Title: The Crucible

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Thanks to all who reviewed. This time around, I will answer specific reviews.

Re: Jade: General Khai is just a little suspicious of Tess. I mean, she is a stranger who does not look, talk, or act like the original Ava did. She has very few memories of her past life. She is part human (and humans are looked down on as being weak-It is ironic how she always came off as thinking that humans were weaker than she was since she was part alien, but now the Khai thinks she is weaker because she is part human). She is going to have to prove to him that she can be the Queen. Actually, a lot of the other characters that show up later on will feel the same way about her. And a few of the ones at the Council Meeting secretly think that, and were just being polite, and that will come out in later chapters as well. Tess has a long way to go before she can earn their trust and loyalty. Which is good, because otherwise this would be a very short story... :)

Re: Mony19: We will get to Earth eventually. This is mostly focused on Tess and her struggles, which currently take place on a far away planet. But our first glimpse of the others on Earth will come in a few chapters, and we will continue to get an insight into their lives throughout the entire Salvation Series. Tess has to be determined to help her people, because that was all Nasedo ever taught her. She was raised to be the Queen, and when General Khai (and others later on in the story) question that, it only makes her try harder.

crucible: an object made stronger as it is passed through fire

General Khai

Day 3

"I can't believe you would do this!" Khai spat at Larek as he followed the alien through the labyrinth of corridors on the main floor of the palace. "I can't believe you actually want me to train her! Do you really think that I have the time to waste on this?"

"It isn't a waste of your time," Larek hissed angrily. "She may very well be the only person who can save your people."

"She is a seventeen-year-old half-breed doesn't remember a single thing about her past."

"She grew up with Nasedo," Larek countered. "She spent every day of her life training for her return."

Khai rolled his eyes and replied quietly, "I've been working with the Resistance since before she was born. What could she possibly offer that I could not? That any other seventeen-year-old Antarian could not?"

"Hope," Larek replied softly. "It doesn't matter if she is Queen. What matters is if she can act like it." He paused outside a set of large double doors and said quietly, "She carries the Heir, Khai. This is everything the Resistance has wanted, everything they have waited for."

"Everything except Zan."

Larek sighed and shook his head. "I've met this Max Evans. He is a nice kid, but he truly is just a kid. He would rather stay on Earth than come to our aid. And even if he did come back, he would not be Zan. He would never be Zan. At least with Ava we have a chance of getting the Queen back."

Khai hissed a short breath from in between his teeth and reluctantly relented. "Fine, I will teach her. But don't expect me to be happy about it."

Larek hid his smile of relief and knocked sharply on the door. It opened at once, swinging back into the room. Tess was standing across the floor, her back to them, looking out one of the windows up at the morning sky. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun with a few loose tendrils falling down her shoulders. She was wearing a form fitting red evening gown that seemed to float about her ankles.

She turned and smiled at them, somewhat apprehensively. She ran her hand over the soft material of the dress and waited for them to speak.

"The dress is very becoming," Larek said softly, smiling. He stepped into the room, shortly followed by Khai. "We've come to discuss your training."

Tess nodded and gestured for them to take seat. Larek sunk into one of the armchairs, and Tess sat across from him on the sofa. Khai remained on his feet, standing stiffly behind Larek.

"Until the Heir is born," Larek continued, "we cannot risk teaching you any physical activity. Thus, fighting will have to wait." He shot a look at Khai, who nodded his assent to this plan.

"What do I do for the next few days, then?" Tess asked quietly.

"I have several meetings to attend in the area with other members of the Resistance. You will accompany me, and I will introduce you to them. You will observe our planning and our preparations," Khai explained. He narrowed his eyes at Tess and continued, "Depending on how fast you learn strategy and tactics, you may be useful to us in that area."

Tess bristled at his contemptuous tone. He did not expect her to succeed. "I see," she murmured, her gaze flicking quickly to Larek's impassive face. "Is that all?"

