Standard disclaimers apply.
PATH TO TAMARAN
Chapter Seven – Gray Awakening
I imagined breath passing my lips Gentle waves of warmth and existenceBeside a sea of dis-reality
Truth, untrue, rising and taking dips
Near bothersome in its insistence
What I perceive I could not un-believe
I awake; jarred
Sleep-scarred; when dreams are bad
Sad; when dreams were well
Dwell; when reality is better left for sleeping
Waking brought pain. The ache spiked from her lungs, up her throat and finally building into a pressured ache in her nasal passages. Taking breath came hardest, and then she had to expel it, or else she would drown.
She choked, water gurgling up and out of her mouth.
There were lips upon hers, and then they were gone as saline overflowed from within her. A face flashed before her eyes, or she may have been imagining things, masked and anonymous as he was, but she couldn't be sure. Nothing was clear at that point.
Strong hands turned her over on her side. Tears welled into her eyes; the salt of the sea overwhelming, like it had clung to the walls of her windpipe and the roof of her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but she heaved and gagged beyond her control. Her fingers dug into the sand and her body curled instinctively as the coughing wracked through her.
And then the choking eased. Breathing became less laborious, more rejuvenating, and as her blurred vision cleared, she began to make out sediments embedded in the dirty wet sand; how the sand and water seeped between her fingers and beneath her nails; how locks of her hair whipped like eels and then fell like damp curtains around her.
There were other sensations now. There was the sound of the waves, the touch of the wind, and then there was the warmth of something gripping her shoulder and rubbing her back. But she still felt disoriented in spite of the slight familiarity creeping up on her.
Her arms; they stung abominably, but she was too tired to complain. She thought that strange, for hadn't she been sleeping? She tried to push herself up by her arms, but she was yet too weak. Gently, she lowered herself, trying to relax, cheek to the sand. She could move in another minute, when she felt better. Maybe two minutes.
Someone expelled a breath behind her, sounding even more haggard than she was, if that were possible. "Christ, Starfire…"
And then there was warmth all over; like a blanket. Maybe it was.
Or was it a cape? Disorientation was slowly leaving her.
The garment wrapped around her was beaded by a bit of moisture; relatively dry, like it was waterproof, but it gave her warmth. That was all that mattered. Moments later, she pushed herself up, trembling. Strong hands helped her to rise to a sitting position.
Slowly, recognition of the masked man came. "Robin…"
Something in his hardened expression relaxed, as if he was relieved she recognized him. Her response was instinctive. She leaned against his chest, seeking the comfort she always found in him. He was disheveled, dripping wet and sandy, but it hardly mattered. His presence was enough.
There was another person there; and blinking away her haze, the face beside Robin became real to her as well. It was Aqualad. He was drenched, but being in his element, he looked poised and calm; composed.
Still, the sureness of Robin's arm around her chased away her shivers.
"We should get an ambulance," said Aqualad.
Robin nodded. "You call the paramedics; I'll administer first aid for the scalding."
Starfire, befuddled as she was, felt a frown forming on her face. She didn't know why, but the thought of strangers touching her suddenly felt so repugnant.
"No doctors," she said.
They looked at her in surprise. It was strange enough, she supposed, that she had spoken at all, but for her to speak so coherently and decisively, caught both of them completely off-guard.
Aqualad's hand came towards her. "She might have hit her head a little too—"
"Don't touch me!" she hissed, burrowing deeper into the cover of Robin's cape.
Her vehement tone surprised even her and she felt immediately ashamed. It became all too clear who had dug her out of the debris and brought her out of the water. She remembered his voice swimming in her mind as she lay tangled in the garbage, pleading for her to hold on. He had saved her, and she repaid his valor with spite.
Feeling the blood rush to her face, she hastily apologized. "Oh, I am sorry! I did not mean… I am so very sorry…"
The astonishment on his face melted away and the calm demeanor flowed back into place. "Don't worry about it. Just relax. We're just glad you made it."
Robin nodded, his grip on her shoulder tightening momentarily. It eased and the subtle caress of his fingers came, hidden beneath his cloak. "Starfire, you need immediate medical attention. Your arms need treatment and I'd feel better if you got tetanus shots."
Vaguely, she remembered a name in her mind. She spoke it without thinking. "Maxwell…"
"We'll worry about that after the doctors see you."
The compulsion to resist was so strong that she began to shiver again as she pushed the feeling back. She closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down. She told herself that seeing a doctor would be reasonable under the circumstances; that Robin was only worried for her; that Aqualad was only concerned; that the rest of the Titans would drag her, kicking and screaming, to the emergency room if they had been there.
Starfire found the sense to ask herself why the thought of going to the doctor was so repulsive.
Everyone is a stranger. Even the ones you know are strangers.
The realization came to her almost immediately. The shock of her meeting with Xyannis had shaken many of her beliefs, and her trust took the worst of the beating.
She had no doubt that the feeling would fade; it was not her nature to be so guarded, but it was comparable to being in the water for hours and feeling the rippling sensation long after returning to land.
"We could ride to the hospital on the R-Cycle," she managed to say. She felt too weary; too ill used for flight.
Aqualad looked doubtful, looking up at Robin. "Is that wise? Starfire may have other injuries we don't know about."
She tensed. She wanted to say that other than the burns on her arms, she was alright; that there was nothing else wrong with her, but that would be telling Aqualad off again. She had been ungrateful enough. He was only watching out for her.
Starfire then resigned herself to being brought to the hospital in an ambulance.
Robin was particular about a lot of things, and usually with good reason, too. She thought this was one instance where reasoning would apply, so she was greatly surprised to see him hesitate.
He stroked the back of her head with affectionate care. "She'll be fine. I just need to get her bandaged up a bit."
"Need help?"
"Yeah." Robin tossed him a roll of dry gauze from his utility belt.
Starfire was a bit too tired to protest their talking about her as if she wasn't there.
They wrapped both her arms in non-stick bandages, but Starfire saw that her injuries were not all that severe. She took the time they administered to her to give her situation more thought.
Glancing briefly at Robin, it occurred to her that she might have to tell him everything.
She grew even wearier. When were the sad, disturbing stories going to end? She'd had enough of her own tragedies; she didn't want to have to burden others with it. Was it absolutely necessary to let him know the details? She could tell Robin she knew the woman; tell him the woman's name was Xyannis, and knowing Robin, he would remember the name from conversations past; would recognize the name as the woman who took care of Starfire while she was a slave. Robin remembered details like that; he was brilliant that way.
After she'd given him that information, maybe she could tell him more of what she had learned concerning Xyannis' part in all of it. The information wasn't much; she and Xyannis had been too busy coming to grips with seeing one another to discuss important matters like where Blackfire's base was, what exactly were they doing or why Xyannis and Blackfire were doing it. She might have gleaned Xyannis' reasons, but she had little clue about what drove Blackfire. She and her sister had grown out of each other's confidence so long ago that Starfire was never sure what to think anymore.
