The Prophecy

Author: Keren Ziv
Disclaimer: I don't own Farscape, I wish I did, but I don't.
Rating: G
Category: action/adventure, I guess.
Author's Note: Hellllooooo. Sorry this has been so long in coming. I seriously meant to post it right before I left for Texas, but I went to the bathroom and when I came back, the computer was packed. Surprised me quite a bit. Then I reread it and noticed that half of the middle – the middle, mind you – was missing, so I had to search my documents before I posted. Good thing, too, because it would have been hard to understand otherwise.

Part .03

No longer was the congregation of the Temple of Miráke limited to only those who owned land, and no longer did the people of the Temples dress in extravagant outfits to impress those near them and fill others with envy. The men and women of the congregation dressed in simple robes of white colors while the raxuras dressed in darker colors, oftentimes choosing black.

Giaun first heard from the workers on the sixth anniversary of her birth. It was less than two cycles from the time when she had first been allowed to visit the Temple in her village. She was a young, vibrant child with dark blue eyes instead of the customary black.

Her voice in the choir was workeresk; many would beg her to sing the hymns for them after the traditional services were finished. Giaun tried not to deny any of the ones who asked her, but was unable to fulfill the wishes of everyone who wanted to hear her sing.

She took great delight in memorizing the Book of Miráke. Giaun would repeat the words and phrases to herself during the weekendays; many times while she doing her chores around the farm; after her prayers had been completed; and oftentimes after lunch, when the people were traditionally given time to rest in the heat of the day. When Templeday came, she would say them without worry, her pure voice quiet and calm.

It was during a recitation of hers before the congregation that it first happened. Two children a Templeday were chosen out of the congregation to perform in a recitation of verses from the Book. When Giaun stood before the altar and began speaking, her voice had gone through the room in a wave of easy tones.

Suddenly, the child went rigid. As her eyes rolled back into her head, her body fell to the floor with a noise that shook the congregation to their very bones. The ruxara rushed forward, being trained in the medical areas as part of their duties. They found Giaun curled into a ball; clutching her knees to her chest; and muttering the name of Miráke over and over.

The seizure lasted only for about three hundred microts. As her body slowly released itself from hold, she was able to look about the congregation gathered around her. Her bright eyes gleaming, she smiled as she stood, slowly, and walked stiffly toward the platform.

She finished her recitation. As she spoke, the people drifted back to their seats, their eyes riveted onto her form while her pure tones wandered through the words of her god. After she finished, instead of stepping down, as customary, she began to speak candidly.

"I have heard the voices of the workers of our Lord Miráke," Giaun said breathlessly, her eyes ablaze with passion. The stir went through the congregation. This child, the frail one with the large eyes, was speaking words that no one had yet spoken. "They spoke to me and told me to follow our Lord and to walk in His footsteps. They told me fear not, for fear is our greatest trial. They told me I had done well with this congregation and Temple, but I must move on."

Inclining her head in a manner that placed honor on the congregation, Giaun closed her long lashes over her dark blue eyes. "I pray that I go with your support." The congregation stayed in silence, digesting her words. Was this child saying that she would travel and spread the word of Miráke? She was much to young to do that. She was acting foolishly and yet . . .

A small boy stood up on his mat and began clapping. It was quiet yet shocking; the noise muted out the breathing in the room as it seemed to fill the Temple a hundredtimes over. The boy wavered, then stopped; he glanced around the room with fearful black eyes. As one, the people of the congregation stood up and clapped.

Keeping her head down in a respectful manner, Giaun slowly walked away from the alter. Her gait was deliberate; her face was contorted in pain; it was evident that her hundreds of microts in her clenched position had caused physical discomfort. The clapping had long since ceased before Giaun had made it down the aisle to the doors of the Temple.

Her breathing ragged, she opened the doors and stepped out into the bright sun. A murmur went through the congregation as the door closed: "Miráke has placed His faith into the hands of a child."

When the Temple finished services two arns, Giaun was found with several small bundles at the livery stables. When questioned about what was in the packages, she replied, "The whispers of my Lord as He instructed His workers to speak them to the prophets of old are encased in the Book of Miráke. I would not go to teach His words without His book."

Her travels began immediately. She had been instructed, she said to the raxura following her as chaperons, on just barely the insistence of T'lexin and Rovert, to travel to the Capitol city of Nebar, Sa Fierte y'n Boron u Re Das, and to speak at their Temple of All.

Sa Fierte was so named because, according to the histories, the King who had united all of Nebar under one rule had died in the last battle of the Uniting War, and his last words uttered had been, "Sa fierte u re das." The miracle is yet to come. The place of his death had been marked as a holy place, with a special Temple to his god erected in his honor. The Miracle of Boron is Yet to Come was born with the blood of the soldiers staining the grass where they laid their stones of foundation.

Once she arrived at the Temple, Giaun requested audience at the non-sectarian meeting that was specifically for those who wished to sample all services. She was denied. Twice more she asked for a chance to speak, and twice more she was answered with nays.

