Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 21:58:58 -0700
From: Dan Kirk <kirkjr2@cox.net>
Subject: Mists of Fate - new god 4

Mists of Fate -- Chapter 4 -- Understandings

As they leaned against each other, neither Ter nor Andrei could figure out
who was supporting who.  Both men felt sick to their stomachs at the sight
of Tylera that had waited for them.  They both took a deep breath at the
same time and moved to walk down the steps of the Temple.  They stopped at
the first one and smiled at each other, surprised at how they had moved in
unison so easily.

"We can do this." Andrei said softly, a smile playing at the edges of his
lips.

"Together, yes.  I think we can." Ter responded, also feeling some warmth
creep back into him.  Once more in unison, the two of them completed their
journey down the steps of the Temple, and made their way out into Tylera
proper.

Their first stop was the Priests' compound.  There were about fifty people
pounding an improvised battering ram against the main door, oblivious to
their approach.  Ter could hear the door screeching as it was pounded and
figured it wouldn't be long.  A glance at some of the upper floors revealed
scared faces of the younger priests, and boys of the orphanage.

"What do you think you are going to gain here?" Andrei's question boomed
out over the small crowd.  As one the group of men (Ter noticed oddly there
were no women in this group), turned and snarled at the site of Andrei and
Ter standing there.

"Stand aside, Shaper!  The High Priest must pay! All " one of the men,
obviously their leader shouted.  His voice fluctuated between respect for
Andrei and anger.

"Why?  What has he done that has you so upset?" Andrei asked, his voice
exuding calm.

"He...he...let those priests DO those things!" the man stuttered out, his
face full of disgust.

"He let them?" Andrei asked, his voice expressing concern. "How did he let
them?  Wasn't he the one who put them on trial?

"Only because you made him!" another man in the crowd shouted.

"I did no such thing.  It was High Priest Ter, and High Priestess Minalena
who set the trial up.  I had nothing to do with it accept approve it."

"But, but that doesn't fit!" The first man said, confusion showing on his.

"Go home," Andrei commanded, his voice firm.  "Go home and think about
these things.  Tomorrow come to the Temple and I will commune with all of
you on this."

The crowd dispersed quickly at that command, leaving Ter and Andrei
standing before the beaten door.  Ter could feel the occupants of the
building rushing to the door, trying to open it.  Their efforts were
unsuccessful since the door had been pounded out of shape by the attackers.
A wave of his hand and a moment's concentration took care of that.  Moments
later they were surrounded by young men and women, (and) boys and girls all
shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Enough!" Ter shouted, amplifying his voice a trifle. That seemed to calm
down the excited priests and their charges.  As they quieted down, crashes
and booms, and screaming could be heard coming from elsewhere in Tylera.
The setting of the sun only brought more gloom.  The fact that lamplighters
hadn't lit the streetlamps made things seem even worse.  Ter fixed that
problem himself, lighting all the lamps in Tylera with a thought.

"Priests and Priestesses!" Andrei's voice boomed out as the crowd jumped
excitedly in the sudden light.  "Now is not the time for recriminations,
fear, or anger.  It is time for you, as the leaders of Tylera to help the
people. "

"Help them do what, rip our heads off?" one older priest in the front
snapped.

"Of course not!" Ter snapped back before Andrei could say anything.  "First
off, organize a triage area here.  Have food and water ready for people
that need it.  There may be wounded, if there are, pray for Healing.
Shaper Andrei will hear your prayer, and heal them.  That is at the core of
the priesthood, we provide support for the people, not harm!"

"Well said, High Priest." Andrei said in a soft voice that still was heard
by all.

"What will you be doing?" a younger priest, actually an Acolyte from his
robes, asked.

"We will be going out there, going to the people." Andrei told them.

Together, Ter and Andrei turned from the courtyard and began to walk out
among the streets of Tylera.  The sections nearest the center of town held
the more affluent of the town's residents.  The houses and businesses were
spread further apart, and often were several stories in height.  Darkened
windows, and tightly shut doors were common here, with little damage
evident.  As they walked, they grew in height until Andrei and Ter both
stood twice as tall as normal, their footsteps practically booming in the
silent streets.

