Yuusen

There was a little bleep from the console beside the door. Khamryn looked up at the door. He was laying on his bed reading a text on strategy. Tatakai was closer, sitting on his bed, sharpening a large combat knife. But the assassin didn't seem to notice that there was someone at the door. It was a behavior the German was becoming very familiar with. Sighing he put his book down and approached the door as the chime sounded again.

Toggling the door open the boy found himself faced with a slight, young woman, her rich copper-auburn hair twisted up on her head in a serviceable roll, a few stray tendrils framing her heart-shaped face. Her rich hair was twisted up on her head in a serviceable roll. Though she held herself with perfect posture, one look in her expressive grey/violet eyes told him that she was desperately tired. So not only was he wondering who the woman was but also why she was even here at his door when she obviously should have been fast asleep.

"Hello," Khamryn said quietly. Using body language he pushed the girl back as he walked out into the hall with her and closed the door behind him. For some reason he didn't want the other near Tatakai. He had the feeling that his roommate needed to be protected from the others...or perhaps it was the other way round... "Can I help you," he asked the girl.

Standing there in the hallway Jordana Ariell Sevayin did her best to project an energy that she didn't feel. Things with her brother and her friends were a mess and she had been cooped up in a transport ship or her mobile suit all day. She'd barely been able to catch a nap. Her flight had been long and she was utterly drained. But here she was, attempting to play mindhealer for someone she didn't know. Yet Duo had asked a favor, and though it hadn't been an order, she wasn't about to say no. Besides it wouldn't take long to do a surface scan of the man...

With brisk, business like speech, and a friendly smile, she addressed the boy. "I'm Ensign Jordana Ariell Sevayin. Commander Maxwell asked me to speak with Ensign Tatakai. Would you mind leaving us along for a little while?"

Khamryn narrowed his eyes at the woman in the Black Lions uniform. He didn't know her. And he wasn't sure if he trusted her...or his roommate. Eventually though he just shrugged, it was her choice after all. "I'm Khamryn Lindemann." He finally answered warily. "Suit yourself. But.." He glanced back at the closed door. "He hasn't been...himself..lately so be careful." Shoving his hands in his pockets the German slowly paced down the hall. The gym would be a good place to go and work off some of his frustration....

* * *

Jordana watched as the boy shrugged and walked at away, an eyebrow raise in surprise at his parting words. She looked back at the door for a moment before she depressed the toggle to ring the chime. But there was no answer. She waited patiently and still no one came to the door. She knew the other man was in there, she had glimpsed him through door when Ensign Lindamann answered it.

Gingerly she lowered the shield about her mind and let her thoughts drift into the room. She mentally recoiled as she brushed up against something dark and seething. But as she Watched, the chaotic rolling mass resolved themselves into thoughts and emotions.

~Hatehatehatehatehatehate~
~Needneedneedneedneedneedneed~
~Nothingness....Iamnothing~
~Reasonmissionfollowordersmustplease~

~That's coming form one person?~ Hot on the heels of that thought was an almost panic reaction. She hastily snapped her shield back into place before that chaos could swamp her and pull her in.

This wasn't what she had expected at all! Someone having trouble with the barracks situation, or someone with an aversion to authority. Neither of which would have surprised her in the least. But this! This was down right scary! The sane thing to do was to take what she already knew and tell the Commander. But that didn't take into account a simple thing like human curiosity. And her's was eating the young telepath alive!

Touching a delicate finger to the control panel she opened the door. As the metal panel slid aside the young woman's eyes were riveted to the still figure on the bed as he polished the gleaming edge of his combat knife. The motion gave her the chills. As the door closed behind her the man shoved the blade home in it's sheath, before placing it on the night stand next to the bed. With out turning around he reached for a gun and began to strip it.

Jordana could almost SEE the dark churning emotions about him like a thick black oil. A shiver traversed her spine and she felt as though something filthy was brushing against her. She suppressed the strong urge to retreat; no way could she leave this boy like this if she could help him...

The auburn haired Ensign squared her shoulders and quietly approached the man on the bed. She cleared her throat but the other didn't even blink. She tried again. "Ensign Tatakai?" He ignored her as if she weren't even in the room. The young ensign frowned, setting her narrow jaw stubbornly and soundlessly walked over to the bed. Rasing her hand she hesitated...part of her recoiling at the very idea of touch the source of such turmoil. But then she removed her gloves and reached out to touch him-

Green eyes fixed her to the spot, though he didn't move his head and his hands continued the methodical movements of rag over gun. Those eyes were so devoid of emotion and yet consumed with a cold fire...

