Oneiromancy Is The Loneliest Number (Thel)

"There is, actually.". Lysander gently took one of Thel's hands in a sleek black glove and rested the other atop it. "Just a moment more, if you'd please."

"I never thought myself to be in this position again. Only a few months now, but not unlike your situation. A new world, a new life. Torn from what was known into a long series of unknowns. Those of us that have fallen into line behind this "Rainbow Rocket", many simply desire just to be returned home. If you should ever find a way to grant us that, I will never raise my hand to you again."

Closing his eyes, Lysander slowly released Thel's hand. "Beware the man Cyrus, and more still the one called Ghetsis.

"I'll be in touch in time, Mable. Take good care of your friends in the meanwhile. I understand your feelings in the matter. I will take some time for soul searching. Come along my friends."

The Undying King and his companions, Life, and Oblivion, departed into the trees, leaving Mable and Thel standing silently by the weapon. After a short pause, Mable broached in a soft voice.

"I don't think I will ever understand him, but he has a way with words."

"Several thousand years ago, Lysander won us over with his ideologies. A sacrifice to pave the way for a eutopia, he called it. He was correct... That the world would be forever changed for the better. We never did learn the full scope of the cost. Something I don't think he considered before you spoke of the autonomy of sentient beings. Being that this is only the second such instance of this, I suppose it hadn't really been broached properly. Once the deed was done, most of us didn't look back."

Mable shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "I'll be fine. The girls will understand, and Lysander, while carrying a strong opinion and goals from a questionable moral footing, has never been a liar."

As Thel's arms surround Mable, she stiffens, then sags against him. Her arms find their way around the boy in kind, settling along his back. Her head settles into the crook of his neck.

"If Giovanni hadn't drawn us here, we might never had to face our sins, or considered repeating them. Where would I go, if not with Lysander, Alicia, Celosia, and Bryonry? In a short lifetime, anyone I've come to care for would just be gone, except them."

"Living in the moment, with every memory as it comes... That was the way of things for the first lifetime. As I aged, events blurred together into general emotions. Even with the best pneumonic techniques, faces, friends, places... The human mind is finite. Moments escape into a fog... Someday, I won't remember your face."

Mable rubbed her arm, and cast her eyes down the trail. "Going back to the old way of living sounds so alien now. Maybe I've grown jaded with living."

"Even ghosts fade in time. Lysander is fortunate to have so many timeless beings to carry himself alongside.". Mable lightly brushed her hand along the back of his. "I appreciate the sentiment Thel, but you don't need to sacrifice your precious time for someone that has no need of theirs. Tell me though, what makes you feel alien exactly?"

"Imposter Syndrome is a very real condition that humans have too. It tends to stem from anxiety, and makes the subject doubt their ability to be in the position they are in. They see themselves as duplicitous, lying or otherwise posing as a member of something. Sometimes an organization, sometimes a family, unworthy of the good in their lives.". Mable looked skyward as she considered the rote passage, continuing to keep pace with Thel, one step at a time from the superweapon.

"Truth is, a lot of the social rules we put in place don't have much purpose, even down to things such as having to wear clothes. One day, someone in power decided that was how it was, and it stuck. Live how you choose to Thel. Be happy with your choices.". Mable encouraged firmly. "I... will talk to the girls, see if we can't find some way to repay your effort today. No one should be put through what you were."

"Are you really able to say that you are capable of hate?". Mable broached gently, folding her arms behind her back. "Someone who took pity on oblivion itself. Who... heard out a man willing to commit genocide not once, but twice and got him to change his mind? Thel... you are, for lack of a more scientific term, a miracle."

The scientist turned to face him. "The people I have wronged are gone. The place I wronged them I can't return to... Maybe we can make our amends here. To some iteration of them. Prove a long and dedicated effort can stem the tide just as well as ruination."

"Good and evil are very subjective concepts. To the conservationalist, wastefulness is evil. Viewing a population as too large, the measures reverse from one too small. I believe that people are most inclined to see to their personal success or that of their offspring, which is the nature of life and doesn't account for morality."

Mable's face settled into a mock frown. "Maybe this is why doing the right thing is so difficult."