Chapter Three

A week into the trip, Buffy awoke to find herself alone in bed. With a sigh, she rolled to her feet and slipped on a robe before going to look for her errant lover. She found Shar in the galley, dressed only in her robe and asleep at the table, surrounded by some device that she had taken apart. With a rueful chuckle, she lifted the taller woman in her arms and carried her to bed. Returning to the galley, she grabbed a drink, shaking her head at the mess Shar had made. It was amazing how much she reminded Buffy of Willow sometimes. She couldn't count the number of times she'd had to carry the redhead to bed after she'd fallen asleep in the middle of a personal project or researching the next Big Bad or something equally consuming. She settled in the pilot's seat and stared out at twinkling stars.

"Are you there?" Buffy said quietly, glancing at the silent holocron box.

The holographic image instantly formed. 'Naturally. You are having very deep thoughts for so early.'

Buffy shrugged. "I've been thinking. Remembering mostly. Things are coming to a head."

'Yes, they are.'

"I was wondering about Shar and Koyi." Buffy looked at him curiously. "Did you guys arrange that?"

'In the smallest of ways only.' The Emissary smiled. 'You have a great champion in the Balance Demon. He impressed upon me that you, unlike most Champions, are not the type to stand alone. You require something 'tangible' to hold on to, to fight for. I led you to them because they are best suited to your 'altered' personality, they compliment you as did the humans that you bonded with before, but it is your own instincts that call them 'mate', and their choice to accept you as such. We do not influence the Will of any being.'

Buffy nodded, oddly grateful to know that. "I've been feeling more and more restless lately. The darkness is growing, and it's spreading. I can actually feel it infecting people."

'You sense the corruption of the soul because it is the closest that we have to 'evil' in this dimension.' The Emissary nodded, almost thoughtfully. 'You are unique. A Champion who has been directly touched by the Upper Beings, even if you do not remember it. This is the only reason that I am allowed such contact. The circumstances of your resurrection have made you even more unique. The Force is abundant in you, and growing in a way similar to how you would have evolved if you were still in your previous dimension.'

"Oh, so that's why I feel like I'm more connected now than I was when I first arrived." Buffy realized. "So, I take it that that's not normal?"

'No. Most find the extent of their strength within a few years of training, but your influence of the Force continues to grow. The type of human that you are, in regards to the dimension where you originated, has made your abilities with the Force a little different than others. You can do things unheard of with the Force, for instance your ability to connect with the sentient planets, and the experiences that you have gone through in your life have given you a level of control as yet unheard of.'

They spoke for a bit longer, then Buffy's restlessness began to settle in. Even after all this time, she still had problem with enclosed spaces. She left him to go to her training room, one of the passenger cabins that had been stripped and appropriately altered. She went through a few Earth martial arts katas before going through several of her own training exercises. Finally worn out from her exertions, Buffy returned to the bedroom, stopping by the bathroom to rinse away the sweat, and chuckled at the sight of Sharael sprawled across the bed. She shifted the slack limbs so that she could climb in, but was not surprised when Sharael almost immediately wrapped around her. Snuggling back into the body behind her, Buffy smiled contentedly and drifted off to sleep.

A few days later, Sharael bounced in her seat as Buffy landed on the planet Yanibar.

"Will you calm down, Shar!" Buffy laughed. "You're like a hyper child on sugar crack."

"I can't help it," Sharael grinned. It wasn't the first time Buffy had said that to her. "It's been so long."

Buffy couldn't argue with that. They hadn't seen the third member of their little triad in over three months. Koyi had been training the other Zeison Sha warriors in advanced techniques that she had learned from Buffy, that had not been available to them before since they refused to interact with the Jedi Order. Buffy and Shar, not ones to sit idle for any considerable length of time, had gone out to partake on their favorite hobbies. Smuggling and bounty hunting.

It had been on one such job that the couple had discovered the homeworld of the Zieson Sha. One of Buffy's bounties had somehow managed to crash on Yanibar. By the time she had tracked him, he'd made a nuisance of himself and was already dead. Although she had been disappointed that she hadn't been able to kick his ass, since he'd been wanted for murdering the children of a nobleman on a planet somewhere in Mid Rim, she'd nevertheless felt better about the fact that he'd been beaten to death while attacking a small group of initiates. Unfortunately, the bounty had required that he be delivered alive to face execution so, after sending a message and the body back to her contact, she and Shar decided to stick around and see what they could learn of this Force-sensitive warrior culture that was nothing like the over-exalted Jedi. They spoke in Old Corellian, a language that Shar was already fluent in, and yet again, Buffy was glad of the Force power that allowed her to understand and speak these strange new languages almost instinctively. She'd have been lost otherwise. She barely passed French.

