A/N: I've decided that Trance's people's native language would probably not be Common, so I decided to substitute J.R.R Tolkien's Elvish. I was bored, ok! The translation will be at the bottom of the page.

Prin69: sorry 'bout your day. How 'bout I dedicate this chappie to you? Would that make you feel better? How'd you know, Apollo IS hot! :P no, really, he is!

Mo Cat: errr, mine is purple. I'll ask other people though, ok? So happy you like the silver!

Iara: I TOTALLY LOVE VEGHN! YAYNESS! ok, sorry. :P I have to get off the internet in about a minute, so I won't have time. I'm so happy you like the X-Files-Andromeda crossover, I'll work on that in my spare time. (If I ever get any)

Dancing Queen: thank you! I got the 'are we there yet' from the Mummy Returns movie, and I just love it! I'd be a peach crayon, too.

Dancing Princess: s'ok, I got over that highly embarrassing fact. :blushes: IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, SAMANTHA!!!!

Maglenan Princess: I finally figured out how to spell your s/n! I'm so proud of me! (mag-le-nan!) sam, I had to kill your character because I couldn't have too many females. you got to have a Tyr moment, though!

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to prin69 because she had a crappy day.

Chapter 19

Gaheris had been unable to pry any more information out of Apollo because Nara had always seemed to be around. The blue female was reminding him of a Nazi from Earth. Most people would have felt sorry for her after hearing about her sister, but hey, Gaheris is a Nietzschean and doesn't feel sorry for most people.

We're here," Apollo announced from the cockpit. Gaheris picked up Veghn and left the room where they had been playing with blocks. He joined Trance out in the hall.

"Mommy okay?" Veghn asked, seeing his mother.

Trance smiled tiredly at the boy. "I'm fine, baby," she told the child.

Veghn accepted this answer even though he didn't seem to believe it. Gaheris was struck by how perceptive Veghn was. "You don't look fine," Gaheris said reproachfully. "Did you sleep at all?"

Trance shook her head no. "I'll be fine," she repeated. "Don't worry."

"We're about to be judged by people who aren't happy with you," Gaheris said. 'Aren't happy' was a bit of an understatement. "And you don't think I should be worried? Come on, Trance, I'm a Nietzschean, and at the risk of sounding stereotypical, it's rather anti-survival not to be worried at a time like this."

Trance didn't have an answer for that.

"Welcome to the Home," Apollo announced. He retracted the viewscreen, revealing a window like the one on Andromeda's Obs Deck, except on a much smaller scale. "You're the only Nietzschean to ever lay eyes on it.""

"It's beautiful," Gaheris whispered at seeing the huge nebula that was the Home. Roiling, colorful gases formed shapes, rather like clouds, giant pillars and animals. In the middle of the nebula in stark contrast to the gases was a space station made of a bright silvery metal.

"How big is that?" Gaheris asked, pointing at the station.

"Big," Apollo replied. "The size of a large planet."

"How do you keep it suspended in the middle of the nebula?" Gaheris asked.

"Enough questions," Nara snapped. Gaheris was developing a strong dislike of this blue female. "Apollo, take us in."

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Whispers followed them as Nara led them through the station. Gaheris and Trance were walking side by side, and once again Gaheris was carrying Veghn. Trance had dressed Veghn in a matte-black jumpsuit, and his bright brown eyes darted everywhere, not wanting to miss a thing. He waved at a couple people a few times, but no one waved back at the child except Apollo, and it turned into sort of a game between the silver child and the green male. Apollo was bringing up the rear.

There were humanoids of all the colors of the rainbow, and every so often Gaheris would see someone who was a strange sort of white. He assumed they were in the ultraviolet spectrum. There were few gold avatars like Trance and even less silver avatars, and Gaheris made a mental note to ask Trance about it later.

Nara led them over bridges and through gardens and parks. It was truly amazing; like a drift, only better. "This is it," Nara said finally, stopping in front of huge gray stone doors. There were runes or letters of some kind carved on them in gold. "Apollo and I will leave you now."

"Good luck," Apollo said, smiling. "I'll be waiting for you when the trial is over." 'Trial' was not spoken with the aura of horror surrounding it, so Gaheris assumed this would simply be a trial, and that whether or not he and Trance would end up going to Trial would be decided here. Apollo and Nara walked away, Apollo taking a seat on a stone bench facing a small pond in one of the many gardens not far from the doors. Nara walked in the other direction without giving Gaheris, Trance, or Veghn a backward glance.

Trance reached out a hand toward the doors, then stopped. "Gaheris, let me do all the talking," she said quickly. She reached out again and stopped again. "Veghn, best behavior," she added.

A subdued "Yes, Mommy," came from the child. Veghn squirmed and Gaheris put him down, thankfully giving his numb arm a break.

Trance took a deep breath, then reached out toward the doors. They opened with the slightest touch, and Trance stood in the doorway and waited. Gaheris could see nothing in the chamber ahead, and he and Veghn waited silently beside Trance, Veghn holding Gaheris's hand.

"Minnailye," announced a rich, rolling voice, and Trance walked into the room. Gaheris remained a pace behind her, giving Trance center-stage as the room was immediately was lit from within by soft silver and golden lighting.

There were four figures sitting in front of them. Two were golden like Trance, one male and one female. The other two were silver, not silver like Veghn but more of a darker hue like all the others of that color he had passed. Gaheris finally decided the only way he could describe it was older. There was one male and one female of the silver avatars as well.

