan's spear, and not even I, the craftiest of all Nibelung smiths, can forge it back together!  If I could fix the sword, then my troubles would be over.  The boy could destroy Fafner, the horrible dragon, and I could get the Tarnhelm and my brother's ring.  But I cannot forge the damn thing back together!"  With this, he started hammering the sword again.  "Forcèd drudgery!  Fruitless toil!  That bothersome brat breaks my swords but scolds me if I don't forge for him.  If Johanna and Johannes weren't around to teach him emotional control, he'd have surely killed me by now.  At least for my sake he trusts them, and they keep him from harming me, but they don't like me, either.  They know my desires, somehow."

            Mime heard Siegfried approach from outside, shouting, "Hoy-ho!  Hoy-ho!  Ho-hi!  Ho-hi!" as he approached.  Then, the large door swung open.  Siegfried, who was a tall blue-eyed, blonde-haired, extremely strong human teenager, had roped a large, black, snarling bear and began to entice it to aggress towards Mime.  "Ha, ha!  Get him!  Get him!  Bite him, eat that silly dwarf!"  He laughed to an unbelievably high E in his full heldentenor voice.

            "Hey!" cried Mime, jumping away.  "Make him leave!  What's that bear for?"

            "I brought him that we both may scare you!  Bruin, ask for the sword!"

            "There's the weapon!  Get rid of the bear!"  Johanna and Johannes came in from an adjacent room.  Johanna looked a lot like her mother, while Johannes had several features of his uncle and some of his father.

            "Then you escape scot-free today!" laughed Siegfried.  "Leave, bruin; I need you no more."  He directed the bear outside and let it go.

            Mime sighed.  "It's all right when you kill them, but why bring living bears home?"

            "I wanted a companion better than the dwarf who professes to be my father.  I sounded my horn for a friend.  The bear came out snarling, but he pleased me better than you.  I will find a better friend soon!  I came to ask for the sword, you fiend."

            Mime picked up the sword and held it out to Siegfried.  "Here it is, freshly forged and sharp.  See, it brilliantly shines!"

            "What good is lustre if the steel is not sharp and hard?" demanded Siegfried, snatching the sword.  He visually examined it.  "Hey!  This is little more than a toy!  You dare call this insubstantial pin a sword?"  He swiftly brought it down on an anvil, and the sword shattered into several pieces.  "There are your pieces, you no-good bungler!"  He flung the hilt at Mime, who narrowly got out of its way.  "I should have broken this over your head, you ugly scoundrel!  You boast of giants and dragons, of battles and bravery.  How do you expect me to participate without a suitable sword?  Every sword you have made, I have easily smashed each piece of trash!  Will my fury never lessen?"  He angrily sat down in front of the table.

            "Calm down!" said Mime.  "You're again raving as if crazy.  Your ingratitude is great.  In your anger, you forget what I've always taught you about thanks:  that you should always thank one who wishes you well.  But enough of this.  Surely, you're hungry.  Would you like some soup or some meat for lunch?"

            "I've roasted my own meat for myself; sip your rotten soup alone!"

            "How nastily you repay my love!  Your payment for my pains is pitiful indeed!  When you were a baby, I brought you up, and I gave you the little one warm clothes.  I gave you food and drink and cherished you like my own blood.  As you grew, I guarded you well.  I made you a couch for soft sleep, and I made you toys and a resounding horn.  I gladly toiled to give you pleasure.  I gave you wise council and shining knowledge.  I sit here toiling while you roam as you wish.  The poor old dwarf misses you when you're gone; and my reward is that the impatient teenager harasses and hates me!"

            "Oh, please," said Johanna quietly to Johannes.

            "You've taught me much, Mime," Siegfried said, "but the one thing you wanted to teach me the most was the one thing I never learned:  how I could stand you!  You brought me food and drink, but hatred alone sustained me.  You made me a couch, but I got little slumber there.  Though you gave me wisdom and knowledge, I'd sooner have remained foolish and stupid.  To me, you represent evil.  When I watch you standing, shuffling, and shambling, servilely stooping, squinting, and blinking, I wish to squeeze your neck and end your disgusting blinking!  That's how I've learned to endure you, Mime.  If you're so wise, tell me something I've puzzled over:  why do I return to you every time I run into the forest to escape you?  I love every beast more than I love you.  The birds in the trees and the fish in the stream are all more welcome to me than you.  If you're clever, then tell me that."

            "My child, that teaches you that I am dear to your heart."

            "I cannot bear you, you fool!  How many times must I tell you?"

            "Your wildness is to blame, Siegfried.  You must learn to curb and control it.  All young long for their parents' nest.  This longing is called love.  Thus, you love Mime.  What the bird is to the fledgling before the fledgling can fly, Mime is to you.  Your sage, attentive Mime is your father, and you must love him!"

            "If you're so wise, then, explain something else.  In spring, the birds sing so happily, each attracting the other.  You've told me before that they were husband and wife.  They never left each other but built a nest.  There, they hatched their little ones.  The young fledglings fluttered out, and both parents cherished their chicks.  Resting in the bushes, the deer also paired off, as did the wild foxes and wolves.  The father brought food to the nest, while the mother cared for and suckled the whelps.  There, I learned what love must be.  I could never take cubs from their mother's care.  Now where, Mime, is your loving wife, whom I may call my mother?"

            "What's wrong with you, you imbecile?  You're so stupid!  You're neither bird nor fox!"

            "When I was a baby, you brought me up, and you gave me the little one warm clothes.  How, though, did the baby come to you?"  Sarcastically, he added, "Did you really make me without a mother?"

            Desperately, Mime said, "You must believe what I tell you!  I am your father and mother in one."

