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Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah. I don't own Avatar; James Cameron does. All the Avatar stuff belongs to him. However, my Na'vi character, myself, the Dragon Weyr and its technologies, and the Pandoran animals of my menagerie are all mine. The Protoss - apart from my characters - all belong to Blizzard Entertainment.

Pandora's Templar

A Work-In-Progress Story by Coranth Dehanae

Chapter 27

(Continued from Chapter 26...)

Then, gazing fondly down at me, she softly uttered, ~... But that will have to wait for another time. First, I must tend to my Lifemate.~ And tend to me, she did. Rejuvenated by my reestablished bond with Ieesha - as the days turned into months - I recovered swiftly, such that Lompor and San'eya were able to work me hard and get me back into shape. Soon, I was able to resume my Veterinary Missions about the world of Pandora, accompanied not only by Falkor and a team of veteran Tawkami Warriors but also by Ieesha, who turned out to be a wonderful help in getting me and any injured animals swiftly from the field, to the Dragon Weyr, and back again.

It was amazing how she was able to reintegrate herself back into my life; in fact, she did it so easily that, as far as I was concerned, she'd never left it! Whilst I resumed my duties as Pandora's Veterinarian, however, my beloved Ieesha did not sit idle. In addition to helping me with my duties, she, too, pushed herself hard to learn all she could of Pandora's Flora, Fauna, and Medicines and, of course, its indigenous natives; the Na'vi, and their Goddess Eywa. She gleaned said learning from my thoughts as I worked, she perused the great Archives of the Dragon Weyr, and she asked countless questions of our Clan's Healers and Tsa'hik, all of whom were happy to teach her.

In the end, it all paid off: my beloved was able to adjust the medical technologies of the Dragon Weyr's Clinic such that she was able to decode the genome of 'They Who Could Not See' and then use that information to construct a cure for the blood infection that still laid two of our rescued females low. With the learning she gleaned of Na'vi Physiology - combining that with her knowledge of the biological sciences and my knowledge of hard technologies and cybernetics - together, she and I were able to craft artificial wombs which we then had the Autodoc carefully implant into Lompor's mate, Maena, and another of our females, both of whom had lost their original wombs to the tainted, acidic seed of 'They Who Could Not See.'

Finally, through combining her knowledge of the Na'vi Nervous System with my knowledge of cybernetics, she was able to construct incredible biotechnological spinal grafts and crystalline nerve trunk bridges; these she gave to those females whom the Healers thought would never walk again. Srane, dear friends, to Clan Tawkami Ieesha became a miracle worker and a legend, so much so that many of the Clan's Healers secretly began referring to her as 'the Hand of Eywa' for whenever she was inside the Clinic, she seemed to be able to do the impossible. Thanks to my beloved Ieesha - as time marched ever onward - the females who had been sullied by 'They Who Could Not See' recovered... except one: my apprentice and friend, Txe'lan.

~I don't understand this at all ~ Ieesha said to me one day as we stood within the Clinic. Said Clinic, thankfully, was nearly empty of patients apart from Txe'lan and a few newly arrived animals possessing minor ailments. Ever-so-gently, Ieesha probed the opaque force field walling off the bed upon which Txe'lan lay, first with her latent psionic power and then physically with her muzzle--at which point she let out a soft, pained yelp and quickly stepped back! "Are you alright?" I asked, upon hearing her soft cry. Swiftly, I moved to inspect the damage, but as I did so my beloved gently waved me away. ~Ouch! I'm okay, sweet David, I just got a shock; it feels like I touched an electric fence,~ she said, gently rubbing at her muzzle with a wingtip.

As the minor pain from the electric shock that she'd received faded, suddenly, my beloved Ikraness let out a deep growl of frustration. ~Va'shah~ she cursed softly. Then, striding swiftly from the Clinic, she made her way to the Transport Alcove and as she did so I quickly moved to follow her. "What's the matter, big girl?" I asked as we walked. At my question, my beloved sighed through her nose before she answered. ~Attempting to override the forcefield surrounding your Na'vi friend's bed from within the Clinic is useless; no matter what overrides I use, the Dragon Weyr just won't obey me! Whatever those... things... did to Txe'lan must have shaken the Weyr, greatly; the reason why it attacked you when you enquired about this also still remains a mystery! But why?~

At her question, I shrugged my shoulders, and upon seeing this, Ieesha sighed softly again. Then, she continued, ~I want answers, sweet David; I must know why the Dragon Weyr won't let us examine Txe'lan... and, more importantly, why it hurt you so badly when you asked it about her condition! We've got to go down to the Weyrcore, immediately, in order to try and speak with it directly! If we do this, hopefully the Dragon Weyr will listen to us...~"The Weyrcore?" I replied. "Gods... I haven't been down there in years; not since the Dragon Weyr evolved to become sentient. That and I have another reason: Txe'lan has her sanctum down there - it's where she sleeps, stores her tools when she's not using them, and also where she practices her worship of the Weyr."

