ILLUMINARRPG: (1-2000) Temas Laredo, Riven Mias and Luma

[Al Muir]

Mission: Prelude

Day: 1

Stardate: 2446.03.23


(USS Illuminar - Deck 2 - Personal Quarters of Riven Mias - Temas Laredo, Riven Mias and Luma - 2000)


Temas had to admit that he had enjoyed putting his skills to work to help young Ensign Jones,  However, he could feel the anxiety of his abilities start to grow outside the confines that he had grown accustomed to.  He was having to concentrate harder and harder each day to block out the endless flow of thoughts from others from creeping into him.  There was only one time that he felt in total control.  And not alone.


Perhaps that was the worst of it.  The loneliness.  He knew he had to repair the rift between Luma and himself.  Riven had bore his burden long enough.  It was time that he and Luma were reunited.  But would she want him now?  Knowing that he may still lose control of himself if the stars aligned the wrong way?  He would have to try.  He needed her and she needed him.


He reached out and rang the door chime.  At least this time he wasn’t struggling for his sanity.


Luma had been grumpy. Nothing had been going right on board since Luma had time and dimension hopped to rescue Sienna. The Maelstrom had driven her Temas away from her, and the bond had not shifted back to Temas as it should have. Perhaps it was Luma’s fault, perhaps she was too afraid to try and find the bond again, too scared by losing her temporal anchor to try.  Luma hoped that Riven could reunite the two, and that they could be one again. Temas was as powerful as Riven, and that was all too the good to be the temporal anchor. It didn’t occur to Luma that part of the current problem was that Luma had flirted with the Hot Shot in front of Temas, making him unhappy. Luma didn’t really understand enough about how the small ones existed. Luma realized that she had made a blunder. Riven would fix it. He was wise and a priest and knew many things that Luma did not. But the bond with Riven was… temporary at best.  Too much of Riven was given to his Goddess, then to his bonded, Michaella. There wasn’t enough left over to be the anchor long term.


Luma had given thought to her Vanyssa’s children. While they could be temporary anchors, neither had the astounding telepathic power of their Mother. Luma missed her Vanyssa, in the way that you always miss the moment of the first love. Luma knew that being the anchor was a painful and difficult thing, outside of the level of telepathic power that was required.


Luma felt guilty and like a traitor. But the Riven would make fixes. That was what the Riven did.


Riven opened the door, "Ah, Temas. Are you ready to do this?" He gave the young Betazoid a big smile, Luma would be happier with her permanent mind-bondmate. "Come in and have a seat."


Temas stepped in and gave Riven a hug.  The older man had been his surrogate father during his time at the temple.  He was also one of the few that could stand against his own telepathic manipulations.  It was fair to say he loved both him and Michaela. And the old man’s smile was very infectious.  He returned it.


“Riven,” he said, “I am more than ready.  I think I’ve been ready for a while.  Is Luma ready for me?”


::I believe the young ones like to say …. Chill out Luma, he misses you as much as you miss him. Temas needed a little time to recover is all. Now that he is fit as a Terran fiddle again there won't be any issues with the rejoining like there were the last time.::


A fretting Luma’s presence could be felt clearly by them all. It was probably able to be sensed by anyone with a smattering of psychic ability on the ship.


Luma considered speaking psychically but decided to use the ship’s speakers instead, =^= Luma requires the Temas to be her bondmate again. =^= Luma normally phrased her requests as requests but this was not, it was a demand. =^= The Temas will return and everything will be as it once was, stable.=^= Luma still had not been chastised by her brother or father, and that confused and unsettled her.


Temas bowed his head, holding his emotions in check.  ~The Temas~, not her Temas.  He’d been relegated to less than one of the crew.  It made him feel even further from his Luma than he did before.  Perhaps that was why she refused to speak to him.  She’d rather use the comm system.  She knew he could hear her telepathically.  He could hear every telepath in the ship, if he chose to, and most of the non-telepaths.  He sighed and pulled himself together.


“Is that all I was to you Luma?” he asked.  “Your sense of stability?  Did we have nothing more?  I had hoped that we’d, at least, been friends.  I have missed my friend.”


Luma seemed to frown. =^= Luma wants to be friends.  Luma does not understand why the Temas is acting this way. Luma desires the bondmate to return. Luma needs her bondmate.=^= So much confusion in her voice. Luma had no idea why Temas was acting so prickly.


Temas could sense her confusion, and felt sad that she didn’t understand where the problem lay.  “I think perhaps you do understand, or rather you could, if you simply read me.  But there lays the problem.  You have been avoiding me.  Words carry much weight.  I think you know this.  I am “the Temas” now that we are not joined, not your Temas.  You want me to be your bondmate, your anchor, because you need an anchor, and not necessarily me.  I also need an anchor.  I didn’t realize until recently.  You want to be friends, but I need you.  You do not need me.”


He paused for a moment to collect himself, “I know that I hurt you when I lost control of myself.  I promised you that I would never leave you, and yet I did.  I am sorry, but whay Riven did was necessary.  I was… not in control of myself.  My mind had touched something that opened me up to every other mind in that universe at the same time.  Perhaps I got a small sense of what it was like to be you.  But Luma, I am sorry.  I want to be your Temas, not the Temas."


Riven sighed. "Actions carry more weight than words." He opened his mind to Temas and as they touched he released the link he had been guarding for Luma to the other Betazoid, gradually, not all at once lest the younger one be overwhelmed.


::Now Temas, Luma, you can be one again.::



Temas was suddenly hit by the connection to Luma.  He stepped back and sat down.  Then he closed his eyes and cleared his mind.  He opened himself and felt Luma entwine herself with his mind.  He could feel it all, again.   The openness and the control, all came back to him.  He had said it.  He needed her as much as she needed him.


They shared the loss, the hurt that she felt, being betrayed by his needing to be relieved of her.  He shared what happened to him.  Finding the mind of the other him.  The things that he had opened his mind to.  The things that he was capable of if he had not had Riven and Michaela Mias in his life.  Sharing that pain made it more bearable.


::Luma, I am so sorry I left you.  I… I need you… I want us to be together.::


Luma did not understand Temas’ angst in this case. She felt it, but didn’t understand it. From her point of view, he had left her with another. That it had occurred when she needed him the most just complicated it. But it was in the past and Luma was ready to move on, to have it return to the way that it was before, the way that it was supposed to be. For all that Luma would be considered to be a supremely powerful being, she was limited by the constraints of her existence. She needed her bondmate, and temporary ones while useful was not what Luma needed to thrive.


Temas was the ideal bondmate and Luma was absolutely tickled that he was back with her, joining her, being her anchor. Hers. When the bond had transferred to Riven, and Riven had shielded Temas, it had removed him from her ability to sense Temas, and that made it harder for Luma to understand who and what was real.


As the two fused and became one with Riven’s expert guidance, Luma started to ‘feel’ like herself again to those on the ship who sensed her continuously.  The entire mood of the ship changed from on edge, nervy to relaxed and calm, content.  Among the crew, the psi sensitives settled and breathed a sigh of relief.


And Luma was pleased. Her Temas had returned. Everything else would work itself out.


(reply none)

(posted by Al, Charles and Mel)



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