(( Welcome to the new beginning. These next series of posts are prose rewritings of the logs betwen Toby and Tabitha St. Germain, and all credit for Tabi's work goes to her wonderful player. :) ))
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Act V - "Tabitha"


It was three weeks after his self-imposed exile, and a day or three after he'd finally come to be at peace with himself about it all. He was outside in the late hours of the evening, sitting on his back porch deck overlooking the hillside as it fell away to the lake shore. The stars were out... it was a *gorgeous* night. His thoughts were everywhere in the universe tonight, and not the least on certain someones.

Duke and Duchess lay curled up in dogloaf at his feet, noses buried in their tails. The rocking chair creaked gently as he watched the moon on the water, little waves breaking. It was an altogether serene night. On the surface, then...

A faint something made him pause. The fabric of reality, the tapestry he could feel now like a living thing... was off. Threads were changing, things were unraveling and reshaping... and not far off at all. He closed his eyes partway.. just 'listening' to the universe. It was magic, he knew that much. Kairee was a good teacher, and he'd come to know the feel of it.

Over that serene, rippling lake Toby saw the air seem to ripple as well, as if mirroring the waters below. And out of that rippling, he saw a figure falling, helpess, and splashing into the water with an impact that sounded almost like a hard slap. Staring for only a moment, Toby came to his senses and jumped off the chair, running down the hillside towards the figure now struggling to swim to shore, sputtering and frantic. He shouted to them, and even in their obvious confusion, the shape in the water splashed towards him, finally close enough that he could get ahold of a flailing wrist and yank them up onto the shore.

Toby turned the sputtering, coughing person around to their knees to help them get rid of any water they'd swallowed, and heard a surprised and pained yelp. "Holy hell, are you okay?", he asked, and in turn got the second huge surprise of his night as the woman looked up at him, dark hair plastered against her face from the water, eyes huge. "Toby?"

He blinked hard, stunned. "*Tabitha*?"

Toby rose from the couch, stretching briefly. “First... let me let my little ones in, so they can meet you. I'll keep 'em from bumping that knee.” Tabitha was stretched out on the couch for now, and he knew the last thing she needed was two overexcited dogs landing on her.

“I heard dogs, or was I dreaming?” she inquired.

“We have a *lot* to talk about,” Toby chuckled as he was off to the back door. A moment later, two black blurs came racing in, yelping and nosing at Tabitha. Toby just barely got there in time to keep them away from her injured knee. Tabitha, though, was laughing at the wild greeting, trying her level best to give each dog equal attention. She gave him a questioning look, since she definitely didn’t remember them from when she’d last seen him.

Toby finally got them under control, revealing two very excited Black Lab pups, about five months old now, tongues lolling. “The one with the blue collar is Duke... the red collar is Duchess.” They were indistinguishable otherwise, unless one wanted to check the undercarriage, as it were. “They're siblings. I got them at the turn of the year.”

For their part, Duke and Duchess wanted nothing more than to lick her face clear off, but settled for whining and nosing her hands as she petted them. It took a little while, but he finally got them settled down. Not before Duke tried to climb up onto the arm of the couch, and onto Tabitha's shoulders, of course. Tabitha still did her best to soothe and pet the black bundles, giggling at Duke’s best cat impression. Finally, with one last lick each, and a brief tussle with each other where they chomped on each other's collars and tugged, Toby got them to lay down. They sprawled out in front of the hearth (the fire was going, with it being a bit of a cool week), and gave Tabitha eager eyes.

Toby blew out a breath. “God, where do I start asking... um... how are you, first of all? You look so.., “ trying to find the word, “wild..”, with a grin on his face.

“I've been living a little wilder, I guess. I don't know where to start either - except that, I'm glad I fell in your lake.” Tabitha began, trying in her own fashion to find a way to explain it all.

Toby went off on a little tangent, to take the pressure off a little. “Last time I saw you, you were working for Des, and were seeing this older guy? Then you just sort of.. vanished. I thought maybe you eloped.” He chuckled a little, but was paused by the brief sadness that touched her eyes.