At this, Ieesha ceased walking and turned to stare at me, tilting her head in puzzlement. ~Wait a moment... your friend Txe'lan worships the Dragon Weyr? As a deity?~ she asked, her curiosity filling my thoughts. "She does" I replied, "and so do many others within the Clan. Thus, it'd be wrong of me to intrude within that place, unless of course, there was some kind of emergency that required I go there to get her." For a moment, my beloved's curiosity still filled my thoughts... but then, said curiosity became coloured - and then finally replaced with - disbelief, as she slowly shook her head. ~I don't understand that, David!~ she said, finally. ~The Dragon Weyr is a machine; an artificial thing! How can Txe'lan revere a construct - a construct, I might add, that I helped create - as a God?~

Shaking her head again, she let out a snort of disbelief, and upon seeing her behavior I challenged her! "Hey," I snapped, "how can you worship Trag'Oul, even though you haven't seen him? Humph... for all I know, your vaunted 'Great Dragon' might just be a figment of your imagination!" Upon hearing this slander of the deity she and her kin revered so much, Ieesha growled and bared her teeth, but - unimpressed by her attempt to silence me - I boldly continued. "How can I worship Adun, even though I haven't met him? And what about the Na'vi and Eywa? She isn't a God but the collective sentience of everything on this planet! You and I both know that - and now, so do many of the Na'vi of our Clan - but they still worship her.

She's not some mythical deity; she's a real, living entity... and so is the Dragon Weyr; to Txe'lan, it's something that she can truly believe in--and her belief in the Weyr is absolutely justified! So I'll thank you to respect that!" At my harsh words, Ieesha lowered her head - ashamed of herself - a soft whine escaping her as she replied, ~I... understand, David, and... I'm sorry...~ Heaving a weary sigh, I gathered her head into my arms and embraced her as best I could. "I'm sorry too," I murmured to her as I held her close. "I'm... I'm just worried about Txe'lan and I don't really want to go down to the Weyrcore, at all!" As I spoke, suddenly, Ieesha's eyes widened - her understanding filling my thoughts - as she softly said, ~You're afraid, aren't you?~

At her words, I was undone; continuing to hold her great head against my body - as if to draw strength from it - I nodded, shakily. "I am" I confessed. "The only ones who venture down there are Txe'lan and Sìlpey - Txe'lan because, as I said, her place of worship is there, and Sìlpey because she managed to find her way down by accident - and they've been remarkably tight-lipped about what they've seen there. I've no idea what state the Weyr's mind is in, or even what it looks like now, let alone how it will react to my presence, considering what happened the last time I tried to talk with it..." As I spoke, suddenly, from behind me there came a soft, husky voice. "The only way to overcome your fear of Txra'kon We'er is to face him, ma Olo'eyktan!"

With a soft "meep" and a startled yell, we pulled away from each other and then I whirled about to come face to face with Tsa'hik San'eya! The wily old Tsa'hik had snuck up behind us as we were conversing and now, she stood there, chuckling with mirth at our reactions to her presence! "By Adun" I gasped, clutching my chest "don't do that!" As the momentary burst of adrenaline left my system, I moved to lean weakly against Ieesha's body. At first, Tsa'hik San'eya did not reply; she just chuckled harder. A moment later though - once she was able to regain her senses - she said, "I apologize for my actions, ma Olo'eyktan; I have just returned from communing with Eywa. More of her children will be coming here soon; minor injuries, mostly."

