Falling
by Willow

Falling

by Willow

It was hard to say what he didn't like about the station. It wasn't as if he'd ever seen anything else, so there wasn't anything to compare it unfavorably to. But something about the endless gentle curve of metal made him twitch, deep inside. His feet didn't even make any noise above the sound mufflers that every corridor on large stations like this. He paused beside a window that looked out onto the Starvoid, and studied his appearance.

So that was who Rowan Ashrothe was. Not so impressive as all that. His pale skin lay too smoothly over his muscles, like the plasnamel used to cover surfaces that saw hard use. His uniform was neat as usual; bare of any of the alternate decoration he was permitted to personalize it. He didn't like any of the options. The eyes that stared back from the weak reflection were dark, and slanted slightly, blunt at the inner edges, a distinct ethnic feature which set him apart from most of his fellows. His rusty auburn hair was cropped close, like everyone's was on the ships, and that bothered him too. He ran a hand over it. They said it was hard to hold to traditions on the ships, that back on Earth, it was different. He snorted, and continued walking. Everything was different on Earth, according to 'them' he didn't know. You had to be pretty special to live planet side nowadays. It was a preserve, dedicated to keeping what traditions they could alive. Hardly anyone even visited there. Most people preferred the stations and the ships. And who cared about people who didn't. They could keep looking for a planet.

Rowan allowed himself a slight frown for the people who sniggered behind heir hands after saying that. Earth could not be unique. The universe was enormous. They'd find a suitable planet someday. Of course, by then, would there be anyone left who didn't want to live in space. Suitability was part of the psyc test required for a parent's license. His parents, who'd been drawn together by their love of ancient earth history had barely gotten the license, and had not managed to get an extension, which was too bad. He thought he'd turned out rather well. He might have liked having siblings. Pity they'd died exploring that planet when he'd been seventeen. Just as well, he wouldn't have lasted more than the year he did in the center-appointed care. That had been five years ago. He still missed them.

Both Rowan's patrol and his introspection were interrupted by the beep of his wrist com.

"Rowan here."

"Rowan, will you get down to the research level T? One of the researchers is going off, and she's not making any sense."

"Gees, Percy, can't you send someone les, I'm up top?"

"Look, you're the one with the eyes that make people melt."

"I'll tell you again, Pers, this comes way too close to genetic discrimination."

"Just get down there, Rowan."

Rowan didn't go down to the research levels much. Mostly, all that was down there were the scientists, and their experiments. Anyone could get information about the projects that were going on, and mostly nobody bothered. However, when he got there, it was plain that someone had.

"Oh thank gods!" A pale haired woman came rushing up to him, almost but not quite obscuring her partner, who was holding a cold pack against his head. "I've been calling the watchers all day, and no one would listen!"

Aggressively, she slammed her open palms onto her hips. She wore a cylqe knit jumpsuit in a subdued green, and a small crystal interface between her eyebrows. It was almost invisible, with them being draw so close together in her anger.

"Why?"

"Because they're self impressed!" she snapped.

"No, why were you calling?" Rowan asked, holding his hands up in placating gesture, trying to separate himself from whoever made her so cross. This woman was quite tall. Much taller than his own five feet seven inches.

"Oh." She had the grace to blush slightly, although it was hard to see under her naturally dark skin. "Two days ago, someone arrived at the shuttle lock on this level."

"Someone?" Rowan raised a eyebrow. "You mean you didn't know them?"

"Oh we knew him," intercepted the man, raising the cold pack. Beneath it, one side of his face was a spectacular shade of purple black, a huge puffy bruise, with a small cut in the center of it.

"Jesu - shouldn't you visit main medbay?" Rowan exclaimed, startled.

"I'll be fine," the man said between gritted teeth. Something about his teeth was odd, and the light caught in his good eye, reflecting back golden - ah, he was an Erimpa.

Erimpa were one of the few races that humans had found in their flights among the stars. They were fiercely proud (it was wound into their genetic structure) and much stronger and sturdier than humans. They were also partially compatible. Fortunately for the conspiracy theorists, the Erimpa had mismanaged their own planet far worse than humans ever had - and yet had never even dreamed of interstellar flight. Proud or not, they were willing to trade their strong bodies, quick minds, phenomenal resources and fascinating technology to be part of the starflights. That had been over a cannery ago, and most people barely thought about them, any more then they thought about people darker tones, or eyes like Rowan's.

"Let me log onto the records for this section, to get more information."

The Erimpa snorted. "Good luck."

"What?"

Again he lifted the cold compress to meet Rowan's eyes. "Why do you think we're only calling now? He disconcerted us from the network before we'd even seen him."

"That's not possible," Rowan said firmly. "If you'd been disconnected from the network for any length of time, it would have set off notices in the main computer - which it didn't, if we're only hearing that now."

"Ordinarily, yes," the woman said, somewhat nervously. "But you see, I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to see if I could, I firewalled the lab computers."

"You what?! You know that can get your research permission yanked - "

"I didn't implement it!" she defended herself. "I just wanted to see if I could. But he found out, and used it against us."

Rowan sighed, pressing his finger tips to his eyes. He got a feeling that illegal programs were hardly the end of the bad news.

"Fine, so there aren't any records while this mysterious visitor was here."

"Only in the project's database."

"And what is the project?"

The two researchers exchanged a look. It was a distinctly deceitful look. Rowan frowned. Any hope for free time that afternoon disappeared with that look.

"You'd better start with telling me your names."

"Fine. I'm Intra and this is Kardi." The dusky skinned woman gestured, and her companion put the cool pack gingerly back on his bruise.

"Are you actually going to tell me what happened, or am I going to have to drag it out of you one piece of information at a time."

They exchanged another look, this one was different. It was perplexed, and perhaps a bit amazed.

"You know," the dark haired Erimpa said, a smile spreading across his face. "I don't think anyone has ever actually asked that."

They couldn't given Rowan reasons for what had happened, which was fine. It had begun for them, as they said, when a small ship had docked. They'd waited for several minutes, thinking it was some sort of courier, but no one had come into their lab to get their id print. Just when Kardi was about to go and look, someone did enter. He didn't look like anyone they'd seen on a station before. For one thing, his hair was long, tied at the back of his head, and flowing out behind him like a dark river. His wrapped shirt was of an unfamiliar pattern, and he was carrying a long, slender package, which Kardi had quickly recognized as a sword. That had tipped off the identification, and sent Intra lunging for the com panel. She'd been stopped with a blow across her wrist with the sheathed sword. When Kardi has prepared to defend his research partner, the muscular man had bared half an inch of blade and denounced in a voice as cold as the void that Kardi could not stop him from killing Intra. That had stopped the Erimpa, allowing the intruder to explain what he had done. Effectively cut them off from the rest of the station. He continued to tell them that they had something he wanted, and they were going to give it to him.

He was called Rhonyn. He'd been born in the Fringe, in a settlement that was genetically segregated. They'd done it themselves, and the settlement was called the Golden Court. The world that they had settled on was one of the ones most suitable for human life, but since the oceans of the planet covered the entire surface, it was deemed too much effort. They had built on top of the water, stocking the seas with earth-based fauna and flora, and exploring the edible nature of the native life. For the most part they were peaceful, taking their model from an ancient earth government, rather then the Center's radial nature. They fought little, usually between settlements, and most people had at least some training with weapons. Unfulfilled by the existence there, Rhonyn left his home, looking for something different. Out in the Starvoid, he put his quick wits to use, becoming the most notorious bounty hunter and Seeker of his age. But he could not find what he himself was looking for. Bitter and angry, he committed the worst crime in a century of history. The murder of Gathlow.

