A/N – Another chapter. Not many notes about this one, actually.
I was standing on some sort of tree-deck, looking over the side at the raging mold that they called water. Ew. Baraki was on my left side, also looking down with a disgusted look on his face. Catalina was a few steps away, conversing with one of the strange Admarians of the place.
The others were probably having more luck than us. I scowled, tapping my nails hard against the tree rail they had posted on all the edges of their pathways. Now where would a stuck-at-twenty-five human male live?
Somewhere that has lots of hormones, if Earthers were anything like Uranusians. So why were we sitting in the medicine district? Don't ask me, as Catalina. She was the one leading this freak show.
"Come on you two. I think we have a lead." I managed to drag myself away from the rail and fell in step behind the rushing Saturnian. This was our fourth lead in an hour. So excuse me if I wasn't jumping for joy.
Within minutes it turned into our fifth dead end of the hour. Literally this time, as we ended up in an alleyway that was vaguely lighted with the blue and purple lights that were so popular here. I sat down next to a wall and closed my eyes. Pity someone here didn't have a 'power' that allowed them to search for people!
Although…I opened my eyes to tiny slits. So far, I had managed to find out that most my powers dealt with the mind rather than the body, a trait that was shared with my father. He wasn't on the ship, so I was floundering in what I could do. Maybe I could try something.
But what? So far, the most I could do was telepathy. And not very well, as now Bara and Caine could now hear some of my mental thoughts. Those were not memories I wanted to dwell on. Either way, I may be able to contact Harlan.
I focused. That was always the first step. The second was this scurrying thing that was difficult to put into words. Basically, I was touching minds far to fast for anyone to realize what was happening. Until I reached a mind-wall.
That shocked me back to full conscious in a hurry. I gasped, suddenly short of breath, and thanked anyone that watched over me that I was already sitting down. "Morrighan?! What happened, what's wrong?" The two Saturnians propped me up.
"Nothing, I'm fine." I shook my head to clear the spots. "I was trying something."
"Trying what? You know you shouldn't experiment without telling anyone." Catalina reprimanded.
"Technically, I wasn't 'experimenting'." I replied, a bit testily. "I was mind-searching, thinking that I may be able to find Harlan."
"You aren't that powerful yet, Morrighan. People often die when they try to wield powers greater than their skill."
I didn't answer. It wasn't that hard or powerful, just useful. But it's not like she'd understand that.
"Did you find anything?" Baraki asked, looking concerned. It was nice to have someone on my side, at least for a little bit.
"A wall. That shocked me out of what I was doing." I explained.
"A wall?" Baraki bit his bottom lip, and then turned to his mother. "Could that be him?"
"It could be." Now Catalina looked thoughtful. "It kind of gets automatic the older we get, so it'd make sense. Do you know where this 'wall' was?"
I pointed left. "That way."
I lead us to a place that if I were home I would call a bar. Catalina and Baraki stood out in the gloomy bar, with their bright hair and clean clothes. I suppose I did too, but not as bad.
"Amazing. You managed to find him." Catalina whispered to me, and then disappeared into the thick crowd. I glanced at Baraki, who was staring distastefully at the group of mangy and dirty creatures.
He was odd, and I swear had multiple personalities. One minute he was an all rough-and-tumble bag of bones and hormones, the next he was nearly effeminate. It certainly made him unpredictable.
Soon enough we heard Catalina yelling at someone. She appeared, dragging along a brown Earth male that looked a lot like an older and mangier Rigel. Catalina was berated him about something I'm sure I didn't want to know about. Baraki and I followed them out, careful not to interfere. That, more than out-of-reach magic, would've been fatal.
"Now, we need to go to Tel-Adjari to pick up Bova." Radu was explaining to Harlan, once he got cleaned up a bit. "We could've been there already if you weren't so paranoid and anal."
"You're one to talk about being anal." Harlan snapped back. He was now at the helm and Radu had taken navigation from me. So I was at tactical, studying about Vesverius. Actually, it was a report that Father wrote for class sometime during their sixth year. It was amazing the change between the simplicity of the reports during the first years to the long, detailed, and unbiased ones during the later years. "How did they find you on your rock anyway?"
"I was told what happened first, and left to get everyone else." Radu explained. "'Ris managed to find me within a day."
Harlan glared at him for a split-second, as not to careen the Christa into some space object. "How many times have I told you? You need better security, or you will be killed along with everyone you care about."
"I do have security." Radu defended. "Just because it's much more subtle, you assume it's not there."
"No, it's just not there. Do you need me to give you a demonstration?"
I tuned out the argument. Needed to concentrate on things other than spats.
Tel-Adjari seemed to by a smoggy, dark, and humid planet, with a history as rich as its food. I couldn't wait to get there, but according to Radu it'd take nearly two weeks. Then again, they actually managed to contact Father, so it should take a while fifteen minutes to finish the job.
Damn. This place sounded cool. I signed out and saw, once again, the Allthelia Folder staring at me. So far, I had only told Caine about my trip into Psycho Land, as I had named it. She's all for going back, but as so far I held back.
Maybe we should. Caine was surprisingly adept at these cool offensive fire/heat spells and could fight off whatever Rosie sent against her. Despite this, Caine still hasn't 'found' her natural ability. It's a good thing she was Mercurian rather than Uranusian; I would've given up by now.
I checked the time, 20:00 hours, and then looked at Radu and Harlan. "Mind if I turn in? It's getting late."
"What? Oh, go ahead. I'll get you more things to read tomorrow." Radu said, waving me off. I took off as fast as I was able to.
