"Veheli, I really don't think this is a good idea," Jessi hissed to her friend as they piled into the car. "In fact, it seems distinctly like a bad idea to me."

"And what do you base this on?" Veheli twirled her hair around her finger again, showing that she was at least a little nervous.

"Do you even know what you've gotten yourself into?" It sounded as if Jessi doubted it.

"I think so, yes." Veheli answered calmly. "Don't worry, I have a plan."

As Jessica's dad got into the car, the daughter lowered her voice, whispering in an urgent tone that sounded quite like a hiss. "Do you? Do you even know what they'll do? They'll do experiments, tests--"

"Yes, that is the plan."

Jessi glared at Veheli. "But they'll hurt you!" she hissed. "They might not let you leave at all! Like some sort of lab rat or test animal!" Her voice sounded almost terrified as she tried to impart the point of that worry onto her new friend.

Veheli looked at the other girl curiously. "I got no feeling of that from your father's head. His intentions seem perfectly fine and I would have been able to tell if he'd wanted to hurt me. He didn't."

"My dad, no, but I've seen movies, and--"

"Movies." Veheli interrupted her friend after glancing to see that her father hadn't been listening. No, he was singing along to the radio and watching the road, not listening to the two girls in the back seat. Although, Veheli could tell that he was very curious about the Eneni. When she spoke up again, her voice had a dry note to it. "I'm sorry, but I still don't know much about human culture. Could you please define for me what a 'movie' is?" Her voice was as formal as it usually was when she was trying to prove a point.

"It's…a moving picture of things happening." Jessi faltered as she tried to explain the concept to someone who had apparently never seen a movie! It was almost unthinkable. She seemed to keep forgetting how far away her friend was from.

"Some sort of learning device?" asked Veheli curiously, already fairly certain of what the answer would be.

"Well…they're used for that, sometimes, but…" Jessica trailed off, and then laughed as she understood Veheli's point. "But most of it is fiction."

Veheli smiled, then joined in her laughter. "I had guessed something like that. Why do you take them at fact, then, if they are made for entertainment?"

"Well…" Jessi shrugged; she'd been trying to figure that one out herself. "They're supposed to be realistic…at least, normally. Much of what you see in movies is fact. Well, what's supposed to be fact."

"From what I've just heard, I'm guessing that a lot of it isn't fact. Also from what you said, would I be right about saying that it's often over-dramatized and having bad things happen to the main characters to keep the watcher's attention?" Her voice was hopeful, because if what she'd just said wasn't true…there might be problems.

"Bingo," replied Jessica. At Veheli's questioning look, she hastened to explain, "It's a term that means 'exactly' or 'right' or something like that."

"Ah," Veheli seemed puzzled, but she looked out of the window in silence. Her eyes followed the trees, the bushes, all of the landscape as it flew by. She peered up at the cloudless sky, and sighed a little. Right now, if she'd been on Atlantis--

No. Better not to think about that. She wasn't at Atlantis, and anyway, she had things to think about, events to work out; there was no time for wishing that things were different. She could make then different, now, for the better, and she couldn't have done that back home.

Concentrating, Veheli sent out a mental signal. Cuiaree? Her mental voice called across the suburbs.

Yes, what is it? Cuiaree's mental voice sounded assured and calm as it came through to her old friend's head.

Just meet me at-- then, Veheli pulled the location from the driver's head, and sent it over the small mental link, as a pinpoint on the map. Right there. It's something important.

"So, what is your plan?" Jessi unknowingly interrupted the other girl's communication, her voice perhaps a bit too loud. Her father had heard it, as both the girls had realized as soon as it had spilled out of the girl's mouth. Being polite, he didn't ask for an explanation, but neither Veheli nor Jessi were comfortable talking about anything for the rest of the trip to the lab.

When they arrived at the lab, Jessi gasped. "How did Cuiaree already get here?" she asked in amazement.

"I told her to come," answered Veheli equally, though she wasn't sure herself how Cuiaree had gotten there so fast. "She doesn't know what it's about yet--if I had let her know exactly what we're doing, she wouldn't have given it any sort of chance--but I think that if I can explain it well enough, she'll understand and willingly participate."

"And if she doesn't choose to participate?"

Jessica's father broke in there. "They we'll only have one specimen--sorry, one person--to work with."

"Two," it was Jessi's turn to break in. "You aren't going to do anything to them that you wouldn't do to your own daughter, are you? And I have this gift as well."

