"It is your move, Liam." Da'an ponders the young hybrid, who seems preoccupied.
Indeed, the Companion, himself, has not been able to fully concentrate on foovlashaa,
today. Something, almost palpable, hangs in the air. The Taelon searches for the feeling.
It is not one of expectation. It is more like....sadness. Yes, that is it -- sadness. The purple
of the embassy seems muted and sober. Da'an is about to comment on the atmosphere
when he spies a crow perched upon the back of his chair.

Liam Kincaid follows his Companion's gaze. "What the hell. How'd that bird get in here?"

Da'an does not answer his protector, immediately. He is transfixed, trapped in
rememberance. "A crow....I have read....absorbed Human mythology. We are being
visited, Liam."

Da'an cannot elaborate. Half-dark light emanates from the portal in his office. Someone
or something is traversing through. "Only those with top security clearance know the
Portal Destination Code for this room, Da'an." Liam's statement is matter-of-fact. He is
strangely unafraid, and this bothers him. The half-dark light from the portal melts, as if
within a kaleidoscope. Slowly, the patterns morph to mirror the bird shifting restlessly
atop Da'an's chair. Then, the shadow-crow elongates liquidly into Human form.

The young woman, for it is a young woman, regards the two beings in front of her, as
they regard her. She is petite and slender, wearing black. Her short, dark hair accentuates
her clear, blue eyes. Her skin is pale, not quite white, but with a tinge of something
neither Da'an nor Liam can quite define. She exudes a porcelain strength.

Da'an is the first to speak, his research cystalizing: "You are an avatar from beyond the
Void." The Taelon senses his protector's shock and wonder. He cannot address Liam's
reaction, however, because he must master his own. Da'an senses the urgency of the
Cosmos within their visitor.

"Yes," she answers. "I haven't heard my condition put so lyrically before."

The Taelon queries, "Why have you come?"

As she responds, Liam hears a wistful tenderness in her voice, "Because 'parent' is the
first word for Universe in the hearts and minds of our children, Da'an." With this, the
woman approaches Da'an and Liam, palms outward. The two instinctively understand
and press their hands to hers. The images are gauzy, yet distinct. The Taelon and the
hybrid see the kidnapping, smell the rankness, feel the child's death, hear the husband's
bullet, and taste the earth of the mother's grave.

The two are speechless within her grief, as she begins: "We're bound, Da'an. I turned my
back on my child, my Rebecca, for just a moment because I was distracted by medical
school.. You turned your back on your posterity because you were distracted by
evolution. I looked for Rebecca and found her kidnappers. You seek your posterity by
becoming kidnappers. Trapped with Rebecca, I outlived her by several days. My husband
shot himself after he buried us, refusing to go on. Trapped within the Commonality,
you've outlived your joy by coutless millenia, burying your present generation under sins
you refuse to shoulder. Now, some higher power allows me to share my pain, as you
share yours, palm to palm. We were everything in the eyes of our children, and we failed
them. We've been judged. Redemption will come when we accept our connection."

Liam's eyes are filled with tears, and his head is filled with Beckett's memories. She, too,
had studied ancient legends of resurrection, retribution, and redemption. "You're a Crow.
What's your name?"

"Hannah Foster," she replies. "You're mother loves you very much, Liam." Hannah
touches the man-child, and she realizes that he is younger than her Rebecca was by seven
years. "Yes, she loves you very much."

Overwhelmed by emotion, Liam turns to see Da'an in full blush. They are startled by the
cawing of the crow. Then, it and she are gone.