Title: The Crucible

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So, first order of business: Due to knew site rules, I can no longer post replies to review in the chapter itself. So, from now on, I will reply to the review via the reply button (I am still replying to the last chapter's reviews in this chapter, but this is the last time). Either make sure to log in when you review, or, if you are not a registered user of this site, leave your e-mail in the appropriate box in the review, and I will do my best to reply promptly. Also, from here on out, there will be mentions of violence due to the fact that Tess and the others are in the middle of a war. Nothing graphic or gruesome, but still violent. There will be many sad moments in the chapters as well, so I am warning you now, be prepared to be depressed by some things.

And, although it is not explicitly said in this chapter, just a reminder, Larek has officially declared war on Khivar.

Okay, just a reminder of who the major players are:

Tess and Larek, of course

Alex-Tess's son, named after Alex Whitman

Audin-diplomat to Larek from the planet Byor

Arya-the regional ruler from the province of Tel'ai, which is the capital province on Antar. She was recently deposed by Khivar

Khai-main general and leader of the Resistance, Rath's younger brother

Sria- the original Ava's best friend, one of Larek's advisors, and a native of the planet L'so

Lotho-general of Larek's army (like Rath was for Zan), married to Kani, killed by Khivar's army.

Kani-married to Lotho, she is one of Larek's closest friends and advisors

Other people introduced but not as important: Radim, Trell, Zyith are all members of the Resistance. Korbi is a healer who saved Tess from dying during childbirth. Tunia is a spy that the Resistance sent into the capital city of Antar to try to discover Khivar's plans (see chapter 'The First Endless Day' if confused), caught and killed by Khivar.

Places of importance:

Tel'ai-capital province of Antar, has Dimaras Rock, where Zan met Ava. The Triaji Desert, the Cortai Jungle, the Landra River, and the Fel Mountains are all located in this province as well.

Antar-the capital city of Antar has the same name as the planet. Khivar is planning something for the city, but the Resistance does not know what it is.

Sab and Drasu-cities in Tel'ai that Khivar attacked and decimated, no adults were left alive in either.

Mt. Sinai-a mountain in Tel'ai, it's name means (in Antarian) 'mountain of fate'

Re: Mony19: Thanks for the review. I was definitely playing the sympathy card with Kani, so I am glad you feel sorry for her. Yes, she did love Lotho very much. As for Tess being very powerful, she is just as powerful as the previous Ava was, if she can just figure out how to channel that power. Larek, Sria, and Khai all have a pretty good idea of how strong she could be, since they knew her very well in her past life, but it is a matter of whether or not she reaches her potential.

Re: Ellethiel: Thanks for the review. Lotho's death was definitely ironic in the sense that he was one of the few who believed in Tess. A lot of her situation is ironic right now. All of the people on earth who should have accepted her have turned their backs on her, but her human half prevents her from being accepted by all the Antarians. She isn't evil, the humans and other hybrids won't let her be one of them, she doesn't know how to be a Queen, but she can't be just a normal Antarian... Also, I think in the show, Max's son was human (he inheritted the human DNA from both his parents since Max and Tess are both half human) so that was why they could let him get adopted. And yes, Tess named her son after Alex.

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

Chapter Nine: Acts of War

Day 8

Tess rubbed her eyes slowly and looked around the room. It was still dark, the sun had yet to rise over the horizon. She sat up slowly in bed and stretched, her limbs sore from the day before. It had been a long meeting, and she had been forced to sit for several hours listening to presentation after presentation.

First Zyith had talked about Khivar's latest siege. The city was Drasu, close to the Landra River. Like all the other cities the skin king had taken recently, it had little value as a captured city except that it encircled the capital. And like Sab, it had been brutally and systematically destroyed. No adult left alive.

Then Khai had briefly outlined the effects that this new war between Larek and Khivar would have on the Resistance. It may distract Khivar from attacking the Resistance bases on Antar itself, but the war could have a devastating effect if it caused Larek's planet too much damage. Without the planet as a back up, all of the rebels would be forced into hiding underground, and would no longer have the ability to meet with diplomats and ambassadors of other worlds. They would not be able to garner support for their cause, and without the aid of other planets…

Well, without the aid of other planets, there was very little to hope for.

