Log Date: 12/26/96
Log Cast:
	Tance, Kesya
Log Intro:
	It has been four days since Tance Vokrim and Kesya As'shoriah
last saw one another; four days in which Kesya had had to deal with a
pressing recruit problem up on Shankill Station, four days in which
her resonance had taken the chance to plummet dangerously low... and
four days in which Tance, wrestling with a sudden fear that returning to
the Ranges would mean risking the fragile new improvements to his memory,
has sequestered himself in his quarters.... trying, of all things, to
clean them.
	Kesya has found Tance in his rooms, and has astonished him
twice over: once by her uncharacteristic hugging of her resonance-starved
body to his own resonating one, and twice by telling him that she trusts
him and asking him to accompany her to one of her claims while she lets
her symbiont recharge. Unable to deny her request for all that returning
to the Ranges unnerves him, Tance agrees to do it.
	What Kesya hadn't told him, however, is that the claim she wanted
to go to was black crystal. The moment they reach the vein, Kesya
goes immediately into thrall... and thus, never sees Tance gape,
thunderstruck, at the sight of the fortune before him. Nor does she see him
wrestle with the sudden surge of memory of old jealousy and bitterness
he'd harbored towards younger Singers who found black crystal, or see
him involuntarily almost lift his cutter to her. Or, at last, lower it again.
	What she does see, once Tance finally pulls her free of the thrall,
is tears in his eyes, though he assures her that nothing has gone wrong,
and that he is, in fact, 'better'. Once he is assured in turn that she
will not thrall again, he lets her settle down to sleep in the vein to
let her symbiont continue to charge....

----------
Tance makes his way out of the vein, slowly and arduously, as he tries to 
  remember the path he took to get into the caverns. It takes him at least an 
  hour -- and one or two times of bumping his forehead on low-hanging rock, 
  for he's left the lamp behind with _her_ -- before he finally returns to the 
  sled. Long force of habit makes him check the immediate area, for all that 
  this isn't _his_ vehicle; all seems safe, without and within. At last, 
  gingerly, he settles himself down into the bunk and strives to get slumber 
  of his own.

Kesya drops off to sleep quickly, almost as soon as she closes her eyes. Two 
  days without rest will have that effect on a person. She lies in a ball, 
  arms curled around her, back just resting against the crystal face. She 
  looks like a small child in such a position, but it's warmer this way in the 
  cool night air, and she can feel the comforting tingle of crystal along her 
  spine.

In the sled, Tance Vokrim fiddles for a while with his datapad, trying to
  put into words what he's just experienced back at the vein. It's not
  easy, for he is not a very eloquent man; it helps him, just a bit, that
  Kesya is not present to distract him. But thoughts of her do that well
  enough, as he at last puts the pad away and settles down on the sled's bunk.
Tance descends into a restless, uneasy slumber, between 
  his symbiont's increasing charge of resonance and the churn of his thoughts. 
  _She trusts me_, is foremost among them, and threaded in with that, the 
  half-formed conviction that he can't let himself be near her when the sun is 
  on the crystal. As his sleep grows deeper, that conviction plays itself over 
  and over in his consciousness, till at last, he can almost _see_ the black 
  face, and the black-clad, green-haired young woman before it.

	In his dream, however, the figure turns -- and she's no longer 
	green, either of hair or skin; both of these turn golden, with the 
	only green remaining in her eyes. Meguey Radmynn turns, one brow 
	arching quizzically and plaintively, as she asks him, "Have you 
	forgotten me again?"

The singer in the crystal vein stirs. Her dreams have changed; from the 
  comforting crystal around her, to the look in Tance's eyes when he said he 
  was 'better' (what _did_ he mean by that, exactly?), to the comforting 
  feeling of resonance along her bones. Soon though, this is all covered in 
  white -- snow swirls around her, and she feels her fingers going numb. She 
  wakes with a start, eyes wide, shivvering. Cold. _Should've brought a 
  blanket_. She gets stiffly to her feet, one hand trailing along the crystal 
  as she climbs out of the vein.

