About the Ma'laf from the last part, even though Tomahna is part of Earth it doesn't mean that Atrus doesn't have a D'ni name for a creature that is known as something else by us! Although it is part of my own idea- not part of the canon.

Also, I think I should point out that this story is pre-Revelation (by the time I finished writing it, Revelation still hadn't come out.) So if there is anything that doesn't quite fit- that is the reason. My next novella will be Revelation correct but this one I just won't be editing to make it fit.

Any questions about why or how does something work, feel free to ask!

Miveen

--

Standing in the shadows outside the door, Yeesha watched as her parents stood in each other's arms. They both seemed so happy and yet she knew what haunted them- haunted them still. Maybe it was part of the reason that they had taken her here, to help get over the hurt.

Myst...the Age the two of them once escaped to trying to get away from her grandfather, Gehn. Anna had helped Katran in writing it and then lived there with them till her death. Atrus thought then that maybe he and his family had found peace, but trouble followed them there in the form of her two brothers, Sirrus and Achenar. Destroying the Myst Age along with so many others and hurting more then just the people on those Ages. Yeesha knew that the turmoil her parents had faced almost undid them.

Slipping silently away, Yeesha wandered about until she reached the work room. Stopping and sitting on a battered looking wooden chair, she pulled out a firemarble which she had brought along. Yeesha tapped it until it began to glow then, reaching into her bag, pulled out a tattered leather journal.

The Book of Atrus.

She flipped to the last page and, holding the fire-marble close to the page, started to read the carefully written entry.

I should have known at once that Myst was not Catherine's. But how was I to know otherwise? I had thought Anna lost. Lost forever.

And how was I to know that, just as I made my preparations, so the two of them made theirs, pooling their talents- Anna's experience and Catherine's intuitive genius- to craft those seemingly cataclysmic events on Age Five, in such a way that after a time they would reverse themselves, making Catherine's former home, now Gehn's prison, stable once more.

...and the Myst book?

I realized the moment I fell into the fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse. I have tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit that such conjecture is futile. Still, questions about whose hands might one day hold my Myst book are unsettling to me. I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written. Book of Atrus

And indeed the ending hadn't been written. Instead the book had fallen to earth again where the Stranger found it. But still- even after all had seemed to be fixed and reconciled- the hurt that her brothers had given Atrus and Katran remained. Tied to the Myst Age forever.

Closing the journal and placing it back in her bag, Yeesha stared ahead of her into the light splotched darkness.

If only there was some way that she could help them get over their pain. Someway to aid them in their journey to find healing. But there wasn't...only an eighteen year old's wish.

"There you are, Yeesha," said her father stepping into the room.

Glancing over at him, she smiled faintly- trying to put on a good show for his sake.

"What do you think about the Cleft?" he asked sitting down on another chair beside her.

"I love it here. It's so peaceful..."

"It is, isn't it?" Atrus answered looking about himself as if seeing it for the first time.

And it is the first time in years.

"How could you stand to be away from it so long?" Yeesha asked marveling.

"I don't know. I suppose...I suppose this place it really is more of a way that you refresh yourself. It gives you the strength to return and finish what you need to do."

"And you need that now?"

"Yes- I need it now. But I also wanted it to be available for you...for one day you may find that you need the Cleft to help you face what is coming."

Rolling the firemarble around in her hand, Yeesha wondered what it would be that she would need the strength for. But her question was unanswered and suddenly Atrus stood up and asked her if she wanted to see Keta's grave. She was just about to follow him when Katran came in.

"Oh no you two don't. It's late now- there will be plenty of time to see flowers in the morning."

"May we sleep out under the stars, Father?" asked Yeesha spinning around, excited by the prospect.

Her father seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if recalling a long forgotten memory, before answering normally -

"Not tonight, Yeesha. It's not easy to wake up with the sun flashing blindingly in your eyes."

Yeesha knew it was an excuse for something but decided not to push the matter. He didn't say that she couldn't ever sleep out under the stars while they were here. And she certainly didn't have the weak D'ni eyes like he did.

Sleeping arrangements were finally settled on; Atrus and Katran sleeping on the carved stone ledge as a bed and Yeesha sleeping on the ground. Pulling her blanket up about her ears, Yeesha began to drift off listening to the sound of her parents' breathing.

Father is right about this place, she thought just before sleep claimed her. The Cleft does refresh you...