Giaun attended the services daily. For over three weekens, she attended, and she listened to the words of the Unbelievers and they burned her heart. On the third weeken she had been there with a Templeday, she rose unbidden in the final microts of the service and walked with obvious stiffness that was oddly transformed into a graceful smoothness.

Once she was there, Giaun spoke at the pulpit. "I am Giaun of T'lexin and Rovert. I come from the city of Tiatcon to speak in place of my Lord Miráke, almighty is his power. I come in order to ask you to search deep within yourselves and see the Light which Miráke casts down on the Path of your Life."

Several of the priests who had been rushing forward stopped in their tracks Delvian pa'u and Nebari raxura alike. Giaun's voice continued as she glanced steadily around the room. She was not yet seven cycles old when she began her preaching, but she held her audience captivated.

After Giaun was finished speaking to those in the Temple, she did not bow her head in a submissive manner; she instead walked to the tables where the symbols and idols of the gods were displayed. Carefully, she picked up the elemental cross of Miráke and took it to the altar.

"The Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are expressed in each of these points," Giaun said, touching each of the corresponding points on the cross. "This represents the Spirit of Miráke," she touched the top point, "and it is His Spirit which enables our lives to be lived." Giaun placed the cross on the altar. "I put my life in his hands, do you?"

Within two weekens, the Temple of All had been renamed Haven y'n Miráke. The statues and texts of the Unbelievers had been removed and destroyed, quietly, in holocaust under Miráke. It was not by force that it was done, but rather by truth. Giaun stayed at the altar, speaking, for arns. When she retired for the night and the people dispersed among the public, her story was told.

When a weeken had passed from her first impromptu service, Giaun gave another. However, the sheer volume of people that had come to hear her speak overwhelmed the Temple, as bountiful as it was, and she moved her teachings to a large field. It was the truth, you see, which the people traveled to hear, and it was the truth which lead Miráke to His rightful place as the one and only Lord.

After the service, the people began to chant in Oldtongue. Sa fierte y'n Boron ux dasen. Sa fierte y'n Boron ux dasen. The miracle of Boron has come. It was amazing how many remembered the lines from the stones that were the archway over the entrance to the Temple. Tears went down the faces of every man and woman as Giaun spoke again.

"I will leave and spread His word. I tell each and every one of you to speak to your mothers and your fathers and neighbors and friends and enemies and tell them of Miráke. Spread His word yourself until we will do for religion what Boron did for government.

"We will unite Nebar under Miráke!" With those prophetic words, Giaun stepped down. The people of Sa Fierte y'n Boron u Re Das walked to the Temple steps and prayed for their Lord Miráke to help them come closer to the elements and in so doing help them come closer to him. As they prayed, they kept their eyes to the inscription above them.

And so Sa Fierte y'n Boron ux Dasen was born out of the mouth of a child and the heart of our Lord. It has been said that Sa Fierte y'n Boron use Dasen Evamo will come when the Prophet Giaun returns again.

Chiana went into command the next morning and found Jool and the child Thali sitting down and studying some things that Pilot had put up on the screen for them. With Thali's eyes unwavering over the information, her face expressionless, Chi gave a shudder. Jool had a brow furrowed and her usual frown was in place.

"These deaths are horrible," Jool said after a microt. "Look at this one, Thali. Look at how high his testing scores were. His intelligence numbers was off the chart of anything any Nebari has ever been recorded as testing. Then, three days before he was to turn eleven, he goes into a clenching meditation and never comes out of it. It's discovered he has a genetic disease that went undetected."

Chiana sat down and looked at the chart. "Tahalkitol," she said. "I remember studying his life in school. He was supposed to have been very beautiful. I dunno if I believe that. Ya know propaganda on everything sort of dissuades you from believing anything they tell you."

"Propaganda?" Thali was indignant. "I will ask you to please refrain," her voice became icy, "from insulting the government in my presence."

"You ran away, didn't you?" Chiana said. Thali narrowed her eyes. Jool put down the papers, ready to witness a good fight. She wondered if Thali would be at a disadvantage her in robes and long hair. Chiana was older and could move more easily, except for the corset she wore, so Jool was putting her money on Chi.

"I was a mistake that they needed to correct . . ." Thali began. She paused, seemingly searching for words.

"If you will excuse me," Pilot's voice broke through the silence, "but Giauna Thali is not permitted to explain anything unless the entire crew is present. I do remember you all agreeing on that last night. Commander Crichton is still sleeping and Ka D'argo is, at the moment, walking with your doll down the corridor. If you will only wait for me to wake the commander and to direct D'argo to Command, I will be happy to do so."

Thali smiled at the clamshell. "I thank you, Pilot. I will refrain from speaking until the crew is assembled. Please, let the commander sleep and don't keep D'argo from his tasks." Pilot blinked out after nodding.

Jool shivered. "I hate that," she said. Thali raised an eyebrow. "You just melt into one character from another. With Pilot you are so . . . adult and mature. Sometimes, though, you don't seem older than seven or eight cycles. It's unnerving." Jool gave a sniff.

