"I'm sorry, Kyan," I mumbled, feeling like I'd failed before I'd even gotten the chance to begin. But durnitall, this just went against every grain of every cell in my body. Yeah, a jedi must be ready at any time for combat, so Kyan said, but that didn't mean he had to instigate it.

I'd never done that in my life, although Khaandon knows I've seen enough hand-to-hand in my life.

"I-- I don't attack. I-- I can't."

Settling back on my heels I folded my hands against my thighs and just sat there, silent, waiting to see what he would do next.

--------------------

“You did nothing wrong Gal’ika,” said Kyan. “As a Jedi it is a good for one not to seek conflict and avoid the violent path whenever possible. Sometimes ad’ika, there needs to be the Jedi who initiates the attack and only the Force can tell you when it is required. Given time you will be able to determine the will of the Force for yourself, and if we both had our powers you may have been able to sense my intent with this lesson.”

Kyan gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze then released his hand and sat on the deck of the cargo bay then he motioned for Galen to join him on the deck.

Assuming I had the Right Stuff, as they say.

I gave him a little smile. "That sounds good to me, Kyan," I replied, settling myself more comfortably on my haunches and resting back on my heels. That smile wavered a bit, however, when a slight noise caught my attention and led my eyes astray from Kyan's pair:

Terrin had gone.

I sighed again, then straightened my shoulders.

So be it. This is the path I'm following now: for myself, for Darra, for Terrin, for everybody I want to help.

My gaze cut back to meet Kyan's.

And yes, him too, came the final addendum before such thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind by a budding question.

"Kyan--?" I asked, a bit hesitantly. Then remembering Dad's standard, "The only stupid question is the one unasked," I went on.

"If you can't connect with the Force, how are you going to teach me?"

--------------------

...but then he stopped in his tracks a few steps later.

Stop worrying about the stupid ettiquitte. Just tell her what you want her to know.

So, turning on his heel, he headed back the way he had come, this time quietly slipping into the cargo bay area even as Galen asked Kyan how he was going to teach her if he couldn't even connect with the Force. He paused one final time then, just in case Kyan's response was immediate...

...but then he squatted behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"You can do this, I know that you can, and I want you to know that," he said softly in her ear. "When you're ready and able and anytime you need me, I'll be here...

...and in the meantime I'll make sure Darra is taken care of. You're special, Galen, and I think you've got a power deep within that you need to explore and learn to use. Take the time that you need..."

He quieted a moment, squeezing her shoulder one last time. "I'll be here," he reiterated.

With that he looked to Kyan, who was waiting patiently, and nodded in thanks for the moment to speak. Then, without a further word, he got to his feet and quietly exited the cargo bay...

...meaning every last word that he had said.

--------------------

“I can Gal’ika because I am not you teacher,” answered Kyan. He let his answer hang in the air just long enough for Galen to develop a look of puzzlement. “The Force is your teacher, I am merely the one to who shows you the path how far you go is up to you and the Force. Ad’ika you will become a Jedi, believe in me, believe in Terrin, believe in yourself.”

Kyan closed his eyes and taking a deep breath, holding it, then slowly releasing it he calmed his mind emptying it from all thoughts except those about Galen. He couldn’t say it was a distinct message from the Force but he was certain that his instincts that Galen was going to play an important part in the events to come and she one day would become a greater Jedi then him, no, as great as Grand Master Skywalker was.

“Close your eyes,” whispered Kyan.

“Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use their powers to defend and protect.
Jedi respect all life, in any form.
Jedi serve others rather than rule over them, for the good of the galaxy.
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.”

Yeah, I was all about that. I understood what the jedi were all about; had been introduced to the parameters which guided their lives during the sporadic moments in my own where I had crossed paths with this jedi or that. I thought back to those I had run to when I was still pregnant with Darra, thought of how I had been greeted, assisted; let my thoughts drift back to those particular jedi who had risen above the rest for one reason or another regarding me personally. Remembered running from Darth Wicked, the encounters with Desolist and his little lackey, the hideous attack on me by Roan and then to those who had come racing to help in the aftermath, how that help was given...

Yeah, I was all about their creed, not only because it just ran akin to what I believed in my heart and soul, but because I had been "rescued" too many times by jedi.

