This is a tribute to Kasha, the Traveler from Eelong
In one instant, the span of a heartbeat, the world shattered.
The ground shook as the flume tore itself apart, massive chunks of rock crashing into the tunnel. Pendragon had reached out to grab Kasha, but a moment too late. The pain was intense, a searing jolt that made Kasha stagger and fall, her vision fading as she fought the black tide that was rising up to meet her.
"Kasha." She heard the familiar voice and turned her head to listen. "I am proud of you."
It was Seegen. Her father.
Kasha was panting after just having returned home from foraging. If it hadn't been for her quick thinking, the whole group might have been overcome by the tangs. She had succeeded in drawing them away and in saving most of the harvest. Yet Seegen was worried. Worried about his daughter and of the fact that she had used gars to distract the tangs. At the time, Kasha hadn't understood his concern for them. They were work animals, nothing more.
He had grown more passionate about it, that he began to question the ways of Eelong. Until finally Kasha thought him mad. Until his sudden death at the flume on Second Earth.
Now Kasha was the Traveler from Eelong. And she was dying. Blood seeped through her black fur and she remembered.
The disbelief upon meeting Pendragon. A gar who could speak. A gar who changed her entire view of things. Who brought her to believe in worlds beyond her own.
She was vaguely aware of a body pressed close to hers, holding her protectively. Of blood trickling through her fur. She opened her eyes and all doubts fled from her mind. She believed.
For beyond the crystal walls, there were stars. Millions upon millions of stars all glowing brightly in the vast black of space. Crisp white pinpricks like cold fire and icy blue and burning reds and yellows. Scattered across space like dew upon a raven's wing. Mesmerizing. Stunning. They were…beautiful.
Beyond the walls of the flume were ghostly images. Fleeting moments in time. A dark, shiny pyramid. Klee foragers from Eelong. Some type of machine that resembled a small, one-person boat. Translucent figments from territories Kasha could never even have imagined.
But mostly, her attention was riveted to the stars. Seegen was right, Kasha realized. He was not the mad old klee she had thought him to be before his death. He had known about all of this. Despite the pain, Kasha smiled.
The flume was incredible. A tunnel of light and music that stretched among the stars. The crystal glowed brighter. The jumble of sweet musical notes grew louder and Kasha instinctively knew this was the end of the journey.
The flume deposited them in a cavern on Zadaa. The lights and the music were gone. But not the stars. The stars lingered.
Kasha opened her eyes again to see Pendragon's concerned face. He wanted to help her, to run out and find someone, leaving her alone. She told him to stay.
It was too late. She was dying.
But Kasha did not feel fear and as Pendragon shared with her Press's comforting words, she longed to see Seegen again. That time would come very soon.
"I'm glad to have known you, Bobby Pendragon," Kasha whispered with her last breath. "And to have been a Traveler."
"You will always be a Traveler."
Then there was nothing. Nothing but the stars.
And she was among them.