Interlude: Warrior in Training

Rathul was not asking for a lot, but he was asking for plenty. Alana was exhausted and she felt empty, but not a word of complaint passed her lips even though she wanted so badly to sleep. Her eyes were already at half-mast but she was still sitting up straight, and her hands were clasped demurely on her lap. The white glow around her had been there for nearly five hours straight and did not waver despite her exhaustion. It wasn't the magic that made her tired; it was staying up through the night and most of the morning that did.

"Tell me," Rathul said. "What is your aunt doing right now?"

Alana pushed her perceptions outwards, looking for Romelle within the scope of the magic. She discovered that when she opened up herself to the magic inside her, it tended to spread out, invisible, in a fairly decent sized circle with her as the center. Using that magic, she could discern what was happening around her and if there was someone in the vicinity who also had power, she could find them like a candle in the night. It was using this method did she see that her aunt also had magical powers and Jason had them as well, but in such a small amount that Rathul assured her that there was no way he would be able to use it.

"She's in the cockpit," Alana said, her eyes open and seeing Romelle sitting in the pilot's seat. "She's tired, but she doesn't want to go to to bed, at least not until Jason gets up. She wants to call Uncle Sven, but she knows that she can't because she'd just sent him a message yesterday saying we were on our way to Arus."

"Very good," Rathul said, clearly pleased. "You have incredible control over yourself and your power is only becoming stronger because of it since you can focus its resources with more confidence."

"Thank you," Alana said.

Rathul nodded at her.

"Your achievements have impressed me, Princess. You're learning faster than I expected and faster than anyone I have ever seen before. I suppose it's the natural talent in you."

"It's not as hard as I thought it would be," she said with a shrug. "But I would not have been able to find these things out without your help, Rathul. Thank you for coming with us."

The older man smiled but it still had a note of sadness in it that Alana wished she could make disappear.

"Like I said before, I owe it to you and your people to help where I can. Tell me..." he hesitated.

"What you say to me will be held in the strictest confidence," Alana assured him.

"Lotor...was he happy when you saw him?"

"He was. He had a family and I think he finally found peace in himself. You know that he is my...uncle."

"Yes, I do. It was an interesting twist to his relationship with your mother and his actions towards Arus. Zarkon destroyed more than just Arusian lives with his single-minded quest for power."

"I hope that we can stop Merla before she hurts anymore people," Alana said quietly. "Nothing like this has ever happened to my family before, despite what Arus was like when my parents first met. I'm afraid that we might get there too late..."

"What do your instincts tell you?"

"That they're okay."

"Don't dwell on what might happen. Focus on what is happening now and how you can change the outcome to your favor. You have the power now, Princess. You and your family will be safe if you use it right. You can be the key to this because of your strength."

Alana nodded.

"Get some rest now. We're done for today."

Alana closed the gates and let out a breath as she suddenly felt very, very tired.

"Rathul, can magic give me energy when I don't have any?" she asked weakly.

"Why, yes, it can."

"That's what I thought."

Eyes closing, she sank back into the couch cushions and fell fast asleep.

Alana woke up when she felt herself being jostled. Her defenses immediately went up and she was about to start kicking when she opened her eyes and found Jason's amused countenance looking down at her. He was holding her close to his body, his arms strong underneath her, and they were going down the corridors towards her quarters. Being Jason's arms was not an altogether unpleasant feeling--in fact it was the complete opposite--and made her recognize the underlying awareness in her relationship with Jason that she found distracting but not unwelcome.

She was not very experienced when it came to men and her ideas of romance were based on the romance novels that Jordan sent her from Earth. But when Jason looked at her, she felt something melt inside her and she had this desire to find out just what else he could make feel. Now, in his arms, she was afraid she was going to do something totally foolish. He never gave any indication that he was aware of her feelings, but there were some things he said and did that made her suspect that he may feel the same way. The teasing that he usually pestered her with had given way to a gentle flirting and she found herself giving answers that made her blush when she thought about them later.

"You looked like a little kid about to start screaming," he remarked, smirking down at her.

"I was about to start screaming, but it would have been nothing like a little kid," she said, squirming in his arms until he loosened his hold and let her go. "How long was I asleep?"

"Probably around four hours. Rathul and Aunt Romelle are up in the cockpit catching up on old times and I decided to make myself useful by getting you to bed. Although...you really don't look like you need to sleep anymore."