Whatever she was willing to tell Robin, she could skip the drama behind it. It was largely unnecessary to the case, anyway. She knew Xyannis; Xyannis is one of the bad guys now; end of story.
When they were done bandaging her arms, she felt more like herself, but not by much. Though Robin helped her to her feet, she didn't have to rely on him so much to find the strength in her legs.
Aqualad gave a nod. "I'll head off here. I have some investigating to do in these waters and I'll radio you guys if I find anything."
"We'll be leaving for Jump City tomorrow," said Robin. "So you might be the only Bludhaven connection we'll have from hereon, but with Maxwell Victoria being transported, I don't think we'll have that much going down here anymore. We'll see."
Starfire deferred from mentioning that Batman would be lurking the shadows, instead, she stepped towards Aqualad and managed a smile. "Aqualad, I thank you. You saved my life."
For the first time, Aqualad didn't look as composed as he usually was. "I just did what I had to."
She shrugged. "I will not forget it."
"Neither will I," said Robin from behind her.
Aqualad stared at them a moment before he smiled placidly. "I owe you guys far too much to be holding you to things like this. I'll talk to you guys later."
Before they could respond, Aqualad took off, jumping back into the sea.
She watched the water briefly before turning to face Robin.
He sighed, sounding more relieved than anything. With what looked like weary steps, he held her gently by the shoulders as he stared into her eyes. His eyebrow arched in his signature way, except the tone he spoke with was wrought with concern, gone of his usual gruffness. "You'd tell me if you were hurting somewhere else, wouldn't you?"
She felt somewhat guilty having decided that she wouldn't be telling him her feelings about Xyannis, for it was that which hurt her most of all, but he hadn't a clue about that part of the events; she knew he was only asking about her physical well-being. "I am fine," she answered, her tone somewhat subdued.
He looked as if he was going to say something else, but it seemed he gave it up. "We'll talk later. Let's get you to an ER first. I don't want your burns getting infected. Does it hurt so much? I have some morphine, but I really don't like administering it unless it's totally necessary."
She smiled. "It is not necessary."
"At any rate, I was thinking I should just get the R-Cycle on the back of the woman's pick-up truck. We'll use the truck to drive us to the ER so you don't get your burns aggravated. I hope she put gas in that thing."
"The R-Cycle will be fine."
He cocked a tired smiled. "Don't argue. Just get in the truck."
She considered being stubborn, but she gave in, drained as she was physically and emotionally. Robin walked her to the truck and actually opened the passenger door for her. She arched an eyebrow. "I am capable of getting into the truck by myself, Robin."
His only reply was another wearied grin. She stepped into the passenger's seat and carefully, he shut the door.
As she waited in the truck, Robin attended to the R-Cycle. She considered offering help since she could easily lift the vehicle and mount it on the truck, but the look on Robin's face was troubled. He was deep in thought; she could tell by the slight crinkle in his brow. She let him move the R-Cycle by himself.
Minutes later, with the cycle secured to the back by utility ropes, Robin drove the battered white pick-up truck to the nearest emergency room. Never mind how strange it looked that two superheroes, known to be equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and machinery, arrived in a clunky old truck that sputtered and clanged.
The doctors and nurses stared in awe as Starfire emerged from the truck with Robin appearing from the other side. His quiet request for the doctor to see to her was met with a placid nod, a kind smile and a softly spoken order for Starfire to settle in one of the curtained booths.
When the doctor closed her into the booth, she felt isolated, more alone than ever; more alone than knowing Robin was in Jump City while she was in Gotham. She was conscious of the fact that Robin remained beyond her sight. She wished she could call him in, but she wasn't certain if he didn't want to be alone, either. He had seemed so closed in, so bothered, between Langley Point and the hospital; and especially because she knew she wasn't in the right frame of mind to help him cope, she hadn't asked him about it.
There was something about that night that separated her, as if something had changed. She didn't like the feeling; she did not like having such conflicting, undecipherable emotions. She was a creature of sensibilities. She was attuned to what she felt: Warmth was comfort, cool was soothing, black is dark, white is light. But not tonight; tonight it was as if there was all this gray, and she couldn't see through the thickness of it.
She wished she was dreaming; wished it was all a nightmare so she could simply wake up and leave it all behind.
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By the time the doctors finished treating her, she felt much stronger. As she stepped out of the hospital doors with Robin, she immediately flew over to the truck and removed the R-Cycle from the cargo carriage. Robin's protests came immediately, but she managed to assuage him, giggling about how awful the pick-up truck looked anyway.
He agreed, but only after he made her promise that she would tell him if she felt tired or weakened. It was a promise she was only too glad to make.
"Shall we go back to the police station?" asked Starfire.
Robin shook his head. "No one's coming back to get Victoria tonight. They don't know that Victoria's going to be transported out of here tomorrow morning. The greedy bastard Soames didn't feel it profitable enough information to divulge, and with the fuss you caused tonight, they'd want to stay clear until they could be sure we aren't here to stop them. Besides, I don't think they want to call attention to the fact that aliens are kidnapping Earth scientists to make weapons for them. If Blackfire doesn't think much about us, she might be thinking twice about provoking other superheroes."
Starfire understood. She grinned. "Furthermore, we have their truck!"
He chuckled softly. "There's that."
They set off back to Gotham. It was a somewhat long way, but they arrived at the Bat Cave in good time. Batman was not back from his rounds. Instinctively, they made for their respective lockers and shower rooms. Perhaps it was the remembrance of the grime floating in the Bludhaven waters.
Starfire, but for her burns, was relieved to wash off traces of that night. When she emerged from the locker rooms, Robin was already settling in front of the computer panel. He wore regular clothes, but his mask remained. She made no remark about it, but she knew it meant he wanted to hide something; if not from her then from the others. Starfire joined him on the panel and they worked together.
They made preparations on the Bat Computer to communicate with the other Titans, but as Starfire turned the switches, she could not ignore the weighted silence that suddenly fell. She looked up, only to find Robin staring at her apprehensively.
"What is it?" she asked.
He fidgeted uneasily on his seat, as if trying to find the words. "When I saw you go after that craft, I had this really bad feeling in my gut. I'm not superstitious, and I believe I'm only as intuitive as my knowledge allows me to be, but I didn't want you getting near that ship. I was yelling for you to let the craft go, but you were too far away and you couldn't hear me."
Starfire stared at him a moment. He didn't sound like he was scolding her. It sounded more like he was just really talking; making his feelings known.
Robin did that sometimes, but rarely in such an emotional way. It wasn't so much his manner or tone, but in the words he used. There were too many I's this time; it was intensely personal.
Starfire listened.
