6 solar days previous

"Sir?"

Gregor turned and eyed the aide standing behind him. "Yes?"

"Sir, we have been unable to locate the satrap."

Gregor sighed and rubbed his nose, feeling the oncoming headache despite the fact that the sun had only risen one solar hour ago. He had known, when he saw Janus stalk out of the Domicile just after sundown with a bewildered Barker in tow, that she and Nulas had had some kind of argument. Gregor had figured Nulas would return of his own accord once he was done stewing but he hadn't.

And now, Gregor's still slightly reluctant ruler didn't have the luxury of staying in his own world. The demonstration was still going in full force except today droves of people had shown up in the Domicile's main foyer either unable to get to their respective jobs or afraid to remain in their houses. Gregor was up to his ears in complaints, fears, and general anxiety and if they didn't do something to remedy the situation soon, all of Nulas's supporters would soon turn against him.

To top it off, two of the stewards had not returned at sundown with the others and no one seemed to know what had happened to the pair.

"I'll take care of it," Gregor said to the aide as he headed out of Chambers. It didn't take long before he found Nulas, still sitting back against the wall of a storage room with his chin on his chest.

Gregor crouched and gently clasped the man's shoulder, careful not to startle him awake. Nulas groaned and blinked groggily as he rubbed his eyes and stretched. "Gregor? What..." He trailed off as the previous night's events came back to him.

Gregor held out his hand and pulled Nulas to his feet. The satrap steadied himself and looked around, gathering his inhibitions and realizing it was, indeed, morning. "Janus and Barker?"

"Headed out awhile after sundown."

"The demonstration?" Nulas straightened his mid-thigh length shirt, pulled at the sleeves, and then ran his fingers through wavy black hair in a vain attempt to order the unruly locks.

"In full force."

Nulas grumbled and veered down a hallway to the daily buffet that was set up for all Domicile employees. He grabbed some fruit and a wrap and nodded for Gregor to continue his report.

"Two stewards are missing and there's something you need to see."

Nulas cocked his eyebrow in question as he allowed Gregor to pull him down a hallway. They stopped at the middle landing of a multistory, twin staircase that looked down at the main entryway of the Domicile. Nulas choked on his gwepi fruit as his eyes took in the horde of people standing shoulder to shoulder, their expressions generally annoyed.

"What?"

Gregor leaned on the railing and sighed, "It generally breaks into two groups. Those simply with complaints, and those who feel threatened in their homes."

Nulas pursed his lips in thought as he chewed on his gwepi. Finally, he nodded, and gestured for Gregor to follow. "Get some security down there, just for general crowd control. Set up a table to record complaints and find somebody with good social skills to man it. Have the others sent up to Jopni in Lodgings; make sure Jopni knows he is to make these people as comfortable as possible."

"You mean to house them here?"

"Why not? Nobody is using all our rooms. They are just going to waste." He shrugged and swallowed the last of his fruit. "Besides, they need somewhere to stay. Once that's taken care of we'll look into the missing stewards."

"Yes, sir. There are some reports waiting for you in Chambers."

Nulas nodded and they broke off in opposite directions.

***

Barker cursed as she tugged on the strange purple branch-like object that kept twisting itself around her arm. When she finally freed her limb she had to jog to catch up to Janus. "Hey, do you think maybe we could take a break?"

Janus kept walking.

"Janus?" Barker grumbled and stopped, looking around until she saw an innocent enough fallen tree which she promptly sat on. She pulled out her water and took a healthy drink then turned her eyes to the forest. She hadn't gotten an opportunity to truly look at the trees until now since they'd started on their trek when it was dark and hadn't stopped.

Tall trees reached upwards, their trunks branchless except for the top few feet. It made for a rather impressive canopy high above her head that blocked out the sun and still allowed a nice breeze to blow through the forest. Of course, there were plenty of other types of foliage, most of which looked completely unfamiliar to Barker.

Ever since she'd inadvertently caused some of the power relays in their ship to overload and essentially blow up in Janus's face, Barker's cardinal rule had been to keep her hands to herself. At least until she knew more about her surroundings. She would be the first to admit that it was more than a little intimidating to know next to nothing about her environment, but she found the uncertainty kept her on her toes and invigorated her.