Since no one but Rhonyn himself survived, no one was sure what transpired to make him kill the entire station of Gathlow. But nothing remained alive, not even bacteria, leaving the entire station in a sordid tableau for the crew of Daring, who'd come to investigate the radio silence of the Station. One of the ensigns who'd come aboard was still in therapy. That was when they'd put a bounty on his head.

Two researchers were not going to deny a madman like that just about anything.

"But what did he want?" Rowan said, after they descended into silence, staring at each other, obviously feeling guilty.

"Our project," Kardi said simply. "We have to show someone. He may have already done incredible harm." Intra looked at Rowan. "He may help."

Kardi took the cold pack off his bruise, and tossed it into a recycler. He ran a finger along the cut on top of the bruise, and his finger came away bloody. He licked it.

"You're right." Abruptly he stood, dusting off his dark knits. "Open it."

Intra nodded, and turned to a blank wall. A beam of light flashed from her crystal interface. "Cold hells!" swore Rowan, "I've never seen..."

"That's one of the things we have shown people. But it's not popular. The kind of concentration a Crystal interface of that power needs is too much for most humans. Some Erimpa use it, but..."

Rowan stopped paying attention as he saw what was behind the wall. It took a while for him to take it all in, then he turned to the researchers.

"This is a transporter. I thought they were made illegal after the riots - "

Rowan turned to look at them.

"Transporters were," Intra said firmly. "This is something else."

"Admirably, the technology is based on a transporter, and transporters were the ones that gave us the idea - but this is far more complicated."

"More complicated than transporters?"

"Yes. We've discovered time travel."

Time travel had been disproven countless times. It was a theoretical exercise. They had students do it, like the tortoise and the sprinter.

"Right." Lips pressed into a thin line, Rowan turned to glare at the researchers. "I'm going to write this whole thing down as a joke in very bad taste and..."

Kardi was smiling. "Are you familiar with wormholes, Rowan?"

"Improbably matrixes. Glitches in the fabric of reality. I've heard of them."

"That is what makes this possible."

"But it can't be possible. Seeing the past maybe, but not traveling there. The paradox - paradoxes cannot exist physically."

"You've seen the files on Ostron's Trident."

"It's not possible!"

"It is," Intra snapped. Only then did Rowan notice that she hadn't been speaking because she was closing the wall behind them. He didn't think there was an override. He'd be stuck for the duration unless they let him out.

"Stop shouting," she continued, blithely ignoring that she was just as loud. "Stop reacting and start thinking. A madman has made us put him back into the past. Who knows what could be happening!? He could make waves that would destroy the world as we know it!"

Silence echoed behind her words.

Kardi chuckled.

"Are you quite done now?"

"I think so."

"Right." He pushed his bangs back and looked at Rowan steadily. "And you?"

"I'll listen. But I won't believe."

"It's a start."

"The wormhole really is the most important part. Without it, it's not possible at all. Wormholes are believed to create time travel affects on their own. These strengthen that nature of wormholes to distort time, as well as regulate it."

Rowan stared at the platform for so long it got branded into his cornea, and he could still see it when he closed his eyes.

"That's an oversimplification, of course, but the actual equations and construction, even if you could understand it, would take months."

"So this is the machine that makes time travel possible."

"That's right," Intra said. "When Rhonyn came in, he'd read all of our work on the net. He knew what we were doing, and he believed us."

"Why would he do that."

"Oh, some of the things we learned, if what he said is to be believed."

"And what?"

"He made us send him back."

He really should have seen it coming. It made sense. All the clues, Intra's paranoia, it all said the same thing. It was impossible. It didn't make any sense, but if he was a wanted criminal - one with the biggest bounty on his head in history, he'd need to escape somewhere - so why not into history?

"K'sou."

"What was that?"

"Something my father used to say when he was really upset." Rowan ran his hand over his close cropped hair. "He had this whole secret code. A special language that nobody else spoke. Taught it to me. He learned it from his father." He smiled sheepishly. "it's good to swear in."

"That's where you're wrong."

"What?"

"Say something else."

Rowan shook his head, and put a sentence together. Other than swearing, he hadn't used their secret tongue since they died. When he spoke though, it all came back to him. It had always felt natural anyway.

He turned to them and let what he was thinking come out.

"~I hate this. This all seems insane, you two are crazy, and you're dragging me down with you. Because I believe you and I don't know why.~" He could have said more, but he didn't.

"That is a sign," Kardi said, a grin twitching up into his massive bruise. He winced and the smile faded.

Having made the switch, it took effort to return to standard.

"Nani dar - what do you mean?"

Intra got a handful of print out flimsies and started comparing them to Rowan, walking around him. "It would work, by gods, it would work!"

"We can't leave him in the past. So someone has to go get him. We want you to do it."

"Go get him?"

"Going is easy. Coming back is harder. Like falling down a well, then having to climb back up a rope. Like in training classes," the dark haired Erimpa said, searching in a drawer for something.

"How do you know that?"

"We went of course," Intra said calmly.

"I have to sit down."

"Good, because it's only getting worse. When we went back."

"Separately."

"Yes, separately, we wore beacons - essentially tying the rope around our wrists so we didn't get lost. If something went wrong, we could get pulled back out of the hole."

"Then why don't you do that to Rhonyn?"

"Great plan."

"The problem is, he doesn't have a beacon. There's no way for us to pull him back, or we would fill this lab with watchers and Sojers, and just pull him back to their loving arms."

"This is ridiculous. Beyond the fact you want me to do the impossible, Rhonyn is a killer, how would I get him? Send some Sojers."

"SOJERS?" Intra whirled from what she was doing, scattering papers across the floor. "The last thing we want is to get Sojers mixed up in this!" Intra swore, slamming her hands down on the table. "They don't think of anything but violence. That's why they're Sojers." She took a deep breath, calming down.

Kardi took up the thread of thought.

"We let Sojers test one of our other projects. Pretty innocent. It was a blood bath." Erimpa were a hearty race. The solemn expression didn't suit his face, which seemed built to smile broadly. "We left. We took all the research they hadn't seen, and we left. Intra's been nervous about them since."

"I guess, but wouldn't they be more suited to something like this?"

"No. None of them can speak the language."

"What?"

"Your 'secret language.' That's the language of the place Rhonyn went. What's it called?"

"Japan, I think." Intra began undoing to collar of Rowan's uniform, and for a second he was too shocked to jerk back. Then he jerked away. "What are you doing?"

Intra shook her head, and sighed. "Strip. You can't go in that. We've got a basic outfit programmed into the cylqe synthesizer."

Perversely his mind locked onto the wrong detail.

"You've got a cylqe synthesizer?"

"You've broken his brain, congratulations."

"Let's find another beacon, and give him a moment to think." They walked away, and Rowan sat down, putting his head in his lap and covering it with his hands. It all seemed so insane he was sure when he lifted his head he'd be in a correctional institution, but at the same time - he wanted it to be true.

"Wait..." He lifted his head "Japan? That... that's on Earth..."

"Did you think you were going to back in time in space? With no station?" mocked Kardi gently.

"Earth." For a moment Rowan's eyes seemed to glow from inside. 'Trees,' he thought. 'Real trees.' "Fine. What do I need to do?"

The cylqe felt funny on his skin. It wasn't fitted like a uniform, and he'd never worn artist's clothes. His scalp itched where Kardi was running some sort of device over it. Rowan caught himself stroking the sleeve of the loose robe, and forced himself to pay attention to what Intra was saying.