"When you disappeared into the water and didn't come up—" His lip twitched. His hand came up to wipe an invisible bead of sweat from his brow; or maybe a speck of sand that had escaped the bath water; only he knew. "For the first time in my life I—I just didn't know what to do. I was standing there consciously thinking 'What do I do?' When I ran into the water I knew right then that there was nothing I could do to get to you on time. I couldn't even fight past the waves… I didn't even know where you were. You know how they say time flies when you're having fun? Well, things were suddenly happening very, very slowly." He fell silent, but it didn't look like he was through. He expelled a breath. "I don't know how long it took but I saw Aqualad and he was swimming you to shore with him. When we got you on land and you weren't breathing, I had to tell myself, out loud, that I had to give you CPR. I was spazzing out in front of Aqualad but who the hell cared at that point?"
She didn't know what to say, exactly. She flashed him an apologetic and somewhat embarrassed smile. "I am alive. It is alright now."
"I'm grateful for that. But if Aqualad hadn't been there… well, I don't know if I even want to think about that." He turned away from her, fiddling with a dial on the panel absently. "Aqualad saved two lives out there tonight."
She reached for his hand, perhaps to steady his fidgeting. "It will not happen again. Next time I will be more careful."
He chuckled wanly. "I used to say the same thing to Batman whenever he got on my case; I never did learn to keep that promise."
Again, she gave him an apologetic smile. She wasn't sure if she could keep her promise either.
"Still, it behooves me to admit that Ol' Bats was right about one thing."
"And what is that?"
"You have becomemy weakness. You probably always were."
The light from her eyes faded. He sounded so serious; so final that she could not help but look grim. "What are you saying, Robin?" A sudden thought caused her to grow pale. "You are not—are you breaking up with me?"
"No," he said immediately, turning his hand over so he could grip hers. "It's nothing like that. Besides, even if I broke up with you, it's not like my feelings end with the relationship."
She was greatly relieved. "Then you must learn to trust that I could take care of myself."
He cocked a smile. "Well… yeah. I suppose I could get kind of neurotic when it comes to protecting you, but you have to admit that I do trust you often enough. It usually happens when I get into the swing of things; when there's no room to feel. When time is only enough for thinking."
She nodded, acknowledging the fact.
"Of course, it's still an ever present instinct to care about what happens to you out there; we all care about each other. You, me, BB, Cy… and we all know even Raven cares; she just doesn't want to show it."
She couldn't help a small giggle.
He continued. "We watch each others' backs because that's what a team does, but I sent you ahead to catch that woman, didn't I? I do trust you. What I'm saying is: when something happens to you, I fall apart… and I just don't know what to do about that." He looked dismayed. "I don't even know why I'm talking about this. We fight bad guys; we fight monsters and chase spacecrafts and leap off buildings… things like this will happen. . There's nothing you, me or the others could do about it. But I just thought you should know… you know?" After a moment, he ran his hand through his hair and expelled another breath through his lips.
Starfire observed him a moment. He was never one to be open about his feelings, but nevertheless, venting seemed as good for him as it was for everyone else. He looked as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders and the lines on his face lessened a bit as he turned his attention back to the computer panel.
She could tell his focus was returning, the way his fingers began to fly over the keyboard, but he had a few more words to say to her. He shook his head, a small, lopsided smile, almost of disbelief, forming on his lips. "You see what you do to me? I've lost all sense of reason. Anyway, I guess if I could explain it, there must be something wrong."
She arched an eyebrow, amused, but also curious. "And what do you mean by that?"
"A friend of mine—Italian dude; a romantic—has a saying: L'amore domina senza regole."
Starfire did not know Italian yet. "Please translate."
"Love rules without rules."
She couldn't help but lean over to give him a heartfelt kiss on the cheek. He returned the gesture with a gentle caress on her arm before going back to work.
Starfire sat back on her chair, waiting for the Titans to come on screen.
A moment later, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy were up on the monitor.
"Did you find anything on the radars?" Robin asked.
Cyborg shook his head. "Nothing yet, but we've printed out the readings, past and present. We're reviewing them. The work's boring as hell, but we're not about to give it up."
"Good to hear. Anyway, we'll be back there soon to help. Anything else?"
Beast Boy scowled. "I still think they're using tractor beams."
Cyborg rolled his good eye. "Okay, BB, it didn't sound feasible the first one hundred times you said it."
"You have a better idea?"
Raven's upside-down smile curved even lower. "Yes. Shut up."
"My genius is so not appreciated."
"There's no such thing as a Nobel Dumb Prize."
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you if monster aliens abduct you and probe you in the—"
Robin stepped in before it got ugly. "Alright, everyone knock it off. We have more important things to talk about. Starfire was the only one who got an ID on the woman we were chasing—"
"It wasn't Blackfire?" asked Cyborg.
Starfire answered. "No, it was not."
A flash of excitement lit Cyborg's face. "Perfect time to test my new software! I've got this awesome program where we could construct a composite image of the suspect—"
"I know her."
Everyone fell silent.
Of course, Robin was the first to recover. "Well, who is she, then?"
"Xyannis. Someone I knew from long ago. Before tonight, I have not seen her for seven years."
The others pondered the matter with mild surprise, but Robin became deeply pensive. No doubt, he was searching back in his memories, the name having struck him as familiar. Moments later, something akin to realization came to him. He flashed Starfire a look then it was gone. He showed no indication that he remembered much of Starfire's relationship with Xyannis; at least not in front of everyone.
"She joins Blackfire in leading what I think is a revolt against the kingdoms of the Vegan star system," continued Starfire.
Cyborg's robotic eye flashed. "That's where your planet is, Star. That's terrible!"
"I have warned them before and I will warn them again. That is enough," she replied. She hastily went on. "She was not able to tell me much, but I did see the underwater craft. It is perfectly streamlined, has a superb cloaking mechanism, its force field has a complex protection system and it is fast. It was fast enough to literally disappear in a blink of an eye underwater. I do not know if that means it could go even faster on land."
"Damn," breathed Cyborg. "That's fast. Could you tell what direction it took?"
Starfire shook her head. "At first it was north, but that could have changed. I was too preoccupied to see. Aqualad may have—"
"Aqualad?" asked Raven.
Starfire bit down on her lower lip to keep from grinning. "Yes. I think he was there just in time to see the direction the craft took when its turbo jets charged. He might have had a better idea of the craft's course and he could follow its underwater trail better than any of us."
Raven's eyes narrowed. "So you got there before Aqualad?"
"Wow, Raven," said Cyborg. "You're really interested in Aqualad, aren't you?" He said it like a bad actor would on stage; mocking, the way he intended.
Raven ignored him. "Starfire?"
Starfire had a feeling Raven wasn't as interested in Aqualad as Cyborg thought. "I was there before Aqualad."