At this, I nodded, and then - with a briefly worded psionic communiqué - I asked the Dragon Weyr to keep the Autodoc ready. As its weakened affirmation flickered in my thoughts, Tsa'hik San'eya continued, "If you are going to talk to Txra'kon We'er - truly talk to him - I would like to come with you. I would like to see him as he truly is." As I nodded to her in acknowledgement, softly, Ieesha replied ~You are more than welcome to join us, ma Tsa'hik. Come, let us delay no longer.~ And with those words, we headed into the Transport Alcove but, instead of having it shift us to a destination, we moved to the back of it where Ieesha affixed her gaze upon a retinal scanner, the outer covering of which was cleverly concealed to resemble little more than an ordinary knothole in the alcove's oaken-wall.

Once the scanner activated - and its beam passed over her eye - Ieesha stepped back, and then, Tsa'hik San'eya gasped as the entire alcove moved, lowering itself beneath the floor of the Weyrheart and then rotating roughly ninety degrees! When the Transport Alcove ceased moving, its exit - instead of leading back into the Weyrheart - now lead to a thick, featureless, golden psi-steel door that possessed no obvious means of opening it. Together, the three of us moved towards it and, as we approached, from a concealed speaker near it a commanding voice barked in Khalani, "Passkey?" Upon hearing the voice, I stepped forward and softly intoned "You speak of knowledge, Judicator. You speak of experience. I have journeyed through the darkness between the most distant stars.

I have beheld the births of negative suns, and born witness to the entropy of entire realities. Unto my experience, Aldaris, all that you have built here on Aiur is but a fleeting dream, a dream from which your precious Conclave shall awaken, finding themselves drowned in a greater nightmare." At these words - once spoken to Judicator Aldaris of the Protoss Conclave by Ieesha's Mentor, Prelate Zeratul of the Dark Templar - the featureless golden door smoothly slid upward. Beyond the door lay a short corridor leading to a great, spiral stairway forged of brass and steel; however the exit of this corridor was blocked by a powerful barrier comprised of carefully combined and tuned Khala and Void energies; the same energies that, together, Ieesha and I wielded.

With Tsa'hik San'eya following behind us, together we approached the barrier and then, ever so carefully, we merged a small amount of our latent energies together to form a powerful psionic bolt, which we then shot at the barrier. The same energies cannot occupy the same space, and thus, when our combined psychic bolt impacted the barrier, it was cancelled out. Together, we crossed the space where it had once existed, and then headed down the stairway beyond; as we did so, the barrier reactivated itself behind us. 'Humph... No goin' back now...' I thought. Upon 'hearing' the thought through our bond, as she walked beside me, Ieesha said, ~Do not fear, sweet David. When our business with the Weyr is complete, it will shift us back to the Weyrheart.~

'That's good to know. Thanks, Ieesha' I responded. She nosed one of my hands with her snout. ~You're welcome,~ she replied. When we reached the bottom of the stairway, Tsa'hik San'eya's eyes widened as her jaw dropped open in awe, for we had reached the final barrier separating us from the Weyrcore, wherein the mind of the Dragon Weyr was situated. Said barrier was far from ordinary, however; it was a titanic, gear-shaped, eight-foot thick door forged of replicated Voidsteel. The result of first manifesting a small amount of the purest form of Dark Templar void energy into reality as a solid construct and then passing said construct through a replicator, at first glance, Voidsteel resembled obsidian.

Its surface appearance, however, was where the substance's resemblance to the volcanic glass ended. Since Voidsteel was a solidified form of void energy, it never truly lost its connection to the void, the place from which all Dark Templar drew their power; some part of it remained in that supernatural realm at all times. Due to this lingering psionic connection, Voidsteel possessed many unusual properties. Firstly, when viewed in normal lighting, it appeared to absorb the light around it, creating the illusion that it was an infinitely deep black hole in reality. When viewed in dim lighting, the glasslike, metallic material glowed faintly with a multitude of colors. Additionally, the unusual substance exuded strange vapors; if one gazed at these thin, murky streams for too long, sometimes unusual and frightening visions could be seen within them!

