While writing the next story in my AU, and after several long conversations with Cindy Combs about AWOL muses and getting stuck in the middle of the story, I suddenly realized that I'd left a pretty big string dangling in "Accepting the Path." Must have been due to a senior moment or exhaustion caused by my lengthy search for my muse. Anyway, here is my work to tie up the string and give me some leeway with stuff I've decided will be in the next story. A suggestion, read the first two stories, "The Chaos" and "Accepting the Path", to understand most of the references in this story.
My thanks to Cindy for reading the story over and giving her honest opinion on it, as she does with all of my stories. A special thanks to DebbieLD for agreeing to still be my beta, despite the length of time between contacts, and doing such a great job in correcting my grammar and poor sentence structure. You're great, lady!
Shallan
The sun was hanging low on the western horizon; the sparse clouds hovering in the same area of the sky glowed in mixed colors of red and orange and creamy yellow. As Jim Ellison paused to admire the beauty, an old saying popped into his mind.
"Looks like we're going to luck out with the weather tonight, Chief." The tall detective turned to watch his partner limp toward him and noticed how slow the pace was and that the limp was more pronounced. His injured knee must be really talking to him by now, he thought. The determined expression on the younger man's face made Ellison hold any comments, at least for now.
Blair Sandburg planted his makeshift walking stick firmly in the ground and leaned on it. "How can you tell?" he asked, breathing heavily. "Air pressure? Something you can feel with your senses?"
Ellison grinned and shook his head as he pointed toward the colorful sunset. "'Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.'"
A bark of laughter erupted from Sandburg's mouth. "What!?! What are you taking about?"
"Just something I remembered from my military days, before my senses had kicked in. It's an old saying I was taught by this old Master Sergeant during my field training. He said to watch nature when you're out in the field. It will tell you what's going to happen with the weather, if you're willing to pay attention to it."
"Always trust your sergeant, right? I remember someone telling me once that the military was run by the enlisted ranks, and they only allowed the officers to think that they were in control."
"I believe it, especially after being taught by Master Sergeant Riviera. So you ready to settle down for the night? If we stop here, we can make it to our pickup area no later than noon tomorrow without having to push it."
Blair ran a hand through his hair to push the damp locks back off his face as he scanned the area. "I think... there is a nice place to set up through there, Jim." He pointed off to his left toward a stand of bushes. When he noticed his friend giving him a curious look, he added, "Don't ask me how I know, because I can only tell you that we should go over there."
Ellison turned in the direction Sandburg pointed and opened his senses. He couldn't see through the thick brush, so he listened and was able to hear the sound of water. The soft gurgling indicated it was probably a small, slow moving stream. Then he inhaled carefully to test any scents on the gentle breeze. No telltale odor of any animals around. He returned his attention to his partner.
"Okay?" Blair asked.
Jim shrugged and answered, "As far as I can tell, it's okay. There's also a water source I can hear. Since we won't have any weather blowing up tonight, it should be safe enough to camp near it. We should go over there?"
Blair stared off in the direction he'd indicated for several long seconds before he turned back to Jim and answered, "I don't how to explain this right now and I'm not even sure I understand why. Let me think about it while we set up and maybe I can figure it out. Okay?"
"No problem, Chief." Ellison stepped forward and took the lead to find the easiest pathway through the brush.
It didn't take too long to set up the camp. Blair set up the tents and started the meal while Jim collected wood for a fire, got the water and prepared an area not too far from the camp for their bathroom facilities. A surprise benefit was some bushes with a small amount of ripe late-season berries to make a simple but much appreciated dessert.
The sun had set and soon the main source of light was the campfire. Ellison used his hearing one last time to check out the area around the camp before breaking the comfortable silence by asking, "Are you able to tell me what's going on yet?"
Sandburg had his injured leg stretched out, the pant leg pulled up and the bandage removed for the cool, wet compresses Ellison had prepared for his knee. He'd pulled his good leg up, his arms wrapped around it and his chin resting on his knee as he gazed into the flames. He looked up at the question and carefully said, "Remember when I was unconscious and I told you I'd dreamed I was at this temple talking to Incacha?"
Ellison nodded, remembering the 'dream' he'd had later. He cleared his throat and grabbed a stick to stoke the fire, even though it didn't need it. "Ah, I didn't tell you, but I also dreamed of Incacha later that night. I was going to talk to you about it the next morning, but it faded from my mind when you showed up at the graves."
"Do you remember now what happened?" Blair asked calmly. He knew he should be a little upset, but it seemed stupid to get upset.
"Sort of. I was a bit angry with him, thinking he'd forced you to accept being my Guide. He straightened me out."
Blair smiled. "Told you off, huh?"
"He always did have a way with words." Jim shrugged and gave him a lop-sided grin before returning his gaze to the fire. "Anyway, he let me know that you're more than just my friend and guide. He said I had to accept that you're also a shaman, and other sentinels might sense this."
"Shaman, yeah. The idea of being one is spooky since there is this whole mystical side that seems to come with the position. I forgot, however, that a shaman is also a keeper of the tribe's history and a teacher of others. We know there are going to be other sentinels emerging, but not all of them can be like Alex."
"Hell, we can only hope she was just an anomaly."
Blair nodded. "We'll just have to be careful if... when another one shows up. So anyway, where sentinels are now appearing, it figures that there also have to be guides. Some may need some help to learn how to work with and take care of their sentinels. I can teach them the basics, or at least point them in the right direction if our way isn't right for them."
