Indrea lay sprawled on her back across her cabin's bed, her feet towards the wall, her head towards the door, with one arm tucked under it. In her other hand she held a padd that she idly read from, studying an article on the cultural practices of the primary race in a nearby star system, something that had caught her attention as she scrolled though the database. She sang softly and wordlessly along with the music playing throughout the cabin, a melody of harp, cello, and flute whose sound flowed like a river's song, peaceful and soothing. One foot swung inattentively in time. Across her chest lay, at first glance, an untidy heap of something like a scarf that glittered deep turquoise in the overhead light, moving up and down with her breath, and seemingly some of its own. After a few moments more, she drops the padd over the side of the bed and yawns, stretching carefully so as not to disturb the bundle resting on her torso.
   "Hi there!" comes suddenly from behind her in a vaguely familiar stranger's voice, startling her violently. She sits up and turns around in an eyeblink, heart lurching. The "Scarf" slides off and lands on the bed. Eyes wide on the visitor, in the next second she gasps in dismay and scoops the thing up. A tiny lizardlike creature untangles a long, sinuous neck and tail and unfurls gauzy wings, trilling reproachfully. Indrea coos at it a moment, and it can be discerned that the creature's name is Faolain. When its momentary pique is smoothed over to her satisfaction, Indrea turns a calm face to her guest... and then frowns, perplexed. It is obvious to him what she is wondering.
  "Hello, yourself..." she drawls slowly, injecting the end of the statement with a questioning note.

He quirks his head to the side, hands clasped behind his back, blinking a little. "Guess I startled ya. Sorry 'bout that." he smiles, then looks at the snake-like creature by her. "Interesting pet, Miss Doria."
"Oh, where are my manners," he smiles again, and offers his hand. "I am Maxe Kestle, the not-so-well-known Split of Max Kessler, perhaps you've heard of me?"

She regards her strange visitor expectantly, and nods when he begins speaking in acknowledgement of Fao, who trills as she stretches up and sniffs behind Indrea's ear, making her laugh.
Still smiling, Indrea shifts Fao into the crook of one arm, then takes his hand and shakes it. She stills and suddenly turns an intense look on him when he says his name. Then the smile spreads across her face again, wider this time and full of secret amusement; and her eyes are full of curiosity as she drops his hand.
"Oh yes, quite a bit about you, actually..." she murmurs.

He folds his arms and blinks. "You've heard a few things about me, huh? May I ask what? 'Cause frankly, I know very little about you.”

She can't help herself- she laughs mischievously and shows him her most impish grin. "That would be telling, you see..."

He regards her a moment, then shakes his head. "I take it that all you've heard has come from either Max or Mirax, eh? Well it's lies! All lies!!!" He chuckles and does a flip up onto the ceiling where he soon sits cross-legged, staring down at her. After looking the Colliston over a few times, he scratches his head. "How'd a girl like you end up with Max anyway? If I'm not mistaken, he's three times your age. You being, what, 900 standard years while Maxie-boy is nearly 3000?"

She makes a token attempt to look properly chastised. "I suppose I shouldn't listen to hearsay, since it's true all I've heard was through... a friend of a friend, shall we say? But then where I come from gossip is a main source of entertainment, like most small towns. Some things don't change no matter where you are." She grins.
Watching his antics with amusement and interest, she returns his regard measure for measure, content to wait and find out what he has to say, for before she ever arrived here she was used to a slow pace of life and knew well how to be patient.
His question when it comes causes her to roll her eyes, perhaps with a touch of melodrama, but also with justified (yet mild) annoyance. "I swear, must everyone ask me that question? Are we really so fascinating? And does _no one_ think to ask _him_?!" Still, she looks tolerantly amused and gives real thought to the question, for she supposes he _is_  one of the few with a right to ask it. She answers slowly, pausing frequently as it is clear she is thinking even as she responds.
"Yes, he is that much older than me I suppose... but the real difference, if you wish to count one, would be more in our experience than the number of years we have." She makes a self-deprecating face. "I spent more than 9/10ths of my life until now at home. I do not just mean my native universe," here she looks at him as if to ask Are you paying attention, "but my physical home. I was never more than a day's ride from the city(if you can call it such) where I was born. We had frequent visitors of course, and a modern communications center, but still, it was somewhat sheltered." She shrugs. "I'm afraid I'm rambling. And that I haven't answered your question properly. Do you know of how I got here?" She gestures dismissively. "Never mind. I was in the... the Nexus? bar, to see where it was that my traveling companion had been "hanging out" for she said there were many cultures to observe there. I didn't know there were... others here, but Max sensed me when I came in, and I was disturbed. We started talking and... well, at first it didn't go so well, but I had this crush from practically then on. I was rather naive and, as the Terrans of this dimension used to say, "fresh off the turnip truck" then," here she smirks as if acknowledging that she is not significantly more experienced now- although she acts as if she is, "and was rather awed. I haven't really an idea of what he thought of me," she laughs, "but I guess I can't have flubbed it too badly..." Finally she falls silent as if regretting having said so much to a near stranger, and tickles Fao under the chin, shooting a glance at Maxe.
 

The Acanian Split raises a brow. "Hearsay? That's seems to be all that anyone says about me these days. But then again I'm never around long enough for anyone to hear what I have to say about anything." He folds his arms and shrugs from his spot on the ceiling.
"I suppose you may have heard some from your friend, Nydaometh? I bugged her a while back. Nagging about how she ended up snagging Mirax..." he pauses a moment, remembering the somewhat depressing conversation of how every other version of Kestle has someone else besides him. "But, oh well. That was a while ago. I'm sorry for bothering you, Miss Doria. I guess I'll catch you at another time." he says rather oddly, then 'melts' into the ceiling and disappears.

               -----------

In another part of the Dream, Max sits in his office, solemn-like as usual looking over some data files on whatever is important for the time being.
Suddenly he senses something strange... It feels like a Drifter presence, but not the familiar ones he knows... this one is dark and has a feel of malignance about it that makes Max's skin crawl... "Who's there? Show yourself!" He demands, and a moment later a dark figure in a cloak appears, and before Max can speak or react, the figure unleashes a storm of wild energy on the Acanian, enveloping him, then phasing him out of this universe....
 

Indrea casts a bewildered look at the ceiling where Maxe has so abruptly disappeared. "Was it something I said?" she murmurs sarcastically to herself, then lets out a brief laugh. A moment later she shakes her head and says to the ceiling, "And isn't it the truth you're not around long enough for anyone to hear what you have to say, what with up and disappearing in the middle of conversations." Faolain looks at her oddly; talking to empty space is not the done thing. She trills, and Indrea stands, about to say something to her, and then stops, frowning, and presses one hand over her heart. "Something..."
 
 

The Victory-class Star Destroyer Executioner hung near the Maw black hole cluster like a patient predator waiting for some unsuspecting prey to cross close enough to its path to strike.
"Well," Commander Tanus, an Imperial officer said, "are you picking up any readings yet, Lt. Andel?" A young sensory tech seated at his console shook his head. "No, Commander, not yet. But then again, Newvek could have already passed through the Maw before we could ever detect it."
"That's true each, Lt. If there's anything worse than a Jedi, it’s a damned Drifter and their teleporting. Why the Emperor ever enlisted his services, I'll never know."
"And that's how it should be." a new voice suddenly came from behind  them. It was a cloaked figure who had another figure crumpled at his feet.
"Newvek," Tanus muttered disdainfully. "I see you've arrived unannounced as usual, and with the Emperor's requested prisoner."
"Yes…" the man named Newvek replied, kicking the collapsed man. "I've drained his powers for a time. He will not be a problem for a day or two. I belief that will be enough time to prepare him for the tests at the Maw Installation. Will it not?" Tanus smirked evilly. "More than enough, Drifter. More than enough indeed. Guards," he called, "take our 'guest', Vice-Admiral Kessler, to the medical bay. and keep him under close observation." The guards did as they were told, and dragged Max away to whatever fate this "Emperor" had in store for him.