A small hairy creature captured her attention, its tail twitching as it ran determinedly up the enormous trunk of one of the trees. She smiled and continued to watch it, even as she felt Janus coming closer to her position.

It was just a general awareness that Janus was there, much like how, after living in your house for awhile, you simply knew where the light switches were without looking. Eventually, though, that awareness of Janus got stronger until it became somewhat irrelevant because Barker could see, hear, and smell her tall companion.

Janus sat on the tree and stretched her legs out, pulled her own water out, and joined Barker in observing the critter. "Tis a yo'prve."

"What's it doing?"

"Lookin' for food."

Barker nodded and finally turned to face Janus. "I know you're pissed off about something. I knew before you came back to the room to get me. You can talk to me about it or not, now or later. It's your decision. I'd rather you talk than didn't, though, cause it'd be nice to know why I feel so terrible. But whatever you decide, Janus, your anger doesn't mean you have the right to treat me like crap.

"I'm not the problem here and, for better or worse, we're in this... all of this, together. We need to back each other up and we can't do that if every time one of us gets in a snit we stop communicating."

Janus's face contorted into some odd expressions for awhile as if it was a supreme physical effort to spit out whatever she was about to say. "Nulas."

"You got into a fight?"

"'E did not want us ta come out 'ere." She toyed with the strap of her bag and stared at her dirt stained boots. "'E tends ta..." Janus paused as she searched for an expression she had heard Patrik use many times in reference to his own children, "'Run 'is mouth' when 'e gets angry."

"What'd he say?"

Janus shook her head and stood then pulled Barker up beside her. "Tis not important."

Barker snorted and straightened the straps of her bag on her shoulders, "You're just sick of the heart to heart."

"Aye."

"Mm," Barker looked up at Janus and smiled, "I've got your number, lady."

Janus's lips quirked in a small smile which turned into a laugh when Barker playfully bumped shoulders with her. Barker grinned and clasped Janus's hand as they resumed their trek, the mood noticeably lighter.

***

Huran grabbed the back of Pi'nan's shirt and tugged her down beside him. "Are you completely crazy?"

She spared him a glance before poking her head up over a rock to keep her quarry in sight, "What do you mean?"

Huran felt his mouth drop open in pure, unadulterated astonishment. His silence continued for so long that Pi'nan finally looked down at him, her forehead creased in question.

"Are you all right?"

"Wh... I... I just followed you through the woods, all night, and you-"

"These people know something."

"Even more reason for us to have reported back!"

"They would have been gone by then!"

"Do you have any idea how reckless this is," Huran said, twisting around onto his knees so their faces were level.

"Of course I do, I'm not an idiot."

"And you know that man."

Pi'nan's mouth snapped shut on her already prepared retort. In the context of their argument that was something of a non-sequitur. "So?"

"Another reason for you not to be out here. He could recognize you."

Pi'nan blew out a breath and resolutely turned her back on him. "I didn't ask you to come. You could have gone back."

Huran sighed and edged up beside her, poking his head over the top of the rock as well, "Couldn't do that. I promised we wouldn't split up."

Pi'nan nodded as she studied the landscape before her. They had moved gradually closer to the mountains throughout the night. The trees had thinned out, the terrain was rough, and the air was noticeably cooler.

"So where'd they go?"

Pi'nan pointed towards a cluster of scrub and trees that were tenaciously clinging to life. Beyond that she knew the ground dropped down into a gorge a river had once run through and on the other side the mountain range truly started. It wouldn't be too hard to find anyone from here. People hardly ventured this far from the city so it was a simple task to follow the energy currents that were too big to be an animal.

Pi'nan chewed on her thumb as she stared off at nothing, truly considering the danger she'd put herself and Huran in. "What do we do now?"

"Now you're asking me?"

Pi'nan nodded.

"Well, we could head back and report what we know."

"Which isn't really anything," Pi'nan said.

"Right. Or we could keep on and try to get some facts."

"And maybe get ourselves killed."

"Right." Huran nodded and picked at a few stones littering the top of the rock. He'd go along with whatever Pi'nan decided, despite his earlier protestations. They were friends. Friends backed each other up, even when a situation wasn't simply black and white.

Pi'nan stood abruptly and thrust a hand out to Huran, yanking him to his feet. "They're going to be mad at us."

