Forgiven

[Caira Ayryn]

Merik bounded into the Endless Dunes atop the shadowy lion, and to the lion's relief, it was sundown. There was no moon in the sky, only a bed of stars, pricking the blanket of black with little white sparks that littered the sky. In the middle, there was a particularly bright strand illuminating certain branches of the sky  but it was not the Milky Way, that he might see from Earth, for the cloud of assorted stars and planets was smokily undistinguished in shape.  

The cool breeze filled the mane of his sweeping golden hair, and Merik tasted the icy hollow air of the desert. So many skyless nights he had spent in that frigid, glacial jail cell below the earth. The thought of these tortured memories made his skin crawl with anger and disgust, which flourished with a fierce blaze in his eyes. They rippled through the night, just as a shadow might, it hovered over the dunes in a strangely mystical way, for it left not path of the print of a paw on the sand. Suddenly, he heard a noise, and turned his head, the lion halted at once, jouncing its rider uncomfortably as his body flung forward. 

When his eyes had rolled back into place, he wincingly noticed what the hold up was, and Merik felt the chill of fear creep over his skeleton with more bite than that of the air, for he realized he was perched atop a monster. 

Over the horizon, there was another, the shadow lions were one of the Endless Dunes' most terrifying predator. They were entirely territorial, and upon this realization, the Prime leapt off Caira's beast at once, which had started a low rumble in its chest as the other beast approached, Merik noted, in the darkness, that Caira's was a male, and the one drawing near to them was a female. 

He blinked as his hands fell to the watery sand and looked at the confrontation blossom, he particularly looked at the tamed lion he had ridden. It looked completely different than the shadow lion beasts he knew as Chimera type hunters, that can and will rip the head off of any unprepared human if it gets the chance. Caira's beast was smaller in proportion, and it's eyes, though Merik suspected originally -that is before the conversion of loyalty- they glowed a different shade of light. Then there was the lioness, large and beastly, with vicious spews of raging orange light came from her extravagant maw. Something about her was so very savage.

Compared to the she-lion, the male looked like a tabby cat, though Merik suspected this was not the case, for soon, a pale blue light grew on his shadowed face with vibrant menace. His size had increased too, as though the dark magic of the night was there to feed his black form. The mighty lion was now larger than the female, and the male was twice that. The beastly encounter however, was not over, they padded in circles around one another, the male emitted a low growl, as though warning her to back away from him (and Merik) or force him into battle. The female, seemed to agree, for her eyes were not blind to his sheer size, and her ears seemed to have heard his unspoken message, but then, she seemed to find he had another use, and his form was tackled to the ground, the power of their collision alone, caused the earth below Merik to not only shake, but erupt with spouts of sand.

[Caira Ayryn]

Merik blinked the shock and fear from his eyes - he had just been riding that? The thing was a beast who now resembled more of a mountain than what his own shadowed species. Lashing, chomping jaws mixed with snarls as they pulled tufts of shadow from one another painfully. The Prime watched the battle that had now shed blood because of him with complete and utter trepidation.

The simba's teeth clamped into the female's neck, pinning her with an earthshaking scream. Merik was frozen in place as splashes of sand dashed before his vision and added to the perpetual insanity of the fight.

Swish, swish, WHOOOSH! A heavy wave of sand covered him head to toe, leaving him spitting, while he was almost trampled under the heavy paws of their fight.

Once the female was pinned (less than securely by his piercing claws) through his mane the lion turned his head to Merik and roared a command, sure the human could not speak lion, but one didn't have to speak the same tongue to know when they were warning them to run.

Quickly Merik heaved his body to his feet, his heels pushed off the ground and dug into the sweeping sand. The feline growled in ferocious fury and batted the male's claw away, while biting him right in the wrist, catching him off guard, quite painfully.

"RAAAAWWRGGG!" The lion bellowed as his snout and maw parted to the sky, releasing his anger and pain upon their eardrums. His enemy had now darted after the human, as though she wasn't going to let her rightful prey escape so easily. His speed was unrivaled as his claws ripped the shadows from her flank, and then bashed her head into the sandy ground. He growled with such ruthlessness, testing her to stay down, or die.

