Kahva walked quietly through the woods near her parents' farm, heading off to meet her best friend. She was fuming a bit; her younger sister had been being completely and utterly annoying that morning, teasing her.

"Kahva's got a boyfriend!" she'd grinned, chuckling over Kahva's discomfort. Finally, she'd slammed Olina up against a wall, glared right into her eyes, and threatened the destruction of every doll the eight-year-old possessed if she didn't shut up that minute. She'd gotten away from the farm right after that, she hadn't wanted to stick around and deal with her parents' anger for treating Olina like that.

"He's not my boyfriend," the ten-year-old muttered under her breath as she headed for the neighboring farm where her friend lived. "He's just a friend. He's not even the kind of boy I like!" She paused for a moment. "Except as a friend."

She flushed red briefly as she remembered that boyfriend or just friend, he was the first boy she'd kissed. It had just been a child's dare, it had felt more like kissing her brother would have, she suspected, but it had still been a kiss.

Kahva paused for a moment, stopped beside a cool spring to wash her face in. She didn't dare let her friend see how red she'd gotten, or he'd tease her unmercifully. She took a deep breath as she relaxed, then chuckled softly. "He wouldn't tease me. He never does, no matter what. He treats me almost like I were a queen."

For a moment, she found that unutterably strange. That someone, anyone, would treat her with such mixed friendship, respect, and distance. Then she shrugged, that was just his way. He'd been like that for as long as she'd known him, and that had been most of her life.

"Kahva!" She glanced up at the familiar voice, but saw nothing. She smiled, he was playing one of his jokes again. He liked to hide from her, to see if she could find him. She always could, and this time was no exception. She turned to the elderberry bush a few feet from her and chuckled.

"You're in there!" His laughter was enough of an answer, and she could see him starting to come out of the bush...

"Sheena!" Someone was shaking her hard. Sheena opened her eyes and looked around, she was down by the lake near the cabin. She glanced over to see Tanya standing next to her, a worried look in her dark eyes. "Sheena, you were sleepwalking, it took me a few minutes to wake you up."

The Silver Ranger shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs that threatened to crowd in there thick and fast. "I've never done that before," she muttered. "What did you want, Tanya?"

Tanya frowned. "Don't you remember, we were going to be sparring over at the Youth Center. In fact, we were supposed to be there two hours ago."

Sheena glanced at her watch; indeed, she was two hours past the noon sparring session. She shivered a little as the two of them headed back to the cabin. _I've never slept-walked in my life. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything. Wonder what I must have been dreaming about, I don't remember anything..._

Tanya stole a look at her friend; she'd had nightmares before, but in the year and more she'd known her, she'd never known Sheena to sleepwalk. Billy hadn't known where she had gone, he'd thought she'd been taking a quick nap; she'd been up with nightmares again the night before. Luckily they hadn't been bad ones, neither Kahva nor Billy had picked up on them. But they were enough to ruin her sleeping.

Tanya counted herself lucky, Sheena hadn't gone far. But the look on her face had worried the Yellow Ranger, Sheena had been absolutely expressionless, something they'd never seen before. _I hope she's all right; the very last thing we need is for Mondo to be up to something again. He hasn't done much besides send the occasional monster for two months now, he's got to be up to something. And when Mondo's up to something, that means trouble for everyone. Especially for Sheena._

Ice blue eyes burned with a fiery lust as he watched Sheena leave the lake and follow the Yellow Ranger back to the cabin. "Yes, the spell is working perfectly, you don't remember a thing, my dear. And you won't, because I can't have you finding out about me just yet," he muttered under his breath. He stared after the dark-haired woman until she disappeared from his sight. He didn't dare follow her, to be spotted now could ruin all his plans. _I've been waiting fifteen thousand years for my opportunity, I can wait a little while longer. Very clever, Kahva, to give your memories to your chosen heir... but you cannot defeat me that easily. Sheena will NEVER discover who I am: until she is mine. And by that time, she will love only me, for all eternity._

He could hear the sound of the cabin door opening and closing, no doubt there was a joyous reunion taking place between Sheena and her present husband. _Yes... I can wait..._

"Tanya went to look for her, she thought she saw someone by the lake that might be Sheena," Billy told Jason over the phone. He paced a bit nervously; the last time he'd seen Sheena had been when she'd gone to have a brief nap several hours earlier. She'd asked him to wake her up when Tanya got there to drive them over to the Youth Center, but when the Yellow Ranger arrived, Sheena hadn't been in their room.

"I hope she's all right." Jason sounded a little bit down in the dumps, despite the kind words. Billy picked up on it, and asked what the problem was. "Nothing... well... Emily and I had another fight, that's all."

Billy bit his lip, Jason and Emily had been fighting a lot lately. She didn't like the amounts of time he spent with his friends, especially with Kahva. "You going to be okay?" was all he could think to say as he heard footsteps outside.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Jason told him. "I'll get things straightened out with her."

"Good," Billy smiled, turning to the door. His smile turned into a huge grin as Sheena and Tanya entered. "Look Jason, Tanya just got back with Sheena, if you need to talk or anything, let me know, okay?"

"No problem, Billy," Jason managed to inject a couple of extra notes of cheerfulness into his voice. "See you around." Billy frowned slightly at the phone. _Maybe one of us should talk to Emily ourselves... no, that would be interfering, and might make things worse between them. What's gotten into Emily lately, anyway? It's not like Kahva is after Jason, she loves Daniel._

Once he'd hung up, Billy ran straight over to Sheena and wrapped her into a warm hug, smiling both with love and relief. "Where were you? Why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere?"

"Because I didn't know," she said a touch dryly. "From what Tanya told me, I was sleepwalking."

"Sleepwalking?" He looked at her, an eyebrow raised. To the best of his knowledge, she'd never sleptwalked!

"I know, I've never done that in my entire life. I guess anything's possible, though," she touched his face gently. "Even miracles of love."

They were about to kiss when Tanya cleared her throat suddenly, reminding them they had an audience. "Um, I hate to interrupt this romantic moment, but do you feel up to that sparring match, Sheena?"

Sheena nodded. "Let me get my things, and I'll be right along." She shrugged a little. "I'm not going to let one little sleepwalking incident ruin my afternoon!"

"Well now, this is interesting." Safe in his Skybase, Mondo the Machine King had been watching the Earth with bored eyes, until the young woman he still considered to be his Silver Ranger had wandered out of her home. He'd sent half a dozen Cogs down to attack her just to see something happening, he knew she could demolish them rather easily. She had approached them calmly, not bothering to morph...

And she had walked right past them, as if they hadn't been there! They had started to follow her when Mondo had them called back up to the Skybase before that blasted robot Alpha could detect them on his never-ending scans. Sheena was behaving strangely, and Mondo wanted to know why, without the interruption the arrival of the other Rangers would have surely brought. Sheena had wandered about the landscape, finally stopping by the lake near her home. Mondo was intrigued as he watched her pause to wash her face in its waters, then seem to look off into the distance: totally unaware that the Yellow Ranger, Tanya, had just arrived. It had taken a couple of minutes, but she had finally awakened Sheena, who seemed not to know how or why she was at the lake. "So this is the phenomenon called sleepwalking: and this is the first time she's even done it here, maybe the first time she's ever done it in her life. If she ever has before, she doesn't recall..." A plan formulated in his mind as he watched Tanya and Sheena climb into Tanya's car to go to the Youth Center, a mildly concerned Billy waving at them as they drove off. "Now if someone will just ask that child Kahva Briton if she has ever known Sheena to sleepwalk; I need to know everything I possibly can about this, turn it to my advantage somehow... Yes, Sapphire Ranger, worry about your wife, and enjoy every moment you have with her," Mondo warned the image of Billy on his viewscreen. "Because once I've seen enough, once I have the right moment in my hands, your wife will be mine. My Silver Ranger will be here with me, to do my bidding... and the first thing I'll have her do is kill you slowly, for spoiling too many of my plans for far too long. Then she will destroy your friends, one by one... yes, I think I'm going to enjoy this," he chuckled softly to himself as Tanya and Sheena joined Jason and Kahva at the Youth Center. "Now, somebody just ask the questions I need answers to, so I can reclaim my ultimate warrior..."

