"Lose me? You're not going to lose me, I'm right here! Don't worry, Kazelia, it's me! I'm in control! I'm the one who's-- nngh!"

Pressure. Pressure pressure pressure! Building up inside her head! It hurts! Oh, Kazelia, it hurts so much! Create! Sculpt, paint over the canvas! There's so much to do, what do you want? [i]What do you want?[/i]

Alina is blazing with the light of creation. In her hand lies infinite possibility. All of the hurts of the world are fixable, all the hurts that plague Hyperborea can be wiped away with just one hand. Not with hard work and sacrifice and responsibility, but just one hand! She never has to feel guilty anymore! Nobody's going to look at her and judge silently, ever again! She can fix... everything!

She can make it so Shazari gets a happy life and a prosperous kingdom and never has to deal with the after effects of having needed to descend inside the Snake Husband to save Jedad. She won't have to say she's sorry for failing to get hold of the Heart before it was too late, and happiness would follow. 

She can wash clean the incense of Askaia and pluck every bad dream of kidnappings and poisonous shadow arrows out of the heads of the gentle cats who live there, shape new and even greater glass towers to float across the island as a sign of Forever Friendship and pluck Summerveil from out of her memories and put it at the base of Big Hill where it belongs, sparkling and bright and as full of love as it is of ripe strawberry bushes for little girls to hide their practice ribbons in.

She can purge all the rot from Feloria, reweave the great walls of their cities and fill their gardens with more beautiful flowers than even they've seen to beautify their work, make even the harvest crops grow in prettily and perfectly and all by themselves so that the people will have more time for singing and dancing and making beautiful things as their hearts move them! And all of this for free! She could pluck Diana from the sky if she wanted and set her back in the school she loves so much to foster her power and someday be Alina's greatest advisor.

And there'd be time for tea and gossip while she thawed the ice in Mommy's heart! She'd put on the grandest of shows and right at the end show her Momma and get to watch the two of them reunite for the first time since she was smaller than small, and make it so it wouldn't even be awkward that Momma left in the first place. Everyone could forget, and love her, and be loved by her, and each and every one of them could blow and shape the most beautiful glass sculptures to rival even the Heart Tree of Argossa, a place where Alina could watch over the world and keep fixing things if they broke or making them even better as she realized how she might. 

Illumina would heal in a day. She'd rebuild Castle Thessia and wash away all of Oberon's horrid corruption from the rooms he'd warped beyond recognition. And without even stopping to rest, she'd fix the towns, move the rivers so they'd flow better, put every house back just the way it was... no! Make them better! Give every person in Illumina their own stately mansion! No! A castle of their own! And there would be music and rain every single day and it would be the most wonderful, magical place that anyone could ever dream of! So wonderful the whole world would want to move there!

And it would... and it would... and it would!

"...J-Jess?" Alina's wide smile falters. Her wings shiver through with sudden strain, "What are you? I-I mean, how did you get here? Why are-- make me? But I..."

It's such an easy thing, you know. Make her happy. All she wants is for Alina to look at herself, just look at herself, just look at herself! The Caduceus throbs in her hand. The waters on the floor draw together and rise up in an inverted waterfall that sprays its gift back down to everyone all over again. But where the stream rushes strongest, just next to Alina, the water runs smooth and crystal clear: a more perfect mirror than any you could make by hand if you had a thousand years to learn the craft. And she looks. Just to make Jessamine happy, Alina looks at her perfect body.

Why is she crying? Her face is so beautiful. Her lights are so dazzling. Her arms and legs are so powerful. Her body is shaped as if from water itself. Everything is perfect. Better than perfect. And she's... and she's... not... Alina. Not Alina anymore. 

Well, she can fix that! She just has to make herself more Alina! She can keep the fixes and the power and the everything, she just has to draw out more Alina-ness to show overtop so that everybody will stop worrying. S-so... that's all she... yeah. She'll just. Yes. She'll focus on her most essential self, and that will fix everything before she fixes everything else. 

In the waterfall mirror, another form materializes next to the radiant and perfect Story Queen Alina. And it's not her most essential self either, but the shape of her as a young Princess-Promised again. Just a kid. The one who turned up in that reflecting pool all those lifetimes ago when she had a terrible choice to make about what lights could shine where. The young Alina looks at her grown up self and shakes her head sadly.

[i]"Poor Eupheria," she says wistfully, "She had to hold that awful thing for so long. Waaaaaaay longer than you, Lina. How many Euphies do you think she had time to make to cover over herself before you showed up?"[/i]

"But! But I!"

[i]"You know what I think? I think she needs a hug. You and her both. Can your stick give hugs?"[/i]

The waterfall loses shape. It breaks apart, and everywhere fresh water surges up to people's knees. Alina's wings sparkle brilliantly as she softly drops down from the air. She's still clutching Rita tightly, and she's still clutching the Caduceus even tighter. There's a strain on her face that looks almost like it's hurting her as she looks into the eyes of the only two people in the room who have been brave enough to ask her to be less than More. 

She shivers.

"I don't, I don't want to be weak. I don't want to be cold. I don't want to go back. I don't want to be the short one, the useless one, the one who ruined everything! I... I don't want to feel broken anymore! Can't you... don't you want me to... I, nngh!"

Her wet hair and her crown are weighing down her neck. Alina bows her head, and sniffled while nobody can see her face. Her impossibly perfect legs are shaking as she clutches her shining fingers tightly around the staff.

"I... I can't! Please, I," she looks up again and half reaches out her hand before drawing it back again in haste, "Help me! I don't know what to do! Help me!"