Stepping on board Dominion Five, one of the modified starships used by the leaders of his home-realm, was the closest thing to a religious experience that The Traveller had experienced since that momentous encounter with Darkhawk herself, which ended his long, accidental exile from Dominion - not that he expected Pratisha to understand, or appreciate the honour. This was the nearest his travelling companion had ever come to Dominion, and he wished he could take her the rest of the way, but before he could even consider such an excursion, there were duties to which he had to attend, the first of which lay just around the corner.

Ravani, one of Darkhawk's Mystalornan companions, and a Lady of Dominion in all but name, was waiting in the hall for them, an imposing presence in snake skin, leather and dragon-scales without needing to try. Pratisha acknowledged the Mystalornan with a respectful nod, not out of deference to Ravani's position, The Traveller realised, but out of respect for a fellow spell-caster, and a being for whom magic was as essential as air, food or water. Her first Mystalornan, in the flesh, observed The Traveller. I'm sure they'll have plenty to talk about, once we've dealt with what brought us here...

Ravani returned the gesture of acknowledgement, but she exchanged no words with her fellow magic-wielder at that time. Instead, she followed that by getting straight down to the matter at hand. "You are familiar with the girl", she said to The Traveller, a statement that was, in truth, a question to which the Mystalornan already knew the answer. "She is not entirely at ease with the change she has gone through - you will need to take care with her, if she is to retain her value as an operational asset..."

"No-one is an 'asset'", snorted Pratisha. "I thought you Dominion people were supposed to above that kind of thinking."

Ravani flowed into Pratisha's path, their faces suddenly little more than the thickness of a hand apart. "Better they be thought of as valuable assets, than dismissed as no more than slaves, or crushed underfoot as less than insects by those who imagine they are gods", hissed the Mystalornan. "Now I don't know what you've experienced whilst in The Traveller's company..."

"Plenty", responded Pratisha, plainly not about to be intimidated. "Sometimes more than I'd like, but..."

"There's no need for this", The Traveller intervened verbally, not daring to touch either woman. "Can we save our aggression for those who're properly deserving of it?"

That intercession brought the gaze of both women down upon the adventurer, but he stood his ground. "Pratisha is right", he said, "but the present circumstances rather complicate matters..."

"Circumstances be damned", snapped Pratisha. "That girl is a living, thinking being. Her rights aren't up for negotiation, or subject to anyone's whim...!"

"...but they are subject to mine", declared a fourth voice, one clearly unaccustomed to being raised in defence of anything. Its intervention caused everyone to look round, and down, at the slender figure who had emerged from the reception chamber nearby without anyone noticing.

The Traveller immediately recognised the girl who had come to the rescue of Captain Dominion, when the hero was captured by a hostile faction of the alien alliance known as the Mutual Defence Imperative. She seemed healthier in skin tone, her eyes brighter, more alert - and, of course, the crystal "horn" was gone from her forehead, replaced by an oval ornament of polished silver. "Hello, Irinati", he said, smiling at her. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too - both of you", she replied, glancing in Pratisha's direction. "Thank you for being so concerned about my freedom, but I have chosen to do this."

"There's no need to be hasty", advised The Traveller. "You've only just regained your... freedom. You need time..."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me", said Irinati, "but no. If I'm to 'recover', I'd rather do it by carrying out a worthwhile task, not sitting talking to doctors while the universe falls apart around us."

"Admirable, but not perhaps the most wise choice", observed Pratisha. "In any case, things can't be that bad..."

Irinati directed an unexpectedly stern gaze at Pratisha. "When I was under the influence of the shard", the girl said, rather coldly, "I was not a mindless puppet, as some seem to think. Before I fell into Bekalth's clutches, I was shown the universe, and I saw things I can't begin to understand. I did, however, feel the 'aches and pains' of reality - I could tell all was not well. Now, I stand a chance of doing something about that, I can't possibly be 'healed' if I just ignore all that."

"I've heard the call of the universes, too", said The Traveller, "although not in the same way that you have. I've been studying interdimensional dynamics for a long, long time, and one thing became clear from the start, and that is that there's no one approach that explains everything. Perhaps what I've learned can help you understand..."

"I... I'd like that", murmured the girl. "Anything that will help me with the task ahead is welcome."

"I'd read through the files - what little information there is on him", remarked Ravani as The Traveller led Irinati back along to the corridor to the doorstep where The Endless Sunrise was docked. "Interesting individual..."

"You have no idea", Pratisha responded, smiling to herself. "No idea at all."