Similar to what had happened with Shar, Buffy had been immediately drawn to the warrior that had been assigned to work with them after Buffy had proven her worth to the Zeison Sha leader by defeating one of their best warriors, the very one assigned to them, in the sparring ring. A red-skinned Twi'lek with not two, but four lekku, the rarest of breeds, named Koyim'alor. Almost immediately, she heard the Slayer whispering inside her mind again. Holding her securely, keeping the warrior lying on her side with her arms immobilized behind her and her legs tangled up, it had taken every bit of self-control Buffy had to refrain from running her tongue over the lekkus twitching agitatedly, even though she was nearly grinning at the angry diatribe that she was sure the Twi'lek didn't think she understood. It didn't help at all that she could smell the other woman's arousal blending with her own.

They had stayed there for almost six months, learning the ways of the Zeison Sha, and teaching the some of the techniques that she knew of the Force that were usually only taught to the Jedi. She had spoken to the Elders of the Darker side of the Force, explaining in explicit detail the dangers of using the techniques without the proper mental and emotional control, and they had decided that they did not need to be taught such dangerous things.

Two months before Buffy had left to collect on the bounty of a particularly vicious serial killer, a bounty that she flat out refused to risk taking Shar with her, Koyi approached Buffy and made it clear that she wished to have Buffy in her bed. Highly amused, Buffy nevertheless informed the Twi'lek that if she wanted her, she had to take Shar as well. Not only had Koyi immediately accepted the stipulation, but she had automatically assumed that it would be so, and that had been the beginning of their relationship. When Buffy had gotten the communiqué of the bounty, Shar had demanded that, if she couldn't go with Buffy, then Koyi would. One of the few things that the former slave put her proverbial foot down on was her insistence that Buffy never go into a dangerous situation without one of them watching her back. She was brought out of her thoughts at Shar's excited exclamation.

"There she is!"

Looking out the front windows, they could see their tall Twi'lek lover standing at the platform connected to their hanger. If Shar was like one half of the Scoobies, Koyi was easily the other half. She had Xander's loyal heart and Giles' steadfast calmness and restraint. As soon as the ship was settled, Shar slapped the button to open the hatch and took off running. By the time the ship powered down, Shar was in Koyi's arms, legs around her waist, and kissing her fiercely, much to the amusement of the rest of their escort. When Buffy joined them, Shar leaned back so that Koyi could kiss her, but didn't get down. A portion of Buffy's mental restlessness settled as she felt the tele-empathic link between the three of them re-establish at the contact. It was another one of those 'unusual' developments of her powers.

"I received your message when I returned yesterday, min larel," Koyi said. "Is it time then?"

"It's getting close," Buffy nodded. "Things are already heating up. Has Yledra made her decision?"

"She has, although she does wish to see you," a young woman answered, stepping up to the triad. "Hello Buffy."

"Ydanni!" Buffy hugged the woman, then stepped back to take in her warrior attire. "When did you take your trials, little sister?"

"Last month," Ydanni smiled proudly. "The meditation techniques that you taught us really helped. Mother has decided to incorporate them permanently into the training regimen."

"Cool!" Buffy grinned at her. "Well, let's go. We can talk on the way."

Ydanni waved her ahead. Koyi and Shar moved to flank her as she walked across the platform. Buffy talked with the various members of her escort, friends with them all, as they made their way to the village.

"Welcome back, Selba."

The smile that lit up Buffy's face was one that only Yledra managed to generate. The leader of the Zeison Sha had been the one to break through the ice that Buffy had encased herself in. She was like the mother that Buffy had lost so long ago. She had seen the rage in Buffy, the kind that she knew only came from a betrayal of life-altering immensity. It was the source of the flares of anger that had her seeking out gladiator challenges, and the dark moods that caused her to close herself off from the world, worrying those who cared and terrifying those who loved her. Yledra had slowly, patiently drawn her out. Subtly pushing until Buffy told her the whole story, from the first loss of blissfully innocent ignorance, to the last, ultimate betrayal. In the end, the leader of the Zeison Sha had pretty much informally adopted the blonde.

Just talking about it had been a major release, and Buffy was more grateful than the older woman would ever know. That stagnant, yet controlled hate that Buffy had held for the Powers had kept the Emissary from truly releasing his hold on the power within her. It had also kept a kind of barrier between her and the women that she had grown to love.

As Buffy hugged Yledra, she heard a sneering voice speak from behind the leader. "So, this is the wonder warrior that has everyone up in the stratosphere. Funny, I thought she'd be taller."