______What were you thinking? her father boomed angrily as he paced across the length of her holding cell.
______Just as before, she suspected that this line of question was also rhetorical. It was best to just let him vent his frustrations. She sat in the small cell, and didn't utter a sound.
______You could have been killed-and after I expressly told you not to go back there! He wasn't even looking at her-a sign that he was really angry.
______And Kavolo-he's gone too far this time. I don't care if he kills himself-more power to him-but when he drags you into it--
______Hey! Aeon protested. That last comment went a bit too far. I went to him for help. I wanted to find out what was happening to me.
______What? he asked critically. This business about the crystal again?
______Yes! she stormed. You were there-didn't you see? Dad-something's happening to me. Its real. I can't explain it, but it started the day we arrived here on Yavin.
______She searched for an explanation, both for her father, and for herself. Somehow I'm connected to this planet, and--
______Aeon, her father said calmly, do you hear what you're saying? Do you really believe this nonsense...?
______He might as well have struck her; she'd never been so hurt by him. She didn't know why she had left herself so vulnerable. It wasn't her habit to let her guard down like that.
______His words hung in the air between them. She couldn't speak, and her eyes stung attempting to hold back tears.
______Through blurred vision she looked the General in the eye. She felt a teardrop burning her cheek as it streamed down the side of her face. Am I free to go? she asked as evenly as she could muster.
______She watched her father's face-the struggle between his compassion, and his sense of duty and responsibility. He opted for what he knew best.
______No, he said as gently as he could. I want you to learn--
______Then get out, she said bitterly.
______The look of surprise and hurt on his face made her feel even worse inside, but she didn't waver.
______She stared down her father's piercing gaze, and drew strength from a reservoir heretofore unknown to her.
______Her father's face softened for a moment, and then the muscles in his jaw tightened-steeling themselves, and the man. But it seemed to her that for just a moment he had considered being her father again.
______As you wish, he said curtly. He turned, and left her alone in the holding cell.
______She waited until the blast door closed before she let herself cry. And when she did, she released her pain through great heaving sobs. She cried totally uninhibited. She cried for what seemed like an eternity.
______She would exorcise all of her pain that way if she could.
______It was quiet. She lay curled on the cot, exhausted and drained. Her well of tears had long since dried up, and she simply stared at the wall.
______It occurred to her that others might have heard her crying, but she didn't care. She no longer concerned herself about being perceived as weak, because she knew otherwise.
______As she lay there, she realized that she may never get what she wanted-no, what she needed-from her father, and that she might have to learn how to exist without it.
______It was necessary, this revelation, while not entirely pleasant. She had to free herself from this chronic source of pain, lest it always be her biggest weakness.
______People like Sahaar preyed upon such weakness-they could sense it. Pain led to anger, and she had seen a small glimpse of the path laid by anger.
______But it still wouldn't be easy. He was her father, after all, and always would be.
______She didn't think it would hurt so much if he'd always been distant, but she could remember vividly how he used to look at her, and hold her.
______She had never felt such comfort and safety in her life as she had in her father's arms. What she wouldn't give to--
______She felt something wet on her face, and she realized that she must have had one more tear inside of her after all.
______One last tear, she told herself.
______Slowly, she pulled herself up from the cot. She had to command each of her each of her limbs individually. They were so heavy, and she was drained both physically and mentally.
______Despite her earlier bravado, she didn't feel like sitting in the holding cell much longer. But she wasn't going to go begging to her father. He wouldn't keep her there forever, just until he felt that she had learned her lesson. Well, until then she'd--
______Aeon! she heard, and looked up at the source. Tam was waving to her from a grate in the ceiling.
______Good timing! she smiled.
______A few minutes later, she was climbing into the tunnel. How'd you find me? she asked.
______We split up when you weren't in your room. Your father said you couldn't have any visitors, so if you weren't there that meant you were probably here. He grinned, looking quite pleased with himself: I found you this time!
______Now what did he mean by that, she wondered?
______Are you all right? he asked tenderly. You've been crying, he observed, and reached out to her.
______His hand brushed lightly against her tear stained cheek. The sudden proximity of his hand-and the spark of contact between them-caught her off guard, and she jerked back reflexively.
