Jaal took a deep breath, and braced himself. "I have changed my mind."
"Have you? What about?" The moshae watched him calmly.
"I would like to perform the Ritual again, while we are on Havarl." She didn't move, so he added plaintively, "Please?"
The moshae laughed. "Of course, Jaal. I am pleased that you are being sensible. Come, then, and we will prepare."
It took three days before the moshae and Jaal were ready to go to his family daar to perform the Ritual. They wanted to give his family time to recover themselves after the fears over his siblings of course; but they also needed to be sure that his family understood what was happening, and what was expected of them. A second Ritual, when the first had not clearly failed, was unheard of. The situation was an odd one, and they wanted to give everyone time to adjust.
Ryder spent the time closed up in the medbay, speaking with Lexi and SAM; eventually Cora was admitted as well, her superior training and knowledge of biotics meant she had some answers that neither Ryder nor Lexi possessed. By the time Jaal and the moshae told Sara it was time to board the shuttle that would carry them to his home, she was ready.
Sara wasn't sure if she would be able to create her own end of the connection that Jaal would be creating between them; everything SAM knew about angara bioelectrics and everything Lexi and Cora knew about biotics suggested it should be possible, but it wasn't exactly a testable theory. So Ryder said nothing about it to Jaal. She would try, and if it didn't work, then they had lost nothing. If it worked, it would be a welcome surprise for him.
They arrived at Jaal's home at sunrise. Despite the fact that he already knew about the Ritual, and wouldn't need to spend the morning learning about it, the moshae had decided that they would keep things as close to tradition as possible. So, he would spend the morning alone with the moshae, and then would meet his family in the anj paara at noon to perform the Ritual.
Since only adult angara were permitted to attend the Ritual, Ryder would have to wait alone for it to be completed. His family, already in an uproar over the whole idea, had been resistant to entertaining a lone human while he prepared for the Ritual. Ryder, secretly pleased to have the time to herself, assured him she didn't mind.
The shuttle landed. Ryder smiled at Jaal, despite the nervous fluttering in her stomach. She stood as he approached; instead of following the moshae out of the shuttle, he stopped in front of Ryder.
"Sara." He set his hands on her shoulders, his luminous eyes fixed on her face. It hardly seemed fair that he was completely calm about all this.
"Jaal." She met his eyes and lifted her hands, trembling slightly with nerves, and grasped his forearms. Her hands may have been shaking, but her grip was firm. "I feel like I should say something. Humans would say 'break a leg,' but I doubt that idiom translates well."
For a moment, his attention was diverted; he wanted to know what the phrase meant and why she would be wishing an injury on him at this time. Reluctantly, he let the questions pass unasked.
"We would say, 'stay strong, and clear,' dear one."
Sara grinned, letting out a short laugh. "That does sound better. So. Stay strong and clear. Dear one."
Jaal's heart swelled at the endearment. Stooping quickly, he kissed her forehead, then left the shuttle to follow the moshae.
Ryder waited until Jaal and the moshae were clear of the shuttle, then peeked out. The landing pad was deserted. She walked slowly down the ramp, and looked around. She wanted privacy for her attempt, but she also wanted to be outside - if this went wrong, she didn't want her biotics to accidently fry the shuttle's systems, after all.
As she walked around the shuttle, she got a better view of the cliff wall that rose above Jaal's family home. It looked climbable. She walked closer to it, and spotted a good sized outcrop halfway up the cliff face. That would do well, she decided, and started climbing.
It wasn't long before she was wishing for her jump jets, clearly she had gotten lazy since they had been installed on her armor. Sara scowled at herself, and kept climbing. When she finally reached the perch, she fell over to lay on her back, staring up at the rapidly brightening sky above her while she caught her breath.
Finally she sat up. She wanted to have her attempt completed before Jaal started his Ritual, and time was passing quickly. She was worried that if she tried anything during the Ritual, it would throw things off. From everything the moshae had told her about the Ritual, if this attempt was successful, Jaal wouldn't know she had done anything until he completed the Ritual himself. Then, instead of a connection that led to a closed door, he would find that door open. Sara took a deep breath and smiled. That would be a wonderful surprise for him, if she could make it work.
Settling herself, she began.
When Moshae Sjefa told Jaal that it was time to go to the anj paara, he followed her without a word. He didn't dare glance back at the shuttle as they walked; he was feeling nervous now; he wasn't sure if it would be worse to see Sara watching him expectantly or not to see her at all, so he carefully kept his gaze fixed on the anj paara as they approached it.
His family waited within. Unlike his first Ritual, there was no excitement, no good natured teasing. Half the jokes would have fallen flat, seeing as how he was no longer fifteen years old, but the silence was faintly ominous. His family didn't know what to make of any of this, and though they had agreed to stand witness, he doubted they knew what outcome they were most hoping for.
It did not matter, he decided. He knew what he had felt between himself and Sara before. They were soulmates. Without the connection, it might be harder to build a relationship between them, but he no longer doubted that they could. The recent stress and concern for his family had shown him how he truly felt for Sara, when his self doubts and fears were pushed away. He loved her. Surely that was enough for going on with.
Moshae Sjefa also ignored the unusual atmosphere within the anj paara. She led Jaal to the center of the room, and motioned him to kneel in the center of it. She stood in front of him, his true mother stood behind him, and the rest of his family filled in between them until they formed a circle around him. Moshae Sjefa looked around the circle, meeting each pair of eyes, before speaking.