The noise attracted notice immediately.  Furtive motions in the windows
provided evidence of people peeking out around heavy drapes.  Some even
came onto the patio to see Andrei walk by.  Their eyes usually passed Ter
quickly, and focused on Andrei.  Both men could feel the effects of people
seeing Andrei alive and well.  By the time they had completed circling the
first section of town, there was a palpable increase in the mental support,
and belief of the people.

However, the next section of town was not going to prove so easy to deal
with.  Walking down the main boulevard to the next circular street, the
found a tall, three story building almost totally engulfed in flame.  In
front of the building, a distraught man was wringing his hands while
staring at the flames, most of his family huddled around him.  Andrei and
Ter came up behind them and quickly read the man's mind.

Andrei immediately sprang into action.  Both of them reduced back to normal
size and he ran into the building.  Behind him, Ter concentrated, draining
the flames of their heat until they were snuffed out.  Moments later,
Andrei reappeared from the nearly totaled building.  Over his left shoulder
was the man's wife, and in his arms was their youngest child, a baby of a
few months.  Both were alive, and as Andrei set the woman down, and handed
the man his child, the entire family broke out in cheers.

"Thank you Shaper!" the man said after a moment of tears.  "I knew that you
were safe all along!"

"Go to the priest's compound." Andrei told him, seeing the man's face
spasm.  "The guilty have been punished.  Those that remain are true to
their priesthood.  Believe in them as you do in me."

The man bowed at that, and Ter felt like a dagger was twisting in his
stomach.  He moved off beside Andrei as the man gathered his family
together and headed back towards the center of Tylera.  During the next few
minutes they found several more fires.  Unfortunately, the people in these
homes were mostly dead and beyond their help.  Still, the fires were put
out, kept from spreading any further.  Their journey continued in silence,
except when one of them spoke to a citizen.

As they neared the end of their circuit, the sounds of a mob grew louder.
Andrei quickened his pace as they got closer and closer.  After a few
moments, they rounded a corner and were treated to a horrible sight.
Before them were about five hundred people, torches burning and weapons
made out of chair legs or other broken furniture being held high.

"Burn Him!" The crowd was shouting "Burn the priest-lover!"

Again, Andrei and Ter grew in size, this time until they were three times
the normal size of a human.  From this height, they could see the front of
the crowd, and a man being held on a hastily built platform.  Ter
recognized the man as a community leader who helped the orphanage out a
lot.  One of the men holding the prisoner had a knife to his throat.

"Stop!" Andrei shouted, his voice booming so loud that people covered their
ears.  "How dare you do this!  What gives you the right to take the life of
another?"

"But, but, we saw you burned!" the man with the knife said.  His hands
started shaking the knife dropped to the platform.  The men holding the
prisoner took a step back, releasing him.  The prisoner didn't seem to
notice that he was also staring up at Andrei.

"You thought I was burned." Andrei told them.  "I am shocked at how little
faith you have in your Shaper.  Do you think a false one like Polda could
have harmed me?  Is that how little you think of me?"

"But you have been so different the last month!" the speaker on the
platform cried out, sinking to his knees.  "How could we trust the priests
after what we saw?"

"Because I am here now." Andrei said, not sure exactly how to answer the
question.  "High Priest Ter is a man of integrity and reason.  He found
corruption and dealt with it.  Instead of hiding it, he trusted you to
understand.  I'm only sorry he overestimated your intellect."

The crowd, who had been listening intently, but silently, groaned in unison
at that.  Many hung their head in shame, a few cried out for forgiveness.
Andrei stared at the speaker on the platform and the man slowly wilted
under that gaze.  He dropped to his knees and bowed his head to Andrei's
giant form.

"Shelter us Shaper, forgive us!" he cried aloud.  The crowd followed suit
and started to repeat his words. Both Ter and Andrei could feel the further
strengthening of their shield against the Mists.  Ter let out a deep sigh,
which was painfully obvious to the crowd they towered over.

"Hear me, my people." Ter said softly to them.  "You are forgiven.  Know
this, the priesthood stands ready to help you even as you stood to reject
us.  Go to the compound if you are injured or need food.  If your homes
have been damaged, go there also.  Your needs, even now, will be cared
for."