"I apologize," Thali said, sounding surprised. "I had no idea that I was doing any such thing. I will try to remain the same all the time, but," Thali conveyed frustration, "I had no idea I was doing any such thing. My personality, to me, has always been the same. If different situations bring out different parts of it, I act unconsciously on that."

Jool paused while Chiana laughed. Thali spoke in a bewildered voice, "I don't understand."

Jool gave Chiana a withering look, which ceased Chi's merriment. "Never mind," Jool said. "Act like you normally do. If you were on my planet, we'd label you a mimic and send you off to study in mimicry."

"What sorta jobs does mimicry offer?" Chiana asked, interested. Thali turned her head toward Chi and gave a nod, which Chiana returned.

Jool shrugged in answer to Chiana's question. "Dictation; secretarial skills; acting; oral historian . . . the list goes on. There are many different jobs that one could employ with that skill. It could also go to waste as the subject advances on a different career path. It all depends on the variables."

"Commander Crichton is awake and approaching command. Do you wish for me to notify D'argo that he is needed there with the rest of the crew so that we may begin questioning?" Pilot asked, his face appearing on the clamshell.

Thali looked up. "I'm ready," she said.

D'argo came in about two hundred seventeen microts after John entered command. He sat down silently and stared around the room pensively for a few microts, then took from his person a large envelope, the contents of which he emptied upon the table in front of him. Settling them face down the table, he spread them all equally apart in several rows and columns.

"Pick," he said simply, indicating the rudely cut papers with a sweep of his hand. Thali hesitated, perhaps to decide in her mind which she wanted to chose. D'argo smiled. "They aren't curses when you read them aloud. Only questions."

"Right," Thali said. "I shall pick " her hand wandered over the table before descending on a paper "that one." She opened it up and read aloud from it. "'And why did it happen?'"

Everyone blinked. Thali smiled. "Well, it's a joke then, isn't it?" She cast a glance around the room. "Did I do it wrongly?"

Pilot began to chuckle from the clamshell; soon, Crichton let out a huge burst of merriment; the others followed suit. Thali grinned, hugely enjoying herself. D'argo composed himself and instructed her to read the paper, and, "correctly this time, young Thali, or this meeting may drag on forever." He looked down at the papers on the table as he said this, shrugging at the sheer number of questions.

"Inquisitive minds need to know," Crichton muttered. D'argo cast him a look, but didn't ask John to explain. What he had said was easily enough understood, but the way that Crichton had spoken it made D'argo think that it was a sort of saying from Earth that only a human would find special significance in.

"'Why did you get frightened when John went fahrbot . . . signed . . . Jool." Thali glanced over at Jool and smiled slowly, her thin face giving forth a sort of innocent glow that her dark blue eyes couldn't convey. "He wasn't in control anymore and it frightened me. Didn't you notice that?"

Jool stared at Thali with interest. "Notice what?" she asked eagerly. D'argo almost groaned. Jool was making a case study of Thali, as if she were a specimen in an experiment that was being conducted. As long as the child didn't get harmed, D'argo concluded, it would be perfectly allowable for Jool to continue along this vein.

"Everyone sort of murmurs their thoughts in their heads . . . Moya, Pilot, Chiana . . . everyone." Thali swept her hand across command and scattered several of the papers that she and Jool had been studying. D'argo picked them up and stacked them neatly out of arm's reach from the young Nebari. "Each has his own voice and distinct . . . level. John's suddenly went down and a much louder voice took his place."

"Wait a microt," Chiana broke in, "you can hear our thoughts. And you didn't see any use in telling us that?" D'argo became uncomfortable with the idea. What if the child could see his thoughts at that very moment? He glanced uneasily around the room, looking for reassurance in the faces and finding it with duplicate expressions of uneasiness.

"More like just the broadcast that you're there." Thali bowed slowly towards Chi. "It is a talent that all giauna's are able to perform. We must master it, and several other things, before we continue on to the highest level."

D'argo growled deep in his throat. "I don't like the idea," he declared.

Thali gave a quick laugh. "Don't worry, Ka D'argo," she assured him. "I can't see your thoughts or your innermost secrets. We are merely required to know if someone is around in case of assassination attempts."

Crichton gave a start of surprise. "Somebody would actually try to assassinate you?" he asked. "I mean, I thought you were number one where you were." He gave her an arched brow.

"There are rebellions against the government," Thali said. "Of course they would try to kill off somebody of great importance. Giauna's have huge political importance on Nebar, New Worlds, and the Colonies."

"Next question," D'argo said. He motioned toward the papers and had Thali pick one. "Read it aloud," he told her. Thali took the paper in her thin fingers and flicked it open before speaking.

"'Why couldn't we see your ship on our viewscreen?'" Thali gave a thin smile. "One of my more brilliant developments," she said. Her smile seemed to be an almost self-congratulatory smirk. "While in my studies concerning the travel in space, I was given an assignment to produce a machine which would be able to override visual functions in ten of the most common ships.

"One of them was the species Leviathan. It was quite complicated to work the schematics on a living being, but it was completed. I was able to make a rudimentary example when I left, based on my plans and notes." Thali motioned toward the door. "If you go to my ship, you will be able to see it under the Starburst function I installed."