            Siegfried shouted, "You're lying, you disgusting twerp!  I've luckily seen for myself that the young look like their parents, somewhat if not exactly.  As I've known, and as they also have, you definitely aren't father to Johanna and Johannes; they are very attractive, while you are very disgusting.  I neared the pond, which mirrored truly the trees and the animals there.  The sun and the clouds as well were mirrored in their true form.  I saw my own face in the pond, and I looked quite different from you.  If you're a toad, then I'm a glimmering fish, but a fish never had a toad for a father!"

            "You're prating utter nonsense!" snapped Mime.

            "Am I?  I've discovered for myself why I keep coming back, you idiot:  to discover who my real mother and father are!"

            "What father?  What mother?  Useless, idle questions!"

            Suddenly, Siegfried grabbed Mime by the neck.  "Must I then half-strangle you to get any information out of you?" he shouted.  "I would have done that to learn to speak, but Johanna was generous enough to teach that to me!  Tell me immediately what I wish to know, or I'll truly kill you!"

            "Let go!" Mime cried.  "Stop choking me!  Then I'll tell you everything you want to know!"  Siegfried released him.  "Oh, thankless, cruel brat!  Learn now why you hate me!  I am not your father, nor am I part of your family.  Yet, you owe me everything.  You are a stranger to me, but I am your only grown-up friend.  With compassion, I sheltered you, Johanna, and Johannes.  They, at least, don't show their displeasure openly so much, but I was a fool to expect thanks from you!

            "One day, I found a woman in the woods.  I helped her here into the cave to tend her by my warm fire.  She carried a child in her womb and gave birth to it here.  She had a very difficult time in childbirth and died, but her son lived on."

            "Then my mother died bearing me?" asked Siegfried softly.

            "Yes.  She gave you into my care, and I kindly reared you.  'When you were a baby, I brought you up.' "

            "I believe you've said that before.  Now, tell me, why am I called Siegfried?"

            "Your mother told me to call you that, for as Siegfried, you'd grow to be handsome and strong.  'And I gave you the little one warm clothes.' "

            "Now tell me, what was my mother's name?"

            "Truly, I scarcely know.  'I gave you food and drink.' "

            "You shall tell me her name!"

            "How could it slip my mind?  Wait a minute!  She who bore you in distress may have been Sieglinde.  'And I cherished you like my own blood.' "

            "Now I ask you, what was my father's name?"

            "I never met him."

            "But surely my mother mentioned his name!"

            "She said only that he was killed.  She entrusted her fatherless child to my care.  'As you grew, I guarded you well.  I made a couch for soft sleep. . .' "

            "Shut up with that old starling-song!" shouted Siegfried.  "If I am to believe this wonderful story, if you haven't been lying to me, then show me some proof!"

            "What would convince you?"

            "I don't believe you with my ears.  I only believe you if you show me evidence I can see.  What proof supports you?"

            Mime got the two fragments of Nothung and showed them to Siegfried.  "Your mother gave me this as paltry payment for my pains, feeding, and attention.  See, a shattered sword!  She said your father carried it when he fell in his last fight."

            Siegfried was excited.  "Yes!  And you must forge these fragments for me.  I shall wield my rightful sword!  Get to it quickly, Mime!  Show your skill.  Don't give me trashy toys.  If I find you dawdling, if you join them badly together, if you poorly patch the stout steel, I'll have your cowardly hide!  I swear, I must have that sword this very day!"

            "What do you want with the sword today?"

            "To go forth from the forest into the world, never to return!  I am free of you, Mime.  You are not my father.  My home shall be far from here.  Your hearth is not my house, my shelter not your roof.  Happy as the fish swimming in the floodtide, free as the finch flying off, I flee from here, flowing like the wind over the woods, never to see you, Mime, again!"  Elated, he ran outside into the forest.

            "Stop!  Where are you going?" called Mime.  "Hey, Siegfried!  Siegfried, hey!"

            "I'm going after him," Johanna said.  She turned coldly to Mime.  "You lied to him again, Mime, after I expressly told you not to!"  She ran out after Siegfried.

            "Siegfried storms away," Mime told himself.  "And I sit here, to my old troubles added a new one.  I'm at wit's end.  How do I help myself now?  How do I keep him here?  How do I lead this ill-tempered brat to Fafner's lair?  And how am I to join the pieces of stubborn steel back together?  No fire can fuse these pure pieces.  No dwarf's hammer can subdue their hardness.  No Nibelung craft will knit Nothung back together for me, nor weld the sword whole!"

            "Oh, quit complaining," Johannes said.  "It will avail you nothing.  Only the human who knows no fear will forge Nothung anew.  Remember that.  I'll go fix some lunch."  He got up and went to his and Johanna's room.

            "What's that stupid riddle supposed to mean?" Mime demanded.

            "You'll figure it out!"

            "Great.  Even he's turning against me."

            The Lord of Gods Wotan, dressed in a long, dark, blue-grey cloak and carrying his spear, entered, on his head a hat with a broad, round brim that hung down over his face.  In this outfit, he was the Wanderer.  "Greetings, wise smith!" greeted the Wanderer.  "Grant me, a way-worn guest, the hospitality of your house and hearth."  He walked slowly towards the hearth.

            "Who seeks me out in this wild wood?" Mime demanded.  "Who has trailed me through the virgin forest?"

            "The world calls me the Wanderer.  I have travelled widely already.  I wend my way far over Hyrule."

            "Then be on your way and do not dally here, if the world calls you Wanderer!"

            "Good men have granted me haven, and many have greeted me with gifts.  Only the villain fears misfortune."

            "Misfortune is my constant companion.  Would you bring more on a poor dwarf?"