"You aren't doing this to amuse yourself, remember - you have to find Rhonyn. We managed to lock onto the time he told us to program. The controls aren't set for fine tuning but we think you'll get there a week before he does."

"Why?"

"You'll be making an effort not to affect history. He'll have no such compulsion."

Something touched the back of his neck and he twitched.

"Hold still!" ordered Kardi. "This isn't dangerous, but it is delicate."

"But something's on my neck!"

"It's your hair, get used to it, it's only going to get longer."

"We only managed to gather a little information through the viewer about this time. A bit about the language, the culture, your appearance is sort of based on what he looked like when he left. He programmed the synthesizer, we're making your hair like his, hopefully it will be close enough."

"I personally wish we had better records for that period, but history before space travel is one of the few things that isn't everywhere on the net."

Intra turned from where she'd been interacting with a terminal. "It's warming up now," she said. "I've got a few things for you, Rowan." He narrowly avoided twitching again, as a long strand of ruddy hair slipped down over his eyes. He blinked it away, as she lay a few things on his lap. "It took a bit of doing, but these will at least look like the coins they seem to be using, of the right metals." She displayed a few bits of metal, pierced like decorations of some sort, before putting them in a bag and handing that to him. She then held up a string of ugly green-brown white striated beads. "Here are some ration pellets, strung so you can carry them easier. If the locals won't take the money you can eat them. Besides, it's safer."

Rowan made a face. "Do you think I'm going to be gone that long?" he asked. "I hate those things, they taste like - "

"Whatever else, they contain enough antibiotics to counteract whatever's in the water then. You always hear about the horrible things in the water on earth."

Rowan started to get second, third, and eighth thoughts. A sharp tugging on the back of his scalp took his mind away from it.

"Hey, you just grew it, don't tear it out!" he protested.

"I'm tying it back," Kardi said dryly. "There. That's as good as you're getting."

"And the machine is ready."

Rowan sighed, and shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

"Then I'd better go before I change my mind."

The researchers turned into a flurry of motion.

"Here's your beacon," Intra said, handing him what appeared to be a second string of beads, these a much smoother, slightly opalescent white. "Keep it with you. When you find Rhonyn, this is for him." Another strand of beads, these a harsh, shiny black and cold to the touch.

"What do I do with it?" This was something that worried him a lot.

"Just get it around his wrist. Dead or alive, and break this bead." She pointed to one, which he could barely tell, was embossed with a small crest. "It's weaker than the rest."

"Dead? How the hell would I...?"

"In case of accident. If you want, you can leave him there, if he's dead. Bring back his sword if you can, though, because it had an energy signal, and that would mess up history." She patted Rowan on the shoulder. "Yours works the same way. Be careful."

He nodded, and stepped up to the platform, somewhat nervously. He'd seen the films of what had happened during the transporter riots, and this did look like a transporter booth. To defuse this, he studied his reflection for the second time that day, and to his surprise, it pleased him. Pulled to a tail at the base of his neck, his hair framed his face in a ruddy halo, in stark contrast to the white wrapped robe, gray over robe, and blueish pants he wore. They'd provided shoes - they were a complete fabrication, they couldn't have made plant matter on the synthesizer, but they swore they looked about right, some sort of sandal. It was his eyes that caught his attention though. His eyes looked alive, more than anything else. He was really doing this. Rowan looked out of the booth, and into the eyes of the researchers. They nodded, and Intra turned to activate the machine.

For a moment, there was pain and disorientation, then his eyes jerked closed, and he fell into a soft, sweet darkness.

* * * * * * * *

Yamitsuki had a calm nature. He always had, which made him a fine warden for the shrine. His half brothers lacked the patience or the faith, and had gone off to wander in the world. From time to time they stopped by, finding both him, and the shrine unchanged by their absence. The youngest of three sons, he accepted with studies and role of a priest with the same calm good nature he accepted the season's changing. For a man, he was pretty, with fine features, slender limbs, dark lashes, and thick black hair, which he wore long. Some people, seeing him for the first time assured that he was a woman, and a remarkable one at that. The farmers in the nearby town would set them straight, swiftly, for the young man was their good luck charm.

Since he had taken the duties of the shine, no worse luck than a broken arm had come to the area. Since he had been born, the crops had been good. The local farmers were quite fond of Yamitsuki. They said his mother had been a Kitsune, and that was where he'd gotten his leaf green eyes. Yamitsuki couldn't say himself, as all he remembered of his mother was a lilting song, a pair of lambent green eyes, and her name, carved on her grave marker. But he always thought of those memories when the cherry trees bloomed. If nothing else, it gave his mind something to do while he swept.

"Yamitsuki!" called a cheerful, youthful voice. He turned to see a girl running up the path towards him. He sighed. No matter how calm he was, Hoshiko always jerked him out of it. She was a sweet girl, she really was, but she just did not know when to give up. Hoshiko was horribly besotted with him, and wasted no chance to try and win his affections. He really had no interest in her at all.

"Good morning, Hoshiko," the slender man said pleasantly.

"Good morning," she returned. "I brought you lunch!"

He sighed again, almost silently. Suddenly movement caught his eye.

"Hoshiko, did you pass anyone on your way here?"

"No, Yamitsuki."

"Then when did he get there?"

At the entrance to the shrine stood a young man, the spring breeze picking strands of russet hair from his ponytail and teasing them around his face. He looked like he was lost in thought. Yamitsuki could barely make out that the other man's eyes were closed.

"Weird..." commented Hoshiko, tilting her head to one side. "I was SURE I didn't see anyone on the path in either direction. And he looks like he's been standing there for a while, and I know I didn't pass him there."

"That is strange." The young priest put his broom away, and walked down the path, half expecting the visitor to disappear while his back was turned. Clutching her basket, Hoshiko followed along behind.

Rowan was kind of surprised to find himself still standing. He expected to be flat on his back. But he was still standing, and he didn't even feel sore, as he would have expected to after the fall that he felt he'd taken. But he just stood in the darkness, and suddenly be smelled a delicate floral perfume, and a strange scent he didn't recognize.

"Hello?" a voice said nearby. The voice was soft and rich, like some sort of dark choclat. It also spoke in his father's 'secret language'.

Rowan opened his eyes and turned towards the speaker. He got the biggest surprise of his life. There was so much open space, and he didn't just see trees, he was surrounded by trees that towered upwards towards an azure sky - which was almost obscured by the budding pale green leaves.

"Are you lost?" The voice came from a young man who stood before him, clad in a white robe and red pants similar to what Rowan himself was wearing. Behind him was a girl child who wore something blue, with pink and gold flowers on it. Both had features like his mother and father. It was true. It was really true! His eyes rolled back in his head, and Rowan fell into darkness again, this time a much more solid one.

He woke up slowly, without any chimes or lights. Sitting up, Rowan cradled his head in his hands.

"This is where I think it's a dream," he muttered. "But what was the dream, my life until now, or..."

"Oh, you're awake." A wall slid open, and the handsome young man stepped through, kneeling beside the pallet Rowan lay on. "You had me a bit worried, honestly." A slender black eyebrow quirked. "Oh, sorry." He gave a little bow, from the waist up. "My name is Yamitsuki."

"Rowan Ashrothe," he replied automatically. "Uh... how did I uh..."

"I brought you in here when you collapsed. I could hardly leave you there on the path."

"No, no, of course not, thank you." Rowan shook his head, and was surprised to feel a silken whisk across his back. Judging from the quantity of hair in his eyes - it was almost certainly his hair causing that sensation.

