Author's Note: Hmm...No excuse this time. Except that I've become
really, really involved in play-by-post writing on storycrafter, to the
great detriment of my other literary projects.
The good news was that no one had seen Starfire. The bad news was that Starfire hadn't seen anyone. For at least an hour she had been wandering through a maze of stonewalled corridors, the scenery never changing, and it was getting quite dull. She looked down at Raven head resting on her arm and bit her lip. She was becoming more and more worried about her friend the longer Raven stayed unconscious. The worst part was that Starfire didn't know what to do if she did find somebody, since the chance was high than any person she met would be a bad guy. A regular person might take them in, but it would be hard to explain who they were, what had happened to Raven, and why the Sentinels couldn't be told about them. The best thing would be to find someone who belonged to the group Laros had talked about, the Secret Sentinels. But that was very unlikely.
Starfire turned a corner. She barely had time to register the two cloaked figures flanking the hall before she felt something hard hit the side of her head and crumpled to the ground.
"Oh come on, dear, wake up."
Wake up? Did that mean she was asleep? Starfire's head ached more than it had since that time she drank seven Auraliki Dizzydrink's at a family party. She opened her eyes and saw a green blur hovering above her.
"Who...who are you?"
"You can call me Mother Mindly." The green blur slowly solidified into a large, broud shouldered woman in a green dress with a cloud of dark green curls sprouting from her head. "I'm the healer here."
Starfire blinked. That didn't explain anything. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. She was in a small, stone-walled room, lit only by a single smoldering lantern hanging from the ceiling on a black iron chain. Against the wall opposite of the bed she was lying in she could see a wooden table piled with what looked like dried plants. There was a faint smell of mildew in the air, reminding her of the blue fungus that had once flourished in the Titan's refridgerator. "Where is 'here'?"
"You're in the headquarters of the of the Secret Sentinels, sweet. I apologize for the impolite manner in which you were brought here; we didn't realize that you were a friend until we saw that you had Lady Aleran with you."
"What? But...but...the Secret Sentinels? Aren't they in Raven's world? In Azerath?"
Mother Mindly snorted. "Where do you think you are?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out!" Raising her voice just made Starfire's head hurt worse. "I can't be in Azerath. I can't. I was standing and watching Raven go through the portal, and Robin leaned over to me and said...he said. Oh, I can't remember! I don't understand!"
"Oh, I was afraid of this," said the green-haired woman, biting her lips.
"Afraid of what? What's wrong?"
"You have a concussion dear."
"How...?"
"Two of our younger members were assigned to keep watch over the entrance to the headquarters that the Teleth boy was supposed to lead you to. But since he wasn't with you, you didn't know the signal, and, well...perhaps our watchmen were a little overenthusiastic."
"Laros wasn't with us? What happened to him?"
"We were hoping you could tell us." The older woman sighed a deep, rushing sigh like waves hitting a shore. "But since you apparently don't remember, we'll have to wait for the Lady to come to."
"Did the guards knock her out too?"
"No, she was already unconscious. You were carrying her, which I must was quite a feat for someone as slight as you!"
"I'm stronger than I look."
Mother Mindly climbed to her feet with a groan and, turning her back to Starfire, headed over to the wooden table across the room. "We think Lady Aleran has suffered from an overpowering."
Starfire wondered if it would make her seem overly ignorant to ask what and overpowering was. Thankfully, Mindly seemed to know that she needed to explain to an outsider. "An Azerathi body can not function without a certain amount of energy. When too much is released at one time the body has to shut itself down, and we call that an overpowering." She gathered together several dried plants and threw them into a red clay bowl, then picked up a fat wooden stick and began rhythmically pounding. "It's not unheard of when someone loses control and can't hedge in their power."
The young girl frowned. Was she saying that Raven lost control? That she couldn't keep a handle on her powers? "Raven meditates for hours each day. I have never seen her lose control. She is master of her power."
"Yes, yes, dear, but that was in your world. No doubt power is easier to handle there."
"But Raven said that it is more difficult to control her power there. So shouldn't she be even better at it here than she is there?"
Mindly paused for a moment before continuing her pounding. "What exactly did Aleran say about power in your world?"
Starfire squinted her eyes and thought for a moment; it was hard to recall the exact words of the conversation over the pulsing emanating from the bruise on the side of her head. "Laros got annoyed and accidently blew up Cyborg's chair," she began, slowly. "He was surprised, he said that no one but an untrained child would do something like that. Then Raven told him...she told him that he would find it harder to control his powers there, that it would take more work than he was accustomed to."