I settled more deeply into the kneeling position now, let the small clinks and rustles and thrums of a ship in operation fade away from my world, concentrating on memory, on the past, letting the here and now slip away.

Funny how easy it was to do that...

Images in my mind began to segue into soft muzziness, little bits and pieces of what in all actuality had been nothing more that what eventually came to make me me: who I was, not what I was. I accepted that muzziness, let it come over all of me, let it leach into evey bit of awareness, be it conscious or unconscious; let it carry me off and away into...

Into what...?

There was nothing. No, nothing was something; this was different, this was something recognized on a level beyond anything physical, beyond metaphysical. This simply...

Was.

Time stopped, for that was something as well. Unknowing, I let myself go completely, let that bit of self-awareness inherent in all living things no matter how intelligent, how sentient, just let it travel further, flowing... until that flow seemed to focus upon not-something, zeroed in upon not-it, picked up momentum, started hastening toward it like a river seeking the sea, like someone running to seek the arms of his beloved.

There was no recognition of anything, for that was something. There was no voice, for that too was of the world of the corporeal. There...was.

My mouth opened of its own accord; I had no idea of this happening. Somewhere in my brain neurons fired, translating strange, unrecognizable input into words yet more strange, words which seemed so unnecessary, so meaningless if only for the fact that they were needed to communicate. It was as if the mitochondria within a body cell needed to make a conscious effort to transform the materials it used into energy, needed to make a conscious effort to send it out to the rest of the body that it might be healthy and live. That was a natural part of what made life life; communicating to another being via words seemed unnatural, as if there really was a better and much simpler means, just like the connection between the mitochondria and the cell, between the cell and the tissue, between the tissue and the body as a whole. The higher up the progressional "ladder," the more difficult became what was actually quite simple and pure.

Words were meaningless, yet recognized as necessary. This recognition itself was ridiculous, for it flowed of its own between parts. Then the muzziness seemed to ripple, and reached out with its peculiar non-ness, and wrapped me in a welcoming blankness of one-ness.

One-ness coalesced into words so strangely unnecessary yet so needed for response, flowed from somewhere deep within that wonderful, soft blanket and out into the everything that the mote which was me occupied. I didn't even hear them, for I wasn't aware of anything any longer.

"The Picture is grander than you think.

"Feel."

--------------------

"Now let us think..."

[ 06-14-2010 11:14 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The All ]

--------------------

This is not the Jedi temple, it was destroyed by the Imperials and these Jedi standing before me I do not know them, but this is the Jedi temple I am sure of it somehow.

Kyan saw many children in the court yard all garbed in the robes of a Jedi, all crowded around one central figure all listening intently to the lesson it was giving. As Kyan drew closer to this figure he started to realize he knew who it was, but from where he could not identify. She stood over the vast group of children, the wind softly blowing at her fiery hair streaked with gray. Over her body she wore the outer cloak of a Jedi, but the armor of a Mandalorian as well. Her brown eyes displayed such passion when she spoke about the very nature of the Force and with words Kyan had to admit mirrored his own.

“The Force is much more than a tool that a Jedi can utilize,” said the woman. ”My Master would say it was a Living thing and we Jedi are the ones who answer its call. Our emotions, instincts, hunches are all part of its voice; but in order to hear it we must quiet the voices coming from outside of ourselves, and the ones created from our own mind to hear the whisper of the Force.”

Kyan slowly approached the woman walking through the crowd, none of them took notice to his presence. When he arrived to where she was standing among the children Kyan reached out a hand placing it softly on her shoulder.

“Ad’ika,” Kyan whispered.

The woman’s lesson suddenly stopped and she first looked over at her shoulder then straight into Kyan’s eyes. All of the children started looking around trying to locate the source of the interruption but could not see him. Waving her hands to calm the children the woman smiled then gave Kyan a slight nod.

“Ner buir’ika,” whispered the woman. “Ad’ika draar digur, ni kar’tayl gai sa’ad Kyan’buir’ika.”

Then the vision was gone.

