Author's Note: I apologize for the long delay. Unfortunately, real life deadlines intruded. This chapter is much shorter than originally intended, so I will try to get the next chapter up this week. It is also unbetaed, so please forgive any errors.

I decided to have a bit of fun describing Delphi. Its geography is based (loosely) on the episode Valley of Darkness and the actual geography of Delphi on Earth.

The description of paint preparation is adapted from Professor John's Art of the High Renaissance lectures. Many thanks for a wonderful class.

Spoilers: Minor Valley of Darkness

Kara waited for Zak in the simulator bay, making minor adjustments to the sim package to give herself something to do. Lords, what am I going to do? She heard the familiar sound of regulation boots before she saw him. Zak emerged through the hatchway, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Three paces from her he halted and saluted, the epitome of perfect military precision. "Lieutenant Thrace. Ensign Adama reporting for additional training. Sir." He could not quite keep the smirk off his face. She gave him an icy glare. "On the flight deck you may address me as Starbuck."

Ooooooooooo

Kara dismissed her student, trying not to let her frustration show. The sim session had actually been moderately productive, and surprisingly Kara was endlessly patient with her students. Kara had started Zak at the point where his scores had begun to fall, and made him repeat each exercise until he had executed it with enough skill to have initially passed on his own merits.

In four hours, she had led him through two simulator runs which she could have completed in less than one. It was a start, but he was still a long way off from being capable of flying a Viper. However, her frustration did not stem from Zak's mediocre performance, but rather from her inability to ignore the feelings that he evoked. It was a one night stand. I cannot be in love with a man I just met. Especially not my student.

Kara scrubbed her hands over her face. Lords, this is a disaster. She shut down the simulator and exited the sim bay, securing the door behind her. As she crossed the green, a cool breeze ruffled her hair and raised gooseflesh on the back of her neck. She returned a salute to a harried looking Specialist, and suddenly deviated from the path to her quarters and headed towards the rail station.

Ooooooooooo

Normally, Kara finished each day with a distance run. As her legs pumped, her feet pounded, and the wind slapped against her face, Kara felt free, like nothing could touch her, the same feeling she got from flying. Of course, the endorphins that flowed through her system were an added benefit, allowing her to forget all problems. It was the reason she had initially turned to sports, to escape her troubled home life.

However, tonight she needed another release. Catching the blue line, Kara left the base and headed towards the city outskirts. The train sped through downtown Delphi, past the Forum, the Opera House, and the Telamont Building, then across the river, giving Kara a panoramic view of the Shining Mountains and Port Kirrah. At the Castalian Springs stop, Kara got off the train and walked the twelve blocks to her apartment.

As she climbed the six flights of stairs to her studio, she wondered for the hundredth time why she kept the place. Nothing ever works the way it's supposed to, the view is horrid, and the rent is sky high. Unlocking the door, she entered the apartment, and flipped on the lights. Or rather, she tried to. Frak! I forgot to pay the utilities again. She rummaged around a closet, which could better be described as the Hellmouth, until she found a flashlight and some candles. Setting them up around the room, Kara began to mix the pigments and the binder on an irregular piece of glass. As the pression of her palette knife dispersed the aggregates, Kara turned on her battered music player and the haunting melodies of her father's orchestral suite filled the room.

In the flickering candlelight, Kara spread wide swaths of vermillion across her canvas, adding dancing swirls of orpiment with her palette knife. To the unconventional metre and overt dissonance of her father's composition, the painting emerged. The harsh vibrant flames contrasted with the soft billowing grays and indigos. Meandering swirls of silver danced across the clouds like a rippling arpeggio.

Kara stared at the canvas, the thick impasto causing the light to reflect ethereally, adding expressiveness, as the strength and speed of the brushwork became manifest. Though the paint was still wet, Kara reached out and delicately touched an almost sculptural whorl of flame. It was a powerful piece, perhaps one of the most compelling she had ever painted. Exodus from Kobol. The image from the scriptures flashed into her mind. It seemed to fit her current frame of mind. Kara glanced at the clock. If she left now, she would have just enough time to return to campus, shower, and grab something to eat before her first class.