"If it would not be too rude to inquire where you are going?" the young priest asked. "You seemed to be on some sort of pilgrimage, but you aren't armed..."

That left far too many avenues of questions open, most of which Rowan had no answers for. Of course everyone went armed. Most travelers had at least light stunners now, then... in the future.

"Gah." Rowan clutched his head. Just thinking about it made his head hurt.

"Are you alright?" Yamitsuki asked leaning forward earnestly. "Did you hit your head?"

"I think I must have to make it hurt this much," Rowan said, hanging his head so he didn't have to lie to the intense green eyes that had been studying his face. Much to his surprise, gentle fingers began probing his skull, and he found himself blushing of all things, from the closeness of the other young man. What a stupid thing to do. Maybe the trip had released too many endorphins into his bloodstream, and they were seeking a release. He was about to say something about that, when he remembered - in the past here had been all sorts of rules about the body, and the uses of it. As helpful as it almost certainly would be, suggesting a liaison for their release would almost doubtless be a very bad idea.

Since the widespread use of contraceptive implants in both sexes, and artificial wombs, sex was no longer about reproduction in Centralized Human space. This along with the abandonment of separate cultures, led to a loss of sexual taboos. It was something you could do, or couldn't do, depending on personal choice. Unfortunately, it had to be a mutual moment of personal choice. Forcing anyone was met with some of the stiffest penalties in all the laws. Not that Rowan was actually thinking about forcing anything. Just... pressing the issue a bit. Damned adrenaline.

Yamitsuki studiously paid attention to what he was doing, feeling along Rowan's scalp for any crusts of blood, lumps, or signs of injury. The only thing he discovered was that that marvelous red hair was finer than any he'd ever seen before, and smelled faintly of an unfamiliar flower or perfume. He settled back into a more proper kneeling position.

"I can't seem to find any damage," he told his patient, who was hiding his face in a most peculiar manner. "I wouldn't think a simple faint would cause the kind of damage that would rise slowly, so I think you're alright." He rested his hands on his knees.

"I remember falling," Rowan said unhelpfully.

"Before you got here?"

"Yes."

"Well that might account for the disorientation." Yamitsuki nodded, as if to himself. "Can you stand?"

"Oh yes, of course." Without waiting, he did.

Yamitsuki laughed. "You certainly can." He stood as well, and backed away from the pallet that Rowan had been lying on. "If you get dressed and come out into the courtyard, we can continue our conversation, since you're alright, more or less."

'Oh great,' thought Rowan as the other man left, staring that the outer robe and pants that were neatly folded beside the pallet. 'Now I have to remember how to put it back on.'

The young priest's strange visitor had been unconscious for most of the afternoon. The sun was already beginning its decent when Rowan came out into the atrium where Yamitsuki was sitting. When he was settled beside the other man, Yamitsuki began asking questions again. He tried to be polite; but quite frankly, it was strained by his curiosity. Rowan didn't seem to notice his rudeness, though his answers were a bit vague.

"I'm looking for someone. He's done some horrible things, and I have to bring him back to the laws of my lands."

"And you do this unarmed?"

"Yeah, it seemed pretty preposterous to me too," muttered Rowan under his breath.

"Is there any way I can help you?"

"You already have," Rowan assured him. "Thank you for being so kind to me. I'm... unused to traveling, I guess you could say."

"Think nothing of it," Yamitsuki insisted. "In fact, you can stay here for as long as you need to. The rest of my family wanders, so I have plenty of room."

"Thank you again."

Yamitsuki was personally of the opinion that Rowan had taken a rather large fall, perhaps off a cliff somewhere. He was obviously intelligent and well educated, but he had the strangest gaps in his knowledge - and in some of the simplest places. But he was perfectly willing to learn, like he was a child.

Rowan was perfectly thrilled to have this opportunity to ease into the alien society he found himself immersed in. Yamitsuki, who had told him to call him Suki instead, was very nice about what he didn't know, correcting Rowan's mistakes and teaching him things that a Watcher would have no reason to know. The villagers seemed to accept him as no more and no less than Suki's friend - except for the young girl who'd been there when he fainted. She started to turn up ad odd times while he was helping. Rowan did not welcome that kind of attention. It made him nervous. Yamitsuki didn't seem to notice. Apparently, Hoshiko was around a lot all the time. He was always very polite to her, even when Rowan would have been quite sharp with the girl. It was a few days before he realized why. She was in love with Yamitsuki. Having realized that, he was prepared to cut her a little slack, though he wasn't sure why. He got so involved in learning the ways of the land and people that he almost forgot why here was there.

Almost.

The Watcher from the future had spent just over a week in the lands of the past. The moon was full. So was Rowan's bladder, and he moved silently in the moon filled house heading out to the privy. On his way back, he thought he heard something odd. A whimper - or a stifled scream. Life on the stations was hardly perfect, and he was trained to answer things like that. He followed the noise - and realized that it was coming from Yamitsuki's room. Rowan paused, and quirked an ear towards the paper screen of the door. It wounded like something was wrong with Yamitsuki. He sounded - distressed, almost in pain. Tiptoeing across the wooden floor of the hall, Rowan slid the door open just wide enough for him to have a look in. It was impolite, but he'd come to think of Suki as his friend, and if he was in pain, Rowan would like to help.

"Suki!" Rowan shook the other man violently. The dark haired priest gave one more mewling cry, and woke up. For an instant after his eyes opened, the moonlight caught in them until they almost glowed. "What's the matter?" Rowan asked as soon as they focused on his face.

"Rowan!" Suki's eyes were wide, and his hands clenched on his friend's arms. "My friend - "

"What is it?"

"I... I have to get up." Yamitsuki forced himself to let go of the handful of cloth he'd grasped in his panic. "Bandits - they're coming - they'll be passing us soon, and I have to stop them before they get to the village." Moving with the deliberate swift motions that Rowan had become used to, he dressed. Rowan darted away, to meet the priest in the entryway, dressed.

"I'm coming with you."

Suki started to protest, then shook his head.

"It doesn't matter what I say, does it?" he said, sighing.

"Pretty much, no." Rowan grinned.

"Then follow me."

The full moon gave them plenty of light, as they made their way swiftly up the road, away from the town.

"Does this kind of thing happen a lot?" Rowan asked. "The waking up from a nightmare thing?"

"Not a great deal, but often enough," Yamitsuki replied, shifting the staff he carried from one hand to the other. "I fend off trouble before it gets to the village."

"By yourself?"

"My half brothers and father used to come with me," explained the priest, "But recently, yes, by myself." His calm, beautiful face became fierce as he spoke. "It's worth it to save them the pain."

The severity in his voice gave Rowan pause. In a way, the job Suki had taken upon himself was not unlike a Watcher - but Rowan had never felt that way about the job, even when he first took it. But it didn't make him feel ashamed to realize that, it made him feel inspired.

The night was almost gone by the time Yamitsuki motioned for Rowan to fall silent and walk slower. As fit as he was for ship duty, the auburn haired man was more than willing to do that. He had no idea how Suki managed not to be in the least winded.

But as his breath calmed, he realized he could hear the sound of several men in the distance. Horses too, he thought. Rowan wondered how Suki was planning on taking the men out. His jaw dropped as the other man stepped out onto the hard packed earth of the road, in full view of the crowd of men - who had to be bandits, since there was no good reason for honest men to be abroad at night.

Yamitsuki felt Rowan jerk back as he stepped into plain view. He didn't really blame his friend, who he was quite sure was no kind of warrior. The bandits noticed him immediately.