               -----

"What the hell is happening?" Maxe wondered. He had sensed abduction of Max and was able to follow the man named Sheevos Newvek to the Atosa Continuum, the realm of the Jedi and their parallels... Why had he brought Max there? He couldn't know for sure, or get too close or else he'd alert Newvek to his presence... "I need to get the big guns in on this one, cause if that guy could drain Max, He'd make short work out of me...”

Indrea stares at Fao, the uneasy feeling in her chest that she cannot identify growing stronger by the moment. She turns, fidgeting, and looks at the com.
"Should I..." she breathes, and then remembers a better way. Closing her eyes, she mentally reaches for Max, knowing that in some way he is the cause. She feels something is wrong but won't acknowledge this yet... Until her search comes up short. She cannot find him. Her eyes fly open.
~What should I do?~ Her mind races frantically until she forces herself to _think_ instead of chasing her own tail. She considers calling for the Split, but undoubtedly he would not answer. Indrea forces herself to sit. "I can't do this by myself, can't find him," she says absently to herself, the dragomer looking at her intelligently, "but who can help me? I don't really know any other drifters here..." Suddenly she straightens, snapping her fingers, and then leaps up.
"Of course!" She closes her eyes again and mentally calls. A moment later she has an answer- Nyda is on her way.

Max felt strange when he stirred. ~Where am I?~ He wondered. He tried moving, but something held him bound. ~What?~ Just then he realized something else, he couldn't see. He was in complete darkness. At first he thought he was blind folded, then after further investigation, he discovered they had been plucked out... he could feel the dried blood in his sockets and where it had poured down onto his face.
 ~Oh well, easy come, easy go~ he muttered as he attempted to regenerate his eyes... nothing. His bio-regeneration abilities weren't responding. None of his powers were. He was more vulnerable than he ever had been in his life right then.
~This sucks...~ he grumbled, suddenly remembering the man that brought him there.
~Ah," a voice suddenly said, "Nice to see you awake, Kessler." the old, grizzled voice said.
"Newvek," Max growled. "I should have known." He cursed from his position - chained to a wall somewhere.
"Yes, your old friend. I must apologize for the rough treatment, but it was necessary to hold down your powers until the Emperor could make use of them on that Death Star of his."
"Death Star?" Max muttered. ~I'm in Atosa then.~
"Yes, the Death Star. The Emperor wanted a more deadly variety of super laser, so he struck a deal with me to drug the hell out of you and 'attach' you to the battle station's main computer as an organic filtering system. He plans to use your vast knowledge as powers for the development of new weapons, and the main booster for the super laser." Newvek chuckled. "Isn't that just lovely?"

               ------

Hours later, still blind and chained, Max felt something odd... ~Indrea?... she's trying to reach me...~ He tries to send a mental reply, but with his powers as muffed up as they are, it may not work....

~Pacing the room like a tiger in a circus cage is not going to do you any good, child...~ Indrea told herself, but that didn't stop her restless motion. With an ironic smile, she realized she'd gotten in the mental habit of calling herself "child" from Nyda. Suddenly she stopped mid-step, her head jerking up as if what she heard was audible. But "heard" was not correct, truly, it was more of a brush across her mind, so faint she thought she had imagined it. One hand wrapped itself around the necklace Max had given her as she threw herself into that almost-feeling, straining toward it. But it faded even as she looked.
She followed it out of her body a little ways but realized it brought her no closer. Sighing, but keeping her attention focused on the almost call she dropped back, and heard the room’s door pop open. A tall red-haired woman stormed in, carrying energy to Indrea's minds-eye like an electric storm. As she was about to speak Indrea held up a hand.
 Nyd cocked her head to the side like a sparrow. Sometimes she was dense as a post, but this time she caught on. Indrea beckoned and Nyd, crossing the room in two steps grabbed her hand, boosting her. All Kadmon had latent psychic talent, but lacked the necessary discipline to direct it. So Nyd provided the extra power, and Indrea focused it, in effect boosting her range. This was something they had discovered by accident in their travels.
She reached for the moth-wing presence again, feeling it closer this time, nearly within reach. She shouted with the full force of her mind behind it: ~Max? Is that you, Max?~
Nyd winced, and any telepaths within range were left with "ears" ringing. Indrea didn't notice; she waited with held breath, the edge of the medallion cutting into her left palm and Nyd's grip squeezing the feeling from the fingers of her right.

   Max awoke as the telepathic utterance hit him. ~Nydaometh? is that you? I'm here in Atosa... Help me. I've lost my pow--~
   "No long distance calls, Drifter." Newvek said, kicking Max upside the head who was now lying on a cold floor.
   "Now just to make sure that your little friends don't try and call you again..." he sends a mental whiplash of pain through the connection Nyda made with Max, intending to fry the person at the other end of the 'line'.

                    ----

   Maxe stood atop the remains of a star cruiser floating in space. This battle had been too easy, he thought as a corpse of a storm trooper drifted by him. ~Newvek's super-soldiers weren't that tough at all. For -me- anyhow.~ he said referring to the Imperials that had been granted Drifter-like power by the rogue Drifter Sheevos Newvek. He knew of  course that the enhanced Imperials were a scourge on the New Republic forces and rivaled the Jedi in powers and ability, even surpassed them at times. More then a dozen worlds had been devastated by those Imperials who thought that they had been turned into gods. They thought that they were invincible to attack.
   Maxe proved them all wrong. They were all dead now because of him. But he was no closer to finding Max. For some reason he started thinking about Indrea. Why? he wondered. She was a cute girl, and if in the right situation was probably a blast to be with, but she was Max's girl. ~Figures,~  he thought, ~All the good ones are taken. Oh, well, no use bugging about something that would never happen in the first place.~ Maxe told himself.

               ----

   "Why do we have to put him through this, Mirax?" Sh'del asked the Alteran standing beside him as they both watched the brooding Maxe.
   "Because there's no other way to take  care of it, Acanite." Mirax replied. Sh'del shook his head and sighed. "I know, I know. I just wish we could just tell him out right that Max won't come back from this thing this time..."

Nyda listened to what Indrea was trying to do. Her position was like someone who picked up an extension and was listening to the phone call in progress- whether she paid attention or not made no difference to the conversation.
When the backlash came she felt it wash over her, causing a moment's disorientation and a second of blinding pain. She would have a headache later, but mostly it only hurt her enough to piss her off. ~Now what in the Abyss was that?~ she started to think and then she felt Indrea's fingers spasm. As the focus she had taken most of the blast. Nyd caught her and lowered her to the floor. It looked like she was having a seizure. Laying her out, Nyd then kneeled, pulling Indrea's head into her lap. She touched her fingers to Indrea's temples and began whispering every healing spell she knew until the spasms stopped.
Then she sat back to wait, something she wasn't especially good at, whispering, "Come on, come on..." until her friend's eyelids fluttered open and immediately squeezed shut again. Indrea whimpered and Nyd hunched her wings up, blocking the light. Now that the worst panic she had felt in about a billion years was worn off, she felt something else growing... cold rage. In that second before the attack she had seen where they needed to go. And go she would, no matter how long it took. She was going to get that bastard, and when she did... she hadn't felt this fierce since that straggler Baatezu had attacked her and her children. Just then she felt her hand squeezed feebly, and then shaken. Indrea's voice, stumbling, said, "Come back, Nyd." She looked down, knowing her face was grim.
Indrea asked her, "Did you see? Do you know where we're going?" and Nyd smiled sweetly. "Oh yes, my friend..." Indrea sighed and closed her eyes. She was so tired from the healing and her head was pounding as if it would come apart any second. She ached in every joint, and had absolutely no power to call on. Nydaometh picked her up easily and tucked her into her bed, where she, after extracting a promise they would leave as soon as she rested, fell dead asleep.
Nyd prowled the room and figured out how to turn off the lights, and then standing in the dark she smiled to herself, a predator's smile, a smile that would have any who knew her well running for cover. It was time to get personal.
 

