ok... So, things are slowly winding up.... but will Ehliena be able to help?
Enjoy
Lucy
Chapter 61
“Hello Ehliena,” Manager Mandela’s soft tone came across the room, “How are you feeling? No – don’t answer just yet. I’m not talking emotionally – but mentally – in a physical sense. Your aunt just told me that you felt some of your energy transfer into Horatio when you touched him before you were hit by the return energy.”
Ehliena nodded and sat down on the bed next to Horatio’s, slowly gathering her thoughts, allowing Beverley to check her over. Looking up, she gave Deanna a slight smile, doing much to ease her cousins concern. “I don’t know? How should I feel?”
Deanna smiled back, “Do you feel like yourself – or different?”
“I don’t know. Everything is a little hazy… Why? Is it important?”
Nelson sighed, “Ehliena, I need to know if you and Horatio exchanged energies, that he absorbed yours is without doubt – I can sense it within him. I have been able to use it to help him to recover slightly.”
His words lifted Ehliena’s spirits a little, “Is he going to be… alright?”
Nelson took her hand gently, “I don’t know for sure, but if his energy did transfer into you, rather than just being lost, it is possible that he will recover further. How far I do not know, that would depend on you.”
Ehliena swallowed, “I don’t really feel different… but…” Her eyes opened wide for a moment and she pointed to the vase of flowers across the room. She focused her attention and the vase began to lift effortlessly into the air before making a slow, but smooth journey across the room.
Deanna began to laugh, “Well cousin – I think we can say that Horatio has taught you a lot in a very short time. It seems that his energy – along with some of his knowledge has in fact passed into you.”
Ehliena set down the vase carefully, “So it seems – but what does it mean?”
Nelson sat next to her, his hand gently catching hers. “It means that you and Horatio have a big decision to make. In a very short time.”
Ehliena looked up at the older man, suddenly feeling a chill pass over her body. His words concerned her for the moment, but she could also sense relief, and hope from the man she now knew was Horatio’s ‘brother’.
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Ehliena curled up on the sofa in what had become hers and Horatio’s quarters feeling completely lost. Her exchange of energy with Horatio had given her new perceptions, new experiences and it scared her. She could now sense the concern her friends felt about her and Horatio more easily than ever before, but she took comfort in the fact that if she needed help, they were no more than a moment away.
She could sense Horatio’s strength returning, though it had been nearly two weeks since the incident that put them both in sickbay. She had been surprised that her Aunt and Manager Mandela had responded so quickly, but had been informed that as soon as Nelson had heard about Deanna’s query to her mother, he had insisted that they travel to the Enterprise.
Every day the older Symehk would spend time with Horatio, checking his progress ‘manipulating’ his energy before returning him to stasis. He had explained that what Horatio needed was ‘rest’ for a while. While his body was held in stasis, his energy would slowly regenerate.
“But we have to be careful… He could quite easily overload – and we would lose him completely.” The Manager had told her that soon Horatio would need to be roused – and they would have to make their decision.
Carefully he had explained what would need to happen between the two of them for Horatio to complete the transformation. “The other Symehk were able to renew on a regular basis with their new partners, but they had also been able to renew themselves before the Enterprise came. Horatio had not… Renewal in its normal sense for you will not be enough for Horatio to complete the transformation.”
Nelson had sighed deeply, “I still don’t know if it will be possible, even though you have exchanged some energy. There are risks… Horatio could be lost – you could be driven insane…”
Ehliena was confused, “I don’t understand.”
The Manager drew her close, “Ehliena, the two of you must combine – physically, mentally, emotionally…”
She had stared at him for a few moments before the enormity of the situation hit her, tears running down her face. “Is there no other way to help him?”
Nelson shook his head, “No… I had hoped… but it’s too late.”
Ehliena stared out of her window at the stars streaming past, unconcerned about where the Enterprise was heading, only knowing that she was on the edge of an abyss. An abyss that would surely consume her if she did not have Horatio at her side to help control the energy that had transferred from him, energy that she had no idea how to control.