Pratisha and Ravani stationed themselves on one of the balconies overlooking the landing that extended all around the Central Core, watching as The Traveller showed Irinati around his incredible vessel, but neither spell-caster was particularly interested in what was going on below. Each had sensed the mystical talents of the other, the magics of two entirely different worlds, each in a different universe, but it took some time for either to acknowledge any of that directly, and it was Ravani who took the first step.

"Your gifts stem from the natural magic of your world", she observed coolly, not directly addressing her companion. "We have a lot more in common than just looking like we come from the same place, it seems."

Pratisha half-smiled. The two of them did bear some outward similarity - long, dark hair, tawny skin - but it wasn't quite enough for them to be called sisters. "Your ears would be more likely to draw attention than your magic, where I come from", she replied. "Oh... please, don't think that..."

"I've suffered worse than poorly-considered comments about my ears", said Ravani, darkly, and she allowed that to sink in for a moment before putting Pratisha's mind at ease. "Fear not. You haven't managed to offend me."

"I'm glad I didn't", murmured the Earth-woman. "I would have hated to have lost my first, perhaps only opportunity to have a meaningful meeting with a Mystalornan."

Ravani looked over at the witch. "You recognise my people?"

"The Traveller told me about Mystalorn, or at least he tried", Pratisha replied. "I only knew for certain when I sensed your magic - so pure... not a power that you're channelling, like I do, but an energy that's part of you. That's wonderful. The stuff of my people's dreams."

"As it was for the Ealvonhaians", Ravani told her. "Now and again, we'd dream of the incredible, the magical, not knowing that we were actually tapping into what had gone before."

"Ealvonhaians?", queried Pratisha. "Another name for your people?"

"Another name, another existence", Ravani answered, "and a story spanning thousands of years - if you have the time to listen..."

Pratisha glanced down onto the landing, and caught sight of The Traveller and Irinati going down the spiralling walkway to the chamber under the Central Core. "Oh, I think I'll have plenty of time, if they're going down there", she told the Mystalornan. "Please, do continue."

The first part of the story was understandably murky, facts long ago lost as a magic-dependent civilisation fell, the power in their hands exceeding their ability to control it. It also sounded like one of those cautionary tales Pratisha had heard time and again, the fall of a people the price to be paid for an excessive thirst for power, but somehow, the witch found it impossible to think of the Ealvonhaians in that way - what Ravani told Pratisha gave the Earth-woman the impression that the predicament of Old Ealvonhai was more like a tsunami, the earthquake giving the people just enough time to start to prepare for the tidal wave...

"The Goddess was believed to be the answer", Ravani said, after a pause. "A child born at the time of a convergence of celestial energies - a mystical archetype for her species..."

"The first Mystalornan?", ventured Pratisha.

Ravani frowned, then shrugged. "In a way", she admitted, "but she didn't represent quite the solution that was expected. She had a crucial part to play in the whole story, but not at that particular time. She had been born to survive the chaos, learn from it, and at the right moment intervene to restore her people - which she eventually managed to do. However, her involvement in preventing the 'overload' was more direct than had been expected, and she became trapped on the wrong side when the physical side of Ealvonhai and its magical counterpart were separated."

"And from that time on, your people had to exist without magic", observed Pratisha, and the thought made her sick. "How awful."

"We endured", continued Ravani, "but not entirely without magic. True, our society rebuilt itself along technological lines, but magic exists, whether one is sensitive to it or not. In time, we... 'rediscovered' magic, but as an external energy source, as opposed to a fundamental part of our existence, and some chose to study it in depth, from an outside view-point. It was from just such a perspective that I came to understand, and appreciate, the mystical."

"Is that this 'Soul-Selfing' I read about?", asked Pratisha.

"No - I chose not to follow that path", the Mystalornan responded. "I was satisfied with my existence as it was defined by birth, and satisfied by the powers I had learned to harness. Those who accessed their Soul-Selves either had no power of their own, or felt that their existing power levels were insufficient as others took on Soul-Self capabilities."

"And the more people who Soul-Selfed, the worse things became for your world", said Pratisha, the story now overlapping with her existing knowledge. "The physical and magical threatened to collide."

Ravani nodded. "We avoided it once, but there was always going to be a time when that reunification was going to be inevitable", she told the Earth-woman. "People found new lives when they embraced their Soul-Selves, but it was death that finally sealed the fate of Ealvonhai..."

Pratisha expected to hear the rest of the story, none of which she imagined would surprise her, but surprise her, Ravani did. "You seem... unsettled", said the Mystalornan. "I trust I'm not the source of your unease. Mystalornans represent a manifestation of magic some find difficult to come to terms with."

"Far from it", Pratisha told her. "I've been wanting to meet a Mystalornan from the moment I heard about them. Your race could represent what my people might become, if the future is kind to us."