Crichton lifted a hand. "I need to take out two of my questions and rewrite them," he said. D'argo agreed with him privately. "Her answers usually give way to more questions than previously asked. It's kinda confusin'. But it's educational, at least."

"Same here," Chiana said, reaching over D'argo and grabbing some papers; he inhaled deeply of her scent, a mixture of fruits from Luxa and spices from a commerce planet he had visited early in his life.

"Care to explain the fact that you installed a Starburst on a ship which is decidedly too small to even carry the chamber?" asked D'argo in a sort of growl. Chi backed up with a few crumpled papers in her fist. He worried that he had frightened her.

"Another one of my assignments. Our small fighters had speed and agility, but they lacked the ability to travel vast distances in space. Also, most Starburst is imprecise and drains far too much power from the ship's resources. The charge takes too long with what is common technology today."

Crichton cleared his throat. "Uhh," he said slowly, "I think you may have lost me there. Does anyone else feel inadequate here?" He cast a beseeching look around the room.

"You should always feel inadequate when compared to a Luxan, John," D'argo said swiftly. Crichton gave him a look that was worth whatever deaths D'argo was dying in his head. "Next question."

"Let's just 'tally' up the extra questions," Crichton said, giving everyone a wink. They stared at him blankly. He looked around the room with his eyebrows raised. "It's a pun, don't you see? Tally and Thali are the same words and so when I used it . . ." Crichton's voice trailed off.

Thali ended the silence. "Sound's like pre-Ancient Sebecean to me, which is what our Old Tongue was based on." Everyone, including Chiana, gave her a puzzled glance. "Oh," Thali said in exasperation, "don't you study anything? Nebar wasn't fully civilized with a writing system or a worldwide language until Sebeceans started their missionary work. Back then they weren't called Peacekeepers; they were called United Forces of the Worlds of Soil, or something equally difficult to translate into Commonday. Ancient Sebecean and Ancient Nebari were around at basically the same time, and were, for a while, quite similar. However, Nebar rejected rule from Offworlders and our language took its own course down history and changed, as did . . . Oh, I can't pronounce the Oldname for it . . . Commonday says Sebecea."

"Are you a walking history book?" Crichton asked after a microt's lull. D'argo doubted that Crichton would have been able to speak without interrupting the young Nebari if Thali hadn't of had to take a deep breath. The art of oration was clearly a pastime of which she enjoyed immensely.

"I simply know what I was taught. I have amazing recall for things which interest me," Thali said. She picked up another slip of paper and peered at it intently. "I don't know this writing," she said after a moment's pause.

Crichton slipped forward guiltily and placed out his hand. "That would probably be mine," he said. Thali handed him the slip and he read aloud from it: "'What is your favorite color and why?'" Crichton added a high-pitched half-whispered to exaggerated gestures while reading and Thali giggled.

"I have to pick a favorite?" she asked. Crichton nodded. "Hmm . . . I like black. It's so warm, and so difficult to discern from the other colors at night." D'argo had to admit that Crichton's question had certainly eased the tension in the young child's shoulders.

"Those darn rods just don't have a chance, eh?" Crichton asked her. Thali started, then laughed. "It wasn't laughably funny," he added. "Y'know, it was maybe grin funny, or genuine unasked for smile funny, but not laughably funny."

"I received two words at the same time," Thali said. Chi nodded from behind her, so D'argo assumed that she had too. "I heard birch whipping rods, and then I heard the term rods."

"Ahhh," Crichton said. "This time the translator hiccough wasn't my fault. I do believe it is a first. Mark the date, if we know the correct one! I've actually been the victim instead of the offender!"

Thali blinked once, then once again, before reaching for the next question.

"This is all idiotic." Chiana leaned over the table and swept some of the questions off. D'argo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "We don't need to pick out questions to know that we all want to know why in the world she left, how in the world she executed her plan, and when had she left. Obviously she's been running away from the hideously stupid rule of Giaun. Sometimes I wonder why it's been left alone by the government for so long. Uh . . . what's wrong with the kid?"

What was wrong indeed? Thali was in a corner, clutching her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. Chiana wasn't certain but

"Is she . . . naked?" John's voice came out in a sort of strangled whisper that was hilarious to hear. Chiana almost giggled to herself, watching John as he politely kept his eyes off of the young child. "I mean, uh . . . yeah . . . uh, naked?"

"It appears to be so," came Jool's amused reply. "I have no idea why. Hey, girl, Thali, get your clothes on." It was like Jool was ordering a dog around. Sit, Spot, sit, John thought distractedly, keeping his eyes on the wall in front of him. Ninety-nine DRDs on the fritz, ninety-nine DRDs. Tighten a screw, fix one up, ninety-eight DRDs on the fritz . . .

Thali didn't answer in any form they could distinguish. Chiana heard coming from her a low sort of hum, as if Thali were chanting very quickly and quietly to herself. "Oh, frell," she said, "I know what's she's doing. She's cleansing herself."

"Cleansing herself by stripping naked?" D'argo couldn't hide the snort of laughter that came out. He silenced himself at a glance from Chiana. "What good does that do her?" he asked in a polite tone.

