This story is dedicated to Markus who suggested the crossover and helped in the story's development. Enjoy!
In the cave, several of the Herd gathered around the clairvoyant mineral pool,
as instructed by Gotoma, to peer into far-off future events. These events will have
direct and indirect repercussions for the Herd, culminating into an incredible
relocation. This Gotoma told the dinosaurs, lemurs, and Jedi present that day the
visitors departed. Nothing can be changed as it's prophesied, as Gotoma cautioned.
Eema peered into the pool, taking in the images reflected back. In that pool,
she saw a large room, elegantly appointed. Dozens of equally gorgeously dressed
ladies and gentlemen waltzed gracefully about in rhythm with the music. And such
beautiful music! Eema had heard it before, but this time she could see what made
those wonderful sounds.
"Odd little things those humans are playing," she said with a sigh, "But the
sound they make is absolutely breathtaking. Look, Neera, a gentleman is introducing
Marbe to Jean-Paul."
Neera smiled, saying, "She has the same look in her eye..."
Plio rejoined, "As yours did. At the old lake after Aladar found water for
the little orphans."
Neera sighed, "Too bad Marbe had to change her name, but it goes with the
territory, or so Gotoma said."
Eema nodded, "Yeah. Poor girl can't let her guard down. All those Jedi who
came here had to change their names, even had to take up other ways to earn a
living."
She glanced about, asking, "Where's Baylene and Sarama? I thought they'd be
here watching all this, especially Sarama."
Old Yar replied, "Last time I saw them was by the lake. Beats me why they
passed this up. What we're seeing is so fascinating. Imagine, we get to keep up
with Marbe and Kirel and Artmo..."
"Thank that wizard friend of Charlie's," said Plio, watching Marbe waltz
with Jean-Paul. "He said he got the magical communicator from a powerful lady, and
that she will be the one who will help us relocate to our new home."
Not far from the pool, Aladar and Xander peered into the mystic crystals.
Neither knew what to expect as neither had done this before.
"I know," said Aladar, trying to conjure up an image in the colorful
minerals, "Sarama and Eema use these, even see things in them, but for the life of
me, I can't see a thing. Just sparkly colors."
"Same here," said Xander half amusedly. "Maybe we don't have the stuff."
Aladar laughed, then said, "Hey, why don't we head back to the lake. I could
use a good cool drink, and I need to talk to you. We've known each other just a few
weeks, but I guess it's the right time to ask you..."
Xander lifted a brow quizzically, asking, "Ask me what?"
"Well, you know that Bruton was Kron's second in command."
Aladar paused, noting Xander's puzzled look. He chuckled, saying, "Okay, so
it's not like that, but since becoming the Herd's leader, I've never had a
sergeant, or something like that. So, if you're willing, why not be my partner in
leadership? No, I'm not like Kron. I won't push you to do stupid things or lord
over you. I just need someone to help out with everyday Herd stuff. Someone I can
trust. That's you, Xander."
Xander thought it over. It's not as if he had another place to go. His sole
companions during his orphanhood are dead, as was his family. The Nesting Grounds
is home now, and Xander forged many friendships with the Herd, especially with
Aladar who he regarded as a brother.
"I'd be honored to be your partner, Aladar. Maybe it's what I need. A sense
of belonging and responsibility. Besides, being a co-leader will give me something
to do. Don't what to feel like I'm mooching off your kindness."
Aladar laughed again, replying, "Hey, I've never considered you a moocher."
Then with a wry smile, "Well, maybe more like a brother."
Xander laughed in kind. "Hey, we think alike. How's that for partners? I
thought the same thing. You know, us as siblings. Since we've lost our natural
families...Well, everything works out for the best."
Then, "Aladar, do you believe all that Gotoma said? That the Herd will soon
move to another home? That we'll see the Tasous again? Well, not Marbe or Kirel in
the flesh, but one of Marbe's descendants. I don't get it. How can we meet her
great-great granddaughter? We'll be long dead. It just doesn't make sense."