______Tam pulled away, embarrassed. I'm sorry, he stammered awkwardly.
______No, its okay, she smiled. Really. He relaxed and even managed to smile a bit. Through what little light was available, she could see his cheeks were still flushed.
______We should hurry, Aeon instructed. My father could be back anytime.
______I don't think so. He's talking to Kavolo.
______Where?
______Your father's office. When I passed Kavolo's cell, I heard your father tell his men to take him there.
______Aeon did some quick navigating in her head, and determined which direction to take. She nodded the direction to Tam: Lead the way.
______They crawled for a few minutes, and Aeon was reminded quickly of how cold the stone was to the touch. Without the warmth coursing through them, these huge pyramids seemed as empty and lifeless as--
______As tombs...
______Whether it was the cold, or the thought, she shivered.
______Their tunnel terminated into one that ran perpendicular to their own, and Aeon chose the left passage. Shouldn't be too far, she whispered.
______Tam's comm-link beeped, and he reached for it quickly. The mechanical sound seemed out of place in this ancient temple, and the artificial tones echoed forever in the stone shafts.
______Yeah? Tam answered quietly.
______Did you find her? inquired a female voice on the other end. It was Cammie.
______Tam looked annoyed when he answered. Yes, I did. There he went again. What was his problem, Aeon wondered?
______Can I talk to her? Cammie asked.
______No, Tam replied curtly. We're close to the General's office, and I don't want him to hear us. You can talk to her later. Out.
______Ta-- was all Cammie managed to say before he switched off the comm-link. He had an angry expression on his face.
______What's wrong with you? Aeon asked. You were very short with her-to say the least. Are the two of you fighting about something?
______Its nothing, he lied.
______It's not nothing. I can sense it.
______He looked at her almost fearfully. Sense it? How? With some power the crystal gave you?
______Well, she hadn't exactly meant it that way, but...
______Yes. That's right. So tell me what's wrong, and don't lie to me. He looked stricken. I'll know, she bluffed.
______Tam's face deflated. I-I guess I'm mad at Cammie.
______Why?
______He looked away, unable to face her. It took him a few seconds before he continued. He released a slow exhale, and then spoke softly: At the temple...I should have been the one to save you. Not her.
______Aeon was confused. It took her a moment to place the circumstance, and then she remembered the first time she connected to the obelisk: coming around in Cammie's arms.
______But, Tam-why?
______He simply looked up at her. You have the strange power. You tell me, he replied. He looked very upset, and Aeon decided not to push it.
______Well, you saved me this time, she reminded him. He thought about that for a moment, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
______Yeah, I guess I did, he said.
______He seemed to feel better, but Aeon still couldn't understand why he was so upset. Why would it matter who had found her-then or now? She would ask Kavolo. He'd know.
______She remembered her father's office, and looked in that direction. We'd better hurry. I want to hear what they're talking about.
______They continued down the tunnel, and within just a few meters they could hear the murmurs of conversation. They were still too far away to make out any distinct words, but even from a distance the discussion seemed heated.
______Listen, Revel, she heard after a short pause. Cease-fire seemed a more appropriate term.
______Revel? her father countered caustically. What-rank doesn't mean anything to you?
______Should it? Kavolo fired back. As long as we've known each other?
______Aeon and Tam positioned themselves over the grate, careful not to be seen. Her father was aware of her little spy network now, and she was surprised he hadn't assigned droids to patrol the shafts.
______Aeon became aware of being in a situation like this very recently: spying on the Alliance conference where she first learned about the haunted chamber.
______Wow, Tam whispered. Déjà vu, huh?
______Aeon smiled: I know exactly what you mean.
______They watched the two of them circle her father's desk as they talked. They were maneuvering like animals jockeying for superiority.
______This should be interesting, Aeon thought to herself.
______All right, General, Kavolo said bitterly. This isn't about us. This is about your daughter.
______Damn right it's about my daughter. I want you to stay away from her before you get her killed!
______Hey, she came to me with her story. And what you saw she had already done twice before I helped her, Kavolo told her father. Wouldn't you rather have someone there to monitor these experiments-to make sure she's safe?
______What experiments? the General sounded frustrated. She's bored, and she has an overactive imagination. Tell me you don't believe all of this?
