"Always that brave and a bit reckless?" Rick thought about the tree event and a few other stories and nodded. "Yepp, I think so. It's part of who she is. And I think with the Blessing we'll see a lot more of that." He grinned. "Gonna be fun!"

For a while he watched Ash look out of the window, obviously deep in thought, probably a thousand miles away. "Okay", he finally started. "What exactly did the Tsahiks say yesterday? So far I only got bits and pieces - that 'we're off the mission' part for example. What Ra'nah said about the future of the Clan. The thing about the red eyes and singing you lullabies. But I'm still trying to make head or tails out of it." He sighed. "I know the feeling of 'hey, there's still so much to do', but sometimes another part of the troup just has to take over for a bazillion of reasons. You get used to it after a while. Plus - downtime is important. Nobody who wants to win a war runs their troups ragged if it's not absolutely necessary."

"I'd've had something else in my britches or loincloth," Ash smirked.  "I'm pretty sure if I'd seen that I would have shit myself.  Was she always that brave and a little bit reckless? --No wonder you two hit it off!"  She laughed.

"But that's Enya for you, isn't it?" she continued.  "She's a child, and the world to her is pretty simple - when she sees something wrong, she has to fix it or make it better or maybe just not so bad.  From what I've heard here and there, it's the times when she can't do anything about it at all that get her most upset.  Kind of like me that way...  This sitting around doing arts and crafts when I feel like I ought to still be on a mission is gonna drive me insane.  Who's got time for a sabbatical?"  She frowned; then she parked her chin on her palm and directed her gaze through a window, her eyes growing distant, and she said nothing further for what must have seemed like a long time.

"And I wish those experts all the strength and success that's needed." He raised his mug in a silent salute.

"About the Avatars..." He put the mug down again. "Well - they are. Their own thing, I mean. I know the initial idea was to lab-create something, yaddayadda, but we all know that Avatars turned out to be something much, much more. I know Enya from back in the day when Solanda still was alive and it was an eye-opener from the first time we realized that there was so much more to her. So, yeah... they're their very own kind, even if they have parts of Na'vi and humans in them. Like a kid - got parts of both parents, but are still their very own people."

"About how Enya got 'em covered? I know as much about that as you do, but the way this world works it could literally be everything she's done. From her playdates with Navie to fussing about a shellshocked Ni'ka, helping Tsanten up to saving Ni'tingal's egg." A grin showed up on his face. "You should have seen her yesterday - she almost flew up that hill and dived right into Ni's nest. The rest of us all had our hearts in our pants and loincloths, well, besides Tali. Somehow Ni'tingal considers Enya some kind of special chick and I'm glad it turned out that way."

He paused. "If ist's one of those or the million other little things - I don't think she had to do anything, I think whatever she did, she did it cause it simply is what she does."

"Oof..."  Ash palmed her forehead as if she wanted to massage away a migraine.  "Please, I've had enough of the 'Save the World' talk to last me a redwood's lifetime...  We're excused from that, remember?  You just said so yourself."  Lowering her hand, she looked up again.  "It's in the Tsahiks' hands now.  What we did was go places a Na'vi couldn't go, to fetch things a Na'vi can't handle safely.  That's not nothing.  But if this moon is going to be saved, it'll be because we helped them help Eywa.  And you know what? --I'm fine with not getting the credit, because that means we don't carry the responsibility either.  At least, not all of it...and we've done our part, we've done what humans can do.  Now we let the experts take over."

Finally she reached for her long-since-cooled cup of coffee and an arepa from Brenda's basket.  "Actually, Ali'ite said something really intriguing about that...  She said the Na'vi aren't the only ones suffering this time, that humans and Avatars are here now and so they're caught up in this too.  So the solution is up to all three 'kinds'..."  She paused to mull that over afresh, which left her looking awed but also a little unnerved:  "...and she said that Enya's already got the Avatars covered.  Like they're their own thing.  Like they're part of how this happened.  Like they had to help make up for it too..."

"Don't discount those things we... you... did there", Rick replied. "They might be the reason this hypothetical archeologist has something to set foot on and not a burnt out, Vrrtep-consumed dead lump of lifeless space stone. So that's a pretty huge thing to find." He raised a brow. "That is one of the reasons I like Brenda's thought - it means there's something left to dig up, ya know?"

"But even if we put that aside - dunno if I got that right last night, but it seems we'll be spending some time here, so who says that you won't build anything in the future? Those monkey bars Bren was talking about, they're not out there yet. We haven't shared our last mug of coffee or made our last, or even first, part of pottery. While you were in the shower we were talking about it. Pandora Polytechnic. And taking the breather the Blessing gave us to just... live a bit. And indeed together. Whatever happened, you have friends around here and I think as soon as you're ready they'll be happy to see you join."