The first thing Kahva noticed when Tanya and Sheena entered the Youth Center was the slightly worried expressions on their faces. Jason had been talking to Billy on the phone over something, but he hadn't told her what it was. Now she had an idea, something was obviously wrong with Sheena. It wasn't serious, she knew that already, for the link that bound her to Sheena would have told her if it were so. But whatever it was concerned her soul-sister, therefore it concerned her. A quick glance told her Jason had also been distracted by their arrival. Quickly he called a halt to their sparring, and they ended with a bow; student and teacher to each other.

"Okay Kahva, that's enough for now," Jason told her. "We'll do some more later. I want to talk to Sheena and Tanya once they're done with their match."

"No problem," she nodded. _So do I. I want to know why I couldn't 'feel' Sheena for almost two hours! I was just about ready to call the Power Chamber and find out if anything was wrong with her! I'm glad she's ok, but I don't like that two hour hole we had, not one bit._

They headed for their usual table after a quick shower, then watched as the Silver and Yellow Rangers started sparring. They were using karate, not Sheena's extremely dangerous ki-see. No one on the team... indeed, no one on the planet could match her in that art. Sheena wasn't even a master yet, and all of them were rather curious as to what would happen when she achieved that status.

"She's good," Jason observed. He'd taught Sheena in karate before she'd taken up ki-see and still trained with her on occasion. Kahva nodded; it was amazing to see her soul-sister performing like this. _I can remember when she was so clumsy she couldn't move without knocking over a few dozen things and people. This world really is where she belongs; she fits in here perfectly. I wonder if I'll ever fit in as well._ A spectacular leap and kick by Tanya brought applause from them both, and Sheena as well, who had just barely managed to tuck and roll underneath it. Kahva sighed to herself, she was very far away from having anything like the fighting skills of her friends. She was getting better, stronger... but she still had a long way to go. _Sometimes I wonder why they keep me around, they have to watch out for me so much still. I've got to get better, I have to... wonder what it would've been like had I been born, or whatever part of me is the essence of Elysia and Zordon's child, had been born over fifteen thousand years ago. Would I be the same person back then as now, or would there have been only the one of us, the essence, in the past? Though supposedly there is only one of us, but blended from two... man, I wish Alacor had been able to give me some more answers about that._

The spar finally ended in a draw, neither of them was able to completely defeat the other. Kahva grinned at them as they grabbed towels and left the practice mats. _I can't imagine not knowing them, any of them, or my friends in our other world though, I love them all too much. Maybe that's why they keep me close, not just to protect me, but because they love me too? I had a second family back home with my friends and Sheena, perhaps I have truly been blessed with a third... if so, thank you Lord!_ She brought herself out of her musings as Tanya and Sheena joined her and Jason at the table. The first thing out of the Gold Ranger's mouth wasn't his usual cheerful greeting, but, "Sheena, I didn't know you were a sleepwalker."

Kahva's eyebrows shot up into her hair. "She isn't!" she blurted out. "You've never slept-walked in your life! Heck, none of us have," she added. "Only thing that even comes close was when Josh was talking in his sleep that one time. Something about trying to get all the sardines in their tuxedoes. Bad reaction to cough medicine the doctor prescribed for him one time," Kahva explained, smiling at the confused looks she was getting from Tanya and Jason. "He was talking all out of his head until they changed the prescription the next day."

Sheena laughed at the memory, then frowned slightly as her mind returned to what had happened earlier. She sighed and nodded. "I know. I've never even come close to doing anything remotely like this before. I guess anything's possible; it worries Billy, though." _And me, too. The Goddess only knows what could have happened if Mondo had seen me sleepwalking. Guess I got off lucky this time. Hope it doesn't happen again._

"How did you know she had been sleepwalking, Jason? Did Billy call you?" Tanya asked.

"Actually, I had called him while you were looking for Sheena, he hung up after he saw you guys coming back to the cabin. Then after you left to come here, he called me back to let us know you were on your way." Jason reddened just a tiny bit. "I was supposed to call him back when you got here, to let him know you had arrived, I'd better go do that before he gets too worried. I'll be right back." Kahva's eyes followed Jason as he went to the pay phones, only to be offered the use of the Youth Center's phone by Emily. After calling Billy, he talked with Emily. Whatever he said must have cheered her, for she followed him back to their table, where Tanya and Sheena had been discussing Sheena's sleepwalking episode.

"Billy knows you're here," Jason told them, not being able to go into much detail with Emily right at his elbow.

"Your husband really worries about you, doesn't he, Sheena?" Emily asked in a pleasant voice, not even bothering to look at Kahva.

"With everything that happens in Angel Grove, and what happened to our friends before our wedding, he's been very protective, I guess you could say," Sheena admitted. No one knew quite what to say after that, but Jason quickly jumped in to fill the lack of conversation.

"Umm, Kahva, can we schedule our next sparring session?"

"Not anymore for today, however," Emily warned in a sweet voice that was too good to be believed. "Jason is going to take me out for a romantic dinner for two. It has been a while since just the two of us have been out, it's been too long." With a smile that could freeze someone's blood, she stared straight at Kahva. "He's so sweet, isn't he?" Only Sheena caught Kahva's hand moving slightly to her waist.

"He's a very good friend, that's true. I'm sure you guys will have a great time," Kahva smiled back, her voice kind and neutral, completely void of any of the ill will Emily's had held for her. A sudden beeping from Kahva's waist caught her attention. "Whoops, that's me, the station must need me for something. What with King Mondo being so quiet lately, I've not had to do any PR work for the Power Rangers, so they've been able to use me for other assignments. I'll see you guys later!" Kahva grabbed her bag and waved good-bye to all of them, including Emily. She was nearly out of the door when Sheena caught up to her.

"I'll walk you out," Sheena offered. When they had reached Kahva's car, Sheena grabbed her arm and pulled her up short. "All right, the station didn't call you, you set off your own pager, why did you do that?"

Kahva sighed, taking her arm out of Sheena's grip and putting her bag into the trunk of the car. "Yes, I set off my own pager, but I'm sure the station can use me for a shoot somewhere. As for why, I'd think that would be obvious. Emily hates me. She hates me, and me being anywhere near Jason sets her off. It's my fault she and Jason have been arguing lately, I think she thinks I want Jason or something. The sooner I got out of there, the sooner her hackles would go down, so I set off my pager. It was the easiest way to get out without having a long conversation about it... so Jason wouldn't say anything, and then they get into another argument. He wouldn't tell me, but I'll bet that's why Jason called Billy the first time, when Tanya was looking for you. I'd be willing to bet the Power Chamber that they had another argument, and most likely it was about the session today with me." Kahva shook her head at Sheena's frown. "I'm not running, I'm avoiding setting off an argument. If Emily sees me as a threat, then I have to find a way to show her I'm not. Sheena," Kahva bit her lip as she climbed into her car, "decide who you think on the team also has judo as one of their strengths, and let me know. If they've got the time, I'll train with them, if not, I'll stop trying to learn judo, just stick to working with you and Tommy on the quarterstaff. The further away from Jason I am, the less he and Emily will argue, it's as simple as that. And if the arguments stop altogether, then we'll know for sure what the problem has been all along: me. Look, I'll see you and Billy tonight at the cabin for dinner if you guys are still up for it. I'll call to make sure. See ya, sis!" Before Sheena could protest her leaving, Kahva was gone.