Was that the future, no always in motion the future is, but even so it felt so real. Maybe it is a possible future, but why I never much believed in destiny or fate or prophecies only in what the Force tells me is the right things at that moment.

looking across the room Kyan saw Galen it was as if she was glowing. Not in a metaphorical sense but light was emanating from her, slowly it began to fade leaving room as it once was. Something had changed, something big; Kyan tried to reach out with the Force but as he thought he felt nothing. But there was something fear and doubt along with determination and strength. Deeper Kyan dug for this feeling and realized they were not his own. Looking straight ahead he realized the truth.

There where Galen’s, it was the bond between Master and Apprentice Kyan had no doubt about it he could feel Galen’s presence and her emotions. Reaching out further Kyan tried to feel the others on the ship but failed; he tried to levitate his lightsaber and similarly failed as well. But Galen he could sense her concern and Kyan wondered if she could feel his own.

“Gal’ika what just happened?” asked Kyan. “That was the Force wasn’t it Gal’ika, what did it tell you.”

Then into that delightful coccoon there came something sharp, something piercing. It was something that somewhere deep within myself I recognized as words:

"Gal'ika, what just happened? That was the Force, wasn't it Gal'ika? What did it tell you...?"

The softly comforting blanket evaporated in a flash; no, rather it gathered into itself, seeming to form a tunnel directly ahead of me. At the very end of that tunnel there was a dot of brightness, something that grew bigger and bigger, larger and larger, faster and faster when awareness dawned that I was rushing toward it. Yet somewhere deep within, words managed to whisper through the stark terror now washing through me as I tore pell-mell directly toward that light.

My eyes opened, and I burst into the reality of the cargo bay as a baby being newly thrust out into the world, the words I now realized Kyan was speaking entangling themselves with those that had left the barest echo of a whisper so strangely within me.

I realized my mouth was open, most lkely had been for some time. I began to close it, to swallow, to push back the terror of whatever it was that had happened to me when a final flash of comprehension came flooding over me from...

Somewhere.

I looked to Kyan in bewilderment, managed to untangle his question from what I knew was the answer he was seeking. I had no idea what it was, or what it meant, but I sure as there's Treasure on Roon was certain of one thing:

It wasn't the Force. Not... exactly.

"It said, the picture is grander than you think. Feel," I finished, stumbling a little over the words with the effort of stating them absolutely correctly, and putting the exact emphasis on the final word, just as it had been stated to me... even though I truly didn't remember when it was actually told to me.

I just knew it had happened, and it was real words, and something real had spoken them... and it wasn't the Force.

But rather, something more.

--------------------

“The picture is grander than you think. Feel.”

Those words hammered through his skull as if it was not Galen conveying them, but as how it was delivered to Galen. It defiantly was not the Force speaking Kyan was certain of that, he knew the Force well its voice was a whisper among the sea of voices, but this was as if all life silenced it voice for the briefest of moments to let it speak.

A power that is greater than the Force, or is the Force but one aspect of it. Who knows which is true or if both are true. One thing is certain it is a Living entity much like the Force and it commands great power.

Kyan would have to sort out later whether this power was good or ill. He was more concerned with this bond that he was sensing all this through Galen. Even the bond he once shared with his children, his twin brother ever could convey this much clarity of what the other was thinking.

“Gal’ika,” said Kyan. “What you are thinking is true that was not the Force.”

Kyan let the statement hang in the air giving him time to think about what to say next. Was is possible Galen had been chosen to command some power greater than the Force, and if so could he teach her to wield it responsibly. His mind flashed back to the vision the woman who guided all those children, teaching them all the nature of the Force, was this his purpose. 25 years ago his brother could have easily killed him with his last breath, but merely stripped him of his Force abilities. Was this why he was spared?

“There is something more,” continued Kyan. “There is a connection between us, I don’t know exactly how to explain it. It happens frequently between Jedi especially between Jedi sibling, mates, Master and Apprentice. Only this is unlike I have ever experienced, it may be one sided so I want to try something.”

Kyan thought of Galen and sent one simple message.

“Ad’ika.”

It wasn’t just the word he tried to convey but the meaning of the word. Mando’a bring his native language he could help but think in it as well. Ad’ika was but the word he associated with the meaning of an idea which was the root of his message.

Feel.