The she-lion was pondering her options, and inevitable defeat. Perhaps she would barter half of the human's flesh with him, her enlivened eyes looked on the shadow lion that was her own kind, they were a noble race, but this simba was ruled by pride, and would not allow his attention waver while Merik dashed over across and over the dunes drifting quickly out of sight.

...

Merik could feel the cold sweat cause his clothes to stick to his body as he walked, each time, turning his head over his shoulder to see if either creature had followed. The telepathic had breathed a breath of free night air. That was a close one... Too close. His mind kept replaying the unencumbered power of the beasts while he walked the last bit of flatlands before he would near the town that houses his son.

Softly his feet carried him over the wisps of sand drifting in the wind, which made Merik shield his eyes....

Meanwhile.

"Wot do you think that is, sir?" A young voice squeaked as he pulled his eyes away to look at his partner on duty. The pair were guards, one very young, one very old and quite annoyed.

He had wanted to take a nap before the hot sun rose in the sky, but the boy kept prodding his dozing mind with questions that were just enough to keep his curiosity awake.

Murad asked again, his eyes followed his index finger which pointed to the horizon, leading eventually to the Nexus Gate. "Mister Daniels!"

The grumpy old geezer grunted himself awake, jerked upwards, and grumbled silently to himself disdainfully, "Ugh what do you want Murad! Can't ya see I was gonna get some shut eye? Never deny an old man his rest without a good reason..."

Murad blinked, "But Mr. Daniels you told me to tell you when I saw something!"

"Ugh, what did ya see, boy?" Daniels asked in a monotonous tone. The kid had too much energy for his taste, after raising one son for the last fifteen years, he hadn't thought he signed on for another one.

"Well first, I saw a few flashes, then I saw a blur of black, far, far out in the distance, and then it was followed by a huge explosion of sand!" His voice was getting faster, following the speedy race of his heart.

"What? Are you seeing things boy? You know we only get sandstorms or earth quakes out here, and neither of those would produce what yer describing." The elder was quick to reason.

"Oh I guess you're right Mr. Daniels, then again we have had a lot of primes come by, as well as bandits and strange creatures, do you think it could be one of those things, sir?" Murad offered him an expectant grin, revealing the hole front-and-center in his growing line of teeth, for he was missing the two front ones.

"You've got a screw loose boy, yer seeing things again." Was all Daniels had said. But the words fell on deaf ears, as the boy's eyes were back on the fairly dark horizon, glittering with excitement.

"I guess if you don't know, we'll just have to ask him." Murad reasoned simply.

"Yeah, yeah..." Daniels seas quick to agree, until his fatigued mind caught up with him, "Wait, who?"

"The man, can't you see him? He's coming from the direction of the Gate, maybe he's a prime!" The boy suggested excitedly, "Do you think I could meet him Mr. Daniels?"

"I still don't see..." Daniels was squinting with his aged pale blue eyes while he waited for his vision to cut through the dark as finely as the boy's had, but there was nothing compared to youth, and the old man still was unable to pinpoint whoever or whatever it was that the boy said was approaching. "You're not meeting anyone," he continued curtly, as his words flowed heartlessly from his chapped, dry lips. "If they did what you said they did, they could be trouble, they could be dangerous to the town."

"But!-" Murad protested with a jump, causing the turban atop his head to sway.

"No butts, you best run along and send the message to the other guards around the perimeter, best to put them on alert for the trouble to come, even if it's nothing." The old guard followed standard procedure and Murad looked disappointed, his chin dipped and his shoulders sulked on his small frame.

The warm glow of lantern light flickered in the gloomy silence, while Daniels' aged hand offered Murad's youthfully smooth and tiny one the handle of an old light. It seemed the nearly void compassion of the elder's tone had spun one hundred and eighty degrees, "Run along now, best you be safe and out of harms way when they come, they could really do some damage, I wouldn't want ter see a young lad like you gettin' hurt."

With ample reluctance, the boy grabbed the lantern, yet still the expression of a scolded child hung off of the edges of his arched frown. His voice was soaked with the same pout in his face, "Okay, Mister Daniels."

"That's a lad. Run along now." He patted the kid's shoulder and as soon as Murad was out of sight, Daniels went for his pump-action, double barrel shotgun, and began to fill its chambers with bronze-shielded bullets.

