Wanderlustlover: wanderlustlover@satx.rr.com

Phoenix Ascendant - Arc Two, Part Two ~*~ "The Herald of Death"

( About Thirty Minutes Ago )

"You know, I always thought that it was some type of bedtime story they told us to just get us to forget our fears and sleep for a little while," Ember said with a soft reserve. Her attention was divided so she didn't have to concentrate much; on walking, on talking, on playing with a long lock of dark brown hair that had fallen out from being pulled back.

"I mean, as far as homes go, Minbar's not bad.but it never became that, you know? Home, I mean. Not the way Earth was. I guess, after leaving Earth, I just assumed there never would be a place to call home again."

"Haven's not a bedtime story," Melissa said with a laugh. "If you catch Lyta while she's not busy, I'm sure she'd be glad to share with you some of her first memories of the place. From that perspective in those first minutes- it's-it's huge, and beautiful, and breathtaking, and this huge inspiring hope. Haven is THE home. The first, the last, the great discovered dream."

"And this Lyta person was the one standing watching the line board? She's that red head you pointed, right?"

Melissa couldn't help but giggle at that terminology. "Yeah. She's the red head. The guru. The one in charge of this flying hunk of ju- Hello!" She started suddenly, titling her head and watching a tall, wiry but well built, man with short cut blonde hair making his way past them. "You didn't tell me we had new guys on board."

"You've got me," Ember said, shrugging her shoulders, hand with palms up raised in a confused movement. "He didn't come in with the crew I was with and we're the only other ship I knew about. It was only me, two younger kids, and a nanny. Maybe there was another ship in that we didn't hear about?"

"I know who my seat buddy is now," the telekinetic replied, with a sparkle coming to her eyes.

"One doctor isn't enough?"

"Well, that's not really fair," Melissa said, with a mock pout, holding the top of her bottom lip with her upper teeth for a few seconds. It didn't last long, because a huge smile blossomed out from that pout overpowering the mock-offended look. "I didn't really get to keep him."

"You never did tell me how that date went. I'm still not even sure how you convinced him to go on a date with in the first place. Doctor- well, nurse- patient protocol and all," Ember said, dropping her bag on a table for the moment. "Which rooms are we in?"

"Let's see- Dat-de-deet-da-dout," Melissa mumbled to an old, old rhythm with the nonsense words as she ran her finger down the list. "We're together actually! In room four with a few other people; looks like a family. Well at least we're bunking."

"And so back to Nurse Jeffery?" Ember said, picking up her bag and nudging her new friend forward with a laugh.

They wandered into what looked like a common room area. Far across the room you could see what looked like the doors to the cockpit, one closing at that moment. Inside the room there were couches in the four corners attached to the wall with tables in front of them, which were coming out of the floor. There were additional seats here and there throughout the room and an occasional small table.

It looked remarkable like a waiting room, rather than a room you'd find on board any ship. There were what looked like vid-screens and message units in different areas of the room, plus something that wasn't on, but looked like it might be a computer system link.

{He took me out to this quaint little bistro-ish place that served all kinds of food} the young redhead 'cast, as she raced forward to get a seat near the front. She ended the left side and stole a padded couch corner with a table coming out around it. {We sat and talked for hours and he laughed at the faces I made trying other civilization's foods. It was kinda- -- are you all right?} She asked Ember who seemed to be glancing at the ship oddly.

"You can stop me if this sounds really odd," Ember started, looking back and forth around the room, taking in the fact there were bedrooms and that her memory usually didn't play tricks on her. "But this ship looked a lot smaller from the outside."

"Oh. That."

"Oh?" Ember raised an eyebrow expectantly. "So I'm not wrong?"

"No, not really," Melissa replied, pulling her bag into her lap and starting to open it. "It really is the size of the ship you saw outside, and it really is the size of the area you see here and all the space you haven't seen yet."

"You wanna try that by me one more time?"

"I'm not really sure about all of it really. I asked once upon a time and didn't spend much time listening to the answer when it was told to me," she commented, sheepishly. "It has something to do with space distortion and organization, the amount of molecules you can fit and stretch in one place. To tell the truth, I just never wanted to know about it all really. It sort of breaks the bubble of magic that not knowing casts upon all of this."

"Who's ship is this?"

"Lyta's. Well, now; originally it was one of G'Kar's."

"And G'Kar is?"

"A funny Narn who teases you about refusing to be god if he knows you well enough," Melissa said, and then laugh at Embers stricken and confused expression, like this was all going in one ear and out the other. That was about as much sense as it made when you hadn't been there. "He's okay in my book. Saved my life once. Even if he does eat that nasty, smelling and tasting, spoo stuff like it's going to run out soon on universal scale."

"You do manage to get into an awful lot of trouble it seems to need saving so often," the girl playing with her hair commented. "Do you like jumping in front of oncoming traffic, too?"

"Most of the time I just kind of stumble into it," the red head replied; somewhere between sullen, slightly annoyed and sheepish. She never really tried to get into trouble, it just seemed to find her. The first time she'd come into contact with Lyta it had pretty fast, too. Well, Lyta's appearance had done some for the breaking of silence in her life and the endangerment issue, too. But with all that it had brought after that, it was worth it.

Especially now that she was actually going to Haven.

"Hey," Ember whispered suddenly, and pointed with her fingers toward the very front of the ship. "Look."

Melissa leaned out of her chair in the direction her new friend had pointed and blinked a few times. So that's where the cute blond guy had vanished. She'd thought it strange she hadn't seen him at a table or a couch in here, so that made a little more sense. Also, made sense for why she and Ember hadn't seen him hide or hair of him before this time today.

Of course, he was the pilot. Weird, he didn't look familiar.