Raven flashed a disapproving frown. "Those bandages on your arms; you got hurt chasing after that craft, didn't you? You got too close. You know too much about its force field's systems to have learned what you know from afar. Was it the force fields that caused the injuries? Or maybe it was the turbo engines. That was careless, Starfire. It's foolish of you to risk so much."
Starfire was about to make a reply when Robin answered for her. "Hey, back off. She's had enough for tonight."
His reaction surprised everyone. Robin was usually the first to scold someone for being careless, particularly when it was Starfire, but for him to tell Raven to leave Starfire alone concerning the issue was somewhat strange. Raven was the first to voice her suspicion.
"I'm getting strange vibes from you, Robin. Something happened. Tell us what it is."
Starfire waited for Robin to do the talking. She may have been the one directly involved, but it was he who got most affected by it. Xyannis was her story; this was his.
Robin's face grew terribly impassive, but he did not hesitate to speak. It was one thing being emotional in front of Starfire, but it wouldn't do in front of the others. "It's all past now. The danger's done."
"Tell us."
His expressionless face tautened to a frown. "Starfire almost drowned. Aqualad rescued her and brought her to shore. She wasn't breathing. But we revived her and I got her to the nearest ER. It's alright now."
Beast Boy and Cyborg gasped in horror. Raven shimmered for a moment before she settled back to her usual dark aura.
Brows creased, Cyborg found his senses first. "Damn, girl! You okay?"
Starfire mustered a bright smile for them. "I am perfectly healthy, Cyborg. I thank you for asking."
"This is awful!" Beast Boy cried. "You can't go around drowning on us, Star! If something happened to you, who would laugh at my jokes? Who would eat my super-weird ice-cream sundae combos with me? Who would scratch behind my ears?" He gave a whine and sounded seriously distressed.
Robin's eyebrow arched, leaning a bit towards Starfire to speak to her in a low, confidential tone. "Okay, Starfire, I think BB's getting a little too needy of my girlfriend. We have to talk about this…"
Starfire cringed. "Very well."
That settled, Robin turned to the meeting again. "Calm down, BB. Starfire's fine now. Raven, you could chew my head off later for letting her go alone. What's important—"
"So Aqualad saved you, huh?" interrupted Cyborg, grinning at Starfire. "Did he give you mouth to mouth?"
Starfire reddened. "I cannot be sure…"
Robin didn't seem too pleased by it. "What kind of a question is that? It was an emergency."
Cyborg shrugged. "So who did it?"
Robin angled his gaze towards Raven, as if to visually imply that he wasn't going to answer Cyborg's question. "Here's the thing: the priority is to make sure they don't get Maxwell back. I doubt they'll be making any attempts tomorrow while Maxwell's in transit; they don't want to cause a fuss anymore than we want them to. Raven, see if you can find out Maxwell Victoria's arraignment schedule. That's when we'll know whether or not the judge sets bail for him."
"I doubt he gets bail. Charges are too serious," said Raven.
Robin nodded in agreement. "We're going to have to set up a surveillance system for Victoria if he's going to be living in the Jump City Prison."
"Dude, seriously," said Beast Boy. "Their security system sucks. The crooks always manage to escape! What is up with that?"
Robin cocked a grin. "Well, whether or not Victoria manages to stay in jail works for us. If they don't bust him out, the law will take care of him. If they come for him, we just might find out where this 'base' is."
"Does that mean we're going to outer space, the final frontier? Do we have to fight aliens with mind melding powers? Does it mean I'll get to hear Robin say, 'Make it so,' or 'Engage!'?"
Raven raised an eyebrow. "You've been watching Star Trek again." It wasn't a question.
"How'd you know?"
"Lucky guess."
Robin sighed, steering the discussion to more pertinent matters.
Starfire could actually tell from his tone that he was bone tired. She had seen him exert more effort on other missions and he hadn't looked half as exhausted then as he did now. It must have been the emotional drain. Feelings of helplessness and the underlying sense of loss had sapped him of strength. She looked at him anxiously. Her Boy Wonder hadn't felt helplessness and loss in a long time.
Robin went on to speak of other miscellaneous matters. Shortly after, he wrapped the discussion up, reminding Cyborg of their estimated time of arrival in Jump City the following morning.
Having confirmed the details, they all signed off.
They powered the computer down and headed back into the house.
Robin and Starfire walked in silence through the mansion and somewhere along the way, he peeled off his mask with a weary sigh. Her casual glance found him looking at the mask momentarily before he put it away. She was worried about him; he needed comforting for his battered emotions, but would he be willing to let her help him?
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he brooded to himself.
As they turned the hallway to the chambers, Starfire nudged Robin gently.
Robin arched an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly to look at her.
"So," she said. "Who did give me mouth to mouth?"
He chuckled, returning his gaze to the path before them as he nodded a few times, as if to say he completely understood what was so intriguing about the question, and that it amused him, in spite of himself. "Who do you think? Me, of course. Aqualad ain't getting near my girlfriend."
Starfire laughed, glad that she could at least get him to smile. She let her laughter dwindle. She reached up, letting her fingers play on his spiky hair. "I am sorry I gave you such cause for… worry." She knew how much of an understatement "worry" was, but Robin would prefer it to "terror" or "fear". She understood him, after all.
He looked at her, his smile wilting at his own exhaustion. They slowed to a stop and he touched her face lightly with his fingers.
She put her arms around him, offering him comfort, and while she felt him tense for a few seconds, he soon relaxed in her arms, enveloping her in his own embrace. He sighed into her hair. They held one another for several seconds.
Starfire made a motion to look up at his face, her nose tracing the line of his throat, and then his chin. She had a sudden urge to kiss him, and she would have, if he hadn't slid his hand to the nape of her neck, turning her head ever so slightly to the side.
Putting his lips to her ear, he spoke in a low murmur. "You're here. That's all that matters."
She closed her eyes at the soft brush of his breath running down her neck. She had already forgotten exactly what he was replying to. She could vaguely recall that it had to do with something she said a few seconds ago, but it was difficult to remember exactly what in the face of such intimacy.
The sensation of his soft silken lips pressing gently upon hers sent a pleasant shudder through her. He followed it with the slow, rhythmic stroking of his tongue while the embrace of his arms tightened. She could have melted to nothing.
In the next few seconds, his touch would gain a near breathtaking intensity and then just as suddenly ease, as if he wished for the thrill of the surge, or maybe he just couldn't help wanting more in spite of straining to prolong things.
Overwhelming as his ministrations were, she was aware of what he needed that night. He needed assurances that she was there; breathing against him, responding with scalding passion, feeling with him. He needed her to make him forget that he had even felt lost and abandoned. She would give him what he needed.