Dana did the first thing she had ever been taught and projected a sense of calm at the man. However, because of the physical contact she had with him Dana felt her thoughts brush against Tatakai's. Images washed over her; memories...

A sliver haired man smiled at her, touched her....Oh she wanted him! A pleading woman's face before her as she pulled the trigger, completing her assignment. Pain as someone whipped her exposed back...

Quickly she clamped down on the inadvertent link. ~My god!~ she gasped at the power behind the Sending. It was as though he had been practically flinging the memories at her. Like he wanted her to see...

Tentatively she examined one of the memories. After the emotional content washed over her she looked closer at the memory and watched as it began to unravel under her close scrutiny.

~Fake!?~

She had seen fake memories before, had even created some of her own before, and was more then capable of recognizing it for what it was. Slowly she opened eyes she hadn't know she had closed. Dana was a couple paces farther away from the bed and the man on it then she had been when she touched Tatakai's shoulder; she had inadvertently backed away. Once more the man was ignoring her in favor of his toy.

Faced with the puzzle of false memories Ensign Jordana Sevayin reached into the other's mind and began to sift through the first layer of memories....the one she knew to be false. Her gift was strong and she was highly trained. She should be able to get through to the truth and determine what was causing this man so much pain...

Gently...carefully, like a cloud slipping through mist, she used her empathy and telepathy to breach the depths of the tormented mind...then her brow furrowed: ~What the heck is this?~ She thought to herself. ~Someone has placed controls here. Who? Another 'path? Why?!~

* * *

When the woman had touched him, Tatakai had hated her instantly. How dare she invade his space?! He had let his eyes speak of his cold disdain to the interloper. Then the woman had gone ridged and stumbled back a coupe paces.

Whatever. He ignored her and turned back to the gun he was oiling.

~Just leave..whoever the hell you are~ he thought to himself as thought eh strength of his desire would be enough to acomplish the task. ~Just get out...I don't want you here.~ Then his thought suddenly changed gears. ~Just Khamryn...Kham, only him.~ For the first timehe noticed that the boy was nolonger in the room. An odd longing stirred with in him. ~Where is he..?~

Before he could focus on that thought and the feelings behind it a slight shuffling behind him told the assassin that the woman was moving towards him again. But she didn't try to touch him again so he ignored her presence.

Yet, as he sat on the bed, he experienced a chill sensation that seemed to culminate in his skull, as though a cold frost was trying to freeze his mind. Both gun and rag fell from numb fingers and his head snapped up and green eyes went wide with rage and surprise.

~No...not again...~

Slowly he swung his head around to face the woman who was just beyond his reach. Part of him was elated at the startled sound she made as the woman saw the expression on his face. A feral snarled twisted his lips.

* * *

Dana gasped as her subtle probe was first resisted then thrown out of the other's mind. And when she chanced to look at Tatakai's face, her heart caught in her throat. There was nothing human in that expression. It was like she was facing down a wild animal-all desperation and fury.

And like any cornered animal his reactions were bolstered by a berserk derangement and adrenaline. She should have expected what happened next but it was so hard to concentrate. The images that were practically being thrown at her, battering at her shields, as though they were seeking to drown her!

A strangled scream died in her throat as she stumbled back under the metal barrage. These emotions and memories had a different flavor then the first she had touched. They were stronger with more of an emotional charge behind them. And some part of her realized that they were real, but she couldn't See them properly, they were too chaotic and her tired mind couldn't cope with it.

Then the wind was knocked out of her as she was thrown against the wall be hind her. She didn't even see what had hit her.

* * *

The pain of his mind was excruciating! He knew this feeling...this numbing cold that sought to rob him of everything he was! Never again. No one would control him...ever! Desperation and fury welled in his soul.

Instinct took over and green eyes blazed with a cold fire as he lunched himself at the woman who dared to touch his thoughts...who tried to control him!

~Bitch!~

Legs coiled beneath him, he pushed of the bed with a speed born of desperate need, and threw his shoulder into the woman's abdomen. He barreled through the impact and crushed the telepath to the wall. He heard the air whoosh out her lungs explosively and then he saw her go limp, falling to the floor, as he staggered back a step.