Tance, sprawled ungracefully across the sled's bunk, shifts and murmurs a 
  denial in his sleep. Can't have forgotten her. But he did. Forgot her 
  name... the color of her eyes... and, now, has he really forgotten the 
  strength of his feelings for her, fascinated as he's been by _her_, the 
  green one, Jade? Meguey never was a Singer with rancor, and even now she 
  bears no accusation in her gaze -- but she does bear hurt. And Tance, seeing 
  it, can't help but utter a moan.

Kesya's dreams of being lost in the snow make her shiver as much 
  as the brisk night air does, and she looks up at the night sky through the 
  top of the cave. _Not snowing_. Wrapping her arms about her, she makes her 
  way back to the sled, making her way a bit faster than Tance did, being she 
  actually has a light with her. She sneaks quietly into the sled, trying not 
  to disturb the man on the bunk.

Tance lies there in a tangle of blankets as you enter the sled, stirring 
  unsettledly, his head shifting from side to side on the pillow.

Kesya pauses at the door, her slim figure silhoutted against the windscreen in 
  the dim moonlight. Her eyes rest on Tance's uneasy form, and she frowns. 
  _Why, he looks like he's having a nightmare_. Concern flashes across her 
  features, and she finally decides not to stir him from it -- best he doesn't 
  know she was here at all. She moves quietly to the bed, reaching above it to 
  open one of the compartments.

"Sorry, Meggie... sorry...." The whisper isn't very loud, but it is 
  nevertheless palpably clear to Singer hearing. So is the grief in the tone 
  that produces it. Tance rolls on his side as he sleeps, grabbing at the 
  pillow, trying to bury his face in it.

Kesya's breath catches, her hands held still on the blanket she's reaching 
  for. Meggie... Meguey. That's the woman who died so long ago, whom Tance was 
  so attached to. She pulls the blanket down gently, cradling it to her as she 
  looks down at the troubled sleeper, concern lining her face. She reaches a 
  hand to him, then pulls back -- even now, best not to wake him. Instead, she 
  sits curled up next to the bunk, her back against the bulkhead.

Something, perhaps the scent of the pillow, makes Tance jerk around again, 
  rolling back onto his back. His head continues to rock from side to side as 
  though he's shaking it in vehement denial.
"Didn't mean... didn't.... sorry..." His voice growing more urgent and 
  anxious, Tance tosses again in the grip of the dream.

Kesya bites her lip, trying not to make a sound as she watches. Should she 
  wake him? She hugs the blanket to her, silver-blue eyes wide and worried. 
  _He looks so anguished_, she thinks. _But maybe his dreams will help him 
  work out whatever's bothering him?_

	And in his dream, he and Meguey are on a claim. It's a long time 
	ago... long ago enough that his hair was still completely brown, 
	his face was less lined, younger; Meguey was timeless. But in the 
	now of the dream, she is also hurt, and she turns away from him, 
	stalking in her surly anger off across the little stretch of 
	wilderness that hides the rose claim she'd chosen to share with him. 
	Even as he pauses, struggling with whether he should go after her, he 
	can hear the wind beginning to rise -- and can feel his symbiont 
	starting to niggle at him with increasingly urgent warnings.

	The-Tance-that-dreams hangs back from what he sees, aching at the 
	sight. _No... not again..._ But the Tance-in-the-dream has a temper, 
	and, grudging and stubborn, he sulks in the sled, ignoring the 
	building warnings in the back of his neck, his spine, his gut. Only 
	when the winds are beginning to howl does he finally realize -- a 
	storm is coming. And Meguey's still out at the crystal.

In the bunk, Tance flails again, trying to curl up, perhaps trying to hide. 
  His breathing grows louder, harsher.

Kesya holds the blanket to her, her keen gaze resting on Tance's shifting, 
  shadow-like figure on the bunk. She knows about Meguey.. heard about her 
  when Tance had regained some of his memory when he was in the infirmary. 
  _Poor guy_, she thinks. It must've been horrible to lose her. And still, he 
  dreams of her? It's a wonder he doesn't just /try/ to lose himself in 
  crystal again, to forget. As he stirs restlessly, she grips the blanket 
  tighter, watching worriedly.