I drew in a breath, once again forcing away conscious thought, words, and just let the simple moment expand itself about me. Once again reality seemed to fall away, although this time not to the extent it had before. I was still aware that I was kneeling before Kyan in a cargo bay aboard Captain Joao's new ship Challenger, but that awareness just fell back into second place before what now was beginning to insinuate itself into my being.

Feel... who am I, feeling? Galen Jhin'dar Danner... no, Gal'ika... Galika...

Gal'ika. He kept calling me by what obviously was a diminutive of my name. But then another word crept into my mind, a word I was not familiar with, but a word with the same diminutive suffix as that which Kyan had tacked onto my name.

I didn't speak Mandalorian, or to be correct I guess it was "Mando'a," something like that. But although I didn't recognize the word, I certainly did the feeling that accompanied it. To be more accurate, it was delineated by a void in my feelings, a stark and empty hole not even my love for Terrin nor his for me could fill, one the solution to which had remained utterly elusive ever since that Life's-Nexus that both began and ended with the rise and fall of a hand-held rock on a dusty planet in a nondescript sector of the Galaxy.

But this-- this flowed into that hole as naturally as a breath of life, and slowly began to fill it.

I blinked, cherishing the feeling yet not certain if I was reacting as Kyan thought I should. But then I realized I should just react, period. Go with my own feelings.

That was, after all, the Message I had been given, wasn't it?

I reached out, took Kyan's hands into my own, stared intently into his eyes. Worked my jaw a moment while I tried to determine exactly how to put that feeling into words.

Then it came to me.

"You make me feel safe," I said, hoping he would interpret those simple words correctly and in them read the depth of meaning they truly held.

[ 06-15-2010 12:02 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

--------------------

In my heart I considered her my child when she decided to be my apprentice. Eventually I would have told her about my adoption vow and let her decide if she truly wished to become my daughter once she understood the meaning of family to a Mando’ad.

Pushing back his surprise lest he worry Galen, Kyan let his amazement at Galen’s raw potential flow freely across their bond. He had his original doubts when Galen initially claimed the power her sister possessed as an overestimation by an untrained eye. But after feeling Galen’s spirit and seeing what she could become he was led to believe that she under estimated her sister and also her own possibilities. Grasping Galen’s hands between his own Kyan looked into her eyes and saw the fire of the woman from his vision and knew the good things she would use not only the Force but this other power to accomplish.

“Ad’ika, my daughter,” said Kyan. He specifily said it aloud in basic for Galen’s benefit, spoken words can often times give concrete meaning. “You have no idea what those words mean to a Mandalorian and to me. You have shown a remarkable talent for the Force, for today I think your lessons are complete. Listening to the Force such as you can often time takes months or even years, when you have time I want you to practice finding that voice like you did before and listen to what it is saying. In time you will even learn to ask it for answers.”

Kyan didn’t hid his feelings of pride in how naturally Galen took to the Force, now that her powers where restored. But was it just her abilities or did it affect all other Force users as well, Kyan could only sense Galen and otherwise remained just as Force blind as before.

“Gal’ika, I truly do not want to disrupt this moment but besides this bond we share I am still as Force blind as before. I don’t know if it is just you who has had their Force abilities restored of if all have, most importantly this changes our ideas of negotiating with the Sith. For now it might be best to contact any of our Force sensitive allies to see if they have had their abilities restored for encountered any events like we just had.”

Or rather, to be more correct, what had chosen to touch me.

--even though I had all but stated to him my opinion of what I thought it really was.

Or had I?

Maybe it was all in my head; Khaandon knows everything was still somewhat muddled as far as I was concerned. Everything but one thing:

Ad'ika. My child. So he is calling me his daughter...

A rush of warmth flooded me at the thought, followed immediately by an almost completely overwhelming sense of guilt.

Dad...

I bowed my head, succumbing totally to the emotions that came from nowhere, letting them fill me, recognizing the deep sense of loss I still felt for what had happened to my father, letting a momentary and down-to-my-soul hatred toward Jharmeen take absolute control of me.