"We are here to witness the Ritual of Jaal ama Darav. Today, he forms the connection to his soulmate. We suspect this will feel like forming a connection to one who has not completed her own Ritual, since Ryder is human. It may not work at all, as we have explained to you. Nonetheless, today Jaal reaches for his soulmate, and we will be his witnesses. None may assist him, we simply observe."
The moshae's voice was clear and calmly modulated. Though the words differed slightly from the traditional introduction of a Ritual, they were close enough to bring some comfort to everyone gathered. She spoke slightly slower than normal, and as she finished, the sun reached its highest point. The opening in the top of the anj paara was directly over Jaal's head where he knelt in the center of the building, allowing a clear beam of light to fall on him, creating a circle just slightly smaller than the one formed by his family.
Everything was ready. The moshae nodded to Jaal; he drew a deep breath, and began.
Even with his eyes closed, Jaal could see the sunlight in which he knelt. It helped him focus and enhance his bioelectrical field. The test - holding the field within himself while it grew, letting none escape - had seemed so difficult when he was fifteen. Now though, with years of experience - and combat experience - behind him, it was simple.
He turned his attention to the place within himself where the connection had been. This too was easier; as a teenager, he had not known the shape of himself, had not know where that slightly empty place was. Now, after years spent probing at the original broken connection, he knew exactly where to cast his attention.
Finding the place where his connection to Sara should be, he directed the accumulated energy to it. He held it there tightly, letting it grow and allowing his nerves to settle. Then he released it.
The first time he had done this, the energy had flowed out of him in a steady stream, filled with a directionless eagerness. Now, he knew exactly where it should go. The energy didn't flow out of him, it shot out, filled with all the hope in his heart.
The moshae had warned him that if the connection could be formed, it would always be one sided. She had told him to be careful, that he was so much more powerful now than when he was fifteen, the backwash of energy would be more powerful as well. He had fully expected that she would be correct, and although he could not - in that moment - control the force of the energy he put into creating the connection, he did remember to brace himself. Without an open connection on Sara's end, that force would come back to him.
Except it didn't.
For one, haunted moment that seemed to last an eternity, Jaal thought something had gone wrong again. No echo, no answer, no snap. Just… nothing.
Then, a growing joy. Elation. His own feelings, not just received, not just accepted, but welcomed and returned. The connection between them was fully open, and he felt Sara's own joy and - yes - her love for him, flowing back along the connection and into him. The force of her emotions brought tears to his eyes. The energy she sent along the connection knocked him over backwards.
Jaal opened his eyes to find himself sprawled on the floor of the anj paara, staring up at his true mother with tears in his eyes. She was smiling broadly.
Before he could think of anything to say, the moshae's serene voice broke the silence.
"Jaal has successfully completed the Ritual. It seems his soulmate has - somehow - managed the same. It is a true connection, and stronger than any I have seen. Congratulations, Jaal ama Darav."
The moshae's words seemed to break the trance his family had fallen into. A few spoke quietly, and in an instant, the anj paara descended into chaos. This most unusual and spectacular Ritual would be remembered for years, he knew.
Jaal stood, hugged Sahuna and Sjefa briefly, and ignored the rest of his family as he made his way out of the anj paara. A moment's thought, and he knew exactly where to find Sara. He smiled at the knowledge, jogged across the landing pad to the cliff, and started to climb.
Exhausted after the effort of directing her biotics in a strange new way, Sara decided to stay on her comfortable perch and rest before attempting the climb down. She glanced down, and sighed again over her lack of jump jets. She didn't know if her efforts had been successful, she suspected she wouldn't know until Jaal was finished with his Ritual, if then. He would know, she was certain.
She didn't expect to feel anything from his Ritual, but she was very glad she was sitting down when he performed it.
The connection between them, which she had been picturing to herself as a wispy sort of bridge made of cobwebs of thought and emotion, slammed into place without warning. Jaal's determination was apparent in each aspect of it, it was solid and certain, and he didn't waste any time in letting it settle gently between them. For an instant, it felt like being impaled. The force of it knocked her over, and set her biotics sparking around her in response.
Her first inclination was to push it away - this was much more present than she had expected, much more of him than she had expected. Then, the connection established, his feelings washed over it and into her.
For the first time since she was eighteen years old, she felt her soulmate's emotions, and they carried more love for her than she had ever imagined to exist in the universe. She didn't even need to think about her response, she was already embracing his love for her and returning it. Her own emotions flowed through the connection in a way she had never been aware of before.
She felt his joy in her response, and shared it.
She knew that he was coming to her as soon as he thought it and she stood up, determined to climb back down to meet him as he left the anj paara. His own thought, his pleasure upon discovering where she was, stopped her, so she sat down and waited.
In much less time than it had ever taken him to climb this far before, Jaal reached Sara. He would have liked to just stare at her, here in the spot which held so many memories for him, but he was out of breath and his arms were trembling with the effort of the climb, so he heaved himself up and sat next to her, breathing hard.
He had almost caught his breath when he lost it again; Sara moved over to sit next to him, her left arm, hip, and thigh pressing against his right arm, hip, and thigh. The contact increased the sharing between them, and her happiness and wonder washed over him.
"Sara Ryder." He said it in a wondering voice, feeling as if he had known her his entire life and yet had just met her.
She smiled, though she was staring out over the valley. Her attention was all turned inward and he could feel her wonder as she brushed against the emotions that danced between them.
"Jaal ama Darav."
She spoke only his name, but it sounded like music coming from her, wrapped in joy and wonder and love.
Jaal laughed aloud, making the valley echo with his happiness.