Finally, when struck, the Voidsteel responded with an audible crystalline whine. Closing her jaw with an audible click, Tsa'hik San'eya moved to stand beside us. "The true form of Txra'kon We'er is behind that , ma Olo'eyktan ?" she asked, staring at the great door with trepidation. "It looks... very ominous... but it wasn't always this way." At this, Ieesha craned her great head around to look at my Clan's Tsa'hik of Eywa and replied, ~Kehe, ma Tsa'hik, it was not. I know through my bond with David that the Dragon Weyr shared with you not only my Lifemate's memories, but also its own past; thus, you know that the Weyr can change nearly all aspects of its form at will.~

Tsa'hik San'eya nodded thoughtfully at her words, and then, a moment later she replied "Srane... but, Txra'kon We'er did not show me what he truly is. I would like to see him with my own eyes, not through memories." The words of the elderly Tsa'hik brought a smile to my beloved's face and - as her happiness filled my thoughts - she quietly replied, ~Then you shall, ma Tsa'hik. You shall...~ With that, we walked up to the gargantuan Voidsteel door - a structure that I could never even hope to break through - and then, rearing up on her hind legs, my beloved braced her forelegs against the great structure and heaved against it with all of the strength that she possessed!

In this way - walking upon her hind legs and pushing against the door with her forelegs - she opened the great door and then, once it was opened sufficiently to allow us to pass through, she backed off, dropping to all-fours again. The moment she did so, however, she collapsed to her side, panting softly, her forehead covered with a light sheen of sweat. Immediately, San'eya and I turned toward her, concerned. "Are you alright?" I asked, producing a soft cloth from my Templar Robe. For a moment, my beloved Lifemate said nothing; she just nodded her head as she continued to pant. Then, a moment later - as I moved to wipe the sweat from her forehead with the cloth - she answered, ~Whew! I'm okay, sweet David. It was... a lot easier to move that... when I was a dragon!~

As Ieesha lay there on the floor, continuing to pant softly, Txe'lan and I knelt by her and softly stroked her cheeks and muzzle. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked as I caressed her. "I've just got you back, big girl; I don't want to lose you again! You should be careful, okay?" Upon hearing my words to Ieesha, as she gently stroked her hands beneath Ieesha's lower jaw, Tsa'hik San'eya nodded. "Srane, you should, ma 'Olo Sa'nok! Rutxe, listen to your Lifemate!" Touched by our concern for her, my beloved moved her great head to nuzzle us both, her panting soon becoming gentle, chuffing laughter. ~Hey, relax, you two~ she said, ~I'll be fine in a moment...~ True to her word, a moment later, my beautiful Pandoran Ikraness got to her feet, and then, she San'eya, and I passed through the opened Voidsteel door whereupon we finally entered the Weyrcore, a truly incredible place.

Beyond the opened door was a gargantuan room and within that room - stretching into the distance farther than the eye could ever hope to see - was an immense forest. The trees of said forest, however, although alive in a sense, were not living things of wood; they were Khaydarin Ihan Crystals, each of which stretched hundreds of meters into the sky. These amazing crystalline structures - the 'roots' of which grew throughout the Dragon Weyr - were part of the Weyr's Computer Core; they governed the correct operation of many of the Weyr's systems and each held within it a portion of the Great Archive, the sum of the mighty construct's accumulated knowledge and memories. Glowing from within with psychic light, the whole Ihan forest made noise; it 'sang' softly with the immeasurable power of Khalai energy.

Said energy permeated the immense room, so thickly that one could taste it in the air. This was a sacred place, filled with beauty and peace, and - as she looked upon it for the first time, Tsa'hik San'eya wept. "Olo' Ite Sìlpey was right! She was right!" she whispered as her tears streamed down her face. "This place is like Utral Aymokriyä... and yet, it is even more beautiful; may Eywa forgive me for my blasphemous words! Truly, Txra'kon We'er has blessed me; that I am alive to see this place..." Lapsing into awestruck silence - as she ceased her weeping and wiped the tears from her eyes - San'eya stared up at the many 'branches' which sprouted from the many crystalline trees. As she did so however, a frown creased her face and she raised a hand to point to one of them.

"Txa'vit" she asked, "what are those ketuwong things marring the branches of this forest?" Turning my head, I looked to where she was pointing. There - running between the branches of, and connecting each Ihan Crystal tree to its neighbor, were thousands of conduits - immense psiotechnological circuits resembling enormous fiber optic cables - all of which led back to a single source. ~They are called psionic conduits, ma Tsa'hik~ Ieesha said, finally answering the Tsa'hik's question. ~Working somewhat like your tswin, they connect a great mind with its knowledge and memories. Now, come; whom we seek dwells at the heart of this place.~ With that, we travelled swiftly through the Ihan Crystal Forest until at last we came to a huge clearing at its center: the forest heart.