            "I have explored and learned much.  I've told many matters of moment and fended off what irked many from them.  I have relieved doubts that deeply troubled them."

            "You may be skilled in your scouting and may have spied out much, but I need no scouts or spies here.  I want to be alone and apart, and I let loiterers go their way."

            "Many imagined they were wise but did not know what they needed.  I let them ask for guidance and gave my counsel."

            "Many store up useless knowledge, while I know quite enough for my needs.  My wits suffice me, and I want no more.  Now, sage, let me show you on your way."  Wotan sat down at the hearth.

            "Here I sit by your hearth and stake my head in a war of wits.  My head is yours if you do not hear from me what will help you, if I do not redeem it with what I know."

            Mime asked himself, "How am I to rid myself of this insidious spy?  I must ask cunning questions."  He announced, "I will hold your head against my hospitality, Wanderer.  Now, try to redeem it with your wisdom.  I shall freely ask three questions."

            "Then I must answer three times."

            "You have fared far over the earth's surface, widely wandered through the world.  Now, tell me in your wisdom which race dwells in the earth's depths."

            "In the earth's depths dwell the Nibelungen.  Nibelheim is their land.  They are dwarfs of darkness.  Black Alberich once ruled as their lord.  A magic ring's masterful might subjugated the mass of Nibelungen to him.  They heaped him up a shimmering hoard of rich treasure, which should have won him the world.  What do you ask secondly, dwarf?"

            "Wanderer, you have told me much of the earth's cavernous depths.  Now answer me straight, which race dwells on the earth's surface?"

            "On the earth's surface flourishes the race of giants.  Riesenheim {Ré-zehn-hahym} is their land.  Fasolt and Fafner, the princes of the ruffians, envied the Nibelung's might.  They won for themselves the mighty treasure and gained the ring with it.  Strife flared up between the brothers about the ring.  Fasolt was slain.  With the Tarnhelm, Fafner turned to a dragon and now guards the gold.  Your third question now threatens me."

            "Wanderer, you have told me much about the rough surface of the earth.  Now tell me truly, which race lives in the cloudy heights?"

            "In the cloudy heights live the gods.  Valhalla is their dwelling.  They are Light-Spirits.  Wotan, Lord of Light, rules the group.  From the holiest branch of the primeval ash-tree, he cut himself a shaft.  Though the trunk withered, the spear-shaft never decayed!  With its point, Wotan governs the world.  He carved on its shaft solemn treaties with symbols of trust.  Custody of the world lies in the hand that controls the spear, clasped in Wotan's fist.  The Nibelung host bowed before him.  His commands quelled the crew of giants.  They all forever obey the mighty lord of the spear!"  He struck the floor with the bottom of the shaft, and the ground shook, frightening Mime.  Mime suddenly realised who this Wanderer was:  Wotan himself, lord of the gods.  The dwarf was now greatly afraid.  "Now tell me, discerning dwarf, did I know the answers to all your questions?  Am I free to keep my head?"

            "You have solved the questions and redeemed your head.  Now, Wanderer, go on your way!"

            "Oh, no.  It's not that easy.  You should have asked me what you needed to know.  I redeemed my head.  Now, it's your turn to defend yours.  You did not greet me as your guest.  I gave my head into your hands in order to enjoy your hospitality.  By the rules of the contest, yours is forfeit if you don't solve three questions.  Now, Mime, sharpen your wits!"

            Mime said to himself, "Long ago, I left my native land.  Long ago, I emerged from my mother's womb.  Wotan's eyes fell on me and peered into my cave.  Before him, my mother-wit melts away.  Now, though, I must show myself wise."  Aloud, he said, "Wanderer, ask on!  Perhaps I'll be lucky enough to succeed in saving my dwarfish head."

            "Now, then, worthy dwarf, tell me first:  which is the race that Wotan oppressed and yet whose life is dearest to him?"

            "I have heard little of heroes' kin, but I can easily answer your question.  The Volsungen are the love-children whom Wotan fathered and fondly cherished, though he also persecuted them.  Siegmund and Sieglinde were conceived by Volsa; they were a wild and desperate pair of twins.  Siegfried sprang from their bond, the strongest Volsung-descendant.  Well, Wanderer, do I keep my head this time?"

            "How rightly you name me the race!  You seem astute, you little scoundrel!  Indeed, you are free of the first question.  For the second, tell me, dwarf:  a wise Nibelung watches over Siegfried, who must slay Fafner for him so that he may gain the ring and become master of the treasure.  Which sword must Siegfried now wield to mean the end of Fafner?"

            Increasingly forgetful of his present plight, Mime gleefully rubbed his hands together as he said, "Nothung is the name of that trusty sword.  Wotan stuck it in an ash-tree's trunk.  It would befit whoever could draw it forth.  None of the hardiest heroes could succeed.  Only Siegmund the valiant was victorious.  Belligerently, he bore it into the battle, until it was snapped on Wotan's spear.  Now, a cunning smith keeps the pieces, for he knows that only with the Wotan-sword will a brave but stupid boy, Siegfried, slay the dragon!"  Wotan laughed.  "Do I, the dwarf, keep my head a second time?"

            "Indeed, you are the wittiest of wise men!  Who could equal you in cleverness?  But if you are so crafty as to exploit the youthful hero to serve your dwarfish purpose, let me threaten you with the third question!  Tell me, wily weapon-smith:  who is it who will weld the sturdy splinters of the sword Nothung?"

            Mime quickly recalled what Johannes had told him.  The kid had actually saved his head!  Was it accidental, or did he know Wotan would be dropping in on him?  "I originally felt it was my obligation as the greatest of Nibelung smiths.  I knew no way to forge the sword, however, and I was on the verge of panic. . . when I realised that only the human who knew no fear would forge the sword anew!"