She moved back and he moved forward in response; he didn't want to break contact. He needed her kiss too badly. She pulled him with her. The wall behind her practically knocked her breath out of her, but she didn't care; her own need had gained a foothold. She reached blindly for the doorknob to her side, never minding whose room it was. The door fell open and she pulled him with her. He followed her willingly, allowing himself to drown in her embrace.
He had breathed life back into her; it was her turn to breathe life back into him.
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Robin was still sound asleep when she woke, light from the sunrise creeping through the cracks in the curtain. She had found herself lying on her chest, her arms folded snuggly against her as she blinked herself slowly awake. The blanket on her back kept the cold away, but the well of warmth from Robin's hand, resting against the small of her back, gave her that wonderful feeling of security she always felt when he was near.
He had shifted without waking; so deep was his sleep. He moved closer to her on his side, half-draping himself on her, then he settled back down into a steady breathing. She had done nothing but stare at him for several moments, thinking about how passionate he had been just hours ago.
His hands had held firmer, his kisses had gone deeper, his touch much more intense. The memory of his fingers sliding down her back still sent a pleasant shudder through her body and the mere remembrance of where his lips had traveled made her blush to her toes.
She had let him sleep for a while longer, just because she liked to bask in their closeness as she savored what they had shared.
Of course, she had to wake him up some time. While the BW Jet wouldn't leave without them, she surmised that Alfred would be terribly annoyed if they were late. So reluctantly, she had gently shaken Robin awake.
Seeing the time, Robin practically stumbled off the bed in his hurry to shake sleep from himself. It did not help in the least that the chamber they were in belonged to neither of them.
Lazy mornings and slight mishaps aside, they were able to get ready on time, and with a quickly eaten breakfast of oatmeal cooked in milk and flavored with cinnamon, dates and walnuts, they found themselves on their way to the airport barely thirty minutes from the time they got out of bed.
Now, sitting placidly in the plane, Starfire stared out of the window in pensive silence, thinking about her past once more. She hated that she was being forced to look backwards because of what was happening in the present. It almost made her feel resentful. She had thought putting twenty-six light years between herself and her past would be enough for it to go away; but she supposed whoever said that the past was fast enough to catch up on anyone knew what he was talking about. She couldn't even get running away right. What was wrong with her?
"Starfire."
She looked at Robin, who had spoken.
His mask, cold and anonymous, told nothing of the caring person underneath it. "We need to talk." He said softly.
She smiled wanly, nodding. "You must not get mad at Beast Boy when he gets needy. He likes my gentle attentions. I think maybe he just gets weary of videoed games with Cyborg and Raven not laughing at his jokes."
Robin shook his head. "Not about that…" He did a double take. "Do you laugh at his jokes?
"Well, no, but it is not because I do not think he is funny, but because I do not get the line that was punched. And let us not even begin with the chicken jokes. Why does the chicken cross the road? Please, what is so important about the chicken in the first place?"
He paused a moment; perhaps he was actually trying to think of an answer, but another heartbeat later, he blinked and shook his head. "Nothing's important about the chicken… listen, that's not what I wanted to talk about with you. Let's go to the back for some privacy."
The "back" was where the chess table was, and it was relatively isolated from the prying ears of curious flight attendants.
Slightly confused, she followed him.
They passed Alfred who exchanged looks with Robin and her. Alfred would make sure they weren't disturbed.
When they were seated across from each other, the checkered board between them, he reached for her hand in a supportive gesture. "Xyannis was your friend."
It surprised her, but only for a moment. Of course she knew he would remember who Xyannis was, but she hadn't expected that he would think Xyannis special enough to her to warrant a private discussion about it. Certainly, apart from the time she told him her history, she had made no more mention of Xyannis. How could he know Xyannis was important enough to her to be talked about?
She hesitated in her response, unconsciously pulling her hand away. His grip tightened, eyebrow rising slightly.
"Easy…" he said in a soothing tone. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I know it's troubling you. You know you could tell me anything, Kori. I'll listen."
She hadn't meant to resist. It was just instinctive, she supposed, that whenever her past came bubbling to the surface, she would always flinch away first. "She is still—" She breathed deeply, reorganizing her thoughts. "She was someone I knew."
"She was someone who looked out for you while you were enslaved together. How long were you with her before your father tried to take you back?"
"Almost an Earth year."
He paused a moment, as if letting her figure out why he didn't believe her when she said Xyannis was just someone she "knew." "Kori… I remember the first time you stayed with us. A week with us in the tower and you were kicking super villain butt because you didn't like that they were attacking me, Beast Boy, Raven and Cyborg. You could get attached real quick when you want to."
She couldn't deny it and his words unleashed her emotions. She hadn't even known she was suppressing her hurt and anger, but she supposed she hadn't had time to think about it until now. Her eyes began to sting, and try as she might to hold them back, the tears came unbidden. They fell down her cheeks and she had to fight the sob rising in her throat. The sob came and she tried to muffle it. Her efforts kept back the worse of it, but she could not stop the tears.
His hand was on her shoulder, gripping it comfortingly. He gave her a tissue; they were everywhere in the plane, and she used it to dry her tears.
"It's going to be okay," he said softly.
She shook her head. This time, she could not accept his soothing words. "It will not be okay. She takes Blackfire's side in this, yet… her convictions are pure; unselfish. She believes in what she is doing, much like I believe in our cause.
"I cannot say Blackfire is to blame for all of it. Even when it was just Xyannis and I, even when she cared for me like she would a sister, I caught glimpses of her bitterness; how wronged she felt. The first time she spoke of her parents, she hadn't even mentioned them; she had done it indirectly, while speaking of myfather. She had asked me whether my father had told me that I had to give myself over to slavery for my people, to convince me to go willingly. I hadn't thought it at the time, but now I knowshe wasn't just speaking of my father, but everyone's; hers especially. At first, I thought it was because she despised sacrificing herself for her people. It seemed that way, but I now I know I had misunderstood. After being with her, knowing her… she was not a selfish person, Robin. She would bear pain for others. She would risk the wrath of masters to tend to me and the others when we were… sick. It was only last night I realized what she resented her father and the other kingdoms of Vega for. She resented them because she thought it weak of them to give up their children and kingdoms without a fight; a travesty to the pride of Vegan races everywhere; because they gave in to Citadellian-Gordanian rule. She resented Vegan rulers because they allowed the Citadellians and the Gordanians to overrun us all. The second time she spoke of her parents, it was before I left Gordane. She said that if I made it out of the planet Karna alive, I must go to her parents and tell them she was dead; tell them I saw her die and that they must not hope to find her again. I went to Kalapatt, and I tried to tell them, but I could not. I could not lie to them. They were kind to me. They cared for me. How am I supposed to eat their food, wear their clothes, sleep in their castle and then blatantly lie about the daughter they still hoped to find? Anyway, I suppose that meant she had the predisposition to take up a cause that Blackfire would only be too eager to incite. You know Blackfire's talents, Robin. She drips with charisma and charm; she could tell you things you want to hear and given enough time, she could probably make people do things to serve her interests."