Huran grinned as they started down the slope to the gorge, "They already are. Might as well make it worth something."

***

Nulas threw the sheaf of papers he'd been sifting through onto his desk and leaned back, letting his head bend over the back of his chair so he was staring at the wall behind him. It was a highly un-satrap like gesture but he didn't feel much like a leader today.

It wasn't just the uncertainty of the entire situation that was grating on him. It was the fact that he felt wholly inadequate to deal with it all. He didn't feel qualified to make decisions that had the potential to cost people their lives. They'd grown up seeing their father do it, always competent, always decisive, but there had been a personal cost that precious few people had seen.

And now, to top it all off, Nulas had managed to make Janus mad at him. Not just mad, but truly enraged. He valued Gregor's opinion, trusted the man to a fault, but he couldn't fill the role of a sibling. Janus had been there Nulas's entire life. A permanent fixture. Nothing could replace that.

Nulas forced himself to his feet and over to the window to look down at the throng of people milling around. Some of them had signs with various slogans, some prominently displayed Taykio's colours on their clothing. He could hear, faintly, their chants and speeches, most of it incoherent propaganda that made little sense to those who didn't buy into their philosophy.

The problem with radicals was that it was notoriously difficult to predict their behavior. No one could delineate the coming course of events, or what might set the demonstrators off into a violent frenzy. The fact that there were people out there entertaining biological warfare was testament to how seriously the protesters were taking their cause.

Nulas had a sneaking suspicion that the people behind the bio weapons were a faction within this faction. They were likely the ringleaders of it all and if he could take them down, as well as Taykio, this whole thing would hopefully fade away.

But that was a lot of ifs, ands, and speculation. He needed something concrete, something or someone to go after. Right now they could do precious little but wait.

Demonstrations, after all, were perfectly legal.

***

This was not a good day. In fact, it was turning into a downright awful day as far as Janus was concerned. It had started simply enough, walking through the woods with Barker, their spat resolved and forgotten. She'd been able to put Nulas out of her mind and everything had been on the up.

Now, however, she was crouched behind a sizable boulder, the sun on her back, and rock chips were occasionally bouncing off her skin. Then, of course, there was Barker.

"Someone is shooting at us!"

Janus tugged the woman down more securely beside her and said, "Aye."

"We're being shot at!"

"Aye," Janus said again as she carefully looked around the boulder to get a better sense of where their attackers were.

They weren't far from the gorge and as such there was were many rocky escarpments laid out in the thirty or so feet between it and the gorge. She knew their assailants general position from their energy patterns but couldn't narrow it down.

A shot ricocheted off the rock mere inches from her face. Janus lunged back behind their cover. This wasn't good. They were stuck out in the open, this rock literally the only cover available to them.

"Why the hell are they shooting at us, anyway?" Barker said, turning her indignation fully towards Janus.

"Must be in the right place."

"That isn't funny."

Janus turned to face Barker at hearing the tone in her voice, "Ah did not mean it ta be."

"Where'd they even get guns? And why aren't you just jumping out there and taking care of this. I know why I'm hiding, but you're like...invincible."

"We do 'ave criminals, Barker. We 'ave fought wars. On the right settin' those weapons could kill ya."

"Kill who? Me? Or you?"

Janus blinked a few times as she thought about their conversation. This wasn't really the time or the place for it. Those people wouldn't sit up there forever taking shots at them when it was obvious they had no guns for themselves. She turned back to peak over the boulder in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse of the shooters.

"Janus?"

"Aye?"

"Are you going to answer me?"

"Aye."

Barker grumbled and situated herself to help Janus look. "I can't believe we're being shot at."

"Git used to it."

"You saying this is gonna be a normal occurrence?"

"Aye."

"Since when?"

"Always." Janus paused as movement caught her attention. There, clustered behind some rocks and scrub, on a rise not fifteen feet away. There were three of them with at least that many weapons each.

The sudden glint of sunlight off a barrel caught Janus's eye and she tackled Barker as a different kind of projectile whizzed through the space Barker's head had been in.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Sniper."

Barker shifted and rolled over so Janus's elbow was no longer digging into her ribs. She sprawled onto her back, Janus leaning over her. "You know, I don't have a problem using a gun. I've done it before. But I don't like being shot at when I don't have something to shoot back with."

