The Primordial Bridge

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Once everything was in order, the ex-slaves and prisoners turned over to Matthew's crew, the freedom fighter gave a hearty goodbye to them as they departed from Vestia, who was left alone now, other than to watch the remainder of the crew, waiting to go back home through Inari.

Inari stood in front of something massive in the Observatory, really the only thing big enough to hold it. It was an incredibly large portal opening that glowed with infinite and brilliant colors that swirled in a tumultuous vortex. In front of this opening was a circular stone slab, the surface of it completely covered in patterned runes as an elegant railing held up only by five different pillars circled its perimeter. Inari smiled at those who came in.

"Unlike your... Creator... friend... We wont't be forcefully tearing apart the fabric of space time to send you immediately back. It's much too risky and puts a heavy strain on the universe that could easily put it back into a Heat-Death reset. No doubt your Creator friend will be hearing from his Counsel soon about it." Inari explained, bowing slightly to them. "Instead, we will be travelling the much longer but much safer route. We're going through Space and Time; behold, the Primordial Bridge."

She looked back at the incredible vortex, smiling. "It will take a few hours, but we won't be harming any of the Fabric. My mirror and your friends will be waiting on the other side."

"it's more pretty to think about when you pretend organics aren't so," James wrinkled his nose at the word, "squishy. All those organic things they romanticize! Makes you wonder what it's like sometimes, until you remember the grossness."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "You're a traitor to your species."

James grinned.

"Your mother," Asher said softly to Starr. He couldn't help smiling, although the sight was bittersweet. "Who's the other child, do you suppose?" He asked, noting the guy's eye color.

Esk noticed this too, and studied the other members of the royal family to see if they looked at all related to that kid. Hmmm.. Adopted maybe? He didn't say anything.

Kay looked amused at James. [It's a trade off I suppose. Extreme vulnerability for an extra few senses. I'm not sure it's worth it sometimes.] He shrugged.

"ooo a baby." Matt peered over the edge at the kids as they were lead off. He did NOT notice the eyes. Nope, colour stuff was totally lost on him. Hah. "That was your mother?" Awww baby star dragon mom. "The other kid your uncle then?"

"Poor kid doesn't even get to stay for her own party." Luka smiled.

Mourn looked unimpressed as he leaned over the railings. "They no see or hear us yes?" He asked. "what happen if one of us fall?"

"Don't" Luka told him.

Mourn wasn't look at her.

Armin tilted his head at the royals. The introduction of a star dragon royal? What an incredible thing to witness. He remained silent because it felt like a time one should be silent, out of respect.

John suddenly stiffened as he glanced around the room. His eyes seemed to settle on something. Lillian, who stood right next to him, noticed this and glanced the direction he was looking at. "What is it?"

"Sirius." Was all John said and he nodded his direction. There were two particular figures, one male and other female, he was looking at, perhaps a little younger than Starr was now. The man in the couple had a startling amber-orange gaze, precisely the same gaze a younger dragonling had waiting on Vestia.

"Huh. So they were close enough to the royal family to be in a party like this? It would explain the suicide mission." Lillian commented. "Do you think the other one is Cassiopeia?"

"Maybe...I think, it is possible the other child is my father." Starr said uncertainly then glanced to Asher "I do not recall having any uncles." She said then looked over to Luka "She only just hatched, she is too young to stay for this ball. It must be a tradition to introduce a newly hatched royal like this." She added then looked over to the couple curiously.

Shane looked to Ellie then back around at the party people. "So, you think those two are our Cassie's parents?" Interesting.

Luka grinned at Starr "i know i know" she laughed lightly.

"man... how long do you guys live?" Matt asked starr.

"we have to show bugs all this when get home" Mourn declared. "they be so mad they missed time vortex" he chuckled.

[I really hope they're all okay back on Vestia...] Kay chewed his lip.

James looked around, taking in all the sights. "I'll share my memories with Swarm like I did when we met the vavare," he said. He frowned at Kay's words, thinking to himself. Yeah, he was pretty sure he would have to talk to Todd when they got back, and do it civilly. Ugh.

Asher looked momentarily unhappy at the idea that the boy might be Starr's father. Arranged marriages, like the one between Lai and Matthew, were something he was really uncomfortable with. He stayed quiet. Not his job to criticize how this society worked, especially since it was gone now, regardless.

Ellie looked at Sirius with interest. "Duuuuude, ALL the dragon parents are here. He's cute."

"Gross, Ellie," muttered Ethan.

"I'm just saying!" Ellie protested.