{Perhaps we shouldn't bug him, since he's the pilot.} The brunette 'cast.

{Or maybe we should just for that reason. Even pilots need love, don't they?} Asked the telekinetic with a smirk forming, as she started getting up.

{Anyone else, they'd think 'hey, I just risked my life and almost toasted myself into the other side of whatever's cross the board of life, why don't I give myself a break and just rest and watch the world go by' but not, you} Ember said, laughter echoing in her thoughts as she got up following the girl even as she shook her head.

{No, with you it's 'hey, lemme see if I can get a date with the nurse who's been watching over me so graciously'. 'Hey, lets show that new girl all the silly funny things you can get away with on the station, because I didn't need to rest anyway'. Or 'hey, lets go flirt with the pilot who's going to be flying us the next few days, because now is so much better than later.'}

{Oh, shut up, already} the red headed telekinetic giggled back, as she pushed open the door to the cockpit with her hands, and walked in.

~*~*~

( Continued from last scene in "Herald of Power" )

"And what's that?" Zack asked with part of his attention.

"Later. Breakfast first." Susan said, leading off out of the waiting area for the docks. Cocking her head to one side she regarded him. "Is that little Crechian stand still right outside of Blue Three?"

"Last I checked," he answered, casting one look back at Customs. Even as he looked, knowing she wouldn't be there, he told himself to snap out of it. This was how it always was, how it always would be. "But I'm not sure it'll be open at this hour."

"If it's there, it will be." She laughed, when he gave her a slightly doubtful look, and started to smile. "I used to get a bite to eat there around 0200 when I couldn't sleep on those nights during the long haul. They have the greatest thing there."

"Thing?" Zack asked, his tone sounding incredulous.

"Well, it's like a breakfast taco, but it's not," The general said while she started moving her hands as if in an example. "It's not made of bread and it doesn't specifically have meat or eggs in it, but it's delicious. It's sweet and sour all at once. Ever imagined what it would be like to take a bite of both ice cream and of a pepper at the same time?"

"Now that you mention it, no," he replied with a feeble chuckle, starting to wonder what he'd just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

"Well, it's like that, and not, all at once. Just trust me, you'll love it."

"Do I get to blame you if I die from it?"

"Nope," she said, turning a corner and flashing him an amused smile. "Because then you'd be dead and no one would know it was my suggestion. Besides my reputation is irrefutable."

"And this is supposed to make me feel better about eating something you can't even remember the name of, why?"

"Well, Zack," she said with an impish grin starting to form. "I could always order you to try it."

They shot comments back and forth at each other the entire way down to the business section. Most of the station and it's inhabitants missed it because they were sleeping, but those who weren't got the merest glance into the life of their chief of security and an Earth Forces general. Two people who were usually stiff and tall, tight lipped and formal with everyone they dealt with were seen walking down hallways loose and relaxed, smiling, laughing, and acting perhaps as if they might not have a care in the world.

"So what do you think?"

Zack was still chewing.

For his first bite as he pulled it up to his mouth he'd at least made a deal with himself that he wouldn't put it in his mouth and then just spit it out for two reasons. One, it was rude to the vendor, who was still less than ten feet away and two, well, Susan was staring at him very closely, which was making his stomach nervous enough about it already. So he'd stuck in his mouth and tried not to wince, preparing for what could be the worst food he'd ever tasted and was shocked by a fountain of flavors that struck him.

Before he knew it he was still chewing and there was nothing left in his mouth. Glance down at the half eaten object in his hand, he barely managed to get out, "Wow. That's great. I mean really great."

"See, have some faith," Susan said, laughing, as she glanced back to the vendor, holding up her hand. "Three more."

After paying and taking the food, she handed Zack one more and started unwrapping her first, while they walked down the all but empty hallway. She started munching on her quietly, thinking that it was calmer here. It was always calm at midnight, but there were still dozens on dozens of places to go and things to do if you knew the right people on Babylon 5. On her ship there wasn't much at midnight but to stare at the ceiling and wish for sleep.

"So what is this made of?"

"Are you really sure you want to know?" Susan asked. "The last time I found something I liked almost as much as this, I asked what it was. It was called a Sarantrien. They were all too happy to oblige the question, me being who I was, and I never ate it again."

Already more than half done with the second one she handed him, he finished chewing that bite and asked. "What was it?"

"The mashed up bits of a heart and gizzard from a Rocnor cub, sautéed in its afterbirth." Watching Zack pale and almost drop his food, she nodded, taking a bite of her midnight snack and savoring the flavors. Then she glanced over at him, nudging his shoulder slightly. "So, still think you’re brave enough to go ask the vendor what's in it?"

"I think I'll just let it settle in," Zack said after a minute. "I'll only go ask in the morning if it turns my face purple or my stomach starts singing Centauri opera. Dreadful noise, you know," he said with a slight conspiratorial look to his eyes. "They had one debuting here a few months back. I swear, it took no time at all to clear the people out of the entire marketplace area."

"Oh, I've heard of those," Susan said, trying not to laugh too hard. "Is it true nails on a chalkboard sound better?"

"Sound better? It makes it sound like the pinnacle of musical excellence," He said, unable to stop laughing. "Just don't tell them that. They get their noses all in a snit. It's all family and royal history, and therefor it's the most beautiful thing since gold."

"Well, of course, with their grand and glorious history, how could they ever be at fault for something bad?"

He stopped walking for a moment and wiped at the corners of his eyes as they got moist. Shaking his head, slowly stopping laughing and just about to examine the situation-but didn't. He somehow decided just to enjoy it, knowing it would pass too soon. The brief visit of the past always did.