"Man!" Sheena kicked at the pavement, irritated at her inability to solve the problem. "Just when she was starting to relax around everybody again after that stuff on Eltar..." Sheena sighed and turned to go back into the Juice Bar. _One of us needs to make Emily see the light, but how? How do we do it without causing more problems? Billy, I hope maybe you will have some ideas tonight, I like Emily, but this jealousy bit is getting out of hand..._

Kahva watched Sheena go back into the Juice Bar in her rear view mirror with a heavy heart; she didn't like leaving like she did, but the sooner she was gone, the better. "I know you want to make everything better, sister, but you can't fix everything. And this is the only way I know to get things back on track between Emily and Jason." She fought back the tears that threatened to well up in her eyes as she drove the few minutes it took to get to the TV station from the Youth Center. _I like Emily, I want to be her friend! Why do I always screw things up?_ Once at the station, she found that they didn't need her for a shoot, but they did need help with editing, then with putting together the two newscasts that night after one of the producers called in sick. Kahva managed to lose herself so deeply in the work, she missed her dinner with Sheena and Billy, not getting back to the Power Chamber until very late. A note on her bed in Sheena's handwriting greeted her. "Missed you tonight. Everybody is still on for the park in a couple of days, and I mean everybody, so no excuses, Kahva. We'll get things straightened out with Emily somehow. Love, Your Sister." Kahva smiled a little at the note as she prepared for bed. _That's just like you; you've got your own problems, but you're still worrying about me, trying to look out for me. Thought that was my job, I am two years older than you, Sheena. I think you forget that, sometimes. I just hope you're right about Emily. But if staying far away from Jason is what it takes for them to get back on track, then that's what I'm going to do._

Sheena ran a brush through her hair, humming softly to herself as she did so. The one problem with having knee-length hair was she had to brush it on an extremely regular basis, or it would tangle up badly. As she encountered one particularly stubborn knot, she jerked at it, growling a touch under her breath. A gentle hand took the brush away from her and she felt a gossamer-soft pair of lips caressing her cheek.

"Let me do that," Billy told her. "You've had a rough day."

Sheena protested, "It was just a little sleepwalking, Billy! That's not so rough!" She didn't take the brush back from him though, as he started to carefully work out the tangle. She sighed; it was these simple pleasures that made the fight against Mondo so worthwhile. That, and knowing it was because of them that others could share these pleasures, or similar ones.

Billy brushed quietly, his mind half on the luxurious wealth of hair attached to his beloved wife, half on the sleepwalking incident. That worried him; and the chance Mondo might have seen her doing it worried him even more. He had just barely managed to keep himself from teleporting wildly to the Power Chamber to start scanning for her once they'd realized she was gone that afternoon; if Tanya hadn't seen Sheena he most certainly would have done it.

_I guess I worry too much about her. But old habits are hard to break, and I've worried about her since the first moment I saw her. I still can't believe we dreamed about each other all those years, and neither of us knew the other one was real. I love her so very much; I don't know what I'd do without her._

Sheena taking the brush firmly away from pulled Billy's attention back to reality. He realized she hadn't had a tangle in almost five minutes; the brushing was over with. She smiled at him. "What were you thinking about?"

"You," he told her, smiling. "But you already knew that."

Sheena giggled, she had known that. But it was fun to ask anyway. As she put the brush away, she felt a warm tide of love wash over her from their linked minds. At the same moment, she felt Kahva's laughter, and intense desire to be left out of what they all knew perfectly well was coming next. They'd managed to figure out a way to block her connection to Sheena at necessary times, and as Billy pulled his wife closer to him, Sheena just barely managed to remember to do that.

Hours later, Billy lay watching Sheena asleep in his arms. His heart was so full of love it didn't seem real at times. He traced a gentle design on her forehead, then kissed it. "I love you, Sheena," he whispered. "Thank you for coming into my life."

He closed his eyes and was asleep himself in a few minutes. So deeply did he sleep he didn't notice half an hour later when Sheena's eyes flew open and she slipped silently out of bed. Had anyone been there to see her, they would have noticed her normally alive and sparkling green eyes were dark and shrouded in sleep still. She quietly left the house and began to walk, no longer Sheena Cranston, but someone else... someone else altogether. .someone who was...

"Kahva!" She looked up as her father called her name. The young girl ran towards him, laughing and smiling. Her mother was standing next to him, indeed, all of her family was there! Even her aunts and uncles and all their children were there. She couldn't help but be happy, today was her eighteenth birthday.

"Happy birthday, Kahva!" her cousin Jandar told her as he gave her a warm hug. All the other relatives were clapping her on the back, hugging, kissing, and wishing her the happiest of birthdays.

"Thanks, everyone!" she smiled, today was already the happiest day she'd had in all her life. Her best friend had asked her to come by later that day; he had a special birthday present for her, he said, one that would be utterly unlike anything she'd ever received before.

A throat clearing brought her attention to one of her oldest aunts. "Yes, ma'am?" she asked, turning to Aunt Sarda. The old woman smiled gently at her.

"Kahva, I have a very special birthday present for you. I'm going on a round-the-world tour of Eltar, starting tomorrow, and I want you to come with me. We'll be gone just about a year," she told the startled teenager. "Do you want to come?"

Kahva's emerald-toned eyes were wide with shock. "Around the world? Oh, this is incredible! I've always wanted to travel like that!"

"I know," her aunt laughed gently. "That's why we're going."

She literally squealed in delight as her parents gave their consent for her to go. "Oh, I can't believe this!" Suddenly her head came up sharply, and she remembered something. "I'll be back in about an hour, I've got to go tell the good news!"

Before anyone could say anything, Kahva was off like a streak of lightning, heading back to her best friend's house. Her heart thudded with joy as she ran, she was going on a round the world trip! For a whole year! Oh, she'd miss her friends and family, but she would write them, and she'd be back. As she dashed up to the front door, she was laughing with joy, he would be so happy for her, she knew it in her core...

In between one step and the next, Sheena was herself again. The dream that had filled her mind was gone, as if it had never been. She stood on the front porch of the cabin, hand raised as if to knock. She lowered her hand, a bit confused. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered. "I must have been sleepwalking again."

She hurried inside, locking the door behind her. Heart pounding with nervousness, she crept back into the bedroom, to find Billy still asleep. _Thank the Goddess for that, I could have never calmed him down if he'd woken up to find me gone. I'm not sure if I can calm myself down after that. I'm just lucky I got back home in one piece. Anything could have happened out there. I'm glad it didn't._

Sheena slipped back into bed, wrapping Billy's arms firmly around her as she did so. She leaned against the pillows, managing to conceal her worry from her own mind. She didn't want Kahva or Billy to pick up on it, they both had their own problems. She smiled lightly; she knew what they'd both say if she told them that. "Your worries are our worries, Sheena." She'd heard it plenty of times from both of them. Well, this was one thing she wouldn't bother them with.

She was asleep again so fast that she didn't even notice the all-too-familiar form of Klank watching her from outside the window, or hear him muttering in his awful Scottish accent, "Ye canna count on your husband to keep ye safe forever, Sheena. King Mondo will have his warrior back."

