The soft summer breeze carried the scent of jasmine through the air as she stood at the edge of the riverbank and looked out across the land. This is what she would remember, the scents in the air, the way her hair was lifted by the breeze and swept across her face and neck…

The sun was fading now and soon she would forget the pain and sorrow of her own past. Looking down at her feet, she slowly closed her eyes and opened them again. These days she couldn't close her eyes for any length of time—that's when the memories came rushing back to her; violence, terrified screams, blood on her own hands and the only evil her people could not defeat. It haunted her, even now, years later…a universe away…and still the nightmares came.

"Elaine?" His voice was soft and soothing as he called from the stone doorway. "Come my dear."

Fighting off the screams echoing in her memory, Elaine turned as a single tear escaped from her eye, "Just a moment longer?"

He sighed, "The sun, my dear, it sets the time without our permission."

She turned back to the sunset as another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, "Yes, many things in this world make judgments without consulting those it affects." Facing him now, she straightened and tilted her chin to emphasize her meaning.

He smiled, "Elaine, if ever I chose to have a daughter..." The older man closed the distance between them and took her into his arms, "She would have your capacity for love."

Elaine tightened her arms around the one man she had trusted all these years and felt the light of day drain away from the world around her; this would be her last sunset. "As I said before," She said, pulling back to look him in the eyes, "You shall never change. You still say everything within you except that which you want to say. And I fear that the only words I can calm you with are these--I will not fail you."

A smile creased the old man's rugged face as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "It is time."

Elaine sighed and looked towards the horizon one last time, "Let it begin." Silently, she left the safety of his arms and walked to the entrance of the stone structure before her. With one final glance over her shoulder, Elaine met the sparkling blue eyes of her last friend and held the picture of him in her heart as a reminder of the love she was trying to preserve. He smiled in return and Elaine blinked away tears as she turned toward the dark room before her. She stepped through the doorway without hesitation as the last witness to her life made his quiet departure.

Elaine stood in darkness only a moment as the doors closed behind her silently and the room illuminated before her, revealing the elegant design of her people's technology. Her workstation looked like any other woman's vanity dresser, save for the sleek metal alloy that gave her some comfort of home as she ran her fingers along the edge. Hanging on the wall, above the desk, a large view screen that, when not activated, looked as though it were nothing more than a mirror hanging on a wall…

Sliding into a chair in the corner, Elaine slipped off her shoes and let her feet settle on the cold stone as she gazed about the room, "Four gray walls, and four gray towers over look a space of flowers…"

The sunlight faded below the horizon and the outside world fell into darkness. Though it seemed void of hope, she knew that life would once again thrive in this land. That all was not lost as it was thought to be and that, if given the right amount of encouragement the people of this world—her people—would build a new life here and a new legacy…