She stirred gently in her sleep, eyes moving from a dream, or nightmare. It was hard to tell. Sha'uri was sensitive to many things... the return of her father and the odd displacement of others in her family; The ebb and flow of time; the wax and wan of the moons; the flux of magic as it passed between the flow of the nexus; and the wind as it blew over the surface of Exodii. There were times when she even felt the same on Zed or other planets in the Exodii system. Her subconscious was sensitive to more then she knew she was attuned to.

Alone in her bed, she turned in her sleep and sighed gently, a rare smile touched her lips as a warmth of her father's gaze was felt, gently waking her. It was still dark when she woke up and she sat up slowly sensing another in the room. She didn't have to hear a voice or feel a touch. She felt his gaze as her sapphire hues searched to find his of the same color.

"Father?"

No sooner then her gaze met with his, she leapt out of bed and into his arms, hugging him tight and close. Words weren't enough to say how much she missed him and was glad that he finally came home....

?I?ve missed you, baby girl? I?m sorry I?ve been gone for so long, but I?m back for good now."

"And I've missed you so very much! I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see you again. There's so much to tell you...."

It was hard to know where to begin. He probably already knew or sensed these things. She could feel some things occuring but they were vague to her, more on a subconscious level. They were distant as if these things were from Somewhere In Between ...


Still, where to begin. She held close to him for several long moments before she pulled back and gazed at him as if confirming with her eyes what her ears heard, arms felt and heart sensed... searching for that promise to confirm his words he was back for good. She crossed her heart with the trail of delicate fingers and motioned to him to answer.

"Promise?"

She couldn't help but smile.. a Cheshire smile so much like his. Even Alex had his smile at times. Yet clearly in her sapphire depths was that mirthful devilish sparkle so much like her mothers.. mirthful and full of mischief.

She laughed, but then she kinda shook her head as the laughter faded into a smirk.

"I would've sent a message, but you forgot to set up an answering service. Besides, Mom said I could date!"

She briefly stuck her tongue out at him, winked and gave him another hug as she softly chuckled.

"I'm sorry you weren't here. You know I have Alex. Then I had Bryce with Triv.... er. well, he was the father until he decided to up and get himself killed. But then I had met Galen and he was phenomenal with me, and Bryce too after he was born. We were going to get married until.. well, he left me at the alter. You were invited to that one, by the way. That one hurt. But I got over it. In fact, the Citadel here used to be his. I've since taken down his traps and wards, changed locks and rearrainged things a bit. Then.. well, Triv got ressurected by then but he went on a walk about with Bryce... and then finally came home. We got married and I got pregnant right away, or something like that. Anyway, I lost Isabel. In fact that was very recently too... Mom says she caught something in the timeline and well, she says Isabel decided to stay with her. I'm not sure what that was about but then I think I just don't want to know the details. I haven't seen Triv or Bryce since then. I think they left again."

She looked away hiding a sad face as she moved to the couch to sit down. It wasn't anything she really wanted to talk about, and if she never talked about it that would be all the better in her view. A change of subject, along with a smile, was smoothly interjected as she patted a spot on the couch beside her.

"On the upside, we've been slowly making progress in Exodii with exploring other places and learning about what lands and peoples are in the planet here. It's a good thing we've been trying to hold to that Prime Directive idea and try not to flaunt our technology too quickly at people. Although there is no way to prevent them from it. I think in time we'll all integrate smoothly enough. Well, I can hope. We also have been searching the solar system for whatever was there. We found some places habitable and others prime for terra forming."

Her eyes genuinely lit up just talking about it.

"We actually found semi intelligent life on Zed and we actually heard from a Federation ship recently. I guess Alex's jump gate thing was a good idea to put up in RhyDin where Exodii has its shops. Do you remember those? Maybe you don't... Grandfather Excalibur held a deed to a few shops south of the market area near the water. That and a few buildings and a beach house on the water there.... Mom had the deed from Grandpa and then I got them. So... I fixed them up, put them to use again. Do you know our system is only a few systems away from the planet RhyDin?"

She smiled.

"Oh, and do you remember Briarius Ravensheart? He's a bit different from before, got reincarnated or something. Well, he started a school in RhyDin and I've been helping him there. Now there's a long story..... and it involves me adopting a girl named Tina Storms. So you do have a granddaughter alive. I haven't seen much of her either, come to think of it. She is always sticking her nose in a book though. I'm thinking she's probably stuck inside one of them as we speak. Briarius and I actually were the ones to adopt her... and that's an odd situation..."

A thoughtful pause as she realized there was much to tell and she was doing all the talking. It was his turn...

"So what's your story.. where've you been?"