**"Things fall apart...the center cannot hold..."**
* * *
Tuzanor, Minbar; October, 2315.
"We're nearly there, aren't we?" Andreas Walken asked, as beside him, the figure that had become his life over the last few months, her silver and raven hair swept back in the breeze, turned to him, and nodded, with a smile. "Such an incredible tale it's been. You revealed some of it in your written works, but not all."
His companion laughed; a shimmery sound, beneath the brilliant Minbari sun. "That was entirely the point, Andreas. There were certain things, when I wrote those works for the people of Earth, that needed to be told, that needed to be revealed. But we humans, are, more or less, not interested in following an intricate tale such as the one I’ve been telling you for some months, now...it takes a *very* special breed to follow things through to the end; a very special breed indeed. And as such, the details were hidden from them; kept safe, until the time was *right* for the One who Listened to come to me..."
Walken nodded. "Me."
"Exactly. But a promise was made to you, Andreas, and the promise will be kept. I'm not sure, now, what William would have made of the telling of his life's story, what *any* of them would have thought...but it's too late for regrets, now, too late to go back. So many years, I've lost...I'm the last one left, now. What would he...what would *any* of them have thought of these meetings, these tellings?"
Walken thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm quite sure he would have been pleased that in the end, the story of his life, and of his Companions, was finally told, the way it *should* have been, to start with. It's a honour to his memory, a honour to them all, that the story was finally told."
"Ah, but you jump ahead of yourself again, Andreas!...a fallacy I shared, in my youth, when I walked with legends, beside William and Jennifer, and beneath the footsteps of giants, in the sight of Sheridan and all who followed him. The story isn't quite finished yet."
Walken nodded intently, and moved to follow her, into the violet-tinged shadows within the tower. "No; this was easy to see, of course. When last we talked, the Companions of William Westcastle were rejoicing in their final victory over the forces of Clark; the event that marked the end of the Great War. But as we learn from the histories of Sheridan and Mollari, there was almost another full year before Sheridan and *his* Companions parted ways, and left Babylon 5 behind, to its destiny..."
"Precisely. And as if to echo them, William and all those who followed him...and those he had touched, followed their own course beneath those bright, disparate lights. The greatest actions of their lives were behind them, but it would be unfair of me to leave out the closing chapter, would it not?"
Andreas Walken took his seat, made ready to write, to Observe...as was his calling, and nodded. "In all stories, as I have learned, from the greatest to the least, from Sheridan's, to Mollari's...and yours, there is a beginning, a middle and a end. I have learned of the Rimstalker's beginnings, I have learned of his triumphant ascension to command the First White Star Fleet...but what of his fate, and all those who followed him?"
"Indeed, Andreas...indeed." came the whispered reply, as the smile his companion had worn before passed into an expression of lost years and lost joys. "But understand this well; before you learn and understand those fates, I take you to a moment of shadows reborn, but not in the way you have understood the term. A moment of transition in a life of wonder; an ending, but in that ending, a new beginning could also be seen..."
* * *
Tuzanor, Minbar. December 27, 2262; just after midnight, local time.
Hours before, they had left her alone, on the stones, knelt towards the mountains, knelt in meditation as the man and woman who meant so much to her had done in this place, almost four years before. Her eyes glistened as she remembered...how a man and a woman of Earth, bound by their love for one another and called to this place by destiny and prophecy, had moved on to do what they had done, in the name of Light, in the name of their commanders, in the name of Valen. How history remembered those actions would probably be dependent on how well she wrote of them, and the words Jennifer was even now setting down, as well. But that would be the telling of a lifetime's work; that task stood ahead of her, until the end of her days, the telling, and the writing, would be finished when she felt the time was right..
That time was not yet. For now, it seemed impossible that she would be able to decide when the time would be right...but she WOULD know. Eventually, something would give her a sign that the time was right. But not yet; for now, there were other, greater concerns, beyond her calling of Observance.
For now, on this, her last night on this journey of Learning she had followed since William had rescued her on Proxima III, there was still time to look back on it all, one last time, before she rose at the dawn, to receive her second sigil. Which of the two she would wear, after tomorrow, was the more important?
Only time would tell.
She shook her head in irritation; she was so tired, already, but the night was far from over; the stars overhead, the patterns she had come to recognize in the skies of one of the few places she could call *home*, told her there were at least six hours to go until dawn. She gritted her teeth silently, and settled herself back down into peacefulness. The walk through *this* darkness would be a difficult one, but necessary.