Max was tied down to something cold. A steel plate perhaps. He could feel wires going in and out of him, drawing out his energy one bit at a time, powering the Death Star's tech tech systems and the super laser that made the battle station one of the deadliest weapons in the cosmos. Still unable to see or regenerate new eyes, Max could only tell what happened around him by his other senses now. He might have been able to use his "mind's eye" - a term that Drifters use for mentally induced sight - to see if he could regain some measure of power.
But it was hopeless. Newvek's draining had been complete, and he had worked fast from that point on. Max was somewhat stunned that this had all happened to him in under just three days.
~This is probably the last stop~ Max thought. ~There's no way I'm getting out of this one in one piece...~

               ------

Light years away Maxe felt an overwhelming sense of despair wash over him. "Max?" he wondered. "It's gotta be." He walked down into the innards of the Jedi Academy and approached Skywalker. "How far from here is the Death Star?"
"20 parsecs," Skywalker replied "and it’s headed this way."
"Just wonderful," Maxe grumbled. "Max is on that station."
 "Are you sure?"
"Yes, and in the condition I sensed he was in... he's powering the damned thing with his life energy.... he _is_ the Death Star..."

This time when she woke up the pounding in her head was something approaching bearable. However.... she couldn't seem to move her legs. She sat up to look and winced slightly, squeezing one eye shut as the racket in her head gained force. Then she looked at her legs, and laughed silently, ignoring the extra pounding at her temples. Curled up next to each other, sprawled over her legs, lay Faolain and Nydaometh, who was at the moment a white, long-furred cat(her favorite alternate form). Indrea wiggled her toes experimentally, and the cat opened one round blue eye. They gazed at each other gravely for a few moments, and then Indrea quirked a brow. The cat stretched elaborately, yawned insolently, and jumped down, poofing upwards into Nyd, minus, for the
moment, wings and tail. Fao Indrea merely picked up and draped around her neck before attempting to stand. She wobbled straight for the restroom, her friend watching with fond amusement. Forty minutes later, she had showered, dressed and eaten, and the argument began.
"We are not taking that thing with us!" exclaimed Nyd. "It's nothing but a pest." Faolain hissed derisively. Nyd having grown tired of waiting, she was more than ready to put aside her mother instincts and accept Indrea's assurances that she was fine and ready to travel. Now the remaining question was what to do with Fao. The little creature was no trouble normally but being young, she wouldn't come into her power for hundreds of years yet, and until then she was all but helpless. Nyd was of the opinion that she would be a distraction, but in the end there was really nothing for it but to bring her along. So, they prepared to leave.
Nyd stood in the middle of the room and took Indrea's hand. She would get them to the proper reality. With Indrea's help they should be fairly close to their goal when they came out- within a few planetary systems, at least. She closed her eyes, and jumped.
The forms of the two women (and the dragomer) shimmered and became flat, like cutouts on the air. They collapsed next into a horizontal line, which contracted to a point of light, which in the next second winked out...
Endless moments of screaming chaos, which really took no time at all, and the process repeated itself in reverse. Both women stumbled; they had come out an inch or so above the floor, which was cool stone. They looked around, both wondering where they were, and how far off course.
Then Indrea heard voices nearby, but the speakers were out of sight. She thought one of them sounded familiar after listening... She tugged on Nyd's arm, one finger to her lips for silence, and moved toward the voice she thought was the Split's.

"You're saying that your original is now the soul of the Death Star?" Skywalker blinked.
 "Yes, though the correct term is organic interface. My people's ancestors used to hook up their computer systems to a living mortal to control it. It improved the comp systems a 1000 times over. On ships the interface had instantaneous reaction time, making them deadly in battle." Maxe replied.
"I see. It seems to be something like the Ssi-ruuk-" Luke paused. "Someone's here. I can sense it. They're nearby too."
"What?" Maxe said, then sensed them as well. "Other Drifters!" he squawked. Though he was only right on one count. The other being was a Kadmon.
He and Luke went to find the newcomers and Maxe's eyes went wide.
"Indrea? Nydaometh? What are you doing here? Oh never mind, I'm just glad to see you guys!" he said as he went over and hugged them both.

Indrea relaxed when she realized she had been right. She watched Nyd accept Maxe's hug with vast and bemused dignity, and then she flung herself on him and hugged him tight. He could feel her agitation, and then she stepped back, squeezing his shoulder, and questioning him with anxious eyes. "What do you know?" she implored him. She had heard his conversation with Skywalker but couldn't make out any of the words, or she might have been considerably more anxious. She still wasn't feeling too well either and it showed.
Nyd crossed her arms and stood with the tip of her tail swishing, spines fully extended. She didn't like it here. She split her attention between listening to what Indrea said to- what was it? oh yes- Maxe, listening for anyone else who might be coming, and eyeing Skywalker, who hadn't been introduced. In that moment she didn't look like the mischievous, often scatterbrained persona she usually was. Now, she looked more like a brooding warrior angel. Struggling to be patient, and drawing on her three-billion-and-some-odd years of experience, she waited.

Skywalker stood there with arms at his side under his Jedi robes as Maxe hugged his friends. "Well, Maxe, why not introduce me to your friends here?"
"Huh? Oh yeah," Maxe said, "this is Indrea Doria and Nydaometh Kadmon. Both are here about Max I'm afraid."
"Too bad we could not have met under different circumstances. I am Luke Skywalker." he said, extending a hand. "Now let's not waste too much time. The Death Star is on its way and Maxe needs to explain the full gravity of the situation..." he said as he led them all to the academy's main computer area.
"Max has been captured by a rogue Drifter named Sheevos Newvek, a former Kaytear Faction member until after the Wars. He's been working for this dimension's galactic Empire as a merc under Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine had Sheevos kidnap Max and strip him of his powers, then hook him up to the Death Star - a powerful battle station with a super laser capable of destroying entire worlds - as its central nervous core, or organic interface. Max's own life energies power the DS and his powers are funneled into the stations weapon systems... because of it, the station could take out an entire star and survive the shockwave afterward.
"And it’s headed here.
"We have to get Max out of there, but before we can, we need to kill Sheevos. But that won't be easy at all... the damned Kaytear's powers have been amplified a thousand times over by the Dark Side (he fills them in on that later). When we kill him, his hold over Max's powers will cease and he will be able to regain them quickly enough to free himself...
"If not, we're screwed."