Then Trell had arrived, laden with pictures of Drasu. Or, at least, of what Tess assumed had been Drasu. The pictures had been…indescribable. How could anyone do this to a city? How could anyone cause this type of destruction and not care?

Finally, Arya had announced that she was going to return to Antar. There were several ways to slip into the planet unnoticed, and she intended to take one of them and hide in the main Resistance base, which was located at the northern border of the Fel mountains. Hopefully, she would be able to provide assistance to the floundering rebels.

God knew they would need it.

Tess shook her head to clear her troubled thoughts. She had taken the pictures of Drasu with her, holding some sort of morbid fascination with them. She picked one up from the table by her bed, and turned on the light so that she could look at it.

It was a large picture, the size of a normal Earth magazine cover. It was glossy, and when she held it at the right angle, the colors seemed to leap off of the page. It was taken with an Antarian camera, which, as Sria had explained to her, captured the image through a series of photosytems that absorbed light, and then trapped the actual light onto a special piece of paper made from a series of microscopic disks that reflected the image back at her.

The picture looked more alive than Earth photo's did, as though the burning house was about to leap off of the page.

Tess traced a finger gently over the picture's edge. It showed a house in the foreground, ablaze with red and orange flames. The ground in front of the house was stained red with what she could only assume was blood. In the background, several other buildings were burning. Fragments of wood and stone littered the yards, and the streets were covered in shards of broken glass. Dirt, mud, and weeds had been raked from the yards and tracked across the roads. The air was gray with smoke and dust.

Here it was, picture after picture, evidence of Khivar's brutality. If only she could take these picture's to Earth, if only she could show them to the three other hybrids, would they still be so quick to turn their backs on their people?

Tess paused at another picture and felt her heart constrict painfully. It showed an alleyway between two tall buildings. The alley was mostly in shadows. A single street lamp stood at one end, casting a faint glow. The protective glass around the lamp had been broken, leaving the bulb exposed. The ground was littered in debris, bits of stone from one of the buildings, pieces of brick from the other, and the remains of the glass from the windows.

But it was not the destruction that caused Tess to tear up.

It was the body in the center of the picture. The girl could not have been more than four or five. Her dark black hair was pulled away from her face in two pigtails, and she was wearing a periwinkle blue dress and white shoes with a bow on the toe. Her skin was pale, her forehead covered in blood from a nasty cut that ran the entire width of her face. Her hands were clutched around a broken doll. Her body was half buried underneath a pile of rubble that had fallen from the buildings.

Next to her was another girl. She was seven or eight. Her dark hair fell loosely over her shoulders as she clasped the lifeless hand of her sister, her green eyes wide with horror. Her green dress was covered with dark red blood, her black shoes caked with mud. Her mouth was half open, forever frozen in a silent scream of terror.

Alex woke up and, sensing his mother's distress, began to cry. Tess tossed the picture aside as she hurried to her son. She held him tightly, shushing him and gently rocking him back and forth until he drifted back to sleep. Then she carried him out into the cool early morning air on the balcony, letting the door to her room shut behind her. She stared into the distance and let the tears run unabashedly down her face.

"Now that your son is born, and we do not need to worry about compromising his safety, you will learn how to fight," Khai instructed as he lifted his sword and swung it through the air.

They were back in the large fish-bowl training room. Leaving Alex with Sria (which had been incredibly hard for her to do), Tess had been escorted to the room by a distraught and sardonic Khai, who had ceaselessly found ways to express his complete and utter lack of faith in her abilities. While no longer surprised by his feelings towards her, Tess couldn't help but think that Khai was even a bit colder today than usual, if that was at all possible. He was obviously upset over the latest development in the war, the pictures of Drasu had rattled him just as much as they had shaken her.

And Tess was always the convenient person to take his wrath out on.

