______Aeon was walking down one of the temples' stone corridors, but had no recollection of how she had gotten there-or even beginning the journey. She just suddenly was.
______The passage was dark, with only the faintest wisps of light by which to navigate. She was struck by a stillness that permeated the air; a quiet so enveloping that even the sound of her own footsteps seemed distant.
______Although perhaps that was more indicative of how she was walking: tentative, unsure of her surroundings.
______Was she dreaming? That seemed the most logical explanation. She felt a palpable, tangible element to the present that she only experienced in dreams. There was no past, save for dim memories, and no future. There was only the now.
______It seemed the dream had begun without her, but many of hers often did. It was like intercepting a transmission, or interrupting a communication.
______Aeon often wondered if there was a place where dreams played on continuously. That it was only in slumber that we were permitted brief glimpses into that other place.
______She had stepped into this dream, becoming the dream as wind fills a sail, pushing it along with new momentum and direction.
______It was direction that she now contemplated briefly. There was a suspended pause between footsteps where she could decide which course the dream should take.
______She kept walking. There had been a purpose to her direction originally, and she opted to see it through.
______Being self-aware in a dream was a strange sensation, and she was unaccustomed to it. Normally her dreams played out before her and around her like a holographic image, and she was reduced to a voyeur. Even when she interacted, it was an illusion. She was simply an actor, playing a part on her mind's stage, whereupon were dissected her fears and fantasies.
______Being self-aware was different, but only slightly. And she was hesitant to tests the limits of her control, only to discover she had none. Did recognizing a dream for what it was necessarily negate its power of illusion? She couldn't say for sure.
______Suddenly, the idea of being trapped within a dream frightened her.
______Fear itself frightened her, in a way. It was another sensation she wasn't accustomed to, and she didn't care for it very much at all.
______She acted quickly to control her fear, calling upon the lessons she knew-the lessons she had gleaned from her father.
______Gather intelligence, she could hear him say. Understand the situation.
______She forced herself to calm down, to control the rate of her breathing. She inhaled deeply, and expelled the breath very slowly.
______Understand the situation, she reminded herself. If she didn't remember how she got here, what was the last thing she remembered?
______Oh yes, she realized. The med-lab...
______What seemed like days ago, but was most likely hours, Aeon had tossed and turned, unable to find sleep. Her father, on the med-droid's advice, decided to have her stay overnight, and she wasted away a perfectly good day lying in bed.
______The problem was that, once it was time to sleep, she was well rested. She rejected the med-droid's offer to give her something to assist her-she always felt sluggish the day after taking those medications. She wasn't about to lose another day here-not when there weren't that many remaining.
______She lay in bed, and marveled at the fact that she could be both rested and restless at the same time.
______Her mind was racing, working feverishly around what Cammie had told her. She had Sahaar's name before she passed out? That didn't make much sense. That would mean she had the dream before she was unconscious.
______But then, what caused her to dream?
______She was becoming frustrated, and she knew she couldn't sleep until she found some answers. But her intuition nagged at her, telling her that maybe the problem wasn't with the answers, but with the question.
______She was sure of one thing, however-the Massassi crystal had something to do with this. In what capacity, she wasn't sure, but she felt-she knew-that there was more to that obelisk than anyone realized. What she wanted more than anything was to get back to that chamber. But of course her Father would never allow that, especially now.
______She would driver herself crazy if she lay there all night. She had to do something.
______She needed more data in order to form a conclusion. She had a little reconnaissance to do. Her father would understand that, if nothing else.
______Having made up her mind, she crept quietly from the bed.
______The cold of the stone startled her when she planted her foot on the floor, and she was reminded of the warmth she felt in the dream. She slipped her boots on quietly, and changed into her normal clothes.
______She hadn't seen the med-droid in some time. Perhaps it was out being serviced. One could only hope.
______She tiptoed to the door, and it slid open automatically. She cringed as the sound echoed through the empty corridor. She had completely forgotten about the door. Any other time, she hardly noticed the familiar sound of the grinding metallic whisper, but in the dead of night it seemed deafening. She froze in place, and listened intently for any signs of movement.
______Her father's room was just down the hall, and years of combat readiness had made him an extremely light sleeper.
______Not a sound. So far so good. Of course, the door still had to close behind her.
______Or did it? She kept her foot in the path of the door, and fished in her pocket for her comm-link. She bent down, and placed it in the sensor's path. She moved away, and the door stayed open. Sometimes I even impress myself, she smiled.
______But she knew it was a temporary solution, at best. With the door propped open, the med-droid would surely discover she was missing-which meant her Father would discover she was missing. Which meant she would get in more trouble.
______But, really, how much trouble could she get in to? Her Father didn't have the time to discipline her-he had an army to run. And besides, what's the worst thing he could do?
______Turn you over to the Empire. Okay, that was pretty bad, but odds are he wouldn't do that.
______Tonight she didn't care about getting into trouble. She had to get out of there. This was her favorite time-when everyone else was asleep, and the planet belonged to her alone. Something was tugging at her, calling to her, and she had to answer.
