<USS Avalon> Those Who Walk Through Night and Appear With the Wind by Nightwalker & Li Nalas

 
Dead .  Nightwalker  blinked at the man who'd just wandered through his line 
of sight.  No, he  was definitely dead and yet when he reached his Sense out 
to him, he felt as  alive as anyone.  "White Buffalo," he muttered as he began 
to follow him,  "you keep throwing things at me even now.  Sometimes I think I 
can hear you  laughing at an old man."  

Nalas let out a sigh.  Why  did Resnys have to be so understanding?  She 
understood why he wanted to  stay with Vilya and her little family.  True, she 
had 
Ming but none of what  made her Bajoran. How did a man choose between his 
wife and his daughter  and grandson?  That was why he was on the station, 
wishing 
Ben was there to  talk to.  He stared out at the Celestial Temple, the hood 
of his cloak  obscuring his face.  Bad enough to be a hero but a hero brought 
back to  life was a bit too much for him to deal with right now.  No need to be 
 mobbed like he had been at home...

"We choose that which our hearts tell  us is best to choose," Nightwalker 
said quietly to the side of him.   "Sometimes the duty and the desire are 
different, sometimes it is hard to tell  one from the other." 
 
Nalas looked over his  shoulder.  The man was certainly older than him.  
Human, he  automatically thought.  He shrugged.  He had no idea how the man 
knew  
what he was thinking but he knew so what was the difference?  "And what if  
it's different from what my wife wants?  How is that fair to my son,  too?"

"And if you leave them, return to your home and are comfortable,  how happy 
will you be?  Will you be content to know that a part of you  wanders the 
Galaxy alone?" Nightwalker moved up to watched as the wormhole  exploded in 
brilliant blue light.  For the briefest moment, he felt the  Ancients move 
within his 
mind and then they were gone as the nebula  disappeared.
 
"She was the one who wanted me  back so badly.  She was the one who had that 
Orb experience..."  He  shook a finger at the wormhole.  "Benjamin, you people 
and your gifts--it's  always something."

"Nothing is free," Nightwalker observed.   "Is that how you came back from 
the Night?  The Ancients brought you  back?"
 
"The Night?"  Nalas heard the capitalization in his head.  It  was as good a 
description as any.  He gave the older man a wry smile.   He nodded toward the 
wormhole.  "Our Prophets live there as does our  Emissary.  It was my 
daughter and her touch of the Orb of Dreams and  Fantasies who brought me back, 
though."

"Ah, yes, White Buffalo and  Sisko, quite the little team," Nightwalker 
chuckled.  "That one takes great  pleasure in tormenting an old  man."
 
Nalas turned away from the  wormhole to look at the old man.  "They let Ben 
give me the choice but it  was no choice really.  Not when I met that young man 
sitting on the wall,  the one with his mother's hair--his grandmother's hair. 
 That child is so  very blessed."  He snorted softly in amusement.  "I don't 
know about  White Buffalo but I suspect Ben's enjoying this just a little too  
much."

"From what I recall of your Emissary, the man has a wicked sense  of humour." 
 Laying a hand on Nalas's shoulder, he smiled.  "I've been  rude, sir.  My 
name's  Nightwalker."
 
"Li Nalas," he said simply, holding out his hand in the Human  fashion.  Then 
he waited.  Bad enough that the Avalon's captain had  fainted but most others 
didn't deal too well with realizing who he  was.

Laughing softly, Nightwalker shook the man's hand.  "I  know.  That's what 
drew me to you.  You, my friend, are  dead."
 
Nalas snorted in amusement.   "That depends on who you ask.  I never knew I 
was dead until I realized  that the place I was in was one I should never have 
been in.  It  wasn't right.  It didn't feel right.  Ended up back over there," 
he  said nodding toward the wormhole.  "No dead any more but not what any 
sane  person would call alive."

"Walking through the Night," Nightwalker said  respectfully.  "It is good to 
meet  another."
 
"Is that what you call it?" Nalas wondered.  "I certainly feel  alive.  A man 
can't not feel alive when he holds his newborn  grandchild.  How do you do 
it, Nightwalker?  Tell me."