Andrei nodded, and the crowd began to disperse.  Together, they moved on to
the next section of town.  Here, more scenes of destruction and anger
waited for them.  They put out the fires they found, saved who they could,
and comforted everyone they found.  Slowly the night passed, and as the
first lightening of dawn filled the sky, they reached the edge of town.

The edge of town, where the shield had ended its retreat from the Mists.
Beyond it had once been farms that would have provided food for Tylera.
Now they were gone, consumed by the Mists.  Tears had long since dried on
Ter's face, but he wished he could give more.  He just didn't have it in
him.  He was startled to feel Andrei's hand grab his.

"It's all my fault." Andrei said softly.  "I never should have left with
that madman."

"I could try to say it's all my fault." Ter said after a few moments.  "We
could argue about it for eternity.  How about we just admit we all made
mistakes, including Mina."

"You loved her a lot, didn't you?" Andrei asked quietly.

"Of course, she was like a second mother to me." Ter answered gently.

"There's not going to be enough food for everyone unless we `make' it."
Andrei continued, jumping around in topics.

"Then we'll make food.  I'm not going to let people starve to death because
of my mistake." Ter answered firmly.

"I know." Andrei stated. Then, in a young voice, "What's the meaning of
life?"

Ter couldn't help it.  He laughed.  Not a guffaw, not a chuckle, but a full
belly laugh.  Andrei stared at him for a moment then felt a laugh building
in him.  Soon both men were on their knees, holding each other and their
own sides as they laughed the stress away.

"You!" Ter got out after a few minutes, still laughing.  "You are a Shaper,
a God!  You've got thousands of years of memories of the greatest being to
ever live, and you still ask that question?!"

"I just thought the High Priest would know...besides I wouldn't describe
J'Stan as the greatest being to ever live.  The horniest maybe, but not the
greatest."

"Horniest?" Ter inquired, his prurient interest stirred by that.  "Why do
you say that?"

"Oh, my." Andrei said, his eyes glazing over at some of the memories.
"Before he settled down he was so horny he'd get turned on by almost
anyone, and get himself into big trouble."

"Well, guess you can live vicariously." Ter said, his tone a little
sarcastic.

"You're jealous!" Andrei exclaimed, figuring something out.

"Yes, I am." Ter answered honestly.  "J'Stan got to be with you, and I
never have."

"Oh my!" Andrei exclaimed, then starting laughing again. It took him a
while to get it back under control.  "You don't know how wrong you are!
J'Stan may have been interested, but I wasn't.  We never did anything, Ter.
Probably never will."

"But, but the thrones..." Ter stuttered, his face a mix of hope and
apprehension.

"Image, Ter, image.  I need the people's belief transferred from J'Stan to
me, and that implied a close relationship between him and I.  I needed that
and used it.  No, he isn't the one who keeps getting my attention."

"Has someone then?" Ter asked, then clarified. "Gotten your attention I
mean."

"Yeah, someone has." Andrei answered, a small smile beginning as Ter's face
drooped a little.  He leaned in until his lips were almost touching Ter's.
"You."

"Me?" Ter asked, his voice little more than a whisper, and his breath
brushing Andrei's face.

"Yes, you." Andrei answered, his grin growing as he gave in to his feelings
for a moment.  "You know, J'Stan always said that danger makes a person,
um, excited.  I think I believe him now."

"I think I'm starting to get tired of that." Ter said, pulling back, but
still grinning a little.

"Tired of what?" Andrei asked a look of surprise overtaking the grin.

"Oh, the J'Stan this and J'Stan that."

"Um, might I remind you that you are the High Priest and preach J'Stan this
and J'Stan that." Andrei said, a laugh bubbling up.

"It's one thing as part of the service, it's quite another dealing when it
comes up between us."

"Between us?"  Andrei whispered, his grin coming back and he stepped closer
to Ter. "That almost makes it sound like there's something going on between
us..."

"There might be," Ter whispered, grinning now, moving in just a bit more.
Their lips were now separated by the barest of margins.

Andrei couldn't believe the feelings he was experiencing at that moment.
He leaned forward, closing the distance between their lips.  The contact of
their lips sent jolts of pleasure up and down his spine and passion quickly
consumed his remaining thoughts.