"I feel good," she said, stretching. "How about we do some target practice?"

Jason winced.

"Really?"

"I'm not that bad!"

He didn't say anything, but with resignation, he followed her to the shooting range. There were scorch marks on the floor and on the walls, not nearly as many on the actual target. Ethan and Bethie, not to mention Keith and Allura, were great shots, but for some reason, Alana could not get used to shooting. Jason had tried all the weaponry they had and she was not comfortable with any of them. In the interest of safety, he settled for training her on a lightweight laser gun on the lowest setting. Alana picked up that gun now and checked its energy level like he taught her. Squaring herself off, she had a pretty decent shooting stance.

Then she shot.

"Oops," she said sheepishly.

Jason glanced at the new laser burn on the floor right in front of the target and was a little pleased. He'd learned to be grateful that she didn't come close to hitting him and was slowly inching her way to the actual target.

"It's closer to the target," he said reassuringly.

Alana grinned and he grinned back. Then, he reached out and gripped her hand in his. Alana's eyes widened and Jason's expression turned wry.

"Point it that way," he said.

Sheepishly, she turned her gun back towards the target. He didn't let go of her hand, but positioned himself behind her to straighten out her posture. Alana poked at him with her elbow but he merely chuckled and stepped out of the way. The way he was looking at her made her think that perhaps he did know exactly how she felt and her irritation with that showed in her face.

"I can do this, you know," she said snappishly.

"Yeah, right. You're getting better. I'm just happy not to have a hole in the middle of my forehead."

"I'm not especially happy about that," she muttered.

"Lana..."

"Shut up, I'm working here."

"You're beautiful when you're mad."

Startled, she turned to look at him just as she squeezed the trigger. Jason let out a yelp when the shot came within a few inches of hitting him in the leg.

"I told you to point it that way!" he protested, exasperated. "And if that's how you're going to act every time I give you a compliment, I'll try to avoid giving you anymore in the future."

"Well, you don't have to do that," she mumbled. "I'll just work on my aim."

He laughed and she smiled at him.

"What if you used a little of that magic business to get yourself a bullseye?" he suggested.

"Hmm."

Alana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Jason wondered if he would ever get used to the speed with which she brought out her magic. She made it look so easy as well, her face serene and confident as she tapped into a power that he could not even begin to understand. There was a lot to be said about power and a delicate looking female and Jason had always been a big fan.

Ignoring the waves of attraction coming off of Jason like a waterfall, Alana focused her energies on the target in front of her. To her shock and his, she hit the middle...again and again and again.

"Well..." he started.

Laughing, Alana turned to him and in her exuberance, threw her arms around his neck. They stared at each other, eyes wide, before Jason smiled in a way that made her toes curl.

"Look out," he warned as he lowered his head.

When their lips met, the first thought that entered Alana's head was that her magic could not hold a candle to the power of Jason Branegan's particular brand.

Late into the night, Alana was still in the firing range. Jason had gone to bed hours before and though he would have stayed with her, she told him to go to bed. She needed to be alone with her thoughts as much as she enjoyed his presence. This new development with the youngest Branegan brought a dreamy smile on her face, but as happy as he made her, she could not lose sight of her purpose.

The target she'd been shooting at was well marked, but without her magic, she just barely made it to target board. It was better than hitting the wall, the floor, and even Jason, but she did not want to rely on her magic too much. She was young enough so that she knew that she could become very reliant on it and she wanted to learn things without magic before she began to use it. It wasn't until after Jason had pulled Romelle into the room to show her that Alana was actually hitting the target did Alana realize that she was hardly exerting any effort to hit the target. It was not a matter of pride but a matter of necessity. She was very comfortable using her magic but what if the time came when she could not draw on its powers to enhance herself? She did not want to be caught with her laser gun pointed in the wrong direction if that ever happened.

The gun fit nicely in her hand and she looked down on it. Her father had tried to teach her how to shoot but she had never shown any inclination towards those kinds of activities, even though her older sister and brother did. Eventually, they had all come to accept the fact that she was just not a warrior like the rest of them were. They competed with each other with target practice, on the ground and in the air, and even her mother got in on it when she had some free time, but Alana had just watched and cheered. She just never found the need to join in.

"There's a need now," she said to herself.

It was that need that had her loading a new battery into the laser gun and pointing it at the target. She squeezed off a shot...