______I'm a scientist. Your daughter's very smart, Revel. She came to me not to convince me, but to solicit my help in finding out what-if anything-is going on.
______But do I believe her? General, something's happening to your daughter, Kavolo told him. When we first discovered that obelisk-just after we arrived on Yavin-I detected an energy pattern emanating from it-almost as if it were a life form. Now, we detected no other signs of organic matter, so I just noted it as an intellectual curiosity.
______We're never on any one planet long enough to get to the bottom of the mysteries we uncover.
______When I had Aeon connected to the crystal, I was monitoring her brain activity. Her brainwaves match the energy pattern of the crystal to five decimal places.
______Her father was intrigued, as was Aeon.
______And when she communed with the crystal, Kavolo added, both patterns altered slightly. There was a match to nine decimal places.
______Wow, Tam whispered quietly, and Aeon nodded in agreement. She didn't quite know what Kavolo's discovery meant, but it was very interesting.
______Don't you see, Revel? Your daughter is connected to this crystal somehow, and through it she believes the planet itself. And when she is literally connected to the obelisk, something happens.
______What? her father asked.
______She hasn't told you? Or didn't you listen? Kavolo interrogated. You should ask her sometime.
______And you believe her story? her father asked sincerely.
______Whether it's real or not remains to be seen-that's what we're trying to prove. The kid's a good scientist, he interjected, and that seemed to irritate her father. But I believe she believes it, Kavolo added. She's definitely not making this up.
______Her father took a moment to digest all of it.
______She's a good kid-she's smart, responsible. You should be proud.
______I am, her father said defensively. She couldn't believe he said that, and a smile welled up within her.
______I know Aila would be proud of her, Kavolo said.
______Aeon's heart missed a beat, and for a second she couldn't breathe. Aila was her mother's name.
______That's what this is about, isn't it? her father asked bitterly. How to relive happier times? What did he mean by that, Aeon wondered? What did her mother have to do with this?
______You have a lot of nerve, you son of a bitch! Kavolo said angrily. She chose you, Revel. She chose you to love, and live with, and have a daughter with. She chose you!
______Huh? What was he talking about?
______What the hell right do you have to be angry? I'm the one who should be holding the grudge!
______She had never seen Kavolo angry before-ever. And if what he was saying was true...
______Her head was spinning. Aeon never knew-she never had the slightest indication...
______Suddenly the past was much more complicated. The story of her mother and father-the story that she had so depended upon-now had entirely new chapters added abruptly to it.
______Aeon had never known that Kavolo and her mother had been involved-that at some point there had been a choice made between the two men. That under different circumstances, her father could have been the other man standing in the room below her.
______She came to an understanding, then. She realized that she only knew what she had been told. Her past-everything that had occurred before she became self-aware-had been told to her and accepted on faith. While the information about Kavolo and her mother hadn't been misrepresented, the omission of it was just as overt as a lie.
______She felt now that anything she hadn't witnessed with her own eyes could be considered suspect.
______Well, even then: was she really travelling ten thousand or more years into the past to live the role of the prince of a troubled kingdom?
______And you know what? Maybe you're right, a little. Maybe Aeon is the daughter I always wished I had had with Aila. But she's not my daughter-she's yours.
______You're so arrogant, her father countered. You don't know how I suffered--
______When she died? What-you don't think I suffered? That simply because she chose you I immediately stopped loving her? You don't think it hurt when she died? I wept more than you, you damned androi--
______Kavolo never saw it coming. Aeon sensed it briefly, detecting a slight motion in her father's right shoulder. Aeon's fingers grasped the metal grate, but she was helpless to do anything.
______Faster than she ever would have guessed, her father released his fist in a savage arc across Kavolo's jaw.
______The scientist fell backward, sprawling into the desk chair, and landing in an awkward heap on the floor.
______No! Aeon said meekly. She felt something in the room-something diffusing through the air, seeping into the corners, the cracks. It was uncomfortable for her to be near, but she couldn't leave now.
______Kavolo looked up angrily, his lips curled into a snarl, and blood trailing from the corner of his mouth.
______His expression changed when he saw his opponent. Revel Quatorz stood brooding, holding his hand by the wrist as if to contain it-as if his errant emotions had acted of their own accord.