It wasn't until Ter pulled back from the kiss that he was able to think.
He found himself panting a bit, staring into the Ter's eyes.  They both
just stood there smiling for a few minutes, neither speaking, both
breathing heavily.

"Why didn't you..." Andrei asked after he felt more recovered.

"You were untouchable.  Haerod forbade anyone but Creis or himself to touch
you.  I tried to be as friendly and supportive as I could, but I nearly got
myself in deep trouble each time." Ter whispered softly, putting his arm
around Andrei.

"I'm scared." Andrei said softly.

"Scared of what, me?" Ter asked, his face grimacing.

"No, silly!" Andrei giggled, pushing Ter away a moment, then moving to put
his own arm around Ter.  "Of what we're gonna do now.  What about the
people?  I'm not sure how to proceed from here."

"You're the one with J'Stan's memories, not me." Ter said, a little
defensively.  He had to push the feeling of desperation down.

"Having his memories, and being him are two totally different things."
Andrei explained, trying to put something into words that was more of a
nebulous feeling.  "I remember the day of the cataclysm from J'Stan's
perspective.  I remember every day, every life he lived in exile at
Guardian's Valley.  I remember every decision he made after the founding of
Tylera."

"So, I'm sure he's faced crisis like this before, just look at how he
figured out a solution and apply it here." Ter reasoned calmly, relaxing
into Andrei's arms.

"That's the problem." Andrei said softly.  "He didn't reason things out.
He got what he'd call `gut instincts' and went with them."

"You're kidding." Ter exclaimed.  The thought of the legendary figure not
planning things out made him shudder.

"I know." Andrei said, a hint of laughter in his voice.  He could feel Ter
shuddering in his grasp.  "You taught us to think things through, to reach
reasoned decisions.  Now the only thing to go on comes from a man who
rarely thought things out, and when he did, they never went the way he
planned."

"But, still, you have the memories and experiences of thousands of years
of..."

"Knowledge, yes." Andrei interrupted.  "I'd remind you of the question you
asked me during the Dedicated interviews.  `Are knowledge and wisdom
related?'  I seem to remember you being rather impassioned on the
response."

"Yes, and you did very good." Ter retorted, remembering that discussion.
It had been one of the meetings where he'd really felt himself falling for
the younger man.

"So, you're the older man here, what do you think we should do?" Andrei
asked.

"Stop baiting me so you can change the subject." Ter exhorted, lifting a
finger and flicking Andrei's nose.  "Sorry, thought I saw something there."

"Now who's changing the subject?" Andrei asked between a few chuckles.

"Me.  I think we're both at a loss here." Ter said with a sigh.

"How about we do a J'Stan?"

"You mean lock ourselves up inside the Temple and forget about everything?"
Ter asked, his face faking being excited about the idea.

"Cruel, but true." Andrei said after a few seconds staring at Ter.  He
almost didn't recognize this man.  It seemed like there'd been a totally
different person hiding inside the man.  A person he didn't know before,
but really liked.  "No, not locking ourselves away though.  I was thinking
about just being spontaneous and letting things flow..."

He was interrupted however, by a rippling of the shield near them.  Andrei
immediately moved into a defensive stance, between Ter and whatever was
coming through.  The form that materialized was not one he welcomed..  He
quickly sent the memories of his trip to the underground cavern to Ter.

"There you are!" Michael Strausser exclaimed.  "Why did you leave like that
Andrei?  I didn't have a chance to show you..."

"Enough Strausser." Andrei interrupted, his voice firm.  "Leave us be.  I
have no intention of going anywhere with you, and you are most definitely
not welcome here."

"Why would you say that?" Strausser asked, a look of confusion on his
face. Anger, disgust, and a small amount of pity welled up inside Andrei
for a moment.

"Strausser, if you don't remember why, you are even more of a danger than I
thought.  I don't care where you go, but leave here now!" Andrei ended up
nearly shouting.  He felt dizzy for a moment, and Ter instinctively reached
out to support him.  As soon as they touched, Strausser's face took on a
grimace, and his eyes flashed eerily.

