H.R.H.

Two days after they buried Fiona, there was another border skirmish, and within three days Ethiopia and Eritrea were once more at war. This time there was no conversation. Sam and Max did not go to the post office to call her father or discuss it with Christianna. Sam packed her bag, and Max waited outside while she dressed. There was no choice. They were going to carry her out if they had to. She insisted she didn't want to leave her friends. She had come to love this place and the people in it. Everyone gathered around her, and they all cried when she left. Geoff was in full agreement with Sam and Max. The others were all going to have to make their own decisions as to whether they stayed or left. But Geoff told Christianna himself that she had to leave. She had served them well, given richly of herself, and they all loved her for it. But as much as Sam and Max and her father did, he wanted her out. This was not her job, it was a piece of her heart and soul she had given, and he did not now want it to cost her her life. The other workers accepted the risk as part of their mission. Christianna's mission was very different. The time she had spent with them in Africa was a gift to them and for herself.

They all said tearful goodbyes, she made a last tour of the patients in the AIDS clinic to say goodbye to them, and Geoff drove them to Asmara. Once there, they stood in the pouring rain, and she clung to Geoff like a crying child. So much had happened, and she was so frightened for all of them. She felt like a traitor leaving them now. UN and African Union troops had been arriving in the area for days.

“You have to leave, Your Highness,” he said as though to remind her of who she was. “Your father would never forgive us if something happened.” She had been there for nine months, and she still wasn't ready to go home, and knew she never would be. Her heart was here, and a piece of her life she would never forget.

“What about the rest of you?” she asked as the plane landed.

“We'll see what happens in the next few days. It's too soon to say. We'll see what they decide in Geneva, and what the others want to do. But it's definitely time for you to go home.” In the end, this was their home and not hers. She hugged him tightly before she left, and thanked him for the happiest months of her life. He thanked her for all she'd done and all she'd given. He told her she was an extraordinary young woman and wished her well. He knew none of them would forget her, or her loving, selfless grace.

And then she, Max, and Sam got on the plane. She saw Geoff watching them as she looked out the window. He waved, and then ran back to the bus. Moments later, the plane took off for the endless flight back to Frankfurt, and then the short hop to Zurich, and finally home.

She sat staring into space for a long time on the flight, thinking of Fiona, and Parker, Laure before that, Ushi and all the children they had taught, Mary and all the women and children in the AIDS ward. She had left behind so many people that she had come to love. And poor Fiona left with her, forever in her heart. For once, she said absolutely nothing to Sam and Max. She sat on one side of the aisle, and they sat on the other. This time they had done their job. They would have carried her out, if they had to. With a war starting, there was no question in their minds, or her father's, where she belonged. Even Christianna didn't fight them this time. She knew she had no choice.

She slept most of the way to Frankfurt, and then looked out the window in silence. She was thinking of Fiona … then Parker … she called him in Boston the moment she got off the flight in Frankfurt, and told him everything that had happened, to Fiona, the border skirmishes, and the beginning of another war. He was stunned, as she sobbed.

“My God, Cricky, are you all right?” He couldn't believe what she'd told him about Fiona. She had described how they found her, and as she told him she cried all over again. She sounded completely overwrought.

“I love you,” she said over and over again, unable to stop crying. “I love you so much.” She hadn't seen him in nearly two months. It felt like centuries after everything that had happened.

“Cricky, I love you, too. I want you to go home and calm down. Rest. And as soon as you can get away, I'll meet you in Paris.”

“All right,” she said weakly, feeling as though she couldn't live another day without him. It had already been too long, and far too many terrible things had happened. He sounded as badly shaken as she was.

“Just go home, sweetheart,” he said gently. “Everything will be all right,” he reassured her, wishing he could put his arms around her. She sounded as though she were in shock.

“No, it won't,” she sobbed. “Fiona's dead, Parker. It won't ever be all right for her.”