"Take the sword," Khai continued, nodding towards a thin blade that lay near Tess' feet. She lifted it, hefting it slowly and trying to get used to the awkward weight in her hands. It was a simple sword, a long silver blade and a brass hand guard.

"You stand like an elephant," Khai snapped. "On your toes! You can't move fast enough if you are resting on your heals all the time."

Tess nodded wordlessly and shifted the weight to the balls of her feet. She watched apprehensively as Khai pointed his sword at her and began to advance.

Tess lifted her own blade, praying that somehow she would remember something about sword fighting. But as Khai's blade came whistling towards her, she gave into the inevitable, that this was going to be a long and bruising session.

Sria looked up from her seat as Tess entered the room. She was sitting in a chair by the window, holding Alex in her lap and reading through a bunch of papers and files for the Resistance. The light from the window fell on her face, illuminating her worn features. The death of Tunia and the subsequent declaration of war was taking it's toll on everyone.

Tess looked around the room. She had never seen the inside of Sria's room. In fact, she had never seen the inside of any bedroom other than her own. Her days in Larek's castle had been almost entirely confined to her own room, or the meeting rooms.

Sria's room was smaller than her own, but nicely furnished. A set of windows opened to the eastern sky. The floor was carpeted in a thick blue rug, and the bed had matching blue sheets and a blue comforter. There were two chairs and a small sofa next to the fireplace, and a desk propped up against the far wall. Behind the desk was a closet, and next to the closet was a set of dressers. The desk, bed, and floor were strewn with papers, reports from the Resistance.

Sria got up and carefully handed Alex to his mother. Tess took her son gratefully, wincing slightly as Alex's weight settled onto her bruised arms. Instant concern jumped into Sria's eyes and she raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I was learning how to fight," Tess replied, rolling her eyes as she emphasized the word fight. More like learning how to bruise on hard cement… Couldn't Khai have been a little less… enthusiastic… about her training? She had come out of the room surprised that she was not entirely black and blue.

"How did it go?" Sria asked sympathetically.

Tess snorted and shrugged. "Khai wasn't in the most pleasant mood," she replied.

Sria nodded and reached down to pick up a pile of paper. "Well, there is the issue of Drasu. And of course, any mention of Vilandra cuts particularly deep." She straightened up and placed the papers on the seat of the chair, her eyes pensive. "I think that is what is bothering him the most at the moment. The idea that she could come back…"

"People don't seem to be that forgiving of her," Tess remarked casually.

"And especially not Khai," Sria replied. "I don't think he ever liked her, you know, but he tried to put up with her for Rath's sake. He always maintained that she was a bad influence on his brother…"

Tess blinked in surprise, suddenly remembering that Khai was Rath's brother. Which meant that Vilandra was his sister-in-law. To have the traitor in his own family…

"Some things are simply never forgiven, Ava," Sria remarked, her eyes haunted with memories of Vilandra's betrayal. "Betraying the man that worshipped the ground you walked on… No, Khai will not forgive her for everything she did to Rath. Not anytime soon, that is." She grinned suddenly, conspiratorially, and lowered her voice. "Of course, Khai always supported the idea of Zan abdicating and giving the throne to Rath. Always thought his brother would make a better king."

Tess was reminded vividly of Courtney. "There were some skins you believed the same," she replied. Sria nodded, and Tess asked suddenly, "Is that done? Abdicating, I mean. Handing the throne to someone else."

"Of course," Sria replied, dismissing the question and Tess' incredulous look with a wave of her hand. "You forget, Ava, that being the ruler here is very different from being the ruler on Earth. It if your job to do what is best for the people, and if you think someone else can lead better than you can, you give the throne to them. Of course, you are also passing the throne along to their entire family as well. If Zan abdicated to Rath, it would be Rath's son who was next in line, not Zan's."

"Is it done a lot?" Tess asked, intrigued by the thought. Did the monarchy constantly change from one family to the next?

"No, not a lot," Sria replied, frowning as she tried to recall the different times in Antarian history that the throne had been passed from one family to another. "But Zan's family has only been ruling for…maybe four hundred years? Not that long in the span of Antarian lives."