"So it has happened again." Mondo kept his greedy metallic eyes on Sheena as she slept once more. He had sent Klank down to watch her the moment he'd seen her rise from her bed, her eyes dark and distant. He wondered what it was that could be causing this, and a foul hope festered within him that it was something he could twist to his own advantage.

He mused over what he'd overheard earlier in the day. That earlier sleepwalking experience had been the first time Sheena had done it. Something, he didn't know what, was happening to her. He peered down to observe her again, she was sleeping peacefully now. "Rest while you can, Sheena. Before too long, you'll be my ultimate warrior once again: and there will be no turning back ever again for you."

Almost as if she'd heard him, Sheena turned in her sleep, and a brief flash of fear and pain crossed her face. Mondo chuckled to himself; things were going to work out just perfectly.

Kahva sighed, approaching their usual spot for having picnics and sparring in the park. _I don't want to be here, Jason is going to be here, and if Emily finds out, she'll go ballistic! She'll think I'm after Jason, why did Sheena insist I come today?_ Kahva sat down on the ground, leaning against one of the large, majestic oak trees. "Guess she doesn't want me hiding," she muttered to herself. "And if I hadn't come, she would've hunted me down and dragged me out here. Oh well, maybe I'll get lucky and Jason won't be able to make it."

"Talking to yourself?" Kahva nearly jumped out of her skin as the Gold Ranger came up from behind the tree. "Mind if I join you?" Kahva offered neither protest nor invitation; Jason shrugged and sat beside her anyway. Long moments passed before he broke the uneasy silence. "Talk to me Kahva. Why haven't I seen you in two days? You haven't called to set up another session, when I've gone to the Power Chamber you've avoided me, what have I done?"

"It's not you," Kahva quickly assured him. "It's me. I've caused too much trouble for you, you're better off if I'm not around you."

"Ah, so it is Emily that's at the bottom of this. Has she said something to you? What was it, I'll set things straight."

"No, she didn't say anything to me, not directly... Jason, I've seen the way she acts around me, and you two have been having so many arguments lately... I'm not blind or deaf, Jason. She sees me as a threat, or interference of some sort. Maybe she thinks I'm after you or something, I don't know." Kahva looked Jason straight in the eyes for the first time. _I can understand at least part of her concern, he is handsome, and so very loving to those he cares about. But my heart is with Daniel, why doesn't she believe that?_ "Face it, the less you're around me, the easier things will be, you guys won't fight as much."

"Kahva, it isn't you that's causing our arguments -"

"Oh really? You can't tell me that you two haven't been fighting more often since I arrived in this dimension, Jason. I've asked Billy and Tommy both, they don't remember the two of you arguing like this before, or this often."

"Because I never told them before." Jason stared at the ground, waiting for that little bombshell to sink in, and gathering his nerve to talk about what had been going on for some time now. "We've had little arguments before, every couple does. But Emily started having problems dealing with how much time I spent with my friends long before you showed up. This was going on before we ever met Sheena, in fact. Granted, we've had more of them lately, and..." Jason tried to stop himself from saying it, but Kahva's piercing gaze made him tell the truth. "Yeah, okay, she has thrown the time I spend with you in my face quite a bit. But I don't spend that much more time with my friends than I did before. She's just using you as an excuse, in my opinion."

"Are you sure?" Kahva wanted to believe him, she'd missed his company and humor. She didn't like having to avoid any of her friends, period.

"Yeah. Man, I thought she would get over this, but... I guess I was wrong." Jason was the one sighing now, finally releasing his frustration. "What do I do to get through to her? I call her all the time, but most of the time when I do, especially lately, she acts like she doesn't want to talk to me. I'll ask her out, a week, even two weeks ahead of time to go out on a date, she turns me down two out of three times. But on the occasional time I say I can't go out, and she knows I'm supposed to be going somewhere, like a karate meet, or something with my family or school, even stuff that I've already invited her to, she goes off on this 'you don't have time for me, you don't care about me' trip. What do I have to do to make her understand?" Jason caught the guilty expression on Kahva's face; it hurt to see her blaming herself. "I didn't even tell her you were going to be here today when I invited her to come out with us. I didn't mention your name at all. She turned me down flat, so it can't be you that is making her act this way. Even if it was, you haven't done anything, you're not to blame for this Kahva. I don't know who or what is, but it isn't you."

Kahva seemed to accept Jason's assurance, at least he hoped she did. "Have you tried talking to her? Telling her how you feel?" she inquired.

"No. I'm scared to, I'm afraid she'll take it the wrong way. I love her, but I hate the way she's acting. I don't try and keep her from her friends, why is she trying to keep me from mine?" Jason rubbed his face, hoping to hide how upset he was.

Kahva's hand on his arm nearly made him do something he rarely did: cry. "Talk to her. Be tactful of course, but be honest. Tell her how you feel, and ask her how she feels too. There's got to be a reason she's acting this way. Maybe she's afraid of sharing you, or maybe she's unsure of her heart, it could be any number of things. But you two have to talk things out."

Jason nodded and smiled at his older friend. "I will, but on one condition. You stop avoiding me. Whatever is wrong between Emily and me, I won't have it interfering with our friendship, or any of my other friendships. Besides, I still need to work with you on your judo training," he grinned, trying to lighten the mood. Before he could extract that promise from her however, most of the other Rangers arrived, calling a halt to their conversation.

"Good, you showed up!" Sheena laughed at Kahva a little, smiling. "I was almost afraid I was going to have to go hunt you down!"

"Wouldn't want you to have to do that, would we?" Kahva chuckled. _I knew she would have!! Do I know my sister or what?_ Ever since Kahva had returned from Eltar, Sheena had gone out of her way to keep an even sharper eye on her soul-sister.

As the two of them smiled at each other, the other Rangers, except for Adam and Tanya who would be joining them later, were setting up the picnic area and spreading out the food. Kat slapped Rocky's hand lightly. "Stay away, that's for later!" she warned him as he tried to tear into the food. He pouted a little.

"Oh, come on Kat, just a little taste?" he begged. Kat shook her head. "Please?!" He was almost on his knees; it was hilarious to watch. Kat finally relented and handed him a small sandwich to keep him quiet.

Various conversations held sway between the Rangers as Sheena gave Tommy more instruction in ki-see, and Jason and Rocky practiced their own martial arts together. When the girls finally called everyone together for the actual picnic, Rocky fell on the food as if he hadn't eaten for a week, at least.

"I don't believe I've ever seen anyone eat that much!" Kahva's eyes widened a trifle as she stared at the Blue Ranger gulping down his food. "I didn't think it was possible."

"There's a whole lot in this world that's possible," Sheena giggled. The teasing of Rocky continued, along with other small talk. When they were all together like this, it seemed so hard to believe that King Mondo, Master Vile, or any other galactic villain even existed. At one point Kahva wistfully wished that Casach, Master Madas' playful cheetah was there, commenting on the big cat's love of pizza. That brought another round of teasing as they all took bets on who could down a slice faster: Casach, or Rocky. As the laughs and giggles died down a little, Jason glanced at Kahva briefly, then finally found his nerve and asked something that had been on all their minds since she'd returned from Eltar two weeks after they had. Her mention of Casach had provided on opening, and now was as good a time as any to get her to talk about it. She'd restored the Mystic Springs, fulfilling an ancient prophecy, and had stayed there for a while after the Rangers had returned home.

"What was it like those two weeks on Eltar?" Though they'd all been there before, only Sheena and Kahva had spent any extended length of time on the alien world. Sheena had spent her time training in ki-see, but Kahva had stayed there for a totally different reason.