Aladar shook his head, nodding at Eema who was still enraptured by the
images in the pool.
"Eema seems to believe it, and, to my surprise, so does Neera and Plio. It
doesn't seem possible to meet someone who won't be born for another century. We
don't live forever...But...Didn't Gotoma say this new home is magical, that no one
ever ages or dies."
"Don't forget," said Xander, "that we'll make contact with the Valley gang.
Even that is more incredible. How can that happen?"
Aladar thought it over. Well, we've done it before, when we met the 1500 on that ship, even talked to them, and met the man who found Eema's remains. Maybe it is possible...
Shaking his head again, as if to dispel the wildly improbable images from his mind, Aladar said, "How about that drink? Let the ladies and Yar look at the pictures in the pool. We can't seem to see what they see."
++++++
On the other side of the lake, Baylene and Sarama, taking a long cool drink,
peered into the waters, trying to conjure again the images they saw earlier. How
odd what they saw, so disjointed and not all all what Gotoma said were signs of the
future.
One man receiving sad news of his wife's death aboard the same ship Sarama
foresaw long ago. Another man, in the throes of depression and angst, throwing
himself into the icy Rhine only to survive and spend the remainder of his days
confined in a mental hospital. Then that man's friend, a Jedi at that! This Jedi
found himself among the great men of music, even befriended several. He composed
something of great importance, something one man would steal almost a century
later.
"I saw him, Baylene. The images in the water, that is. I saw him walking
alongside Neera of all things. He told Neera how he came to Earth, and of the
special man he met. In the images, the man died, and this Jedi joined the funeral
procession. He tells Neera that he married another Jedi who fled Order 66, and that
there are others living throughout the planet."
Baylene concurred with this, adding, "I saw similar things in the water. A
couple, a man and his wife, escaping some madman's clutches. Someone appears to
them and offers to take them to a safe place. However, they, sadly, are the few of
their family who find any refuge. Then I saw another Jedi, another who found his
place among musicians. Yet he, like the couple, had to flee his adopted homeland,
helped by the same man who helped the couple escape a horrible fate. It is all so
muddled, Sarama. These are supposed to be signs of our future, but how?"
Sarama replied, "Gotoma said each of us will soon encounter these future
events, even interact with humans who will, either directly or indirectly, affect
that ultimate move to another home. As you said, it is so muddled. Even I, who
seldom doubt my own visions, have a hard time believing it all."
Baylene, still peering into the water, commented, "I still miss those
youngsters, and Artmo Hox."
She chuckled, adding, "I shall certainly miss Hox lifting me like that.
What a grand feeling to float effortlessly through the air! I believe that
triggered my Force abilities, to save the Tasous and Hox from those carnotaurs and
that vicious bounty hunter."
Sarama smiled at that, but she became quite serious when she shared with
Baylene another vision she experienced shortly after the Tasous went their separate
ways. This she shared with no one, not even Hadron or Aladar. It was that
disturbing, dangerous even.
"I'm telling you this, Baylene. Promise to share it with no one else. You
remember what Gotoma said about the Tasous encountering their own trials and
brushes with the dark side. Well, and this came to me shortly after they left, I
saw Kirel stepping into what could very well be his undoing."
"What?," asked a curious Baylene.
"Someone is waiting for him the moment he arrives home. Someone dangerous
and sinister. This person will play on Kirel's thoughts and feelings. He misses his
sister, and this person will pick up on this. He will fall, Baylene. He will fall
to the dark side and face many perils in efforts to return to the light side of
Force. Kirel will return to the light, thanks to timely help from Luke Skywalker.
But that person will escape, actually come to Earth, the very last to penetrate
that time slip. She bides her time, all the while plotting a most dangerous,
sinister..."
Sarama took a deep breath, concluding, "Where the Herd will end up is where
this evil one waits. Oh, she will be defeated, but how I still don't know. This
latest vision disturbs me greatly. I know this wondrous place will be our new home,
but..."