"You're with him aren't you?" Strausser sneered, waving his hand in their
general direction.  "I should have known you were a faithless bastard!"

"What are you talking about?" Ter demanded.

"You stealing bastard!" Strausser shouted, focusing on Ter now.  "Well, you
think you can waltz right in and steal him?  I won't stand for it!"

As he said the last word, Strausser stomped his foot and the ground began
to shake.  Both Ter and Andrei lost their balance, and the shaking only
seemed to increase.  Around them, chips of stone and plaster began to fall
from the nearby buildings, and screams could be heard in the distance, from
the center of the City.  Moving as one, the each threw an arm up, and bolts
of force sprang from them.  Both hit Strausser on the chest and knocked him
back through the shield surrounding Tylera.

Seizing on the opportunity, Andrei immediately reset the shrunken shield to
keep Strausser as well as the Mists out.  He climbed up to his feet, and
looked around at the damage that had been caused.  Shouts and cries from
the middle of town could be heard in the distance, and the buildings
closest to them looked to have survived the mini-quake.

Beside him, he could feel Ter climbing to his feet as well.  They both
leaned into each other, providing physical support that they both needed at
the moment.  After a few minutes had passed without Strausser attempting to
reenter Tylera, Andrei let out a sigh of relief.

"Maybe the Mists got him." Ter said softly.

"We could only be so lucky." Andrei voiced his doubts.

"I guess we should go calm people down a bit." Ter said softly.  "You know,
the past 300 years without an active Shaper were awful quiet.  I wonder how
much of these events they're going to try to blame on us."

"Us?" Andrei asked with a smile.  "As far as they know, you're just the
High Priest."

"You know what I mean." Ter said, his voice showing a little consternation.

"You're right." Andrei said, the smile dropping from his face and his
stomach doing a slow roll.

"What, the great Shaper admitting wrong?" Ter said, a smile showing now on
his face.

"I wouldn't know about `great', but yeah." Andrei said, a smile returning
briefly.  "You know, this responsibility stuff gets kind of tiring after a
while."

"Of course it does, or it wouldn't be work." Ter said comfortingly.  "Come
on, Shaper, let's go calm the people."

Instead of walking back to the center of town, Andrei teleported them there
immediately.  The sight they saw at that point was not pretty.  The square
in front of the Priests' Compound was in chaos.  Some of the temporary
shelters that had been set up, kind of like half-tents, had all been
knocked down.  People were running in different directions, the screams of
the scared and the injured drowned out nearly everything else.  To make
matters worse, people were trying to enter the area from the other parts of
town, creating a log jam from people trying to go in both directions.
Andrei winced as he saw an old man being run down by the pushing crowds.
This had to stop!

"PEOPLE!" Andrei's voice boomed over the crowd, enhanced by his abilities.
He stood at three times his normal height, near the entrance to the main
building.

"CALM DOWN!" he continued.  "THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR."

As he talked, people stopped in their tracks to stare at him.  He took
advantage of the moment of quiet and stillness to locate all the injured
and heal them.  It took so much concentration to do it, that, he had to
hand over holding the shield back to Ter.  At least Ter was ready to take
it.

"The shaking of the ground was caused by the appearance of a Mad One.  You
know of them from the histories.  Shapers gone mad over the passage of
time.  He has been expelled from Tylera and will never threaten us again."

"The way the Mists would be driven back?" A man closer to Andrei sneered
loudly.  Not everyone heard it, but enough people did.

"The Mists?" Andrei said, scorn apparent in his voice as he stared down at
the man he recognized vaguely.  "Your lack of faith is as much responsible
as I, Coven."

"What?  You trying to blame this on me?"  Coven responded, his face turning
red.

"You and the others here who chose to discard their faith." Andrei said
calmly.

"What else were we supposed to think after hearing what those priests did?
How can we trust what they say now?" Coven retorted.

"You can trust them because I say you can." Andrei answered, his voice
hard.  Why was this happening now?  He suddenly felt like he was drowning,
a concept he never would have understood before meeting J'Stan.  Dammit!
Where was that man?  He would be able to handle this easily!