He didn't think about it. Tatakai raised his right leg, drawing it back, ready to strike his booted foot against that slack face...

Then his left ankle exploded with fiery pain and he fell heavily to the floor. He hadn't even seen the woman move! Yet she had swept his foot out from under him. Whatever...the only thing that mattered was to kill the bitch! No one could be allowed to live...not when they saw...they knew...!

Rolling on to his side he lashed out with his foot, but connected with nothing. His target was no longer there. Green eyes sought and found the stumbling form of the woman as she tried to get to her feet. Lifting his hips the assassin put his hands besides his head and flipped himself up on his feet. He didn't stay there long. No sooner had his toes touched the ground then he leapt into the air and snapped his foot out in a vicious roundhouse, that was meant to take her head off...if she had been there.

* * *

Jordana saw the kick coming and hastily reversed direction, only her heightened reflexes allowing her to evade what would have been a devastating blow. ~He's...! He's trying to kill me!~ She narrowly avoided another potentially lethal blow, her eyes searching for the door. ~Escape is definitely the better part of valor at the moment. I need to get the hell out of here...~

Then she was on the defensive as he was attacking her again.

* * *

In the gym, Winter was just walking out of the change room. She had finished her laps in the pool and was just about ready to find her bed. It had been a long day...

The bottom fell out of Winter's stomach as she walked, and her skull began to scream at her. Somewhere in the base someone's stress level had just jumped exponentially. Alarmed the empath dropped her shields and promptly felt as though the air around her had been super heated and her own power level spiked. Instinctively her body took a gasping breath, though she know that nothing had actually happened to the air around her.

She didn't even realize she was moving. Suddenly she was in the hall way, sprinting towards an unknown destination. With practiced ease she scanned the area before her with her mind and was nearly blown over by the intense coiling rage that lay up ahead. At that she had to stop as she grounded and centered, regaining her mental balance.

During that brief respite she Looked at the tangled mass of emotion. A vibrant yellow was tinged dark as it shank away from the seething dark green mass of another.

~Jordana?!~ Yes, it was her, but she was frightened. Of the other? Briefly she let him mind touch the other and promptly recoiled from the chaos she found. Though she had never actually talked to the man, she recognized the cold feel of Ensign Tatakai. Except that he wasn't cold anymore. He was furious...a white hot rage that was directed at Jordana!

That was all Winter needed. And she was off again. Her slight body breezed down the corridor. Before her there was someone walking slowing in the direction of the gym. Violet eyes focused on the slight figure and she reached out a hand, snagging the person's arm.

* * *

Kham had barely registered the fact that someone was hauling ass down the corridor, heading towards him when a hand grabbed his arm and he felt himself being pulled along the way he had come.

"Eeeeep!"

He stumbled as he tried to regain is balance -and- keep up with the person how had a hold on him. The boy noticed that it was the black haired woman he had seen about the base before. One of the senior recruits he recalled. ~ Great~ He bemoaned to himself. The last thing that he wanted or needed was another crazy Ensign trying to "put the moves" on him. Being pushy would be the fastest way to turn him off...

A violet eyes glanced at him and he felt utterly pinned beneath that gaze. It was like the woman knew -exactly- what he was thinking, and he got the distinct feeling that she wasn't impressed. The woman never slowed her head long flight down the hall. So it was that her utterly calm voice and expressionless face where at complete odds with her actions.

"Your roommate is trying to kill Jordana."

At first he wasn't sure that she had spoken. Then when the dispassionent words penetrated his mind he felt his jaw drop open. "Wha--" he couldn't seem to manage anything more coherent. But it gave him something to focus on. Picking up his pace a little he began running beside the woman.

Perhaps she realized that he was on longer resisting her. But whatever the reason she let him go and continued to dash do the hallway. Kham, his face pinched with worry, ran behind the senior ensign, following her lead. But a moment later she stumbled as she ran.

* * *

Dana's eyes widened at she saw the man was charging her again, his handsome face contorted into a beastly snarl. She tried to push herself up from the cramped position she had landed in at the foot of the bed. Her hip throbbed were she had smashed into the metal foot locker but that was really the least of her concerns.