	Within the dream, Tance watches his younger self scurry across the 
	hillside, feels wind whipping at him, making him wince at the 
	increasing dissonances in the air. Crystal song pulls him, and 
	Meguey's sweet contralto, as she sings -- oblivious to the coming 
	gale. When he gets to the claim, he can see her, raptly and rotely 
	moving through the ritual of cut, pack, cut, pack... till a 
	particularly vicious gust of wind makes the crystal shriek. Makes 
	her jerk her hands involuntarily, making the cutter bounce. Strike 
	rock. Shatter....

Tance jerks bolt upright, crying out, "_Meg_!"

Kesya jumps to her feet, instantly at Tance's side. "Tance?" She sits on the 
  edge of the bunk, gaze going to yours, hands on your shoulders. "You had a 
  bad dream Tance, but you're okay, you're awake. I'm here."

Panic, grief, and terror are all painfully clear in his face as he shudders 
  slightly back from you. "Saw her. Saw the cutter... saw... Meg?"

Worry writes itself on Kesya's features, her hands dropping as you pull from 
  her. Her gaze drops for just an instant, but then she squares her shoulders 
  and reaches to you again, one hand gently on your shoulder to show she's 
  here for support if you need it. Her voice is soft, almost a murmur as she 
  asks, "What happened?"

"I didn't want to remember that... I didn't want..." His words emerge so 
  hoarsely that they're barely intelligible.
Tance's shoulder shakes under your hand.

Kesya's eyes melt at the tone in your voice, and she leans forward to pull you 
  into a hug. "It's okay," she murmurs. "It's done, it's over. You can't 
  change what's happened so long ago."

Trembling violently, Tance buries his face against your shoulder. His arms, 
  prickling with resonance and shaking with the aftermath of the nightmare, 
  curl tightly about you.

Kesya just holds you a long while, one arm hugging around your shoulders, the 
  other hand stroking your hair as one might a small, hurt child. Normally she 
  might have to make an effort not to focus on the feel of crystal in your 
  arms.. but now she barely registers it. She murmurs soft, comforting words, 
  holding you tight as though even that might stop your shaking.

At last, after long minutes of such comfort, he begins to calm down; the 
  tenson leaves his shoulders, the raggedness eases from his breath. Tance 
  sighs, lifts his head a little, and scrubs at his face.
Tance mumbles, "I... I thought you were going to sleep in the vein....?"

Kesya gently lets you go, her hands still resting on your shoulders as she 
  ducks her head to peer into your face. "Better?" She pauses, biting her 
  lower lip for a moment. "I was cold," she answers. "Woke up thinking I was 
  buried in snow again. So I came back to get a blanket. I was going to 
  leave," she adds quickly, "But.. you.. you looked like you might need 
  someone here."

"I was.... dreaming," Tance observes, bemusedly, as if it only just now 
  occurred to him.

Kesya nods in the darkness, a small, invisible smile touching her lips. "And 
  quite a doozy it was, by the looks of it." Her voice drops a bit a she asks, 
  "Do you want to talk about it?"

As his hand drops, you can see in the dim light coming in through the open 
  viewscreen that Tance's feature are still etched with strain, as well as 
  evident exhaustion -- not astonishing, that, given the turbulent way he'd 
  been tossing and turning in his sleep. At your question, he whispers, "I... 
  saw... saw her die again."

Kesya's breath catches, dismay appearing on her face. "Oh, Tance!" She takes 
  your hand, grasping it in hers, to comfort. "That must've been horrible!"

"Why am I remembering...?" Is the question directed to you? Hard to say, as he 
  bows his head, wincing, shaking a little again.

Kesya frowns worriedly, biting her lip, her voice a whisper in the dim 
  moonlight though the windscreen. "Maybe... maybe, after all this time, you 
  never did get past that, and now, somehow, you want to?" She pauses, and 
  shrugs, barely visible in the dim light. "Just a guess."