The silence that falls is deep and eloquent. Teetering between shock and horror on the one hand, and stunned incomprehension on the other, Indrea bites her lower lip and stares at Maxe. Nydaometh is first to speak, glancing at her friend first. Her voice rings out, cool and serene, sounding loud and confident in the quiet. However her tail, betraying her to those who know how to look, lashes violently.
"Well then, how do we get the attention of this Sheevos?" she near-to spits the Drifter's name, her voice swelling with anger. "I fought another of your kind not so long ago. How much worse can this one truly be? At worst, I may be able to hurt him so that you can finish him off." Her eyes sparkle with anticipation, anger, and a bit of bloodlust, and though she is speaking (roundaboutly) of her possible death, she looks positively eager.

"You seem so eager to die, are you Kadmon?" a new voice suddenly says as the temple goes dark and Nyda, Maxe, and Indrea are rifted from Atosa to a pocket realm dominated by Sheevos.
"Greetings, trouble makers." Sheevos says as he materializes right in front of Nyda with one of his massive hands wrapped around her neck, squeezing tighter by the moment until Sheevos has the satisfaction of crushing Nyda's wind pipe completely.
"You should have known better, you know? It’s a shame I have to kill such pretty faces." He taunts with eyes still on Nyda, he stretches out his
free hand and fires a blast of violent colored energy at Indrea.
"Look out!" Maxe shouts and pushes Indrea out of the way, receiving the brunt of Sheevos' attack. The blast tears right through the Split as he screams, white light firing out from his mouth and eyes. A moment later the blast subsides and Maxe's dead body falls to the floor, limp and mutilated.
The Acanian Split, is dead..... or so it seems.

By the time Sheevos is... finished... with Maxe, Nyd heals herself, and without bothering to stand extends both hands and sends a huge fireball roaring toward him. Without waiting to see if it connects she scrambles to her feet and sends a lightning spell the same way, then dashes over and grabs Indrea by the scruff of the neck with one hand and Maxe's apparently dead body with the other. Indrea wiggles free and Nyd grabs her again, hissing, "Be still, child!" as she prepares to jump them to Limbo. She knows she looks wild-eyed, and power is tingling through her so that the air seems to sparkle.

The fireball hits Sheevos square in the quest sending him reeling back into the void, then disappearing completely to some retreat.....

Maxe watches Indrea and Nyda slip through a portal with his lifeless body in tow. He naturally slips along with them through the portal as well, though not in the form he had wished.
As soon as they are on the other side, Maxe's body suddenly disintegrates like sand from Nyda's grip. His body has been completely destroyed, but not his spirit, his "essence" as some Drifters call it, is still there. Disembodied by Sheevos' power, that was his soul that escaped his body in the white light shot from mouth and eyes. All he could do now, is sit and watch until he could gather enough strength to mentally speak to either Nyda or Indrea......
 

Nyd releases Indrea as soon as they arrive, and watches with surprise as the young man's body deteriorates. She feels a momentary twinge of something, memory or maudlin emotion, but before she can identify it she is spun around. She looks into Indrea's face and braces herself for the blast.
"How could you!" Nyd cuts her off as she takes a breath, shaking her head and turning away. Indrea grabs her arm and yanks her back, angry. Nyd's expression is cool and detached, a mask, and it only makes Indrea angrier. She begins to speak and Nyd says, "No, Indrea. I had good reason. We can go back if you still want but just then there was nothing to do but get the hell out. I don't even know if I hurt the bastard, and he almost killed you and I. What about your friend? He's dead-" Indrea breaks in. "Very practical. It's easy enough for you to cut your losses, you won't lose anything if..." she trails off at her friend’s expression.
Nyd looks at her pityingly. "Aren't you forgetting? Mirax is Max in a sense and I'm not sure what will happen to him if Max dies... even if _he_ isn't too concerned. So don't pretend like I don't have a stake in this matter. Even if you don't consider that I care about him because he's important to you!" she finishes in a yell. In the sudden silence they become aware of another presence. It is a Kadmon man. Nyd stares at him with eyes narrowed.
"Nydao! What a surprise. It's been far too long..." At his sarcastic voice she balls her hands up into fists at her sides. After all this time she still dislikes him intensely. Indrea looks him over carefully, noticing her friend's instant reaction to the newcomer. He's tall and has red hair like Nyda, but wears it pulled back neatly, and his wing feathers are bronze. She also notices that his eyes are black. He wears a mocking expression. Suddenly Indrea gasps quietly, looking from him to Nyda. Nyd rolls her eyes, noticing.
"I knew I'd have to 'fess up to it sooner or later." The man's smile becomes even more insufferable as she continues unwillingly, "Indrea, this is Amrath d’lan Selenka. My brother." Then she adds, "Typical of my luck that with all of Limbo to land in I'd end up where he is."
Amrath doesn't even bother to pretend that he's insulted, only walks toward them. "And why _did_ you decide to grace us with your presence after all this time, dear?" He smiles mirthlessly at her sharp "None of your business." As she moves nearer to Indrea he grabs her upper arm.
"What, you still don't trust me? I thought we cleared that all up, forgive and forget? Don't tell me you've become such a snob."
Nyda backs up, slipping his grip easily without bothering to reply this time. She grabs Indrea, who by this time was beginning to feel like no more than a rock while their conversation twisted around her. She was damned curious but could already tell she'd get nothing from Nyd, whose face was as closed as Indrea had ever seen it. What really confused Indrea was the fear vibes she was getting from her friend. Nyd hadn't seemed this frightened when Sheevos had first appeared.
He grabs for them again as Nyda starts to gather energy for the jump back to Yavin, and then his gaze focuses on something behind them. "Sister! Are you going to leave without your _other_ friend?"
Nyda stares at him in perplexity, letting the gathered power drain out. Amrath looks right at Maxe's spirit body with a disquieting smirk. "It wouldn't be too swift if they forgot you here. What would you do?" Comprehension dawns on both the women's faces, Nyd's swifter than Indrea's because she knows her brother. She looks toward Maxe as well although she can't really see him, and she calls his name, with a question mark in her voice.
 

In Minos ----

Mirax looks glum as he and Sh'del meet to discuss the current problem.
"It doesn't look good." Sh'del says.
"No, not at all. I think what we figured would happen is. But why like this? I thought that Maxe would be able to handle the situation better."
"So did I. But he apparently is not. We both know that Max will die, and this time it will be final. We need Maxe to take his place.." Sh'del sighs.
"What about Indrea? She loves Max, after all."
Sh'del lowers his head. "Will worry about that when we get to it. As for now, we can only keep watching and wait."

              ----

In Atosa--

Maxe watches Amrath and the others with pitiful silence. He, after all, can't say anything. He is only a 'spirit' with limited powers. When Nyda asks if it is him, he simply nods, and for some reason, he looks over at Indrea in a very strange way that seems more like a look that Max gives her, rather than the so-called Split....

Suddenly, a bright flash of light erupts into the area... Sheevos has come for them...

Nydaometh took one step forward and grabbed Amrath by his shirt front. "What do you see?" she asks him, giving him a shake. Meanwhile Indrea looks back and forth from brother and sister to empty air. She is frowning. She is the first to see Sheevos and she clutches Nyda's sleeve, eyes wide. Nyd tries to shake her off and then Amrath's gaze narrows thoughtfully on the newcomer, causing his sister to turn. She, to her fury, lets out a gasp of surprise.

Maxe watches in horror as Sheevos appears. He doesn't know how he found them, or cares to speculate why, the only thing he can tell for sure is that from the look on the Drifter's face, he is out for blood.
"Ah, there you are." Sheevos smirks devilishly. "You've put up quite a fight the two of you have," he says, completely ignoring Amrath. "Well, enough cat and mouse, its time to die." With that he raises both hands, suddenly picking Nyda and Indrea up off the ground by sound invisible means. With a mere thought, he starts to manipulate their internal body systems, causing massive ruptures inside and out. "I'm going to enjoy this.. and this time, there's no Max clone to stop me."