"Well, you're safe from the Centauri death rattle, since they can't get to you on that behemoth of yours." He said, still smiling as he crumpled the wrapper and tossed in a recycle bin as they walked by. "How is commanding a ship?"

"Remarkably like running a station," Susan replied, after finishing off the last bite of her first midnight snack. "Except its much smaller and more manageable. They told me it would be harder in some aspects, but I never found them. I suppose it's because they can't cram a quarter million people on a ship. Sometimes I miss it."

"Nah," Zack said. "What's ta miss? No need for translations devices in your ear all too often and no odd ceremonies that call you off at all hours of the night."

"No, being suddenly trying to tear the place apart, too, every third week?" She offered with a small grin. "I miss it all, small and large, chaos and calm, problems and surprises. I don't think any of us left the same person we arrive as, and none of us stayed forever- Well, except you."

"Someone had to stay and show them who was boss while you all went off to chase your own stars," he said, calmly. This talk slightly reminded him of Michael's last visit. The man didn't drink anymore, nor talk any less, in fact he seemed to have gotten more verbose and -god love him- paranoid the longer time passed, but even he'd missed the past without admitting to miss it. "So that thing with Lockley, that was you?"

"She's not that bad. A little highstrung and blind where she wants," Susan said, waving her second not-a-taco. "But she's got it where it counts and if you have patience enough to wait out her ranting, she actually listens pretty well, too. Reminds me of a certain red head we both know."

Zack nodded, watching the people as they walked by and the booths, scanning what was open and who looked shifty, especially those that scurried away from the front after noticing him. "What'd you tell her?"

"I told her about a couple of things. About my past involving my mother, some of Lyta's past involving the station, some of her changes since leaving it and pointed out a few minorly important things about thanking those who help you whether they're in your chain of command or come to you freely."

"Your mother?" He asked curiously. A minute or two passed in silence, where she stopped to look at small silver and red broach. He looked like a bird stretching its wings to the sky, but even though she was regarding it, he could tell she wasn't concentrating on that. "Look, you don't have to tell me about if you-"

"When I was kid they put her on sleepers, when they found her," she said backing up from the shop, trying not to catch Zack's surprised expression. It was enough to just feel it. She didn't like telling the story and there was no way to just spit it out fast. It never came out fast, and it always dug into the old wounds. So she tried to make it concise, tried to make it go faster, even if it didn't work in the past.

"She chose it over going with the others like her. Said she wanted a normal life with us. We watched her die, my dad, my brother and me, every day after she made that choice, until there was nothing left. Then she took her own life."

"I'm sorry," Zack said quietly, and when she didn't comment for almost another minute, he added. "I can see why you hated the Psi-Corps so much now."

"I hope they all burn in hell for the things they did," Susan said, tersely. She had never regretted that war, never regretted those deaths. They deserved to die for what they done to so many people. They'd ruined lives. They'd ruined families. They'd ruined everything that the word family meant to so many, until someone was strong enough to come and try and pick up all those pieces and make them work again.

They hadn't expected it to be one of their own. They hadn't expected to come from within instead of without. Their entire structure crumbling without stability. She was glad for Psi-Corps failing, glad they'd all be sentenced to death, or life in prison, even though she found that lenient.

"Captain Lockley," she started up a minute later, after clearing her throat, and getting back on the original topic. "Was actually receptive to most of everything I had to say. Most people are when it comes down to deciding whether you're going to make a friend or an enemy of someone who has the power to explode a class three star just from getting too angry."

"A sun? Who?" Zack said, catching that a moment late, while he'd been trying to place the face of a vendor. He'd realized it had been someone they'd pulled in for questioning a few weeks ago, while he'd been listening to Susan as she kept talking. "You mean, Lyta-?"

"Yeah," Susan said after a moment. "Temper management isn't exactly her strong suit."

"I noticed," he commented, remembering for a second that she had kissed his cheek and felt a warm thrill inside him. He pushed it away as fast as he could remembering the woman next to him was a telepath, too, and felt his cheeks warm because of it. "But I didn't think- I mean, a sun is-"

"Huge," she said nodding, and taking another bite. "And small in the magnitude of what she could do if she really put her mind to it. She won't. Not yet, at least. I think she's as terrified of the true scope of her powers as everyone around her is. Can you even imagine being the most powerful being in the universe, without knowing what your powers were, or how they worked? Knowing at the same time no one can help you figure them out and that everyone near you is going to turn you away because of what you could do?"

"Jesus," Zack mummered, thinking about a million different suns, seeming like tiny stars, easily put out like candle flames under candle snuffers.

"Damn straight. And those of us, who do get it, sleep soundly knowing she's still sane enough to understand that herself. It's a wonder some years she doesn't fall off the deep end with the situations she manages to get herself stuck in and the important people who just kick her at every turn," Susan said, as she tossed her wrapper in another receptacle they passed by. Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath she followed that up with something else startling.

"I know you've been considering retiring."

"WHAT?" Zack said, louder than he'd anticipated it coming out his mouth. "How did you-"

"Smarter answer. Don't ask questions you really don't want to know the answers to." She ran her fingers over her cuffs for a second nervously, and stuck her hands in the pocket of her uniform.

"That's part of what I wanted to ask you about. I think Lyta's about to get herself into another situation where she'll be in over her head, a situation she'll stay with 'til it's sorted out for better, or worse, and she's going to need someone to help her, whether she knows it or not."

"Why can't-"

She stumbled over his words before he had his question all the way out of his mouth, "Because Earth Force isn't quite happy I'm still here, but now I have Captain Lockley to back me up on there being an emergency need for me and my ship. I go back in a few hours. Anything pending over that time would mean I'd be taken into custody and court marshaled the first time I dock up again."