Cha-chink.

[Caira Ayryn]

The old man held his loaded, pump-action shotgun in one hand, while his free hand scoured through some mess of fabric and paper in order to unearth his binoculars (one needed them at his age) and upon the blackened horizon, his eyes fell on the ghost of a man.

Dauntingly slow movements followed the figure shuffling his way through the sand. First, Daniels got a look at his shoes, they were standard casual shoes, a little prepped for the desert, but amply black, that much he could tell. On the approaching man's thin legs were some straight, seemingly ironed blue pants, fastened, out of old habit with a belt of which he could not discern the color. Above the waistline, Daniels could see a collared pale shirt, distinguished the most out of the other well-blended clothes. As the man walked closer, Daniels could see that the cuffs and ankles of attire were in tatters, though the rest of the shirt and pants were still in good shape.

What an unarmed man wandering the desert at night would be thinking Daniels had no idea. But the elder thought it suspicious, and decided not to take his eyes from the figure. As his binoculars finally focused on the man's contouring face, twilight had risen and Daniels got a fresh look at the face that he had not known for ten years. He blinked several times, perhaps he was seeing things, or had a crumb of sand in his eye, or had fallen asleep when Murad had finally left, but the old man pinched himself and rubbed his eyelids before throwing down his binoculars and taking up the shogun in both his hands.

A grizzled grimace showed on the elder guard's face, while his gaze continued to squint on the edge of the dunes. A distant fear chilled his bones, but it was nothing he couldn't force willfully from his neck. Daniels had once known this man, and seemed to recognize the threat he carried with his arrival. And still, the ghost drew near, and the blonde hair covering the majority of the wayfarer's hair was illuminated by the orange glow of the rising sun.

...

The tall, business-like Prime sauntered feebly over to what he knew was closer the entrance of the town, but Daniels, the elder guard began his stealthy approach, though he knew there would be no getting past his enemy's eyes.

Merik's blonde eyebrow raised as he spied the gun, a great, haughty smirk turned up a side of his lips, "My, it's been a long time. Especially since someone has aimed a rifle at me."

Daniels drew a little nearer, black-iron snout raised at Merik, the trespasser. "Yeah? And I doubt it'll be the last. What do you think you're doing here?" An anger-coated threat filled the tone of his words, "I never thought you'd dare show your face in this town again, not after what happened to her."

Daniels' pale eyes seethed with anger, the snout of his rifle would not bow, and it his finger was wagging over the trigger. Merik's mismatched eyes fell on the old man, last the Prime had seen him, it was just over thirteen years ago, funny how time flies. "Careful John, there are ears listening." The prime's gazed toward the upper tier of the wall, where a small head with a gray turban was bobbing just below the lip of the wooden tower.

Daniels didn't steer the gun's aim away from his enemy while his chin turned up to look, alas, he expressed a disgruntled sigh and raised his voice, "MURAD WHAT ARE YE DOING UP THERE?"

There was a startled shuffling. As well as the sound as the young boy stubbing his toe as he stomped down the creaky stairs. "Ow!" He mumbled and would've liked to clutch his aching foot, but there wasn't enough time. The whimpering boy revealed himself and Daniels could've swatted the disobedient boy's ass right then and there.

Daniels gave him the 'Well, what do you have to say for yourself?' expression, since his anger was too much to form words. Murad immediately protested, "I'm a guard too! I stand by you every day and look out for the same signs of danger you do, plus I spotted this guy, so I deserve to-"

"You deserve to do what you're told, Murad." The elder's voice was stern, "So I take it you did not inform the rest of the guards on duty?"

"No... I-"

"What if this man had been a threat? What if he had killed me, and then you, and none of the other guards would know what danger the town was in!" Daniels exchanged a dissatisfied look between the boy and the intruding Prime, a sigh excreted from his lips, "Still. I think it may work out best that you have not alerted the others. Come along visitor, I will show you the town, as for you Murad, I hope you'll go back to your post."