Janus nodded distractedly as she pulled herself up to her knees, simultaneously reaching for their forgotten bag.

"If this is going to be as 'normal' a thing as you say," Barker continued, oblivious to Janus's distraction, "I really think we need to get ourselves some guns." Barker paused for some acknowledgment. "Janus? Are you listening to me?"

"Kin we talk about this later?"

"Why? So I will have forgotten how much I hate this feeling and will be more rational? No! I want you to promise me that when this is done, we'll seriously think about this."

Janus finally stopped rooting around in her bag, well aware that the shooters were getting ready to move closer. She could feel it in their energy. She and Barker were running out of time. But this whole incident and Barker's reaction spoke to something more going on. "Ya want ta carry a gun?"

Barker's head jerked and her eyes narrowed just a little, "No, I don't want to. But you're telling me it's a necessity. That we're going to be in danger again and if I have any hope of contributing to our safety, I need a gun to do it!"

Ah, Janus thought, there is the crux of the matter. Janus nodded again but made sure she caught Barker's eyes when she did it. "I am not brushin' ya off, but we need ta table this." She pulled something out of their bag and pushed it into Barker's hands.

"What-" Barker looked down at the object and her eyes widened. "You had a gun this whole time!" She wrapped her hands around the unfamiliar shape before looking back at Janus. "What are you doing?"

"Cover me."

"Cover..." Barker nodded as she realized the immediacy of the situation and took up a good firing position. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"I am going to..." Janus trailed off, looking for the word she wanted. Giving up, she raised a finger and made a circling gesture.

"Flank?"

"Aye."

Barker nodded, settled her nerves, and wiped her sweaty hands off on her pants. "Ready."

"One," Janus said.

"Two," Barker continued.

"Three."

"Go!" Barker popped up firing a second before Janus shot out from behind the rock in an erratic pattern.

Barker kept her eyes resolutely focused on her targets. She couldn't afford to keep even a portion of her attention on Janus's progress. It wasn't long before a volley of bullets swarmed down on her. Barker leapt back behind the boulder and grimaced when one of her leg muscles twinged.

She hoped Janus had had enough cover. Barker rolled over and poked her head out around the boulder. When no one shot at her she walked out from behind it, her gun trained on the rise, and slowly started towards it.

Barker was still a good ten feet from the rise when a body came sailing over the edge and plummeted to the ground with a hollow thump. She stopped in her tracks, staring, and then decided if he wasn't dead he'd at least be unconscious for awhile.

She wasn't stupid, though, and still approached the humanoid lump with a degree of caution. When Barker was close enough she nudged him with her foot, hesitantly and then more vigorously. Fully satisfied that he wouldn't be a problem any time soon she turned her attention to the rise and how to get up there.

***

There was a narrow stretch of well trodden ground that Janus supposed someone would call a path that led around and up the rise. She knew that they'd feel her coming and held no illusions of surprising them. Janus hoped, however, that Barker's suppressive fire would last long enough for Janus to take at least one of them out.

She moved quickly, abandoning stealth for speed and soon had a full view of all three of their attackers. Janus spared one moment's consideration for who had the deadliest weapons and then sprung into action, aware in some part of her mind that Barker's fire was tapering off but that she was unharmed.

Janus aimed for the one in the middle, two strides and then she was there, wrapping her hands around his neck for a smooth jerk before he even realized what was happening. She felt the others whipping around, their weapons coming to bear on her.

Janus dropped and rolled to one side, catching one of them at the knees and sending him sprawling. She captured his fallen weapon before it hit the ground, stood, and fired it over her shoulder at the third man. She felt his body take the impact, felt a flash of his agony as his energy suddenly dimmed then trickled out entirely, dead before he finished falling.

The attacker she'd knocked over was just reclaiming his feet and flailed wildly, an errant blow dislodging Janus's weapon. Irritated with the conflict, Janus took one short digging step forward, crouched, and powered upwards, hitting him full in the chest and launching him into the air and over the edge of the rise.

Janus paused for a moment, intent on his energy signature to determine if he was going to get up again. She nodded briskly and went about collecting their weapons before heading to the edge herself.