-----

In the Atosa dimension, Max lays limp on the floor of a Death Star deck. He is bloodied and sore from having his energy constantly drained..
    ~What released me?~ He wonders.. ~Oh, no time… I've got to get out of here.~ He tries to teleport himself out of there, but is does not work. ~Blast, I'm out of power!~ He picks himself up, and starts wandering around the Death Star which is shaking and rumbling, showing evidence of outside attack.
~I've got to get out..~ he says as he approaches the shuttle bay, then blacks out....

--

Sometime later, Max awakens in a bacta tank on Yavin 4. Various Jedi Knights and students, and New Republic officials surround him on all sides.
~Are you all right?~ He hears Luke Skywalker ask him. ~You were nearly dead when our strike teams found you.~
Max blinks ~I'm well enough, thank you... but I was on the Death Star. How did I get here?~
~During the battle, we successfully landed several squads of strike teams on the Station in an attempt to capture it. When we had overrun the Death Star, one of the teams found you on a flight deck, bleeding to death.~
~How did I escape the interface with the Death Star's systems?~ Max asked.
~We're not so sure. Your Split, Maxe Kestle, said that when the power that Sheevos held over you was weakened, you'd break away from the grip of the interface to the Death Star. Apparently, he was right.~ Skywalker told him.
~W-what's happened to Maxe and Sheevos?~
~We do not know. He appeared shortly after two more of your friends arrived, two women named Nyda and In--"
~Indrea? What's happened to them?!~
Skywalker sighs. ~They all phased into another realm where we suspect they did combat and broke Sheevos' grip over you, other than that, we are not sure what is taking place.~
~I've got to help them!~ Max mentally yells.
~All in due time.~ Luke replies, ~you need to rest first and regain your strength... and even after that, it may take longer for your powers to return is what you've told me about your peoples' regenerative abilities is true after facing such trauma....~ Luke pauses a moment, considering a new option that wasn't there before.
~What is it?~ Max says anxiously.
~We may be able to charge your powers through Jedi exercises when you are well enough... but that will take time that you may not have.~
~Luke, Drifters are masters of time manipulation.. it could take 1000 years and I could warp back to the very second Sheevos appeared here..~
~Good.. then we will begin as soon as you are ready.~

Amrath watches detachedly for a few moments, then he shakes his head and sighs, reaching into a pocket. "Sorry, old chap... while I appreciate your style, if anyone is going to kill my sister, it will be me." He crumbles the globe of clay in his fingers and lets the pieces fall to the ground as he chants. As the last word falls the ground rumbles in a miniaturized earthquake, and then a giant hand, dripping clots of the earth and stones of which it is formed, erupts near
Sheevos. It grabs him, slamming him flat to the ground and nearly covering him in the process, and then begins dragging him down, the earth helping to swallow him.

Sheevos is caught off guard by Amrath's attack and is swallowed by the hand. With his powers momentarily lapsed, he releases Indrea and Nyda, dropping them to the ground.
               ~Good~ Maxe sighs in relief, but he's worried about what Amrath might do next, -he- has to do something, but what? Then an idea hits him. It’s risky, maybe too risky... but it just may work...
               Suddenly the ground explodes beneath them as a very annoyed Sheevos reemerges from the depths. "That was very stupid, Kadmon. Very stupid," he says, his eyes narrow and as cold as ice. "But I don't have time to deal with you, I'll just call on some of my friends." He laughs and with a motion of his hand two figures appear right behind Amrath. They’re both clad in dark robes and the only parts of their faces one can see is their glowing blood red eyes. They reach out their arms and grab hold of Amrath. "Meet two of my associates, Kadmon. They are a couple of minor Creeg called the Azrale. And if you know what a Creeg is, you'd better start praying to whatever gods you believe in to save your soul before the Creeg devour it!"
He turns again to Nyda and Indrea. He leaves Nyda alone for this round, making sure he's beaten her into a bloody pulp, then he goes for Indrea. "My, you're a lovely one. No wonder my enemy and his Split fell for you. But now one is dead after saving you, and the other is--"
"Right here! Let her go, Sheevos. Now!" A new voice rings out as a vortex opens and Max steps through onto the battle field. He looks older somehow, dressed in traditional Acanian armor and wielding a plasma lance. "Take your hands off her or I will take your hands off you."
 
 

Luckily for her, Nyda is unconscious before she hits the ground. Indrea is not so lucky, but she is nearly out of it so it doesn't hurt quite as bad as it might have. She has a floaty, numb feeling that keeps her from fear as Sheevos makes a last approach, and from surprise when Max shows up out of the blue. In a distant way she is ecstatically glad, but she's unable to reach that part of herself at the moment, and then she slides out of consciousness.
Resourceful Amrath, taking advantage of the uninvited guests' distraction by Max, begins a Healing on Nyda. Unfortunately, it's not one of his stronger points, since he has ever been more attuned with destruction. He is clumsy, and can do no more than keep her from dying, rather than getting her into any sort of shape. For her part, Nydaometh finds herself ripped from blissful unconsciousness back into a hell of pain. She's alive, but at the moment and likely for some time to come she won't appreciate it.

"What? How did you escape the Death Star? Oh, no matter. You're just in time to see your precious little friend die!" Sheevos rants, turning from Max and sending a massive ball of energy at Indrea that envelops her and starts ripping her apart from the inside.
Max says nothing as the ball suddenly disappears from around Indrea.
          "What?!" Sheevos squawks in surprise. "How did you do that?"
"I've become stronger since the last time, you bastard. This time I've come to _kill_ you." Max tells him. Sheevos steps back a few paces.
Something about Max this time scares him... something deadly.

               ---

               Maxe watches is amazement from the side lines as Max charges at Sheevos with the plasma lance. The two become locked in a deadly combat. This time it’s for keeps. Only one victor will come out of this bout alive. Both are equally matched. Sheevos' power skyrocketed by the pure evil of the Atosa Dark Side, Max's by his lust for bloody revenge. Maxe becomes  momentarily distracted from his plan, but soon gets back to it. He goes back to slowly concentrating what little power he has on one of the two Azrale demons that have reassumed to pounding on Amrath in order to fulfill their master's wishes.
~Come on, c'mon!~ Maxe shouts in his mind... ~Almost got it..~

               ---

               "There!" one of the Arzale demons shouts. He suddenly grads the other and throws him in the air, vaporizing him in a stream of velvet colored energy shot from the other's hands. "One Creeg down. Another to go." Maxe says aloud, having successfully possessed the demon's body.
"Now to deal with you., Kadmon." Maxe mutters. He raises his right hand to Amrath and heals whatever wounds he may have recieved, then rushes over to Nyda and does the same. "I hope this will make you feel better, friend." he creates some cover for her to hide behind. He soon reaches Indrea and picks her up while Max and Sheevos do battle. "Damn, you're a mess, Doria." As he moves for cover, he then notices a terrifying sight that Maxe and Sheevos have not.....
Standing several yards from the fight is a tall man with graying hair watching the battle intently. If Nyda had seen him, she might have attacked the renegade Drifter.... He was the man that had caused the Acanians, Sh'del and Max in particular, so much pain... it was Jelad Modan.