The boy's brown eyes fell on the Prime, "But what about-"

"Haven't you done enough disobeying for one day? And as for the Prime, it just so happens that he's an old..." His face cringed as he forced the word out, "Friend, in fact he's stopping in town to visit me and my wife. We were expecting him two weeks ago, the bastard, but by the looks of it he got a little side tracked by the desert," Daniels let out a laugh, "Best I invite you in for a drink then."

They dismissed the boy by each walking straight for Daniels' home, while Murad couldn't take his eyes from the blue and red eyes of the Prime's very knowing expression.

[Caira Ayryn]

Slowly, quietly, and during the early twilight of the morning, Merik was lead through the desolate down and into the quaint setting of the Daniels' household. Morning dust had settled on the polished wooden railings of their ranch. The door squeaked open, but caused no alarm to those who were encumbered by the all-powerful veil of sleep.

Daniels thought to bitterly himself, though he know his "visitor" could hear him, Can't believe I have to let this wretch into my house. Again. The man was especially worried about waking his wife, she was not to know that Merik had returned, for surely she'd either faint or have a fit- or both. The old croak groaned outwardly to express his dismay, and finally sat in the quietest corner of the house, the kitchen. They say across the dinner table, Daniels' eyes bearing down at Merik's.

Make sure to keep yer voice down. He thought at Merik in warning.

Merik suppressed a smirk, this would be an interesting conversation. He merely offered a nod and waited to Daniels to explain why he was holding Merik here. What are you doing here? the man let his thoughts speak simply.

Merik pondered this, and he was about to speak, yet Daniels interjected (whether he had meant to or not, was a mystery), And how the heck did you get out ?

Merik's eyebrows raised, Oh jail, that had been fun. Had this fool really thought that he'd let them chain him down there forever? No, surely he had to know that a Prime's freedom, no matter how long it took, was inevitable. Merik spoke in a soft murmur, "Oh, do you mean how did I become free? I actually had a lucky break, you see one of your buddies unshackled me for a couple of bottles of rum." The sarcasm was filled in every word.

Daniels grit his teeth, but Merik, curse or not, had not been able to help it. Word on the street is, that is NOT what happened. Someone helped you. Gonna offer a name?

"I'm no narc, John, so please, let's stick to asking better questions..." Merik warned.

Oh but you are Merik, you forget after all these years that I know the curse, you simply must betray anyone who gets close to you. You can't help it. You're a danger to this town, now why are you here? And better yet... Who?

Merik blinked, he did not think that the telepathic conversation would have immediate leeway on his new version of free will, but just like the crimson color that stained his eyes, his curse had not been lifted yet completely from his soul. Merik felt his eyes bulge as the name formed on his lips. He spoke it, though with much protest, "Caira," and in defeat thought only, Damn.

Hm, that's a new name. Could it be the true name of the girl I housed here the very night before your escape? on the man's mind, a thought sprung forth, first silver, then violet eyes gleamed as they swam with the gentle yet vanishing movement of the memory.

"Enough already, that is not why I am here. I was sent by someone, a Prime, to make amends with my son. I think, it is time to tell him the truth, the real truth. As well as... Other things." Merik concluded, his eyes covered in the clouds of his own past.

You're not welcome here, nor near MY son. I let you see him, as a traveler and friend while you were here for a short time, but that was my own mistake, his interest in you was almost immediate, whether it was because you're a prime, or perhaps he felt the instinctive draw of his own blood. I don't care. You don't belong here, not in my town, not after everything you've done. Daniels spoke out of anger, and, a twinge of grievance could be heard in the pain of his expressive thoughts.

"I do not need to tell you that a Prime in this world does as he pleases." Merik seemed bored now, his eyes were on the ceiling. His brow furrowed as Daniels began again.

You could slaughter my family, you foul, evil man, even to get to your own, but the other guards would suspect, they'd know, just like I'd warn them if you left my supervision during your little... Stay. Daniels had now threatened Merik's priceless freedom again.

"Ah, but you see, even the towns people do not know I exist, you'd think you would have told them a dangerous prisoner escaped, or some other convoluted story, after I got sprung. If you truly thought I was dangerous, you could've even supplied a picture. But no," his lips coiled into a smile, "Your fear prevented that. And while your thirst for justice was strong, your fear for any more death coming to this town was even stronger. You do not have the strength to kill me, and for the same reason Daniels, you sure as hell don't have it in you to protect a town from my wrath. Perhaps you thought you were sparing people of the same fear that is rushing through your blood now. But I think that your judgment has withered over these years, meanwhile, my own remains in pristine condition." The blaze of Merik's unyielding gaze bore down on Daniels, the Prime had obviously won this round, using his accursed immortality as a buffer to defeat the mortal man.