“Well - I'll have to apologize to Des for disappearing.” She looked up at him. “Perrin and I.. we got swept off in a nexus storm, and landed in a completely different world, one in a terrible conflict.” From that opening, Tabitha went on with her story.. and an incredible story it was, of tyrants and lost magics, dragons and dark warriors, and a brave people trying to survive in the shadow of total loss. As she spoke, Toby realized then what it was that looked different. Tabitha looked older.. but not unpleasantly. It was as if she had lived almost a lifetime of experiences, in just six months time. She was... a new woman, really.

Toby listened to her tale with mounting awe. He'd gone through a LOT in his years. But Tabitha had lived through an adventure beyond anything he'd ever known. When she described her travels alone with the dark knight, he felt a silly surge of ... what was that? Latent protectiveness? Jealousy? Silly man. When he spoke at last, Toby sounded not surprised so much as honestly impressed. “You're a bona fide hero, Tabi...”

She only shrugged a little, gazing into her tea. “I just did what I had to, is all.”

“No, “ Toby corrected gently, “You did was was right. You could have left.”

Tabitha shook her head again, more firmly. “No - I couldn't have just left them.”

“And that's why you're a hero. You did the right thing, not the easy thing.”

Tabitha looked at him with a little surprise. She really had no answer to that.

The next day dawned clear and bright, and as surreal as the events of the night before had been, things seemed much less complicated now. Just two old friends, reunited by one of those strange little accidents that the Nexus is notorious for.

On the surface, then..


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Toby had slept on the couch, leaving his guest to the loft. He got up around his usual time, and both his ears and other senses told him she was still sleeping. Not surprising, he thought. Between the physical strain of her method of arrival, and all that she'd been through, she was badly in need of rest. He let the dogs out to run around, and started working on making breakfast while they tore around in the grass west of the cabin, barking and brawling happily.

The time he'd spent thinking had helped him come to understand what he'd sensed in her mind when she opened it up to him. With his own recent motivation to master his understanding, Toby was an order of magnitude better experienced with the subtleties behind the gifts of the mind now. He'd taken Kairee's lessons to heart, and as she'd no doubt intended, he was constantly refining that understanding. It was a lifetime's pursuit, he knew, but every new reflection brought a greater layer of mastery.

Tabitha, now..

The echo he felt from her was strongly familiar, enough that Toby knew without hesitation that she had gifts akin to his own. There was no perception of magic about her, just the distinctive sensations of the mind. But it was also quite different. Kairee had briefly let him understand what he had been like in his early days of awakening, the tumultous release of effect that had caused so much damage. Tabitha didn't radiate anything like that, and from what she'd said, the gifts she possessed had awoken quietly. What, then?

She was empathic. He hadn't known the words for it back then, but he should have probably recognized the effect. How many times, after all, had Tabi told him that she just had a sense for people? A sense that turned out to be eerily accurate, too. Now he knew it for what it was, and what struck him was how strong it was in her. Fledgling or not, Tabitha held considerable potential as an empath.

There were hints of other things. Toby felt only little glimmers of the power he had most strongly; mind over matter. It might develop, but he already knew with fair certainty that she wouldn't have it to the degree he did. And for her sake, he was thankful. She didn't need that kind of painful chaos. Likewise with telepathy; he felt little glimmers of that too, but it was very much primordial. It might also develop, enough to be able to communicate, but it didn't feel like she would become a powerful telepath.

Of course, he reflected, he could be wrong. But the strength of those two things paled in his othersight compared to the ocean's worth of empathic potential that he perceived in her. There were other flickers too, but too faint yet to be recognizable.

It posed a great danger still, though. Tabitha was still very much beginning to blossom in terms of her gifts. Right now she just felt it as a 'feeling in her heart', as she'd described it, but left unchecked the poor young woman would soon be deluged and overwhelmed by the raw force of the emotions around her. Even now, she'd admitted, she was feeling the beginnings of it. Ever since the last day of her adventure in those other lands - how had she described it?