The gold male was obviously the leader; he was the one who had spoken. "Minnelye i sammath ello i anari ar isili. Si i Omentielvo lastath ar tuluva van lye ambar." He looked at Trance, then Gaheris, then finally Veghn, who whimpered slightly and wrapped his tail around Gaheris's leg.

Trance looked straight ahead at the leader. "Nan Trance Gemini. Hi na Gaheris Rhade. I hin na im ion, Veghn Rhade." She hesitated. "Quetain Common an Gaheris ar Veghn?" she asked, but for all Gaheris knew Trance could have just asked the gold male if he wanted to get some pizza. He had caught 'Trance Gemini', 'Veghn Rhade', 'Gaheris Rhade', and 'Common' but that was about it.

The leader nodded, and to Gaheris's relief spoke Common with a slightly different accent; not unpleasant, just different. "Trance Gemini, Gaheris Rhade, and Veghn Rhade, you are brought before the Meeting because once again you have disrupted the natural order of life. What do you say?"

"Once again, all I can say is that I love him,' Trance replied. "Love cannot be explained or controlled. You know better than I the universe works in mysterious ways."

"An excuse," the silver female accused, leaning forward to study Veghn. To his credit Veghn stood fast and matched the female's stare. The child projected an air of absolute calmness ahead of his age, but the older Nietzschean male could tell he was scared from the way his tail squeezed Gaheris's leg harder. "The child is a half-Nietzschean avatar," she continued. "We cannot let this go unpunished."

Trance's breath caught in her throat, but she continued looking ahead calmly.

"I agree, Altariel," the golden female said. "We do not know how this will affect the perfect possible future."

"Yavie, he is a child," the silver male said, and Gaheris sensed a possible ally.

"His birth has already caused ripples and disturbances across this universe," the silver female, Altariel, announced. "Dagnir, it is unheard of."

"Among our people the child will be an outcast," the gold male pointed out, not taking sides either for or against Veghn.

"I say Trance Gemini must be punished," Yavie said firmly. "This must never happen again."

"You do not know what he is the avatar of, do you?" Dagnir, the silver male, directed the question at Trance.

Trance shook her head. "Veghn was born mere days ago, and I do not know yet."

Gaheris's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he added that to the list of things he'd ask Trance later. Veghn's eyes darted around, studying each of the people's faces before looking down and shuffling his feet.

"The Meeting will discuss what will become of you," the leader said, and the four avatars closed their eyes, obviously communing mentally.

Gaheris picked Veghn up, letting the child wrap his hands and tail around his arm. "What did Dagnir mean by 'avatar of'?"

"Not everyone is a Sun avatar," Trance explained, her watchful gaze not leaving the four avatars. "There are also Moon avatars and Planet avatars. There are symbolic colors for what avatar one is. Gold is Sun, silver is Moon, and the other colors in between are Planets."

"But moons are not silver," Gaheris just felt like pointing out.

"Like I said, symbolic colors," Trance replied.

"Veghn is silver," Gaheris pointed out. "Does that not make him a Moon avatar?"

"I chose that color for him," Trance said. "That is why you noticed the difference between the silver avatars here and Veghn's color. When avatars are in the womb, the mother chooses the color they will be until the Time of Ascension, when an avatar discovers what he will represent, and also where that celestial body will be. Dagnir thought that because Veghn was silver, his Rite had already been completed. That is why I chose the tip of his tail to be black, so if someone looked close enough he or she could tell he has not passed Rite yet."

"Why are there not many silver or gold avatars?" Gaheris asked. "On the walk over I only saw a few."

"Sun avatars hold the highest positions and command the greatest respect because there are so few of us. Moon avatars are rare, despite the enormous number of moons in this universe; there are not many avatars. They are beings of great mystery and subtlety. Sun avatars are usually the epitome of goodness and light, and Planet avatars are stable and loyal. I guess to put it how a Nietzschean would understand it, you could say those characteristics are genetic. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, as with all being-"

"We have reached a decision," the gold male announced, opening his eyes. "It is not one we have made lightly."

"I am prepared to accept the consequences of my actions, and will follow the Meeting's judgement," Trance replied, eyes looking straight forward.

Gaheris suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut that this was not going to end well. Veghn squeezed his tail around Gaheris's arm, obviously anxious.

"The Meeting has decided that Trance Gemini must undergo Trial."

Trance's breath caught in her throat, and she noticeably paled.

"If you should survive Trial, you, your mate, and your son may return to the Andromeda Ascendant to continue guiding Dylan Hunt toward the perfect possible future." The gold male paused, and Gaheris squeezed Trance's hand in support.

"Should you not survive, your son's link will be severed, and he will be executed." Veghn's eyes widened, and Gaheris felt the tail around his arm tighten like a tourniquet. "Your mate will be tortured and put to death as punishment for siring the half-breed.

"The sentence shall pass in one month unless the Meeting decides differently," the gold male finished. "You may leave."

Trance remained standing there, shocked into immobility. Gaheris gave a gentle tug on her hand. "Let's go," he said softly. He pushed the stone doors open and left the dimness of that chamber behind them.

A/N: I don't know if anyone cares, but I took painstaking time to translate the Elvish into what I wanted to say. This is the translation (GM is gold male, T is Trance):

GM: "You may enter."----- "You have entered the chambers of the Suns and the Moons. Now the Meeting will listen and will come to pass your fate."

T: "I am Trance Gemini. This is Gaheris Rhade. The child is my son, Veghn Rhade."----- "May I speak Common for Gaheris and Veghn?" Sounds much better in Elvish, ya think?