Kahva thought before answering; some of what she'd learned she wanted to keep to herself for now. "Well, it wasn't all fun and games. A lot of people kept looking at me and treating me like I was some sort of 'returned from the dead' person, or godling's scion, or something. It was really creepy, some people even acted like I was a deity or grand wizard of some sort, that I could heal by touching someone or looking at them a certain way... Other people, I think, were scared of me. Maybe they were afraid I would turn out to be evil, or maybe it's because my origins are so tied to Eltar's past, when they were just starting to have to deal with Master Vile and Rita, maybe it brings back bad memories for them, I don't know. But Master Madas taught me some meditation techniques to help me deal with it though, and they've worked fairly well." _When I use them. I've been neglectful lately, maybe they can help me figure out a solution to Jason's problem with Emily, I need to use them more regularly._

"How did it help?" Kat wondered, her voice breaking into Kahva's thoughts. "The meditation, that is."

"Well, that wasn't the only thing that helped, but what it did was -" Kahva was interrupted as Tommy screamed out the one word guaranteed to stop any conversation dead in its tracks.

"Cogs!"

They were all on their feet in a second, morphed and ready to tear these machine invaders into scrap metal. "You idiots have the absolute worst timing, do you know that?" Sheena yelled as she raced towards them ahead of the others, she'd never forgotten how they'd lured her away from the others in the Lunar Palace's tower prison room, nearly causing her death and theirs. Billy was hot on her heels, his vendetta with them was nearly as great as her own.

"Come on, we can't let them have all the fun!" Rocky giggled as the rest of the Rangers went into battle. Billy glanced back suddenly, remembering Kahva, and called out, "Teleport back to the Power Chamber!" She was about to go, when one Cog suddenly sprang up to yank her communicator off her wrist and smash it. He received almost definite proof he and Kahva shared a link of their own somehow, when he felt the surge of rage coming from her as she pulled out her staff and extended it to full length.

"Do you know how much trouble those things take to make?" she growled as she smashed into them with almost as much fury as Sheena was a few dozen feet away. A few long moments passed, which seemed more like years as they fought across the small clearing. Sheena glanced around as she slammed the last Cog near her into a tree and into several dozen parts, and saw Billy and Tommy were both being overwhelmed. Luckily they were close enough to each other so she could help them both, and she was on the way there in a flash.

"Tommy!" Billy cried out. "This isn't going well!"

"You're telling me!" the Red Ranger growled as he just barely managed to push another Cog off to one side. They seemed to be congregating on the two of them, the other Rangers were doing well, but Kahva was being held prisoner by a Cog now. She certainly wasn't making it easy for the robotic warrior though, another Cog was rushing to help his metal cohort. Sheena will be able help her, Tommy thought, then he caught a quick glimpse of his cousin.

She was standing in the middle of the clearing, still morphed, but he got the intense feeling of utter confusion and disorientation coming from her. Three Cogs ran right past her, being chased by Jason, and she completely ignored them! That was so unlike Sheena, he wondered for a second if that even was her! He spared enough of a glance to notice Rocky and Kat were heading over to Kahva, doing their best to help her, but they were having to fight through the clump of Cogs surrounding where Kahva was being held captive. He saw the girl fight a flash of panic as she railed at the Cogs, "Let me go!!" Tommy's stomach knotted as he realized that only Sheena was close enough to help Kahva in time, but the Silver Ranger was immobile.

"Sheena?!" Tommy screamed at her. "Sheena, what's wrong, what's going on?" He couldn't even be sure if she'd heard him, if she did, she didn't show it in any way. He couldn't believe his eyes; Sheena was utterly ignoring the danger to Kahva! He would have taken a bet she would have ignored danger to Billy, before doing that to Kahva! _Come on cousin, snap out of it! They're going to get Kahva this time if you don't!!_ Even the Cogs seemed to wonder just what was up with the Silver Ranger.

"Kahva!" It was Jason, who had just realized the Cogs were starting to drag Kahva away. Sheena seemed to come out of her trance or whatever it was in that moment, and realized what was happening to her soul-sister. Tommy actually winced as he saw Sheena start to run towards the Cogs; he knew what she was going to do next, and if she was in time, those Cogs didn't stand a chance.

But what Sheena did was nothing compared to how startling Kahva's own next move was. Sheena and Tommy both recognized it, but also knew they hadn't had a thing to do with her learning it. Kahva ki-see punched the two Cogs holding her, slamming them together with all her strength. "I told you tin brains earlier, let me go!!" she yelled fiercely. The move wasn't pretty, but effective, and the Cogs seemed a bit 'dazed', if that was the right phrase to use on metallic creatures, but they weren't out of it just yet. That took Sheena's move to do: a magnificent running leap over Kahva's head, which turned into a double back-kick that removed the Cogs' heads from their shoulders and sent them flying a good fifty yards into the trees. The rest of Mondo's warriors took that as the cue to leave in defeat once more.

Kat was over by them a second later, asking Kahva, "Where'd you learn how to do that, I like that move! Is that something Tommy, Sheena or Jason taught you?"

"She didn't learn ki-see moves from us, Kat," Tommy declared. "I'd like to know where you learned that too." Kahva knelt on the ground, catching her breath and helping Billy find the scattered remains of her once fairly-new communicator.

As the Rangers demorphed, Kahva told them, "That's the other thing Master Madas taught me that helped me deal with everything. It took me so long to get the hang of the moves, I couldn't think about anything else!" she laughed tightly, looking at Sheena. Her face voiced the group's question without a need for words: _What happened to you, Sheena?_

Sheena was leaning against a tree, pale and shaking a bit. _I can't believe what happened; I just totally zoned out in that fight, and because of that, the Cogs could have kidnapped Kahva! Goddess of Light, what is happening to me?_

"Hey, what's going on here? Did we miss something?" They looked up to see Tanya and Adam joining them. It was all Sheena could do at that moment not to either break down into tears or break out into laughter. She just wasn't sure which was more appropriate at the moment.

_Blast you Mondo!_ he raged. _How dare you try to harm my love?!_ He had arrived in the park just in time to see Sheena 'sleepwalking', as the humans called it, in the middle of a battle with Cogs. He knew perfectly well what was happening, and could not risk these episodes continuing much longer. He had been very relieved to see Sheena snap out of her trance-like state, even if it did mean she ended up rescuing some girl he didn't care about. _It must have been that maid of honor person, I wish I could've heard what the Gold Ranger called her, or could have gotten a better look at her, I feel power around her, old power... She could be trouble for my plans, whoever she is._ He shook himself out of his thoughts as he realized the Rangers and their friend were about to leave, they had just been joined by the Yellow and Green Rangers. _I can't let Mondo get you, Sheena, you are mine, not his! I can't stop Kahva Kilanye's memories, but I can alter my spell._

He concentrated for a few moments, then smiled grimly to himself as the Rangers and their friend teleported away. _There. It's done. Instead of keeping you from those memories that are resurfacing in your dreams forever, you will only be kept from remembering what you've dreamt until this dream cycle has terminated. You will live the memories out in your dreams until they end. Then after this cycle is over, I will have to find a new way to keep you from remembering me. But at least you will not be 'sleepwalking' anymore, you will not be vulnerable to Mondo once the cycle has ended._ That was his only regret, that his spell had somehow triggered Sheena's sleepwalking - but were it not for the spell, his plans could have come undone. Months of work ruined... _But it had to be done, it is not quite time to claim her, not just yet..._

He stared at the spot where the friend of the Rangers had stood, her back to him the entire time, partially hidden from his view by the bushes he had been spying from. _Who are you, what do you look like? You had better pray that you don't interfere with my plans, little one, or you will pay the price. Anyone who keeps me from my prize will pay, that is a promise!!_

"So what's the verdict?" Sheena tried to sound nonchalant; she didn't feel ill, all her faculties were clear as far as she could tell. _Hope my sleepwalking isn't because of some spell. But if it is, how? When could I have been around someone who could have placed that kind of spell on me, and I not remember something odd happening somewhere? Or for Billy or Kahva not to have picked up on someone finding me and doing that?_ Sheena watched as Alpha and Billy worked over the data from the scans they had run on her, swinging her legs idly as she sat on the examining table, waiting for the results. Kahva had taken to pacing back and forth, and Tommy wasn't much better, they had already bumped into each other three times. Jason finally caught Kahva's arm and pulled her to him, massaging her shoulders before she could protest. Kat followed his lead and grabbed Tommy, hugging him, and rubbing his back every so often. Tanya and Adam had commandeered a corner with Rocky, staying out of the way as best they could.