Tance looks back up at you, plaintively. "I don't even remember... how long 
  ago it was..."

Kesya's eyes drop to her hands, holding yours. "Does it matter how long it 
  was? It doesn't change how you deal with it... it doesn't change what 
  happened."

"Can't change that... can't. I..." His hands flutter in your grasp. "I just 
  remember... we fought. And... I didn't go back in time..."

Kesya moves close enough to put one arm around your shoulders. "And there was 
  a storm?"

Tance nods slowly. "Yes.... storm. Remember the wind. It hurt...."

Kesya squeezes your shoulder comfortingly, her pale eyes concerned. "Did you 
  dream -- all of it?"

Tance shakes his head as though to clear it, and frowns. "It's all mixed up, 
  but...." He lets out an unsteady breath. "Dreamt enough."

Kesya drops her head to your shoulder, giving you another lingering hug. "I'm 
  sorry Tance. I'd have woken you up, but I wasn't sure if I should."

Tance's arms lift to hug you again, and although he's still trembling a 
  little, it's beginning to pass. "Not your fault, Jade," he blurts quickly.

Kesya nods slowly, her eyes seeking out yours. "I know... but I wish I could 
  help more." Her voice is soft, troubled.

He lets you meet his gaze with your own; his is tired, anxious, but it 
  lightens a fraction as he tells you earnestly, "You did. Did... I remember. 
  Put it in my datapad."

Kesya blinks bewilderedly, looking at you more closely. "Put what in your 
  datapad?"

"That you trust me," he answers solemnly. Looking at him, you can see a hint 
  of the exhaustion in his expression lessen, as if the utterance of those 
  words is a comfort.

Kesya stays quiet for a moment, eyes showing surprise. "Of /course/ I trust 
  you, Tance." She gives him a quick squeeze of the shoulders, voice soft. "I 
  wouldn't bring anyone here I didn't trust implicitly."

At that, he smiles, weakly, but you can feel him palpably relax at the 
  shoulder-squeeze, too. "Thank you," Tance whispers.

Kesya ruffles your hair fondly. "I should be thanking you, Tance." She looks 
  towards the windshield, and back at you. "Maybe you should try sleeping 
  again?"

For all that Tance frequently claims he is old, and despite its streakings of 
  grey, his hair is thick and full, and ruffles well. He smiles a bit again, 
  hesitantly nodding... then catches himself, before lying back on the bunk. 
  "I should let you -- it's your bunk, I mean...."

Kesya shakes her head, laughing softly as she gently nudges you to lie down. 
  "No no, you were here first. Besides, I need to get some resonance up. Your 
  arms feel like tingly currents when you're near me, 'cause I'm so low."

"If you're sure...." His voice sounds uncertain, as though he might protest 
  again, but he can't hide his own look of relief as he lets you nudge him 
  back.

Kesya slides the blanket up over you, and ducks to lightly kiss your forehead. 
  "No, I'll be fine in the vein. I need to be there." She pauses, and says, 
  "Thankyou for coming, Tance. I wouldn't have been able to come safely if you 
  hadn't agreed to it." She grabs her blanket off the floor, hugging it to her.

Tance looks up at you, gaze all brown and honest, and his mouth curls up on 
  the right side as you brush that kiss across his brow. "You're welcome..."

Kesya pats your blanket softly, and with that, ducks out of the sled.
Kesya has left.

Tance watches you go, till the sled hatchway closes behind you.... and, for a 
  time, he stares at that hatch as though he might see through it to watch you 
  continue on down into the cavern network. But he _is_ tired, and eventually, 
  his symbiont nudges him firmly back down into sleep; this time, he truly 
  sleeps, without dreams.

Kesya makes her way back to the vein, curling up in it as she did 
  before, only this time warmly wrapped in the blanket. She thinks of the 
  singer in the sled for a long time, before drifting off. How, specifically, 
  he never ceases to surprise her with more and more personal revelations. He 
  must trust her a lot too, to talk to her the way he has.

