"Most people are inside their quarters. We've suspended almost all flights in and out of the station. Commander Kulomani was expecting trouble, but there's been.... I almost couldn't believe it." e
He continued to stroke her hair, recognising the undercurrent of grief in her voice. She had felt guilty for so long for what had been done to Earth. She was more or less over it now.... or so he thought. He hadn't been paying enough attention to her recently. If she had been upset, he doubted he would have noticed. y
This could not help but remind her of Earth. u
"G'Kar?" he whispered, not truly wanting to know the answer. s
"Alive," she replied, and his heart gave a little leap. "He contacted me from Dros. He's on his way here now. He should be here soon. He sounded.... I don't know. He was alive." y
"That's good." o
"Yes, but.... someone died. Lennier. I don't know if you remember him.... He came with me and Londo when I was.... ill. He helped me. He.... didn't make it away. So many didn't." u
She kept talking. John kept holding her. w
"I did not know him well, but he was a good man, and a good friend of Londo's. He was a.... reminder of my past.... and now he's gone. I look around sometimes and I wonder what is left of my life. All the pieces I once knew are disappearing one by one until I fear there will be nothing left." i
"I'm here," he said. But he had not been. For so long he had not been. He had left her on Z'ha'dum. He had not been there when their son died unborn. He had failed her time and time again. l
Just as he had failed Anna. l
"What are we doing now?" o
"There's going to be a meeting of the Council. As soon as G'Kar gets here. We need to work out.... what to do. The Vorlon Ambassador hasn't been seen since.... it happened. Some people are screaming for revenge, others for some kind of agreement. But until the Vorlons talk to us, we don't know what to do. I need to talk to G'Kael, and G'Kar. Especially G'Kar. Ambassador Durano hasn't done anything, which worries me. Lethke doesn't know what to do. We're all just.... trying to stay standing while the earth moves beneath our feet." b
"We're on a space station. The ground is always moving beneath our feet." e
"I know." y
"Delenn.... there's.... something we need to talk about. About us. I know things have been distant between us recently and I'm as much to blame.... more so, but.... This isn't the right time, is it?" u
"I am sorry, John. I cannot think, but I do want to talk to you." s
"Tonight?" y
She nodded. "Tonight." o
He kissed the top of her forehead and reluctantly pulled back from their embrace. "I should go and.... do things. Talk with Kulomani, perhaps. Let me know if G'Kar shows up, and I'll see you later." u
"Yes," she breathed, her green eyes awash in an ocean of tears. w
"Later." i
llobeyus
The song spoke to her in a language she had never before experienced. It was a song of mourning and memory and joy. Sinoval stood in the centre of the ruined city, his arms spread wide, his face upturned to the heavens, and sang. y
Through eyes sparkling with tears, Susan saw again her last goodbye to her brother. She saw the last conversation with her mother. She re–lived the last argument with her father. A hundred images filled her mind at once and she wept for each of them. o
Remembering the feel of David's skin on her fingers, she sank to her knees, holding her head in her hands. Laurel's voice touched her mind. Everything she had ever done, everything she had ever known, everything she had ever lost. u
Hunched into a ball, she crouched there, shaking, furious at the invasion of her privacy, at the violation of her memories and her emotions. w
She fell forward and thrust out with her hand to steady herself. As she touched the ground, she pulled back sharply. i
The ground was warm with heat and with life. Opening her eyes, she looked at it and saw red light crackling beneath the greyness and the blackness. l
Blinking away the tears, she looked around. The Tuchanq were on all fours, heads raised towards the sky, crooning along with the song. The sound was so alien, so full of love and power, that Susan wanted to cover her head and hide. l
She felt like an outsider, like a trespasser at a sacred and holy ritual. This was not her world. Her world had been blasted to rock and rubble. These were not her people. This was not her cause. o
She should not be here. b
And yet she could not find the strength to rise and leave. e
Sinoval seemed lost in the song, standing still as a statue. Around him burned a golden glow, and then, before Susan's eyes, ghosts began to appear beside him, rising from the earth and shimmering beneath the sky. Tuchanq, human, Narn, Drazi, Centauri and a hundred races she had no name for or comprehension of. There was even a Vorlon flickering below the slate–grey clouds. y
The light was almost blinding. u
Sinoval's face was emotionless as the souls joined him in his song. Susan had not thought him capable of singing. Her mother had told her that to sing involved laying out the secrets of one's heart to public view. Susan did not think Sinoval had a heart, let alone any secrets there to lay out. s
But the way he sang, the power and majesty in his voice.... it fitted. It was a song of war and a song of the peace that comes after war. It was a warrior's song, and a peacemaker's song. It was the song of a leader and a prophet and a messiah. y
And a saviour. o
The song stopped, the spirits vanished and Susan again found the courage to look up and around. The sky was a bright blue, a colour so intense it almost blinded her. The ground was red and gold. u
The Tuchanq were on all fours, heads bowed before Sinoval. w
"Saviour," they whispered. "Saviour." i
"One world dies," Sinoval intoned. "And another is returned to life. Such is the way of the universe." l
Susan wanted to hit him. l
obeyus
"In case you didn't hear me the first six hundred times, I don't want you doing this." y
"Which of us is in charge of me?" o
"I'm telling you, I don't like this. I may not be able to read minds, but I have pretty good instincts. That's what Mr. Edgars thought my telepathic powers were: hunches and minor premonitions. Something bad's going to happen, and that Vindrizi and that Box are at the centre of it." u
Talia's eyes flashed with momentary anger. Dexter stood there, arms folded, staring at her. "Whatever force controls the Box is on our side. It helps us." w
"But we don't know what it is?" i
"We know enough. It helps us, it is anathema to the Vorlons and the network in some way, and it can foretell the future. I don't need to see a 'Made in Proxima' stamp on the bottom." l
"I can tell enough of the future, thanks, and I don't like it. The Vindrizi, either." l
"You couldn't understand!" Dexter took a step back, as if he had been struck. "I am going to commune with the spirit within the Box. All you have to do is make sure nothing interferes with me. If that's too hard for you, I can get someone else to do it." o
"If it's too hard for my mundane little mind, you mean." He looked at her for a long while. He had seen her pass through numerous personae. Bester had trained her as an infiltrator and saboteur, and she was a master of disguise. There had been times when he had been with her that he had not been sure which persona was real and what was crafted illusion. b
Now, he was sure that what he was looking at was real. She was angry, her eyes blazing. A leader and a soldier and a protector of her people. e
Which did not include him. y
"Do what you like," he spat, walking away. He wanted to be as far away from that accursed Box as possible. u
He did not see the expression on her face, but he did not want to. He walked out among her people, her telepaths, and was stricken afresh by how different he was from them. These weren't his people, and this wasn't his war. His people were the inhabitants of Sector 301. He had sworn to protect and help them, and what was he gaining by getting involved in telepath matters? s