"'Together?'"  Ash looked skeptical as she made her way to the little table.  "We have, yes, you and I; and as long as it was just you and me, I think I was doing okay except for the guilt.  We've certainly done some worthwhile things.    Rescuing Ni'ka; rescuing Tsanten; nabbing the shards..."  She smiled at the memories, but then sat down heavily.  "But that was before we brought Enya's family here.  Since then, what have I done 'together' with anyone else here except worry them, trip them up or drive them crazy?  Have I built anything?  Have I provided for anyone?  What would those archaeologists find here of me?"

Rick nodded back, the gesture being as much acknowledgement of the things Brenda had said as a good bye.

"I think it's a beautiful thought too", he said once Brenda had left the habmod. "What they might find will be the things we built. Together."

"'Not right now,'" Brenda repeated.  "Works for me...  I reckon you two do have some things to talk about, don'tcha?  And Ash especially doesn't need me moderating the discussion.  Not if it's about feelings and deep impressions and things that rattle you to your foundations.  Sounds like it might be that.  And for her, especially, it might take a little practice talking about those things at all."

She got up, yawned, and reached for her rebreather.  "Okay, I'll catch up with the story whenever you guys are ready to share.  Right now I need to catch up on my sleep...  Thanks for sharing breakfast.  Tell Ash what I said about how you two have really made a life in this place, and about having more friends here than she maybe realises.

"I keep thinking that maybe, in a couple millennia, someone like Solanda is gonna dig up this complex and say 'You know, there was actually a There there.'  And they'll ask themselves all kinds of questions, like why there's Na'vi pottery and human coffee mugs around the remains of the hearthfire, or whether a beaded armband was something besides jewelry, and they'll look at the post-holes for the obstacle course and wonder what was built there.  Maybe someone'll even guess hurdles and towers and monkey-bars.  And then they'll wonder whether it was maybe a human place for rehabbing hurt Na'vi, and wouldn't that explain all the rest?  And the beauty of it is, they'll be right."

Her eyes and mind on the airlock, Brenda didn't notice Ash approaching behind her until the latter cleared her throat.

"That...that was really beautiful, Brenda," said Ash.  "I can actually see that happening..."  And then her more usual awkwardness overtook her; she actually looked embarrassed for having had the thought, let alone for sharing it.

But Brenda's eyes were soft and kind behind the mask.  "Thanks, babe; that means a lot to me, coming from you."  She grinned:  "But now that I've got this thing on my face, I want to get it off ASAP, and I can't do that 'til I make it home!"

She threw her notion of a salute to the couple, then ducked out.

  -:-

...and that's it for what I had on GroupSpaces, which shut down about half an hour ago (2315 US Central).  But that's not where my records end, oh, no.  This started as an e-mail exchange between me and Kiye, remember? ...And I have the whole thing.  More later, but soon!



(Enya's team: First visit to Ultraspace - yes, there was more than one!)

...and more story.

When the adventurers reached the Altar, the world went really quiet; no sound but the wind, their footsteps, and the little splashes they made in the shallow pools surrounding two square standing-spots.  Lillie stood on one and gestured Enya onto the other.

They played their flutes...the most beautiful, ethereal chord I've ever heard in a game or out of it.

[Playing the Moon Flute.png]  [Altar o't Sunne - Pools.png]  [Playing the Sun Flute.jpeg]


The Altar awakened.  The Sun-symbol at its apex began to glow, and long-dry channels filled again with flowing water.

[Altar o't Sunne Awakens.png]  [Altar o't Sunne - Platform.jpg]


A portal opened; a great globe of solar energy emerged, hovered over the kids...then lifted Lillie's backpack into itself, with Nebby in it.  Big energy fluctuations ensued...and what fell out of the orb, landing on thunderous cat-feet, was Solgaleo, the Lion of the Sun...who gave Lillie a kitty-bump on the chest and was still willing to answer to "Nebby".

Yeah!!  The girls had been thrashing all over the Pokémon Grand Canyon in search of the Legendary's aid, and he'd been backpacking with them all along!  The fan theory was right!  Lillie's known him since he was a wee little cloud of stars!  And Enya was right too; Cosmoem was his intermediate form, the cocoon.  You can still see the blue starry core in Solgaleo's forehead, and the remnants of the rings in his mane...  "My, how you've grown!"