[And, some hours later....]

Sun comes peeking over the horizon, and with it, the sweet, 
  sinful tang of awakening crystal. The Ranges seem to come alive around the 
  sled, the call irresistable, awakening your every sense. The black crystal 
  nearby heightens even this; and you can hear and /feel/ its wakening song 
  even through your bones with shocking urgency.

Tance jerks from slumber to consciousness with absolutely no transition 
  between, and the moment his eyes are open, he stares unseeingly up at the 
  ceiling overhead. Still somewhat dazed from lack of a full night's sleep, he 
  does not quite form any question in his mind, but the bafflement is there: 
  what? What woke him? What....

Kesya awakens with the crystal, back arching cat-like as she 
  feels the tang behind her. Instantly alert, she groans softly and runs one, 
  soft hand along the crystal face she spent the night with. But that, of 
  course, is not what is foremost in her mind.

Before he can fathom what is happening, Tance half-falls 
  out of the bed, eyes round. Even in the closed sled he can feel his already 
  resonant bones pulsing, and he finds himself moving without actively willing 
  it to the hatch, to open it, to stagger outside.

You step out from the cramped interior of the sled "Twilight's Ambition."
Gravel Field
Contents:
Kesya's sled
Obvious exits:
Cave Entrance  

Kesya's gaze lingers on the crystal a moment, but it's prodding 
  her, coaxing her to something else. A nagging thought remains at the back of 
  her mind. Something she was to be cautious about... but no matter. The 
  crystal's call... _her_ crystal, is too strong, and she scrambles out of the 
  vein and down to the small cave, the black's music sliding sinfully down her 
  bones.

Tance, once he is outside, slumps back against the side of the sled in 
  wide-eyed amazement. He'd thought that green song set his nerves aflame, but 
  this... this! The air vibrates about him with a song he can almost see, 
  feel, and taste as well as hear.

Kesya, of course is used to this call -- or, as used as anyone 
  /could/ be. She relishes in its playful feel along her skin, the sound in 
  her ears, in her mind. Nothing like the other colours she's woken to, black 
  captivates her completely, the very reason -- more, perhaps, than the credit 
  involved -- that she never shepherds on this colour. She closes her eyes, 
  once in the cave, head tossed back to the morning sun.

To him, it is a near-overwhelming thunder, and he stays 
  pressed against the hull of the sled until he realizes that even _it_ is 
  rumbling slightly, in reaction to the tidal wave of sound on the wind, in 
  the very ground. Tance stumbles away from the hull -- but that doesn't help, 
  for he is suddenly surrounded on all sides by the music-drenched air. 
  _Morning song_, he realizes dimly, and with a surge of almost superstitious 
  awe, _black morning song..._'.

Kesya opens her eyes with a start as a gust of wind blows through 
  the cave. She quickly slips out, not knowing what she's looking for, simply 
  obeying the crystal's call.
Kesya pushes aside the dangling vines and detaches from the shadows at the 
  cave entrance.
Kesya has arrived.

Tance stands near the sled, looking round-eyedly into all directions, a tangle 
  of reactions and sensations visible in his expression. From the rumpledness 
  of his hair and clothes, he looks as though he's just fallen out of bed.

Kesya stumbles from the cave, her eyes scanning the landscape for the briefest 
  of moments before they rest on the sled -- and Tance. Need fills her, but 
  still, a thought presses itself to the forefront, nagging at her. Indecision 
  flickers across her face for an instant, and she leans against the rocky 
  wall near the cave entrance.

He looks... dazed, but it's a different kind of daze than that of loss of 
  memory to crystal's lure. This is more the look of a man being confronted 
  with something deeply primal, almost too deep to truly bear... and then his 
  gaze swings round to you. Tance's expression then transforms. He does not 
  smile, but his gaze kindles with sudden light.
Tance breathes, "Jade..." Then, his mouth moves a moment, before he adds, 
  prayerfully, "K... Kesya...."