Robin nodded in agreement.
"I do hurt, and I am angry, but I am also so confused. Is she the enemy? I simply cannot fight her the way I would settle matters with Blackfire. What is even more absurd is that for all the things Blackfire has done… I know what she does is wrong, and I believe that she does things for her own, selfish reasons, but it was—it was my parents that built that monster, Robin. I want to stop her, but I could not hate her."
"Kori… Starfire, listen to me. Xyannis and Blackfire, with what they're doing, have killed and hurt many people."
She nodded, dabbing her eyes with the tissue. "Oh, I know, but Blackfire is my sister, and Xyannis isn't like—she cannot be like Blackfire. Shetook care of me, and she was nurturing and so kind. She—" bore the painful whipping meant only for me "—held me in her arms when things were too difficult to bear. Do you understand, Robin? How does one fight someone like that? How does one fight sisters?" She had made no mistake in syntax. Blackfire was bound to her by blood; Xyannis was bound to her by spirit. They were both her sisters.
His brows knotted. After a moment, he sighed. "I don't know, Starfire. I don't know. But we can't—we can't let people get hurt."
"Blackfire sent her. Blackfire knew how much my seeing Xyannis working with her would weaken me."
"You can't be weak, Starfire."
"I tried so very hard not to be weak. Last night, I tried. But the moment I shed Xyannis' blood, I couldn't take it. There was this hollow dread in the pit of my stomach, and it just felt worse when she did not fight back. She just fled, Robin. She could not get away from me fast enough. Whatever happened to me after she secured herself in that ship was my own doing."
Robin flinched ever so slightly. However well she had tended to his wounds, it was still raw, and while she was concerned about his feelings on the matter, she had much more to tell him.
"We talked, she and I," continued Starfire. "Before she got into her craft, she told me things; things that actually made me understand what she thought so awful about our Kings and Queens. It was so surreal… she spoke of names I knew from seven years ago, and I remembered the faces of those who owned those namesI had to listen, and the longer I did, the more it shook me, and it was like everything I believed in suddenly shifted to the middle and I could not decipher right from wrong. At the end of it all, she spoke of me and my parents, about how I resented them for exchanging me and Blackfire; how I had not gone back to Tamaran. If she knew that I refused to go back not only because I resented them but also because I was afraid Ryand'r would be in danger of being exchanged as well, it would have only made her words more significant. I am trying to block her words from my mind, but how could I? One cannot un-hear things." She sighed miserably, slumping in her seat. "Perhaps," she muttered with bitter humor "if someone were to hit me over the head hard enough, I could forget all this and be happier for it."
Robin cocked a sympathetic smile. "Kori, most things aren't just black or white. If that were the case, many things would be a hell of a lot easier, but it's not always like ordering in Starbucks and knowing you want a tall cappuccino, decaf with non-fat milk and a biscotti on the side. Things are almost always in the gray area."
"Then how does one cope?"
"It's not easy," he admitted. "I don't get it right all the time either. Remember Red X?"
She did, and she understood how even Robin struggled with his decisions, sometimes.
"It took a while for me to figure it out, but I figured it out anyway. So long as you want to do the right thing, you'll find the answers."
Starfire let her eyes wander to the window again. There was nothing but puffy whiteness beneath them; nothing broke through the clouds. She leaned over, folding her arms on the chessboard. Wearily, she laid her cheek on her forearms, her eyes trained to the blueness outside. "What will happen now, Robin?"
"We wait for them to make the next move to retrieve Maxwell Victoria, and while we're waiting, we work with what we've got. Aqualad's bound to find something out, and Cyborg's keeping close tabs on the radar readings."
"Do you think we will see Xyannis or Blackfire again?"
"If we're lucky."
She sighed. "I am sorry Robin, but for once, I do not share your sentiments."
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Starfire found that she had missed her dearest friends, being away from them for so long. Cyborg had been in dire danger of being dented in places after Starfire was done with her enthusiastic greetings, and when arriving at the tower, Beast Boy and Raven met the new arrivals at the door, she swept into their arms. If Beast Boy hadn't transformed himself into a Grizzly bear at the last second, all three of them would have tumbled back into a boneless heap. As it was, Raven was glowering, slightly annoyed that she had to be in a "group hug".
"Do I look like I kumbaya?" she had asked during one of her worse moods.
After tolerating the group hug for about three seconds, Raven promptly peeled Starfire off her with her powers, saying. "Glad you're back. It's your turn to walk the dog." She drifted to the corner after that, getting the newspaper and hiding behind it.
Hardly anyone took Raven's aloof manner to heart; they had known her long enough to understand that whatever physical boundaries Raven put between herself and the rest of them, she actually cared for them in her own, dark way.
Of course, "walking the dog" meant paying attention to Beast Boy. Starfire supposed that while she was away, Raven had somehow offered Beast Boy company where Starfire usually spent it with him. Starfire knew Raven wasn't the most patient when it came to Beast Boy, but Starfire had remembered her saying once, some time after Starfire's accident, that Beast Boy wasn't as stupid as he pretended he was. That didn't mean Raven stopped getting annoyed with the resident shapechanger, just that she knew better now, and it made him less prone to her sarcastic wit. Some days however, Starfire believed that the knowledge only served to annoy Raven even more, particularly when Beast Boy said the silliest things to get a laugh, or to get attention.
"Why does he do that? I would never pretend I was stupid," Raven had said.
Starfire didn't doubt Raven's conviction on that respect.
Beast Boy retransformed himself to human and grinned at Starfire. "Coming home presents?"
She grinned back. "They are in my bag."
Robin, true to form, was all business. "Starfire could giver her presents later. We have stuff to do. Cyborg, what's on your agenda for today?"
"I'm still trying to figure something out with the radar readings. I'm trying every possible angle and I'm counting on Beast Boy to come up with something zany enough that he just might hit the nail."
Raven looked up from her paper. "I knew we were desperate, but…"
Beast Boy crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his nose at Raven. "You're just jealous because I'm imaginative."
"I was thinking more along the lines of delusional…"
Robin grinned. "Actually, I think Cyborg may be on to something."
Raven arched an eyebrow. "I suppose at this point there's nowhere to go but up."
Robin chuckled. "We'll all work on trying to find something out. It'll be a good way to kill time while we wait for Maxwell Victoria's plane to come in."
"We're all set up in the Info Center," said Cyborg. "And we've got breakfast pizza to boot."
Starfire's brows knotted. "Please, what is breakfast pizza?" She wondered if it meant the pizza's toppings would be pancake and eggs. Perhaps with a little syrup, it will not seem so bad…
"Leftovers from last night's pizza, refrigerated."