"All that raw power, it overloaded me. I couldn't see - everything was like.. colored lights exploding in my eyes."

He knew that feeling. All too well.

A faint stir touched his senses, and automatically he looked at the ceiling. Tabitha was waking up.

Toby looked stunned. Me? Teach her?

"Oh, Tabi.. I'm hardly qualified..," he began. But she was having none of it, her expression was both gentle and completely sure.

"Yes you are. I felt it, remember? You said yourself, there's no one else to teach me, and you're right - I need to learn what to do with these gifts, how to harness and control them so I don't overload."

She was right, of course. But he knew there was more to it. "Your mind is a fantastically delicate and fragile thing, Tabi.. If I mess up... it could be horrible. And I've done some pretty terrible things lately, when it comes to other people's minds. You should know the whole story before you ask me something like this."

Tabitha nodded, then she raised an eyebrow at him. If he wanted to tell her, then she was ready. And so he did. The entire story, which only a few people really knew, spilled out of him without editing or glossing over. The entire ugly thing, from beginning to end. By the time he was done, he felt both relieved to have finally gotten it off his chest, and not a little ashamed and disgusted from reliving those things. He looked up at Tabitha, half expected to see her looking at him in horror, or at least the unease he'd seen in others who knew the tale. But he saw only sympathy, and understanding. He concluded, saying, "I'm not the same guy I was when we last talked, either. And that's the guy who'd be in your head. All of what you heard me describe."

Incredibly, she was smiling now. "It's still you, Toby - what I saw, when we met - I still see it, only clearer. You're still good, and true. That hasn't changed. Oh, you're stronger, and so powerful I can't get past your mind, but you're still Toby to me. There's no one else I want to teach me - no one else I'd let inside my head to do it."

Toby felt humbled by her trust in him, it was the only word that fit. "I accept. But first, we get you well. C'mon... I'll get you downstairs, and we'll make sure that knee is taken care of."

(This post is a mixture of contributions from myself and Tabitha's player, based on a chat log.)

The following days passed, slowly, but happily. Toby had been used to being a recluse over the past few weeks, and so it was no big deal to him to continue to do so. At first, it was a little awkward for both - Toby was unused to having someone living with him, and Tabitha had to adjust to the same thing. But despite the occasional discomfiture (usually when both needed the bathroom at the same time, or after a shower), they managed to mesh their styles together without things becoming strange. He'd set her up with the guest room on the first floor, which worked out nicely considering her limited mobility.

Tabitha was slowly healing, her bruises almost gone, and her knee getting better each day. Toby was meticulous with changing the wrap twice daily, a gesture that touched her deeply. She also got used to his presence, though, the sadness and ache she felt from him confused her. He'd taken care of her in kind fashion - resisting the urge to baby her, though the urge was very much there. It's just who he was!

Their day fell into a simple routine.. they both woke up sometime around eight, and would have breakfast. Toby was not a brilliant chef or anything, but he'd taught himself the basics of cooking long ago (necessary when you've been a bachelor for as long as he had been). The hour after that would be spent usually out back on the porch deck, looking down over the hillside to the lake that had been her road to his life.

Then, they would have a few hours to 'work' together. Sometimes it was as simple as him gently having her practice rebuffing his gentle thoughts and emotions, testing her ability to block them. It was hard at first, but Toby quietly encouraged her successes and helped her through the failures.

Tabitha was still so raw, and found blocking very difficult. Toby was a kind teacher, yet firm, showing her the way over and over until she got the knack - this was the most challenging undertaking of her life, prepped by her work with the Archives, but the reality of flowing thought was much harder to control than the fixed memories.