Baylene countered, "But it has been prophesied, Sarama, All the evil will die
in the desert. That is what Gotoma promised. The evil will be defeated, with help
from us. We can't change that, Sarama. It will happen. We just have to be
ready when the time comes."
With a sigh, the elderly brachiosaur glanced up at the sky hoping to see another starship cruising towards Earth. Maybe the Tasous and Master Hox will be the only Jedi they'll see their lifetime, then again...
"Come on, Baylene," said Sarama with some finality, "Let us go to the cave. I
have a feeling we'll see more of our future there, in the pool..."
++++++
Under an incredibly tall tree, Suri and Ola sat. Just passing time with small talk and nibbling on the juicy fruits that fell from the tree's branches. How much they missed their guests, those wondrous Jedi who brought such joy to the Nesting Grounds. Suri especially missed the droids...Well, not HK as he was just too dangerous and not very nice. She pondered that odd business Gotoma said about the Herd moving to a new home. He told all who gathered that day the Herd would eventually resettle in a land full of wonder and magic. They would, and this even a youngster as Suri couldn't believe, in time interact with those dinosaurs of legends: The Great Valley herd. How can that be? Those guys died ages ago, way before even Eema's parents or Gotoma himself were born.
"That," said Suri to Ola, "was just too weird. How can we leave our valley?
There's still not much out there. No green grass or trees or water or anything."
She nodded to the imposing rock wall that sheltered the Grounds from the
outside world.
"Even our old island is not much, not after the Fireball."
Ola replied, "Well, Mama said a human lady will help the Great Valley herd
move to this new home. That will be Marbe's great-great-great granddaughter. That's
what's got me stumped. We'd be long gone by that time, so what gives?"
"The time slip, young ones. That is what makes it special. That is why your Herd will be united with those creatures of old."
"Who said that?," asked a worried Ola.
Suri gasped at the apparition, pointed and shouted, "Look, Ola! A Jedi!"
Before them stood the ghostly presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi, not as the
aged "Ben" who trained Luke Skywalker, but the younger, more vigorous Jedi Master
as he appeared just before the Clone Wars.
He spoke to the children in gentle tones, "Little ones, the Great Migration
is nearly at hand. It will happen as if in a blink of an eye. Now, your questions
about the possibility of Marbe Tasou's descendant, a woman several generations
removed from Marbe, coming to your valley. Your elders, at this moment, ask the
same. How can it be?"
"Thank the one who opened that breach, one who discovered it and kept the
secret to himself. He used that discovery for his own selfish agenda, but he never
lived long enough to revisit the slip. When he died, the secret of the time slip
supposedly died with him. Alas, Ricar Tasou, quite by accident, found that breach,
visiting the Great Valley twice. You already know, via Master Hox, of those
visits."
Obi-Wan then explained how the time slip served as an escape route for those
Jedi and Force Masters fleeing the Emperor's Order 66. The Tasous were only two of
several Jedi who penetrated the breach, settling on Earth. However, that slip has
strange properties: Quite inexplicably, it sent the refugees to random historical
eras. Some ended up in the 19th Century, a few settled in 1400's Europe, a handful
to ancient civilizations.
"Marbe now knows she is not the only Jedi in 1800's Earth. Half a world
away is another Jedi. There will be others Marbe and her descendants will encounter
in various parts of the world. Some will be known right away, others not so
obvious."
The Jedi Master smiled and said before vanishing, "Do not worry, younglings.
Your Herd is remarkably blessed with the Force. In time, as Gotoma promised, a few
of your Herd will experience more of the far-off future firsthand. Through the
Force, you will see faces, places, events which will impact the Herd's future. Then
Xander..."
Obi-Wan paused, saying, "I am not at liberty to reveal what Xander will
experience. That is for his eyes only."
Then, finally, "As I said, do not distress over your future. All will be well.
May the Force be with you."
Copyright @2006-2008 by P.R. Parker. All Rights Reserved.