Amrath and Nyda are sitting behind the cover the Creeg-Maxe made for her, and neither are in shape to question this turn of events. Nyda is curious about one thing, and she stares at her twin. Finally he raises a hand to ward her off and says, "Don't-" and before she can- even ungraciously- ask or thank him he says, "No. You're still one of us and there was no reason I should let him kill you. That was the only reason. There wasn't any other." And he turns back to the battle.
Nyda snorts quietly, because after all this time she's become rather set in her opinions of him, and knows he speaks the truth on this. That's when she follows his line of sight and spots her dear old friend Jelad. Snarling, she rises and begins stalking toward him, coming up short with Amrath's fingers wrapped around her wrist. She growls at him wordlessly, pure hatred on her face. He looks surprised and intrigued.
"Who is he, Ny? Can I come play too?" and he smiles the same predatory smile his sister had worn earlier.
"No, Rath-- keep out of this. Not that I'd cry if you got yourself killed. But he's mine." He tilts his head slightly, letting go of her wrist and says, "You might earn my respect yet, sister..." She does not bother to reply, only looks at him with contempt. Then she walks straight for the Drifter, waiting for him to see her, wrapping a shield of forces around herself as she walks in hope it will deflect some of what will certainly follow.
 

Jelad watches the fight with interest as Max nearly drives the plasma lance through Newvek's side. ~Very good,~ he thinks, ~He's gotten better since the last time. Too bad this will be his last. After he's gone, we can eliminate Sh'del and the rest of the Acanians in this multiverse.~ He smirks, remembering the time that Vermillion, one of his agents, destroyed one of the main Acanian colonies in Minos and successfully blamed it on Sh'del Ranger. ~Now that was fun.~ he muses. But this fight he hasn't come to participate in, only watch. That is until he notices the Kadmon female nearly upon him. "Oh, hello there, m'dear. Don't bother assaulting me, I have a mental barrier projected out to three meters. Come any closer and you'll will be hit with a neural shock that will incinerate your central nervous system. I'm not going to assist my pupil, or his enemy, in any way. So stay where you are or back off. I have no interests in fighting at the moment."
Maxe watches the fight, but does nothing like the Silgolth renegade Jelad. He knows that this is a duel to the death. He only worries what will happen if Max loses... and by the way the way the battle is going, that may very well happen. For all the recovering and training Max did after the Death Star kidnapping, it may not be enough to quell the fury of Sheevos Newvek's natural Drifter power which have been heightened by the Dark Side....
In the battle, Max knows he's losing badly. He's covered in blood from head to toe. He's losing his concentration and fatigued. ~Sheevos is winning~ he tells himself.
The battle rages for several more hours.... until the final blow is struck.
The whole scene plays out in slow motion to Maxe and the others. Sheevos rams a spiral of energy into Max, ripping his internal organs apart and beyond even Drifter self-healing. Max drops the lance and falls to his knees, then face first on the ground. Sheevos, nearly as bruised and bloodied, yells in triumph, then he and Jelad phase from Limbo and disappear as if they were never there....

Nyda decides to let prudence take the upper hand. She's had enough for today, and there will be other days, she is sure. She turns to look for Indrea, seeing her with the possessed demon. This last phrase makes her lips curl in a faintly ironic smile. She moves towards them, less paranoid when she realizes the combatants probably wouldn't notice her even if she detonated a tac. nuke next to them. Finally she reaches her friends and throws herself on the ground next to them, not speaking to Maxe but giving him a nod.
Watching the match with increasing fear, finally she covers her face, and she is glad Indrea wasn't awake at the end.

Maxe rushes over to the dying Max. He tries to help his friend, but he knows he is beyond any cure or reconstruction. "I lost, didn't I?" Max asks his Split. Maxe only nods grimly. Max manages some small strength and turns his view to the sleeping Indrea, then to Nyda. ~Take care of her~ He tells the woman. ~Tell her I loved her more than anything... and I'm sorry it didn't last longer...~ he hesitates as other thoughts pass through his mind which is slowly shutting down...
"Mirax, Sh'del," he says into thin air. Mirax and Sh'del suddenly appear before him and Maxe. "Hello, old friend. " Sh'del says. Mirax stays silent. "Your time of passing is close at hand... soon you will rejoin your family in the realm of the Creators."
               "I know... At least I’m not dying alone, without my friends..." Max mutters.. Everything is going dark around him....
"Before you go, Drifter, you must tell, Kestle the truth." Mirax suddenly says.
"Truth, what truth?" Maxe blinks, looking at Mirax, then Max. "What is he talking about?" Max manages a faint smile. "My dear, boy... all your life, you thought you were a Split... you were not. I am a Split from you... I know this information has little importance.. But Mirax and Sh'del felt you should know one day... and today was it I gather.." he coughs again.. The darkness creeps ever closer to him.... "Its dark... wait.." Max says, his eyes closing..... "I can see the Creators, they're everywhere... I can see everyone from the Wars... Sh'del, your sister is here... Ma'ax and Amulek are here they're beckoning me to come to them..." his voice trails off to a whisper... "I'm coming, my friends..." with that, the Acanian Split of Maxe Kestle, who called himself Max Kessler and rose to become a Vice Admiral in a mortal fleet, is dead...
Maxe's eyes water and tears stream down his face as he hugs the now lifeless body of his dear friend. "Good bye, Max... May the Creators be with you in the hereafter..." for a moment, as the last of Max's life energy fades, he catches a faint telepathic utterance sent to the sleeping Indrea.... ~Farewell, my love, Indrea Doria of the Collisto. May your life be free of the pain I have caused you in the past... please look to the future now, and forget me.... Good bye~
"So it is done." Mirax says solemnly. "An age has passed for the Acanians in this realm of Minos.... we have witnessed a great champion die for reasons that may seem trivial to most who do not understand..... the death of an era... now we are here to begin a new one. The First Cycle of our time here is complete. The Second One now rests on your head, Maxe Kestle... You and your friends’. I can not tell you what lies ahead. Only that the road is long and hard...."
"Shut up!" Maxe yells. "Max is dead! Don't you care? He died over nothing!"
"Not nothing, Kestle," Sh'del says. "The Death Star kidnapping was only an elaborate mental cloak to what really happened between Max and Sheevos Newvek...."
"What are you blabbing about Acanite?" Maxe growls at him.
"You will learn in time, boy. You and the rest will learn in time."

Nyda listens to the proceedings, heart heavy as a stone. She didn't know Max except by reputation but she grieves for her friend's loss. Somehow she is not surprised to see Mirax; however she only looks up once, meeting his gaze for just a second before looking away. She turns to Indrea, who has begun whimpering like a child having a nightmare.
Nyd cradles her carefully and tries to soothe her but it's too late. Indrea's awake, and she knows. Not knowing what to tell her friend, Nyd scoops her up, carrying her over to the little huddle of Drifters. Indrea wants to see Max, and Nyda leaves her sitting next to his body.
She can't stand to watch anymore, thinking of herself and Mhet. She walks away from all of them, past her brother who stands outside the circle of stones that made the clearing. Just outside this there is a cliff, looking down on a vast windswept plain with a fortress in its distant middle. Folding her wings she leans back against a boulder and broods, looking down.

               Mirax watches Nyda wander off. He remembers her telling him that
something like this had happened to her once. He leaves the others and shifts over to her side. He knows no words to say. He just puts his arm around her to try and offer some sort of support.