"Oh." She called it Pizza with Grease Frozen Over.
They made their way to the Info Center with Robin discussing several possibilities with Beast Boy. It was a bit surprising to see Robin so interested in Beast Boy's ideas, and Robin certainly wasn't one to indulge the shapechanger for the sake of being kind. Not that Robin wasn't kind; just that he didn't like wasting time.
Starfire hardly ever doubted Robin's instincts, so she let Beast Boy and Robin talk. Their leader, whatever his reasons, was almost always right anyway.
When they arrived at the Info Center, Beast Boy scampered off to his workstation, promising that he would be thinking up more theories in another few minutes. Robin then turned his attentions to Raven.
"Raven, I'm putting you in charge of coordinating with Aqualad."
Raven stood unmoving for a few seconds, her facial expression more unreadable than ever. "Fine." She drifted to her workstation.
Cyborg leaned over Robin. "That was brilliant, Rob."
Starfire stifled a giggle. Raven would surely keep them up to date of Aqualad's progress.
Robin jerked an eyebrow in agreement, cocking a satisfied smirk as he walked to his own work panel. "I know. You and Starfire; with me."
Cyborg draped an affectionate arm over Starfire as they walked. "Girl, I was thinking, you really ought to not do stuff like getting yourself drowned…"
Starfire gave a mild chuckle. "Believe me, Cyborg, it was not my intention."
"Eh, I know, but you have to be more careful. If something really, really bad happens to you—God forbid—we simply won't get over it. And let's not even go into how Robin'll feel. It'll kill him."
Starfire couldn't help let her eyes widen at the dire prediction.
"Cy," said Robin in a warning tone.
Cyborg waved him away. "Just that you've been really going out there lately, you know? The last time, you got into a really bad accident, and now this. It's starting to be a habit, and it's not a good habit. You diggin' me?"
Starfire paused. What was it about people on Earth and shoveling? "I think so," she replied.
"Good." He nodded, giving her a tight squeeze before letting her go, as if the matter had been settled.
Robin exchanged a glance with her, but it was hard to tell what it meant with the mask hiding his eyes.
Starfire often had to wonder what her friends meant when they said things. It was hard enough, unfamiliar as she sometimes was with the idioms and figures of speech, but when they weren't the type to come out and say things, she labored twice as hard to understand them.
Robin, for example, while often direct and precise, hardly ever used a tone equal to his emotions. He may say that he was sad, but he wouldn't sound like it at all. He may say he was amused, but he may or may not be smiling. She had learned how to interpret many of his moods, but sometimes, especially when he had the mask on, it was still difficult.
Beast Boy made jokes, and he laughed so much that it was hard to imagine that he felt negative emotions, like anger, and betrayal. But she knew he did, and perhaps someone else, maybe Terra, had seen it in its true form, but from what she had seen, he wore his own mask. He would laugh through his anger, even if his bitter humor was as telling as his jumping up and biting your nose off.
Raven was the worst, of course. While she felt emotions, she had the skill to let emotions melt off her, so that it appeared she felt nothing at all. If she did feel emotions, she was able to dispense it in controlled doses. It was as if she had it all in a pitcher, and she tilted the pitcher according to how much emotion she wanted to have pouring from the spout, whether it was a thick, plentiful flow or a small, steady trickle. Either way, she knew exactly what she was doing with those emotions; at least most of the time. There was no understanding Raven; she held the cards. She would let you understand when she wished it; closed you or everyone off when knowing what she felt was unnecessary.
Cyborg was, by far, the most laid-back of the group. He could be moody; he brooded; he could be absolutely chipper, and he didn't care who knew. But unlike Starfire, Cyborg was so much cooler about it. Where Starfire would be swooping around with glee, Cyborg would be grinning from the ground, chilling and telling everyone, "I feel good," without actually saying the words. So while emotions don't scare Cyborg, he kept things on the "down-low". Whether it was to make things comfortable for him or those around him, it was hard to say. Cyborg looked out for Beast Boy and Robin considered Cyborg his equal, but the big guy really didn't have a confidante, did he? It certainly wasn't Starfire.
She muddled over Cyborg's words while Robin exchanged notes with him.
The thing with Cyborg was that while his words were plain, he often meant so much more. Because he was "cool" or "chilled", he left it up to the listener to figure it out. Sometimes, he took the time to elaborate, but only when no one else was around. Starfire guessed that there would be no explaining this time.
She was beginning to get frustrated by all the deep thinking everyone was forcing her to do. Not that she preferred a mindless existence, but did they have to come to her all at once? Nobody should have to deal with so much emotional stress. Something had to give.
She reached for a frozen slice of pizza. It was good, in a gross, teenage-breakfast kind of way. Anything that could give a person acne almost always was.
Starfire sighed, munching on the stale pizza crust.
"Starfire?" It was Robin. "You okay?"
Robin and Cyborg were staring at her, anxiously awaiting her answer.
She managed to stretch her lips for a smile and nodded. "Oh, I am alright. I just spaced in for a while."
Robin chuckled. "Spaced out."
"Er—yes."
He gave her hand a quick squeeze before getting back in discussion with Cyborg. She had little choice. If she wanted to be useful, she would have to force herself to set her troubles aside.
She joined the conversation.
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When Maxwell Victoria's plane came in, the Jump City Warden, an honest, honorable man, called Robin and informed him that the prisoner was secure.
The Warden never asked anything in return for such trifles as informing the Teen Titans that a bad-guy was safely locked in storage, which was why Robin felt a tad guilty tapping into the prison's security systems to be able to keep an eye on Maxwell Victoria. The arraignment had been undertaken almost as soon as Victoria arrived. It was official: Victoria wasn't going to get bailed.
It wasn't all that hard to implant the taps that would allow the Titans to watch Victoria from the tower.
Their first task was a 24-hour reconnaissance. Beast Boy and Starfire always worked best together when it came to such matters. Starfire's inherent ability to be inquisitive while looking positively harmless as she asked her questions always managed to get them answers. Her charm, especially with men, was received with great enthusiasm, especially in a place where women were scarce. Working alongside her in secret was Beast Boy, who would use his littlest animal forms to get into vents, pipes and holes in the walls. He listened to Starfire's conversations, following her as they gathered the information necessary to find out where Victoria would be detained and which hallways he was going to take to get from his cell to the visiting chambers. From the information Beast Boy and Starfire gathered, they would be able to figure out which camera-cable they had to tap and where the audio-taps would serve them best.
When the blueprints for the plan had been laid out, they needed to execute it. Robin played the thief best of all. At nightfall, where the shadows were darker and the guards' minds were clouded with lethargy, Robin would slip into the facility, placed the taps and then slip out unnoticed. The whole time, he had tech support connected to him by radio. With Raven and Cyborg working the control center, they stayed in contact with him, confirming whether Robin was tapping the correct cables, or whether the audios were working flawlessly.