~*~*~

( Two and Half Days Later )

{Jason!}

A deep laughter sounded in his mind and the man bent down to pick up the child flying at him with all her might. She was barely the age of five years old, with hair light as corn silk, and eyes bluer than the deepest depths of any of the seas he'd ever seen and she came at him with the enthusiasm of most children. Her feet moving fast as they could carry her, arms wide open and her face glowing with a smile that could have lit up the dark.

He had been looking for her and he wasn't surprised she found him first. She was a quiet little girl, who could make you forget she was next to you, her mind was usually so silent. She wasn't psi-null but she was a very special little girl. Incredibly special even with the fact she couldn't pick up others thoughts without a large amount of help and physical touch. What she could do so far outweighed all of that down side though.

She could completely mask her psi signature and she could light fires, all with a simple thought.

"Hello, Dari," he said, after spinning her around in the air a few times. "I see you're feeling better today."

{My temperature broke last night.} She 'cast, hugging him with her face buried in his neck. {I'm better now! I'm allowed to come out and play with all the other kids!}

"Ah-ah!" A female voice came up behind the two hugging a slight laughter in her tone. "I said you could get up and play, but you still have to take it easy. Your system is still adjusting from being ill for the last week. Afternoon, Jason. Out for a visit or can I help you with something?"

Jason smiled, winked at the woman and then squeezed the little girl a touch harder to get her attention since she was pouting now. When she looked up to him he gave her a smile and learned closer to make it seem like he was just talking to her. "You'd better listen to Heather there. I don't want to be the one getting you in trouble. Then we'd both be in trouble with her and we don't want that, do we?"

{Nope,} Dari cast with a small grin sneaking back out. {I can be good. It was just lonely being sick and away from everyone. It was really, really quiet. I have a new book. Would you like me to practice reading with you again?}

"I'd love that, darling. Why don't you run along and get it and I'll be right in after you, okay?"

{Okay!} She said after being set down and took off for her room again.

"A new book?" He said with a grin.

"We got another shipment in for the Library two days ago. This time from Minbar." Heather said, watching the girl run back in. She was overjoyed the girls fever had broke. She had been debating whether she'd have to bring it up to the council that they might have need to take her away to get someone to see her soon. "I was sure you would have heard."

"Oh, that's right." He commented, "I'd almost forgotten. We get so many shipments in still. It's hard to believe it's been so many years. Who knew building a civilization would take so long?"

"Me," Heather said, sounding serious, but her lips curled to a half smirk when he looked at her. "So what can I do for you today?"

"Tell me that all of the sick children look as healthy and happy as she does?" Jason asked, nodding toward the building.

"Two more caught it last night," Heather said reaching up to scratch her head, before glancing at the shrieking come from one side of the playground. Adrenaline was calmed by amusement, as she realized one of the slightly older children here had just shot a bull's eye with the padded mock arrow set. "Dari's been the first to recover from it so far."

"How many now?"

"Five," Heather replied, her voice both unhappy and dark, as she checked on them all mentally at that moment.

"How'd she recover?"

"Last night she just woke up in the middle of the night and asked for a glass of water. Sudden broken fever and so far not a single residual symptom. It doesn't really make any sense." She said shaking her head, with her lips pursed for that moment.

Two of them, Jessica and Sean, were sleeping soundly, still completely exhausted during their first day of this bug. One, a girl named Marie, was doing her school work and the last two, Kale and Bradley, twin brothers who shared everything, were whispering between beds because they couldn't sleep.

"Well, at least we know we can beat this, too," Jason said, firmly.

"It's breaking out all over the place. We need better medical supplies," Heather responded to his comment. "Better medical staffing for all of the cities, too."

"So noted, once more," he said, as he placed his hands in the coarse pockets of his pants and started walking toward the Children's Center with her, taking note of the cool breeze and the children's light sweaters and jackets. "And how many things that does that leave us at that need major fixing?"

"Too many," she said, with a frown as they rounded the corner of the main hall.

{Too many what?} Dari piped up, suddenly, surprising both of them. She was standing in the hallway to their left holding her book loosely in her right hand.

"Is that your new book?" Jason asked, pulling up a smile for the girl.

{Yes.} Dari cast, giving both of them a long-suffering look. They weren't going to tell her because she was a child, she decided. That was the way grownups always were. They were always afraid to tell kids the truth or saying you weren't big enough to understand. All she had to do was get bigger, taller, and then they'd talk to her like she wasn't someone who couldn't understand. She didn't understand why they never even tried to explain stuff.

"Do you want to read it in castle room?"

Dari nodded slowly; then glanced at Heather and then back at him. {Can Heather come, too?}

"I think Miss Heather's busy right now, darlin'," Jason said, offering her a hand. "She's still watching over the other kids, too. Remember? Like she did for you?"

{Thank you, Heather} Dari said, and she launched herself at Heather's knees hugging them tight. She stayed there till Heather kneeled down and hugged the girl close to her, then placed a kiss on her forehead.

{Go on, Dari. I'll come look in on you in a while. I'll even bring Artemis. Okay?}

{Okay!} Dari said with a grin and dashed off holding out a hand to Jason.

She watched the two go off quietly, a little girl, smaller and thinner than most children her age, and a black man who looked like he'd seen the worst parts of hell, but was willing to come through in the long haul for his kind. They looked so different and yet the warmth of love that radiated off of them was staggering.

The little girl had originally taken to him because she said when he came close it felt like someone was tickling her all over. That was something Heather noticed, but it didn't effect her like it did Dari. To Heather he seemed like a live wire, but mostly because he seemed to be so much bigger in presence than in physical reality. Of course, even if he was corporeal he couldn't mask himself.