Starr shrugged a little and looked to Matt at his question "Around a thousand years on average, naturally anyway."

Shane looked to Ellie then over at the parents again "Well, we could use James's memory thing for Swarm and at least give Cassie a picture of her parents now anyway. So she can know what they looked like"

James' face softened. "She could see her family, at least for a little bit. That's a wonderful idea." Everyone deserved to have a memory of their family, and the thought of helping Cassie to have that was... nice.

Matt looked wistful. "Oh that's... yeah... do that." He shook his head. Yeah, he could barely even remember what his parents looked like, and it was depressing. He didn't want to be depressed. "You think all star dragons are cute Ellie." He smiled at her. "Though I guess... you guys pick your humanoid form right?" He asked Starr, he'd never really thought about it. "Man, if I could pick my form i'd totally pick something hot." He managed a grin, yep, this was a better distraction.

Kay rolled his eyes.

"What? You're just annoyed because you can't pick what you look like with such detail." Matt snickered.

Kay shrugged [I don't mind this form. It beats the alternative.]

Armin listened carefully. "So... if he is the infant's future husband, where are his parents? Will they be raised alongside one another?"

"what, so they'll like marry their foster sibling? Ew." Matt remarked.

Armin looked amused. "If you know you are betrothed, you would never think of them as a sibling, you would know them as your intended mate yes?"

Matt made a face.

"it is not an uncommon practice..." Armin pointed out. "There are several cultures who utilize arranged marriages and even pseudo adoptions to ensure the royal lines. How does your culture deal with such things?" He asked placidly.

Matt shrugged. "uh.. the Satare just marry people they like... "

[Provided they are of the opposite gender to one another and are legally permitted to do so. ] Kay pointed out.

"Well yeah, they don't recognize interspecies unions or same sex couples... so it's a bit crap. " He shrugged. "I dunno, that's about all i know about it. I think it's okay if you're half satare so long as you like.. denouce your alien parent like our sister did. This whole striving to beat your terrible lesser alien genes blah blah ick."

"And your other half?" Armin asked.

"Uh.." Matt wrinkled his nose, trying to think. "It's weird. they like... pair bond or something. It's kinda beautiful, their souls entwine." He glanced to Thalia, then shook his head. "If I remember rightly.. the Kalvair do arranged marriages and the Kevali don't really give a shit who you pair with so long as it's recorded. They're really strict on recording like.. everything. Births, deaths, unions. I dunno, something to do with controlling genetic diversity? My brother did explain it once and I think I tuned out half way through, it was boring."

Kay shook his head. Yes, of course he tuned out, of course he thought it was boring, this was Matt.

Esk snickered. "I can imagine him yammering away, telling you to pay attention. "

Matt laughed. "Yes! he totally did. Then he got grumpy and told Kaliyani she could deal with me. She just glared at me for a bit. Dunno what he expected her to do, she can't speak galactic common and I can't speak Kevali!"

[She was probably just supposed to babysit you. ]

"Heeey, I don't need babysitting!" Matt protested.

Esk looked amused.

Kay raised an eyebrow.

"Don't." Matt sulked.

"A thousand years..." Luka mumbled to herself. "That's a long time. " She looked down at the assembled. "Those half dragons... their non dragon halves would live only a fraction of that..."

Esk shrugged "It's the risk you take getting involved with another species with a hugely different life span"

"Still, it's sad." Luka told him sternly.

Starr listened to the others speak, watching the gathering then motioning to an elderly pair nearby to the royal family, but not too close "I think those are his parents, but I am not certain." She said then looked to Matt "Yes, we can choose our forms, and change them to small degrees if we want to and yes, it is a big lifespan difference sometimes, but love chooses who it will." She shrugged a little and looked to the gathering again, watching with interest.

Matt nodded. "Yeah.. it does." Which was a bummer but what could you do?
"Hey Kay, you think the shifters had as much control to change teeny aspects of their form?"

Kay shook his head. [I don't think so, or they'd be able to hide their eyes and look like other people.]

Matt shuddered. "Yeah.. that'd make for great spy work though... "

[So does becoming something small and largely ignored, like a rat.]

Matt laughed. "Sorry.. the image of you as a rat cracks me up. "

Kay scowled.

Asher smiled sadly. Vestia's crew had such a wide range of expected lifespans, there was sure to be a lot of heartbreak down the road. He had no clue how long Kay was going to live, and he was a bit too scared to ask.
"I wonder why eyes are so hard to disguise for shapeshifting species," Asher said, glad that the subject was changing.