"With all due respect, Shaper" an older woman said, stepping forward.
Andrei recognized her as a shopkeeper, but couldn't remember her
name. "J'Stan needs to be here.  We need his guidance, his wisdom.  We know
he gave you his knowledge, his memories, but did he give you his wisdom?"

The woman's words struck a chord deep inside him.  She hit on an important
point, and put into words the reasons why he was feeling so overwhelmed.
J'Stan had a manner, a carriage, that exuded confidence.  He could get
people's confidence just by looking at them.  Andrei didn't have that, and
as much as he liked Ter, he didn't either.

"Where is J'Stan?" another man in the crowd shouted.  Several other people
took up the shout.

"He is..." Andrei began, then faltered as he realized he didn't know what
to say.

"He is working against the Mists." Ter answered for him, speaking for the
first time before the crowd.  "He has found a weakness in it at long last."

"We need him here!" Coven shouted loudly, his face clearly showing anger.

"No, we don't" Ter answered, his voice gaining confidence now.  "He knows
that Andrei is capable of handling the Mists here, with your support.
J'Stan knows that you are capable of supporting Andrei.

"What he doesn't know, and couldn't imagine, is that the people of Tylera
would fail in their duties, their responsibility to give their Shaper that
trust.  We've come to far, endured too much to give up now.  For thousands
of years we, the people of Tylera, have persevered with the Shapers as our
guardians.  Together, Shapers and the people have held off the Mists.

"Have you forgotten what Tylera means?  Have you forgotten that we are the
last settlement of humanity on our planet?  What does it mean when we die?
What would it mean if Tylera were to cease to exist?"

Ter had started pacing as he talked to the crowd.  As he spoke he looked
the leaders who had spoken in the eyes, and each had ended up looking at
the ground.  His entire body exuded a passion few had seen before.  As he
paused, letting the last words sink in, the crowd had become captivated.

"What happened to us when Andrei emerged from the Temple?  Where did our
passion, our commitment to life go?  Those first weeks were miraculous.  We
were all happy.  Yet, we lost that happiness and began to grow lazy,
thinking the Shaper would do everything for us.

"Then, when I assumed the office of High Priest, I had found corruption in
the ranks.  Did I, or Shaper Andrei, hide it?  We could have ignored it, we
could have dealt with it in a way that would not have been seen by you, the
people.  Instead we showed respect for you, we decided to show you that no
one is above the law of Tylera.  We trusted you.

"Look around you at the results of that trust.  Look at the burned
buildings, the dead in the streets.  Look at each other, gathered here
instead of in your homes.  Go to the edge of the City and see how much the
Mists have claimed from us.  How will you eat?  Even if today the shield
was pushed out to where it was yesterday, is there time to grow food before
we starve?"

The crowd began to grow restless as Ter continued.  Several people,
especially those with their families clasped closely, began to cry.  Andrei
felt a sense of despair rising among the crowd and wondered where Ter was
going with this.  For sure, though, he was doing better than Andrei could
have.

"Shaper," Ter continued after a dramatic pause.  "Shaper, will the people
starve in a few weeks, a few months?"

"Of course not, so long as I have the power to keep it from happening."
Andrei responded immediately, his voice showing outrage at the very
thought.

"Of course not." Ter repeated, turning back to face the people.  "The
Shaper says of course not, without hesitation.  In fact, he sounded
offended at the mere thought of it.  Tell me, people of Tylera, what have
you done to deserve such unyielding support?  A few months ago, a boy named
Andrei climbed into a machine that had delivered hundreds of young men like
him to their deaths.

"He emerged from that a Shaper.  What did he do then?  Did he use his
powers for his enjoyment?  Or did he use them to provide for you, to help
you?  Do you doubt that he will continue to help you?  Then why did you
react to things this way?  Why did you believe so easily he was dead?"

Ter paused for another moment, letting the assembled people mull over their
questions.  Andrei could see their feelings play out, could feel them
reacting to the questions.  As the moment continued, he could feel their
faith in him growing again, becoming stronger than ever before.  Soon, the
faith was stronger than he'd ever experienced before, the strength calling
out for action.  With a silent cry, he extended the edges of the shield.

