Avala entered the room where the three Saolavis were waiting. The girl Vaela had refused to leave her side, so Avala had to warn her of what was inside. She had to admit that even she wasn't prepared for what she saw.

The first one of the Saolavis appeared to be two identical looking women, attached at the side of their upper head. At first glance the second appeared to be just two women stand side by side, that was until she saw they shared a middle leg. The last appeared to be a woman with two heads.

Avala realized she was gawking, but couldn't help it.

“You must be Avala,” one of the heads of the first one spoke, seeming oblivious to Avala's expression. “Allow us to introduce ourselves. Me and my partner are from the Seli clan. I am Za, and my partner is Ri. Together we are Za'Ri Seli.”

Avala just nodded, unable to form a response.

One of the head of the second Saolavis spoke next, “The two of us are from the Neef Clan. My name is Omai.”

“And I'm Oml. But our long name is Omai'Oml Neef!” her other head said. Giggling she added, “Noting by your expression you weren't prepared for the dual nature of us.”

Avala nodded, turning to the third. The Saolavis just stood motionless, both heads staring at Avala. She waited for them to introduce themselves, but they continued to just stare, with a curious expression. Finally Avala managed to ask, “And you are?”

Both of the Saolavis' heads burst out laughing, causing everyone to look at them confused. “We're so sorry,” her left head managed to say through the laughter. “We're just not used to seeing singular races.”

“We're Tani'Lin Aev. She's Tani, I'm Lin,” her right head said.

Avala sighed. She had gotten over the shock and got down to business. “Well its a pleasure to meet all of you. Should we begin?” They all nodded in response.

Avala looked around to check on Vaela, only to find, she had fallen asleep in the corner. Avala realized she must have been exhausted from her escape, and had taken the chance to sleep. She returned her attention to the Saolavis, once she knew the girl was safe.

“You are all aware of what is going to happen, right?” Avala asked.

The Saolavis all nodded, as Tani responded, “Your going to make us like the Yajixa, but free from their oh so mighty emperors.”

“Then I guess I'll get to it,” Avala replied.

Leaving her body, she approached the first. Gently entering one of their two minds. Once inside she found it was empty of all life, as she expected. She was among alien ruins that floated in the void, similar to her mind once was. She quickly found a suitable spot for what she needed to do. A large open space that could be well defended.

She called upon two of the three power sources within her. She first called upon the Chardrik, which allowed her to manifest her will inside another mind. She then called upon the Echarikith, Entrallia, to help her create a crystal filled with her power, that would act as the power source for the new Avalan. She did not call upon Deabla, the former Yajixa Empress, since she was most useful in battle. As she channelled the power, the crystal filled the area, its many facets showing reflections of things not there.

Once it was fully formed, she checked to ensure it was secure. Once she was certain it was, she exited the mindscape, continuing on to the rest of the minds. For each one she repeated the process, granting them the powers of an Avalan.

As she exited the last one, her gaze fell upon Vaela. She felt the strong desire to also make the young girl an Avalan. However she knew the Republic would not approve. It was one thing to make use of child Avalans who were rescued from the Yajixa. Those Avalans had decades of experience, and knowledge on combat and tactics, and all of them wanted to fight. Vaela was truly only a girl, she most likely never fought a day in her life. The only reason to make her an Avalan would be to protect her from being possessed by the Yajixa.

As soon as she thought that she realized she had to do it. This girl did not trust anyone else. Avala had saved her life, and thus the girl did not intend to leave Avala's side. Avala also developed a need to protect her in the short time she knew her. That meant that Vaela was the perfect victim of Yajixa possession. To leave the girl vulnerable would be a worse crime than giving her the powers. She also knew that just because she would have the powers of an Avalan did not mean she had to be used in the war effort. In fact it almost made sense for every civilian who was an Echarikith cast off descendant to be a Avalan, thus the Yajixa could not infiltrate them.

She decided what she would do and entered the girl's mind. The moment she was inside she noticed this was not an ordinary Mindscape. While there was indeed no life within, there were also no ruins. Instead the was a majestic palace of sorts. As she quickly made her way through the halls, she found the walls were decorated with childish drawing of strange scenes that could only have come out of the imagination of a child.

Avala did notice that some places seemed to be falling apart, as if they were turning to ruins. She realized that every mindscape must have started out like this, only to fall apart into ruins with age. As she flew through the halls, she came across a door. It was decorated with bones and crystals. She recognized it immediately. This was a natural prison room of an Echarikith.

As she opened it, she found both an Echarikith in their natural form, and the child, Vaela. They both turned to her looking first afraid then confused. Avala looked first at the Echarikith, then at Vaela. They appeared to have been talking with each other.