            "Ha, ha!" laughed the Wanderer.  "You are quite wise, dwarf!  You have redeemed your wily head from me with the third question!  However, my wily friend, I shall warn you this:  your head will fall to the human who never learned fear.  I cannot prevent it.  Now, Fafner's brave conqueror, ward your wise head well today."  He got up and left quickly.

            "But who is this fearless one?" Mime asked himself.

            * * *

            Outside, Siegfried sat by the pond where he had seen his true form.  "That dirty dwarf won't succeed with the sword, Siegfried," said Johanna's voice.

            Siegfried turned and saw her.  "If he doesn't, Johanna, then I'll kill him."

            "No, you won't.  You'll only kill him when he directly threatens your life in your presence."

            "Did he tell the truth as it happened?"

            "Yes.  Sieglinde bore you almost fifteen years ago and died in bearing you."

            "What about my father?"

            "He lied about that.  He never came into personal contact with your father, though, and Sieglinde never said who your father was to him, but Mime found out from outside sources the story about your parents.  Your father's name was Siegmund.  Volsa bore Siegmund and Sieglinde and left Siegmund a sword.  Siegmund, when he found his long-lost twin sister, ran off with her and mated incestuously with her, and they conceived you.  However, his sword, the one Mime showed you, was broken into fragments on a spear.  The spear-bearer then slew your father.  Sieglinde escaped into these woods after she was told that the greatest hero of the world was in her womb."

            "And does Mime genuinely care for me, as he so strongly yet unconvincingly professes?"

            "No, he does not.  He will lead you to a cave, and you should go with him there.  Meanwhile, shouldn't we return to his cave?"

            "Yes; I've given him as much time as I want to give him."

            * * *

            Mime stared outside into the sunlit forest.  The light played tricks on his imagination.  "Accursèd light!  Is the air aflame?  What is flaring and flashing, glittering and whirring, swirling and whirling there and flickering around?  It glistens and gleams in the sunlight's glow.  What is rustling and humming and blustering out there?  It rumbles and roars and rushes this way!  It's breaking through the wood and making for me!  A monstrous maw gapes for me; the dragon is after me!  Fafner!  Fafner!"  He jumped behind the anvil and quaked in fear.

            Siegfried and Johanna came running in.  "Hey, there, idler!" called Siegfried.  "Are you ready yet?  Quick, how goes it with the sword?  Where has the smith gotten to?  Has he slipped away?  Ho, there!  Mime, you coward!  Where are you?  Where are you hiding?"

            Mime cautiously came from behind the anvil.  "Is that you, child?  Are you and Johanna alone?"

            "Behind the anvil?  Say, what are you doing there?  Perhaps sharpening the sword for me?"

            "The sword?  The sword?  How can I weld it?  Only the human who has never felt fear shall forge Nothung new.  I knew too much for such work!"

            "Will you tell me?  Or must I help you?"

            "Where can I turn now for help?  I shall lose my head to the one who has never learned fear."

            "Are these evasions for me?  Are you trying to escape me, dwarf?"

            "I would gladly flee one who knows what fear is."  Realising something, he said to himself, "But I failed to teach that to the boy!  I was a fool to forget to teach him the one good thing.  How can I instil fear into him now?"

            "Must I help?  What have you done today?"

            "Concerned only for you, I got lost in thoughts of how to teach you something important."

            "You had sunk behind the anvil.  What did you find there of importance?"

            "For you, I learned what fear was so that I could teach it to you, dunce."

            "What's this about fear?"

            "You cannot set forth into the world without fear!  Not even the stoutest of swords is of use to you if you don't know fear."

            "Are you inventing idle advice?"

            "I am repeating your mother's advice.  I cannot let you into the world until you learn fear."

            "If it's a craft, why don't I know it?  Out with it!  What is this about fear?"

            "In the gloomy forest, when the twilight falls in some dark spot, when from far away you hear a rustling, a humming, and a blustering, a wild rumbling roaring ever nearer, confused flames flashing, a whirling and whirring swirling towards you, do you not feel a grim horror grip your limbs as scorching shudders shake your body, quaking with alarm, and as your heart hammers and beats as if to burst in your breast?  If you haven't felt that yet, then fear remains a stranger to you."

            Siegfried was enraptured by the description of this feeling.  "Surpassingly strange that must be!  I can feel that my heart remains firm and strong.  This shivering and shuddering, scorching and searing, burning and swooning, hammering and beating, I'd love to feel this alarm.  I long and languish for this pleasure!  But how can you bring it to me, Mime?  How, coward, could you teach me?"

            "Just follow me.  I'll guide you well.  I found out while I was thinking.  I know an evil dragon who has killed and devoured many men.  Fafner will teach you fear if you follow me to his lair."

            "Where does his lair lie?"

            "Neidhöhle {Nahyt-heuh-luh} is its name; it is to the east, on the fringe of the forest."

            "Then it's not far from the world?"

            "The world is quite close to Neidhöhle."

            Siegfried was now elated.  "Then, you must guide me there.  I'll learn fear and then go off into the world!  Quickly, Mime!  Make the sword.  I intend to wield it in the world!"

            "The sword?  Oh, no!"

            "Quickly into the smithy!  Show me what you've accomplished!"

            "Damned steel!  I don't know how to mend it.  No dwarf's craft can quell its stubborn spell.  One who knows no fear might well acquire the art more closely."