"Who is this pretty little bit, then?" chortled one, as Yamitsuki set his staff in the dirt at his feet.

"I must request that you take a different path."

They started to laugh again. But a clear, accented voice came up from the back.

"You are fools. Do you think he would say that if he did not have the means to enforce it?"

They answered with respect, but still blew the speaker off. Two of them stepped forward to accost Yamitsuki. He felt his muscles tense and almost glow in anticipation.

"We go where we want to, pretty boy."

"Then you will not change your course of your own will."

Again the clear accented voice rang from the back of the group. "You do all realize that I will not help you unless he tries to kill you?" More laughter, and the first man reached for Yamitsuki.

Rowan had no idea how his friend could be so calm. Something in the voice of the man who kept speaking up bothered him. Perhaps it was his accent? There was something vaguely familiar about it. But from the way Suki was standing he could handle it. Rowan just hoped he was right.

The grasping hand came down, and the planted staff came up, knocking the bandit to the ground, then knocking the wind out of him with a well placed jab.

"I am completely serious," Yamitsuki said calmly. "And would very much appreciate it if you all decided to go elsewhere." He didn't get a chance to make the request again, as he became forced to take on a half dozen men at once. It astounded Rowan that he was actually managing to do so. It was a dance, not a fight. The way he smoothly moved from one to the other made it look as if they were helping him in the dance, rather than fighting him. Suddenly the bandits (those who weren't on the ground in agony) hastened to get out of the way, as one warrior strode forward. In fact they drew their wounded associates aside. Rowan had been working on a count of Suki's opponents, just as that fellow - the leader, if he had any guess, appeared.

The leader was tall, few in his band could top him, with eyes like chips of obsidian, and thick hair pulled back in a high ponytail that whisked halfway down his back like a dark river. His clothing was simple, yet obviously of high quality cloth. It was patterned dark gray with a repeating motif of blood red x's. A long sword rested easily in his hand, its sheath glinting with dark enamel in the moonlight.

"I see what I had heard of you is true, priest." He tilted his head to one side. The hair slipped over his shoulder as he studied Yamitsuki's face in the moonlight. "That being so, I cannot imagine that you would be willing to walk side by me."

Suki dropped back half a step as the tall outlaw thumbed his sword loose from the scabbard.

"A pity that. You would be a fine ~Seeker~." He snapped his sword into his hand, and raised it - moonlight glinting down the steel, the tip pointing at the young priest like a lodestone was drawing it there.

In his mind, Yamitsuki swore. His technique mainly depended on taking down his enemies before they drew bladed weapons. It would take precious moments to prepare a different attack. The blade flew towards him and he tried to throw himself out of the way. A loud clap caught his attention and he turned to see Rowan standing calmly between him and the bandit, his palms clapped flat against the sword, stopping its decent. The rogue seemed as shocked as he himself was.

"~Hello Rhonyn,~" Rowan said, forcing his words out in the modern tongue, which felt completely foreign after the week of speaking Japanese "~You have to go home now.~"

The outlaw Seeker snarled, and Rowan, keeping his palms together, twisted the sword to make it loose in his opponent's grip.

The way he had used his words had been the big tip off, but Rowan wasn't sure that the tall outlaw was the man he sought until he used the word for bounty hunter. That, and seeing his friend in danger made him leap into action, using the barehanded subdual techniques that all Watchers were taught. Since they'd been designed against a knife, he wasn't sure if they would work against a sword. Rowan was so relived that they did, that he would have pissed himself if adrenaline were not pouring into him, stiffening him into a man of steel.

Mutters had started when the Watcher had leapt from hiding to stop Rhonyn's blade. The bandits (Rowan had estimated their numbers at a little over fifteen) were amazed that their leader could be stopped by this red haired slip. Then they noticed the wrestling match going on over the sword. Rowan knew he should let go of the sword. While the sword was in play, his opponent would always focus on it, leaving him openings. But something in the hum of energy between his palms kept him hanging on, as Rhonyn tried to dislodge him.

"~So, you've come to take me back to the future, eh?~" snarled Rhonyn.

"~Like a good dog. What are you? A Sojer? Where are your mates? Where are your guns?~"

His opponent was stronger than he was, Rowan realized with dismay. And the harsh syllables of his 'native' tongue were also a distraction to translate.

"Stop it!" snapped Rowan, tossing his bangs out of his eyes, and reverting back to Japanese without thinking about it. "You killed Gathlow! You have to face your punishment!"

"~And if I said I didn't do that, would you believe me?~" Rhonyn planted a foot in the redhead's stomach, knocking the air out of him, and throwing him to the ground. "~You wouldn't! Because you know nothing about me!~" He brought his blade down, and Rowan flung up his arms to protect his face. He felt the blow, but no slicing of muscle - was Rhonyn's blade that sharp? There wasn't any blood... he kicked out, realizing that he had been given armor cylqe instead of garment cylqe. Mentally blessing Intra and Kardi, Rowan kept one arm up defensively, and performed a leg sweep his teachers would have been proud of. As Rhonyn fell, and Rowan rose to his feet, he heard a sharp report, like wood striking something.

"Rowan!" cried Suki, raising his staff from where he had brought it down on the bounty hunter's head. "We should retreat!" He eyes caught the moonlight and glowed like cut crystal. "They won't attack tonight!"

"I have to - " Rowan rubbed his wrists, reaching for the retrieval beacon - and realized that he had left both his and the one for Rhonyn beside the bed at the shrine. His shock and dismay made him miss seeing Yamitsuki pull a put of rice paper form his sleeve and blow on it, making it dissolve into dust, which burned the skin of the bandits it touched, causing them to yelp. Two enterprising ones darted forward, grabbing the shoulders of Rhonyn's robe, snatching him from beneath Rowan's hands, even as Suki pulled his friend into the darkness of the tree's shadows.

"I am sorry." They stood on the edge of a small pond, and Rowan splashed cool water on the swiftly forming bruises where Rhonyn's blade had struck his forearms.

"What?" He turned, looking up at his friend.

"I thought disparagingly of you, thinking you couldn't fight. I was wrong." Suki sighed deeply. "And I fear I may have driven away the man you sought. You will have to pursue him now." The green eyed man looked down at his companion, kneeling on the grass. In the moonlight his face was smooth and serene as the water's surface. Then he smiled, in the quick way that Yamitsuki had come to associate with him.

"He may come for me now," he warned. "In a way, I'm upset, but if I'd caught him, I would have had to go." His hair was coming loose and Rowan paused to tie it back. He took his time doing it, to try and banish the thoughts that had cropped up again after the fight, as Suki had led him through the dark woods with eyes like a cat, keeping a firm cool grip on Rowan's hand. It slipped out anyway when he looked back up. "You're beautiful, you know that, Suki?" Realizing what he'd said, his cheeks colored, and tried to think of a way to qualify that so it didn't sound quite so wistful.

Yamitsuki jumped slightly, as Rowan said exactly what he himself had been thinking. Ah, but now Rowan was blushing, he must not have meant to say that. 'Perhaps,' thought the priest, 'I should say something.' Before Rowan could stutter any qualifiers, Suki knelt with the same fluid grace he did everything else, placed cool fingers under the redhead's chin, and kissed him.

The kiss knocked everything else out of Rowan's mind. Which allowed him to revel in every moment of it. It was just what he needed, quite frankly. A few moments later Suki drew back, and said with a small smile, "You are quite beautiful as well."