"Of course not," Khai replied scornfully. "It takes a lot more than that to be Queen. Unfortunately, the true qualities needed to be an effective ruler-the courage to fight in the face of danger, the strength to make difficult decisions, and, above all else, the talent of getting people to follow you-those cannot be taught."

"Then how will I learn them?" Tess asked sharply.

"Lord Larek believes that you have those inherent abilities already, and that, with time, they will come out," Khai replied sneeringly, running his eyes up and down Tess' petite form with derision. " We shall see."

"I get the feeling he doesn't like me," Tess commented dryly after General Khai had stalked from the room. She and Larek were now sitting alone in her room, discussing their plans for the near future.

"It isn't that," Larek replied quietly. "It is just…"

"He was expecting a Queen, and he got me," Tess remarked bitterly. She glanced over at Khai. "That's the problem, isn't it? Nobody thinks I can do this."

"You are and aren't Ava. Most people see the differences, and ignore the similarities," Larek replied gravely. He stared at Tess for a long moment, then said, "I believe you can do this."

"Why?" Tess asked slowly. "How do you have so much faith in me? In my abilities? I don't even have that much confidence myself."

Larek slanted her a look through unreadable eyes, then replied, "Because, I see the similarities." He stood up and began to pace across the floor. "I see the look on your face every time you think of Max. It is the same look that I saw on Ava's face, every time she thought of Zan. I see the same facial expressions, I hear the same laugh, the same voice. I see Queen Ava in you."

Larek paused and glanced over at the seated girl. He stared at her for a long time, seeing the vulnerable expression in her eyes. And he suddenly realized that she was just a girl, the way Max Evans was just a boy. She was young, and naïve, and overwhelmed. She was not the Queen. But in her eyes, he saw the same determination, the same fire, that had often burned in the eyes of the Queen he had once known.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "And I believe in you because I want to."

"I don't know if I can do this," Tess admitted.

"You thought you could in the Council meeting yesterday. What changed?" Larek asked.

Tess shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself and staring off into space. "I don't know," she admitted. "Yesterday I felt like I could. Today I don't."

Khai held out his sword, twisting in through the air in a large arc. It danced in his hands, the silver metal catching the sunlight from the windows. "This is a sword. It is the most common weapon, and the one you will often fight with."

"I thought I wasn't learning how to fight until the baby was born," Tess said, leaning forward and staring at the blade apprehensively.

They were standing in an empty stone room. The floor was covered in a thin brown linen rug. One wall had two small windows in it, the others were solid stone. Above them, the ceiling opened to the afternoon sky. The sun shone down on them through the space above, giving Tess the feeling that she was standing in a very large fishbowl.

"You aren't," Khai replied. "But it is important that you learn the fundamentals of sword play, and you can learn those without ever actually lifting a blade. They are purely theoretical."

"Oh," Tess replied, feeling somewhat stupid. She rested one hand on her rounded stomach and ran the other through her hair. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Don't you have guns or something like that?"

Khai snorted derisively and replied, "Why would we invent a machine to shoot bullets when we have the ability to throw energy? We are our own biological guns."

Again, Tess flushed, feeling embarrassed. She turned her eyes to the blade, watching as it moved swiftly through the air. It hummed as Khai brought it whistling around his head.

"So…I'm going to learn how to duel?" Tess asked, licking her dry lips apprehensively. She had never even touched a sword before, how was she supposed to fight? How was she supposed to fight a trained soldier? "Is it just like fighting on Earth?"

"We are much more evolved then those…" Khai paused, frowning as though he could not quite think of the appropriate word with which to describe the inhabitants of Earth. Finally, he shrugged and looked down at the sword in his hand. "Suffice to say," he continued, "we have advanced our fighting techniques somewhat."

"How so?" Tess questioned.

Khai stared at his sword for a moment, then held it out in front of him. From his hand, a soft blue glow appeared, and a current of energy ran up and down the length of the blade. "We use the sword to focus our energy," he replied. He twisted his wrist, causing the sword to jerk sharply, and a few sparks jumped from the tip and cascaded through the air to the floor. Then, without warning, Khai spun around and slammed his sword into the wall next to Tess.