I was standing on some sort of tree-deck, looking over the side at the raging mold that they called water. Ew. Baraki was on my left side, also looking down with a disgusted look on his face. Catalina was a few steps away, conversing with one of the strange Admarians of the place.
The others were probably having more luck than us. I scowled, tapping my nails hard against the tree rail they had posted on all the edges of their pathways. Now where would a stuck-at-twenty-five human male live?
Somewhere that has lots of hormones, if Earthers were anything like Uranusians. So why were we sitting in the medicine district? Don't ask me, as Catalina. She was the one leading this freak show.
"Come on you two. I think we have a lead." I managed to drag myself away from the rail and fell in step behind the rushing Saturnian. This was our fourth lead in an hour. So excuse me if I wasn't jumping for joy.
Within minutes it turned into our fifth dead end of the hour. Literally this time, as we ended up in an alleyway that was vaguely lighted with the blue and purple lights that were so popular here. I sat down next to a wall and closed my eyes. Pity someone here didn't have a 'power' that allowed them to search for people!
Although…I opened my eyes to tiny slits. So far, I had managed to find out that most my powers dealt with the mind rather than the body, a trait that was shared with my father. He wasn't on the ship, so I was floundering in what I could do. Maybe I could try something.
But what? So far, the most I could do was telepathy. And not very well, as now Bara and Caine could now hear some of my mental thoughts. Those were not memories I wanted to dwell on. Either way, I may be able to contact Harlan.
I focused. That was always the first step. The second was this scurrying thing that was difficult to put into words. Basically, I was touching minds far to fast for anyone to realize what was happening. Until I reached a mind-wall.
That shocked me back to full conscious in a hurry. I gasped, suddenly short of breath, and thanked anyone that watched over me that I was already sitting down. "Morrighan?! What happened, what's wrong?" The two Saturnians propped me up.
"Nothing, I'm fine." I shook my head to clear the spots. "I was trying something."
"Trying what? You know you shouldn't experiment without telling anyone." Catalina reprimanded.
"Technically, I wasn't 'experimenting'." I replied, a bit testily. "I was mind-searching, thinking that I may be able to find Harlan."
"You aren't that powerful yet, Morrighan. People often die when they try to wield powers greater than their skill."
I didn't answer. It wasn't that hard or powerful, just useful. But it's not like she'd understand that.
"Did you find anything?" Baraki asked, looking concerned. It was nice to have someone on my side, at least for a little bit.
"A wall. That shocked me out of what I was doing." I explained.
"A wall?" Baraki bit his bottom lip, and then turned to his mother. "Could that be him?"
"It could be." Now Catalina looked thoughtful. "It kind of gets automatic the older we get, so it'd make sense. Do you know where this 'wall' was?"
I pointed left. "That way."
I lead us to a place that if I were home I would call a bar. Catalina and Baraki stood out in the gloomy bar, with their bright hair and clean clothes. I suppose I did too, but not as bad.
"Amazing. You managed to find him." Catalina whispered to me, and then disappeared into the thick crowd. I glanced at Baraki, who was staring distastefully at the group of mangy and dirty creatures.
He was odd, and I swear had multiple personalities. One minute he was an all rough-and-tumble bag of bones and hormones, the next he was nearly effeminate. It certainly made him unpredictable.
Soon enough we heard Catalina yelling at someone. She appeared, dragging along a brown Earth male that looked a lot like an older and mangier Rigel. Catalina was berated him about something I'm sure I didn't want to know about. Baraki and I followed them out, careful not to interfere. That, more than out-of-reach magic, would've been fatal.
"Now, we need to go to Tel-Adjari to pick up Bova." Radu was explaining to Harlan, once he got cleaned up a bit. "We could've been there already if you weren't so paranoid and anal."
"You're one to talk about being anal." Harlan snapped back. He was now at the helm and Radu had taken navigation from me. So I was at tactical, studying about Vesverius. Actually, it was a report that Father wrote for class sometime during their sixth year. It was amazing the change between the simplicity of the reports during the first years to the long, detailed, and unbiased ones during the later years. "How did they find you on your rock anyway?"
"I was told what happened first, and left to get everyone else." Radu explained. "'Ris managed to find me within a day."
Harlan glared at him for a split-second, as not to careen the Christa into some space object. "How many times have I told you? You need better security, or you will be killed along with everyone you care about."
"I do have security." Radu defended. "Just because it's much more subtle, you assume it's not there."
"No, it's just not there. Do you need me to give you a demonstration?"
I tuned out the argument. Needed to concentrate on things other than spats.
Tel-Adjari seemed to by a smoggy, dark, and humid planet, with a history as rich as its food. I couldn't wait to get there, but according to Radu it'd take nearly two weeks. Then again, they actually managed to contact Father, so it should take a while fifteen minutes to finish the job.
Damn. This place sounded cool. I signed out and saw, once again, the Allthelia Folder staring at me. So far, I had only told Caine about my trip into Psycho Land, as I had named it. She's all for going back, but as so far I held back.
Maybe we should. Caine was surprisingly adept at these cool offensive fire/heat spells and could fight off whatever Rosie sent against her. Despite this, Caine still hasn't 'found' her natural ability. It's a good thing she was Mercurian rather than Uranusian; I would've given up by now.
I checked the time, 20:00 hours, and then looked at Radu and Harlan. "Mind if I turn in? It's getting late."
"What? Oh, go ahead. I'll get you more things to read tomorrow." Radu said, waving me off. I took off as fast as I was able to.