Guilt ran yapping at the heels of the above: guilt for feeling such hatred toward my own sister, guilt for being unable to even try to understand the tiniest, most insignificant reason why... and guilt that whatever bond it was that was beginning to form between Kyan and me was doing so in lieu of that I had with my own father...

Dad...

I raised my head, looked boldly into Kyan's somehow weary eyes, and in those eyes saw something that in a nutshell, very quietly but very succinctly spoke out to me:

Come home...

The guilty feeling that I was somehow abandoning Dad fled before a fresh flood of logic. I cast my gaze downward, suddenly realizing I was still clasping Kyan's hands; taking in a breath I gave them a squeeze then loosened my grip but did not let completely go. I wasn't quite sure of what was happening to me, but all of a sudden in looking back into Kyan's face I saw superimposed there the image of Dad.

It seemed as if he was trying to say something...

Catching my lip between my teeth, I leaned unconsciously forward. Was it a trick of the light? Was it something born of the guilt, of the conflicting feelings that yet raged within me? Suddenly stubborn, I peered more closely, more deeply...

"Believe in us..."

The words came from nowhere, but were quite real. I couldn't help but gasp, letting go of Kyan's hands before shooting to my feet. My suddenly thundering heart tried it's best to mask my surroundings, but only succeeded in that all I could concentrate upon were Kyan's eyes.

The eyes of my father, of Dad, of...

I forced my own eyes deckward, then let them slowly rise.

"Y-yes," I said at length, stumbling only a bit over the words as with their utterance I tried to make it seem as if nothing untoward had just occurred. But I knew... dammit, I knew--! that this wasn't the Force, that there was more, much much more, something that in these last fleeting moments had given me assurance of that fact if only by the evidence it had just presented to me.

I knew it was as real as the deck upon which I was now standing.

I drew in another breath, trying to steady myself, to calm down. Jedi seemed always ready and able to do such; if this was part and parcel of being one I knew I had a long row to hoe. But if all was as I felt it was, that there was more, much much more...

I suddenly didn't want to think about it. It frightened me to my very soul. All I knew was that I had to find Terrin, that I needed to talk to Terrin--

And Darra? came a sly little whisper from... somewhere, from something Other...

"I-- I think you're right, Kyan," I finally managed, forcing my lips to smile, forcing my hands to remain still.

"Perhaps you should go find Captain Joao, and see if you can send out a communication or something, see if anything has happened elsewhere."

I paused, realizing how transparant the above statement probably was.

"I-- I feel I need to talk with my husband," I ended, giving his hands a final squeeze before turning and heading for the door. Once I passed beyond it's frame I lit out as if the hounds of hell were on my heels, knowing that indeed I needed Terrin.

Maybe he can help me understand!

I sure as hell hoped Kyan did.

[ 06-15-2010 11:38 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

--------------------

--------------------

Uncharacteristically, words failed me miserably. I could only bury my face against his chest, seeking pressure of human contact, hoping that pressure would force into a more normal mode the thunderous beating of my heart.

"Hold me," was all I could muster before bursting into tears, utterly embarrassed by this sudden weakness, knowing it wasn't me...

Yet feeling in my gut the fact that instead it somehow completely defined me.

Which frightened me even more...

--------------------

...but he knew he'd seen that look before, if only once, and seemingly so very long ago. He rememembered it still as though it were yesterday, however-when they were on the Hornett, and she had just recovered memory that she had seemingly lost. She told him that she feared whatever was in her sister was in her as well...

"You felt something?" he asked softly, knowing that the question really didn't convey what he was thinking...

...and what he had been thinking all along, which was based on all the things he knew about Galen from the time he had met her. "...something more than the Force?"

--------------------

Gal’ika I’m sorry if this has caused you pain my child. I am not here to replace your father, just to be one when you need it.

Wondering what to do from here was another ordeal in itself. He knew from what he experienced from Galen that the power she felt was greater than the Force, a hard concept for Kyan to believe possible. His belief had been all life was created by the Force and therefore connected through it, something greater than the Force scarcely seemed possible. He tried to look at it differently, that there was the possibility that life was part of some grander system so the Force could just be one aspect of what Galen had felt. An entirely other matter was what to do with this knowledge and more importantly was it just Galen or the other s as well.