She cried out in shock and jumped away, turning in time to see a large scorch mark appear on the wall where the sword had touched it.

"We can pass energy along the metal blade and on to any object the sword touches," Khai said calmly, not even starting at the explosion of energy from his sword. "We can use it as a shield as well. If someone attacks you with an energy blast or any other form of telekinetic, pyrokinetic, or cytokinetic attack, you can catch their power on your blade, and therefore protect yourself from the onslaught. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Tess replied quickly, although she truly did not. She stared at the sword for a moment, then asked diffidently, "Can't you just conjure an energy shield or something to act as a protection?"

Khai shook his head in exasperation and replied, "Can you do that?" Tess said nothing, so he continued, "Only some people have that particular gift. The same way only some people can heal, only some people can mind-warp, only some people can dream-walk…" He sheathed his sword abruptly and crossed his arms. "Needless to say, if you are fighting someone with the ability to create protective force-fields, they will be a lot more difficult to defeat. However, if you know how to use your sword properly, and how to channel you energy, you can puncture their shield and attack them through it."

"Oh…" Tess nodded and took a few steps into the room, looking around. "What room is this?" she asked, changing the subject.

"This is one of the training rooms. It is normally used for sword play, but today we will use it for mind exercises."

"Mind exercises?" Tess raised an eyebrow at Khai, curious. "What are those?"

"To be able to channel your energy through your sword, you must have a great amount of mental strength. Today I will test that strength," Khai explained. He licked his lips, then said, "Like you, I have the ability to mind-warp. I will mind-warp you, and you will attempt to throw me out. Is that clear?"

"Is it possible to protect your mind against a mind-warp?" Tess asked, wide-eyed.

Khai shook his head at her naïveté and replied, "Obviously. If it wasn't, those with the ability would turn everyone else in the world into slaves." Without warning, he closed his eyes and focused on her mind.

"Tess?" Isabel called out, poking her head into the living room. "Can you come help me set the table?"

Tess looked up from where she was sitting next to Max and nodded. "Sure," she replied easily, standing. "You two behave while Izzy and I are gone, you hear?" she said with mock seriousness, looking back and forth between Max and Michael, who was perched on the arm of the sofa across from her.

"Yes, ma'am," Michael replied sarcastically.

"Actually, it's your Majesty," Tess shot back, grinning.

Max laughed and leaned over to Tess, kissing her. "You and Izzy behave yourselves in the kitchen," he said as he broke the kiss and pulled back.

"The point, Ava, is to break out of the mind-warp," Khai said dryly as he dropped the image.

Tess nodded and looked around the stone room. She could feel the tears in her eyes as she realized that it had all been a dream. A fake. Max did not love her. She blinked furiously, wanting the salt water drops to disappear. She refused to cry in front of Khai.

"Try again," Khai ordered.

Khivar lifted his hand and shot a blast of energy from his palm, sneering at Tess as he did so. Tess shrieked and ducked, throwing herself sideways and away from the skin King. She collided heavily with the floor and winced as pain shot through her shoulder.

"You fool!"

Tess came out of the mind-warp to the sound of Khai's angry snarling, and the thud of footsteps hurrying towards her. She rubbed her eyes and realized she was lying on the floor. And her shoulder really did hurt.

"You idiot!" Khai hissed. He dropped down next to her, fear and concern on his face. At first, Tess thought it was for her. Then she saw the way his eyes never left her stomach and she realized with dawning horror that she could have injured her son.

She pushed herself to her knees and touched her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to connect with the life inside of her. At once, she felt concern, fear, and worry radiating off of her son.

But he was uninjured.

"He's fine," she breathed, relief filling her. She turned to Khai, and saw the relief flooding his eyes as well. "My son is fine," she repeated, more to reassure herself than the General.

Khai nodded and stood up and began to pace angrily. "How could you allow yourself ot endanger your son like that?" he spat, shaking his head.