______She ran down the corridor as quietly as she could. She couldn't waste another moment.
______The night air was still warm as Aeon made her way through the trees. She gazed up at the stars as she walked. It was clear this night, and the sky was a glowing canopy of stars. Just above the tree line, she could make out the constellation for which their base was patterned.
______The second star in the constellation was the star system Solace. Her Father had told her that when they first arrived.
______It was there that the Alliance fleet had rendezvoused before coming to the Yavin system. She stopped, and gazed up at the star in amazement. To think that she had been there not long ago...
______The Massassi had once gazed at that same star, and its pattern in the heavens inspired them to build their massive temples over ten thousand years ago.
______Amazing...
______She was also amazed at the connection she felt to this planet. She began walking again, and she reached out to touch the plants. She loved running her hands through the leaves, feeling the organic energy, the life that pulsed through everything that grew here. She closed her eyes, and breathed deep, soaking in all the planet had to give her.
______She hated the thought of leaving. Twelve days, her father had said. Well, she would try not to think about that now.
______As the tree tops swayed in the breeze, she could make out the top of the fourth temple in the distance. Her mind drifted to the Massassi crystal.
______But that wasn't her destination tonight. Her father had forbid her to go there, and she would obey him-at least for now. But he hadn't said anything about not going to the third temple, however.
______Patches of moss covered the steps leading up to the temple's entrance. Aeons stepped cautiously, planting her weight equally between her feet.
______Dim light shone from inside the vast mouth of the temple. She heard drops of water falling in lazy repetitions. The planet's natural moisture condensed in the cool atmosphere of the temple's cave-like interior.
______She crept inside quietly, the tapping of her boot heels resonating through the hard stone passages. She stopped to listen for patrols, but heard nothing.
______She paused a minute to extract the layout of the temple from her memory. She backtracked, tracing the route she took the last time she was there to determine her destination.
______Actually, the last time she was physically there was the award ceremony after the destruction of the Death Star. But that's not the instance she was thinking of now. The last time she was at the temple, the site of the Alliance's celebration was a throne room.
______Using her knowledge of the temple's layout, Aeon found what she was looking for soon enough. She slowly approached the opening to one of the many nondescript chambers that occupied this pyramid. This one was different.
______Vail's room. She stepped through the opening slowly, hesitantly. There was a dozen or so cases stacked on the floor. The Alliance was using this space for storage.
______She ignored that for a moment, although it bothered her. Was it the right room? That's what she needed to know now.
______She was almost sure of the position, and the dimensions matched exactly what she had remembered.
______How could she know this room in such detail if she had never seen it? Of course, when the Alliance first arrived on the planet, everyone helped setting up camp. She had probably been in the room once or twice, dropping off crates and never thinking twice about it. But it had been enough for her mind to store the image in its deep recesses to use later.
______She oriented herself with the door, and looked over to where the wooden desk had sit against the wall. There was where his sword had leaned against the wall, and she could almost see the tapestry hanging on the wall.
______Aeon remembered the very first image she had seen of the room. She looked around, judging as closely as she could where the bed had been placed. She dragged one of the crates, and placed it in approximately the same position. She did the same with two more, making them into a long row.
______Aeon lay across them, and stared up at the stone ceiling. She studied the patterns in the stone: how the blocks had been laid together, any cracks that fissured through them.
______It looked...well, like all the other stone ceilings in the temple. She didn't really know what she had expected to see. Confirmation, she supposed, but she didn't need some distinguishing flaw in the masonry to tell her what she already knew in her heart.
______She knew this was the right room, but she still didn't know exactly what that signified. It felt familiar, and that familiarity comforted her.
______She liked this room much more than her own. She wondered if her father would let her move her things in here? Probably not, she smiled to herself. Pick your battles, her father had always taught her. Words to live by for a fledgling rebellion-or a teenage girl, for that matter.
______Aeon's eyes felt heavy, and she yawned. She was dimly aware of a dreamy smile on her face, and she felt the warm hand of sleep slowly enveloping her body.
______Despite the fact that three uneven supply crates weren't the most comfortable things she'd ever slept on, she knew sleep was overtaking her quickly. She had a few seconds of clarity, right at the cusp of dreaming, where she could rouse herself if she chose to, and head back.
______What was the point of that? She sank ever so slowly into twilight.
______In the dream, the tunnel ended up ahead, opening up to the stars. She could hear the sounds of the night getting closer as she approached.
______She stepped out onto a large stone balcony. The sky was filled with stars, and the entire vista of the temple plain stretched out beneath her.
______She muttered an awestruck wow as she walked to the edge. She leaned against the stone wall, and looked out over the trees. She shook her head in wonder as she stood over it all.
______She realized then that the stone was warm to the touch, and when she looked down, she was astonished to see masculine hands gripping the wall.