He might have said more, if Rowan hadn't kissed him almost at once. The taste of Suki's lips was delicious, the texture exquisite. He tangled his hands in the other man's hair and enjoyed the sensation of the silk hair on his hands. Yamitsuki responded to the kiss with interest, trapping Rowan's face between his hands, and kissing his lips, his cheeks, covering his entire face with kisses. Both of them forgot about the rest of the day, too involved in what was happening right then, between them. Hair fell loose from its ties under exploring hands, shirts were tugged loose and tossed aside, and they lay in the dewy grass with their arms around each other and their tongues in each other's mouths.

Rowan pulled back long minutes later, heart pounding.

"I - uh. I wasn't sure what you'd think if I said something."

Yamitsuki leaned forward and rested his cheek against Rowan's bare shoulder. "I wasn't sure myself until just now."

"And what would you say?" Rowan asked, bemused.

Lips touched the curve of his ear, softly first in a kiss, then as they moved in a word. "Yes."

Hidden behind a curtain of auburn hair, Rowan smiled. "I'm glad." He kissed him again, pinning the young man into the grass, and running a line of kisses down his neck, across his collarbone, and back up his neck to his mouth. Grabbing a handful of reddish hair, Yamitsuki kept Rowan's mouth on his for several moments in a long heated kiss. Rowan set about exploring every inch of Suki's chest with his lips and tongue. Yamitsuki returned the favor, kissing everything that came within reach, and running his hands over Rowan's back and chest, finger combing his hair and wrapping his legs around the other man's waist. Rowan discovered that the construction of the loose-legged pants of the era made it easy to slip a hand inside, drawing gasps from Suki. But it wasn't enough and their hands were already fumbling at the tie to let every inch of their skin touch. Locked around each other, their fingers explored sensitive areas. Bare to the air, Yamitsuki shivered as Rowan's lips worked down his torso teasing goose bumps from his flesh.

When those satin soft lips reached his penis, he cried out, his fingers tangling hopelessly in Rowan's soft reddish hair. His muscles curled of their own volition bringing him to a half upright position curling around his partner's head, as Rowan put skillful fingers to work, as he kissed the hot skin of Suki's cock. Breath coming in little pants, Yamitsuki clutched at the red-head's back, leaving pale welts in the tracks of his nails, that only served to further arose the young man from the future. The mouth on his sensitive organ was almost too much for him to take. Cool hands traced up his spine, as a hot tongue trailed down his cock, and clutching handfuls of hair he gave in to a most incredible climax. Still slightly limp, he hauled on the hair in his hands until he had drawn those talented lips close enough to kiss, deeply. Pulling away he kept Rowan's lip between his teeth briefly, and rubbed his face against the other man's. Rowan smiled, draping his arms around the younger man. He started to say something, but it was lost in a gasp, as Suki ran his hands down his chest, and wrapped them around Rowan's own engorged member.

"Aie!" gasped Rowan. Yamitsuki smiled, and bit at Rowan's neck, gently, as he stroked his slender, graceful fingers along the hot skin beneath them. Trailing teasing little love bites, the priest pushed Rowan down into the now trampled grass, covering his lover's body with his own, all the while stroking at his partner's skin, and fondling him with surprising skill. Rowan rocked against the skilled caresses, cupping the firm buttocks of his partner. The combination of a nibbled nipple and a trailing finger proved to much and drove him into a shuddering orgasm, as he held Suki against him. The green-eyed man smiled, and curled up against Rowan, who didn't bother untangling his limbs from the other man, just gently pushed dark hair out of those beautiful lambent eyes.

"How sweet this is," growled a voice. Shocked out of afterglow, both Suki and Rowan tried to stand, but found themselves still tangled, and somewhat helpless as a rude shoved them hard. Rowan strove for balance - but they both fell into the pond they had dallied beside.

"You may both stay in there," the voice said as they came sputtering to the surface, "until I have spoke my piece." Standing amidst discarded tunics, his sword unsheathed in one hand, was Rhonyn, looking quite cross. It was not the moonlight - the blade glowed, and crackled with energy.

"In case you are wondering, I brought this sword with me." He swung it around in an arch behind his head, slicing through a tree like paper. It fell to one side with a sickening crash. Rhonyn didn't even flinch. The flickers on the blade briefly extinguished, but the had started to return by the time he brought it back around to point at them. "I trust neither of you need further demonstration?"

"How did he do that?" hissed Yamitsuki in Rowan's ear. "I don't know that magic."

Without thinking, Rowan had stepped in between his new lover and Rhonyn. Unarmed, somewhat scared, and confused, Suki was fine with that, pressing up against the taller man's back.

"I do not care for being humiliated in front of men I must lead," Rhonyn warned. "But I do not mean either you nor your priest any harm at this time."

"Then what do you want?"

"~Watcher~ I want you to listen for a moment."

"How do you know what I am?"

"I had wondered what you were. You were no ~sojer~ or ~seeker~. Then I noticed your crest." With the end of his sheath the dark haired outlaw lifted the outer robe that Rowan had been wearing. There was an 'embroidered' patch shoulder high on the back seam. It was round, and on it was an oval, pointed at the tips, with three short lines coming out the bottom, and a small circle inside the oval. From a distance, it looked very much like one of the symbols Watchers used.

'I'm going to kill them.' Whatever brownie points Intra and Kardi had built up by giving him armor cylqe, they used up by deciding that his badge was a dandy thing to put on his clothes.

"You're right. I am a ~watcher.~ Will that make me any less dead?"

"I have no wish to kill either of you beautiful boys."

Yamitsuki bristled slightly at that description of them, and Rhonyn raised an eyebrow.

"~Tell me another,~" spat Rowan.

"~Truthfully. I only want to talk tonight.~"

Beneath his fingers, Suki felt Rowan's muscles relax slightly. "Talk so Yamitsuki can understand you," Rowan said softly.

"Are you sure?" asked Rhonyn. "He won't understand most of it, anyway. I do not even know that I can say some of what needs to be said in this language."

"Try."

Rhonyn snorted, and sheathed his sword in a smooth movement. As Yamitsuki started to move the older man raised his eyebrows. "The sword can come right back out, pretty priest. Stay put." His cold, dark eyes, looked deeply into Rowan's, then he nodded. "Is that how it is then? I will do as best I can.

"My younger days do not upset you. Nothing I did has not been done by hundreds of ~seekers~; pardon, bounty hunters in the pa - before me. I came to Gathlow Station seeking a bounty. The bounty I sought had stolen something that could not be talked of in its time. ~Bio-ware.~ I cannot think of another term. A disease that took over other people's minds, and bound it to the progenitor. A filthy ~Erimpa~ weapon. What I did not realize then, was that the bounty had been careless in her theft, and had been on Gathlow for at least a fortnight.

"The least of the children on the station, the most innocent would now act with skills not their own, to strike me down, for the thief had heard that I was after her, and was watching for me. I was - " He paused and frowned in thought. "I had established a reputation. In the ranks of ~seekers~ I was a lord. I had taken many a life and destroyed it. It was not enough for the thief to kill me by blasting my craft in the void. She wished to see me lain low. I was already deep in the station when I saw there was something wrong. I had worn my battle armor in, and that I suppose kept me from becoming just another pawn.