Crystalline 'grass' stretched out before us whilst the forest 'trees' and their connecting conduits loomed high above our heads. What caught our attention the most however, was not the clearing itself, but what was within the clearing, at its center. There before us, hovering a few feet off the ground was the source to which all the psionic conduits of the Ihan Forest connected: a colossal space-faring craft! Larger than even the mightiest of Protoss Motherships, it was a "Frankenstein Ship"; a hodge-podge machine seamlessly constructed from what appeared to be parts of a multitude of other spacecraft! Ieesha and I, however, knew the truth of what it was: long, long ago this great ship had once been a far smaller vessel, called a Warp Prism.

For thousands of years the Protoss had studied the nature of time and space, gaining insight into the universe's greatest mysteries. The results of said studies had led to the creation of an amazing automated vessel called a Warp Prism. Using psionic manufacturing processes, the Protoss created a robotic mind whose programming was built into the molecules of an advanced crystal lattice. The resulting device was able to manipulate matter and energy with incredible precision. This particular Warp Prism, however, was far from ordinary; it was an ancient relic from a time long ago in Protoss History that few remembered and even more chose to forget: the Aeon of Strife.

Deployed in dozens of battles both large and small - destroyed, salvaged, rebuilt, destroyed and then rebuilt again - the 'Franken-Prism' hovering serenely before us had eventually been discarded due to a flaw, and then left to rot upon the planet Echelon III, where Ieesha and I had found it. What was the flaw that had made my people discard the Warp Prism, you ask? Over the years - as it was deployed in battle after battle - it became very good at working with its commanders, so good in fact that it began to 'anticipate' what they wanted and 'learn' how to carry out their orders with ever greater efficiency. Then, finally, it happened. An almost insignificant flaw appeared in the Warp Prism's crystalline matrix. The stresses of continual battle damage coupled with mission duration allowed the machine to evolve free will.

One day, shortly after being deployed to transport a platoon of Shelak Templar behind the lines of invading Auriga Zealots, the Warp Prism - after carrying out this order - simply shifted into Phase Mode and quit the field! The skirmish went bad for the Shelak that day and - several weeks later - the errant machine was, at last, found deep in the jungles of the Homeworld. Before the Warp Prism was shut down, the Leader of the Zealot Platoon sent to find it reported to his Commanding Officer that the machine appeared to be studying the movements of a group of Bengalass! When the faulty Warp Prism was taken to the Scion Forge for repair, so tiny was the fault within it, that - although they tried their best - the Protoss Artisans couldn't repair it.

Thus, the machine was taken to the planet Echelon III - a barren world, devoid all life but Zerg, which was used as a graveyard for wrecked protoss war machines - and there it was discarded. Its story, however, did not end on that world, for the Warp Prism reactivated itself and then - reaching out with its robotic mind - it seized command of a pair of dented, but still working Protoss Probes whereupon it used said machines to salvage and cannibalize parts from the wrecks around it, in order to keep itself 'alive' and functional. The Warp Prism's 'fight' for survival had been one of desperate necessity; whatever parts it needed to remain functional it had the Probes acquire, and it wasn't picky about where they came from!

Computer and Memory Cores from other wrecked Warp Prisms and Sentries; sensor packages and cloaking devices from Observers; powerful Gravitic Thrusters and thick armor from crashed Carriers. Hardened shields from Immortal walkers; Khaydarin crystal fragments pieced together from countless ruined ship cores, and even functional beam weapons from battered Void Rays, Colossi and decommissioned Motherships. Whatever the Warp Prism needed in order to fight and win against the Zerg presence inhabiting Echelon III, it scavenged, adding on more and more parts, growing, and evolving... Eventually, the Warp Prism became powerful enough to utterly annihilate the Zerg presence inhabiting the world.

When all was done and the Zerg Hive was naught but glass the sentient robotic vessel - which was now equivalent in power and size to a Protoss Mothership - settled down amidst its dead kin to wait. It held tightly to the belief that, one day, its Creators would see reason and retrieve it. Eventually, the evolved Warp Prism was retrieved... but not by its creators, for they were long dead. Countless centuries later - during a fun scavenge for old tech that we might tinker with back at home - Ieesha and I stumbled upon the evolved Warp Prism. At first we had no idea what the colossal, hodge-podge vessel even was; not until Ieesha sensed its robotic mind. The rest, they say, is history: Ieesha and I befriended the great vessel and returned with it to Aiur where it integrated itself into and swiftly took over the day-to-day running of the original Dragon Weyr.