She could feel her cracked ribs grind painfully as she tried to move out of the berserker's way. But she was slow, her motions pained and she felt something graze her already abused hip, sending her in an uncontrolled sprawl across the floor. The auburn hair recruit went down with a small cry of pain. In her grey eyes fear flashed as she tried the scrabble out of the way of the Juggernaut that was baring down on her.

She only made it as far as her hands and knees before he was on her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the fist coming down on her temple. There was no way she was going to avoid this one.

<>

* * *

Winter stumbled as her already battered shields came under assault once more, this time from a desperate cry for help! Her steps faltered but she caught herself before she could go down. They were only a few steps from the door...

Blinking through the reaction pain caused by the mental Sending she reached for the control panel beside the door and toggled it open.

* * *

Khamryn was only a step behind Winter. The woman was squeezing through the door and the boy was right on her heels. But what saw stopped him cold. The assassin had the woman from earlier on her side against the wall and was apparently strangling her. Then Kham was pushing past Winter, trying to reach his roommate.

"Stop it," he cried as he tried to pry the large hands from the woman's throat. But the older man didn't even seem to have noticed him. The German quickly gave up the action as futile and changed position. Wrapping his arms about Tatakai's waist he pulled back a hard as he could manage. "Tatakai please! I don't care what she did to you! You can't kill her!"

* * *

The person pulling on his waist wasn't a problem. Whoever it was didn't have the strength to tare him from the bitch.

"Tatakai please! I don't care what she did to you! You can't kill her."

A green eye turned towards the voice that sounded familiar. ~Khamryn?~ Some of the feral gleam left the assassin's green depths. But his hands didn't loosen in the slightest. Khamryn was so very close to him...touching him...

The next thin Tatakai knew, he was flying across the room. The wind had been knocked out him by whatever force had been brought against him. When he landed on the carpet at the base of Khamryn's bed he just lay there for a moment, attempting to catch his breath. As he struggled to try and stand, someone was there beside him, trying to convince him to stay down.

Instinct took over and he began to struggle against the person holding him.

* * *

Winter came into the room, Khamryn having pushed past her, and saw the boy try and pry his roommate off of the fallen Jordana. But it was obvious that he just couldn't do it. Since the three people were up against the wall there was no way she'd be able to get any effective leverage...if she used her hands. But the lack of room had no effect on her telekinetic abilities.

Reaching out with her mind she picked up Tatakai and threw him. She didn't watch as he landed, being more intent on her fallen comrade. Stepping quickly over Jordana she placed gentle fingers against the other woman's pulse. It was strong but erratic.

Running her hands over the woman's battered body she did a quick tally of the injuries Jordana had sustained. As the semi-conscious woman winced beneath her touch she discovered numerous bruises, three cracked ribs, and a fractured wrist. The woman's left arm was useless as her elbow had been hyper extended, and it was amazing it wasn't broken. The way Jordana reacted to her touch it seemed at though something was wrong with her right hip. That same could be said for the upper part of the telepath's right leg. It could have been something as innocent as a bone bruise. Or it could be a hairline fracture. There was no way of knowing until she was taken to the infirmary for a proper examination.

Over her shoulder, Winter heard Khamryn's voice. Glancing back at the boy she saw that he was trying to restrain the other. Tatakai was obviously out of sorts and moved oddly. Perhaps he had hit his head when he landed. That would explain why he hadn't thrown the other boy off already.

Without thinking about it, Winter project a soothing calm at the thrashing man. And feel into the same trap as Jordana.

* * *

Tatakai was only vaguely aware of what was going on. It seemed to him that it was very important that he be on his feet. There was an enemy in the room...that much he remembered. But someone was touching him, holding him, talking to him. Though he continued to struggle to gain his feet, the assassin began to listen to the voice. The words were beyond him but they didn't matter much really anyhow. What mattered was a pair of lovely violet eyes with gold flecks were regarding him with undisguised concern.

Then he felt his mind go chill, his focus narrowed to a part of the wall before him and the two woman against it. With the furious howl of a wounded animal he lunched himself forward, negligently brushing aside the dark haired boy who had been kneeling close.

* * *

Khamryn had been trying to pry Tatakai off his victim when the man had gone sailing up into the air, backwards. The German over balanced and landed hard on his ass. Though he had seen no one demonstrate such abilities he had heard that some of the recruits had psyonics. Now he knew first hand that it was true.