            "Why don't you admit you're a bungler?  You lie and cheat your way out!  Bring the pieces here and be off with you, you fool!  My father's blade befits me well; I'll forge the sword myself!"  Mime handed him the pieces.  The impatient boy snatched them away and went over to a file at the hearth and threw several of Mime's tools off.  Johanna watched attentively, as her mother had said she would learn how to repair the Sword of Omens from Siegfried, and now Siegfried was repairing Nothung.

            "If you had conscientiously studied the craft, then you might indeed be able to manage this task, but you were always lazy at your lessons, unlike the twins.  How do you think you can now do it aright?"

            "How can the pupil perform what the master cannot manage, even if he had always been attentive?  Now get out of my way and don't interfere, or you'll find yourself in the fire, too!"  He removed the piece of sword-blade that was fixed in the hilt and then began filing both pieces of the blade into shreds in an empty crucible.  He had heaped a large quantity of charcoal on the hearth and blew the fire while filing the sword.  Johanna took the two pieces of the Sword of Omens and did the same with another file and a different crucible.

            Mime had sat down a little way off, watching the two work.  "What are you doing there?" asked the dwarf.  "Take the solder, please.  I've been preparing the mixture a long time."

            "Take that mush away!" snapped Siegfried.  "We don't need it.  One can't fire a sword with glue!"

            "Both of you are filing the files smooth, ruining the rasps.  Why do you want to pound the steel to pieces?"

            "We must see the swords split into shreds," said Siegfried.  "We will then mend what is broken."

            Mime stared at the two in wonder.  Through traditional Nibelung methods, he had failed with both swords, but these two were succeeding.  "No expert could help here, I see that clearly.  Only his folly helps the fool, and she follows him, seeing his method work!  How hard they work, with might and main!  The steel goes to shreds, yet they're not uneasy."  Siegfried had blown the fire to a bright flame.  "I'm as old as the caves and the woods, but I have never seen anything like this before!"  While the two continued filing their sword-pieces, Mime seated himself a little further off.  "I see full well that they're succeeding with the swords and fearlessly forging them anew.  In Siegfried's case, the Wanderer knew it well.  How now do I hide my unlucky head?  It will fall to the stupid boy if Fafner does not teach him fear!"  He sprang up and bent down in growing agitation.  "But woe is me!  How can he slay the dragon if he does learn fear from it?  How can he get me the Ring?  Cursèd dilemma!  I'm in a fix if I don't find some crafty way to deal with this fearless lad."

            "Hey, Mime!" called Siegfried as he put the crucible, containing the filings of the sword, over the oven.  "Quickly, what is the name of the sword that I've smashed to bits?"

            Mime started and turned towards Siegfried.  "Nothung is the name of the trustiest sword.  Your mother told me so."

            "Continue, Siegfried," said Johanna.  "I'll produce the heat for the Thunder Cats' sword, the Sword of Omens, when you've finished."

            With his mighty strength, Siegfried operated the bellows to keep the fire very hot to melt the bits of Nothung.  As he did this, he sang, "Nothung!  Nothung!  Trustiest sword!  What blow, I wonder, broke you?  Your keen-edged glory I chopped to chaff; the splinters now I am melting.  Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ho, hi!  Ho, hi!  Ho, ho!  Bellows, blow!  Brighten the flame!  In the woods a tree grew wild.  It fell, by my hand chopped down.  The brown-stemmed ash to charcoal I burned.  Now it lies heaped high on the hearth.  Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ho, hi!  Ho, hi!  Ho, ho!  Bellows, blow!  Brighten the flame!  How bravely, brightly the charcoal burns!  How clear and fair its fire!  With showering sparks, it leaps and glows, - Ho, hi!  Ho, ho!  Ho, hi! - dissolving the splintered steel!  Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ho, hi!  Ho, hi!  Ho, ho!  Bellows, blow!  Brighten the flame!"

            Mime said to himself, "He'll forge the sword and slay Fafner.  I can see that clearly.  The treasure and Ring will fall to him.  How can I retrieve them?  By brains and cunning, I'll get both and keep my head unharmed!  When he is weary from fighting the dragon, he will want a refreshing drink.  From spiced juices that I have gathered, I will brew him a draught.  He need drink only a few drops, and he will be in peaceful slumber.  With that sword that he is repairing, I will easily remove him from my way and win the Ring and the treasure for myself!  Well, wise Wanderer, how do you like my subtle wit?  Have I found a way to upset your prophecy?"

            "Nothung!  Nothung!  Trustiest sword!  Now liquid are your pieces of steel!  In your own sweat swim you now."  Siegfried poured the molten pieces of Nothung into a mould and held the mould high.  "I'll swing you soon as my sword!"  He plunged the hot mould into a bucket of cold water.  Steam and loud hissing ensued as it cooled.  "In the water flowed a fiery flood, and in fierce fury it hissed.  Searingly as it flowed, in the water it flows no more.  It is stiff and firm, masterful the hard steel.  Soon, though, it shall bathe in hot blood!"  He put the mould back over the fire and blew the bellows violently.  "Now, sweat once more, that I may weld thee, Nothung, trustiest sword!"  Meanwhile, Mime sprang up joyfully, fetched several vessels, shook spices and herbs from them into a pot, and carefully put his pot on the fire on the other side of the hearth.  As Siegfried was heating his sword, Johanna came over to his end of the oven, put the crucible containing the filed Sword of Omens blade over the fire, and began blowing the bellows to produce even greater heat, for the alloy in Thunderian steel had a much higher melting point than ordinary steel.

            Siegfried watched Mime.  "What are you, blockhead, doing with that cooking pot?" Siegfried asked.  "While we melt steel, are you cooking stew?"

            Mime said, "A smith has been put to shame, learning from his pupil.  The old man has now finished with his craft and serves the boy as cook.  While you brew broths from metal, old Mime will boil you soup from these eggs."

