Tools of the Light
by Sunraven, Mar 1999

The Ingata took off from Korun with the crew radiating excitement. They had been informed that they might be going into battle, and for Warrior Caste, that was the ultimate siren's song. After only a half day out from Korun, Terra was already exhausted by the steady stream of strong emotions battering her shields. Granted, she was already tired when she came on board, and still frazzled from her brutal schedule during the plague. But the myriad of different emotions in the close confines of a war cruiser the size of the Ingata were getting through to her fairly quickly.

At the moment she was doing the final examination of Sech Durhan, who had private quarters down the hall from hers. He appeared to be almost completely healed from the illness, but she wanted to make sure of it, just in case. She just knew that as soon as he was let loose among all those warriors, he would be using that denn-bok again. The man was completely predictable.

"How am I doing, Doctor?"

"Both the scanner and my examination show that you seem to be completely recovered, Sech Durhan. I'm not sure, though, whether it wouldn't be a good idea for you to avoid strenuous activity for another few days."

"Is there some risk?"

"I don't think so." How was she going to keep this crazy old rascal from sparring Lenann right off as soon as he left this examination? "But you may not be up to your maximum strength yet. If you decided to get in a denn-bok match with Lenann, for instance, you might find yourself at a disadvantage."

"How long should I wait to be sure I am up to full strength?"

"Oh, about three more days would get you back in fighting mettle, I think. You can do some denn-bok work, like training others and such, and be just fine, but not a full fledged hours-long match until then."

"I will wait, then, Doctor. I am not going to give my pupil any advantage other than the significant one he already has!"

"And what is that?"

"Youth, of course. He is only fifty-two cycles old. If I was his age, I could take him down in a quarter of the time."

"You're still young at heart, Sech Durhan, but it is the nature of the teacher-student relationship for the best students to surpass the teacher. That is a compliment to the teacher, not an insult. If you hadn't taught him well, he wouldn't be even close to being able to beat you."

He smiled like a Cheshire Cat. "Yes. I know. I am very proud of him, and Neroon as well. But do not tell either of them I said so, for they are both overly full with their own self-importance!"

She smiled. "My lips are sealed. I'll take my leave of you now, and return to my quarters. I'm still tired from the time of the plague."

He looked at her. "Yes, you look as though you could use some rest, Terra. And thank you again for taking such good care of me."

"You're most welcome, Durhan." She bowed to him, and left. Lenann was idling outside the door, doing katas with his denn-bok. An audience of Rangers and Warrior Caste stood side by side and intermingled, all animosity forgotten as they got caught up in the beauty and skill of the Fleet Captain's display. He was still taking his duties as escort seriously, even with Shakiri's dogs being called off, and stayed pretty close to Terra most of the time. She was beginning to have difficulty imagining him not being beside her. Durhan followed her outside, and they both watched him showing off. He was absolutely the most beautiful man she'd ever seen when he performed his graceful moves. The flowing beauty of it made Terra's heart stop in her throat just watching him. She was sorry when he stopped as soon as he noticed them, and bowed.

"Sech Durhan."

"Lenann. Your katas are still as theatrical as ever, I see." Only Terra could sense that the master was very pleased with the performance of his old pupil.

"When the Doctor has released you, Sech Durhan, you will be able to see first hand how practical my katas can be." Then he grinned impudently at the old Minbari, causing Terra to giggle in a definitely undignified way. She almost expected Sech Durhan to go right back in and get his denn-bok and start sparring right then and there, so strong was his wish to do so. But sense won out, barely.

"The Doctor has not released me, you young impudent Religious Caste, but will in three days time. Then I will show you some of the things you haven't even begun to learn yet about the denn-bok, all of them painful. If you have the courage to face me, that is."

The gentle hazel eyes twinkled merrily. "It will be my pleasure, Master. Till then, though, you should rest and gather your strength!" Then he compressed his denn-bok, bowed to his open-mouthed audience, and in an unusually demonstrative move, took Terra's arm and started heading towards their quarters.

"How is he, really, Terra?"

"He's fine, Lenann. But I talked him into giving you a three day grace period before you two spar again. I told him he needed that much time to get back to full strength. He's actually ready now, but I don't want him pushing himself. He is fighting getting old every step of the way, but his body knows its age." They reached their quarters, and Terra palmed the lock open and went in.

She sensed him as soon as she walked into the room. Neroon was sitting on the couch in the living area, his armor off, a cup of her herb tea in his hand, and obviously completely at home. Great. Just what she needed when her shields were like rice paper.

"You've made yourself at home, I see." She nodded at Lenann as he decided to make a strategic withdrawal.

"Yes. This is the first chance I have had to come and welcome you to the Ingata properly."

Terra kicked off her shoes, got onto the couch, and tucked her legs up under her. Neroon handed her a cup of tea, which she started sipping tiredly. She put her head on the couch back, and sighed.

"I definitely need to catch up on my sleep. I'm still exhausted, and being on a ship full of excited warriors preparing for battle isn't helping my shields at all. I need to spend some time in solitary meditation to bring them back to full strength."

He reached over and drew her to him. "You can lean on me, if you like."

She did just that, but had trouble finding a comfortable position. After a moment of trying, she turned and poked his iron chest with one finger. "You know, you don't make a very good pillow, even with your armor off. You're too hard with all those muscles and things for me to use you as one."

He buried his face in her hair, a sexy smile on his lips. "And things?"

She had to smile. You had to admire someone with that much determination to get you into bed. "Neroon, please. I really should rest, and alone, I'm afraid. With the shape of my shields right now, being around you too much will probably tear them completely down, what with your emotions being so strong. And you don't want to be near me when my shields are completely down. I broadcast every emotion, and pick up everyone's within range of my gift. That would include everyone aboard the Ingata."

