Minbar in ruins. Dukhat dying in her arms. Neroon saying goodbye. Captain Sheridan hitting her. Captain Sheridan watching her sleep.

Kosh entering her mind. Kosh’s true form.

Kosh…

The light faded, and Delenn realised she was lying on the floor, shaking. Standing up, she saw Kosh’s encounter suit not far away. It was still standing, but as she watched, it sank down and collapsed.

Kosh was gone.

(And elsewhere, light years away, Lyta Alexander woke from her sleep screaming, with no knowledge of why.)

The Enemy was gone as well, save for Ivanova.

She was still on her feet, where everyone else had fallen. Captain Sheridan was hardly breathing, and even Valen was still. Delenn saw her run forward, extending a Minbari fighting pike. Her Minbari fighting pike. The one that Ivanova had taken from her as she lay unconscious and bleeding in the corridors of her own home.

The one that Neroon had given her, the one that Durhan had given him. One of Durhan’s fabled nine blades.

Durhan would never have imagined it would be wielded by a Shadow agent, least of all against Valen himself.

Delenn reacted, remembering Neroon’s attempts to teach her combat, remembering her father’s training, and Durhan’s advice. She had no weapon, but she had her faith, and her memories, and her conviction, restored at last after a long period of doubt.

She caught Ivanova in the belly with her elbow, and the Shadow agent stumbled. A punch upwards to the arm loosened her grip on the weapon, and a blow to the shoulder knocked the pike from her hands completely.

Delenn could see the pain in her opponent’s eyes. Kosh’s sacrifice had done something to her, affected her somehow. Susan Ivanova had been changed, drastically and completely. For better or for worse, Delenn could not tell.

Slowly, she picked up the pike and she held it before her. It felt… wrong. It was not hers any longer. Ivanova had been wielding it in battle for… how long? Years, probably. How many had she killed with this self-same weapon, the one given to Delenn in a gesture of love?

She compressed the weapon and stepped back. Ivanova fell, tears raining from her one, good eye.

Valen was awake now, but Delenn could feel the station shaking around her. She looked up, and around, half afraid of another vision. There was none, but she did feel Valen take her arm.

“You have to go,” he said. “The time field is destabilising. You have to get out before you get caught here. Remember this, Delenn, and have faith.”

“Always,” she said. Captain Sheridan was rising, but unsteadily. He was shaking and palsied. She ran to his side and helped support him. With a last look back at Valen, she left the station.

And she left with it a piece of her future, and a piece of her past, secure in the knowledge of her present.

“How do you feel?” she asked him softly.

Sheridan groaned. “Ill. Sick. Tired. Apart from that, I’m fine.”

She smiled.

Delenn had managed to use her limited knowledge of shuttles to get away from the station and towards the Babylon. The ship’s central computer did the rest of the work of the docking. Commander Corwin had been suspicious when she had pulled Captain Sheridan from the shuttle, but he had asked no questions, and she had given him no answers. Largely because she did not know what answers to give.

Commander Corwin had even let her stay in Medlab while Dr. Kyle treated Captain Sheridan. His wounds had not been extensive. Largely bruising and exhaustion. He had slept and she had watched him, wondering if he would appreciate the symbolism of the gesture.

Wondering if she appreciated it herself. He had watched her sleep on at least one occasion, and that was a departure from the traditional ritual. But then this was far from traditional.

Behind her, Babylon 4 disappeared, and completed its journey to the past. She silently wished Valen well, and thought about her future. The images she had seen, both of Minbar, and of herself.

And when Captain Sheridan awoke, she had gone to his side. They were not being watched. Commander Corwin had ordered it. He had clearly seen something as well. Perhaps the unstable effects of the time field had extended even here?

“What happened…?” Sheridan began. “Was it… real or not? I… saw things.”

“I did as well,” she assured him. “I can only suppose that what happened is what has always happened. Valen took the station a thousand years into the past, where he fought the Enemy, formed the Grey Council and brought hope to Minbar.”

“And the visions?”

“I… do not know,” she said carefully. He was clearly uncomfortable with whatever he had seen, and so was she. For the time being, they would leave the matter. Perhaps later…

And then she presented him with the pike she had taken from Ivanova, the pike that Ivanova had taken from her. “I would like you to have this,” she said. She saw that he recognised it. “It does not feel… right to me any more, and you now have as many enemies, and as dangerous enemies, as do I. I feel you will need it.”

“I don’t know how to use it,” he said.

“Then I will teach you. But you must be careful. There are now two copies of that pike in this timeline. That one, and the one that was taken from me before, the one that has not yet been brought back to this time. Some of the warrior caste believe that a weapon has the power of its bearer. That weapon has two bearers now.”

“I see. I… think I’ve got something for you as well. The doctors put it in that drawer there.” Delenn opened the drawer he indicated and pulled out a small metal triangle.

She held the Triluminary slowly and smiled. “Thank you,” she said.

“Well, are you going to test my soul with it, then?”

“There is no need. I have seen your soul, and mine.”

“The… things on that station. They were the Enemy, weren’t they? The Shadows?”

“Yes, they were.”

“They aren’t really trying to help us, are they?”

“I doubt it.”

“I won’t do anything to hurt my people, you realise that.”

“Yes.”

“And I won’t fight them. Just yet. But… I might have to, in the future. Please, tell me about them…”

“There is something else I must tell you about first,” she whispered, remembering the sight of her own reflection in the muddied waters of Minbar.

And she told him of prophecy, and of Valen and of the chrysalis.

And he listened.

“I wish he could just tell me what this is about,” Corwin moaned to himself, not caring that the only person around to hear him was Marcus, and he was saying nothing. Corwin’s complaints were not genuine either. The Captain was the captain after all, and he didn’t have to explain anything.

Although he would quite like to know why the Captain was out of Medlab when Dr. Kyle had insisted on another full day’s rest. They weren’t even back at Proxima yet.

The door to the ready room opened, and the Captain walked in. Satai Delenn was with him, and Corwin managed to avoid twisting his face into a gesture of disapproval. What business was it of his what the Captain did?

“Thank you for coming here, both of you,” the Captain said. “I trust the two of you more than anyone else on this ship. You, David, because… well… you’ve fought alongside me for so long. I’ve never had any reason to doubt you, and I’m sure I never will. And you, Marcus, because you’ve seen some of the same things I have.

“What we’re going to tell you will have to remain secret for the time being. We may add others to this little conspiracy at a later date, but for now, only the four of us need know.