"It's supposed to show submission to Miráke," Chiana said in a dubious voice. "I don't really see why they do it. Giaunas live in poverty anyway. They dress only in robes provided by the government. The idea is that the body of a giauna is too sacred to be insulted with finery."

John glanced down at Thali. "It doesn't seem to me that this girl has had sacred exactly stamped on her forehead. Look at that there. Seems to me that she's either lying or there are some interesting stories she'll be able to tell us when she comes out of this cleansing thing . . . she does come out, doesn't she, Chi?"

Chiana defiantly refused to tear her eyes away from the willow-work of pain etched into the pale skin of Thali. John called her name once more, and she spoke, low, "She'll come out. It's self-induced. I shouldn't have spoken like that in front of her, but I wasn't . . ." Chi's voice trailed off. "John," she said, turning to him, "there are only a few reasons to allow the body of a raxura or giauna to scar. The only ones I can recall are punishment. They are violent. And . . . usually reserved for those they wish to excommunicate but can't."

"Frell." John let the word hang in the air. "Think she's some sort of trap set up against us? The only way she'll be able to get back to full power is if she brings us to the Nebari, who in turn will sell us to the Peacekeepers for Scorpy's promise of help when such and such a time comes . . ."

"No," Jool said. "Chiana is mistaken. She didn't study those more mundane parts of her religion when she was younger, I can see. If the Temple of Giaun wishes to rid themselves of someone and they aren't able to do it the legal way, they simply send them to the Judgement World."

"But what about the markings on her back? She's been beat viciously!" John moved an arm to indicate Thali. "Chiana says that the beatings are to punish, you say that it's actually death they punish with. Well then, what about these . . . whippings or whatever inflicted those wounds? They can't be self-inflected, unless, D'argo, you'd like to tell us about the flexibility of Nebari."

Chiana glared at John. "Care to test that theory later on?" she asked. John shrugged. "I thought we had more important matters to discuss. Instead of bickering amongst our selves, why don't we ask ourselves why this child has, for three solar days, kept us in suspense."

Jool nodded. "She has raised more questions with her coming than I could suspect any one person could do." Jool looked towards the door before continuing. "Though, that extra John was a bit of a shock . . ."

"It's Rip-Into-John-Day," Harvey said, dressed in a red mini-skirt and high heels. John ignored him.

"Is she breathing?" Chiana asked after a moment. "I mean, seriously, take a gander down at her. You can't see her chest rise and fall. It's like she's dead or somethin'." Jool rushed forward. "I'd like to be known that I did not kill her. If anything, she killed herself. Suicide, okay?"

"D'argo, please carry her to med bay so that I can examine her more thoroughly. I don't see any signs of life, but perhaps my instruments can detect something of life in her." Jool walked out of the room with D'argo at her heels.

"Great goin', Chi, ya killed her!" John said, following D'argo and Jool out of the room. He paused at the door and looked at Chiana's worried face with a hidden grin.

"Ya don't think I killed her, d'you, John?" Chiana asked anxiously. "Cuz I didn't! She just went into that coma on her own. Not my fault at all!" She trotted after him in the corridor. "You were there!"

"One minute you were all for throwing her out the airlock " John began.

"No out the airlock, John. I never said that. I just said I didn't trust her. I can not trust someone, can't I?" Chi reached John's side and touched his shoulder. "Don't fool wi'me, John," she said. "You don't think she's dead, do ya?"

Thali came out of her 'coma' to use the phrase that Chiana used three arns later. When she did, Thali glanced up with slow movements and blinked several times. Finally, she clenched her body and stretched out, mimicking the movements of a feline unconsciously.

"So you're alive," came an amused voice. Jool walked over and pulled out something that she stuck to Thali's skin. "Don't fidget," Jool reprimanded, "all I'm doing is taking your temperature."

"These are imprecise by point three one hundredths of a whole," Thali said quietly. Jool paused, glanced at her, and then went back to work, effectively ignoring the Nebari. "I was joking."

"I assumed that," Jool said. "That little tidbit of information was so mundane that one would hope you were joking." She reached down and ripped off the patch before placing it on a white plaque.

"Little vicious there, aren't you?" Thali edged away from Jool. "Why am I here?" She glanced down and seemed to be searching for something. "Where," she asked, "are my robes?"

"They're right here," Jool said, producing the aforementioned article of clothing. "I took the liberty of washing them while you were asleep . . . or whatever you were." Jool tossed the clothing to Thali. "Did you know that your hearts had almost completely stopped beating?"

Crichton walked in. "Pretty nerve-wracking," he admitted to Thali and Jool. "Jool at first couldn't find the beating at all and poor Chiana nearly joined you, wherever you were. Of course, when we did find it, I felt really bad for teasing Chiana."

"Teasing Chiana?" Thali asked, wrinkling her brow.

"I kept ragin' on and on at her how she'd made you die and it was all her fault . . . 'course when you lived I was real glad, but still . . . it was real fun to tease Chi." John set a plate of food cubes on the table next to Thali.

"And if I had been dead?" Thali asked.