Tess accepted this, then a thought suddenly came to mind. "How long do Antarians live?"

"About one-hundred-and-eighty years," Sria replied. "A little more than twice the life span of a human."

"Does that mean my parents are still alive?"

The question caught Sria completely by surprise. She hesitated for a moment, wondering what to say, how to break the truth gently, then finally opted for being blunt. "Your mother passed away about three years ago, Ava. Your father was killed during the first war with Khivar. You were an only child, you have no family left here."

Tess swallowed and looked away, cursing herself for getting her hopes up. It appeared she really didn't have a family any more, except for Alex. She looked down at her young son and smiled, pulling him tightly to her. He regarded her through bright blue eyes, a tiny smile on his tiny features.

Khai paced the carpeted floor, his eyes darkened with frustration at the hopelessness of their situation. "We have looked at this from every possible angle, but always with the same results. We have no idea how to stop Khivar from bringing Vilandra back to Antar, and no idea how to prevent her from seizing control once she is here."

Larek nodded, his face thoughtful as he too realized the utter bleakness of their situation. The four of them, Larek, Kani, Khai, and Tess, were meeting in the Council Chambers again. Arya had left for Antar a few hours earlier, and Audin was meeting with Trell and Radim to strategize a defense for Larek's planet. Sria had offered to baby-sit Alex once again so that Tess could attend the meeting without having to worry about her son.

"I still think our best bet is preventing Khivar from circling the capital with his troops," Kani said softly, her bloodshot eyes downcast.

"Zyith is returning to Antar with Arya," Khai replied. "He and some of the other Resistance leaders are gathering soldiers. They plan to fortify the other cities around the capital, the ones that Khivar is likely to take."

"Khivar may take them still, if he has a large enough army," Larek pointed out. "We could be sending out soldiers to their deaths, and that is only a waste of time and resources." He rested his chin on the palm of his hand and closed his dark green eyes in thought.

"What are we supposed to do? Let ourselves be lead like sheep to the slaughter?" Khai hissed, his wrath bubbling to the surface. "Vilandra is coming back, and we have no idea what to do!" His strides increased in length and ferocity until he was rapidly pacing the width of the room, trembling with rage.

Tess watched him, her eyes apprehensive. The only time she had ever seen anyone as angry as Khai was when she had confronted Max in the pod chamber, when she had fed him the lies he wanted to hear. Max had not been thinking clearly then, would Khai be thinking clearly now? Anger did funny things to people…

She could hear Sria's words echoing in her mind.

Betraying the man that worshipped the ground you walked on… No, Khai will not forgive her for everything she did to Rath.

"Is there no way at all to stop Isabel from reverting into Vilandra?" Tess asked, breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen after Khai's outburst.

Khai shook his head gloomily and said nothing. Kani bit her bottom lip and looked away, her face brooding and irate. Larek, his eyes still closed, didn't even bother acknowledging the question. What was the point?

They all knew the answer anyway.

Finally, Khai said in a gruff and angry hiss, "Khivar will come on her unawares, and awaken the Vilandra within her. Once the Princess gains control over the hybrid body, Isabel will be completely subjugated to her. We are as good as dead," he finished dully.

A thought suddenly occurred to Tess, causing her to frown slightly and draw her eyebrows together in concentration. "What if she wasn't caught unawares?" Tess asked, switching her gaze from Khai to Larek and back to Khai. "What if Larek possessed Brody and warned her?"

Kani seemed slightly intrigued by the thought. "Interesting idea…" she mused, pursing her lips. "Perhaps if she knew that Khivar was after her, Isabel would be prepared enough to fight him off."

"It isn't a matter of fighting him off," Khai objected. "She won't be under any mind-control. It is simply being in Khivar's vicinity, and gaining a taste of the life she had before, that will awaken Vilandra."

"But if she could…" Kani started, but Khai shook his head and cut her off.

