Disclaimer: Star Trek and Star Trek: Voyager are the property of Paramount and Viacom. I own the story and make no profit off of this whatsoever. And I hope Paramount doesn't mind if I play in their sandbox.

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The Vision Quest

By Tamar Richardson

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"Will you follow me?" the woman asked.

"Yes." Chakotay had no doubt. He would follow this woman until all of his strength was spent. Nothing else mattered.

The woman enfolded him in a red, billowing robe. It wrapped Chakotay in heat so intense that it burned the core of his being, so sharp that it was cold as ice. His body felt light as air, as though every last molecule of water had evaporated, leaving only the framework of his cells, like lacework. A piercing light, whiter than snow, was shining on him, in him, through him. He was unable to be afraid, so drenched was he in light.

The light was a hundred times stronger than in the desert, but it did not hurt him anymore. He was in water, more powerful than any water he had ever known, that filled him to overflowing. He was in life, vital and vigorous. He was not only satisfied, but joyful.

He was in a desert oasis, where plants grew and birds sang, flashing their brilliant plumage as they flew. He was in a pool of water, cold and refreshing, full of quiet energy. He tried to turn over, and found (curiously without surprise) that he was a grain of sand.

At the edge of the pool sat the woman in red. Chakotay saw that the red of her robe was the blood from her many wounds. Her blood flowed into the pool, where it turned into the purest water and nourished countless grains of sand.

He tried to call out to her, but a grain of sand rarely has a mouth. So the word remained within him. The call of "Kathryn" never left his being.

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How long Chakotay stayed there, in the vision quest, he could not remember. It could have been an hour_ it could have been a century. All he could remember was that Kathryn had smiled at him, and then flung him up into the light. When his eyes had opened, he was back in his quarters, the medicine bundle set before him. The first officer now fully understood why she had to have died. Kathryn had died to save him.

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