John shrugged. "Woulda been right, Doll," he said. Thali watched him for a long while before she turned away, obviously confused. Jool waited for Crichton to say he'd been teasing Thali, but he didn't.

Bristling, Jool took over that part of the conversation. "He was only having a bit of fun at your expense," she told the young Nebari. "It isn't as if he was tryin' to bet on your life."

Thali glanced up, her eyes large. "Oh," she said. "Of course not. I hadn't assumed so, Jool." She closed her mouth so quickly that her teeth snapped; she smiled, warily.

"Why were you out for so long?" Crichton asked her. Thali glanced at him, confused. "And, while we're on the subject, why were your vitals down so low? Why did it happen at all?"

"I'd like to know the answers to some of those questions, too," Chiana said as she entered. "I feel like such a stranger to Nebari customs when you're here, Thali."

Crichton immediately jumped in, much to Jool's amusement. "You were only a kid when you left the Nebari Prime, Chi. You didn't have time to learn them. And you said it yourself – you and Nerri raised yourselves. Who was there to teach you things?"

Chiana smiled, glancing downward demurely. Jool wasn't certain if she had died or was hallucinating, but it looked like Chiana may have blushed. Jool cast a look at Crichton to see if he had noticed, but he had turned back to Thali.

"I was out for the number of microts or arns – whichever be the case – that it was necessary for me to be out. I use the time to cleanse myself of unworthy thoughts. When somebody insults my religion or government, it hurts me . . . even if it's me having the thoughts. I try to keep the hurt inside but something compels me to cleanse myself. So I meditate." Thali looked around, her eyes large. Blinking, she glanced at the floor and waved her hands in front of her face. "Dots . . ." she murmured. "Anyway," she continued," when I meditate, my body slows down so that I may truly connect with my Lord Miráke."

Crichton paused before commenting. "So," he asked, "did you grok everything better afterwards?" Thali raised her eyebrows. "Oh, c'mon!" he said. "It's a classic in science fiction!Stranger In A Strange Land! Robert Heinlein! Writer of Starship Troopers and Friday . . . The Day After Tomorrow . . . and wasn't there something about the far side of a moon?"

"Whatever you say, John," Chiana said, giving Thali a wink behind her hand. "Feeling up to telling us exactly why you're here, by the way?" Chiana gave Thali a lopsided grin, trying to cover up the amnesty she felt towards the young girl.

D'argo strode in, Chiana and Jool's hair-doll in his hands. "I've forgotten to give this to you twice," he said impatiently. Jool hurriedly snatched the doll away from the Luxan's large hands.

Chi gave D'argo a teasing look. "I thought it looked cute up there," she said to him. Glancing around the room, Chiana walked slowly up to him and touched his shoulders. She could feel him shiver beneath his touch. "Did you think it looked cute?"

"A warship," D'argo said, "does not look cute." He swallowed, then stepped away from Chi. "So," he asked, "what were we all doing without me before I came in?" His voice held an amused note in it that everyone saw.

"We were just interrogating the prisoner," John said with a grin. "We'll fill you in later on what we got outta her. I think Chi asked her another question, but I can't remember it at the moment."

"I wanted to know," Chiana reminded him, "why she'd left her life in the Temple?" She looked around the group. "Hasn't that ever occurred to you?" She could tell from the looks on their faces that they'd thought of it only fleetingly, if at all.

"I wasn't satisfied with what was being given to me at the Temples that I lived in and I wondered if the world held something more." Thali paused, seeming to chose her words carefully. "I searched out that fact and . . . well, I'm still searching out that fact."

"Did you leave because you were getting hurt?" John asked quietly. Chiana glanced at him for his audacity, quite surprised that he hadn't gone the easy way with the child, as he usually did. Thali didn't say anything. "I'd like an answer," he told her quietly.

"I was beat because I didn't measure up to the standards that they had set for me." Thali said quietly. "My masters knew that if I was allowed to become stagnant in my studies, I would not be a good prod . . . well, I wouldn't be a good giauna."

"Do they normally beat their giaunas?" John asked. "I'm asking because I've heard that it is actually a practice that is frowned upon. I just wanted to know, where you a special case or was it like a group thing?"

Thali looked up and stared steadily at John. Chiana saw something in her eyes that she couldn't quite place – was it fear; was it shame? The girl's eyes were to light to be able to understand easily. "You are not supposed to mar the body of a giauna," she said after a moment. "There are many rules concerning what you may or may not do to giaunas. But there are certain circumstances that one may take into heart, and the rules change slightly."

"For example?" John's voice was low and soothing. Chiana recognized this technique as one to put Thali off guard; it was to relax her. Chi wasn't certain that it was working.

Thali shrugged, casting her eyes on the floor. "For example, nobody lower than a giauna or a master is allowed to see the naked body of a giauna. However, with the Pure Son in the temple, raxura are allowed to bath and dress if he or she is unable or needs assistance.Our Pure Son could not speak evil."

"What's a Pure Son?" John asked. Chiana wondered if he had momentarily forgotten his earlier question or if he was still trying to disarm Thali. She hoped it was a diversionary tactic, though with John's attention span it was hard to tell the difference.