"Okay," Billy started, finally breaking the tense silence. "According to the scans, there's nothing wrong with you Sheena, other than perhaps a lack of sleep. There's no indication when we compare our last regular scan of you with this one that there is any kind of spell or potion in your system. No viruses, bacterial infections, nothing. You're as healthy as can be."

Sheena smiled in relief; she had felt just fine, but hearing her husband confirm it was a great load off of her mind. "I could have told you that," she said as she hopped off of the table and into his arms. "Now I think you need to check Tommy and Kahva for bruises, they been bumping each other like crazy with their pacing."

"And wearing a track in the floor," Rocky joked. "Think we should make them repair it?" Kahva's response to that was to stick her tongue out at the Blue Ranger, but both she, Tommy and Billy wore similar frowns.

"That still doesn't tell us why she zoned out in the battle," Tommy reminded them all. "Face it, we're lucky things ended up in our favor this time." Sheena shivered at that. One second she had been fighting Cogs, then in the next second to her, she'd seen Kahva being dragged off by Cogs. Finding out that she'd been 'zoned out' for nearly a minute in the middle of a battle, and that Kahva had been captured in that short time span was frightening.

"I guess it's from that lack of sleep Billy mentioned," she guessed, casting a worried glance at her soul-sister. _I can't lose you because of a few restless nights, I won't!_ "Maybe if I get some decent sleep, that will take care of it."

"Maybe so. We can put you on some mild sedatives to help you get to sleep, if we have to," Billy suggested. Sheena wrinkled her nose at that; she didn't like taking medicine if she didn't absolutely have to. "In the meantime, we'll have Alpha keep a tight lock on you in battle, and running scans on you during that time as well. If it's a lack of sleep we're dealing with here, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about, unless it gets more serious."

"And what if it does?" Tommy asked. "You can bet Mondo saw what happened today, that's probably the whole reason he tried for Kahva with all of us around. He saw Sheena was zoned out, and since she was the one who could've gotten to her the fastest, he probably figured Kahva was an easy target. If it happens again, he may get braver and try for both of you next time," he finished with a worried glance at the two girls.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get there, I mean, it's just a lack of sleep, Tommy," Sheena tried to reassure him. _Or am I trying to reassure myself?_ "Alpha, how about keeping a tight lock on Kahva too, just in case it does happen again? If I zone out in a fight, and we're both there, get us out right then, before Mondo can try anything."

"Sounds like a good idea, and I'll try to stay close to you so we can shift out, in case he blocks our teleportation system," Kahva added. "Doing that is almost second nature for him, it seems sometimes." Sheena could still hear a hint of worry in her voice, though. "I'm going to have to do it until Billy can fix my communicator anyway, so that's a habit that won't be hard to start." Billy and Sheena both heard her unspoken wish very clearly. _Wish I didn't have to depend on one of you to shift, it takes a Ranger from where they are needed, and makes me a burden when I can't teleport. You guys don't need a burden in a battle!_

Sheena walked over to her soul-sister and gave her a reassuring hug. "We're going to get through this, and you're not a burden," she whispered. To the others she gave a smile and a bit of bravado. "One of these days, Mondo is going to realize it's a major mistake to mess with the Sisterhood."

"Can't happen too soon for me," Kahva responded.

"Me either," Billy added. "It can't happen soon enough for all of us. We haven't had much time to spend together or by ourselves, except for the past two months that he's been a bit quiet. Personally, I'd like a longer vacation from the bad guys than that. Now," he said, moving over to Sheena, "how about we work on getting you some of that sleep you need, sweetie?" Everyone teleported out over the next minute or so, with Tommy being the last to leave.

"See you at the Youth Center tomorrow, Kahva?" When she didn't immediately answer, he moved to place a hand on her shoulder. "Kahva? You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Where were you just then?" Tommy gave her a concerned look. "Maybe it's not just Sheena we should consider sedating a little; are you getting enough sleep yourself?"

Kahva smiled a little. "I'm not zoned, Tommy. It's just... am I the only one who felt confusion coming from Sheena in the fight?"

Tommy sighed and frowned. "I'm glad you said something. I was beginning to think I had been the only one to feel it. But it was vague, I can't describe it. What did you feel?"

The older girl weighed her words carefully, trying to describe the flash she'd felt from Sheena. "I'm not too sure, I couldn't think about it too long, the Cogs were kinda vying for my attention," she stated, her voice not hiding her dislike of Mondo's metal men one bit. "But for a second, it was as if... as if she thought she was somewhere else, it was right at the start of when she zoned out, I guess. Then when she 'woke up', for an instant, it was almost like... like she was surprised we were fighting Cogs."

"Like she had forgotten who we were fighting, or the fact we were fighting?" Tommy didn't like that possibility at all.

Kahva shook her head. "No, she expected to be fighting." She shook her head again, then looked up at Tommy. "This is going to sound crazy, but... I think maybe she expected to be fighting someone, or something else. That doesn't make sense though."

"Maybe she felt that way because of zoning out? Could that be it?" Kahva and Tommy tried to puzzle it out a few minutes longer, but the only thing they gained were matching headaches. "If there is a next time, you and Billy have to try to reach her, we have to try to figure out if she's dreaming, or just what is going on in her head. Something tells me that's the only way we're going to find out what is happening here."

Kahva nodded her agreement. "I just hope it's nothing serious." And for the first time, Kahva could almost clearly hear Tommy's mental agreement. "I heard you," she breathed. "I heard you in here," she said, tapping her head. "You do have a link with Sheena, you've got to. And through her, a link to me. It's like what I heard was being filtered through something, but I still heard you... well, felt would be a more accurate description. It was more emotion than actual words, you're not as clear as Billy is to me. I mainly get emotions from him, but sometimes there are a few clear words. I think he's picking up more on my emotions, if not actual words, every single day. I know he's seen some of my nightmares. But this is the first time I've felt you at all."

Tommy's eyes widened at that, for a fleeting second he thought he might have felt Kahva's emotions too, but it had been so faint, he wasn't sure. "All four of us really need to work on this, work on strengthening the links."

"Definitely," Kahva agreed. "I'm positive I felt your emotions just then. Tommy," she placed her hand on his arm, her voice more urgent now, "if Sheena zones out again, you need to try and reach her too, or see if you can sense what she's thinking or feeling. You might be able to pick up on something that Billy or I might miss. With three of us trying, that should improve our chances of figuring this out." Tommy sighed and hugged Kahva, walking her to her quarters. After she closed her door, he simply stood in the hallway for a while, lost deep in thought, then he finally teleported out, hoping that she was right, that together they could figure it all out. _Please let us all be worried over nothing, please..._ But as he materialized in his bedroom, he couldn't shake the feeling that what was happening could be a big problem not only for Sheena, but for all of them, if they didn't figure it out soon.