"If what you say is true then...perhaps she had too much control, rather than too little. Maybe her years in your world have Lady Alran so much stronger, so much more disciplined, that when she came here she was able to pull more energy out of herself than ever before. And that much energy would be too much even for her."
"So Raven has too much control over her powers to control her powers?"
"Exactly."
Starfire wondered if Mother Mindly would be any less confusing if her head was less painful. The healer continued. "If that's the case then I know some people who will be very relieved."
"Why? I don't see how they could prefer Raven to become unconscious one way over another."
Mother Mindly turned away from the table and made her way over to her patients side. She had folded the crushed plants into a white cloth which she cradled in one hand. "You have to understand, dear," she said, holding the cloth to Starfire's head, "ever since Lady Aleran left, the people of the City–especially the young ones but plenty of their elders too–have had a tendency to idolize her. You see, she escaped Hailorn, something no one had ever done before, and he had such power over her, too, being her father. It made people think that there must be something special about her. Then Hailorn forbid the mention of her name and that, of course, ensured that it was mentioned even more. They made stories about her return, and whispered them from one to another, friend to friend, mother to child. 'When Aleran comes she will save us.' 'When Aleran comes we will be set free.' That sort of thing. She was their hope."
The pain seemed to be seeping away from Starfire's wound, bleeding into the cloth packet. It made it easier to think. "So Raven was like Zeplar the Joyous, Confident, and Righteously Angered."
"Who?"
"He is a mythical hero among my people. They say that when we are in our direst need, he will return to us, flying out of the sky on his golden hoplid."
Mother Mindly took the packet away and dropped it into her lap, apparently thinking. "Hmm...that is very similar to what Aleran has become to us, except that instead of being a myth, she's real. Most of the Azerathi can still remember her, how she looked, how she spoke, how she acted. It's a lot easier to believe in her than your Zeplar, and that makes her more comforting.
"So, anyway, you can see how some would be disappointed if she turned out to be just a young girl with poor control. Not me, though. I've never held with idolizing someone so young. Too much strain on a girl no older than my little Jimmas, too much pressure. Bound to crack a bit and that would be a horrid shame. No, I never thought of Lady Aleran as a miracle worker, not me."
The good news was that no one had seen Starfire. The bad news was that Starfire hadn't seen anyone. For at least an hour she had been wandering through a maze of stonewalled corridors, the scenery never changing, and it was getting quite dull. She looked down at Raven head resting on her arm and bit her lip. She was becoming more and more worried about her friend the longer Raven stayed unconscious. The worst part was that Starfire didn't know what to do if she did find somebody, since the chance was high than any person she met would be a bad guy. A regular person might take them in, but it would be hard to explain who they were, what had happened to Raven, and why the Sentinels couldn't be told about them. The best thing would be to find someone who belonged to the group Laros had talked about, the Secret Sentinels. But that was very unlikely.
Starfire turned a corner. She barely had time to register the two cloaked figures flanking the hall before she felt something hard hit the side of her head and crumpled to the ground.
"Oh come on, dear, wake up."
Wake up? Did that mean she was asleep? Starfire's head ached more than it had since that time she drank seven Auraliki Dizzydrink's at a family party. She opened her eyes and saw a green blur hovering above her.
"Who...who are you?"
"You can call me Mother Mindly." The green blur slowly solidified into a large, broud shouldered woman in a green dress with a cloud of dark green curls sprouting from her head. "I'm the healer here."
Starfire blinked. That didn't explain anything. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. She was in a small, stone-walled room, lit only by a single smoldering lantern hanging from the ceiling on a black iron chain. Against the wall opposite of the bed she was lying in she could see a wooden table piled with what looked like dried plants. There was a faint smell of mildew in the air, reminding her of the blue fungus that had once flourished in the Titan's refridgerator. "Where is 'here'?"
"You're in the headquarters of the of the Secret Sentinels, sweet. I apologize for the impolite manner in which you were brought here; we didn't realize that you were a friend until we saw that you had Lady Aleran with you."
"What? But...but...the Secret Sentinels? Aren't they in Raven's world? In Azerath?"
Mother Mindly snorted. "Where do you think you are?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out!" Raising her voice just made Starfire's head hurt worse. "I can't be in Azerath. I can't. I was standing and watching Raven go through the portal, and Robin leaned over to me and said...he said. Oh, I can't remember! I don't understand!"