***

Janus popped into view before Barker could make any decisions about climbing the rise and held some other weapons above her head, "Ya want?"

"Sure."

Janus disappeared for another second then vaulted off the rise, kicking up a small cloud of dust when she landed.

"How many were there?"

"Three."

"They dead?"

"Mostly," Janus said as she sorted out their procured weapons. She slung one over her shoulder, handed another to Barker, and then stuck a smaller sidearm like the one Barker had in a leg holster she'd taken off one of their attackers.

"Did they say anything?"

Janus tilted her head, an incredulous look on her face.

"What?"

"Ah did not give 'em an opportunity ta shoot me by askin' questions."

Barker pursed her lips then smiled ruefully, "Right," she said. She rearranged her weapons for a few seconds before giving in and bending to take the holster off the man in front of them. "Should we do anything about him?"

Janus eyed his body in thought. She could kill him. In fact, she'd feel better if he were dead. There wouldn't be anyone behind them to cause problems, no one who even knew that they'd been through here. Normally, she wouldn't have any qualms about breaking his neck but an uncomfortable feeling developed in her gut when she thought about killing him in front of Barker. Janus nibbled on her lip and briefly regretted her impulsive decision to throw him off the rise. It would have been simpler to kill him up there.

Barker waited, taking in the slight play of emotions on Janus's face as she considered the only living attacker. While killing people who were trying to kill or otherwise maim Barker and the people she cared about wasn't something she took issue with, it was a different matter entirely when the conflict was over. And he wasn't even conscious.

"What if we just...tie him up?" Barker suggested.

The expression on Janus's face was answer enough.

Barker blew out a breath and looked around then nodded to herself. She started off towards the gorge and said over her shoulder, "I'm going on. You do what you think is best."

***

"You're crazy, Huran," Pi'nan said as he urged her onwards.

"I'm telling you, I heard weapons fire."

"Who'd be out here worth shooting at?"

Huran shrugged and pulled on her hand, "Maybe someone else caught on to the people out here? Maybe someone came looking for us."

They stopped in tandem, their eyes flickering over the landscape. "Do you..." Huran began.

"Yes," Pi'nan said as she nodded. She felt the energy signature. How could she not? Even the most insensitive, dulled of their kind would be able to feel this. Whoever it was wasn't far off and their emotions were running high, a state that typically amplified a person's energy reading.

Pi'nan was by no means the most powerful or aware of her species and neither was Huran. No one was really sure how or why it had happened, perhaps from their long years of isolation, but they'd all noticed a dwindling of their abilities.

It had started out innocuously enough. Hearing that wasn't quite as sharp, a smaller radius of awareness, all things that no one person noticed because it was lost in degrees. A fraction less here and there, and again three years down the road, until the population couldn't help but notice it. Family members started being able to sneak up on each other, people were mauled by wild animals, all occurrences that wouldn't have been imaginable in the heyday of their species.

It seemed to be a selective condition, though, if it could even be called that. There were some people who had barely lost any awareness in comparison to the rest and yet their living conditions hadn't been terribly different from anyone else on the planet. It defied explanation and logic but it was something they all had to live with.

Huran and Pi'nan advanced slowly and carefully, cognizant of the lack of cover should the person they were sensing be inclined to do them harm. As they neared a curve in the path they were following they slowed even more and edged carefully around the bend to peer at the person.

Pi'nan's foot slipped off a pebble and sent it skittering across the ground, crunching against others on its way. She cringed and braced herself for violence as they came into view of the person who was just swinging around and leveling a weapon at them.

Barker froze in her stance as the terrified expressions on the pair's faces registered. They had no weapons that Barker could see and they certainly weren't dressed for combat. She lowered her gun slowly but kept a tight hold on it. "Um, hello?"

Incomprehension flashed across Huran and Pi'nan's faces and Barker realized that she'd spoken in English. Ordering her thoughts she was just about to try again when she felt Janus coming up behind her. Barker watched them as their eyes flicked to Janus and twin expressions of surprise and relief quickly overtook their features.

Janus stopped when she spotted the two people standing warily across from Barker. They didn't look or feel threatening, in fact that seemed happy to see her. Janus felt her forehead crease in confusion, unable to fathom their reaction.