One of the things that Turval, Tharvonn and the others had drilled into her was that until you could understand where you had been, you would not be able to respond well to what still laid ahead, in life, and in the calling as a Ranger. She smiled at that thought, but then, the smile faded. The past two months had seen the ending of a great thing; while the understanding was there as to *why*, that did not mean there was no sadness.
On the *contrary*...it was well known that humans, among other races, yearned for stability; for a thing of happiness and enjoyment to live on forever. But that way lay stasis; life did not allow such situations to remain forever.
Life went on.
And so, while the force that had come together to fight the Great Darkness had hung on for a time, now, the currents of life had taken hold of those Companions, heroes all, and drawn them away to newer destinies. She wiped away the single tear that had fallen onto her cheek. How silly she was being; it wasn't as *if* she wouldn't see them again, after all, even though so many of them had gone their separate ways, to follow those callings!
In her travels, in the years to come, she would see them, meet them, learn of their adventures, and, undoubtedly, write of them, as well. But at the same time, it seemed that a great thing had passed; a thing that none now alive would ever see again.
The wind blew against her dense cloak, and she shivered; to think back to the end of the previous year was to understand *some* of why, and how, it had all begun to come apart. After the end of the tumultous civil war that, in the end, had ousted President Clark and created the new Alliance, she had walked with William and Jennie for a time, among the stars, on the White Star Four. Seen things she could never have dreamt of; stars being born, great planets of fire and gas, terrible flares as gas spiraled down to the event horizon of a black hole. All these things she had seen, during the time when the President and the Entil'zha had taken White Star Five on their honeymoon...in the time William had taken them out beyond the Rim, for no other reason except *because* they could.
"Take my ship..." she could remember William asking the President, before they had left. "It's only right that you should have the first that now is."
The President, of course, firmly backed up by Delenn, his new wife, had refused, making a very valid point. "William..." the President had reminded him, his smile knowing, "Our commands become us, and we become our commands, until sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference between the two. You'll know when the time is right for you to move on...that time's not yet, though. You and *your* wife have done so much for us, it's only right that we should all be happy...at least for a little while. Keep your White Star...we'll do just fine with another."
And so, they went their way, and we went our way. And for a little while, around Christmas, all the friends they knew, near and far, came together to celebrate the holiday...even G'kael, from far away Narn, came to Babylon 5, at the year's turning, because he knew how much the holiday meant to his friends. That season was a brilliant one, as the station, newly reopened to traffic from Earth now that Clark was gone, enjoyed its new-found bounty. For a while at least, peace lay across the galaxy far and wide, and the guns of war had fallen silent.
And as the Earth Year 2261 became the Earth Year 2262, William discovered, to his astonishment and joy, that his wife was with child. In September, two new lives, two new Westcastles, would enter the galaxy their father and mother had helped to create. And in that moment of peace and joy at the year's turnover, we could congratulate them, and be content.
She shook her head, and tried not to cry. So ephemeral that moment had been. In the year between then and now, so much had changed, so much had passed on, never to be seen again. The embers of what had been were all that remained.
And yet, at the same time, she found that she had to grudgingly accept that all the fates they had met, had been part and parcel of the lives they had followed in the battle against the Darkness. They had *made* the future for what it was, for better or for worse...now, they had to live in that future.
William and Jennifer, and their children, had found their new life together, and would follow their tasks with pride, until the end, in the name of the Entil'zha and her husband, the President, and Shival and all his people would do the same on Babylon 5, for as long as it remained. Tashann and Talion would do well, out there...and in time, she might see them again, who knew where she would go now, after her Ceremony? G'kael would be on Narn...that was an easy enough place to find!...and Larieken, Larieken had all but promised he would never leave her side, as long as he lived.
Her mother, and Deitrich, of course, were also out among the stars...a little harder to find, but not impossible, and she and her mother had *promised* their promises to one another. So many tasks, so much pride...so why was it, she still felt so much sadness?
But there was always the matter of Brianna; a matter never far from her mind, with the growing telepath crisis showing that around every corner, there was always another kind of darkness. Sooner or later, they would have to deal with her, and the master she now unwillingly served. But that time was not yet...and not now.
For now, she supposed it was time for her to go back over how it had all changed, in the end; how the cadre William had built had gone their seperate ways; indeed, how William and Jennifer, themselves, had seen the need to give up their own cherished task, for another. An ending...and a new beginning, the past year had been.
Not just for them.
*Never* just for them.
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To be continued...
* * *
Next time: In "Witch and Warlock", Part 2 of "The Walkers in the Darkness", the fate of Captain Bethany Tikopai and her executive officer, the ever loyal Deitrich Alwhin, is revealed. Coming soon.