Dari was coming along, finally, after not talking to anyone for years. They still couldn't get her to talk out loud, but getting her to start talking mentally so much was a big step already. She was talking fluently with two people at the very least and finally starting to play with other children, even if she wouldn't say anything to them. Some of the older kids understood, but some of the younger ones still shunned Dari. Heather watched them vanish off in their walk to one of the playrooms decorated up with storybook knights, dragons and damsels painted on the walls before she went to the rest of her business.

After checking on the sick children briefly, Heather walked to door and grabbed her scarf. It wasn't really cold, even in midwinter. It was December back home, too. This year they were just barely getting the chill, Haven was on a closer course with the twin suns this year, which meant the winter would be calm and the next summer could be much worse than the last one. She admitted her scarf was more a comfort than anything to be used against the weather, because she had a good sturdy coat and warm clothes already.

Tying the scarf and flipping one part of it over her shoulder, she headed out of the Children's Shelter. Walking out toward the Council building, she tossed a ball back to some of the kids playing and tapped Byron's shoulder metaphorically and mentally as she did.

~*~*~

( Two Days Later )

"Was that what I think it was?" He asked curiously.

She nodded, covering her mouth with her fingers when she yawned.

"Do you know how dangerous it is to be using a Shadow Gate?"

"Yes, Lennier," Lyta replied as they walked down the hallway. "I've been briefed about the do's and don'ts of Shadow technology by more people than just you. I'm sure Sheridan would want my head if he knew I reactivated it myself. There's a man who needs to get over his trigger finger, if any."

Yawning once more, she asked, "Have you heard from Delenn yet?"

"Not yet, no," Lennier replied. "But I expect her call any day now."

"I'd like New Vegas lottery to call tomorrow and tell me I've won, too," she said with a teasing grin, happy to reach her room. Sleep sounded nice at this point. Had it been almost a week since she slept? "Well, this is mine. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep well, Lyta." He said, nodding his head once, and turning to walk down the corridor.

Looking after him for another few seconds, she shook her head and stepped inside her room. She had to admit she'd missed his presence. As overbearing, helpful, and nosy as he could be at different time, she had missed him a lot. It'd probably been only a year or so, maybe a little more than two. Could it have been so long? She'd gotten so used to him being there, which was different all in itself.

She turned one of the lights to dim and changed into a shirt, that hung to mid thigh, to sleep in. She glanced at the letter on the table next to her bed. She wasn't even sure why it was still there. The edges were charred. The paper was rumpled, from being crumpled and thrown at the wall a dozen times, but also looked as if someone had made the attempt to flatten again.

Shaking her head, she slipped into bed and told the lights to go off. She laid there in the silence of her room, where it was never silent for her. She could without trying hear the rest of the world around her and all the echoes of what had gone on before, but even all of that was drummed out by the chaos in her mind caused by Byron.

~*~*~

( One Day Later )

{Oh...wow.}

Lyta smiled, her eyes watching the sight in front of her with both a soft feeling of peace and nervousness, as she reached out to the girl behind her. {Aren't you supposed to be in a seat, preparing for landing?}

The girl blushed, still holding the door to the cockpit almost like she might fall if she let go of it. Even with the words from Lyta in her mind, and her cheeks warming she couldn't tear her eyes from the scene in front of her. They'd just come out of hyperspace with an odd jumping sensation, and in front of them was a pair of bright twin suns balanced by two planets circling them.

Maybe it didn't look much different from all the other planets she'd seen while coming out of gates before traveling, but this was like every single doubt of ever coming home fled her. She'd known Haven and Heaven from Lyta's descriptions, her memories, and their talks about them, but she'd somehow figured out she might just never get to come here. It was so normal, and so like looking at it through a microscope from here still but it made her loose the ability to breathe and some how brought tears to her eyes.

Especially at Lyta's next words.

{Welcome home, Melissa.}

Melissa nodded, after drawing a ragged breath finally, and backed away leaving the door closed in her absence without a comment even. It was shock and the tears and trying not to give into the complete embrace of her deepest hidden hopes that came from her before she wandered off.

Lyta smiled and took a breath in as she closed her eyes, seeing her people looking out the side windows, felt their joy, their tears, their hugs and laughter. The full peace of that settled in them when all the realistic knowledge they might never make it here even if this was a place there children could grow up free in. Leaving them mostly she reached out to the planets and felt the lull of the thoughts and life there. She didn't cry, but she let the breath out slowly, opening her eyes again, thinking finally that she'd stayed away too long.

Touching the world just long enough the right person got the desired message by the bare touch.

"What are the blue rings?" Lennier asked from across the small walkway.

"Our protector," she said as she glanced at thing he was asking about. Both planets had what appeared to be blue bubbles encircling them completely. It looked almost like an atmospheric occurrence or a ring that just went all around it like a shield. "They stay around the planets regardless of whether he's here with us or traveling far away."

"He?" Lennier asked, sounding very doubtful. "One single person is doing that?"

"Well, I'm not sure you can call him 'a single person'," Lyta said, as a grin started to creep across her lips. "He will try to convince you without you noticing that he is just a person, though, but he's so much more."

Arrival and landing took about two more hours, but there were no hitches at all. Lyta was relaxed about most of it, unlike everyone else. It seemed the moment they were down most of the people on board crowded toward the landing door even before the door opened. It left Lyta amused and with a smile on her face watched them, and it only became better once the door opened.

She walked out, one of the last few, dressed the same as most everyone else coming out. She had a long sleeve button up shirt and pants outfit in a soft graphite color, matching boots, her hair braided down her back behind her and a bag hanging off one shoulder. Nothing about her screamed that she was anyone even slightly more important than the person who walked out in front of her or behind her.