"You're the one who did the mind-warp," Tess snapped back angrily. "How could you endanger my son with that sort of image?"

Khai turned to her, a harsh rebuke on his lips. He paused, then shook his head and said in a softer, although not gentle, tone, "I assumed that you had at least mastered enough of your powers that you would not react to the mind-warp in that way. I will admit that…some…of what happened was my fault for over estimating your abilities." He rubbed his hand together angrily and sighed. "This proves to be more difficult than I originally imagined."

"Oh?" Tess replied defensively. "How so?"

"Nasedo did not train you enough," Khai replied. "Even young children on Antar have the ability to split their physical and mental responses to a mind-warp."

"What?" Tess demanded, unsure what Khai meant.

"They do not react physically to what they see. They feel the same fear you did when I made you see Khivar attacking you, and in their minds they may very well jump aside. But they do not actually move physically. The effects of the mind-warp are entirely mental." He shrugged, almost apologetically, and said, "I thought you would have had enough training to be able to do that. Clearly I was wrong."

Tess nodded but remained silent, her ego still slightly bruised.

Khai lapsed into silence for a moment, then mused, "I do not understand why Nasedo would not have trained you in that. Ignorant as you are, I cannot imagine that you would be so inept that you could not learn."

Tess opened her mouth to retort, but Khai waved her into silence, and to her own surprise, she found herself complying with the unspoken request. She said nothing.

"We shall stop here for today," Khai announced. "You will work on your own to strengthen your mental defenses. We shall try this again later, perhaps after the Heir is born."

"How am I supposed to practice?" Tess asked. "I don't know what to do."

"If you do not know how to strengthen your own mind, there is nothing anyone can teach you," Khai snapped back, irritated again.

Tess swallowed back her bitter retort and nodded, knowing not to provoke Khai on this matter. Instead, she turned and looked at the bruise that was rapidly appearing on her shoulder.

Khai continued speaking, "Tomorrow, I have a few meetings with different members of the Resistance, and an ambassador from one of the worlds that is sympathetic to our plight. It will be a very long day. You do not need to join us for all of it."

"I will," Tess said quickly. "I would like to meet them all."

Khai nodded and replied brusquely, "We start as soon as the sun rises. Someone will get you." He turned and walked towards the hallway leading from the room. Once there, he paused and looked back at Tess with annoyance. "Well?" he demanded. "Are you coming? Or do you already know your way around the palace well enough to find your route back to your rooms on your own?"

Tess swallowed and shook her head. She walked towards him briskly, still gingerly examining the bruise on her shoulder. Khai snorted impatiently, turned on his heal, and strode quickly from the room.

"You fought under Mi-Rath?" Tess asked, struggling to keep up with Khai.

The General paused for a moment, then turned back to look at Tess. He nodded slowly, his eyes unreadable. "Yes, I did," he replied coolly. "General Rath was a great General, and a amazing leader. Not as beloved as Zan himself, but close… His death was a great blow to us. It was shortly after Khivar killed him that we lost the throne." He turned away and began to walk down the hallway.

The two walked in silence for a long time until they reached the steps just before Tess' rooms. Khai sprinted up them, eager to be rid of Tess as soon as possible. He paused outside of her rooms, waiting for her to catch up.

Tess took the steps two at a time. Once she had reached her rooms, she glanced at Khai and worked up the nerve to ask the question that had been bothering her. "You spoke of Rath with…" Tess paused, looking for the right word. "With friendship," she said at last. "Did you know him well, then?"

Khai frowned and looked away. He swallowed and ran a hand through his hair, unsure how to respond to the question. Tess looked at him in surprise, confused. How had her seemingly innocent question caused such a reaction in him?

"Rath was my older brother," Khai said at last, his words oddly devoid of emotion. He gave Tess one last apprasing stare, then turned and walked away, the click of his shoes on the floor echoing through the hall.

Next Chapter: The First Endless Day

Due: Wed. 11/23