*************************Chapter 10*************************************

The time passed quickly on Minbar. We visited some of the most important sites to my people. Among them were the hill were Valen gave both his first and his last speeches. Some of the others included were among my personal favourites. The Temple where my mother had been taught, the great waterfalls and park were my father had taught me and a few others how to play baseball.

My friends seemed to be most impressed by the waterfalls. I could understand. They were beautiful. Rising hundreds of meters high, the clear water would fall from the peak and come crashing down on the crystalline formations below, sending a cascade of fine spray into the air in all directions.

The refraction of the light through the water and into the crystals caused several permanent rainbows. These rainbows would arc through each other and the colours would merge and combine in different ways. It was a rare and wondrous sight that had always managed to fill me with pride and awe at the raw beauty of my world.

Like I had told Marcel, we were allowed to go into the city and walk around. I pointed out buildings that I recognized and we puzzled over those that I did not. Sometimes my parents would join us, and when we came to a building that I did not know, they would explain it's purpose. But more often than not, they let the five of us (Mary just naturally joined our little group) go out and look around on our own. There was only one incident where there might have been problems.

We were walking along one of the winding roads when Marcel accidentally bumped into a cloaked figure. The figure went sprawling onto the ground and leapt to its feet in anger. He through back his hood and I recognized the face as belonging to the leader of the Wind Swords Clan of the Warrior cast.

Luckily, the Wind Swords were among the more tolerant of the Warrior cast and he also recognized us. He studied Marcel thoroughly, as though judging him. He gave a small nod and bowed to us. We bowed back and Marcel apologized in his pidgin Minbari.

Karoon looked over at me quizzically. "He is a warrior?"

I nodded, not sure yet what he was going to do.

"He has the look and feel of one. Tell him that he does not need to apologize. I should not have been walking directly in the middle of the path. My mind was on other matters and this is the first time I have been on Minbar in more years than I care to recall." He looked me over and gave a small grin. "You are growing nicely, David Sheridan. Perhaps I could tempt you to alter you path and join the Warrior Cast? No? Well, I did not think I could." He sighed. "You have your own destiny to find among the Rangers." He nodded and bowed to each of my friends. "I hope one day for the chance to fight beside you all." Marcel grinned and added his own words to this sentiment.

We went about our way and he proceeded into a building that I knew housed the records of the recent Council meetings. I showed my friends the small pond not too far from our home where my father had taught my mother and I to swim. They asked if we could go swimming, and since I couldn't see any reason why not, I agreed. We returned to the house and got some clothing that would be more appropriate for the water and returned. Marcel had to borrow a pair of shorts from my father, and even then, they were still tight on him. But with Mary along, we agreed that it would be best if we didn't skinny dip.

On our last day, my mother brought us to the Starfire Wheel. She told us the story of how Valen had been challenged and how he had withstood the full fury of the wheel. She also told us about Neroon's sacrifice when she had stepped into the Wheel against Shakiri.

I was as fascinated as my friends. She had never talked about her own ordeal in the Wheel before. I had known of it, for it was in the records that she had made me study. But she would not talk of it and neither would my father. It seemed to be a sore point between them.

Things got back to a happier tone, when my father convinced us to have a short baseball game. My mother had never really understood my father's obsession with the sport, but it was one of many things I had inherited from him. My father managed to talk my mother into playing, and she was able to convince enough Minbari to join in so that we could have two teams with nine players.

The first team was made up of my parents, Uncle Mike, Aunt Lise, Mary, Dranenn, Falten and a pair of human Rangers who were fans of the game. The other team was made up of me, Marcel, Kahlen, Shannon, and a mix of Narn, Human and Minbari rangers. Since Kahlen and I were the only ones on our team to have ever played the game, we got to choose whether or not to bat first.

Of course we choose to let my parents team bat first. We both knew that it was better to have the last chance at bat in case we were behind. We had a ball.

There is nothing funnier than watching people playing baseball for the first time. They stumbled, took wild hacks at the ball and occasionally ran the wrong way. The first time my mother stepped to the plate, I couldn't help but laugh. She was wearing one of the baseball uniforms my father had ordered for me when I was a little younger. It fit her better than it had me. She was also using one of my old gloves. Some of the Rangers had pulled gloves out of their packs and I began to wonder just how they had gotten selected to be among those guarding my parents.

The game was fun. My father could still throw as hard as ever, though he took it easy on the people new to the sport. Surprisingly, my mother was a pretty good player. I guess she picked up a few things, watching us play. The best player by far was Kahlen. She used her ability to fly shamelessly, catching anything and everything that was hit to her in center field. There was some debate as to whether she should be allowed to do this, but we argued that if she had to contain herself, than the Narn and Minbari would also have to hold back.

They finally gave in and Kahlen continued to fly through the air to make amazing catches. The Minbari and Narn seemed to be trying to hit the ball further than each other, some of them managing to hit it more than 900 feet. Marcel was able to top them all when he hit the ball and it landed on the balcony of the house, more than 1000 feet from home plate. We all expressed amazement at his strength, but he shrugged it off, claiming he had gotten lucky.

We played several games, switching the teams around a few times. We only stopped when it became too dark to see. We were leaving early the next morning, so we had an early dinner and went to bed. It was a great day, and one of the last where we would all be able to gather together. It was also the last time I played baseball.