Now, however, the great spacecraft was the Dragon Weyr; the Clan, Ieesha and I lived above - in the upper-levels of its nanocyte evolved Nexus 'body' - whilst down below, the original enhanced Warp Prism vessel still housed its robotic mind and spirit. This was the truth of the Dragon Weyr and - upon learning of it - my Clan's Tsa'hik of Eywa moved to stand before the colossal vessel and then sank to her knees, overcome with emotion. "This..." she breathed, reverently, hands outstretched almost in supplication to the great craft, " this is the true form of Txra'kon We'er? He... He is incredible , Txa'vit, more beautiful and majestic than I could have ever hoped to imagine!"

As the elderly Tsa'hik spoke, Ieesha fixed the great ship with a baleful glare. ~Resume full-power emanation from Sustainable Consciousness Apparatus,~ she growled.When Ieesha issued the command, multiple things happened at once. First, embarrassment and thankfulness bloomed fully within our thoughts as the great Warp Prism drifted forward to the furthest distance its tethers would allow, and nudged against the Tsa'hik's outstretched hands. When the mighty craft caught sight of us with its many sensors, however, it swiftly backed away from Tsa'hik San'eya and then set down within the clearing, folding parts of itself up in an attempt to appear as small as possible; not an easy feat for a colossal, Mothership-sized vessel!

Ieesha would have none of it, however. Striding forward past the Tsa'hik, she stopped before the mighty vessel, opened her mouth and then - as I swiftly pulled San'eya to her feet and covered her feline-like ears - my beloved bade the Dragon Weyr feel the full force of her anger as she let rip with a terrible, blistering diatribe! Exactly what she said to the poor vessel... well, dear readers, I cannot print her words here in this text, for the language she used would have made even the most battle hardened Templar Warrior quiver with fear. What she said certainly got that fear reaction from the Weyrmind; by the time she finished, the thick, armored plates of the great ship's hull were rattling audibly as it shook with terror, its many lights flickering dimly.

Ieesha, however, wasn't finished and as she inhaled a deep breath in order to vent yet more of her fury - as the Weyrmind's fear, hopelessness, and sorrow filled my thoughts along with her own tumultuous emotions - things got to the point where I just couldn't stand to see it anymore. 'This... this isn't the Ieesha I know!' I thought to myself. 'What the hell's going on here? At this rate she'll scare the poor Weyr into a nervous breakdown! I've got to stop this...' Entering a light meditative trance, I gathered some of my latent mental power and then - lacing it into my voice - I barked, "NACHT TEMPLARI... ISSAH'TU!" Thankfully, her transition from Kirathian Dragon to Pandoran Ikran hadn't dulled her mind - she hadn't forgotten her many years of training under the guidance of the Dark Templar - and she knew a Commander's voice when she heard it.

At my words and authoritative tone, Ieesha ceased her verbal attack upon the Weyrmind and then - as Tsa'hik San'eya looked on in confusion - instinctively, she whirled about to face me and snapped to attention! However, upon seeing that it was me whom had issued the command and not her mentor, overcome with anger, she revealed her teeth in a vicious snarl and then made to speak to me but I swiftly cut her off. "That's enough Ieesha!" I said to her, firmly. "That's enough." At my words, my beloved took a deep breath, and then opened her mouth as if to protest but as she did so I shook my head; I didn't want to hear it. Upon seeing this gesture, her words died in her throat as she first hesitated, and then finally lay down in front of me, releasing her pent up emotions in a great, gusty sigh through her nose as she rested her head on her paws.

Walking up to her, I knelt by her head and then - fixing her with a stern, disapproving gaze - I quietly intoned, "I have never seen such disgraceful conduct in all my life. The kind, gentle, benevolent, and loving dragoness I used to know would never have spoken to her creation - her child - like that; nor would she have used such utterly foul language... and in the presence of my Clan's Tsa'hik, no less! You bring great shame upon me and yourself; you dishonor your mentors and disgrace your station!" When she heard my words, Ieesha slowly closed her eyes - a soft whine escaping her - for in her heart she knew them to be true. As the sound escaped her, I continued, "You will stay here whilst Tsa'hik San'eya and I speak with the Weyrmind--if we can speak to it at all after what you put it through!"