Daniels sizzled helplessly like a hot pan atop fire, this was the same reason he had hated the man. It wasn't enough that the telepathic Prime won every conversation, every challenge, and had dropped and disowned his own son off with Daniels. And to top it all off, Merik had inadvertently let Daniels believe that he had killed his only daughter. Talk about a reason to hate a man.

Of course Merik knew all this and more. And it didn't exactly help his chances of finding his son, and though he had gained back some of his willpower, there were still crucial fragments missing. And Daniels was doing well to hide the answer Merik wanted from his mind.

Still, the stalemate remained, Merik had nothing to sweeten the pot for the old man, and the old man could not see how Merik's so-called 'truth' would effect the his coming-of-age son. "Come now, we're both the boy's father, myself in blood, and you more than any man has ever been to me. You must see my reasoning at least a little, he must know the truth, later on, it could devastate him, at least now I have the chance to right it with him."

Daniels frowned and growled He's MY son now, Merik, your truth isn't welcome here, he's had a fine upbringing with me and my wife, and though it wasn't alway easy financially, nor answering all of his questions about why he didn't look like either of us. But he's our kin now, and since you renounced him as yours, I am the one who must decide what is right for him.

Merik gulped nervously. This wasn't going how he had planned at all. And to top it off, he was actually beginning to sympathize with the man! Emotions were so last century, or so Merik thought, until they wobbled on his face in a shape of an empathetic frown, which seemed to shock the man. He asked, What the hell is wrong with you? And what happened to your eyes?

But before Merik could answer, movement stirred on the creaky floorboards and moved toward the stairs, and a slight look of panic thrilled his eyes, "Your wife has awoken. And is coming down the stairs."

[Caira Ayryn]

HIDE! HIDE! Daniels shouted at his Prime guest. But Merik knew not where, and instead, sifted through his mind for all the well known alleyways and nooks of the Daniel household. Finally, the Prime resorted, simply, to hopping out the nearest open window in the next room. He crept swiftly and silently, without another word to his host, and only just made it in time, before Mrs. Daniels’ feet reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Hmmm.... Hun? Is that you?” she said sleepily, her eyes were half open, and it was still dark, so she was prone to stub her toe on the furniture, though she had memorized just about every single extra doily in the house.

“Yes dear?” her husband said calmly. She approached the kitchen, Merik’s clothes were dusty now, after diving head first into the hateful ground. He groaned soundlessly, and paused underneath the sill, meanwhile, he could hear both what they were saying, and the thoughts stirring in their minds. Mr. Daniels was mostly frantic, but calm, and his Mrs. was a little suspicious herself.

Suddenly, Merik felt the compulsion to take the woman hostage, and simply ask for the information he wanted to know, however, his freewill held him back. If he was to make amends with his son, he would have wanted to do it the right way, not in a way that his real father should force his foster parents to speak if they don’t want to. With a visible cringe in the dark dawn, Merik’s face twitched as he fought the curse with his willpower- a battle that he had always lost.

His eyes flickered intently, while he felt as though a thick venom was sinking into his blood. While the wife responded back, “It sounded like you were talking to someone dear, is Tom back yet?”

Daniels blinked, shocked, while his surfaces thoughts worried that Merik would read his wife’s mind, for the location of the boy. Merik did, however, it was deeper than he was able to go, for sleep was a shield against telepathic Primes like himself, though he could see dreams, those often spoke in code, hiding the subconscious's meaning so well, that even the dreamer could not derive their purpose.

“Voices? No it was just me hun, I got off duty a little early ‘cause my neck was creakin’ and thought I’d make myself a hot cuppa joe.” The wife’s eyes moved to the gas stove, it remained unlit but it was certainly a feasible lie.

“Well, I can make it for you dear, it’s no trouble.” She offered, as a good wife might do to aid and nurture her weary husband after a long day of work.