Quickly Kyan slipped back into his armor, as he was right now he wanted the solace of his armor and what he considered his true face. Heading out of the cargo bay Kyan stopped at the cockpit noting its absence he went to the galley. Link and Yaoksi chatted about something while Link was working on some piece of machinery.

No doubt something intended for our plan to fool the Sith, it may not be necessary depending on what we discover next.

He didn’t want to intrude on their conversation because it was the first time he had seen the ryn actually happy and not some act. But he knew the importance of what had happened with Galen and needed to know if the others were affected as well.

I don't want to change! I want things to be like they were! I couldn't help the childish thought even as I recognized the futility of it. Indeed, saw the obvious dangers inherent in it as well.

Change is good... things grow... but Kyan changed, and the feelings toward my own father-- had they changed too? No, that could never, EVER be, it just couldn't!

Yet he was there, in Kyan somehow, or something was, something big, something Other.

I shook my head, burying it further into Terrin's chest, hating myself for the depth of the complete and utter terror that was pouring into me like an unstoppable geyser. For the longest of moments -- I couldn't tell exactly how long, for time appeared to stop -- I just remained like that, trying to dig a safe haven inside Terrin where I could insert myself and curl up into a little ball.

But then, slowly, something seemed to flicker into life within me. It was something I was scarcely conscious of, actually, yet something which stood up against the irrational terror and holding up a virtual hand made the influx come to a halt.

Then it gradually began to reverse, until I finally found the strength and the wits to pull away from Terrin a bit and look up into his face.

"There's... there's Something, Terrin, Something... I don't know what, but it came to me, and I think it's in me; it spoke to me, real words, and it was wearing Dad's face over Kyan's...

"And Kyan called me his child, his daughter, and oh Terrin, it-- it felt right!"

Guilt threatened to push through the wall that was gradually strengthening inside me; with great effort instead of trying to push it away or run from it I simply took a moment's mental pause to directly confront it.

Dad always tried to do what was best for Jharmeen and I, came the softest of whispers in my mind. Maybe this is what's right for me--?

I didn't know. All I knew was that there was Something out there, something whose terrifying disembodied eyes we had crossed paths with, that same Something being what I knew in my heart had something to do with the weird powers Sissy had with her, and which was for whatever reason now reaching out for me.

And using Dad to assure me? Or beguile me?

"It said, Believe in us..." I finished with a little hiccup before falling into a vast and all-encompassing well of silence.

[ 06-20-2010 03:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

--------------------

My brows crawling up my forehead as my eyes widened in surprise, whatever words I was speaking to Link abruptly truncating, I let my complete focus envelop Kyan as his seemingly innocent statement grabbed it and held it in a grip of iron.

When the hell did that lil gal suddenly jump from hunches n' niggles, jedi padawan or whatever they're called, to Force user?! That certainly was news to me!

"Galen actually can use The Force?!?" I stammered as I finally found the wits to pick my jaw up from the deck and speak them. I blinked, cut a look to the Ryn, questions running rampant in my eyes.

"I didn't know this; I mean, I know she's had hunches and stuff, and you were going to train her and everything, but she uses The Force?!" I couldn't help emphasizing the latter; then with a quickly indrawn breath I pushed astonishment aside to think about the rest of what the Mandalorian-armored man was really saying.

So... powers might be back! THAT certainly held ramifications for our budding plans of saving the Universe now, didn't it? I wiped my hand down my face, chasing away surprise and replacing it with common sense.

"Ahh-- sure," I said finally, wondering just what in blazes was really going on. Was the deck still stacked against us, or did we now have a sudden ace in the hole? Or were we playing with a full deck at all...

Probably not! I couldn't help thinking before looking up to Kyan again.

"Yeah, contacting Petrolu, that's a good idea. Anyone know his communication frequency?"

[ 06-20-2010 04:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

--------------------

...or whatever you would call It...

...that referred to Itself in plural form.

Believe in US...

Terrin gazed into Galen's brown eyes, reading a wealth of emotions within them. Truthfully he was initially a bit alarmed that whatever had contacted Galen was taking on the form of her father's face...