______For a disciplined man like her father, Aeon knew that interpretation wasn't far from the truth.
______Kavolo's rage had left him, and Aeon could feel the room return to normal. What she had sensed was the anger between them, anger left unchecked for years that had festered into something much more sinister. She'd never felt such a tangible presence before.
______I'm sorry, Quatorz offered. Kavolo got to his feet slowly.
______I shouldn't have said that, Kavolo admitted. That was out of line.
______Her father stared at nothing in particular. I never did cry for Aila, he confessed. Not once. Kavolo didn't answer, simply allowing Quatorz to continue. I felt I had to be strong for Aeon.
______She should have known. Aeon understood something vital about her father at that moment, and it answered so many questions-some she never knew she had asked. But as much as she understood his reasoning, she still didn't agree with it.
______Not seeing you cry, I never felt that I was permitted to cry. And so she had held tight to all the pain, fear, and rage a child could feel at losing her mother. Her father's misunderstanding of weakness had left them both deeply scarred.
______She is strong, Kavolo reassured him.
______Her father smiled slightly, and his eyes gazed into the past. We made quite a team-the three of us. Do you think we'll ever be able to get along like that again?
______The scientist's smile faded. No...regrettably. There have been too many changes, and she'll always be between us.
______Quatorz nodded, realizing the truth in his old friend's words.
______You know, Kavolo said, that's the first time I've heard you speak fondly of those days.
______Oh yes, her father answered. That was one of the happiest times in my life. There was no Rebellion then, and we hadn't the faintest idea of the Empire's atrocities. He paused, and looked his old friend in the eye. It was just the three of us against the galaxy.
______Back then: I never had a doubt that we'd win.
______Kavolo smiled. We were one hell of a team.
______Aeon saw something in their eyes-even as they smiled and reminisced about the old days: there was a melancholy there, an understanding that things would never be the same again.
______It was sad to see, and she felt their unexpressed sorrow deep within her.
______You can never go back, she realized.
______Revel, Kavolo said sincerely, trust me now for old times sake. Let me continue the experiments with Aeon.
______Her father's expression changed instantly. His guard came up as quickly as any starship's deflector shield. He frowned skeptically at the scientist.
______I'm still not sure I believe any of this, he answered.
______You don't have to, Kavolo answered animatedly. I don't even have to believe her. That's why we're doing these tests-to find out.
______Do you believe her? her father asked. Aeon was very curious to hear this answer.
______Yes, the scientist affirmed. Aeon smiled.
______This is good for her, Kavolo continued. Revel, you're one of the greatest generals in the Alliance. Everyone in this complex knows and admires you-hell, even the enemy respects you.
______It's not easy for anything to bloom in that kind of shadow, and yet she manages.
______She's discovering herself, he said.
______She's all I have, her Father countered. Aeon was touched by his words, but at the same time wondered why she had to eavesdrop on his conversations to hear them? Why couldn't he simply say that to her?
______I won't let anything happen to her, Kavolo bargained. I promise.
______Her father looked away, weighing the argument. Kavolo stared at him hopefully, marking off the seconds with an unconscious swaying of his body. He was like a gambler, trying to somehow affect the roll of the dice.
______Aeon waited with baited breath for his answer. So much hinged on this moment.
______Slowly, her father craned his head, his jaw protruding prominently. She had seen that posture many times before. It was his command pose, and it meant that he was ready to deliver his edict.
______All right, he said simply. Kavolo smiled, but only slightly. But... her father added conditionally, any sign of trouble, and the experiments stop. I have your word on that?
______Definitely, Kavolo agreed. Her father extended his hand, and the scientist took it, sealing the deal.
______Yes! Aeon declared jubilantly, and it wasn't until she rattled the grate that she remembered where she was.
______The two men looked in her direction. Her father frowned, and shook his head reprovingly. He pivoted on one foot as he exited the room.
______Same as always, he muttered sarcastically. Aeon felt deflated, and was at a loss to defend herself. At times she could see herself through her father's eyes, and rarely did she like what she saw.
______She fell silent, allowing him the last word.
______The echo from the cold stone walls was the only reply to yet another of the General's rhetorical statements.
|