Done

[Rebecca Talon]

"You and Alice are the only ones I've heard of with that ability, but it had to be an element of the ijulna. When you are tired of it I'm pretty sure I can get us onto Monestary and the monks there can help you sever your connection."

She sighed contentedly, and stood to look out a nearby window. It was beautiful. The Western deserts that she grew up in would always be home, and they had a beauty in their own way. Ever since she left Hacienda de Sandoval at the age of sixteen the Erebus had been the only place she had actually felt like home. But, war, fighting and killing hadn't been why she joined Starfleet, and she'd carried that on to Terra Alpha.

"I think I know why you chose this Era. It's a good one."

[Nick Ryder]

"It's advanced enough to still let me be me... and not worry too much about contaminating the timeline, it's also a period where Earth itself wasn't embroiled in any major conflicts. At least the kind of major we're used to and have gotten sadly used to over the past... what? Thirty years?" Nick said and looked out the window. "My son is happy, my wife is happy, I'm happy. That's all I need. If I spend the rest of my life here, I'll be okay with that. Although I do miss my girls and the rest of the family. So someday I'll pop back for a visit, at least I know how far ahead to go. But I think it's for the best that Alliance kind of forgets that we exist for a while. They need to find their own footing and not feel like 'mom and dad' are going to be there to save them." he looked at his hand. "I haven't held an actual weapon, other than a kilden for training in months. Haven't had to use my flame for anything other than starting a fire. Only once have had I to knock someone out..."

[Rebecca Talon]

"That sounds nice," she replied without looking away from the window.

"Mama, I'm hungry," Kimsaid tugging on her leg.

Rebecca turned and smiled, "Are you now?" She went to her purse and pulled out two packs of crackers. "Is it okay if they eat these?"

[Nick Ryder]

"Crackers... " Nick chuckled. "Hey Kim... how'd you like to share a giant club sandwich with your brother?" he said as he got up and cocked his head to the kitchen. "I just made a bunch of sandwiches. I found this awesome bread recipe, super simple, super healthy, I make at least a loaf of it a day. Alice may be the Lady of the Manor but I'm the Earl of Sandwich around here." he put his hand on Becca's shoulder. "Stay the night, let the kids play, I can let you use my real estate finder account. My agent has been trying to get me to buy something in Scotland since they're finally semi-independent. Sort of an Australia thing, but values are going up. Course we know it won't last forever... but I'm not gonna be the one to tell them that. Malcolm used to get really drunk once a year on 're-unification day' and babble for hours about how the 'Bloody KIng shoulda been tossed off the tower' for that."

[Cassandra Windsor]

Cassie pulled up in her towncar and glanced over at the boxes in the back seat. "Ohhhh Nick is going to kill us."

"Daddy brings home way more stuff when HE goes shopping." Gale said over the comm from Alice's car.

"But this is a bloody boatload of stuff... we should sneak it in." Cassie whispered.

"He'll know." Gale said and chuckled lightly. "Daddy always knows. Besides, this is your home too."

Smiling and nodding her head. "Alice, I'll run interference when you bring in the bigger stuff... he's going to flip when he sees what you bought." she got out of the car and could sense someone was in the house with him. She opened the door and was stunned to see another woman in the house with two children. "And here I was worried you were going to be upset... I think Alice is going to kill you... who the bloody hell is she?"

"Ah Cassie... Becca, my apprentice Princess Cassie Windsor... Cass, this is my best friend... wouldn't say oldest... but my closest friend. Rebecca. Her daughter Kim and her son Ethan. We used to serve together for many many years." Nick said and laughed. "Alice knows Becca."

"Good... because people already thinking we're swingers." Cassie said as she gestured and closed the door. "So I suppose you told her all about me and she knows... everything right?"

"More or less. She retired too and came here... well side trip on the way to wherever she's planning to put down some roots." Nick replied and whispered. "You DID pick up that salve I was looking for right?"

"Yes old man... I got your old man salve." She tossed him the jar. "Great master of the Iljuna and you slip on a Hot Wheel. OOoooohh that should totally be your new callsign."

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca bowed, "Your Highness. My old master was a master of camouflage. She delighted in sneaking up on people. One day maybe this old woman can show you how, and you can drive Nicholas crazy like Ja'larin once did. What's your affinity? Nicholas is fire. For me, it was precognition."

[Cassandra Windsor]

"Oh I like this one." Cassie said with a grin. "Well if you'd ask my mother it's being a little tart. But I'm getting better at levitation and telekinesis. Course that's kind of common isn't it?" she hummed. "But I'm good with calming people down, other than my own family. I'm... kind of excommunicated from the Palace unless it's an official function and I simply HAVE to be there. Alice and Nick have become... almost more than family to me. I have a sister that is not nearly as sisterly to me as Alice and Nick's... well he's a goof and a nutter but I never felt safer and with what he's been teaching me, I feel like... my life has some purpose. Better than rehab."

[Rebecca Talon]

"I used the ijulna initially in much the same way. I came back as a prisoner of war and Ja'larin helped me process the abuse and the way of the Jase'dasis gave my mind focus that I had never had before. But, know, sometimes it becomes a burden, and I had come to see it as a curse rather than a gift."

[Nick Ryder]

"So you're just a super smart, tactically minded woman who's got more knowledge in her pinky than most Admirals have in their entire bodies." Nick said with a laugh. "Yeah being a mystical space wizard wasn't your calling. No harm in that. Besides... you've talked about retiring for a long time, not that you're 'too old' but... it wasn't bringing joy or any kind of peace to your life."

[Rebecca Talon]

"I am not 'super smart', and I wouldn't even say I have a tactical mind. I had to learn that through a trial by fire."