"How do  I walk the Night?  I merely walk it.  I feel the Realms in my mind, 
I  can see their paths and walk their worlds in my sleep.  I've always been  
able to."
 
"I'm Bajoran," Nalas said,  stating the obvious.  "How do I walk with the 
Prophets then when I walk  among men?  How doers a man deal with being the 
living 
Echo of an  Experience? I can't say I've ever heard of it before."

"You simply be  what you feel you want to be.  The Ancients, the Prophets, 
they guide us  even in the Night," Nightwalker said  simply.
 
"Do you have no wife or family who holds your walking against you?"   He 
didn't think Resnys would but it bothered him in any case.

"I've had  wives," Nightwalker nodded.  "And my family is my Tribe, quite  
literally.  But I'm old, older than most, and I've learned that to be true  to 
those you love, you have to be true to yourself.  What do you want to  do?"
 
"They extended the Hand to me and  allowed me to choose.  I chose to know my 
grandson," Nalas explained.   He snorted softly in amusement.  "I can't leave 
him now.  I wouldn't  be keeping my promise to Them or to Ben.  My wife's a 
good religious woman,  she taught our daughter well.  Resnys will understand."

"Then why  the soul searching, my friend?" Nightwalker almost cackled.  "It's 
the job  of the young, to try to understand and justify the  unknowable."
 
"Is that your way of saying I should just enjoy my grandson while he's so  
small?" Nalas asked with a smile.

"He'll only grow up and too fast for  your liking, I'm sure."  Offering the 
man a gentle smile, Nightwalker said,  "And when he's three and all he says is 
'why', you'll wish you'd stayed at  home.  And when he's twelve and he breaks 
his wrist for the first time,  you'll panic so much, you'll wish you'd stayed 
at home.  But when he's one  and he looks up at you with those bright blue 
eyes and he says his first word,  or when he's nine and he's won the school 
science prize, or when he's fifteen  and he comes home with a commendation from 
his 
teachers as being the best and  brightest, that is when you'll be your  
gladdest that you stayed by his side."  Patting Nalas' arm, he nodded  wisely.  
"Trust me, Nomeme'ehne, you'll never truly regret your  decision."
 
"You know my son-in-law do you?"  Nalas asked curiously.

"No, not that I know of.  Why do you say  that?" Nightwalker raised one snowy 
white brow at  him.
 
"The eyes," Nalas said, pointing to his own dark ones.  "My  daughter's got 
the same as I do.  Ming's got blue ones.  He's a clergy  man.  I thought 
perhaps...never mind.  I don't think I want to  know."  He chuckled, though, 
liking 
the older man.  "What is that name  you called me?  When they brought me back 
from Hutet, they called me  Narvach.  Since I've come back from the Celestial 
Temple, the only new name  I've gotten is 'grandfather'."

"Nomeme'ehne," Nightwalker said  simply.  "He Who Appears With the Wind.  I 
thought it  fitting."
 
He tried the name  out slowly,  carefully, then nodded.  "I hope I keep it 
longer than I did Narvach.   It was only a few weeks for that one."  He crossed 
his arms over his chest  as he regarded Nightwalker, not caring that the hood 
of his cloak finally fell  back.  "If your tribe is your family, why do you 
walk this place in the  night.  You can't just be looking for me."

"There are those of my  tribe that are lost."  Turning away from Nalas, he 
stared out into empty  space, feeling again the touch of the displaced.  "I go 
to seek them and  help them home.  They are... alone.  And scared.  I walk this 
 place to get a better feel of where they are so that my journey to them is  
swift.  Does that make sense to you?"
 
"No, but if they're lost and it makes sense to you, that's all that  matters. 
 The one searching ought to know, don't you think?" Nalas  asked.  He nodded 
toward the wormhole.  "There was a time when I  thought that I was lost, that 
I would never see the Celestial Temple  again.  I had a very brave young woman 
show me the way home.  You seem  a wise guide. I hope your lost ones are  
found."

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