"Scared you, didn't I?" Mondo gloated at the replayed image of Sheena in the park in his viewscreen. He'd sent the Cogs down mainly as a test, to see if Sheena's recent sleepwalking had dulled her fighting skills any, or slowed her reaction time. It hadn't in the least, and the Machine King was still not sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. But then in the middle of the battle, she had frozen, apparently unaware of anything going on around her. Mondo decided to take advantage of her distraction and use the opportunity to kidnap Kahva. "I nearly had that child, when did she start to learn ki-see? It doesn't matter, I'll just have to use more Cogs to capture her. She's not on the level of the Rangers, but she is becoming a better fighter. Perhaps her powers have strengthened in this time as well..." Mondo considered launching an attack the very next time he could find the girl alone, preferably when Sheena was sleepwalking again, and kidnapping her, but decided against it. "Not yet," he told himself. "Wait until you have Sheena in your grasp, under your control, then have her kidnap the child. Yes..." he laughed, pleased with his plotting. He would gain control of Sheena, then Sheena would kidnap her best friend. "Once I have them, I'll have my Silver Ranger kidnap that irritating Billy and Tommy, I'll put them under my control, and then the whole planet will be mine for the taking!!"

"I've heard that before," Klank muttered from the shadows where he had been watching his master. Unfortunately for him, Mondo heard his audible lack of faith. Klank was rewarded with a blast from Mondo's staff, which sent him flying through the foot-thick wall he was in front of and into the next room.

"Never question my judgment, never, do you understand?!?!" A faint squeak from Klank seemed to satisfy the Machine King as he turned back to his viewscreen. "All I need is for Sheena to sleepwalk again, and she will be mine, just as she was always meant to be."

"This is awesome, Sheena! I don't know how you come up with this stuff," Kahva praised her best friend. The past four days hadn't been disturbed in the least by any attacks from Mondo, or repeated episodes of sleepwalking by Sheena. She had gotten a good night's rest each night, thanks to a mild sedative that Billy had put her on. This night was going to be the first one without taking it before bed though, as a test. Kahva had come over after pulling a late night at the TV station to check on her, and ended up doing something she hadn't done in nearly two and a half years: she was reading a rough draft of Sheena's latest novel, critiquing it and checking it for consistency. Kahva sighed happily as she put down her hard copy. "It's been way too long since we've done this; stayed up late, pulled apart one of your stories, and put it back together again."

Sheena stretched and saved the editing they had done on her computer. "I know, the last time was so long ago... about a week before..." Her voice trailed off as the memory came back.

"Before you 'left', before you were transported over here by Kahva Kilanye," Kahva finished for her. "What ever happened to that novel anyway?" she asked, trying to change the subject a tiny bit. She'd seen the flash of sadness on Sheena's face, and wanted to keep her cheerful, not melancholy. _Maybe we need to try and go home for a visit soon. We're planning to go in about four weeks, but maybe we need to push it up a bit. We both miss the old gang... and I miss Daniel, too._

"It became the first one I sold here in this universe," Sheena grinned, her face brightening, much to Kahva's relief. "I just realized, you've never seen it."

"Well," Kahva smiled back at her, "I guess I can forgive you this once. After all, we have been kind of busy these past... what, three months or so that I've been here? Things have been hectic on occasion. Just don't do it again, young lady," she jokingly warned.

"Yes ma'am!" Sheena laughed, showing a smart salute to her sister. "Here," she said, getting up and removing a book from the nearby bookshelf, "I've always kept this copy put up just in case... in case I found you, or found a way home again. Read the dedication. I've also got copies for everyone else back home too, we need to give them theirs when we go back to visit." Kahva took the book as if it were a fragile treasure, which for her it was, and opened it with great love and care. A few moments later, she smiled and read the dedication Sheena had written for it aloud.

"For my friends, who I miss with all my heart. Without them, I could never have gotten this far. For my soul-sister, who I miss with all my soul. She is a part of me, and a part of this work; without her, it could never have been written. One day, we shall all be together again, and that shall be the happiest day of my life. Love, Sheena." Kahva closed the book, tracing the elegantly scripted title on its cover. "Love's Journey," she murmured. "You finally named it."

"Yeah... One title that has really fit a huge part of my life, though I didn't know it back then." Sheena sighed and smiled a bit sheepishly. "I even autographed the book for you... well, I autographed everybody's, but I did something a little different in yours."

Kahva cocked an amused eyebrow at the young writer, then reopened the book, flipping a page past the dedication. She found a message just for her there in Sheena's beautiful handwriting. "The journey of love begins with a single step: the first step as a toddling babe to a parent's outstretched arms, then we continue on through life to other 'first' steps: first friends, best friends, first loves, lasting loves... Once in a while, we are blessed to take a step on our journey that leads us to a kindred spirit, a brother or sister of the soul, one without whom our lives are not complete. You are that sister, my dear Kahva, and I thank The Goddess every day for the gift of your love and friendship; for giving me a true soul-sister. As you once wrote, 'Miles away, or standing here, the heart will always keep us near. Heaven or Fate, who can say, just what brought us together that day. Blood cannot bring us any closer. It is our hearts and souls, we find, that keep us forever in each other's mind. Time will flow as the tides, but it is love that will cross the divide. Blood could not closer sisters make, and time nor distance, can that bond ever break.' I love you Kahva, never forget that. Please don't ever forget me. We are sisters for all time, and I firmly believe that we will be reunited one day. Love, your Sister... Sheena." Kahva closed the book, tears close to falling down her face after she'd finished reading the message Sheena had left for her. One look at each other and they both cried, holding each other until their tears ended. "Sheena... I could never forget you, never. Before I met you, the only family I had was Mom and Dad, but I still felt so alone... I never had any friends at the orphanage, but when I met you, I found more than a friend."

Sheena smiled as she grabbed a box of tissues for them both. "Now we know why we met like we did... we know who made sure we would both be in the same dimension, on the same world, at least: Elysia. We know that even without our families being connected in the past, we would've been drawn to each other, we would've been friends anyway."

"I know... it's comforting to know that we weren't pulled together only because of our ancestors, you know?" Kahva stopped as she spotted a quick slight frown cross Sheena's face. "What? What wrong?"

"It's... it's kinda what you just said. I've wondered for some time now if Billy and I would've been drawn to each other without the influence of how Kahva and Silias felt for each other."

Kahva hugged her soul-sister close. "Something tells me you two would've found each other anyway. But you don't need to hear that from me, you need to talk to Billy about it. But trust me, you two were made for each other, regardless of the bond between the original Silver and Sapphire Rangers." The current Silver Ranger nodded; that was what she wanted to believe, it was what she was trying so hard to hang on to right now. So many things had felt out of her control over the past few months: Kahva's being dragged to this dimension with Daniel at Mondo's order, their subsequent imprisonment and mistreatment... The attacks that had followed after her honeymoon with Billy; where Mondo had been intent on grabbing her, or Kahva, or both of them... Vile's attempt to capture her when they had gone to the Lunar Palace to retrieve Kahva Kilanye's body, and the events that had followed which caused Kahva Briton to stay on Eltar for two weeks after the first Silver Ranger's long-deserved funeral... The past two months had been a bit of a 'vacation', as Billy had put it, but with the break, Sheena's nightmares had returned in the past month, she'd barely been able to hide them from Billy and Kahva. Now the nightmares had been replaced with sleepwalking. _Why is all of this happening? Why can't I keep things under control?_ Just then, Sheena felt Kahva's eyes on her. _Oh no, what has she picked up on? What do I do, what do I tell her?_ Sheena waited, if Kahva had a question, she'd ask it quickly.