"It was her will, but my sword that killed many on the station. I found myself trapped, cornered, and in a sudden inspiration, adjusted the - " He looked at Yamitsuki, who was starting to shiver. "~The Atmospheric Sanitary Systems.~ You can explain what that means to him. In killing the sickness, I killed the carriers, and in my infamiliarity with the system, I set it too high. It killed all ~bacteria~ - even those that humans need to live." He ran his thumb over the wrapping on the hilt of his sword, staring not at them, but at the grass at his feet. "I too would have died, if my battle armor was not set to take me back to my vessel if it read a certain level of damage in my system. By that point, lacking that protection, there was no one on the station to stop me. My autopilot took me far away, to the point station above the Golden Court, to recover. By the time I was recovered, I was already known as the villain. Since they were not supposed to make it, my employers kept their silence on the matter of the disease. And since there was no way to prove my innocence, I descended from the quasi-legality of a bounty hunter into the realm of the true criminal.

"Then I read of the experiments our researcher friends Intra and Kardi had begun. They hid their discovery well, but I had to believe that it could be done." He spread his arms, indicating the woods, where birds were just starting to awaken, heralding the coming dawn. "Here, I thought, in a land I had always dreamed about, things were simpler, purer. No one could cage me here, and I would live quietly out my days." He smoothed his sash. "That is the truth of it. ~Watcher~ you can believe me or not." He raised one eyebrow, studying the form of Rowan's slender smooth skinned body in the dying starlight. "Though your presence confuses me greatly, perhaps as much as the story I have told you does you. If you had come to catch and punish me for my crimes, you would be more than a skinny watcher. Have you come to save the future of the past from me?" Frowning, he repeated it in the star-tongue, but it made no more sense that way. He snorted and flicked his fingers dismissively. "I would not fear for the ~timeline~ this era could eat several such as I and not even chew." His eyes met Rowan's without flinching. "It could eat you as well."

"If what you say is true, Rhonyn, the truth could be found, you could be free, and where you belong," challenged Rowan, dark eyes narrow.

Rhonyn struck his chest with an open palm. "This is where I belong! I do not belong in the Starsea! If you could send me back tonight, you would have already when your lover struck me unconscious."

Rowan shifted in place. That was undeniably true. The prospect of hunting down the bounty hunter and getting him helpless again, now that he knew that someone was seeking him was daunting. Providing Rowan lived to see the dawn that was already starting to make itself seen on the horizon that is.

"I said all I wished to do was talk, and talk I have." Rhonyn sighed, and shook his head, hair whisking back and forth. "You doubtless wish to get out of the water now. So I will leave you, so that you may decide if you will believe what you have been told by others, or what you have been told by one that was there." He slipped his sheathed sword, which he had been holding, into the sash of his tunic, and folded his hands together, hiding them inside his sleeves. "I am Rhonyn Deranko, child of the Fringe planet Golden Court. What I have said is as true as the stars."

The phrase parsed differently in the ancient tongue, but Rowan still resounded with the graveness of the vow. He stepped back from the water's edge, even as Rowan stepped forward slightly.

"If you seek me out, it will not go so well for you, ~Watcher~ Rowan." The bounty hunter rested his hand on his sword hilt, making it far to clear what he meant. Rowan subsided. "And don't forget," Rhonyn said, turning and heading into the woods, "~if you send me back, you have to return as well. Think about that for a while.~" With a small smile thrown over his shoulder, he disappeared into the shadowed wood.

Rowan shook water out of his hair and growled. He would have leapt out of the pond to peruse Rhonyn immediately, but for a hand that rested on his shoulder.

"Rowan? What did he say?"

Frowning, the red haired man pushed his hair out of his eyes. "The truth. Damn him."

"All of it?" Suki took his hand away and moved to the edge of the pond, clambering out onto the grass. Above them, the sky was golden pink. He picked up his inner robe and shook it out, wrapping it around him, not paying any attention to the fact his wet hair was rendering the white fabric partially see through. He tied the sash, and turned to look at Rowan who was wringing his hair out before dressing.

"So."

Rowan looked up.

"I fear very much, Rowan Ashrothe, that I have fallen in love with you." Rowan's jaw dropped, but Yamitsuki went on. "That being said, I want to know who you are, and where you came from. Right now." He crossed his arms over his chest, and locked eyes as bright as lasers into Rowan's.

Rowan sighed, and scratched the back of his neck. He crouched on the ground and found his hair tie. There was no way he could think with his hair in his eyes.

"I'm waiting."

Rowan sighed again, and picked up his under robe.

"Will you believe me?"

"What?"

"If I tell you the truth, will you believe me?" The cylqe flowed over his shoulders, and he tucked it into place, before reaching for the second robe. He kept looking at the ground, not wanting to face Suki's remarkable eyes. Fingers cupped his chin, and Yamitsuki forced the older man to look up, into his eyes. From where he stood, he could taste the dark haired man's breath.

"Yes."

Rowan let out the breath he'd drawn in when Yamitsuki had touched him.

"Then I'll tell you.

"I'm from the very far future, Rhonyn and I both." Rowan looked up at the sky, searching for one last star among the morning's brilliant streaks. "In that future, mankind has left this planet, and gone into the stars. The Starsea is now our home. We look for another planet to live on, but haven't found any quite like this one, our own Earth. The language that Rhonyn and I spoke is the startounge, the language used by the Center, and much of the Fringe. The Center is the government that rules the humans who dwell in the stars. The Starsea is cold, and lifeless, and we live inside metal bubbles called Stations, and travel from one to the other on ships. I was one who watched, who kept the order on the ship. Two people who devoted their lives to discovering new techniques to live created a machine to send living matter, humans, back in time. You heard why Rhonyn came back in time. I followed him, because I could speak this language, and because they wouldn't trust anyone else." He looked back to Yamitsuki at last. "I think I probably messed some of that up. It all seems so distant here." He gave a hoarse laugh. "It is. A far distant future, far distant sector of space." He sighed, and picked up his pants. "And having said all that, there isn't any reason that you would believe me."

"I believe you for the best reason," Yamitsuki said softly. Rowan looked up, and Suki kissed him softly before finishing. "You're telling the truth. As strange as it is."

When Rowan had started talking, Suki was not inclined to believe him. His head was already quite shaken by the strange things that Rhonyn had said. It wasn't for several moments, that he realized that Rowan was saying the exact same sort of things that Rhonyn had. The forlorn way that Rowan had talked helped convince him as well. Besides as strange a s a concept as it was, it would explain the strange ways that Rowan acted sometimes.

Rowan was so relieved to hear that Suki believed him his knees went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, where he wrapped his arms around the younger man's waist. Yamitsuki smoothed the auburn hair beneath his fingers and hugged him back.

"But Rowan, what was it he said last? That upset you so much?"

Rowan kept his face pressed into the soft fabric of Suki's robe - while he had gotten dressed, Yamitsuki was still just in his now damp under robe.

"He said that if I sent him back I would have to follow. And it made me realize how much I would miss you if I had to go. And how much I love you, and the rest of this place. I don't want to go." A few tears leaked out of his eyes, lost in the general dampness. "I don't think I belong in the Starvoid anymore either."

"Shhh." Again Yamitsuki smoothed the unruly reddish hair. "You're tired. Let's get home. It will all look better after you get some rest." Helping Rowan to stand, he pressed his lips to the other man's ear. "And you are free to stay with me, for as long as you are here."

When they got back to the shrine, Rowan slept most of the morning away, and when he woke up, helped sweep the stone paths and courtyards that led into the shrine. He was torn between wishing the night before had been a dream, and hoping - knowing it was not. Yamitsuki spent most of the day in the inner shrine, and Rowan didn't feel comfortable going there, so he didn't see much of the other man. Rowan didn't think Suki regretted what had happened... but he was kind of worried what would happen when the priest had had time to think about it and take everything in. He might decide not to believe what he'd been told. Since it was the truth, Rowan was justifiably worried about what he would tell Yamitsuki if the priest decided not to believe the truth. Perching on the edge of the porch, Rowan stared off into the distance, deep in thought.