"It's always good to have something to aspire to", murmured Ravani, "but at least you seem to truly appreciate what Mystalorn represents. I wish I could give you more, but... well, there is this..."

For one stomach-churning moment, the Earth-woman felt as though she was no longer alone inside her own head, and she squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to fight off the urge to vomit. It seemed to work, the unpleasant sensation subsiding, but when Pratisha opened her eyes again, nausea was replaced by an overwhelming feeling of sheer wonder. She was no longer on the balcony aboard The Endless Sunrise...

Pratisha gasped, and her lungs drew in not sterile, reprocessed "air", but oxygen - at a slightly higher proportion of the atmosphere than Earth - laced with all kinds of natural fragrances and what the nature-blind would call "contaminants" - pollen, spores from fungus growing under tree-bark, microscopic scales from the wings of butterflies. All those things rose up from a sea of broad tree-tops that seemed to go on forever, the only interruption a sky-piercing mountain-like spire of blue-gold, crystal, softened by distance into a vision more like an Impressionist oil-painting than actual reality...

And everywhere, literally everywhere, there was magic.

"Mystalorn...?", she whispered, awestruck.

Ravani stepped forward, joining the Earth-woman at the rail of a broad balcony, overlooking the vast forest canopy. "Not the real thing", she revealed, "but the next best thing - a shared memory of my home-world. Mystalornans have near-flawless memory capacity, so this is very nearly as good as reality. One day, maybe you'll experience my world for real..."

"I doubt it", murmured Pratisha, a heaviness in her heart despite the wonders laid out before her by Ravani's mental powers. "This... this is as close as I'll get..."

"As I thought", sighed Ravani. "You're too tightly bound to the 'spirit' of your world - without it, you... wither."

That came as something of a relief to the Earth-born witch. Someone else understood. "Are - are we really one mile up?", she asked as she peered over the balcony rail, and down into the darkness beneath the forest canopy. "Tell me all you can - so that this can live in my mind forever..."

Ravani moved closer, and put a comforting arm about Pratisha's shoulders. "Yes, we are indeed a mile above the surface of Mystalorn", said the alien spell-caster. "We are at my house, north of the capital, Tarun'Deh, with the Great Northern Spire of the Corestone a day's flight away. The sky-vines are in bloom, and tonight, the nectar-gliders will be out in force to feed, and spread the vines' pollen throughout the forest - although 'forest' isn't exactly the proper word for it. Very few outside Mystalorn know that the 'forest' isn't a mass of individual trees, but each 'tree' is in fact one of a great multitude of flowering and fruiting structures for a single organism; a planet-girdling root-mass, the deepest roots of which go down through the entire thickness of the life-sustaining crust-shell of the planet, and are bathed directly in the very energies of the Corestone itself."

A curious impulse came over Pratisha, and she turned away from the magnificent panorama. She looked for the nearest branch of the tree in whose boughs Ravani's house hung like a great bird's nest, and the Earth-woman hugged that great bark-clad mass, letting the magic it drew from the heart of the planet pass into her... she knew it was no more than an illusion, a memory she was borrowing from Ravani, but it brought a small measure of comfort to an aching heart, a spirit yearning for home...

Suddenly, Mystalorn faded away, and both spell-casters were back on The Endless Sunrise. "I'm sorry I had to break the connection", said Ravani, regretfully, "but it appears that our presence is requested below."

Magic carried the two women over the balcony rail, and down through the heart of the ship, onto the lower landing that led into the chamber where the Tanusov Equation raced continually through the artificial brain of the vessel. Pratisha preferred to stay away from that place, viewing the Equation and its resulting Complex as an almost blasphemous attempt to take Nature and reduce it to figures and diagrams, a machine-readable digest of all that lived and breathed, but she felt compelled to enter the chamber when she saw Irinati standing there, bathing in the rainbow light of the seething mass of light ribbons. The girl seemed fascinated, hypnotised, and Pratisha felt the urge to pull her out of there, fearing that the Complex might be eating away at Irinati's very spirit...

"Don't", advised Ravani, fastening a hand on the Earth-woman's shoulder. "We could do more harm by intervening..."

"Our new friend has revealed a rather intriguing talent", announced The Traveller, stepping out from behind the mass of swirling light that was the projection of the Tanusov Complex at just the right moment. "She can read the Complex directly, and it appears that she may have located someone I'd been looking for..."

The adventurer looked away from the Complex, and his gaze fell upon at the two magic-wielders - there was a mischievous gleam in The Traveller's eye as he spoke: "Does anyone fancy a little trip?"

...to be continued...