"Oh, I was afraid of this," said the green-haired woman, biting her lips.
"Afraid of what? What's wrong?"
"You have a concussion dear."
"How...?"
"Two of our younger members were assigned to keep watch over the entrance to the headquarters that the Teleth boy was supposed to lead you to. But since he wasn't with you, you didn't know the signal, and, well...perhaps our watchmen were a little overenthusiastic."
"Laros wasn't with us? What happened to him?"
"We were hoping you could tell us." The older woman sighed a deep, rushing sigh like waves hitting a shore. "But since you apparently don't remember, we'll have to wait for the Lady to come to."
"Did the guards knock her out too?"
"No, she was already unconscious. You were carrying her, which I must was quite a feat for someone as slight as you!"
"I'm stronger than I look."
Mother Mindly climbed to her feet with a groan and, turning her back to Starfire, headed over to the wooden table across the room. "We think Lady Aleran has suffered from an overpowering."
Starfire wondered if it would make her seem overly ignorant to ask what and overpowering was. Thankfully, Mindly seemed to know that she needed to explain to an outsider. "An Azerathi body can not function without a certain amount of energy. When too much is released at one time the body has to shut itself down, and we call that an overpowering." She gathered together several dried plants and threw them into a red clay bowl, then picked up a fat wooden stick and began rhythmically pounding. "It's not unheard of when someone loses control and can't hedge in their power."
The young girl frowned. Was she saying that Raven lost control? That she couldn't keep a handle on her powers? "Raven meditates for hours each day. I have never seen her lose control. She is master of her power."
"Yes, yes, dear, but that was in your world. No doubt power is easier to handle there."
"But Raven said that it is more difficult to control her power there. So shouldn't she be even better at it here than she is there?"
Mindly paused for a moment before continuing her pounding. "What exactly did Aleran say about power in your world?"
Starfire squinted her eyes and thought for a moment; it was hard to recall the exact words of the conversation over the pulsing emanating from the bruise on the side of her head. "Laros got annoyed and accidently blew up Cyborg's chair," she began, slowly. "He was surprised, he said that no one but an untrained child would do something like that. Then Raven told him...she told him that he would find it harder to control his powers there, that it would take more work than he was accustomed to."
"If what you say is true then...perhaps she had too much control, rather than too little. Maybe her years in your world have Lady Alran so much stronger, so much more disciplined, that when she came here she was able to pull more energy out of herself than ever before. And that much energy would be too much even for her."
"So Raven has too much control over her powers to control her powers?"
"Exactly."
Starfire wondered if Mother Mindly would be any less confusing if her head was less painful. The healer continued. "If that's the case then I know some people who will be very relieved."
"Why? I don't see how they could prefer Raven to become unconscious one way over another."
Mother Mindly turned away from the table and made her way over to her patients side. She had folded the crushed plants into a white cloth which she cradled in one hand. "You have to understand, dear," she said, holding the cloth to Starfire's head, "ever since Lady Aleran left, the people of the City–especially the young ones but plenty of their elders too–have had a tendency to idolize her. You see, she escaped Hailorn, something no one had ever done before, and he had such power over her, too, being her father. It made people think that there must be something special about her. Then Hailorn forbid the mention of her name and that, of course, ensured that it was mentioned even more. They made stories about her return, and whispered them from one to another, friend to friend, mother to child. 'When Aleran comes she will save us.' 'When Aleran comes we will be set free.' That sort of thing. She was their hope."
The pain seemed to be seeping away from Starfire's wound, bleeding into the cloth packet. It made it easier to think. "So Raven was like Zeplar the Joyous, Confident, and Righteously Angered."
"Who?"
"He is a mythical hero among my people. They say that when we are in our direst need, he will return to us, flying out of the sky on his golden hoplid."
Mother Mindly took the packet away and dropped it into her lap, apparently thinking. "Hmm...that is very similar to what Aleran has become to us, except that instead of being a myth, she's real. Most of the Azerathi can still remember her, how she looked, how she spoke, how she acted. It's a lot easier to believe in her than your Zeplar, and that makes her more comforting.
"So, anyway, you can see how some would be disappointed if she turned out to be just a young girl with poor control. Not me, though. I've never held with idolizing someone so young. Too much strain on a girl no older than my little Jimmas, too much pressure. Bound to crack a bit and that would be a horrid shame. No, I never thought of Lady Aleran as a miracle worker, not me."