"The Pure Sons were three sons born to one woman – one could not speak evil, one could not hear evil, and one could not see evil," Jool explained quickly. Chiana cast a glance at Jool; this wasn't the entire story, but it was a good synopsis . . . at least a beginning of one.

John gave a short laugh. "We have those!" John said excitedly. "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil! You put your hands over your ears, your eyes, and your mouth!" Chiana hadn't known that about John's culture, but it made her glad that he had found a common thread.

"Yes, well, one is deaf, one is blind, and the other babbles with innocence of a child," Chi said quickly. "One is kept at each and every Temple of Miráke. Uh . . ." she paused. "Having one that cannot speak evil is probably the most rare. Oftentimes, they are the most intelligent of children, yet they seem to live in a sort of world of their own."

"Autistic," John murmured to himself. Chiana whispered the strange word to herself; tasting it on her tongue. Nobody in the room spoke up after John's comment, so he began speaking again. "And what about hitting a giauna?" he asked.

Thali looked towards John Crichton, but Chiana had the feeling that she was looking through the human, towards something Chi could not see . . . towards some memory of the past that she was drawing upon for the conversation.

"I wasn't a normal giauna, in any case, John Crichton," Thali said finally. Chi watched her. "As a young child, I was willful and disobedient, and I often questioned the teachings that were being set before me." She jutted her chin out slightly more, in a sort of defiant manner.

"You got in trouble for asking questions?" John inquired. He didn't wait for an answer. "So if you didn't understand something in your, uh, sacred text of John –"

"Book of Miráke and Book of Giaun," Thali corrected automatically. Chiana grinned. She knew that John had misspoken the names purposely, to draw Thali into the conversation without having her think too deeply about anything she was speaking about.

"Right," John said. "So if you didn't understand something in your Book of Meer-raw-kay," John said the name awkwardly, slowly, and Chiana saw Thali wince. He paused and began again. "Miráke," he said, grinning, saying the name correctly this time. Thali nodded to him with a look on her face that reminded Chi so much of Zhaan she gasped softly. Thali was playing along with John's games. "And if you didn't understand something in your book of John –" ("Giaun,"
muttered Thali almost absentmindedly) "you weren't allowed to question them."

"What right do I have to question the will and words of my Lord?" Thali asked. John raised an eyebrow. "When I was a young child, I wanted to chase after my balls when I dropped them and they rolled into the foot-traffic in the market streets, but I was always held back, much to my chagrin. I didn't understand why. I now understand why, but the same principle applies to it."

"So you kept asking questions?" John asked.

Thali shrugged. "Not the same ones. But they seemed to come without my giving it a second thought to whether or not it would be an appropriate question. More often than not, it was not appropriate. But," she added, "I was never punished badly from about the age of six years old. I enjoyed my life there."

"You liked life there?" Jool asked after a microt's lull. Chiana rolled her eyes. Hadn't Thali just said that? Jool could sometimes be rather dense.

"Oh, yes," exclaimed Thali. "I had so many things to do. My studies were very interesting and fun for me. Besides religion I did histories of the colony worlds, science, classic literature . . ." Thali sighed. "It was great."

"So why did you leave?" John asked. Chi scratched her nose, contemplating Thali's possible answers. There could be so many reasons, so many lies, that she could give to them.

Thali looked up, startled. "Excuse me?" she inquired.

"What's your whole plan with this? Running away? Why did you run away?" John looks at her steadily. Chiana shivers, as much from the ill feeling she is getting from Thali as the ice in John's words.

"I don't want to die, John Crichton. I believe that the government has found out what I have suspected all through my training. I am not worthy to be a prodigy. They would rather erase their mistake than let me live to my eleventh cycle and disprove them. I would rather hide and assume a new identity than die."

"Why didn't you lie when you first met us, then? Why didn't you assume a new identity?" John found himself playing devil's advocate. He wanted to believe the girl, but after four cycles in the Uncharted Territories, he couldn't help but be wary of even the most innocent of packages. What she had just described didn't sound at all like the small girl she looked to be, or even a young adult.

Thali looked down, seemingly to chose her words more carefully. "I don't know," she said finally. "Something told me that I'd find allies here. Was I wrong?"

Begrudgingly, to themselves, each of Moya's crewmembers admitted that the girl wasn't wrong. For even if she had a command carrier on her rear end, she'd be welcome among the crew. It was their curse, Chiana reflected.

(asterisk)

As time has a habit of doing, it passed for those aboard Moya rather quickly. The days were began with shifts in command and ended with sleep for the crew members, only to return to the beginning of the cycle and perform the entire thing over again.

Giauna Thali, being to young to be assigned a shift in command herself, took to following John Crichton around the ship as he completed his tasks and duties, asking him questions all the while.

His ship, the Farscape I module, held a great interest for her, and she watched for arns on end as John repaired and tinkered with his toy. He would tell her stories of Earth, as he did that, and she much loved to listen to him as he recounted his tales of childhood. It shocked her, at first, to find that John was not Sebecean.