Starr blinked and looked to Asher "I haven't really thought about that before. I don't know." It was an odd point though

Kay glanced to Asher, he didn't like to think about life spans. Besides, he was fairly certain very few of them would die of old age.

"Perhaps there is some truth to the saying that the eyes are the window to the soul." Armin suggested.

Kay shrugged. [Or maybe they're just too complicated in structure.]

"When you change forms, does your vision change?" Luka asked suddenly.

Kay shrugged again [Depends on the form. Yes, sort of... everything changes, it's disorienting.]
He looked a little uncomfortable answering these questions.

"I'll bet." Luka nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer. "so you can't change your eyes, what about your hands?"

[Apparently additional digits is extremely difficult to master, particularly if you're only half blooded. subtracting is easier than adding. I don't really fully understand it, you must remember I have never had any formal training in how to use my abilities.]

Matt nodded. "yeah, we all had to muddle through on our own." He laughed "And make such a mess oh man.. you remember when Web managed to set fire to the barn and nearly set me alight?"

Kay frowned at the mention of Web, honestly it kinda unsettled him that Matt was so nonchalant about talking about his twin when he'd just ordered is mirror double's execution! His eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded.

"As I recall, it was only your ability to freeze the air between you that stopped you becoming a nice little pile of ash." Esk spoke flatly, not looking around.

Matt snorted. "yeah. Man... we could have so easily all killed one another."

"Yes." Esk agreed flatly.

Matt looked sober for a moment.

Kay looked away.

Armin clapped his hands together to break that awkwardness. "So... yes, eyes and shape changers.." He tried to return the conversation to the original track.

Kay shrugged. [No idea.]

"I like the thought that it's soul related.. " Matt mused.

"But then you have to believe in souls." Luka pointed out.

"okay, how about... metaphysical self?" Matt suggested, struggling a little with the word Metaphysical in his drunken state.

"The Vavare believe that everything contains a spark, a tiny fragment of a greater whole that binds the entire universe. Sapient beings all have some... energy within them. Call it what you wish, a soul, an energy, an arcane signature, a point on the leylines of the universe. Whatever it is, it is something special, something that makes one more than simply a brain in a body. " Armin looked to James and Asher and Ethan. "It is present in carbon lifeforms, in silicon lifeforms, in mechanical life forms... in anything that lives. " he bowed his head. "Perhaps it is that which we see when shape changers attempt to look like someone or something else. The... shape if you like, of their very self bleeds through the disguise." He shook his head. "I do not know. I am just a tailor, not a theologian."

"Hear that, guys? We might have something like a soul!" James tried to ruffle Asher's hair, but the older android dodged him. James went after Ethan instead, who gave him an 'i can't believe you're doing this' look, but allowed his hair to be messed up.

"It's an interesting idea," Asher said, "That there might be some sort of essence to is all that doesn't want to be hidden." He chuckled, "We certainly know the universe is a ridiculously complicated place."

Armin nodded. "That is is. Gloriously complex and astoundingly vast."

Kay ducked out of the way of James as he came over to harass Asher. [Why not? makes about as much sense as anything else.] He smiled softly.

"Exactly," Asher told Kay. He looked amused, "I barely knew magic existed until a year ago. Souls aren't that much of a stretch to imagine."

"How in the world can you not have known magic existed?" Ethan asked, disbelieving. He prowled off to put Asher between himself and James, running his fingers through his hair to reorganize it.

"The Terran Empire suppresses information about magic, and most Terrans can't use it anyway. It was a big surprise to join Vestia and suddenly see so much magic," Asher said. He did his best to look serious as his more surly looking double hid behind him. Nope, not laughing at the bad tempered android. Really.

"Your Terrans are idiotic," Ethan said, "How do they expect to hold their own against magic users if they can't use magic themselves?"

"Hey!" Ellie said.

Ethan rolled his eyes. He didn't think highly of Ellie's mental capacity.

"My point is that just because we don't fully understand something, doesn't mean it isn't possible," Asher said with a smile. "Souls,a multiverse, magic, a surprising amount of this stuff isn't fictional after all."

"The Imperium don't like magic either, though... it's not suppressed..." Luka told Ethan.

"No, it's feared." Esk spoke flatly.

"And for good reason!" Luka snapped. "Look at what you people can do! If the Imperium knew there were beings out here who couldn't just look like anyone they liked but... could watch or worse, change anything they wanted from the past... How do you sleep knowing that if they decided to, there's entities out there more than capable not just of killing you, but making sure you were never even BORN!"

"They said they lost the ability though... " Matt said.