            "Ha!  Mime, the craftsman, is now learning to cook, disenchanted with his forging.  I smashed all his swords, so I will not taste what he cooks!"  He took the mould from the fire, broke it, and laid the glowing steel on an anvil.  "He wants to lead me to learn fear.  A stranger must teach me that.  The best he can do brings nothing home to me; he only succeeds in botching everything!"  He began shaping the sword with a hammer.  "Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ho, hi!  Shape me, my hammer, a trusty sword.  Ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  Ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  Blood-stained was once your steely blue, the crimson trickle reddened your blade.  How cold was your laugh!  The warm blood cooled at your touch!  Hi-a-ho!  Ha, ha!  Ha, hi-a-ha!  Now red you come from the fire, and your softened steel to the hammer yields.  Angry sparks do you shower on me who humbled your pride.  Hi-a-ho!  Hi-a-ho!  Hi-a-ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  Ha, hi!  Ha, hi!"

            As Johanna poured the Sword of Omens blade, melted, into a mould, Mime said, "He's shaping himself a sharp sword so he can slay Fafner.  I've brewed him a cunning drink to trap him when Fafner falls.  My cunning must shine on me!  I shall succeed!"

            "Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  Shape me, my hammer, a trusty sword!  Ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  Ho, ho!  Ha, hi!  How I rejoice in the merry sparks!  The bold look best when stirred by anger!  Gaily you laugh to me, grimly though you do pretend!  Hi-a-ho, ha, ha, ha, hi-a-ha!  Both heat and hammer served me well.  With sturdy strokes I stretched you straight.  Now, banish your modest blush; be as cold and hard as you can!  Hi-a-ho!  Hi-a-ho!  Hi-a-ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!  Hi-ah!"  With the last exclamation, he brought the sword blade down into the bucket and laughed aloud at the hissing as Johanna began shaping the blade of the Sword of Omens.  She had cooled the sword blade in the mould.  Siegfried pulled the blade of Nothung out and began to sharpen and file the sword and began to fasten it into its hilt.

            Mime was elated.  His brew was ready to travel, and he felt he would succeed.  He had poured it into a bottle.  "The glittering ring that my brother wrought, on which he laid a mighty magic spell, the shining gold that makes one master, I have won it!  Even Alberich, who once enslaved me, shall be compelled to dwarf-drudgery.  As lord of the Nibelungen, I'll go down there to make them all my slaves!  The despised dwarf will be so revered!  To my hoard, gods and heroes will flock.  At my nod the world will kneel, and at my wrath it will tremble!"

            Johanna had finished shaping the Sword of Omens's blade and was beginning to put it into the hilt.  Siegfried had finished Nothung and now held it high.  At the top of his voice, he sang fortissimo, "Nothung!  Nothung!  Trustiest sword!  Now you are fixed once more in your hilt."

            "Now, truly, Mime's toil is over!"

            "You were in two, but I made you whole.  No stroke shall ever again shatter you."

            "Others shall pile me eternal wealth!"

            "The steel snapped for my dying father.  The living son has fashioned it new.  Now, your bright lustre smiles at me, and your edge cuts keenly."

            "Mime, the bold, Mime is king, prince of the dwarfs, ruler of all!"

            "Nothung!  Nothung!  Trustiest sword!  I've wakened you to life again.  You lay dead there in fragments.  Now you gleam, glorious and defiant!"

            "Hey, Mime, how lucky you are!"

            "Now show the felons how well you shine!"

            "Who would have thought of it?"

            "Smite the false, fell all villains!  See, Mime, you smith, how sharp Siegfried's sword is!"  He brought the sword down on his anvil and split the anvil in two.  Both pieces fell to the ground in a thunderous clash that did not bother Johanna or Johannes but caused Mime, who had mounted on a stool in great delight, to fall in terror to a sitting position on the floor.  Exultantly, Siegfried held Nothung up high.

            However, something far more unexpected happened when Johanna had finished securing the blade in the Sword of Omens.  The Eye of Thundera, which she had only seen as dull red and inactive, woke up, turned bright red, and showed the Cat's-Head instead of a slit.  Loud electricity emanated from the hilt, and the apertures formed.  The blade grew to twice the length it had been when she was forging it, the length it became when Lion-O and Wilykit made the Thunder Cat Signal with it; and the Thunder Cat Signal shined forth from the Eye, a mighty roar sounding in the cave.  With several quick slashes, she cut her anvil to tiny pieces!  Mime ran under his worktable in fright.

            Johanna announced, "Let all that is evil beware, for the mighty Sword of Omens is back in one piece, and the Eye of Thundera lives once more!"

            "Ha, ha!" laughed Siegfried.  "The Sword of Omens is also powerful. . . alive, hard, strong, and sharp, indeed!  Now, bungler, lead me to where I will learn fear!"

            "Let's go," said Mime, going out the door swiftly.  Siegfried followed.

            "Wow!" Johannes said.  "Do you know your eyes glowed?"

            "Yes, as did yours," said Johanna.  "I feel like a god holding a thunderbolt with this thing!  Well, let's follow those guys.  Someone must keep them from killing each other as they head for Fafner's lair."

            "Right."

            * * *

            Wilykit, Wilykat, and Kevin's Cave, Rhineland.

            Kelly sat in the living room, gazing at the picture of her mother that Kevin had given her.  She dearly loved her father, but she longed to meet her mother, especially from the way her father spoke of her.  She looked much like her, except that she wore no jewellery or makeup, and she wore clothes like her father's.  Her eyes were blue, and her hair was blonde and cut short like her father's, and in these respects she differed from her mother as well.  She was, however, a very beautiful young woman.