______Vail! she said, staring first at her hands, and then at the rest of her body. I'm him again. She stopped for a moment, and tried to collect her thoughts.
______This felt even less like a dream than last time, but at least she remembered falling asleep.
______It had to be a dream. Didn't it?
______She looked out at the stars, but there was something strange about them. She searched for a recognizable feature, such as the constellation that contained Solace-the constellation for which these temples had been patterned. She couldn't find it.
______She panicked a bit, craning her neck in all directions. She glanced up, and saw the constellation at the very tip of the sky. In fact, the entire sky that she knew was up there, it had just shifted. She didn't know what to make of that.
______Down below, the jungle remained the same. She felt it as she had earlier, walking through and touching the dense foliage with her hands. The sensation felt even stronger now, and she opened herself up to it.
______Her hands rested on the stone wall. Through the stone, she could feel the planet's life force rushing through the soil far below her. It swelled up through the stone, flaring like the surface of a star.
______As had happened to her before, a new consciousness dominated her perception. She no longer saw with her eyes, but with a larger force that connected her to the planet.
______Her fingers seemed to meld into the surface of the stone itself, and she could see inside the stone into the cells that made up its structure.
______And she realized: this stone was alive! Not so much in that it was organic itself as it was a natural conduit for the life force of this planet. She could see the inside of the stone, the living cells that permeated and composed its structure. It reminded her of the stone blocks themselves. This thought reassured her. She needed something-a context-through which to apply this experience.
______Her fingers sank deeper and deeper into the stone. They were reaching out-seeking something. There was ivy crawling slowly along the surface of the temple, and her consciousness snaked out through the myriad branches.
______She felt herself rushing through the hundreds of branches of the living ivy itself. The ivy was massive, with an unfathomable number of cells. Millions upon millions-more than there were stars in the sky to be sure. With winding motions, her fingers, and her consciousness, made their way down into the plant's root system. They were seeking out the ground.
______The roots were in perpetual flux, constantly exchanging its cells with the cells of the planet. It was a system in constant motion. Her fingers moved through it, increasing their speed as they hungrily sought out the planet's surface. She could hear it speaking.
______In her mind's eye, she could see the transition from tree to planet.
______She saw the planet as if viewing it from space. She saw-she was-a great winged bird launching itself into the air with a single thrust of its wings. She felt the power of the dark feathered wings enveloping and crushing the air behind them, and inhaled the breath of flight as the wind bellowed in her face.
______A simple green leaf swayed in the wind, and she shuddered as the first cold drop of rain splashed upon its shiny surface.
______She felt all of this in the transition-on the surface of the world as the circuit of life coursed around it. She felt all of this simultaneously, but it did not overwhelm her. Instead, she let it all in. It was the same sensation she had felt before, when touching the crystal, only multiplied a thousand-fold. She had never felt so complete, so whole.
______She went deeper. Whereas the tree was large, the planet was unimaginable. The stars in the universe paled in number. She had no experience, no context in which to place its scale. The cells were infinite in number. They spoke to her all at once, in the communal voice of the planet. There was so many.
______There were too many.
______Not just her fingers now, she felt the rest of herself being pulled at. Her entire form seemed to spread apart gradually. The cells of her body were being called to join the multitude of the planet, and they were answering the call.
______It was starting to frighten her. It was too much, and she was afraid she would lose herself in it. She could no longer feel her center, the part of her that defined her, and her boundaries. Her mind raced. She had to do something.
______Aeon, she said to herself, affirming her name-affirming that she had a name. She wasn't just a collection of cells, she was a person, and that person wanted to be whole again. Greedily, she took back all that she had surrendered.
______Something was wrong. She had to get herself back-now! Panic was starting to set in, and she pulled onto herself.
______She didn't deal well with fear, and at her tender age she had learned to translate it into anger. Immediately she felt the planet slipping away, the voices no longer speaking to her. She retreated to the safety of herself, feeling a slight tinge of regret.
______She pulled back from the phenomenon, and seemed to snap back into herself. Himself, she reminded herself. She moved her hands from the stone wall.
______She felt something else-a presence nearby, waiting in the shadows. Someone was watching her!
______She heard footsteps coming up the corridor, footsteps deliberately trying to be silent. She turned, and her hand instinctively went to the sword. Although she was pretty sure those were Vail's instincts, not hers.
______Who's there? she asked.
______I received your message, a woman's voice said. It cracked with age, but made up for it with authority. Despite the cryptic answer, she felt no sense of menace from this person.
______Aeon let her grip on the sword soften. Actually, she remembered that she didn't know how to use a sword, and wasn't real sure what she had planned on doing with it in the first place.
______My message…? Aeon asked.
______Out of the shadow of the tunnel, an old woman emerged. Her long silver hair was gathered into a braid down the back. She wore long flowing robes that gave her the illusion of gliding as she moved. You wanted to see me, child the old woman smiled.
______Aeon knew then who the old woman was.
______Agdamaria!
|