Standing at the doorway for a moment she took a deep breath of the real air, mixed scents of earth, faint smoke, and winter wind; and then moved on when someone nudged her shoulder to get a look out. A grin spread across her face when she stepped off the stairs and realized someone was already standing less than five feet from her with thier hand held out for her. She took the hand, graciously, and was pulled into a hug that she didn't immediately pull out of.

Once she did though, she seemed much like the other radiant people around them, smiles and a soft glow in her face. "I heard you'd been busy lately. I wasn't sure you'd be here when we arrived."

"And miss my second biggest fan after such a long wait?" The man asked with a laugh as he tapped her chin with a curled finger.

"It's been much too long," she nodded. "Hopefully I won't have to leave anytime soon. You have to meet someone I brought with me. Where did he...?"

Lyta twirled to one side, looking across the pseudo large crowd, and gaining a confused expression, until she finally spotted Lennier and waved him over. Some people were leaving disappointed needing to wait longer, but each time a ship came that amount dropped further and further. The crowd was thinning as people from the ship were being drawn off to houses and small restaurants, with the family and friends who'd been waiting, hoping to see them. Through the thinning crowd he made it easily over to them.

"Here he is," she said, introducing the first man to the approaching. "This is Lennier. He's the Liaison to Minbar on Babylon 5 usually. Don't give me that look. He's safe and trustworthy. He's helped me a lot during the past years, especially on Earth."

Lennier raised a curious eyebrow, without seeming to react to the compliments she was giving about him to someone else. He just took a moment to look at the man standing next to her. He was tall, not overly built, had brown skin, and dark, but happy eyes. He also seemed to be okay in Lyta's book, her posture was relaxed and her expression seemed quite happy.

"Lennier this Jason Ironheart."

"A pleasure, I'm sure," Lennier said, with a nod.

"Any friend of Lyta's," Jason said, and then the smile dropped slightly. He nudged Lyta's shoulder slightly. {You've got company.}

She furrowed her brow and looked across the almost completely clear area, save for two families, and found herself meeting Byron's eyes. A shudder ran straight down her spine and her skin felt clammy. By reaction she clenched one of her fists and looked away abruptly.

Jason frowned slightly, but let go of the thought of asking, without even acknowledging it. Lyta always explained things in her own time and he had all the time in the universe to wait. "The council will want a meeting. Even impromptu and informal just to have their own small welcoming. I don't think I'm supposed to tell you but they're trying to figure it for four hours from now."

"We need to get cleaned up and eat something, it's been a long trip," Lyta said, as she linked an arm with Lennier who, was diligently observing their conversation and, only moved to pat her hand softly with his other hand once she had his arm. For a moment it was as if he understood her sudden problem. It calmed her but not enough. She had matters she needed to take care of before dealing with city, state or planets.

"Make it to two hours, and don't inform them that I'm coming."

"Yes, ma'am," Jason replied, with amusement in his eyes, before he glanced across her shoulder and added. "I'll take care of your company, too."

"Thanks. I owe-" She stopped almost mid sentence and both she and the large black man seemed to share a growing smile that confused Lennier to no end.

Humans.

They never did make that much sense.

Telepath's could be so much more confusing of that species, too, he learned.

~*~*~

( Two hours Later )

"I-We're not-"

"Miss!"

"Ready!"

"Praise the Great Maker!"

Lyta actually started to grin just slightly at their reactions, after she'd opened the door to their meeting and simply walked in. Seeing them all in a fuss over her sudden appearance was better than them prepared, with walls, charts, reports, and speeches. They seemed more real in this moment of sudden panic after her appearance.

"Gentleman! Gentlemen, and Ladies," She opted, with a nod to one woman with dark brown hair sitting off to the side of Byron, another two women at the other side of the curved table and one last, a fourth, almost all the way on the other side. "I'm sure this impromptu appearance has caused you much surprise and I'll ask you to over look the fact I didn't check all your date planners to see when I could squeeze in-"

"Anytime of the day or night," a man broke in. "You're welcome in this room."

"That's over doing it a bit, but thank you," she said, with a small nod. "I'd guess from your reactions you all know who I am if only by reputation as the ninth member of this council or the benefactor of Haven and Heaven."

She didn't look that much different than she had when she stepped off. Her body and hair were washed and cleaned, but she'd taken the job of braiding it back down instead of leaving it free. She was wearing her boots under a native gown that she'd bought while wandering the city near her house. It was turquoise with a silver ribbon running around all the edges, light weight enough for the sun, and close nit enough to keep the breeze from making her cold. It accented her body's shape without showing anything off or seeming to call much attention to her. She, now, blended into the general look of everyone in this room, too.

"If I'm not interrupting?"

"No," Byron replied, gathering her attention to the center left of the table, though he seemed more hesitant to address her now. "We just closed. We were having a discussion of asking you to join us for a meeting."

"I see," she said, glancing around the room but not too sharply. It got her to memorize the faces and not concentrate on Byron's presence all at once. It didn't help all at once though. His voice, his presence was starting to grate on her quite like nails on a chalkboard. "I've been away from Sanctuary much too long and I must admit I long to be outside in her, before I start discussing about her and all her sister cities."

"Of course, Benefactor," one the men closest to her said and almost paled when he saw her frown.

"Lyta, please," she said, and afforded him a smile that seemed to cheer him up slightly. "I also see a lot of new faces since I was here last. You all have mine, perhaps we can start with your names?"

"Conner O'Reily," the nervous man, who'd originally paled at her frown, offered up with sudden gusto. He was slightly tanned with reddish-brown hair and green eyes.

"Sean O'Reily," the man next to him, said with a smile, and a twinkle in his matching green eyes. The two had to be identical twins, aside from temperament differences, she realized, as he, too, was slightly tanned with reddish-brown hair and green eyes. He'd been here before, his brother hadn't. Family influence?