            Thomas came into the room.  He bore a striking resemblance to his father Kevin, including that he had the same blue eyes, and he wore the same jeans and the same type of short-sleeved shirt, except his was blue.  However, he differed in that he lacked a Power Pad and Zapper and a Northridge High jacket and in that he had blonde, straight, short hair just like his sister's.  He and Kelly, in fact, bore a stronger resemblance to one another than to either of their parents.  The only real way one could tell between the two of them just by looking was that her chest and hips was larger than his, and his shoulders were just a little bit broader than hers.  Both of them were fairly strong.

            Both Kelly and Thomas were very attractive.  There was an immeasurable amount of sibling love between them, and despite some of their behavioural differences, they were best friends as well as twins.  "Hello, Kelly," he said.  "Still gazing at the picture of Mother?"

            "Yes," Kelly said.

            "Maybe you ought to do something else, Kelly.  After all, you have a life, too."

            "Thomas, I love you, but you think too logically to understand me."

            "No, I understand you."  He came around to her and knelt down in between her and the picture.  "I love her, too, because she's also my mother.  If I weren't my own person, I'd probably sit here and stare at this picture, too, but it just doesn't help.  Since you're also your own person, it won't help you, either.  I suggest you do something more constructive.  It may ease your pain."

            Kelly hugged him.  "Oh, Thomas!"  She kissed him on the cheek.  "I wish I had learned your logic."

            "That's okay, sister," said Thomas, hugging her.  "You're a sweet girl."  He kissed her left cheek.  "And I use my feelings sometimes, when I feel it appropriate."

            "You're sweet, too, brother."

            Wilykit came into the room.  "Hi, guys," she said.

            "Oh, hello, Wilykit," said Kelly, releasing her brother.  "What's happening?"

            "I have a very strong feeling about something.  I'd like to head over towards Mime's cave and see what's going on.  Kevin and Wilykat are getting ready."

            "We're ready already, Wilykit," Thomas said, standing up.

            "Okay, Thomas.  I. . ."  A thunderous roar sounded, and her eyes and insignia lit up.  "Hey!  She's done it!  Ha, ha!  Johanna has fixed the sword!"

            "Hey!" exclaimed Kelly, surprised.  "Your eyes glowed!"

            "Yes, they did," said Wilykit, very happy.  "The Eye of Thundera is awake again."

            Fully dressed, Wilykat ran out of his and Wilykit's room.  "Hey, 'Kit!" he exclaimed, excited.  "Does this mean she's done it?  Your daughter, my niece, has repaired the Sword of Omens?"

            "Yes, brother."  Kevin came out of his room.  "She's done it, Kevin!  Johanna has repaired the Sword of Omens!  The Eye of Thundera is awake again and has called us with its thunderous roar."

            "Good," said Kevin.  "This means they should be heading to Fafner's cave with Mime and Siegfried."

            "Yes.  Wilykat, Kevin, are you ready?"

            "Yes, 'Kit," Wilykat said.

            "Yes, Wilykit," said Kevin.

            "Good.  We'll make our way slowly towards Fafner's cave until Johanna learns to make the Thunder Cat Signal.  Then we'll follow her directly."

            Wilykat asked, "Shall I bring my tricorder?"

            "Sure.  We won't need it for anything except food tonight, and the heat will keep the power for the lights going.  We'll eat as we head for Fafner's cave."  Wilykat went downstairs to get his tricorder, then they all left.

            * * *

            Forest, Rhineland.

            Later that night, Johanna and Johannes were closely following Siegfried and Mime without being too close.  "So, Johanna," asked Johannes, "do you remember what Mom told us about sight-beyond-sight?"

            "Oh, yes!" Johanna said.  "Thanks, Johannes."  She took the Sword of Omens, which she had put in the belt of her outfit, and put the hilt to her eyes.  The hilt-apertures formed, and the eye turned red.  "Sword of Omens, give me sight-beyond-sight."  Through the Eye, she saw an image of Lion-O holding the sword.  "Hey!  I see Lion-O, Lord of the Thunder Cats before Mother became lord."

            In the image shown to her, Lion-O was making the Thunder Cat Signal with the Sword of Omens.  Holding the sword in his right hand, he swung it to his left, called "Thunder," swung it to his right, "Thunder," swung it in front of him, "Thunder," held it high, and "Thunder Cats, HO!"  At each 'Thunder,' the sword-blade grew in length; at 'Thunder Cats,' the Eye of Thundera opened from a slit to the Cat's-Eye, and at 'HO!' the Thunder Cat Signal, with the accompanying roar, shone out of the Eye.

            "I have an idea, brother," Johanna said.  "This is what the Sword showed Lion-O doing.  Maybe it'll get Mother and Uncle's attention."

            "Sure."

            She held the hilt to her eyes; her eyes and the Eye of Thundera lit up.  Then, imitating Lion-O's actions, she said, "Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thunder Cats, HO!"  The signal shone from the sword and shone brightly across the now dark Rhineland, sounding the Thunder Cat Roar all across the land.

            * * *

            Wilykit, Wilykat, Kevin, Thomas, and Kelly were well on their way to Fafner's cave when they saw the Thunder Cat Signal light up in the dark sky.  "It's the signal!" said Wilykit.  "Johanna did remember about sight-beyond-sight."

            "Johanna and Johannes are moving towards Neidhöhle, Fafner's cave," said Wilykat, using his tricorder on the signal.

            "Then to the cave it is.  We'll continue along this path."

            * * *

            Fafner's Cave (Neidhöhle), Rhineland.  Stardate 1 066 947.95; June 11, 3012.