Sheena wasn't made to wait long. "Sheena, what's bugging you?" After getting no answer, Kahva pressed on with her interrogation. "I know you've been trying to block me, and probably Billy for about a month now at night, sometimes. Nightmares again?"

"Yes," Sheena finally admitted. Kahva had been sREAMS OF OLD BY CYNTHIA AND KAHVA Kahva walked quietly through the woods near her parents' farm, heading off to meet her bes

"And in the past several days, for the first time in your life, you've started sleepwalking. I don't like the timing of this, Sheena."

"It's just a little sleepwalking, Kahva! I haven't done it in four days now, it's over with! You guys worry too much," Sheena tried to persuade her friend. But Sheena didn't like the timing any better than she did however, and Sheena was determined to hide at least some of that feeling from her soul-sister. _Sharing minds does have its drawbacks..._

"We're your friends, it's our job, comes with the territory," was Kahva's snappy reply. "Sheena... Tommy and Billy and I have been working on something. We've been working on the links. Maybe it will help us figure out what's going on when you're sleepwalking, if it does happen again."

Sheena wasn't surprised at that announcement, they had been talking about working on the links for some time now. But one of the people involved in the testing did surprise her a bit. "Why Tommy? Has he been picking up on me?" _Great, someone else to know how little control I have on things right now. Maybe that's a good thing though, Tommy would most likely be the first one to pick up on any signs that I'm not fit to lead, if things get that bad. I can't let them get that bad, I won't! I have to get control back of things, I have to. I wish those old dreams would go away though._

"Actually, I picked up on Tommy's emotions for the first time four days ago, and he thought he felt me too... Sheena? What old dreams, what are you thinking about? Don't turn away from me, I clearly heard all that just then." Sheena's shoulders slumped, there was a definite disadvantage to sharing a mind with other people, especially when one of them knew you as well as Kahva knew Sheena. Kahva steered Sheena to the couch and sat beside her. "Sheena," she started gently, "I know how you hate not being in control of things that affect you, and those you care about. But you have to realize you can't control everything, none of us can. You have to let it go sometimes, and just do the best you can, you know? And believe me, from everything I've seen since I've been here, you are most assuredly fit to lead the Rangers." Sheena smiled a little at the older girl's reassurance. "And there is absolutely nothing wrong in talking to anyone about what's troubling you, there is no shame in it whatsoever. It's a sign of wisdom, of knowing when to seek help."

"Who taught you that, Master Madas?"

"He reminded me, but I've been telling you that for years, Sheena," Kahva replied. "If there's anything you need to talk about, grab me, or one of the Rangers, and talk to us, please?" Sheena finally nodded a promise, and after hugging her, Kahva asked, "Now what's this about old dreams? What were you thinking about?"

Sheena bit her lip, she wasn't quite sure what she had been going through herself. "I think I've been dreaming of some of Kahva's life lately... or maybe I've just been thinking about it, I don't know exactly. I don't even know when I've been dreaming, or thinking about it specifically, I just know that I have for a while now, ever since my nightmares went away. I wish I could remember just what I've been either dreaming or thinking about, maybe I would know then when I've been doing it. I know this doesn't make any sense, but I can't describe it any better than that."

Kahva furrowed her brows in contemplation. "No, it does make a certain sense... could you have been thinking, or dreaming of Kahva's life while you've been sleepwalking?" _Could we finally have a clue about what's been happening here? I've got to talk to the others about this._ Sheena shook her head though, a small frown crossing her features once again.

"I don't know what I've been thinking, or doing, or dreaming when I've been sleepwalking."

"Hmmm," was all Kahva said as she mulled it over for a few moments. "Maybe with Tommy, Billy and me all trying to sense something from you when you sleepwalk, if you do it again, we can figure out if you are dreaming about Kahva during that time."

Sheena nodded, it made sense for them to try that. "And if I am thinking, or dreaming, of her life when I'm sleepwalking... what does that tell us?"

Kahva yawned, looking at her watch. "I don't know, but maybe we will figure that out once it happens, if it happens. Girl, do you realize it's one in the morning?"

"Yeah," Sheena chuckled. "We really haven't stayed up this late together in a long time. You've been up for nearly twenty hours straight though, you should go to the Power Chamber and get some sleep."

"What about you? Billy isn't home yet, he must still be working at the university on that research project he got corralled into."

Sheena grinned. "He was rather happily 'corralled' into it, as you put it. Something about genetic markers. Look, don't worry about me, Billy should be home before too long, and I'm about to fall out myself anyway."

"What, you fall asleep and miss the triumphant return home of your knight in shining sapphire armor?" Kahva teased. "It would be a shame for you to miss that, you know. I guess I should get going - oh, I've got the picture for you, let me fish it out of here..." The older girl made for a comical sight as she nearly dove into her backpack for the photo, Sheena couldn't help but giggle at her. Kahva's head exited the bag with a mock frown which quickly changed to a smile as she held aloft a stiff cardboard envelope. "Here it is. I've got copies for the others too, but I wanted your opinion first."

Sheena took the envelope and shook out the eight by ten photo of all the current Rangers in full uniform, holding their helmets at their sides. Sheena stood in the middle of the group with Tommy to her right and Billy to her left, the other Rangers and Alpha fanned out to either side. "Breaking that darkroom you, Billy and Adam set up in rather quickly, aren't you?" the Silver Ranger laughed. "The picture is great, Kahva, I don't think you have it in you to take a bad shot."

The other girl grinned, then pointed out Rocky and Tommy specifically in the picture. "Explain something to me," she requested. "If Tommy has the Diamond powers, and Rocky has the Ruby, then why is Tommy the Red Zeo Ranger, and Rocky the Blue? That's been bothering me for a while now."

Sheena chuckled at that. "Believe it or not, I asked Zordon the same thing not long after I joined the team. The Zeo Crystal fragments, which were in the past the Power Crystals, lost their hold, for lack of a better term, on specific colors over the years. When the current members claimed their shards, they took on the primary color in their own personal aura. Their Ranger colors are not the only colors in their auras by any means, with some of the Rangers, their primary color is primary by only a slim margin over the others. But each shard had it's own specific power resting in it, and could only be claimed by the person or persons it was meant for. That's why both Aisha and Tanya could've taken the Topaz, we discovered last year they were very distantly related. But Tanya is actually a more direct descendant of Linon Aranon than Aisha is."

"And that's why both the Treys and Jason could have been the Gold Ranger, they're all descendants of Caleen Radsha, but the records show Jason is actually the more direct descendant, I think I understand now." Kahva digested everything for a minute or so, then gave her soul-sister a puzzled look. "Wait just a minute... Rocky's primary color is blue? But that indicates logic and planning, and he's so impulsive -"

"He can be very logical... when he wants to be. Rocky is the light of our little group, he's the jokester when we need it. But when logic and careful planning are called for, he can be just as serious as Billy," Sheena assured her. Kahva laughed at the thought of a serious Rocky, but had to admit Sheena was right, he could be logical... when he wanted to be. Kahva stayed just a few minutes longer, but then went out to her car and called for Alpha to teleport it and her to the Zord Holding Bay. Sheena watched her leave, then made her rounds through the cabin, making sure everything was turned off, except for one lamp turned on low near the front door, so Billy could have enough light to see by when he got in. "Please come home soon, Billy," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.