“No no, I’d feel better if I didn’t bother you, you best be going back to bed, and I’ll be up there soon.” Daniels was almost too hasty, but the wife submitted to her body’s fatigue, and her mind’s temptation.

“Well... Okay, but let me know if you want some food, there’s biscuits in the fridge and a cooked patty on the same plate. All ya gotta do is heat it up.” The wife said no more, and ventured on back up the stairs.

After Daniels breathed a sure breath of relief, and felt he had waited long enough for her to fall back into a peaceful slumber -though he would confirm this with Merik- Daniels popped his head out of the window sill, speaking no words, but turning his head around for Merik. He was not on this side of the house. Suspicion grew in the dark pits of the man’s heart again, until he turned his head around, with anger, and pulled his shoulders in from the open window, steaming with worry and regret, and fear for his wife.

As he stood up and straightened himself, he nearly ran into Merik’s tall posture. Daniels jumped, Merik seemed amused, and while he was a little dirty, he showed no signs of having disturbed Mr. Daniels wife. Daniels realized what true trouble his family was in, when a telepathic Prime with little boundaries went looking. He could have taken her, killed his wife. Though that was not in the Prime’s nature, that was the nature of the curse.

[Caira Ayryn]

“Let’s go for a walk.” Daniels said to the blond Prime and they exited through the front door, where no bedroom windows could see them leave.

Merik strolled casually, though his eyes contemptuous as his hands sunk deeper into his pockets. He was nervous, and tried to combat his fidgeting by hiding it. Not a good solution. They made some space between them and the house, and Merik guessed that this is where Daniels would come clean. “What’s wrong with yer eye?” the secondary heard his own thoughts ask.

“That’s uh, what-” he felt his own tongue crippling his words, it wasn’t an unusual feeling, but usually the cursed prime avoided this, or kept it hidden. On his mind, he had the answer perfectly laid out, and being a decent public speaker and diplomatist, Merik could convey his thoughts well. That was before his life went to shit, though. He fought it, the sensation that supernaturally paralyzed his tongue, and had a little leverage. “There was a Prime who helped me break one of the how you might call “locks” on my... current situation. Anyway, I think she implies that meeting my son and confessing will be another key to correcting my issue. She reads a lot of books.”

Daniels smirked, that was one of the worst explanations ever. It was even funnier that Merik could read his mind. Merik smiled back, though part of it showed up as a frown. It was silly, but this was surely what they called “sharing a moment” and though Daniels had raised his son, Merik had always wanted another child ever since the tragedy that happened to his entire family in Coruscant. Worse than Hercules, Merik’s curse, it felt like, had started at that exact moment.

“So, where is he?” Merik asked. Daniels turned to face him, the orange sun, rising in his eyes.

“He ain’t here.” The news was delivered to the prime bluntly, and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of the Prime.

“What? Where is he?”

Daniels continued, “Heard what you did to that Ayryn girl, we saw how you got free, and abandoned those men down there-”

“Technically, they abandoned me down there-” Merik protested weakly.

“But it wasn’t just that, your son’s almost a man now, he’s got decision to make. He wanted to travel, he was considering moving to Camelot, considering becoming a part of the Navy in Vasty Deeps, and well, who are we to stop him from followin’ his heart?” Daniels made too good of an argument. Merik was infuriated however, had they waited to permit this until Tom was actually eighteen, which was more of an unspoken agreement than a promise, Merik would have a chance to be a father, or at least admit the truth.

“Are you serious? Do you know how dangerous it is out there? Surely my experience has taught you something! They killed my family in Coruscant, when I was a trusted employee. Then they tried to banish me, kill me, leave me for dead. I was exiled to the dunes, where I was cursed by the creatures who dwell here. And what, you think you can let him go into that danger unprepared?” Merik sounded like a parent.

“He is prepared. We raised him well, and he’s got your gifts. Life’s short. There’s no time to waste. Illness and death take men ev’ry day.” the old man said solidly.

“He’s got... Telepathy?”

He paused. “No. Can’t you read minds? There’s been speak of what we call Prime lineage. Not every secondary gets it, but if the Prime has powers based on special genes, sometimes it carries over, see.”

