Until now.

Ta’Lon had received a recent message from the Centauri aide who was close to the Grey Council. The Minbari had finally launched their offensive. Ta’Lon had arrived at Proxima only twelve hours or so before the Minbari would arrive.

Getting in was not all that difficult. He did after all have experience as a fighter pilot during the last Narn / Centauri War, and he had fake documents from Councillor Na’Toth which gave him the official approval of the Kha’Ri to do whatever he wanted. If they were ever investigated, Na’Toth could always claim they were forgeries.

Under pretence of getting his ship repaired, Ta’Lon managed to make it down to the surface. He had arranged a quick meeting with General Takashima, who was supposed to be organising the defence line. She quickly authorised his presence, grateful for even one more ship that could help defend Proxima.

Ta’Lon’s real reason for coming to the planet had little to do with defence. It had to do with a last promise to a friend.

Delenn was not on Proxima, as he had been told by Ha’Cormar’ah G’Kar, but there were two others who needed his help. Lyta Alexander and Marcus Cole. Lyta Alexander was a telepath, and as such a valuable ally to have. Marcus Cole had been monitoring the Shadow activity here, and would have important information.

Ta’Lon had come to Proxima to find Satai Delenn, only to discover that she was no longer there. That did not invalidate his mission. Ta’Lon lived to serve, and so, in G’Kar’s name, he would serve.

Or die.

John Sheridan was many things, a leader, a commander, an orator. He was first and foremost a warrior, however. Delenn had known many warriors in her life, and she had seen many different sides to them.

There was her father, who had fought a war against succumbing to grief and loss after the departure of her mother. There were Draal and Dukhat, who fought wars to keep the Minbari together, to keep the castes focussed. There was Neroon, who fought a war against the Darkness in the name of her love. There was Sinoval, who fought for pride and honour and duty.

Delenn would never forget the first time she had seen Sheridan. It had been in the Hall of the Grey Council, when he had been brought forward, bloodied, battered and chained. From the first image, he had dominated her vision. She saw his pride, his strength, his power, and she saw him confronting Sinoval, burning with a rage that could have torn the ship apart.

Two sides to the same coin, as the human saying went. A mirror image in the water, as did the Minbari’s. Two halves of the same soul.

Delenn had seen Sinoval at war. She had seen him launch the final attack on Earth, brimming with a thirst for vengeance that had almost matched her own. She had seen Sheridan at war, confronting what should never have to be met. She remembered the sight of the Babylon’s near apocalyptic attack over Mars.

Sheridan and Sinoval. Two sides of the same coin.

And then what about her and Sheridan? Delenn had studied the prophecies of Valen in detail, reading them over and over again, but never had they come into such clarity as they had when she had first seen Sheridan. Everything had made sense then. At first she had denied it to herself, thinking that her answers were impossible, even blasphemous.

Then she had been captured by him, brought to Proxima, questioned… It had been an ordeal simply to keep her sanity, to keep the dreadful actuality of what she had done from exploding in her face.

And then he had saved her. A simple act of mercy – food, water and rest – was followed by her freedom. She had been given a chance to think, to understand, to suppose. She found she could talk to him about her theories and he would listen. She wasn’t sure he believed her, but he would at least listen.

And then she had met Valen. So many questions answered, but so many new questions arising. She had seen the future – or what might become the future. She had seen herself standing over Sheridan’s grave on a devastated Minbar, and she had sworn never to let that happen. Her change had been part of an effort to prevent that future from happening.

And then had come her chrysalis, and her almost fatal premature emergence from it. She remembered little of the immediate few days after the chrysalis had been broken, but she had an image of a part of herself being held prisoner within her own mind, of being hemmed in by steel bars while Shadows crept up on her. She had been freed at last, but now she was just as worried as before. She had her place in destiny marked out – the prophecies said so – but it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Surely it wasn’t?

She winced as another sharp burst of pain tore up to her eyes from the back of her skull. They were getting more frequent now.

“Delenn?” Sheridan asked. He knelt down beside her. “Are you…?”

All right? She didn’t know. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She had expected some pain, some… difficulty in her transition, but not this.

But how could she tell him of her pains, when he had so many of his own? She doubted she would ever forget the image of his face after Anna had died. The sight of all innocence and hope fading. She doubted they would ever regain their earlier air of… familiarity. The two of them had grown close – as close as any human and Minbari could get. Now… he still came to talk, he still listened, but there were more uncomfortable gaps in their conversations, as they both wondered what to say that could possibly forestall further pain.

“I am fine,” she whispered. She was not fine. She remembered what Dr. Hobbs and Dr. Kyle had told her.

“I don’t pretend to know anything about the technology that caused this change,” Dr. Hobbs had begun. She was a warm, friendly woman who had actually talked to Delenn. Delenn was still nervous around most humans, and the sight of someone who did not look upon her as a Minbari murderer had given her a brief ray of happiness.

“All I can say is what I’ve discovered, and I’m afraid it is not good.

“Your biology is… very unstable. You’ve said that the process was not complete and that would concur with my data. Your vital systems are very unstable, and heart problems in particular seem likely, as well as more… minor complaints like severe headaches, dizziness, nausea, possibly even loss of memory.”

“I have… been suffering from all of those,” she admitted.

“I guessed as much, and I’m afraid things are only going to get worse. I can prescribe some medicines to treat some of the symptoms, but I’m going to have to be very careful to make sure that whatever I give you won’t cause problems for either part of your shared biology. I also won’t be able to do anything to get at the root of the problem, unless you have some of the technology that caused this, so I can have a look at it…”

“It was confiscated by Mr. Welles,” Delenn replied. “It is on Proxima Three at the moment.”

“Then I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do. My best guess if that you only have a few months before one of your major systems fails completely, and I won’t be able to do much to help.”

“A few months will be all I need. Thank you, Doctor.”

Delenn had tried to hide how scared she was by this, but she was failing, both in hiding it from herself and in hiding it from John. He had not mentioned anything about it to her, however. At least not yet.

“How… much longer until we arrive there?” Delenn asked, trying not to notice how near John was to her. She could look directly into his eyes and notice every item of loss and pain and suffering there… and how much of all that suffering was down to her?

“A few hours, not much more,” he replied. “I… I…” He fell back, sitting on the back of his heels. “I wish I knew what Bester was up to.”