"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos" Raven intoned , feeling her body levitate off the bed while she dived into her subconscious, metaphorically speaking, in reality she was allowing her 'excess' emotion to be projected onto the meta-physical plane, they just so happened to be all images of herself, a testament to the intense training she had received, as an untrained meditator would only ever get a feeling of the emotion, like a cloud of emotion that simply drained away, or possibly an image of the thing or person that they associated with a particular emotion. It was an incredibly difficult task, first she would drain her 'easier' emotions, these being the ones she felt rarely and thus, would have less 'pull' or power, these being love, impatience and joy. She would then concentrate on her 'subdued' emotions, if it was possible to subdue an emotion, as these would submit easily and so their power would drain rapidly, these emotions being sadness, wisdom, knowledge and guilt. With this more balanced state of mind she could then focus on the more difficult emotions, ones that she felt often or felt strongly, as these would have lots of power and 'pull', making it difficult to release the energy without her concentration and emotional balance failing, these were happiness, rude, timid and brave. Finally she got to her most difficult emotions, ones that held such tremendous power that she had to maintain perfect concentration and emotional balance, in order to do this she had to drop most of her psychic barriers in order to concentrate on holding them in the meta-physical plane, these emotions were rage, pain and hate.
Once she had drained them, she refortified her mind and analysed her emotions carefully, adding and taking away power from them in order that they have the same 'pull' as each other, an imbalance would be catastrophic if she released her grip on her emotions at any time.
Once she had drained her emotions she reviewed the time between now and the previous meditation, analysing it from every angle, whether it was going with Starfire to the mall, or battling the hive five, she had work out her emotional responses to various stimuli, and from that apply it to new situations in order that she might have a better chance of maintaining emotional balance in any situation, such a thing was impossible, but it made her feel better if she knew she had done everything in her power to contain her emotions, no matter what.
today, for example, she was reviewing her visit to Azarath, she watched herself as she opened the seal, and the scene froze, frowning she tried to restart the memory, just like a CD-ROM, her memory would occasionally 'glitch', this was usually when an emotion either gained or lost power rapidly, meaning her memory couldn't cope with the two versions running side by side without 'compiling' them, in computer terms. When it still refused to start she grew worried, her mental fortifications were not up to scratch, but no super-vilain in jump, or California for that matter, could match her mental skills, the the only type of person that could have entered so quietly and efficiently was another Azarathian.
Just as she though that her vision went blank, and several terrifying moments later a women stepped out of the inky blackness, raven's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the white Azarathian garb
"Arella..." she didn't speak the words but they boomed across her mind scape, it was definitely Arella, but she looked different form when she last saw her, she still wore the traditional garb of a middle class women, but she appeared...worn, tired. When Arella heard her name she smiled softly and flipped of her hood, it was definitely the Arella she knew
"Raven, there you are, I've been searching all over for you" her mind iced over instantly, and as this was her mind it reflected what she felt, the temperature dropped to sub-zero levels in less than a second
"I meant the earth, silly, not your mind" Arella walked over to Raven, embracing her in hug
"it's been so long" she whispered as she hugged her fiercely, matching Starfire's painful hugs-o'-death (to quote Beastboy), Raven hugged her back gingerly, not really comfortable with such a gesture. After several seconds Arella removed herself from Raven and stood back up.
"I didn't just come here for a family reunion, I have a message for you, from the senate" she cleared her throat and withdrew a scroll, waxed shut with the seal of the senate high council
"findor, excellium, astartium; Raven Roth, of the house of most noble Azar, Greetings from the Senate and peoples of Azarath.
We hope this message finds you in good health and family.
We are pleased to announce that in celebration of your defeat of Trigon, we have organised a celebration to be held in your honour across Azarath space, we would be well pleased if you could attend the central celebration at Azarath, Transportation has been arranged aboard our newest carrier, the Hope.
We hope that you may be able to attend our celebrations, which will be in approximately four earth weeks.
Noruk, Kund, Loka; Raven Roth, of the house of most noble Azar
On behalf of the Senate and Peoples of Azarath
Chancellor Velas" Raven looked at Arella for a few moments, searching her eyes, Arella shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the intense look on her daughters face, finally she responded
"yes, but only if I can bring my four friends, without them, I would never have defeated him" Arella could only nod and embraced her daughter again
"yes, of course, be ready in a week and I'll pick you up"
"if you don't mind I'll have the message, to explain to my leader" Arella nodded and gave her the message, slowly Arella faded from her mind, leaving behind the image of her unlocking the seal of Azarath.
And one very big problem.