"Not Sebecean? Are you a Sebecean-Interon hybrid, then?" Thali asked, glancing at Jool across the table where they were eating dinner. "Is she your half sister or the like? You do have a rather high forehead. I'm surprised I didn't put two and two together far before this."

John placed a hand quickly to his hairline in shock. Jool looked at him rather as if to dare him to say something while Chiana smothered giggles behind D'argo's impatient growls. "I'm not Sebecean," John said indignantly. He took his hand down. "I'm full-blooded, too." Thali raised an eyebrow. "I'm human," he explained. Off of Thali's bewildered look, John elaborated. "I come from a planet named Earth. We don't have space travel . . . at least not like here. I'm on the other side of the universe, as far as I can tell. I was doing a test when I got shot through a wormhole."

Thali nodded. "This is the second time you've mentioned wormholes," she said. John paused a fork halfway up to his mouth and looked at Thali expectantly. "But, back to Earth," she said brightly.

Once, coming back following John around while he worked, Thali met Chiana in the corridor outside of Jool's quarters, where the privacy curtain was drawn. Peeking beyond the curtain, Jool saw that Chiana had in her possession several articles of clothing that she had washed.

Chiana stopped Thali with a touch on her shoulder. "You're spending too much time with Crichton."

"And you not enough time with him." Thali's words surprised Jool. What exactly did she mean by that? Jool was of the opinion that Chiana spent far too much time speaking with John than was necessary – almost as much time as the child herself spent with that frelling human.

Chiana chose to ignore the last remark. "Why do you follow him around like a lost nika all the time?" she demanded "You're always behind him while he is working in the corridors on parts of Moya, and you're always asking him questions; about the ship; about Earth."

Thali smiled. "I find him very interesting," she explained, as if to a child. Jool smothered a giggle that was threatening to alert the two speakers to her presence. Leave it to Thali to be condescending to no one but the only other Nebari on the ship. "He knows things about Leviathans that I've never had cause to learn. He has an understanding of biomechanoids that astonishes me, given his background. Also, he himself is quite a study. I've never learnt his species before." This last was said with a half smile, as if Thali was truly happy to be able to 'learn' John.

Chiana gasped. "You're studying him?" she asked. Jool could see no wrong in what Thali was doing. Truth-be-told, Jool herself was watching Thali with veiled interest, bordering on clinical fascination and cultural studies, hidden behind concern for the giauna's well-being.

"To truly comprehend the unbelievers," Thali said, as if reciting, "one must first learn about their histories and customs." Jool was of the mind that Thali was reciting something that she had learned quite a long while ago.

"If you learn about their histories and all that dren, then you understand them," Chiana declared. Jool could see Chiana's point there, and was interested to see how Thali would respond. "You comprehend them," she said, smugly triumphant.

Thali spoke again, her voice still monotonous, as if she were still reciting from some long ago learned textbook. "To know is not to comprehend. Rather, to comprehend is to know." Thali's facial expression softened at that point, and her following words are spoken in a more relaxed tone, thought it is still rehearsed sounding. "We know that there is a beetle on Nebar called cabul that lays its eggs in a circle of five, never four, never six, though we don't know why. We can't comprehend the meaning behind this action. Is there a sort of special meaning to the number five? Perhaps an aerial view from the predators who ingest it will outwit them. Perhaps the cabul has comprehended its enemies already."

"Ahh . . . so you want to know your enemy before you destroy him?" Chiana asked with a smirk that Jool mirrored behind the curtain.

Thali frowned. "We wouldn't destroy the beetle," she said, exasperated. "It is an invaluable lifeform on Nebar. It would wreck havoc with our ecological system and cause innumerable chain reactions to formulate, probably –"

"Cut it, girl," Chiana interrupted. "I left the Nebari Prime a long time ago; it and all of it's natural history lessons on insects and animals that inhabit the forests and animals that inhabit the plains and animals –"

It was Thali's turn to interrupt the speaker. "These things do not interest you?" she asked sadly. Jool frowned.

"I have to deal with what I think somebody will do right now – I deal with the fact that sometimes people do the unthinkable." Chiana was impatient, and it showed in her quick words and speech. Jool moved so that she could see the two conversationalists better.

"I don't deal with what might happen if somebody does the unthinkable," Thali said softly, so softly that Jool almost didn't hear. "I deal with what will happen when this or that is done."

"Then you will never be truly prepared," Chiana said, beginning to walk away. Jool cursed Chi and moved to the other side of the curtain, to see her for a longer period of time.

"Prepared for what?" Thali asked, skipping to keep up with the older Nebari's strides. Jool saw them reach the corner and half-sighed; she had wanted to witness the finishing touches to this conversation.

"Life." Chiana had stopped and was looking at Thali smugly. Jool could see how her mouth turned up at the corners in a half-smile.

Thali was indignant. "Why not?"

"Because life throws at you the unthinkable." Chiana turned and walked the corner. Jool wasn't certain who had won that argument, but she was almost positive that Chi came out slightly ahead in the end. Thali stood for a long while at the corner before turning back down the hall and going the way she was originally headed.