Cherelle was tossing on her sleeping mat, trying not to get up. She was feeling full of energy, for the first time in over two weeks. The previous days were blurred in her mind. The last things she clearly recall were walking toward the HQ door after dealing with Omega. Then, total black out for heavens know how long... She remembered waking up in the HQ bar on the bench of one of the alcoves, an IV plugged in her vein, all alone. She had then managed to reach the grid at the HQ entrance, encoded herself in the grid, reached the Tir exit and dragged her feet to her apartment. More blur. Then a conversation with Dorian, who came over to visit. Her first and only visitor during those two weeks. After he left, she reached her bedroom and called at the Monastery...
Master Eyyot, the Master of the Temple of the Purple Dragon, quickly sent out a couple of her fellow students to pick Cherelle up and take her back to the Monastery on the Friday night. Cher was in bad shape. She couldn't recall the first day there, but her mind started to catch up on the Saturday evening. Of course, her first reflex was to look for her comlink to contact Assembly... Master Eyyot hid the comlink. Cher wasn't pleased with that, but after her Master swore he'd let her know if something urgent came up, she finally sighed and agreed to let go for the time of her stay. She often told so to Jen, Assembly's strength doesn't rely on one individual, they would be fine... She let go of the worry, let go of the weight, let go of the threats.
* * *
Now that she was back home, she felt like catching up. Much to sort out after all hell broke loose in so little time... The threat Omega was posing was dealt with. Now, the hard part was to help him learn of the ways of our clan. That was no small task. And how would the rest of the clan deal with him... Nobody seemed to be worried before that he was a shade. Suddenly, it's one big deal... But Cher was trained to look in hearts through the darkest secrets... even her own, when she could figure it out. And the conclusion she came to is that Omega was a being, both raw and sophisticated, living on primal instincts, in the predator and prey logic. She knew he could learn, since after she talked with him and explained, the best she could, why Omega shouldn't prey on clanners. That was still far from what Assembly stands for, but Ivan was gone, and Omega was obviously starting over from square one, having only kept fragmental, disorganized information that Ivan has had. A proper education would be no easy task, considering the contempt Omega would have to face within the clan*
"He's still a member, but he'll face reject, maybe even mockery... Nothing very suiting to a learning being. I just hope people will still remember that we fight for freedom and respect. If they can't show any respect for a life form different than their own, then they're no better than Omni-Tek leaders." Cher nodded once. "Damn, and I'll have to tell Jen if she doesn't know already... Aw hell, I'm not even sure where to start..." Cherelle winced slightly, then sighed. "From the beginning, Cher. From the beginning." She pushed the sheets aside and stood up. She glanced at her comlink and decided to grab a coffee first. She slightly grinned, remembering that Arlyne had told her not to drink coffee in her condition. Cher's grin grew wider. Forbidden things were often sweeter.