"Then how are we HERE?" Luka reasoned.

"I hate to say it, but the lieutenant makes a good point." Esk turned to look at them. "Here we are, in the past. What's to stop us just... hopping off this platform... "

Mourn was watching them and started to giggle. "And change timeline completely." He grinned.

[Nobody's getting off this platform until we're back on vestia!] Kay looked stern.

"Point is dear brother, we COULD." Esk continued cooly. "Unless there are failsafes in place... but the keepers and their gods don't seem like the sorts who are very good at failsafes." He glanced to Shock and Acus, nope, terrible.

"To get back to the original point, the Terran empire is not the only one without magic." Armin attempted to make peace again and return the conversation to the right track. "though this does not mean they have not considered ways to protect themselves I am sure. " He bowed his head.

"Do your people have magic Armin?" Luka asked.

"Aside from our ability to weave enchantments into our silk, no... not really. " Armin bowed his head again. "I am certain if we did, we would have a more practical way to integrate with other lifeforms." He indicated his mask. "But my people have traveled amongst the stars for countless generations, the... unique qualities of the universe and its inhabitants are of no real surprise to us."

"Hard to shock a spider person huh?" Luka mused.

Armin chuckled. "perhaps... "

"Now there's a challenge." Esk snorted.

Starr listened to the others, frowning as they spoke to one another. She had to admit that it would be simple to just leave this platform and change history here.

"Just think what we could do by stepping in," Ellie said. "We could save the star dragons, stop the Family from ever torturing us, and warn ourselves before we could rescue that... that..."

"Todd?" James supplied.

"Todd!" Ellie agreed.

"That would destabilize the time loop though," James said, "according to the movies I've seen."

Ellie flapped her hand vaguely. "Whatever."

"It really is dangerous to bring us here unless there are failsafes," James said. "Well, some us." He eyed Mourn suspiciously.

"If any of you guys try to go down there and change history, I'm beating you up," said Ethan, "no way am I risking being stuck in that hellhole universe forever."

"Ellie" Starr said and turned to the girl, pausing before speaking again "We cannot change the past, we do not know what consequences that would have. Changing the past could make me be captured or killed before I could get away from here, or change my outlook on life by changing how it was lived, even meeting this Todd and being sent to another universe has it's benefits. You have learned of your magic and how to control it, I have learned more than I ever thought to know about my people, even with some of it being the opposite of what it should be."

She paused a moment then spoke again "Every experience, good or bad shapes us and changes us a little. Yes, it would feel good to think we could go back and change something like being captured by Matthew that first time, though that brought us closer in friendship and helped us to trust one another when the next bad thing happened. If you took away that fight for freedom, then we wouldn't have trusted one another to get free when the Family took us. My secret would have stayed safe with me and I wouldn't have adopted Asher, then we would not have had his help. Do you see?"

[we may never have met you all... ] Kay shook his head sadly. Starr was right, he knew that, but it didn't make the temptation go away. Gier might still be alive, his mother, all the people he'd hurt over the years... but so much could have been made even worse. He thought of the mirror universe, where he and Esk had never grown up alongside Web, Matt and Jess and couldn't imagine not having his brothers and sister in his life. He glanced to Matt, he was still mad at him, but he was his brother and he did love him. And all the bad, all the terrible things they'd endured, had turned them into the people they were. The mirror universe had shown them how their lives could have gone, and it was horrific. He shook his head at that thought, no, no way did he want to ever risk becoming Kaylr.

Matt wasn't paying much attention, he seemed to be napping, resting against the support for the railing with his eyes closed.

"The temptation to change history is too great, no entity should have access to such power." Armin decided quietly.

"Well currently this vortex is our only way home." Esk reasoned. "Just don't touch anything and we'll be fine."

Mourn was just watching the people below, he'd climbed onto the railing and was leaning out over the edge with no regard for his safety so he could see better.

"I like to think we did a lot of good in the mirror universe." Luka decided. "I mean, we freed all those people, we got rid of two really awful evil assholes... "

"three." Esk offered.

"Three?" Luka frowned.

Kay glared at Esk.

Esk ignored him and ticked off on his fingers "Kay's evil twin, Heny's evil twin and Web's evil twin. Three."

"right.." Luka shook her head. "and we like... gave Starr's evil twin a conscience or something. And... we helped forge an alliance with the Imperium's freedom fighters and that Matthew guy. We reunited your double with his father."

"Maybe convinced robots they not just things." Mourn added, watching them with a grin. "Made program to remove program limits."