Toby wouldnt' tell her this just yet.. but Tabitha echoed great potential. In fact, though even he didn't know it, she was almost his mirror image. While he had undiscovered potential of magnitude on the 'active' side, Tabitha's potential as an empath, a perceptor, and yes, even a healer of the mind, was greater than anyone knew. For now, though, he was only intent on helping her through the very rough, and rocky, opening stages of dealing

He guided her gently, not fully linking his mind to hers, helping her shield on her own, something she'd nevr had to do before, but if she was going to go back to the Inn, she'd have to, for her own sanity. And he was admittedly a little uneasy about linking their minds again, after the surprisingly powerful mutual reaction they had encountered. He'd never felt anything quite like it before... and it had been both unsettling and intense in a very good way.

After that morning session, they would have lunch together, and relax for another hour. Just talking, or he would play the piano for her, or tell her stories. She was not yet quite up for the tour of the land, so to speak, but that was a promise for later. Then there would be another 'lesson' in the afternoon, usually an hour or two. It wore her out, to her surprise; though she understood why after her experiences with Perrin and the Archives. Tabitha was learning, from him as well as from Toby now, that it was her personal strength of will that determined her power and her skill with it, and it took a lot of effort to bolster her will in that way. It was a testament, he had told her, to Tabitha's strength of will in the first place that she could *do* these things.

After the afternoon lessons, Tabitha usually nodded off for a little while, to recharge herself. Sleep, Toby said, was the best way to regain strength. For himself, Toby also had other duties to tend to - namely a cabin and some dogs who wanetd attention), and the evening was all ease time. Toby had a holovid screen built into a clever little wooden wall panel, hiding it to preserve the rustic look of the place. And he did have quite a stock of video entertainment, both Terran familiarities to her, and some alien works she'd never ever seen before.

Though it was a rustic little cabin in the woods, Tabitha was happy to find Toby had cleverly built in enough in the way of modern conveniences. Including hot showers whenever she wanted them, or a bath (the bathroom was one thing he'd *not* skimped on.).

In their talks, he'd also listened keenly to her tales of her adventures, from the last time he had seen her, through her travels with Simon (and she in turn felt a little twinge of jealousy as well when that name came up), the great adventure she'd found herself in, and everything she'd gone through there.

Slowly day by day, Tabitha's knee felt better. She was still using the crutches to be safe, but it was getting easier to move around. And she still got a hidden chuckle out of the way he'd try to tend to her knee without looking at her legs. And failing.

For her part, Tabitha had loved Perrin, and was very hurt she had to leave him. But - his path lay elsewhere, and she had to go back to RhyDin or be very sick herself. She knew Simon had loved her back, but it was almost a pure, idyllic love, like something out of a classical epic poem. She was, indeed, on a pedestal.. and he could not bear to imagine her honour lost to the baseness of passion.

All in all, a very comfortable and pleasant routine they'd forged in the weeks since her arrival. But as with all things, change was inevitable. And change would come, in a way neither had foreseen.

The weeks passed, and the change wrought in Toby was incredible to see for those that knew him. He was smiling more... far more. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, he was playing the piano again. A lot.

Impulsively or not, Tabitha had moved in with him. In the beginning it was for her own protection - she had been ill-equipped to deal with the flood of thoughts and emotions that would inevitably hammer her when she set foot in the public lands around the Inn. In the last days of her journey with Simon, she had begun to endure tremendous waves of feelings from those around her, and she'd only just gotten away in time before it was too much. Toby's instruction was helping her learn the control necessary to shut those waves out... exactly as Kairee had taught him the same control when he'd first come into his own gifts. But it was a long, painful process.

The isolation of the cabin had been to her benefit, in that respect. But it had worked to another end as well. As they spent all that time alone together, the two had rediscovered their friendship, interrupted when she and Simon had been thrown abruptly to that other dimension. That friendship had bloomed now in her self-enforced exile (as he'd jokingly described it, remembering his own recent such period), and they'd found or renewed more interests than they'd known they had.

Was it so surprising, then, that it bloomed into something more?

OOC:

This post is to bring the Acts into chronological order, with the addition of Act III.