“Vaela, are you alright?” Avala asked her.

She looked at her, confused. “How are you here?” she responded.

Avala bowed her head slightly, “I entered your mind in hopes of making it more secure.”

Vaela shook her head in confusion. “There's never anyone else in my dreams! What do you mean you entered my mind?”

Avala approached the girl, but felt herself be forced back by an invisible hand. “We demand you leave Yajixa!” the Echarikith yelled.

Avala had noticed a while ago that she always felt more mature inside of mindscapes, and she hoped that maturity would help her now. Avala knelt down in response to that. “I am no Yajixa, Ancient One,” she replied slowly. “I am Avala, she who was prophesied by Echniath to free the Echarikith, by using the power of the Yajixa. I do not enslave your kind.” Realizing it could probably sense Entrallia within her she added, “The one that you see in my mind is there by choice. Without her I can not create others like me. Those who do not need Echarikith to use their powers.”

“We do not like liars!” the Echarikith roared, “We saw you 'rescued' her. We know you intend to make her Yajixa! We will not let you enslave us!”

Avala felt herself being pushed backwards by some strange force. In desperation she called upon Entrallia inside her to do something. Words came from her mouth in the ancient voice of the Echarikith. “We demand you stop, Zakrik!”

Suddenly the pushing force stopped.

She felt herself channelling Entrallia, and the words continued to flow from her, “We are here by choice! We have seen this one free countless of our kin. We have seen her free us, and we stayed here to help her.”

The Echarikith, in its massive skeletal, statue-like form sank to the ground, in something akin to a bow. “We seek forgiveness special one. We have lost our connection with the consciousness. We are an outcast. We were not informed of your deeds.” it paused looking at Vaela, then continued, “We ask that you free us as well.”

“You're going to leave me?” Vaela started to cry. Avala had almost forgot that she was here.

“We will see you in reality, child.” the Echarikith turned back to Avala. “We ask that you free us.”

Avala nodded. Using her will she opened a temporary hole in the floor, down into the void. As the Echarikith fell through, the hole closed. Avala then once again called upon the powers within her to create the Echarikith power crystal within this chamber. As the crystal formed, Avala could see the young girl was crying. She must have been visiting her mindscape in her dreams her entire life, and had most likely made friends with the Echarikith. Soon however she would not have to see them only in her dreams.

After the crystal finished forming, Avala exited the mindscape. Flying out through the void and back into her body. As she opened her eyes in her own body, she looked up to see a young Athakarin man sitting next to Vaela. Her first feeling was that of disgust. A man had entered while she was indisposed, to take advantage of the sleeping child. It was only when she noticed that barely a moment had passed since she had entered the girl's mind, did she realize this was the Echarikith.

He looked at the sleeping child, the same way she had seen parents in the Republic look at their children. It was a look a kindness, and a desire to protect. He might of taken the form of an Athakarin, whose men were well know for taking advantage of  women and young girls, yet he did not seem to feel the desire to act like an Athakarin.

He saw him looking at her. Smiling, he said, “I am truly sorry about what happened in there. I meant what I said, I'm an outcast among the Echarikith.”

The Saolavis were looking between him and her with confusion. The head called Lin finally spoke up, “Were in the name of the Goddesses did he come from?”

Avala sighed, All she could say was “He's an Echarikith.” They still appeared confused, but she said no more.

Vaela began to stir, opening her eyes. Upon seeing the man so close to her, she started to cry. “Please no more!” she begged.

The man turned to her, took her hand and placed it on his head. Avala recognized this as the Athakarin sign of submitting oneself to someone. In doing this he had essentially told Vaela, that she had authority over him. It was almost unheard of for a man to do this to a woman. The only cases Avala had ever heard of were with the Mage Queen of the Northlands, and the wife of the Fire King, both of which she knew were elder Yajixa.

Vaela blinked away the tears. “Are...are you Zakrik?” she asked, shyly.

“Indeed,” was all the man said.

“You look different. How are you outside my dream?” she asked.

He chuckled, “I was trapped inside you mind, young one. Your rescuer is also now mine.”

Vaela looked at Avala then back to Zakrik. She smiled, and wiped away the rest of her tears.

Avala smiled back. She was pretty certain she wanted to adopt this young child. Being that she had worked in a brothel, it was most likely she had either been born there, or that she was sold to it at a much earlier age. Either way, she had no family to properly care for her. She would talk to people from the republic. There was most likely a procedure to adoption, and she wanted to make certain she did it right.

She dismissed the Saolavis, telling the to find Evyn to begin their training. She then attempted to contact Sylvia, she would want to know of the new Avalans. She would also be able to help Avala go about the adoption process. She hoped for Vaela's sake that it wouldn't be too hard.