Chapter 2: Home Away From Home
As he looked around, Thane suddenly realised just how much had changed since the last time he was here. After the chilling maw of the shuttle compartment, the relatively temperate air of Thyyris was as welcome as a warm embrace from Kalahira herself. Thane breathed deeply and started on his way, taking in every detail as he walked. Kahje was a jewel of a world, a rich diversity of wildlife and an ability to sustain far more than it actually had. Perhaps reflecting on its primary inhabitants, Kahje was a world built for learning, understanding and balance. The very air around Thane seemed to brim with care and thought. He couldn't help but smile as he gazed at the unique beauty of Thyyris; the grand walkways made from blazing white stone, soft blue and lavender trees which relinquished their leaves to the light wind, giving the impression that Thane was in a city under water, with no water at all. Archways and statues made from the same white stone, so blindingly white it made it hard for Thane to look directly at it; however if one was to try hard enough, the beauty of the craftsmanship shone brighter than the stone ever could. Reaching a viewing platform on the apex of a hill, Thane paused to admire the sight before him. The rest of Thyyris sprawled invitingly ahead of him, a true monument to the way of life on Kahje; endless promenades encircling every natural detail of the landscape, vast monuments to generations past, thanking them for their gifts to the Hanar cause, towers stretching like golden lances towards the heavens, as if expressing the desire to reach and understand more than what was within its grasp. It was a city for the greatest of the galaxy, and it applied less pressure than the light blue petals drifting past Thane's head. After the asphyxiating air of Illium, Thane felt another tear roll down his face, and he then realised: Kahje hadn't changed at all. He had..
Drell were especially attached to Kahje, and not just because the weather complimented their semi-arid bodies. Many generations ago the drell home world of Rakhana had become grossly overpopulated, and its resources were all but exhausted. In the case of other species like Humans, when their home world was overburdened with numbers they were able to colonise other worlds and acquire further sustenance for their people. Not the case with the drell.
Their limited technological advances kept them firmly planted on the dirt of their cradle world, while all around them horrifying wars erupted over what little resources were left. Thane's own race slaughtered themselves over scraps of food and drops of water, all sense of pride and dignity forgotten in the wake of looming extinction. It was a well known fact to all drell that their race had come close to destruction; and Thane was among many that believed their race had died on Rakhana. The thought of his own people fighting like mindless beasts over the most immaterial not only opposed everything he had trained for, but had imbued him with a deep sense of shame; shame that a race once so proud, his race, could be reduced to the level of the beast that Thane would spend his life removing from the galaxy.
But this was a well-healed wound for Thane, something the Hanar had addressed and tempered long before his first mission. Every drell was aware of what had transpired, and many felt the same way as Thane did. It was a small addition to the Compact that drell children must be educated as to how and why their race failed. Understanding is a hunger, the Hanar would say. When we are young we do not know what hunger is, we just desire it to be satisfied, no matter the means. But once we reach a certain age, we must be taught what hunger is, and the best ways to satisfy it. Hunger can be eased either with healthy or unhealthy food. Unhealthy food is always tempting, and is usually the easiest to acquire. It goes down well and for a short while, leaves you feeling satisfied. But too much unhealthy food will eventually turn on you, without hesitation. Healthy food, on the other hand, is not always simple to prepare or consume. It can be harder to swallow and may not feel satisfying at all when we eat, but in the long run we will know that the food we ate will never turn on us. Understanding or knowledge is a mind hunger, and we are not aware of this until we are told. Whilst before you wanted to know whatever made you happy, now you must know whatever will make you Whole.
The walkway cut a swathe through the towering examples of thought and reason around him, leading Thane onwards to his goal: the Tower of Quintessence. All around him, there were individuals from every species in council space. Asari, Turians, Salarians, even Humans; many no doubt on their first visit to Kahje due to their unabashed amazement at the sight before them. They gazed with mouths open at the splendour of civilisation that stretched as far as the eye could see, though Thane could not blame them for it. He himself had the same reaction when he first began to explore the promenades and walkways of the city. The many fountains which spun the crystal clear waters of Kahje in impossible loops, twirls and helixes, were surrounded by people with children. Drell children were among the many species that frolicked between the streams of liquid spinning through the air. Thane had known for a long time that the fountains used concentrated gravity to control the flow of water, but to these children it may as well have been magic. He slowed in his walk, staring intently at the children, as the water caught the rays of the sun and glistened like floating crystal. For a moment, Thane became envious of the innocence that existed in these children. To still be able to believe in magic was something so simple but so unbelievably complex. Many of the children were not much younger than Thane, but they may as well have been on the other side of the galaxy, for all their similarities to the drell watching them.
The thought of innocence stirred the tempered despair he had felt in the shuttle, and Thane was forced to stop in his tracks, ignoring the annoyed remarks of the people behind him. He closed his eyes and fought off the wave of blackness that had settled in his mind since Stern had died. There will be time to make these thoughts known he cautioned himself, I must not let the thoughts of beasts become my own. I cannot. "Thane! Your thermal clip! Don't you need it?" Rakir had asked. No, I had said. He focused his thoughts on his own moment of clarity, when he had been able to relinquish the need for artificial warmth in favour of Kahje itself. He found the darkness faltering, and felt relief wash over him at his own small victory. With that, he opened his eyes, and the blinding white of Thyyris assailed his vision. Almost lost in the blackness, Thane blinked several times to welcome in the sights and sounds of the world around him; the playful laughter near the fountains, the light breeze carrying lavender and blue, the white street of clean and precise direction at his feet. All were still here and had not even noticed Thane had stopped walking.
As he continued on his way, with a renewed sense of confidence, Thane became aware of his own ignorance from when he first arrived. All he had seen and heard so far, all that had blissfully continued to be while he had almost fallen under the weight of his own doubt, had always been here. Indeed, Kahje hadn't changed at all.