Gathering his wits the boy saw that Winter crouched over the fallen form that lay on the floor. Satisfied, he turned his attention to Tatakai. The assassin was trying to struggle to his feet. And somehow he felt that he should try and prevent that. At least until the man calmed down and they could begin to find out what had happened.

With a less then coordinated movement he tried to get to his feet but the motion ended in a stumble that had him lurching against the fallen man. Then he was on his knees beside his friend and put his hands on Tatakai's shoulder's to restrain him. It didn't escape his notice that the man seemed to be dazed. He began talking to his friend, asking him what was going on. The questions were important. But not nearly as important as the need to get Tatakai's attention.

Then those green eyes were looking at him. There wasn't rally much sense in them...but at least they were looking -at- him rather then through him. Then the older man shuddered and the expression in his eyes seemed to loose that tenuous vestige of humanity. With a savagely tormented cry the man pushed past Khamryn and arrowed for the two woman against the wall.

Khamryn watched dumb founded as his roommate only made it half way before he stopped dead in mid-step, almost as though he was being held suspended in the air. Incoherent cries were all that could be heard in the room as the man fought against the force that was holding him in place. Then, suddenly, Tatakai slumped bonelessly to the ground and remained unmoving.

* * *

Winter was only paying half her attention to the boy behind her. But she Felt the dark wave of malice long before she heard the man's wild cry of outrage. A violet eye looked over her shoulder at the source of the sound, but that was the only indication she was paying any attention.

As she watched she say the taller man brush aside Khamryn and was heedlessly charging his intended victims. The first thing she did was increase the sense of Calm but the only visible effect that had was the intensity to the rage emanating from the man increased.

Winter didn't waste time wondering why her empathic projection would have such an effect on the man. Instead she switched tactics and reached out with her telekinetics. Grabbing the charging man she held him suspended in mid step. Though in her hold the man was motionless, she felt the churning, seething emotions as rage filled cries filled the room. If she let him go there was no doubt in her mind that he would continue his attempts to attack them And Khamryn had already proven that he wasn't capable of restraining his roommate.

Coming to the only logical decision available at the moment she reached into the other's mind...and met the strongest resistance she had ever seen possessed by a Mundane. But, where Jordana had been tired to the point of exhaustion, Winter had no such problem. She delicately pushed past the resistance and, with a metal twist, sent Tatakai into the depths on unconsciousness. Then she drop her telekinetic hold on him, allowing the man to drop to the floor.

Instead, she turned back to the door and slapped the comm switch. "Medical unit, stretcher required in suite #2278 for victim with multiple fractures in the chest cavity, possible fractures in the right leg and hip, and a concussion. Pressure has been applied to prevent blood loss due to epidermal lacerations." With her critical and brisk overview relayed to the medical staff, she turned back to the room's occupants.

Ensign Khamryn Lindemann was leaning over his unconscious roommate and listening for a heartbeat.

"He is alive, ensign, it is not in my nature to kill fellow officers. At least not without finding out why they were rampaging and endangering the lives of others in the first place."

Khamryn turned angry violet eyes upon her and she looked back at him, her own violet eyes calm and clear. She watched with a neccesary sense of detachment. She had to, she'd already been too close to this situation and after her recent mission and even more recent experience with Michael's explosive Newtype release, well, she had been doing her best to stay away from people.

This little episode hadn't helped. She needed to regain her equilibrium. It didn't happen often, but after bouts of strenuous telepathic activities, she occasionally found herself extremely sensitive to outside contact, and Michael had blasted open all her channels, even some she hadn't known existed.

She'd simply 'forgotten' to tell anyone that last little bit of information.

Her eyes widened as Khamryn's arms snaked around Tatakai's torso, holding him closer, preparing to heft him to his bed. The action was the same as any other would do for a comrade needing assistance; but the look in his eyes was different, the grip of his arms was tighter, the dip of his head was lower.

Protection.

Khamryn's body language spoke so eloquently of protection that she could see herself kneeling over a badly-wounded Michael after a particularly difficult mission they'd been on together.

**What is this? What is it that he feels?**

She opened her achingly sensitive psyche and brushed across Khamryn's surface thoughts. She knew the ensign wouldn't react to her presence there if she didn't want him to Feel her, and she didn't. She needed to understand what he was feeling... maybe it would help her understand what she felt.

