Out of the nine on the Grey Council, there were some, like Sinoval, who spoke often and loudly. There were some, like Hedronn, who spoke seldom, but whose words carried great power. There were some, like Delenn, who did not need to speak often for their power to be noted. And there were some, like Rathenn, whose words were seldom offered and less heeded.

That did not mean his opinions were any less strong than those of, say, Sinoval. It merely meant he had to find another outlet for them. Usually it was Delenn, who listened and understood, but Delenn was not here. She had been forsaken, and forgotten and lied about. Rathenn knew that the thought of her going willingly with the Starkiller was absurd – no, worse than absurd, sacrilegious. And now Sinoval was taking the place that should have been hers, that should still be hers.

It took a great deal to make a Minbari angry, but once a Minbari was angry, their wrath was a thing to be feared, as the Earthers had discovered. Rathenn needed an outlet for his anger, and so he listened to keela. Remembrance of the past and thoughts for the future. The poet was skilled, and gifted, but his words were not assuaging Rathenn’s anger at all. Finally, he raised his hand and the poet stopped, and bowed.

“Do you know Satai Delenn?” he asked.

“I know… of her,” the poet replied, looking down. It was not seemly for anyone to look directly at a Satai of the Grey Council.

Rathenn looked at the poet. News of Delenn’s disappearance was not common knowledge, and for him to reveal that secret would get him into trouble, but still, a poet may hear the words of a Satai, as the saying went.

But no, this was not right. The poet’s head was still bowed. “Warriors and their pride,” Rathenn whispered. “They will destroy this Council. Sinoval will destroy this Council. And we, the Third Fane of Chudomo, we will stand idle as he does so. And why? Because we have no other choice. Remember the Grey Council, Shaal Lennier. Remember us in your poetry, because soon there will be no one else who will.

“When will you be leaving for the Centauri?”

“Tomorrow morning, Satai.”

“I can only help but wonder if the Centauri will appreciate your poems, Shaal. I doubt it somehow, but if anyone could, then I am sure you will make them. Shaal Mayan must be proud of you.”

“Yes, Satai. She is.”

“Good, and so she should be. Go, Shaal Lennier, and walk with Valen.”

“Thank you, Satai.” Lennier bowed again and left. Rathenn was alone at last, staring into the shadows all around him and feeling his own anger simmering in his breast.

Warriors! The Council had been in the hands of the religious caste since long before Dukhat, since the days of Liraval herself.

And in Delenn’s memory, Rathenn swore that it would be again.

Anna Sheridan was not exactly an unfamiliar face to many aboard the Babylon – some of whom had been present when she married the Captain shortly after the settlement at Proxima 3 – but she hadn’t been seen on the ship in over a year, and as far as Commander Corwin knew, the Captain hadn’t seen her for six months or so.

So when he received a message saying that Anna was in the docking bay wanting to speak to her husband and incidentally very interested in why security seemed much tighter than usual, he was initially fairly surprised.

“She’s not… drunk, is she, Mr. Allan?” Corwin said hesitantly. For all that the Captain tried to pretend it wasn’t important, Anna’s drinking was not exactly the best kept secret on Proxima.

“No, sir,” Zack replied. “Least, it doesn’t look like it.”

“I’m on my way down.”

As he made his way from the bridge to the docking bays, Corwin mentally rehearsed just what he was going to tell her.

Sorry, Mrs. Sheridan, but your husband is watching over our Minbari prisoner who’s currently in some sort of cocoon in fulfilment of ancient prophecy. And incidentally the reason security’s so tight is because we don’t want anyone to find this out, and we definitely don’t want Susan wandering around the ship until we work out what to do with her. Well, they don’t, and I’m not sure what I want regarding Susan any more.

There. That’ll go down just fine.

He was still saying that to himself as he entered the docking bays and found Anna waiting there, obviously impatient. His eyes widened slightly as he saw her. Her hair was newly washed and trimmed and done in a slightly different style. She was wearing loose-fitting light blue trousers and top, and jewellery as well. Corwin made a habit of noting as much about people as he could, and he spotted a wedding ring gleaming on Anna’s finger. She hadn’t been wearing her wedding ring in years.

“I’d like to see my husband, if that’s okay,” she said harshly. “Assuming he isn’t too busy, of course.”

“Ah, well…” Corwin began. What had the Captain said? Alert me if it’s an emergency only. He hadn’t been sure what the definition of an emergency was, but he knew from experience that while the sudden arrival of twenty Minbari cruisers would count, anything less probably wouldn’t.

“He’s busy at the moment, I’m afraid. If you have a message I could leave…”

“I could do that over the comm channels,” she said. “I want to talk to him.”

“I’m very sorry,” Corwin said. “I will let him know you came as soon as I can, but I am afraid we are very busy here…” Very busy was not the word. He had been performing so many drills, inspections and checks that he felt he was in danger of joining the walking brain-dead.

“Actually, Commander,” Zack suddenly said, “I was wondering about that. Miss Alexander was muttering to herself as she came back from seeing him a few hours ago. She kept saying the word ’chrysalis’. Does that mean anything to you?”

“No, Sergeant, I’m afraid it doesn’t,” Corwin snapped.

“Miss Alexander? Oh right, so it’s all right for him to see other women, just not me. Oh no, I’m just his wife, that’s all! And what does ’chrysalis’ mean?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Zack said conversationally. “They don’t tell me nothing. Some Minbari thing, I guess.”

“That will be all, Sergeant!” Corwin snapped. “I am very sorry, Mrs. Sheridan, but the Captain is busy. I will be sure to let him know you came.”

“Busy?” Anna said slowly. “Busy, yes I’m sure he is, what with other women and Minbari! Don’t bother, Commander!” She turned and stormed away. Corwin glared at Zack.

“Hey, I didn’t know it was such a big secret,” Zack said. “I’m sorry.”

“I’d have thought you’d know better than to go blabbing about secret business to all and sundry, Sergeant.”

“Aw hell, you’re right. Look, I’m sorry, Commander. I just ain’t had much sleep recently, you know what I mean. It’s all this added security and drills and inspections and stuff. I’m just… a bit dead on my feet, you know.

Corwin sighed and breathed out slowly. “I understand. Look, how long are you on duty for?”

“Another four hours or so.”

“Head down to the surface when you finish. Take a break, and relax a bit. We’ve all been under a lot of stress lately and I can see how it might get a bit much for some of us. Just, Mr. Allan, don’t do anything that stupid again.”

“You’re right, sir, I’m sorry.”

“I doubt it’s made much difference. Things between the Captain and his wife weren’t that great anyway, and I’ll be damned if the word chrysalis means anything to her. Hell, I’m involved in this, and I don’t know what the damn word means.”

“Yes, sir. And again, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. No harm done, I suppose.”

“No, sir.”

“It is time we faced facts,” Vice President Clark was saying. “We are all living on borrowed time. The date Mr. Welles obtained from our Minbari prisoner passed almost two months ago. Even taking into account the time needed for the Grey Council to thrash out their power struggle, they must have chosen a leader by now, or be in the process of doing so, and that means the Minbari ships could be here any day now.”