Regardless of how things turned out, he should do what he came here to do. He shouldn't be even thinking about staying here, in his own past. But he was. He was trying to come up with excuses why he should. Rowan wasn't sure if he could take the sterile nature of stations, the recycled air, after becoming used to the feel of food in his fingers, and the smell of trees. But what if he did the timestream serious damage by staying? What if he did worse damage by leaving now that he was there? That was the problem with time travel, the red head decided. Too many paradoxes for a normal mind to deal with. He should have sent someone more sensible to take the report from the researchers. They wouldn't have let their obsession with Earth talk them into doing something stupid.

But that would have meant he'd never meet Yamitsuki. Something else he'd walk through bhalefire in order to keep. Rowan shook his head, and teased a knot out of his hair with his fingertips. He wouldn't have seen that coming. He'd had a male lover once before, while he was in the Center's housing, but other than that, he had been mainly attracted to women. Now he felt as firmly attached to Suki as he had ever been to his parents.

"Ah... ~Moms, Dads, I don't know what I've gotten myself into,~" he muttered to himself. Then he snorted, shaking his head, for talking to dead parents that hadn't even been born yet. Their family line wasn't even an eye to twinkle in, yet. But thinking of them made him frown. They'd taught him to own up to his responsibilities, even when they seemed impossible. And he had to make sure that Rhonyn didn't cause trouble. He sighed again.

"What am I going to do?" Rowan sighed. "If I chase him down, he'll kill me. But if I don't keep track of him, who knows what will happen."

"I wouldn't worry," Yamitsuki said, coming out of the shrine proper to sit beside Rowan.

Rowan turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Your destinies are wound together like two threads on a spindle. You'll see each other again."

"Is this a priest thing?"

"Maybe." Suki smiled mysteriously. "If I can believe you come from the future, can you believe I sometimes just know things?"

"Put that way, how can I not?"

"Really believe. Not just pretending as you have been."

Rowan had the grace to look embarrassed. "I never really thought much of magic or gods. But I can try."

"Good." Yamitsuki whisked Rowan's ponytail aside and kissed the back of his neck. "I'd hate to have to beat it into you."

Rowan lowered his head, making a few strands of hair fall across it, hiding his face, and thus the blush that was creeping across his cheeks.

"You do know I can do magic, Rowan?" Suki challenged slightly, keeping his hand on the mass of red hair. "It's not just dreams, magic. Many people go through their whole lives without seeing it, and if you stay here - which I hope you will - you may see a lot of it."

"Well, then I'll take it as I see it." Rowan shrugged and turned to face his friend, smiling slightly.

"Good. I wanted to tell you that I've sent messages to my brothers," he said. "I gave them a description of Rhonyn, and they'll keep their eyes open for him."

"How many brothers do you have? Where are they all?"

"Oh, there's a whole litter of us," Yamitsuki said. "They're my half brothers really, my father's other sons. The two eldest live with our uncle, and the others are wanderers."

"Ah." If there were any other important details, he supposed he would learn them eventually.

"Your Rhonyn was right about one thing, these are times of change." Yamitsuki sighed gustily. "Who knows if what you two will do will affect the changes or not."

"I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or not," chuckled Rowan. They sat together on the edge of the porch, and then watched, equally silently as a round lantern came bobbing up the dusk-shrouded trail.

"Yamitsuki!" called Hoshiko brightly, dashing up the path and into the courtyard. She stopped when she saw the two men sitting next to each other.

"Oh. He's still here." She bowed in greeting. "Is he going to stay here forever?"

"Hoshiko!" Yamitsuki said, with a slight edge to his voice. "That's rather rude."

"I'm sorry," she said, then apologized to Rowan as well, which amused him. The young girl turned to Yamitsuki again. "Yamitsuki, please come to town, there are star showers, and the whole town is staying up to watch them, and they'd like you to come." She looked at Rowan then shrugged. "You can come too. Since you seem to be staying."

"Thank you."

Hoshiko blinked, staring at him.

"It means a lot to me," Rowan continued. "Because I think I may be here for a long while."

"Oh." The emotion on her face was hard to read, then she suddenly broke into a smile that revealed that someday, she would be a beautiful young woman. She grabbed his hand with her free one, stretching out the hand with the lantern to illuminate the courtyard.

"Well come on then, Rowan-kun!" She tugged him along, barely giving him time to shove his feet into his sandals. Yamitsuki fought laughter, as the young girl tugged his friend down the path, until one hand came whipping back to grip his wrist, yanking him along in the haphazard fashion of a crack the whip game. He erupted into contagious laughter, which chased them down the hill into the village.

There would be many problems ahead of them, but for now, it felt like they had all the time in the world.

--Can't tell the players without a scorecard?--
Rowan Ashrothe - Watcher on the research ship that discovered time travel. Mongoloid eyes & skin, red hair. 22
Percy - On Com. Also a Watcher. I just liked the name.
Intra - Dusky skin, platinum blond hair, aquamarine eyes. Wears a crystal interface.
Kardi - Black hair, gold eyes. Erimpa (Alien race)
Rhonyn - Assassin/bounty hunter/mass murderer. History obsessive. Black hair, black eyes, gold skin. 34
Yamitsuki - keeper of the shrine. Green eyes. Black hair. Nickname Suki. 19
Hoshiko - A girl with her cap set for Yamitsuki. Out of luck. 12.

--Huh?--
Jesu - A god. Evolution of Jesus? Who knows.
Hair - Is worn short on most stations and large ships. Bangs are the only thing allowed over an inch, and most people don't bother, going to innovative cuts, and sometimes scalp decoration.
The riots - There were some messy mistakes when transporters were discovered. It was decided by the Center that it wasn't worth it, and research was abandoned.
The Center - The government. Not all humans circle the Center, some strike out on their own. They are referred to as Fringe, and build bases on planets that really aren't suitable - basically living on a station, only on a planet's surface. Generally considered lawless types, they try to cling to old Earth traditions, like marrying within a genetic spectrum.

Wait a moment, how come Rowan & Rhonyn can speak ancient Japanese? Shouldn't the syntax and pronunciation have changed? Technically, yes. Languages drift and change. But by amazing coincidence, it drifted right back to where it was at the time they were sent to.

Honest.

--Things--
Plasnamel - a hard, smooth substance, used as insulation, decoration, and protection. Like enamel, only harder.
Crystal interface - an Erimpa innovation, a tuned crystal bonded to the skin, allows interface with computers through the body's electrical fields, without wires. Does not work on audio communication.
Erimpa - a race that joined the human collective. Their planet was on the verge of self destruction. While very clever, they never came up with even the concept of interstellar flight, though they sure knew their planet inside out. Other than that, rather cyber-punk-esqe. Their eyes are always red or gold,
Cylqe - a ubiquitous material, similar to silk, but better. Can be made as armor.
Sojers - like Marines.
Starvoid - Space. Also called the Void, the Star Sea, and the Endless Horizon.
Seeker - Sort of a synonym for bounty hunter, but also they find resources, like metal rich asteroids, planets with useful gas fields, etc.
Startounge - The common usage language of the Center
Choclat - candy. Also used in medicine.
Watcher - like watchman, police officer, security, rent-a-cop
Bhalefire - A cross between lasers and napalm. Don't ask. You really don't want to know the particulars.