"Sara Jenkins," the stout woman next to him said, much in the voice of a teacher or governess. Her clothes lacked much color, though her eyes seemed to make up for it. There was a shrewd kindness in those eyes that Lyta recognized right away even with the tight pulled hair and the aged face. This woman would be someone unafraid to stand up for her opinions.

"Brianna Prince," the next woman offered with a smile, her eyes smiling as she nodded in hello. Dark brown hair loose and wild, bright blue eyes, and shyness. They had met many, many years ago. She'd been wise in Lyta's choice of this one it seemed, if she was still here. The woman had breath- taking ideas and only needed to be somewhere where someone would listen to her, regardless of her young age.

"Byron Gordon," he said next, and she looked at him for only a moment before passing her gaze on to the woman next to him.

"Leon S-"

"Wait," Lyta said, holding up a hand to the man on the other side of the second woman with dark brown hair. The woman hadn't said a word, looked up from writing on her note pad, or seemed to have been noticed she'd been looked over until Lyta spoke again and she glanced up. Pointing at her, she asked her curiously; "Who are you?"

"This is my-" Byron started, protectively.

"I'm not part of the council. I'm their scribe," the woman said, with a minor annoyance inflected in her words, and Lyta was sure she caught just the faintest hint of a comment from the woman to Byron without even meaning to. "My name is Heather."

"Thank you," Lyta said after a second. She'd easily picked up from the woman that there were concerns in her mind that made other places than this room much more important. She was probably the one Lyta seemed most interested at the moment. For more reasons than the fire she could sense in her just looking at her. She resisted a glance back to Byron at this, and nodded to the man who'd started on the other side of this Heather. "Go on."

"Leon Stevens," he said, producing a smile that said he hadn't minded the sudden halt earlier. She'd know him before, too. He was good with people, but even better at building. She'd encouraged him to have more of a say, but as of when she'd last left, he hadn't. It was wonderful to see him here now.

"Barkly Wilerson," a darkly tanned younger Centauri man, with black hair and bluish eyes next to him added. He couldn't have been more than half way past twenty, she guessed. Young, but she wasn't a voter here. Each of the people in this room was here for a reason and she'd learn those soon enough.

"Mandrat," A stiff looking male Minbari elder replied, with the slightest nod in respect. Another one she knew well. Hard to get to council but worth it for some of the startling moments of clarity he could bring out of all the others. He was her first attempt back then to try to make the council like the cities multicultural.

"I'm an honorary member when present, my name is Jason IronHeart," Jason spoke up from the end of the table, smiling in amusement as he had been leaning back in his chair, regarding Lyta thought the entire name exchange. He needed to speak with her after this, but the way this thing seemed to be going, he was placing his bets it would be a day maybe two before they got a good conversation about everything.

Lyta nodded and looked across all of them, making herself look past Byron fast each time, and said;

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, new and old. Over the next while I'm sure we'll all get to know each other very well. There's much each of you has sent me that will need discussing both in council and outside of it. I'd like to congratulate you for all the work you've finished up and commend you on the things you've put forth. I do, thought, regret to tell you, I will not be excepting your request for a meeting this evening."

"Business before pleasure is never the way professional people work, I know, but that statement wasn't ever about coming home. I am home, again, to a place I fought, and bled, and watched my family die for, while I was away," she said, judging her words and their expression by them as she went along the line. "I plan to spend my first few days remembering what joy, happiness, freedom and home are all about again first hand. I hope you all understand."

"Is there anything I need to know before you all go?"

The sudden chaos erupting around the room was enough to make Jason start laughing. She picked up most of what everyone said and thought at the moment that it projected straight at. It battered her like a sandstorm and went away like pieces of paper inside the file of her mind. Her eyes landed on Jason as his laughter wafted through her and Lyta raise a hand to silence them. Some of them looked a bit worried, but she was smiling so their worry only went so far.

"I'm glad to see all of you are so passionate about what you're doing, but it sounds like everything is at the moment well in hand and none of it is so serious it can't wait another night. So I will tell you all thank you for staying after your meeting during this time, say that I'm looking forward to more time with all of you one on one and in the here, and ask only one request of you at the moment."

"Away so long and you've only one thing to say, lass?" Sean asked as he gave her teasing wink.

"At the moment, yes. May I speak to the Byron alone, please?" Lyta said through the clutter of thoughts and voices. They cut off at once when she began to speak. It wasn't her tone, which was strangely kind, and it wasn't her demeanor, because that still seemed sweet and a little put on by the fuss, but there was something in the air around her that made her question seem like a demand.

None of them could even place what seemed wrong, but they tripped over each other just trying to be gracious and grant her request. It really was scene and made her feel just a little more uncomfortable that they were scrambling to fulfill the smallest request. This really was one of the reasons she spent so long away from these worlds. She loved them overwhelmingly and they had a tendency to love her back with the rampant fever of a riot mentality.

Most of the people hadn't the vaguest idea who she was outside of this office though, so she did enjoy that. Walking around, waving at people, walking through some of the shops, exchanging pleasant conversation all the while. Perhaps it was this string of thought at the moment that kept her from hitting him the moment the crowd between them had dispersed. The council room was empty and silent in that first moment, save for the sound ruffling the curtains in the windows all around the room.

"I'm so glad that you'r-"

"I will not dispense small talk with you," she said, blocking his sentence from its end.

She had not even moved a foot closer to him, so that the area still stood between them like an abyss. He looked right. He felt right. He screamed that he was who he claimed to be, just by standing there looking surprised. Surprise seemed to register and drown on his face, coming with an expression of mollified sadness and expectation. He reminded her in that moment much of a child.

