Think of a happy moment… a happy moment…
Tobal closed his eyes, and began to concentrate,
happy moment, happy moment, happy moment… He thought of his mother, his sister, his father, his planet, and his dog…
But none brought out a happy thought, for each memory finished with a sorrowful note. Tobal tried harder, forcing himself to
concentrate. But every happy memory ended in a bitterly sad note. He had fled his planet, he would never see his family.
A light breeze touched his cheek, blew his hair. Before he realized what had happened, his mind traveled back, far back, to his home planet. Sitting by the stream that ran through the south pasture of the village, sleeping…
His ears strained for the sound of water, even though he knew their was none.
It was a shadowy memory, for he knew that it too ended sadly. But, while it had happened, it was the happiest moment of his life.
His father had come, and told him that he would be home now, not going off the planet again. His father was the only one who had ever left their planet in his village, and Tobal was so proud of him. But he was never there, what good was a father if he was never there…
The memory seemed so real now, he could almost hear his father’s voice…
Shadows were cast over the sun, and both had gone in to be sheltered from the rain.
Two days later, while hunting… the cougar… the shredded flesh of his father… then, he had killed the cougar.
Without moving, he had killed. The blood, splattered over all the near by forest… the cougar pelt, no longer good for anything, damaged beyond repair.
His father, almost dead, his back broken.
He had carried his father home…
The memory
wasreal, Tobal could feel the blood from his father on his hands.
“Nemisis”
The last word his father had spoken, before he died. A random thought, pulled out at the end. His father, the off world scientist.
So bitter, so cruel. All his memories began in joy, and ended in sorrow. Overtime, Tobal had learned never to trust anything, for it always stabbed you in the back. Trusting a person was something he was forcing himself to learn again.
Tobal could see the body of his father lying on the bed, dead. He could see himself, kneeling next to the bed, shoulders heaving. It was a memory then, it truly was a memory.
Tobal opened his eyes, he felt different. Something had changed during his memory, something was… larger… It was the same “largeness” that he had felt around the village healer, the same “largeness” he had felt after Vyktor said he had used the force to locate Master Fearsons.
Glancing at Master Jade, Tobal tried to make out if the large feeling was coming from her.