"You are still looking at this as though she would be possessed. Vilandra is part of who she is, it is inside her. How can she fight that?" His voice was angry, and filled with passionate loathing. The issue of his traitorous sister-in-law still cut deep.

"He's right, Ava," Larek murmured. "Even if she could fight it, who's to say she would? Khivar's ability to turn her has little to do with whether or not she knows that he is coming. Prepared or not, the Vilandra inside her would still want to come out."

"If being in Khivar's presence will bring out Vilandra, then being in Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria's presence should bring out Isabel, right?" Tess pointed out. "Maybe it isn't her we need to warn. Maybe it is them."

"What could they do to save her?" Larek began. "They don't know ho-"

"No," Khai cut in. He was staring at Tess appraisingly, and for the first time his eyes were not filled with disdain as he regarded the blonde hybrid. "She has a point. If Vi-Isabel were warned, if she told the others, they might be able to save her."

"How?" Kani asked hopefully, praying the plan would work. "How could they save her?"

"I don't know," Tess admitted reluctantly. "But they would figure it out. Family means everything to them, and they fight tooth and nail to keep each other safe." She looked away, her mind on earlier memories. "They risk everything for each other. It is hard to get close to them, but once you are in the inner circle, they never let you out. You are family forever."

That was true. Maria, Liz, Kyle, Jim… they had been accepted as family. They were part of the 'pod squad' now. The seven of them were a tight-knit unit, and family in some shape or form, and family was everything to them. That belief, that their strength lay in each other, had been the backbone of the group, supporting them through trial after trial. Tess knew it was what had kept them alive. And she knew there had only ever been once exception to the 'forever family' rule.

Her.

Tess closed her eyes and pushed away the gloomy thought. What had happened, had happened. She couldn't change it now, why bother shedding tears over it?

Of course, that was much easier said than done.

Kani smiled suddenly. It was a small smile, a shadow of how she had smiled before Lotho's death, but it lit up her eyes nonetheless. "This might work," she murmured happily. "This might save us."

"How do we warn her?" Larek asked wearily. "I can't risk leaving my army or my planet unattended long enough to possess Brody, and she doesn't know anyone else here. Who else would she listen to?"

"Warning Isabel may very well save all our lives," Kani pointed out. "Surely you could take a moment to do that? It is only a tiny fraction of time you would be gone from the planet."

"Long enough for serious damage to be done," Larek replied. "I can't risk it, not with Khivar attacking us. I have to protect my people."

"But Vilandra would not trust any of us. She does not know us," Khai pointed out. "If you do not warn her, who can?"

"I can."

The words were out of Tess' mouth before she had a chance to consider them, and the moment she said it, she wished she could take them back. But all eyes had turned to her, staring at her in wonder, disbelief, and…was it hope?... and she knew she couldn't go back on what she said now.

It was Kani who broke the awkward silence. "You would do that?" she asked hoarsely, a thousand questions running through her mind. "We know you don't think that…highly…of her or the other royals. And how would you contact her? You don't have the ability to create telepathic connections, and it would take years for you to learn how to possess someone."

Tess considered the last question thoughtfully, then said, "Isabel and the others have been trying to find me. Through dream-walking. They weren't able to in the past, but maybe if I tried to reach out to them also…"

"It takes a lot of mental strength to do that," Khai warned.

Tess' lips curved into a sardonic smile. "You're the one who said I need to work on strengthening my mind. Reaching out across the universe to another planet seems like a good way to practice, doesn't it?"

"And you would do this?" Larek asked.

Tess glanced at him, pondering his question. Would she do this? Would she willing connect with one of the three people she least wanted to see in the entire universe? Would she face them, face her past, face the broken dreams and shattered hopes that she had left behind?

But she knew the answer to that, had known the answer all along.

She turned to Khai, her eyes serious. "Do you really think it could save us? If Max, Michael, and Isabel were warned?"

"I think it is the best option we've got," Khai replied without hesitation. "You'll do it?"

Tess bowed her head. "If it could save us? Yes, I will."

Next Chapter: Vengeance

Due Date: Monday 12/12