...but then again, there was another interpretation. He was pretty sure he knew exactly What was talking to Galen, and that It could take on mutliple forms. Perhaps the form that Galen saw It as was connected to something personal for her, and would present Itself as something else for each individual person who could touch It.

Believe in us.

Somehow Terrin didn't think Galen was being asked to believe in the existence of Something Other out there, but rather to believe in it. After all, they had both been there the day The Eyes had spoken to them and had seen.

And now that he thought of it, when had Ole' Googly--as they were wont to call It--ever done anything to truly harm them? After all, if they were all part of That Which Is as Graysith had told them once, why would It seek to harm Itself?

"Sounds like That Which Is,” he then said simply. “And it sounds like It wants you to believe on more than just a surface level.”

Terrin paused, pretty sure that Galen already knew this. “Remember how we were told that we were not just individuals in the grand scheme of the Galaxy and all that occurs, but also part and parcel of it? What if this That Which Is is merely a manifestation of the collective? Maybe it's trying to deceive you by portraying Itself as your father...but then again, what purpose would that serve?”

He quieted again, trying to word exactly what he was thinking. “You're special Galen, and something deep within you allows you to touch It and potentially act upon It.” He paused again. “Your gut and instincts have never failed you before...and I don't think that they will now. I don't recall a time It has ever attempted tio harm us, now that I think of it. If this is truly a Collective that we are all intricate parts of, then I don't think it would seek to harm Itself anyway. Unless your instincts tell you otherwise...maybe you can believe in It.”

He pursed his lips, considering the other thing that Galen had told him about Kyan calling her his child, and how it felt right to her. “And although I unfortunately didn't know your father, I think he would want you to continue working with Kyan to learn to use what's inside you. You aren't ever going to forget your Father or replace him, but internally maybe you need the Father-Daughter type of relationship you are developing with Kyan...

...and maybe he needs it too,” he finished, hoping that he hadn't crossed an invisible boundary line with his last statements but feeling that perhaps Galen needed to hear them aloud.

--------------------

Which was seeking out the future birthplace of a star...

--------------------

That wasn't me, had never been me. Well, there was one time in my life that something similar had happened, a horrible time... and Time, as it marched along, had finally taught me that to rid myself of such irrational terrors and boojums I needed to just stop and simply face them. I tried now to do the same, just let my eyes close, let the warmth of Terrin's closeness wash over me, let it help push back the emotions, back into the sea of irrationality from which they had sprung, back far enough so I might look more closely upon the shore they had lapped over, and could inspect what was left there in its wake.

And damn if Terrin wasn't smack dab on target!

I didn't just know it, but felt it too. Just as deeply as those boojums had buried themselves in me. But in their departure gaping holes were left, holes filling up more and more with rationality, calmness, logic, curiosity, and...

Acceptance.

I squeezed Terrin, drew in a huge breath, and let it out. Tossing sweat-dampened hair from my face I looked up into his own.

"You're right," I said simply as sudden understanding leapt into the emotional group above. "I-- I know it, somehow."

I paused a bit, considering, letting warmth flood me further as images of Dad began to fill my mind's eye. They no longer brought guilt or hatred or anger or overwhelming unhappiness along with them. Those feelings, I now realized, quite suddenly had a place to go, a means of eradication:

Kyan, and his teachings.

I could look at my brand-new Teacher in the light of Dad, and accept. I could look at everything around me with suddenly new eyes; strange how quickly that had happened! But even more importantly, I could look at me, and see...

Well... something more than I had been since Sissy killed Dad.

Funny. I thought "killed," and not "murdered..."

Assigning a portion of my curiosity to examine this sudden thought I then let it flee into my subconscious, and returned the rest of my focus fully on Terrin. Locks impaired my vision; I reached up with one hand to plaster them behind one ear.

"I need a haircut," I said simply, then allowed my lips to spread into a smile which, believe it or not, relieved itself in a sudden and full-bodied laugh.

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"C'mon, the bridge is this way. Link, you coming?"

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"Eh, I'm sure you are probably right in style, at least as much as the rest of us," he quipped back, his smile turning a bit more lopsided as he then leaned in and kissed her softly. For a brief moment, he basked in her warmth and the connection with her, then pulled back.

"I guess we should get back and see what's next?" he then asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer before he said it.

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