Luka looked bemused. "Point is, we made a huge difference there. If we didn't go there, yeah... some of us wouldn't have had to make sacrifices..."

Kay looked uncomfortable and lowered his head, glancing at Merith for a moment and then the floor.

"but I like to think we made that place a little better by being there." Luka finished.

Armin nodded. "As do I friend, as do I."

It did make sense to Ellie, sort of. The thought of not being tortured was still tempting, and the chance to not make the mistakes they had was just as much so, but she could understand why the chain of horrible events had happened, too. "If we changed history we could end up anywhere," she said. "Asher wouldn't have shot Kay, and Starr wouldn't have lost her family, and we'd never be tortured."

Asher winced. Damn it, Ellie. Someone always had to bring that up, didn't they?

"But the Family would still be around, that wouldn't change. And they'd still do evil things to people. And Matthew would still be alive, maybe, probably being evil too." Ellie smiled at Starr, "I might still be a total bitch if I didn't meet you. And not have my best friends, or all those adventures with dragons and time travel and getting super drunk. Maybe this IS the best timeline we can get."

Ethan was half listening, but mostly watching Mourn, who looked as if he might fall off the edge at any moment. He left his hiding spot behind Asher and headed toward the guy. If Mourn started to fall, the Laws wanted him to catch him. But if he didn't start to fall, he couldn't tackle Mourn to the ground to get him away from that edge because the Laws said no. And he didn't want to tap the guy's shoulder for fear of getting some claws in his face. And he couldn't yell at Mourn to get his attention, because the guy was totally deaf!
Please, Ethan begged any gods who might exist silently, please don't let him fall and leave me stuck with Kaylr forever. Please.
He watched his new, perhaps not cruel owner nervously. If Mourn fell and changed history, leaving him trapped in the other universe, that would be the single cruelest thing an owner had ever done to him. All those opportunities to have a tolerable life, gone. That thought hurt.

James looked over at Ethan worriedly. "Yeah, I know you guys especially have seen some serious shit, but the good things we've done are too important to erase. We need this timeline, even if it hasn't treated us well."

Starr nodded and moved to give Ellie a hug. "I do not want to give up having all of you as friends, even if the past did hurt us. We survived it."

Skye moved to Mourn's other side, gently touching his hand to get his attention "Be careful" She would say if he looked to her to read her lips.All this talk around her of changing the past, and she still wanted to change it. She wanted her village and family back, to never have been taken away, though she would never have met Mourn like that. She wanted to cry now but was trying to hold that back.

Kay glanced to Asher and smiled sadly, trying to look reassuring. Yes someone ALWAYS had to bring that up, but it was okay, they'd worked past it... right? Mostly.. sorta?
[If we could be certain the ripples wouldn't be too large, then there's a lot I think all of us would change, but the potential to land ourselves in even worse situations is... huge. LIke throwing a pebble into a pond, the ripples spread out and you just don't know what might happen. One tiny change and the entire universe shifts around you. Our lives may not have been easy, but they were our lives and changing any of that... we might not even be ourselves any more.] He shuddered slightly, thinking of his mirror self.

"Things could ALWAYS be a whole lot worse." Esk muttered.

Armin bowed his head. "Every hardship shapes us, every scar tells the story of who we are. Without our pasts, we would be someone else. Our mirror counterparts showed that, what could have been, were events... altered. " he shook his head. "Changing the past is so tempting, such a tantalizing opportunity... but it is a poisoned chalice. "

Mourn did look up and grinned at Starr. "I no fall." He told her, showing her his robotic hand was locked tightly around the railing. He tilted his head at her. "Your eyes are shiny." He told her flatly, he meant the tears she was trying not to let fall. Then he went back to watching the people below, giggling happily.

"Crazy cat has a death wish." Luka frowned.

Esk shook his head. "Nah, we aren't that high and cats always land on their feet."

"The past is a dangerous place. Not even Keepers would touch it." Inari shook her head, "Though it was never tested, we as a species firmly believe in the butterfly effect. What may have been stopped to prevent one death could instill the massacre of millions more in some other way. It may pass on a burden from you only to place it on someone else, or perhaps even place a bigger burden on yourself. It is too much of a gamble that not even the Family would mess with, and if they did, I'd believe them truly gone."

Esk snorted. "You can't ever predict what one or two crazy idiots might do. That's the problem with huge power, the temptation to use it is way too high. I dunno, if the family are willing to destroy whole planets, why not fuck about with the past? What do they care about anyone but themselves? " He waved a hand.

"Perhaps we should return to the vortex now..." Armin spoke quietly.