He was a little hurt, but he said gently as he got up and put back on his armor, "I will leave you to your rest, then, and will go back to the battle planning sessions."

She caught him just before he left. "Delenn told me what you said to Shakiri on my behalf, Neroon. You took quite a chance doing that. If Shakiri becomes your enemy, your position will be greatly weakened among your caste."

"As I mentioned before, Delenn has a big mouth! But I did what had to be done, Terra. Your safety had to be assured. I did it in a way that let Shakiri think I was doing him a political favor, anyway. He seemed to take it without too much anger. But if he did become my enemy, then he would find that he has greatly extended himself. I am not a healthy person to have as an enemy."

She smiled, then got up on her toes and brushed his lips with her own. "Thank you for what you did, dear one."

His eyes lit up, and he made an almost visible effort not to grab her and kiss her. "You are welcome." He bowed briefly, then left the room.

Lenann showed up a few minutes later, sounding surprised as he said, "Terra? I just saw Neroon in the hall. From the look of things, I, uh, thought he would be here for a longer time."

"He would have been, except that I needed to rebuild my shields before they drop completely. I am starting to project fairly strongly, and rebuilding my shields has to be done alone. "

The handsome Religious Caste just watched her intently for a minute, looking and feeling very much like Ledann while he was doing it. Terra felt her heart lurch, and felt a strong desire to move into his arms and kiss him. Arousal coursed through her body and settled in her nether regions. Lenann took hold of his denn-bok nervously, and she felt an answering surge of arousal from him. Suddenly red-faced, he said, "You were correct to send Neroon away, Terra. You are projecting right now, and I am finding it very disconcerting." He turned to go back out the door, and as he left the quarters, he said, "I believe I will go do some denn-bok work in a training hall well beyond your empathic range. "

Temporarily abandoned by her ubiquitous male escorts, she spent the next several hours meditating and started the difficult process of rebuilding her fragmented shields. After reducing the extremely vocal emotional bedlam down to mere whispers, she fell asleep on the couch in the living area and didn't stir again until Lenann came back much later with Neroon accompanying him.

"Terra?" The Satai's voice was soft as he leaned over the couch next to her prone body.

She opened her eyes and said, "I'm awake." Grabbing his arm as an anchor point, she sat up, yawned, and stretched until her muscles popped.

He eyed her body stretch with enjoyment and answered, "Yes, I see you are. Are your shields better?"

"Yes, they do feel better, and stronger than they've been in days. Did you finish your war planning?"

He looked down, momentarily embarrassed. "I have to admit that I saw Lenann going to the training ground near the meeting room, and decided that I needed to train with the denn-bok as well. We were at the stage that we were rehashing old material in the meeting, anyway."

"In other words, you couldn't resist having a rematch with him, could you? You are a glutton for punishment! How long did it last this time?"

Lenann sat down on a chair next to them. "It did take longer this time for me to disarm him. I think he's been practicing without me knowing!" He grinned at Neroon.

Neroon flushed, then glared at his kin-by-oath. "You forget that you are talking to a Satai, Lenann. I should take you out skin dancing and teach you some respect for your betters!"

"I'm not Warrior Caste, Neroon. I wouldn't be dim enough to get out and try to do skin dancing against the best skin dancer since Teroon!" Teroon was Neroon's father, and Terra could feel that he was pleased by the complement. Though she felt that Neroon had to be better than his father had been. After all, his father was killed in a skin-dancing exercise, and Neroon was still alive after a six year war with the Earthers, skin dancing all the way.

Chakur had invited them all to his quarters for dinner, and they all went. He was definitely mellowing towards her, Terra noticed. Which meant that he was a lot more comfortable to be around.

"Sech Durhan, some of my crew would like to challenge your Anla'shok to a few contests. What do you think of that?"

Durhan's eyes lit up, as did Lenann's and Neroon's as well. "I didn't think you liked to be embarrassed so much, Chakur. Are you sure? Remember, I trained these Anla'shok personally. What type of contests did you have in mind?"

"Oh, just a few small contests like individual denn-bok sparring, skin dancing, partners sparring, both hand to hand and with the denn-bok, strength and dexterity tests, endurance tests, and of course, sparring with the Retla'charr!"

Terra gasped. The Retla'charr were the knuckle knives that were a traditional Warrior Caste weapon. Since Neroon didn't use them much, the last time she had seen some were when Kalain's effects had been given to her to take home. They were very deadly, and dangerous even in sparring matches. She spoke up without thinking. "No!"

All of the men looked at her, startled. She continued, "Captain Kalain told me that the Retla'charr were only used in traditional battles between warring clans, in the times before Valen. Captain Chakur, don't you think it would be disrespectful to use them in a contest against Humans? I'm sorry, but it reminds me of Kalain, and the great sacrifice of the Trigati."

Durhan looked at Chakur. "The Doctor has a point, Chakur. I don't train the Anla'shok in the use of the Retla'charr, because it would be disrespectful to our ancient traditions. Perhaps we should skip that contest. Although the others would be fair game!"

That was all they needed. Starting the next afternoon, the contests between hand picked Warrior Caste and the Rangers would begin! Inwardly Terra sighed. She had better go scavenge first aid supplies from the ship's doctors, because the Rangers were liable to be pretty beat up. Though they would hold their own, she was sure. After all, they'd been trained by Durhan himself!

 

Part 2- the contest is on!

Go to Tools of The Light, Part 2