Her father looked surprised at the reminded, but nodded slowly. "Alright, then."

Veheli nodded in approval, then stepped out of the car right before Mr. Elans pulled into the parking space.

"Vel, Vel. Don't you know that that's dangerous?" Cuiaree gave a shaky smile as Jessi and her father--okay, only her father--looked prepared to give a lecture.

"Dangerous, 'Aree. Right. As if you are one to judge dangerous."

"That's a point," admitted Cuairee. "So, anyway. Exactly why are we here? Knowing you, I'll bet that it's some kind of attempt to make peace with the Normals."

"Something like that," sighed Veheli. "Okay. Well. I guess we should explain everything to you." She glared at the two humans that were standing by the car, seeming as if they were trying to make themselves invisible. The slightly freaky thing was that Jessi halfway succeeded, as she seemed to almost blend into the surroundings through some sort of not-yet-discovered talent.

"Yes, I suppose you should."" Cuiaree crossed her arms in the traditional 'Stubborn Look'.

"Remember," Veheli hesitated one more time, "we both have defense training, both physically and mentally. If anything gets out of hand, we won't be the ones bearing the consequences."

"Your hesitation to talk about it is not making me like whatever idea you've come up with," Cuiaree was getting more and more impatient by the minute.

"Sorry. Well, I was thinking, the problem before between us and the Normals was that they're scared of what they don't understand, right?"

Cuiaree nodded, with a look on her face that said, 'yes, yes, let's get on with it'.

"Well," she continued, faltering slightly, "what if they did understand our powers? There must be a scientific explanation--"

"No. No, no, no, no, no." Cuiaree cut off the other girl with a strong voice. "No way am I going to be some sort of specimen where they do tests on me. I have some self-respect, not to mention a wish to remain alive and intact. I don't need someone dissecting me."

"You won't. Remember, what I said? If it gets out of hand, we can always use our defense. Look, Cuiaree, I know that you like a fight, but most of our people don’t--well, I like to think they don't. This could be an end to the conflict that lasted how many hundreds of years? This could be a bridge, could end some of the problems that lasted so long." Veheli looked exhausted from her minor speech.

Cuiaree just looked scornful. The skeptical sneer on her face was quite evident as she rolled her eyes and gave a few sarcastic claps. "You're such an idealist."

"Doesn't mean it can't work." Veheli's jaw was set firmly in a look just as stubborn as the one that Cuiaree had on. The look of determination that spoke of how important this was to her.

"There will always be hate. You can't change that, no matter how hard you try. Some of our kind are hateful. Like the Dark Ones."

"Like you."

"Yes." Cuiaree's face was solemn as she turned to Jessi and Mr. Elans, who were still standing by the car as the observed the entire conversation. "And you guys, do you have anything to say?"

Jessi's father made a gesture that he wished to say something. At Cuiaree's nod, he started to talk. "Well, people do hate, but then those educated people who don't can be a majority. Do you want your people to live in fear of being discovered, or whatever happened to make you so angry? Would you rather be misunderstood and hated by a majority, or by an uneducated minority?"

It was a point, and Jessica looked up at her father a moment, surprised that he could come up with something that made so much sense. He always seemed silly and never understood anything outside his work.

The speech also set Cuiaree thinking. It did make sense…and Veheli was right too, they did have defense in case all the scientists weren't as sincere about not hurting them as Mr. Elans appeared to be. "If this is so important, shouldn't we go to some clinic that will get better answers, that's more official, a special government program, something like that?"

"Soon, yes, but before we do that we should get some answers on our own so that they have something to start with and that they aren't scared of you. Also, the government workers may not be as sensitive to the fact that you three are people, and working with them before we get some sort of deal might actually end up being as painful as Jessica was worried about this process being."

Jessi looked up at her dad in surprise at the last statement, but after a moment looked down again. Of course he'd guessed her thoughts about the whole matter, of course he'd seen the worry and doubt on her face. She cursed herself for showing her emotions, and then froze as she realized how much she was changing into Cuiaree. Why was it weak to show feelings? It wasn't.

No, it was! It is. It is. The thought of how uncontrolled it was just kept repeating in her mind. Oh, God, what's happening to me? She shook her head to clear her mind, and then turned her attention to the outside world again, where the other three were already headed for the door of the lab, though Cuiaree still seemed to have some reservations about the whole matter.

"Yo, wait up!" Jessi yelled as she ran after them in an attempt to catch up.