               --

               In a place that knows many names, countless beings as innumerable as the sands of the Sahara Desert of Earth are congregated together. They are the Mar'tane and their children who have ‘died' or have been  ‘transfigured'. Among them is the former human known as Amulek D'Vega, now a minor ‘god' amongst the inner circles of the Mar'tane — the Creators of the Andros Realm and all its peoples, including the Dimension Drifters. Now simply known as Amulek, he waits near a small shaft of light as the Split Max Kessler appears before him. "Hello" he greets. "Welcome home, Max."

               --

               The next day has come and gone, and according to Acanian custom, Max's body has been burned atop a pyre. Since then, Maxe has completely claimed the Azrale's body and reshaped it to a form somewhat human-looking, but not the youthful looking Max he had been, citing that it might make things for Indrea worse. Maxe has tried to make Indrea's time there as comfortable as possible, but really wonders if its helping at all, his whole existence probably reminding the young Collisto about Max...
 

Nyda's shoulders stiffen and she turns away slightly. She is blinking rapidly, desperate not to cry, but her voice is still steady. It comes out as a near whisper. "Please, just... leave me alone. I don't want to be seen like this." She stares fiercely out at the ancient fortress below, her arms wrapped around herself, shutting him out. She doesn't want to break down. She thought she put it behind her- it's been, oh, so many Ages- but the events of today were a little too near.
She steps away. "Please. I'm sorry. Later... later we can talk about this, if you want, but I need to be alone right now. See if you can help Indrea. She's probably in shock, make sure she stays warm." She doesn't look at him again as she spreads her wings and glides off the cliff, becoming another speck in the sky.
Two nights later she rejoins them, walking into the group without a word as if she had been gone only a few minutes. She looks tired but in better spirits, finding Mirax and bumping him gently with a shoulder. "Hi."

Indrea probably would have appreciated Maxe's efforts if she had been capable of noticing. She felt like a zombie, doing nothing under her own volition but only at the prodding of the others. She didn't eat unless someone told her to, and if left to herself would sit quietly staring at a spot somewhere near her feet. Her first flicker of returning life came a few days after Nyda came back. Nyd, sitting next to the catatonic Indrea, jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her arm.
"Ny..." Indrea said, her voice creaky. She hadn't spoken or made a sound for more than five days. Nyd looked at her encouragingly, and she continued. "I want... can you..." she swallowed; her throat was dry from lack of water. "I want you to take me home." Her friend's blue-greeny eyes searched hers for a moment, and then the Kadmon nodded.

"Hi," Mirax replies. He doesn't say much of anything else to Nyda after that, he seems too deep in thought about what they should do next. Maxe just sits there quietly, prodding a fire he put together with a stick he found. When he hears Indrea's desire to return home, it doesn't surprise him at her, though in truth, he will miss her only though he hardly even knows her. The only things he knows are what Max felt for her through the mental link he shared with his Split. From that, he had developed somewhat of a silly little crush for the young Collisto woman, but did nothing about it for obvious reasons. "Have a safe journey," he mumbles.

Nyda and Indrea get ready to leave, the latter still pretty much ignoring everyone but Nyda, or seemingly, anyways. Not to long after the request they make the jump, shimmering out. Amrath had left days before, after the battle's end. ((Almost forgot him *lol*))
Nyda returns, alone, twelve hours later. She flies in, obviously having traveled a bit to reach the little camp. Around her neck is a heavy silver amulet on a leather cord. It is obviously new. Greeting all, she hands Maxe a little envelope. Inside is a silver ring, etched with graceful symbols, and a note. ~Thank you for everything... I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you in person. Please, come visit me sometime- the ring will lead you to me. Indrea~
While he reads this Nyda grabs Mirax and puts him to the question. "Where are we going from here? If we stay here much longer, someone will come to ask about what has been going on. I'm frankly surprised no one has already, because there have been sentries watching for that sort of flagrant display of power ever since the last Limbo War. And no doubt but Rath has gone home to tattle, and told my mother. Or even Seal. Want to meet my family? No doubt they're quite eager to meet you." This last is made in a tone of voice that suggests he'd be better off if he did not...

"Your family sounds like a barrel of fun." Mirax says dryly. "From your tone, I guess we should leave then? Very well. Maxe, Nyda and I are going to depart now. I imagine you may stay here a while longer, or maybe not. You know where to contact me." With that Mirax takes Nyda's hand and they rift to a little place called Andros....
"See ya later, Mirax." Maxe mutters. He is looking at the package from Indrea. He has a desire visit her soon, but not quite yet, he needs to take care of something first... He stands up from where he had been sitting and rifts out of Limbo to a quiet forest moon where Sh'del is now residing. He talks with the Acanite Elder, but gets only bits and pieces of the truth of who Maxe really is. All he learns is that Max was a diversion to draw attention away from him while he matured in mind and ability, and that he has an important destiny ahead of him. What is it?
Sh'del refuses to tell him. After that, they address what to do about the position in the Prophets' Fleet that Max held... who will replace Max? Maxe refuses to... so they call an a younger, yet more experienced Split of Maxe, Ma'ax Kestral. Kestral agrees to play the part of Max until the time comes when he can return to Aquitaine again -- which will be nearly two hundred years....
As Maxe prepares to leave the moon, Sh'del tells him to be careful and watch his back from time to time, and to return to Andros where it is safe for now. Sh'del will act as the Guardian of Minos from now until his death with the aid of the Q, Douwd, Olympians, and various other dimensional beings of great power...
With that all taken care of, Maxe leaves the Minos Realm, perhaps for good. This last chapter of his life has been a hard one despite the occasional good times... it will be nice to see home again.. And Indrea most of all.
He looks at the ring she gave him, and wishes to visit her... when he does, he phases from Minos and lands....?

Maxe finds himself standing at the edge of a forest. Behind him, the trees grow very large, old and stately, and the shade is deep and cool under them. Insects and birds drift in and out of the occasional shafts of sunlight that penetrate the heavy growth. The forest has an air of ancient and heavy patience that is nonetheless benign. In front of him, a long stretch of brilliantly green grass stretches towards a large white house. The day is bright, the sky perfectly blue. Trees dot what he now knows for a lawn, leading up to the house.
Some distance away, far enough that their voices are only a murmur, but not so far that he can't recognize features, sit three people around a table on the side porch. They are all women. One is obviously the elder, with curly, dark-brown hair streaked with occasional gray, but she is still lovely, and the two seated on either side bear a distinct resemblance. The one seated with her back nearly to Maxe is recognizably Indrea. She is smiling at something the other girl- she does seem to be still a child- has said. As he watches she replies, and then the door opens and a young man steps out on the porch. He drops into a vacant chair, kissing the older woman on the cheek and saying something that makes the younger girl blush and laugh. None of them has noticed Maxe.

Maxe watches the group for a moment. ~Doria's family?~ he speculates in silence, then decides to let them be for a while longer as he casually rifts from his current location to a comfy spot right by the people. He is just out of phase enough to be invisible to the naked eye, but if they can sense him, he's figured out, and he's not doing anything to stay hidden as far as that aspect is concerned.