--

That morning, Atrus woke up before the sun had risen. Laying there in the dark, his arm loosely over Catherine's waist, he let his thoughts wander at will. At last, after a particularly fond memory of an orange kitten- dead now for many years- Atrus slowly moved his arm from around Catherine and slipped out from under the blankets. Grabbing his D'ni glasses and making sure that Yeesha wasn't disturbed when he stepped over her, he wandered out into the cleft. Atrus continued to wander aimlessly about, soaking in the memories, until he reached a patch of blue flowers.

Flowers. Blue flowers. Thousands of tiny, delicate blue flowers with tiny, starlike petals and velvet dark stamen. Book of Atrus

There were more of them now then when he was little and they had spread from their little patch to covering most of the untended soil where Anna used to have vegetables growing. Only a few of those vegetables continued to grow- wild and scraggly- most likely the tenacious seeds of some past plant once carefully tapped down into the soil by Anna.

Bending down, Atrus picked one of the small, fragile flowers. He was never certain why Anna had chosen these flowers to plant over Keta's grave. He knew that they had been the favorite flowers of Anna's father, but why she would put them over Keta's grave? Could it have been that she knew Keta would have liked these flowers too? Or could it have been that Keta somehow reminded Anna of her father? Anna could often see things about people that others missed; maybe she saw something similar in Keta.

Something in that weary, sick face when she delivered me.

Atrus brushed the flower's petals with the tip of his finger. These flowers were a part of more then Keta's and Anna's life. They were also a part of Catherine's.

How did you know?

Know? Know what? Book of Atrus

He had seen them also on Catherine's dream age; that Age where he had first realized he was in love with her. That special Age of Catherine's...he should never have been surprised of anything there and yet, he couldn't help it. He had still been surprised that she could write!

And now Catherine was his wife and had helped him write so many more ages. Someday they even hoped that Yeesha would learn the Art but Atrus was content to wait. Disaster had befallen the time he tried to teach his sons to write.

I have a second chance though, he reasoned with himself. Surely he couldn't be cursed twice over.

Letting the flower fall, Atrus stood up and stretched. The Cleft and the flowers, they were to be part of Yeesha now. All of this, somehow, just like Catherine insisted.

Making his way back to the sleeping chamber, Atrus found both Yeesha and Catherine up and waiting for him. Yeesha's eyes were dancing with mischief and Catherine had a pleased look about her, sort of an 'I told you so.'

"Are you ready for breakfast?" he asked.

--

Katran worked hard to aid Atrus in finding forgiveness. He always felt that there was something he should have done to help his sons. Katran didn't believe that anything could have, but Atrus wouldn't pay attention to her views. She even tried to tell him that Anna went through the same thing with Gehn- still he wouldn't listen. For some reason he seemed to think that it was all a failing on his part and this caused him to believe Anna would have been disappointed in him.

Yet as Katran watched where Atrus and Yeesha sat, bent over a small rock sample they were testing, she knew how proud Anna would really have been. Atrus had become a fine man and adviser for the D'ni people. And he was a wonderful father to Yeesha. He was determined to not make the same mistakes with her as he had with Sirrus and Achenar.

Anna, can you see him now? Just how you would have wanted him to be.

It took her years to convince Atrus to take a trip with her and Yeesha to the Cleft. A few times she had even threatened to go by herself but that had gotten her nowhere for Atrus knew as well as she did that she didn't know the way. And without Atrus there to show and explain parts of the Cleft, it's meaning and peace would never have been passed onto Yeesha.

Anna had told Katran about the Cleft so many times while they sat on Myst island, watching the two little boys playing in the grass. During this time Katran had come to realize what the Cleft was...an heirloom to be passed down from generation to generation. Anna's father had passed it on to Anna and Anna had tried to pass it to Gehn, but he had refused. And so Anna gave it to Atrus instead, knowing one day he would pass it on to his children. Now- Yeesha would pass it on to her children some day in the future.

Katran chuckled as she watched Atrus and Yeesha argue over the composition of the rock sample.

Those two are so alike, she thought.

"Catherine, could you please come over here and tell me what you think about this sample?"

"No thank you," she answered. "I know what you are trying to do. You two will have to sort this out on your own."

He should just give up. Yeesha knew too much and was probably right; Atrus taught her well. Just not about writing Ages. Waiting...he always said he was waiting. Katran knew he was in some ways afraid of teaching Yeesha the Art, though. He had tried to teach Sirrus and Achenar; those two were only interested in what they could take from the Ages. Yeesha would be different however, Katran knew it.

I had a dream of you. Book of Atrus

Their child would have a greater power in her hands then any before. She would change the D'ni's future. If only Atrus would teach her.

Setting her jaw firmly, Katran determined to talk to Atrus about it later. He had done enough waiting.