The Mist fought back.  It pushed against what he was doing, but the faith
he could feel growing among the people was stronger.  Soon the dome-like
shield was farther out than it had been in years.  As the land he
remembered growing up on was uncovered, he let the expansion slow.  Soon it
was far enough out that it would take nearly a day to walk to the edge.
There was still more strength there.

He decided to do something now that was a memory from J'Stan.  A memory of
Tylera at its greatest.  The dome began to expand again, but this time,
upwards.  Higher and higher it grew, through layers of the earth's
atmosphere.  A gasp coming from the crowd brought his attention back to
where he stood.  All of the surviving people of Tylera stood with their
necks craned upwards.  Andrei looked upwards and saw something that he knew
only from J'Stan's memories.

Stars.  A multitude of stars shown down on Tylera.  For the first time in a
millennia, starlight touched the surface of the earth.  Awed gasps of
wonder could be heard as people took in a sight that was only told of in
the oldest of stories, the oldest histories.  Sure, they'd seen sights like
this, shown by Andrei during the first days of his assuming power.  But
that had been nothing like seeing it for real.  Andrei could feel Ter
staring at him for a moment, tears filling the older man's eyes.

"Do you see what your faith can bring?" Ter said softly.  He was amplifying
his voice now, but only so that every person in the crowd felt like he was
whispering in their ear alone.

"See what no one in Tylera has seen in ages.  The stars shine on your faces
now.  Will your faith be strong enough to see the sun tomorrow?  There is
pain in growing up.  Today we have felt the pain of growing up, of learning
what it means to have a Shaper again.  Go home, my friend.  Go home and
sleep.  When you wake in the morning, begin what is needed to clean up.
Help your neighbors. Those whose homes were damaged may find shelter here,
with the priests.  When you see the sun shine overhead tomorrow, come to
the Temple and give your thanks to the Shaper."

With those words, the crowd began to disperse.  It took some time for the
thousand to filter out.  Many went to the priests near the compound
buildings, seeking shelter for the night.  Many more were given offers of
places to stay by strangers.  Andrei and Ter stood there, smiling at the
people as they passed, silent as far as anyone could tell.

`Amazing.' Andrei's mental voice told Ter after a few moments.  The one
word was packed with a mixture of amazement, and joy.

`Thank you.' Ter sent back.  `How long do you think you can hold the sky
clear?'

`A few days probably.  J'Stan's memories tell me that this level of faith
can't hold for long.  It'll settle down eventually.  If there were more of
us, Shapers I mean, we could probably hold it longer.'

`Understood.  We'll tell them that the strength needed to make the land
fertile necessitates closing the dome.'

`That won't be too far from the truth.' Andrei told Ter.  `It would help if
we had you openly be a Shaper.  You would be able to access the strength
their faith gives easier that way.'

`Not yet, not yet.' Ter's response was tinged by a mental sigh.  `There's
no one I trust to replace me as high priest yet.'

`Well, speed things up.' Andrei ordered.  `I want you beside me for real,
not just as a priest.'

`Why?'  Ter asked, and Andrei could sense the multiple layers behind the
question.

`The help would be useful.' Andrei began.  `But more importantly, I think
I'm falling in love with you.'

`Well, I love you already.' Ter stated simply.

As the crowd finally dispersed, several priests came up the pair, very
deferential.  They had questions for Ter.  While Ter was busy answering
them, Andrei stretched out with his mind, touching the people of Tylera as
they went for their beds.  Some had hurts that he tended to without their
knowing, but one and all he touched them to make sure that their dreams
that night reinforced Ter's earlier message.  He was scared at how close
things had come to ending right there.  These few thousand people likely
were the last of humanity.  If they perished now, so did the human race.
His mind became aware of his physical location as the priests left Ter and
him alone.

"You ready for bed?" Ter asked him aloud.

"Bed, I don't need to sleep." Andrei responded, a little confused.

"Who mentioned sleep? Ter asked.  Andrei smiled at that and only gave it a
moment's thought.  His had found Ter's and he smiled at the man.

"Let's go" He said simply, teleporting them to Ter's room.

***

As many of you know, my regular editor -- Ed is out due to a serious
accident.  While he's recovering, Michael has stepped forwards and is
providing some much needed up.  Speedy recovery wishes for Ed, and many
thanks and appreciation to Michael!