Huran cleared his throat as the silence lingered and he realized they'd have to explain themselves first before they'd be trusted. "I am Huran and this is Pi'nan. We are stewards at the Domicile. Gregor chose us to circulate among the demonstrators."

"What are ya doin' out 'ere."

Pi'nan lurched forward and raised a hesitant hand, "That is my fault. I saw a man I recognized and their conversation was..."

"Incriminating."

Pi'nan nodded, "Yes. I followed him. I know I wasn't supposed to but...he would have gotten away."

Huran's head bobbed in affirmation, "And I followed Pi'nan."

"Why?" Barker spoke for the first time.

"Wh..." Huran trailed off, not expecting the question, "Well...I promised Pi'nan that we'd stay together." His eyes shifted between the two women as they turned to each other with unreadable expressions on their faces.

Huran swallowed, shuffled his feet, and reached his hand out to find Pi'nan's. Her hand was slick with sweat and her eyes were fixed on the ground. They'd heard a lot about Janus and Nulas and their father. In many ways their family was a bit of a legend. Huran had a lot of respect for them and not a little bit of fear. He couldn't speak for Pi'nan but suspected she felt the same way.

Janus could send them both back to the Domicile and they'd listen without question. Though he hadn't been crazy about this whole excursion in the first place, now that they'd started Huran very much wanted to see it through. He wasn't a quitter.

Finally, Janus nodded and walked between them all towards the gorge. Barker fell into step a moment later and after subdued grins Huran and Pi'nan followed.

***

Barker stared down at the gorge unable to keep her mouth from falling open in shock. She hadn't quite been expecting something this deep and wide, something that looked decidedly insurmountable. She caught Huran and Pi'nan giving their obstacle similar looks.

Janus stood behind them all surveying the landscape. She'd known the gorge had been here. She might not have been home in a long time but she wasn't ignorant of her own planet's geography. Of course, it had changed over time, though not drastically, and she had forgotten some of the finer details, but it was still essentially as she remembered.

"How, um," Huran turned to get all three women in his sights before continuing, "how do we even know that the people we're after are over there? We lost them awhile back. They could be-" He cut himself off when he caught the expressions on both Janus's and Barker's face.

They'd turned to face both Huran and Pi'nan fully, twin looks of confusion and disbelief writ large across their features. Janus walked forward until she was only a hands breadth away from Huran who had to force himself not to step back.

It was unsettling, the way Janus was looking at him. Or, more accurately, into him. After an eternity of staring Janus switched her regard to Pi'nan who gulped and offered a weak smile. When Janus finally stepped back she wasn't giving any indication of her thoughts which only made Huran more nervous.

Barker felt the confusion raging through Janus as the two of them turned away from the two stewards. "What is it?"

Janus shook her head the tiniest bit and shrugged, "Ah kin not say. They are just...diminished."

Barker shook her head rapidly, "I don't know what that means, Janus. You need to tell me what's wrong."

Janus tried to order her mind while berating herself for not noticing it sooner. She hadn't devoted a lot of her awareness to the state of her brethren in the last two days. Granted, she hadn't been around many people except for Nulas and Gregor and she had no reason to doubt Gregor's capabilities. He'd helped them defeat the Ebokras, as had the handful of others he'd brought with them. There had been nothing wrong with them, nothing diminished about them.

Realizing that Barker was still waiting for an answer Janus started speaking, "It is like...it is like we are a fire."

"A fire?"

"Aye. When we are 'ealthy and normal-"

"Like you."

Janus nodded, "When we are normal we are a bright fire. Strong, large flames. When we die or are injured, the fire dimes until it goes out and we are gone." Janus stopped to gauge if Barker was following.

"The flames are extinguished and so are you," Barker said.

"Aye. But they," she nodded to the stewards, "are dimmed even though nothin' is wrong. And...smaller."

Barker's face scrunched in confusion.

Janus squared her stance with Barker's and put her hands on the smaller woman's shoulders. "Close yer eyes. Ignore everything else and just focus on this," Janus moved one of her hands from Barker's shoulder to her stomach.

With the extreme physical contact it wasn't hard for Barker to block everything and let her awareness of Janus surge to the forefront of her mind. It felt like a string was pulled taut between them.