“So what can my son do? How long have you known?” Though Merik didn’t have to ask, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

[Caira Ayryn]

"Must be nice," Daniels basked, 'Not to have ta have been a father to 'im'... "Not knowing the monster your son has become."

Merik at first was outraged, he didn't know by which more, the thoughts or what Daniels had chosen to speak about his blood. Then the Prime looked into the old secondary's eyes, and saw the fear. Daniels had lost a son too, in the worst way. Tom hadn't died. He'd destroyed himself. Somehow.

"What happened, where is he?" Merik couldn't read the man's mind, there was too clear an image of morose memories to get a clear-cut summary.

"Your son has joined the Rebellion against the Empire. Guess you should be proud of that. He's gone to Camelot with a group of other strays, but I fear since he's so young they'll send him somewhere... There's this one prime that has opened a school for gifted youngsters. They might misinterpret Tom's power and..."

"So even you don't know where he's gone? Why didn't you stop him? He isn't even an adult yet!" Merik was outraged, perhaps this was the first care he was showing for his son since he had opted to give him up for adoption. Families were important.

"He's sixteen, he saved up some money and had been plannin' to sneak out one night. I caught him in the act." Merik saw the memory unfold in the man's mind.

[spoiler] Flashback:

The lights flipped on.

The electricity didn't always run at this hour, so there was a slow flicker after the initial flick. Even so, Tom froze, while his oversized backpack stiffened on his back.

"And jus' where do you think you're going, son?" Daniels had a gruff voice, full of allegation and committed to his cause. "You think you'd run out on the Missus and I while we was sleepin'? That how you reward us for putting food on the table for you all these years?"

"Sir, I... Didn't mean to..." In his shaking hand was a note, which was extended out to the elder. He took it in his wrinkled hands and read it, sitting in silence after and simply looking up at the tall youth that looked too much like his blasted father, "I'm old enough to be going out on my own. I don't belong here, for more than one-"

"Don't you start that again son, you're welcome in our house just like you was one of our own."

"But I'm not," the sixteen year old blond spoke firmly, "I'm not your blood. I need to know... I need to stop this. Staying here, without training, without control, I could kill you. And you won't tell me who my dad is so I can ask him about this, so here we are."

"Yer dad is dead." Daniels repeated as though it was a story he had told so much, he had believed it.

"So you say, but Primes never really die," Tom's smile was bittersweet, he knew when he was being lied to and the pain showed in his all too caring eyes.

"This one did." Daniels said coldly. "And that's the end of it."

"Alright, if that's the story you're sticking to, here's mine. I can't stay here with no one who understands me. I'm too much of a danger. I could kill you right now and not even blink. Then your blood would be on my hands, and I don't want to kill the only father I've ever known." Tom's truth stabbed Mr. Daniels in the heart, who couldn't deny it.

"Alright boy, but I don't need you leaving here in the middle of the night like some bandit. It'd be good to wake up the Missus and have her cook ye' breakfast before ya leave. That way, there's closure for all of us, and we don't regret nothin' we never had. That alright with you boy?"

"Food would be nice, I didn't take any of yours, figured I'd... Find some along the way." Find sounded an awful lot like steal. You could lose a hand for that 'round these parts.

"Yeah I bet." He spoke gruffly, "Go get her, I'll explain everything when she gets down stairs. My legs aren't what they used to be." Daniels would've gone up to wake her himself, but he secretly held the fear in his heart that if he turned his back for even one second, he'd never see his adopted son again. Having one last breakfast as a family made it all seem worth it. And it was, until he was gone.

[/spoiler]

"You let him go? And you didn't tell me?" Though that was no surprise, considering the promise they'd made, Merik still expressed his dissatisfaction. "Anyway, fine! I'll go find him and bring him-"

"No. He ain't to return here." Daniels was right. "The locals will kill 'im if they think he's a danger. You know how people are. If you got business with him, go see him yourself. Maybe you can even get his abilities to stop, but bringing him back here would be a mistake. Sure people got their guns and a little armor, but he's out there training with the best. He don't have ta worry about killing someone if he lets his mind slip, Primes'll come back, and the stronger secondaries if they're lucky will only get nicked. So you see, I had to let him go. But you, you don't."