Kesya's breath comes quickly, her expression torn. One step towards Tance, and 
  that thought, again, presses into her mind. She grasps at it feebly, trying 
  to remember that she has a responsability towards this man. All she can do 
  though, is drop to her knees in the sand, trying to keep herself from 
  betraying him by answering crystal's call. At the sound of his voice, her 
  head ducks, her eyes opening as she looks up to him, across the sand.

She is here, therefore she must not be thralling, therefore she must be 
  alright... yet, Tance can see your expression twist, and his own does so in 
  sympathy. "Are..." His voice barely makes itself heard over the thunderous 
  chords filling the air: tenor dropped to a huskier lower register, as though 
  his throat has gone dry, unconsciously pitched as though to blend in with 
  the airborne symphony. "Are you alright?"

Kesya shakes her head, her arms wrapped around her torso in an effort in self 
  control. Her eyes screw shut, trying desperately to shut out the feel of 
  awakening crystal in her bones, the knowledge of betrayal to Tance if she 
  were to succumb to it. But that thought, as the crystal's urging grows 
  louder, quiets, and she shakes her head again, trying to remember it.

_It's the song,_ he realizes suddenly. And just as suddenly, he realizes what 
  must be causing the pained indecision in those delicate green features. 
  "I....I won't h... harm your trust, Jade," he blurts out, staggering 
  backwards now, back towards the sled. His legs, though, have turned to water 
  beneath him, and he falls before he quite makes it to the hatch.

Confusion crosses Kesya's features for an instant, her arms wrapped about her 
  as she stares longingly after the man. _Betray MY trust?_ The thoughts 
  aren't even words as they flash through her head, too quick to even grasp. 
  _I'm worried about betraying HIS!_ She sobs with emotion, all of them 
  clashing in her at once. But she staggers to her feet, a realization dawning 
  on her. "T-Tance?"

Tance looks up from where he's fallen, his gaze drawn to you and held there as 
  you call to him.

Every thought has left Kesya's mind, save that undeniable urgency and the 
  realization that's just occured to her. She clings to it like a drowning man 
  would to a bit of driftwood, and she staggers across the haze, crystal song 
  filling her and invading her mind. "Tance," she manages to say, eyes filled 
  with longing, "You _can't_ harm me. No matter what happens..." Her voice 
  trails off, her head arcing back as the suns rays peek over the mountains. 
  "Gods.."

Tance, where he lies sprawled, propping himself up on his hands, stares up at 
  you. And that light flashes across his eyes again, that reverent light that 
  gives him the seeming of a man beholding a holy visitation. Unsteadily, he 
  pulls himself to his knees, and then to his feet, brown regard still fixed 
  unwaveringly on you.
Tance stammers, "I c... could never ever..." Only a step, and he's suddenly 
  much closer to you.

Kesya watches you helplessly from where she's swaying in the sand, her hair 
  disheveled and whipping in the wind. Crystal runs through her bones, so 
  strong a feeling as to be almost unbearable. As you come within reaching 
  distance, she closes her eyes, falling to you, unable to hold off the rush 
  of emotion any longer.

For all the unsureness in his eyes, his arms catch you without hesitation, and 
  there is a snap of resonance between you as his embrace closes about your 
  back. With one arm supporting your shoulderblades, he lifts a hand to your 
  cheek, and pleads, "A-are you sure?"

Kesya's silver-blue eyes fix on your brown ones, and she gasps at the touch of 
  crystal against her cheek. With morning song echoing around them both, 
  rushing through the ground and up through her feet, she manages only to nod, 
  though the answer certainly lies in the blue gaze she gives you.

All at once, radiantly, Tance Vokrim smiles, the light that had been kindled 
  in his eyes now spreading to illumine his entire face. If he sees in your 
  own a ghost of another, golden-haired and green-eyed.... if he remembers the 
  last time he might have kissed that same face.... there is no way of 
  knowing. As he sees your reply in that full, fathomless blue regard, his 
  head bends, and his mouth seeks yours, as the crystal song crescendoes in 
  triumph.

[End log.]