Xan had gone down to the shuttle bay to retrieve his toolbox. The lighting was minimal, which left eerie shadows playing across the walls and ship. As he made it to the top of the ramp of his ship, he paused. The back of his neck prickled. Something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t quite get a feel for what it was.

Spying his toolbox, he snatched it up with one hand before he turned and made his way back down the ramp. Xan was cautious, but he would not let fear control him. Something moved in a shadow. “Hello..” he called out towards the darkness.

A chuckle came as the reply, “Hello..Karthane.”

Xan stopped as feelings he’d not sensed in years started to well up inside him. He held his breath for a moment and slowly exhaled as his mother’s voice drifted through his mind, “I will be like the reed. I will bend in the wind. I will not break as the storm rushes around me. My root is strong. I will bend with the wind.”

Slowly, Xan set down his toolbox, “I Xan, not Karthane,” he said pointedly.