"I could tear your mind apart faster than you could even attempt to block me to find what I want to know, but I would rather hear you say it," she stated, her eyes drilled into him, unwavering. "Why - No, How are you here?"

"The why is much easier than the how actually," Byron said, half-leaning, half sitting on the left corner edge of the desk at the front.

Standing alone in the room he could get a better look at her. She didn't seem at all like the woman he'd originally met. If it was at all possible in the passing years she didn't seem to have gotten older, but younger. The wrinkles at the edges of her eyes and her hands were both completely smooth and her hair was full of lustre and shine. No, the only part of her that seemed older was her eyes. This woman standing before him wouldn't hang on anyone words, nor stop just because no one was there push her the rest of the way.

"Why did I come back?" He asked, not flinching from the rage that was radiating off of her. "Because there is no other place I would be but here. This is where I belong. Helping our people. Forging a new, better tomorrow for them today."

"How?" Lyta asked, but the way her voice sounded, it was not a question; it was a demand.

"That parts a bit harder to-"

"You best get started then," Lyta said through her teeth, as she crossed her arms.

"I've had the most powerful telepath's on both planets look over my memories of the last six years before I arrived here," Byron said, standing up. "All of them are baffled to what really happened the years before I woke up on New Vegas without a clue to who I was or where I'd come from."

"The memories of most of my life came back slowly. The worst ones first, of course," he said, reaching up to touch the left side of his neck where the burn scarring was mostly covered by his hair. It went along almost his entire left side from just right below his knee to almost the top of his head. Most of the scars on his body were covered by clothing, aside from part of his hand, and the part that went up his neck, and across part of his head, though luckily only touched about an inch into his face, usually shadowed by his long hair.

"Back then almost everyday I thought about giving up. Every morning, every memory was just another nightmare that floated loose in the darkness of my head. Killing people. The burn of the fire licking at my skin. Screams, panic, and this feeling like nothing would ever be better no matter how hard I tried. And when I thought it couldn't get any worse," Byron said standing up and walking toward her. "I woke one morning and there was you. The touch of your skin, the sound of your laughter, your eyes full with love, and your passion to see everything for our people through to the very end."

Lyta turned away from his words, barely getting out a whisper of; "Don't."

"From that moment forward, I had this bursting surge of hope. This knowledge that there could be more to remember than just darkness and pain. And slowly everything came back, every memory and moment of the times before-" he said raising a hand, barely a foot behind her.

"Don't touch me," she said, barely loud enough to hear her own voice, it all catching. The swirl around her thoughts made her feel both smaller and larger than she was. Everything was a whirlwind inside of her; anger and hurt rising to a boil, threatening to just let go.

"-Because of you, Lyta. You're reason I'm standing here. You're the reason for everything." Byron said, placing a hand on her shoulder to turn her around. "Lyta, don't you-"

{DON'T TOUCH ME!}

He never finished his sentence.

The moment his hand came into contact with her shoulder, her face had turned to look over the shoulder he touched and the force of her voice inside his mind dulled any sound he had been able to hear the moment prior. And though she tried to contain it, the urge went faster than thought process to stop it, and Byron went flying. His body arced across the room and slammed into the bookcase, causing it to break and fall with him.

A bubble formed above him a moment later, saving him from being hit by the top of the bookcase, it's contents and the two shelves below it, causing it to fall to the sides of him. Pain was searing across his body in places he hadn't felt hurt since he'd dropped a beam while helping build one of the new houses. Pain was first, then shock, then disbelief, as his eyes opened wide on the woman standing before him.

"You're not supposed to be alive. I watched you die in front of my eyes, far enough away that I wouldn't get hurt, because you wouldn't let me. But not far enough away that I didn't feel their pain or your pain, the sudden lurch when your mind was gone," Lyta said, walking toward him from across the room, the building starting to shake as she spoke.

"I stood there and watched you kill yourself and our people." The air around her seemed almost to shimmer as she took her steps, her eyes becoming more in focus for him. They were completely black, hallowed at the edges in white. "I continued your plans in memory of you."

"I hoarded children for safety. I gathered people for a revolution." Lyta didn't even seem to notice the shaking of the building that was growing stronger and stronger. Things were starting to fall to the floor all through the room, and all through the building. "I blew up buildings."

"I killed thousands of people for you!" She shouted at him and the building shook viciously all the way from the ground up.

One of the front columns cracked, but didn't fall. Everyone walking by started hurrying children away, not sure what was happening, but sure that it was turning bad. On the air was a firestorm that hadn't been there fire minutes ago, one where you could almost taste the ash on your tongue already.

For a moment she went quiet and all she could hear was a child shrieking outside. She could feel the tears on the little boy's face and the stark terror in him, a terror caused by the sudden upstart of the building. He was barely out of his mother's arms, barely able to walk alone. But he didn't know anything aside from the terror flooding him now as something that filled his mother with dread was something he felt, too.

"Lyta?" He asked, going to push up on his hand, which ended in him screaming at a surge of sudden pain.

"I won. I won the war." She said softly, after a second of errie complete silence where nothing shook around them, her eyes on the ground. She took a step back instead of forward. Then another step, and another. Then she finally looked at him again, her voice become pure steel again, rage coming with, causing the smallest tremoring shakes.

"You're dead. Don't come near me."

Turning on her heels she walked straight out of the room, not even glancing at the woman at the desk outside in the hall. The woman watched her though. The gate of her steps, strict, echoing in rage and confusion. The flare of the way she moved, seeming small and to not take up much space to look at, yet overwhelming to perceive on a mental level looking at all of her. Against her better notions, as she stood up to go in and check on Byron, Heather smiled.

Maybe things were looking up for Haven, after all.

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

Next
back to others fanfic