*I must be dreaming*, she thought to herself. But this was like no dream she'd ever had before. It seemed that she stood upon a featureless grey plain. It was thickly shrouded in a cold pea-soup fog, punctuated only by pinpricks of light that sparked and flashed far away in the distance.
"Hello ?", she called hesitantly, "0h ...oh ...oh...", came the echoes bouncing back. But NOT in her own voice. There was someone else here; someone who gave off a sense of great power and compassion. But that was all -- the identity of the presence remained unknown. "Who are you ?", she tried again, feeling somewhat encouraged.
A patch of fog suddenly swirled and sparkled, before forming into a borderless mirror. As Kay moved closer for a better look, she noticed that it was NOT her own reflection that regarded her.
Instead, it was Gwenn's face as he offered to become the brother she'd always wanted. How could this be ? Kay reached out a questioning hand to the mirror. It passed right though -- as if there was nothing there. But something must have been triggered, for the image suddenly rippled as if it had noticed her attention.
A sequence of images followed, each blurring into the next all too soon. First Grandmother Callisu's face quoting a favourite proverb "Be careful what you ask of the Goddess; SHE may grant it to you" ... then the worried faces of my parents Colin and Ysa when they saw me off at the spaceport on Terra and begged me not to stray far from Thendara's Terran Zone ... next Grandfather Malcolm glowing with great pride as he presented me with a sgian dhubh on my thirteenth birthday, saying "always be true to your love and to your honour -- without them, a person is nothing".
With the last ripple, the mirror shivered and dissolved back into the fog from which it had come.
"I don't understand !", Kay screamed into the grey void, "Why are you showing me the past ? What are you trying to tell me ?". But there was no answer -- just a sudden wave of dizziness that flowed over her.
When her vision cleared, the surroundings had changed into her own darkened quarters. "What the --- ", Kay exclaimed to the empty room, before burying her aching head in her hands. Perhaps this was the sign for which she had prayed. But what did it mean ?
A candlemark later (after many, many, revisions), her letter finally went off to Terra.
Dear Father,I'm starting to get used to life here. My quarters are small but I've made them look cozy. Winter is upon us, but I've prepared by buying warm clothing -- so the weather doesn't bother me.
Tell Mother not to worry (I'm sure she's probably reading this over your shoulder -- or has already accessed your terminal and read this electronic mail letter for herself). I haven't forgotten her warnings to stay away from the "lowland sorcerers" in Comyn Castle and the Towers.
I still don't know many people here yet. But I've met a few nice shopkeepers in the city. And I've also made a friend who's of my own generation. His name's Gwenn MacConal, and he's from a place called Mon Fiern. (it's up in the highlands somewhere). He left his family so that he could come here and earn a living by joining the Thendara Guards.
I very much hope that you would like him too, if you ever come to visit me here. You've always said that I ought to start paying more attention to young men -- but I don't think that this is what you meant. So don't go getting your hopes up about having a grandson (you take alot more interest in my lack of a love life than I do -- and mother's even worse).
One of the things I like best about Gwenn is the fact that he DOESN'T look at me in THAT sort of way. He makes me laugh, and forgives me when I make a cultural faux pas (so far, at least -- so I'm learning about local manners).
Your loving daughter,
Kay
Reluctantly, Kay opened her eyes to greet the new day, and rolled out of bed. It was time to stop "hiding" on-base. After much deliberation and prayer, she had come to a decision regarding what she would say to Gwenn. But whether it was the RIGHT one, was as yet to be determined.
Absentmindedly, one of her hands reached up to the charm hanging on the thin, gold chain around her neck. Fingers rubbed across the Brighid's cross and traced the trinity knot at the center.
"Goddess Mother", she prayed quietly, "help me to be patient and strong, to see what is truly important, to act without selfishness or fear. Goddess Mother, help me to trust your wisdom, to resist the coward's way, to walk in faith and compassion, to be truly human in spirit and heart".
Opening her eyes once again, Kay's gaze fell upon the time display on her terminal. A string of Terranan cuss-words suddenly filled the room and began to echo off the walls. So much for peace and serenity, and back to the usual chaos. If she skipped breakfast, there would be just barely enough time, she decided, irritably pulling of her nightshirt and tugging on her uniform.