The task took them no longer than a day and half. They were really good at what they did.
Should the taps be compromised, there was always the trusty self-destruct switch that could obliterate any trace of evidence.
Cyborg always said that if their superhero careers didn't pan out, they could always go into professional thievery.
The shifts they took for the Blackfire watch now included watching Victoria's daily life in prison. Three days into the watch, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg had come up with a game. They would watch monitor H4 (short for Hallway Four), an oft-used passageway, and wait for whoever happened to pass it. If the person was in a suit, they could eat the red skittles (rare enough, and since red was a favorite, it was a treat), if the person was a guard, they would eat the yellow Skittles, and so on and so forth. The interesting part was when they came in pairs and/or mixed. Pairs and mixes allowed for the accomplishment of a particular task by a particular person. The tasks were menial and along such lines as getting up from one's seat to refill their glasses with pop or buying take out, or perhaps getting a particular magazine from someone's room.
Raven often found herself joining in with affected reluctance, mainly because she was a closet Skittles whore. Why she did not want anyone to know how much she liked Skittles, they could only guess. Starfire thought it was because of the colors. If Skittles came in black, gray and navy blue, she suspected that Raven wouldn't be so ashamed of enjoying the fruity candies. Robin was a little more difficult to pull in. He didn't care for Skittles and perhaps a bit of his leader's ego kicked in. After all, it did seem a bit awkward to tell your team leader to "Go get up and fetch us the chips, fool!" the way they did each other when the task fell to them. Most times, Robin was leaning back on his chair with his booted feet up on the control board while he read a book, letting them play the game unhampered. A week through the watch, Starfire had only managed to wheedle him into joining the game once. She didn't suppose he'd want to join again considering Beast Boy said, "If you find grabbing the soda too difficult, you could always scratch my back." Robin gave him such a deadly look that Beast Boy realized he wasn't going to survive the back scratching if Robin opted for it.
Approximately a week after they first began watching Maxwell Victoria, Starfire found herself being woken from sleep at three o' clock in the morning by Raven.
Upon seeing Raven in her room, Starfire took a second to panic, wondering what she could do to lessen the awkwardness of being caught in bed with Robin. The next second had her relaxing as she remembered that Robin hadn't slept in that night, so she was alone.
Starfire shot out of bed, blinking back sleep as quickly as she could. "What is wrong?"
"You have to come with me," said Raven. "Something came up."
"Should we get Robin?"
Raven hesitated before she spoke. "Yes. Actually, I think Cyborg's seeing to that, but—just come with me."
Slightly worried, Starfire followed Raven out of her room and down the hall. As they stepped into the elevators, Starfire tugged gently at Raven's cloak.
"Is it so bad? Has someone died? Oh, goodness!"
"I don't know if it's bad," said Raven patiently. "Until we know for sure what it's about, you have to stay calm."
Starfire was confused; or maybe she was still sleep ridden. Either way, she didn't understand. "You do not know what this is about? But—"
"It's pointless to explain."
Starfire bit back whatever else she was going to say. "It's pointless to explain," was Raven-ese for "Shut up."
When she arrived at the Info Center, everyone else was there. Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy turned from the monitor as they walked out of the elevator.
Starfire became conscious that they were all staring at her. Her anxiety increased as she joined them on the computer panel. "W-What is this about?"
It was Robin who spoke first. "Beast Boy, play back the clip."
Beast Boy nodded, working on some dials.
Moments later, something fizzed on screen. At first it was unclear and full of static. Vaguely, she could make out a blurred image that spoke in deep, disjointed audio.
Starfire was making no sense of it and she flashed Robin a questioning glance. Robin nodded, as if to say he understood her confusion, but wait.
Seconds later, the picture gained clarity and the garbled words began to make sense.
"Koriand'r-k'lorlian."
Princess Koriand'r.
"G'than Earth dehayla Lu Kar, kedin yavar kult—Rav glor ruskva galan, ar'i nelkvi."
I do hereby send this formal advanced message to announce the arrival of our party on the Water Planet known as "Earth".
"Dun rish selen kad galan, vin-ko-hur juna Earth, glor dehayla Lu Kar tai-ko-zor garza, fleg uk-zayd-vin-ko-vin garzo, kult dak nurl seisod."
Our party shall land within the approximate longitude of 37 degrees and latitude of 122 degrees in the Water Planet, 24 Earth clicks after you receive this message.
Starfire's vision blurred with tears. It had been so long since she heard her language on someone else's lips. Even during her encounters with Blackfire, her sister had chosen to speak languages from "Earth dehayla Lu Kar" or the "Water Planet known as Earth." It was as if Blackfire had refused to speak the language of her birth.
To hear Tamaranian spoken so fluently from the lips of one she loved so deeply was indeed moving.
Though the picture remained somewhat undefined, there was no mistaking it, for his red hair was like a roaring flame of warmth, thick and luscious, and his eyes, though one of them marred by a vicious scar, shone in one of the rarest greens in all of Tamaran: an ambiguous, olive gray.
It was Galfore, and he had found her at last.
To be continued…
Author's note: The language I used was made up, but I did compose syntax to go with it. As you could see, some words repeated themselves. That's because they mean the same thing within the context of the sentence Galfore was speaking. In any case, I tried not to be terribly random about it. It has a system; that comforts me.
Another issue I'd like to address is a question from one of the readers. She asked: If Starfire could fly in space, shouldn't she be invulnerable to drowning? While the question makes a lot of sense, the answers, I'm afraid, could not boast of the same. Only references to the show give the answer credibility: While indeed, Starfire could fly in space without need of protective clothing, it was shown several times in the show that she could very well drown. Whenever they have to go underwater, she cannot swim alongside Beasty Boy and Aqualad. Considering she still chose to ride inside Beast Boy's mouth to get away from the underwater HIVE base as it collapsed around them was telling enough. If I could survive underwater, I wouldn't set foot in Beast Boy's mouth for anything. In the same episode, she, along with Robin and Raven, took a deep breath before submerging herself in the water. She needs oxygen underwater just like the rest of us mammals. Why she doesn't need it in space is a mystery. This is, of course, theoretically impossible. Most, if not all living beings have fluids running in their veins, and since space is a vacuum, all living things should turn into a dehydrated Popsicle when exposed to the physics-defying void of space. But assuming Starfire could harness the power of the sun, it could be assumed that she has an internal core of sorts that could regulate her bodily functions from within, thus her ability to fly in space without petrifying herself, but that's just guessing on my part. The show gives the facts. Though it feels no need to explain, who am I to disagree? Lol. Hope that answers that issue!
Thanks to all my readers! Replies to reviews will follow shortly! Just had to get this chapter out.