/*concern*... Kai, what the hell did you think you were doing? ... You've never looked at me like that before.... I wish I knew what you were thinking./

~He cares... he cares for this one... and it feels the same as the way I...but, is it? What is it?~

Winter was snapped from Khamryn's mind and her musings by the medical staff arriving with the telltale hiss of pressurized gas from the opening door. With a hand held at her throbbing temple, she knelt beside Jordana as the young woman was placed on the stretcher, a statis field already active to prevent any aggravation to her wounds. She watched with careful eyes as the medics secured an IV drip and began checking over her quick bandaging skills.

The soft drone of the medical team was rather comforting, it signalled that Jordana's wounds were not enough to cause permanent harm. She had feared that the damage to her friend's ribs would be far more serious than she had diagnosed, but the absence of blood at the older girl's mouth belied that. Soon, a simliar sound caught her attention.

Behind her, she could hear Khamryn speaking softly to his roommate and partner, much in the same comforting, soothing manner she had when....

Winter shook her head. She didn't have the time to dwell on things of the past, things that she'd rather nor remember anyway. Besides, they'd gotten out of that mission, it had been completed, they'd both come back in one piece, and Michael was alive.

The orderly with his hand on the stretcher gave her a questioning look.

"I will be along in a moment," she replied to the unspoken question and watched as Jordana's unconscious form was wheeled out into the hallway. She would need to talk to the older woman to find out exactly what happened. And what to do from here.

Oh, she could easily find out from Ensign Tatakai... but, no... she needed to get a better grip on herself before she did that, something might go wrong otherwise. As it was, she could feel the first stirrings of her pyrokinetics at the back of her mind.

Winter turned back around at the sound of Ensign Lindemann's harsh cough for attention. She regarded the fierce expression on his face with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you do to him?!" His voice was an angry hiss and his gloved fingers were tightly curled in the blankets of his roommate's bed. Khamryn had had enough of this, this... whatever was going on! First Ensign Jordana came in and demanded he leave his own room, then he was rudely grabbed in the hallway by this young, dark-haired stranger, followed by watching his roommate snap and try to kill a ranking officer, only to wind up watching said roommate being hurled across the room by sheer will!

The girl's voice was calm, almost too calm... and he would have lashed out at her for it had he not heard a slight catch when she spoke. She was tired and just this side of in control.

"I merely put him to sleep."

"Sleep?!"

"Actually, if you want the technical term it is 'Coersive Catalepsy.' That is as close as modern medical terminology can pinpoint the phenomenon. In other words, I turned off his consciousness and put his subconscious in control." Winter cocked her head at an angle as though saying 'see, simple. Understand?'

She watched his eyes widen almost comically large in his face before he managed a quiet, whispered, "how?"

"Do you really wish to know the intricaties of neuro-mechanical manipulation?" Winter watched as his eyes widened a bit larger before a blankness settled over them. "It is enough to say that as far as he knows, he is in REM sleep. Nothing else has changed. I have not altered his memories, or removed them, or implanted new ones, or anything else of that nature."

"You can do that?" Winter found it sufficient to nod.

Khamryn wondered, not for the first time, what sort of people he'd gotten invoved with. He felt her watching him again, but when he raised his eyes to look at her he breathed a quiet gasp.

Winter's head was cocked at an inquiring angle, her mouth was pulled into what could have been, on anyone else, a pout... it was almost cute. But her eyes, her eyes sparked with a haze of confusion... all in all, she looked lost, and very, very young. It was then that he realized she was watching him... and that he still had his arms around Kai.

She looked like she needed to ask a question, but didn't know what it was. He watched as her gaze focused again and her face drew back into its calm and collected lines.

"You can restrain him, yes?"

He blinked.

"I should report this incident to the Commander and have him removed to either the infirmary or the brig," he could feel the 'but' coming, even though she didn't actually say it. He knew was she was asking, anyway. If she allowed Kai to stay here with him, would there be another incident, would she be forced to report what had happened?

Khamryn looked down at the unconscious roommate he still held on to, confused by what had actually happened and by what had cause him to lose control. He didn't know, but he answered anyway.

"There won't be any problems."

Winter nodded, satisfied with his answer, and in a swirl of long, black hair, disappeared out the door to join Jordana in the infirmary.

[fin]