            Farther east, across a natural bridge over the river, was Fafner's cave, Neidhöhle.  There, since twilight the preceding evening, Alberich had been keeping watch on Fafner.  This morning, a couple of hours before dawn, he told himself, "Here I sit, watching Fafner's cave in the forest at night.  I strain my ears, and my eyes peer hard."  On the horizon to the east, he saw a faint gleaming.  "Timid day, are you waking already?  Are you dawning there through the dark?  What gleam of light is that?  Nearer glows a bright ray, racing along like a shining horse breaking wildly through the woods.  Is the dragon's destroyer at hand?  Is it he who will slay Fafner?"  A pause; the light he had seen diminished and disappeared.  "The light is fading, the glow disappearing from sight.  Night has returned."  After a moment, he noticed something.  "Who comes there, shining in the shadows?"

            The Wanderer, barely visible to Alberich because of the darkness and the clouded sky, announced, "I have come to Neidhöhle by night.  To whom am I speaking in the darkness?"

            The clouds parted, and the moonlight shone on Alberich and the Wanderer.  "You!" cried Alberich.  "How dare you come here!  What do you want?  Away, out of my path!  Beat it; on your way, you shameless thief!"

            "Ah, Black-Alberich!  Are you lurking here?  I get it; Fafner asked you to watch his house!  Ha, ha!"

            "Are you searching around for more mischief?  Do not loiter around here.  Get on your way!  Enough fraud has soaked our soil in distress!  Now, shameless one, leave us in peace!"

            "I came only to watch, not to act.  Who would bar the Wanderer's path?"

            "Ironic that you suggest filthy schemes!  If I obliged you by being as stupid as I was when you tricked me out of the Ring, you would take the Ring from me again.  But beware!  I know your wiles well, and I also know where you are weak.  You paid your debts with my treasure.  My ring recompensed the giants for their toil in building your castle.  What you once promised the obstinate pair still remains inscribed on the mighty shaft of your spear.  You would never snatch back from the giants what you paid them.  You would shatter your spear's shaft yourself, causing your stout staff to crumble to dust!"

            "Yes, but I seem to recall no written treaty of trust bounding you, scoundrel, to me.  My spear subjugated you by its power.  I ward it well, then, for war."

            "How boldly you threaten in stubborn strength, yet how fearful you are at heart!  He who guards the Ring is doomed to death through the curse I laid on it when you stole it.  Who shall inherit it, then?  Could the envied treasure once more belong to the evil Nibelung?  That consumes you with endless concern, doesn't it?  When I get it in my grasp once more, unlike those stupid giants, I will use well the ring's darkest powers!  Then tremble, holy guardian of heroes!  I will storm Valhalla's heights with the hosts of Hella.  Then, I shall rule the world!"

            "I know your intent well.  It doesn't trouble me anymore.  Let the winner of the Ring be its master."

            "How darkly you speak of what I know clearly!  Your defiance depends on heroes' sons dearly descended from your own blood.  Haven't you reared a boy who will skilfully pluck you the fruit that you cannot touch yourself?"

            "Instead of me, quarrel with Mime!  Your brother brings you danger.  He is bringing here a lad who will slay Fafner for him.  The boy knows nothing of me.  Your brother is using him for his own ends.  So I say to you, my friend, do exactly what you wish to!  Heed me well:  be on your guard.  The boy knows nothing of the Ring, but Mime will tell him."

            "You mean you'll keep your grubby hands off my hoard?"

            "I leave whom I love to fend for himself.  Whether he stands or falls, he is his own master.  I avail myself only of heroes."

            "Am I contending with Mime alone for the Ring?"

            "Besides you, only he covets the gold."

            "And yet I shall not gain it?"

            "A hero is nearing to rescue the treasure.  Two Nibelungen crave the gold.  Fafner, the Ring-guarder, will fall, and whoever seizes the gold first has won it.  Would you wish to know yet more, my friend?  There lies the dragon.  If you warn him of his coming death, perhaps he'll be willing to give up his toy.  In fact, I'll even wake him for you!"  The Wanderer turned to the cave.  "Fafner!  Fafner!  Wake up, dragon!"

            "What's the madman doing?" asked Alberich.  "Would he really let me keep it?"

            Fafner emerged lazily from the cave.  He was a dark-skinned, long, snaky dragon.  "Who disturbs me from my sleep?" asked the giant-turned-dragon.

            "Someone has come to warn you of danger," said the Wanderer.  "He will reward you with your life if you repay him with the treasure that you guard."

            "What does he want?"

            Alberich called, "Waken, Fafner!  Awaken, you dragon!  A mighty hero comes to pit himself against your power!"

            "Mm!  I become hungry for him!"

            The Wanderer said, "But bold is the boy's strength, and sharply his sword cuts."

            "He only wants the golden Ring," said Alberich.  "Give me the Ring as reward, and I shall prevent the fight.  You can watch over your hoard and peacefully live long!"

            "Here I lie, and here I hold.  Let me sleep!"  He returned into his cave.

            Alberich was fuming.  "Ha, ha!" laughed the god in disguise.  "Now, Alberich, that didn't work!  Ha, ha, ha!  But call me a rogue no more.  Pay attention to this advice I give you.  Everything goes its own way.  You can alter nothing.  I leave you this spot.  Take a strong stand.  Contend with Mime, your brother, for you may fare better with his kind.  Even more than that you will soon learn as well!  Farewell!"  He returned to his horse and quickly left.

            Alberich said, "He rides off on his nimble steed and leaves me to stress and scorn.  Laugh then, you frivolous, pleasure-seeking bunch of gods!  I shall yet see you all overthrown!  So long as the gold gleams in the light, a knowing one keeps watch.  My tenacity will outwit all you fools!  Ha, ha, ha!"  He hid under a cliff to the right of the cave, to the north, to see what would happen.