To know oneself, one must dare look.

Captain Soo Beran had invited Mé to join him into Íma.

"All ready, Captain," said Toras.

"Thank you," he replied and turned to his companion. She looked eager, but calm, awaiting by his side. "Ready?"

She inclined her head in response, and with a gesture of his arm, was invited to go before him.

Once they were seated, they manned their posts and took off through the energy field on Umbar's side. Soon they were flying at top speed atop Seremna and when they reached the crater, they landed by its side.

The other shuttle, which had carried Mé and her companions earlier, still vacant and waiting for the other nine to emerge, was in sight nearby.

Setting up the rope system and connecting it to their belts, the Captain and Mé advanced towards the edge of those unreadable depths. A black massiveness spread before them and into it they went in slow, steady rappel.

Once out of sight, they disappeared from Sky Chart radars as well.

They rappelled silently for a long while, ease in their minds and chests. Soo Beran remembered Mé telling him of Gre's idea of greeting the crater non-verbally, so he did. Finding his peace of mind and peace of heart, he eased into the flow of Íma's sentience, soon to discover that he had no fear, that as long as peace of heart and peace of mind were merging in his being, there was a pervading sense of freedom despite the unknown that surrounded them.

Ground reached their feet.

"Welcome, Soo Beran," came a feminine voice, "and welcome back, dear Mé."

"M'alala!" Mé exclaimed.

M'alala smiled. "Your heart provides the answers," she replied. "Very well." Then turning to Beran, "Captain, your guide awaits."

Soo Beran bowed to her. "It is an honour to meet you. Rest assured that the Umbarian presence here is ever at your service and shall receive your guidance gladly."

M'alala's smile was luminous. "Your heart is trustful and your mind at ease. Your eagerness is steady and controlled. You shall find your doorway most useful, Soo."

"I shall be unaccompanied by Mé," he inferred from what she'd said.

M'alala nodded. "Two journeys are not the same. Íma has a new destination for Mé now, and yours awaits as well."

A new destination, thought Mé.

"Very well," said the Captain. "Please lead me to my guide."

A passageway appeared: a stairway going down; and around the platform they were on, there appeared a stone fence and clouds serene beyond it on a faint blue sky, all as if made of soft mists.

"I take my leave," said he and bowed in greeting, then headed to the platform's edge and took the rail-less, white marble steps.

On he descended through mists soft and unobtrusive, until at last there came before him an emerald glimmer not far ahead. He did not stop, but went on deeper, soon to arrive before a massive, emerald oak tree rising from a white half-sphere. Before it stood a man, tall and noble looking, clad in silver garments made of silk; there was a turban on his head with a crystal jewel above his forehead, and he wore a knee-long top garment with an upright, close-fitted collar, and silk trousers underneath it; beige shoes were on his feet.

"Welcome, Soo Beran," said the man. "I am Aanas, Lord of the fifth-dimensional city of Ébor, servant of M'alala and of the heights above."

"I am at your service," the Captain said and bowed.

"And I at yours," said Aanas. "Follow me," he asked and walked into the mist.

Soo Beran followed.

Back on the platform, M'alala said to Mé, "There is something that burdens your heart. A loneliness, I feel." M'alala breathed in, as if to connect more deeply. "Why is that?" she asked. "What is it that you miss?"

"A number of things, I suppose," Mé answered, hesitating.

M'alala smiled. "Those who play games wish not to clearly see." Then she gave her another chance. "Name one."

"Recognition Missions take one far from home, often for very long," Mé confessed. "And relationships between crew members can become a challenge."

"You have become distrustful of your male companions," observed M'alala. "Why is that?"

"I don't feel there has been one with whom I was entirely compatible."

"You are wrong. There have been some, but you have failed to see," M'alala said. "You give compatibility too far a meaning and no purpose. Your judgment is too eager."

"What do you mean?"

"That which you seek is yours alone, and not of your companion. Nor can he find that which is his elsewhere than within. You seek the purpose of fulfilment: seek within. Then seek companionship and you shall find one who's at ease, like you. Together you shall find your journeys more fruitful, but the seeds of those fruits must first be found within."

"Thank you for advising me so clearly," Mé said.

M'alala smiled. "It is not such a companion whom I offer today, but a guide to further your journeys through Íma, one who shall assist you in acknowledging the freedom you already are."

"Once more, M'alala, thank you," Mé said and bowed.

"Journey well," said M'alala before disappearing.

A moment of peace and the blink of an eye brought Mé's new companion by her side. He was tall and luminous, made as if entirely out of lights. He smiled.

"I am Athímael," he greeted her. "Hello."

"Hello," she answered and inclined her head.

"I've come to take you farther than you've been, should you but dare."

"I am ready," she found herself saying, and he extended her his hand.

As she accepted it, their journey began, but they neither walked along the platform nor took the stairs: they soared upwards within a spiral of gentle, white lights expanding and lifting them with ease, and soon arrived unto a platform between two massive and white stairs.

"This is the Temple of the Moon," said Athímael. "I wish to reveal to you a core essence of your being. Do you accept?"

"I do," said Mé.

He indicated to her a round stone table covered in a mantle of some sort – liquid grey and silver in shifting tones, filled with delicate embroideries. Picking it up, he flicked it gently, and the mantle expanded, encapsulating them and all there was to see.

One of the patterns in the embroidery had become a boat.

They glided smoothly along a silver-liquid grey River of Life. Mountains rose from beneath the surface, and fields, and plains. The River expanded and extended in tributaries, but it seemed that the more the tributaries, the wider it itself became, crossing all distance in endless, peaceful murmur.

"Bestow your calmness to this world," he said.

She remembered Gre.

"How do I do this?"

With a gleeful smile, he said, "Allow yourself to be at peace, for how else could peace be given?"

"We must be what we wish to pour forth."

He gave a nod, and so she tried to feel the peaceful calm within her.

The surface of the boat changed texture – Mé looked: it was no longer white wood, but emerald green grass with blades all soft and tender. Before her rose a mighty Tree.

They bowed as if in synced feeling, and the peace within went deeper still.

"Behold the seeker finding," came a voice – the essence of the Tree was speaking.

"I greet you in my heart," Mé said with words she knew not wherefrom. "I greet you in my being."

"I am your being greeting," said the Tree. "Your heart's now open. Come in."

Athímael encouraged her with a nod, and she approached; the closer that she got, the smoother were the blades of grass under her feet and the more evident the passage into the Tree. She entered through the bark as if through painted mist and she emerged onto a surface by a stream. Around her, trees rose high: it looked like a pristine forest.

Three women were awaiting. She bowed to them, and they greeted her with open arms.

"There are many journeys one must take," said one of the women, "and some of them detour. Be welcome here always."

"I thank you and I bless you," replied Mé.

"I am Anana, and this is Thynna, and this is Caana. This is Be'eriad, the Land of the Free."

They invited her to walk with them, which she accepted gladly.