Janus ducked her head to get a better look at Barker's face. She'd never tried anything like this before and Janus was skeptical about it working at all. Janus had learned early in their relationship, though, that Barker had a tendency to pick things up quickly. This wouldn't be the first time that Barker surprised her.

Janus put her mouth right next to Barker's ear and whispered her next instructions, "Now take that feelin' and turn it into a sight. Make it tangible."

Barker grimaced, trying to do what Janus was asking of her. This was by no means the first time Janus had given her cryptic instructions and Barker knew that it wouldn't be the last. Every other time, though, Barker had put her mind to it and achieved whatever Janus was asking of her, no matter how bizarre it sounded. This time was no different.

It took a few long minutes before Barker jerked her head into a nod. She'd done it, at least she thought so. Janus's breath tickled her ear with her next command, "Now open yer eyes."

Green eyes blinked open slowly into a tiny squint before getting wider. She raised her head carefully, unsure what to expect. When Barker finally focused on Janus she couldn't hold back her gasp and stumbled back a step.

Janus steadied her, having expected the reaction, and then nodded over to the stewards who were watching in rapt fascination.

Barker saw the nod but couldn't tear her eyes away from Janus. There was this bright, blue tinged silver glow radiating out of Janus's body. It was strongest at Janus's chest, so much that Barker almost had to look away.

She couldn't help but look down at herself to see a similar luminescence, only it was a light green colour with invading swirls of silver and blue. Barker traced those colours back and almost gasped again when she saw the column of energy that stretched out between her and Janus. The silver and blue was bleeding in from Janus's energy and now that she was looking closer Barker saw some of her green making its way towards Janus.

Janus kept her eyes trained on Barker, well aware of how truly unique a situation this was and that she was unlikely to experience anything like it again. None of her people realized how amazing their everyday lives were simply because they knew nothing different. Seeing Barker's astonishment at something that was common place for Janus was indescribable.

Barker finally pulled her attention away from Janus and herself and turned to look at the stewards. Immediately the dimness of their energy assaulted her, an undeniable difference in relation to her and Janus's own brilliance. Then Barker realized what Janus had meant about size. Janus's energy looked like it was bursting at the seams, straining to expand beyond the confines of her corporeal body. It was, in fact, difficult to see Janus's arms and separate her legs into individual limbs. With Huran and Pi'nan, however, their energy just barely reached beyond the center of their body.

"I see what you mean," Barker murmured.

"Aye."

"Now how do I stop seeing this? Cause as cool as it is," Barker turned to face Janus, just then noticing that everything living within her field of vision had some discernible energy signature, "I don't think I could live like this."

"Close yer eyes and just let the rest of the world back in."

Barker steadied herself with a deep breath and did as she was told. She pushed her awareness of Janus down and into the back of her mind and consciously tried to find other things to focus on. The feel of Janus's hands back on her shoulders and the smell of Janus's body standing so close, the slight breeze through her hair, a few distant birds chirping at each other. The sudden head rush almost sent Barker to her knees. She grabbed onto Janus's forearms as her knees wobbled. When her head cleared and she felt like her feet were solidly beneath her Barker opened her eyes, relieved to see Janus was completely normal.

"Are ya all right?"

Barker sucked in some more deep breaths and then nodded, hesitantly at first but then more confidently. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Ya sure?"

"Yes."

Barker nodded once more then wrapped her arms around Janus in an impulsive hug. "That was the most...incredible thing I think I've ever experienced." She pulled back to look up at Janus's face, "Thank you."

Janus gave a small smile and placed the smallest of kisses on Barker's lips. They pulled apart and turned as one to find Huran and Pi'nan staring at them, dumbstruck expressions on their faces.

Barker smiled nervously and turned determinedly towards the gorge, "All right, people, how do we get over this thing?"

Janus looked up at the sky, surprised to note that the sun was far lower in the horizon than it had been when they'd arrived at the gorge. She and Barker must have spent more time immersed in each other than she'd thought. Janus rolled her shoulders, not liking the thought that time had slipped so easily from her.

"We git over it in the mornin'. It will not be safe ta try in the dark."

Barker jerked her eyes up to the sky, "Oh." Then she nodded and grabbed their bag, pulling out the blankets and rations Janus had packed. "The morning, then."

To be continued...