The young man seems aware in a way of Maxe's presence, but not precisely. He shrugs and attends to the conversation, of his mother's plants in the conservatory, and then various relatives who have been visting or whom they've gone to visit. Maxe, listening, picks up on all their names- Ian is the young man, and Anya the younger girl. The older woman is simply Mama. Ian, it appears, has dropped by for one of his frequent visits. He lives not at home but in a nearby city, and he deals in old and rare tomes. In the midst of this amiable conversation a shout is heard from inside, and Indrea's mother shakes her head and goes in, followed by Ian, who looks amused (having forgotten his brief notice of Maxe). Anya and Indrea exchange knowing looks and sit in companionable silence, watching the gentle toss of leaves in a breeze, or the few clouds high in the sky.
  After a little space, Indrea gets up. Anya looks at her and she nods. The girl nods back. This is an old, old routine. Indrea walks down the porch stairs and towards the woods, taking her time. She seems lost in thought until she enters the woods. There is a path, and two huge trees flank it. She touches the left one as she walks past, almost like greeting an old friend, and then walks further into the shade of the trees. Anya watches her until this point with the air of one who knows well. She moves from the table to the porch rail, sitting on it and watching the grass.
 
 

Maxe watches Indrea walk off and observes her activities intently. He has no clue what she's doing, maybe its a Colliston thing, a large part of them are close-to-nature 'tree huggers' aside from dedicated historians and religious practitioners. He smiles a little and keeps quiet, though he takes a standing position a little ways from the porch with his arms folded. As he watches, his invisibility slips and he becomes completely visible, standing there on the grass. What they will see - if they notice him - is a young humanlike man who appears to be in his middle twenties. He wears old garbs - jean-like pants, a somewhat tattered tunic of dark color, and an long tan colored over coat. He wears his long hair, which he has let grow longer, in a loose braid and he has grown a small moustache....
He just stands there and watches Indrea with an odd intensity… ~Hello, Miss Doria~ he mentally smiles... and not too quietly either.

Indrea, a few yards down the path, stops so quickly she stumbles. Turning, she slowly walks out to the edge again and stops between the two trees, watching Maxe. She notices that Anya has disappeared, probably gone inside to tell someone there's a strange man on the lawn. Quickly, she makes a decision. She wants to talk to him for a while before she has to introduce him. ~Come walk with me.~ she says, and indicates the trail, then waits.

He nods and walks over to where she stands between the trees. He makes a face and apologizes for his timing. ~I'm sorry if I've interrupted a Colliston ritual of some kind, I'll come back another time if you wish, Ms. Doria~ He says in a voice vaguely similar to Max's, yet full of the formality that Max had nearly always used with others.

She smiles slightly and gives the barest of nods, politeness to match his formality, taking her tone from his. ~No ritual, unless you wish to think of it as one. I like to walk every day here... it's soothing. It helps me collect myself. Do you not have anything similar to do when you wish to think?~ She starts to move down the path, waiting for an answer but also, it seems, perfectly happy if they walk in silence.  In truth, she thinks as she glances over at her guest and then back to the environment, she doesn't know what to think of him. He is a friend, but he is also very much a stranger.

He walks with her down the path. ~Not really. I have been taught some meditations and martial arts exercises by Mirax and the Acanite, but nothing really helps these days.... by the way Miss Doria, how long has it been since the last time we were in company? I am not certain because of the time lag between Minos and Andros. But I ramble on, please forgive me.~ he smiles pleasantly and senses her confusion as what to think of him. He doesn't know know to respond to that. ~We'll just wait and see what happens I guess~ he tells himself.

Indrea makes a small sound. ~I hadn’t considered that, you know… it’s been most of a year.~ A touch of forced humor colors her voice next. ~I think it’s good that you haven’t come before now. It’s taken me this long to get myself back together. You know, I didn’t even want to see Nyda just after. Luckily she wasn’t terribly insulted… she knows.~ She trails off, as they come around a bend in the trail that opens into a clearing. A creek runs across it. Should they wish to cross it, it is narrow enough to jump, but it runs fast and fairly deep for all that.

~Nearly a year huh? I figured as much. Yet, for me, its only been five months since the last time.~ He remains silent after that until they come to the clearing and the stream. ~This place almost reminds me of home... Lets see, how to cross... ah! I know.~ He gently takes a hold of Indrea's hand, quick enough for her not too immediately pull away, and phases them to the other side, then lets go. ~There. Now where to?~

Her lips turn up in a brief smile as she says quietly, "We could have jumped over it." Then she gives a quick release of breath. ~We follow the trail. A bit farther it comes out on a cliffs-edge, really not high or steep enough to be a cliff, but we call it that. There is a lake, the view is amazing. I like to sit there sometimes. We can stop when we get there or go farther- there is another trail that continues the other side of the clearing.~ As they continue walking the end of this trail comes into view, appearing extremely bright at the edge of the trees compared to the dimness under them.

They come to cliff edge and Maxe looks over the lake. ~Wow,~ he utters, ~you weren't kidding. this view is great.~ he keeps looking out over it. ~Would you mind if we just sit here a while before continuing on, Ms. Doria? This place really reminds me of home...~ Maxe ask, this place feeling a lot like his home of Earth-X345 in the Andromedan Continuum of Andros. While sitting there, he looks over at Indrea for a second, then turns his head. Like this place, she reminds him of someone he once know when he was a boy, an old friend who he cared deeply for before she killed in the Wars. ~Oh, stop it, Kestle!~ he tells himself. ~You can't  go back to that again. You can never go back to how things were before then...~

Indrea sits down, cross-legged, and rests her chin in her hands, looking at the lake sparkling in the sun. Musing, she catches part of his thoughts about not being able to go back. ~Isn't that the truth,~ she thinks, watching the patterns of light shift on the surface of the water. ~Of course, sometimes it's best to let the past be the past, because it can never be anything else.~ She interrupts the silence and her own thoughts by asking out loud, "Your home is a little like here then?"

"My Earth is a little like this, yes. Its not all the industrialized, above ground away, though there is the occasional village and farmland… most major population and tech centers are underground.. though populations in citys never exceed over 50 or 60,000 at the most. The planet's over all population itself is only 700 million, and there all spread out. It's really a nice place to visit. Maybe I'll go back sometime.... though, for right now. I'd like to be right here I guess. Its nice." He tells her with a small Kestle-patented, lop-sided smile. He looks back toward the lake, watching the light change on the lake as well. ~How dynamic our lives our, like those patterns on the water... ever changing and never seeming to end~

"Mmm," she assents. "Sounds like a nice place. I like the having the cities underground. It seems a good idea." She had been glancing at him as she spoke and now she looked over the water again, agreeing with his assessment. ~Yes, they are like lives aren't they? Each moment like a shard of light on the water, always slipping away as it's replaced by another. ...Though sometimes you wish-~ She stops midthought with an "Uh-oh" under her breath as her brother pops out of the woods, looking harried. "Indrea!" She jumps up, the expression on her face caught out. "No need to start the overprotective big brother bit," she says mildly. "I'm fine." He is not appeased. "Maybe, but you should have said something to us before going out, knowing Anya would come in shouting about strangers. You know we've been worried-" he stops himself with an ingratiating, slightly embarrassed grin. "I know, I'm shutting up before you challenge me to a duel. I'll go tell them everything is okay..." And he nods to Maxe and strolls back into the woods, taking "the long way"... as it were.

Maxe gives a slight chuckle "I guess I did make a rather an abrupt entrance. I shall make my apologies when we return to your home." He smiles. ~I can understand your brother's concern, after all, you are a lovely young women Indrea Doria.~ He says candidly, not embarrassed by his words at all. Yet he realizes he may have made her feel uncomfortable, and prepares to leave her be if she requests it.

She smiles a little and gives a tiny shake of her head. "I'll take that in the spirit it was meant, I suppose. It's not entirely your fault they're acting like that, though. For the past 11 months they've been watching me like I might sprout an extra head, or break, or something." She stands up, brushing herself off. "Would you like to continue walking? Or go back to the house and brave my family?" She smiles gently at this last.