"A teacher who provides the information but allows them to figure out what works best for them. Sounds good. If it was me, I'd probably be treating each of them like some raw recruit who couldn't find his butt with both hands. I've been telling the gang that you are way smarter than all of us combined, Chief." Jim smiled broadly at the pleased expression appearing on his friend's face. "So back to what you saw in your dream."
"Right. We had what seemed like a pretty long talk, but what it mainly came down to was that I needed to choose what path in life I was going to take." Blair held out his hand to stop Jim from saying anything when he saw the older man's mouth open. "Before you start, no, he didn't do or say anything to force me down this path. He showed me my options, all of them. It is my choice, and it's the right choice. It was the only choice I could make and still be who I am. Okay?"
Ellison snapped his mouth shut before the protest he wanted to say came out. He stared into Sandburg's eyes and, seeing the strength and determination that filled them, nodded.
Blair took a deep breath and slowly blew it out before continuing, "Good. Now the one thing we don't have is a formal bond. We do have a connection and Incacha says it has to be a pretty strong one because of what we... I... the things we've noticed."
"Like me being able to find you after you'd been grabbed and knowing that you were hurt."
"And you being able to heal at an accelerated rate." Blair looked down at his injured leg and sighed softly. "Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that part doesn't work both ways."
"As far as we know for now."
"Which brings me to why I said we need to use this place tonight."
"You're ready, right? Jim asked. He was about to say 'about time', but held off. His young friend was pretty amicable with a lot of things, but Jim knew something as important as this would cause Blair to make sure his decision was right for both of them.
Blair smiled. "I take it your last sensory sweep showed you there wasn't anything dangerous around us?"
"Nothing for miles, except for an owl a couple of hundred yards to the west." Ellison suddenly saw movement off to the side at the edge of the clearing they were using. Quickly turning his head, he opened his senses. His eyes saw the shadowed outline of two animals skirting the edge of the clearing, but he didn't hear any sound of them or their movement or smell their scent.
"What is it, Jim?" Blair asked, peering in the direction the other was looking. He was sure this was where they were supposed to be and expected they'd be protected from any outside interruption.
The animal figures moved in closer, letting Jim see the black jaguar leading the silver wolf. He relaxed as the two spirit animals separated and eventually settled beside of each man. The wolf sat on his haunches next to Blair and the jaguar relaxed on his side beside Jim.
"Nothing to worry about, Chief. Just a couple of friends decided to join us. Can you see them?"
Blair looked carefully around the area until he was able to see the animal beside him. It was the wolf, the same one who'd warned him about Jim being in danger back in Cascade. He couldn't see anything else. "I can only see the wolf, but I'm guessing your animal spirit is also here, right? I'd say they are going to watch over us and provide protection."
"Since the gang's all here, I guess we can get started. What do we need to do?"
"I've been thinking about this for a bit. Both of us were in some state of unconsciousness when we were visited by Incacha, but I don't think trying to go to sleep would work. I don't know about you, but I'm too keyed up to even think about trying to sleep right now."
"Same here."
"I've had lots of practice in meditating and closing off the outside world, but you don't look like someone who's tried it even once." Blair snickered at Jim. The older man's face almost screamed, 'you've got to be kidding.' "It's not hard, man. Just close your eyes and let go. Take a couple of slow, deep breaths and let your muscles relax. Stand down from your sentry position and trust me to guide you through this."
Blair watched as the older man checked the area one last time then closed his eyes. The muscles of Jim's face were the easiest to notice as they went slack after the third breath. He matched his breathing with his friend. "That's good, Jim. Follow me as I take a breath in... then let it out slowly. In slowly and then out again."
When Blair was satisfied that Jim was in the right state, he closed his eyes and sent his own consciousness down until--
He was in the clearing of a jungle. He immediately noticed that he was standing and there wasn't any pain in his left knee. He also realized that he was now only wearing the loin cloth and sandals he'd seen Incacha wearing the last time they'd been together. What bothered him was that his medallion was missing. Since he'd received it from Incacha he'd never taken it off, so there must be some reason for it to be missing.
Accepting this reasoning, Blair looked around the area. Before him was the temple, and once again he saw animal carvings around the door and the word CHOICE at the top, only this time there were two animal carvings on either side of the word: a jaguar and a wolf. He didn't remember if they'd been there the last time he'd been here.
"Sandburg?"
Blair turned and saw Jim step through the foliage. The older man was dressed similar to him, and he was carrying a spear in his right hand and a large bow in his left. Strapped across his back was a quiver of arrows, and a pouch was belted around his waist. "That's a nice look for you, man."
Ellison glanced down at his garb, held out his arms and looked the outfit over carefully. Shrugging, he swung the bow over his head and settled it cross-wise with the string across his chest, then transferred the spear to his left hand. "Definitely different. The other times I visited the jungle after my senses started coming online, I was wearing some of my military stuff. A hint that this time is to be different?"
"Ya think?"
"So, where are we exactly? This is definitely different from the last time for me." Jim had 'awaken' alone surrounded by a familiar jungle setting. Instinctively he'd 'felt' for his friend and instantly knew where to find Sandburg. It was easy to follow the connection until he found the clearing.
Blair pointed to the doorway. "What language is that word written in?"
"Quechua. It's been a while so I'm not sure, but I think it says--"
"Choice," both men said it together.
Blair nodded. "It's in English for me. This is where I met Incacha. Or actually, I met him in a clearing and he brought me here. He said it's the place for all who are chosen as sentinel and guide and for us to come here when we are in doubt. It's also where we are to complete our bond."
Ellison stepped forward until he was at Sandburg's side. "So what's next?"
"I... I don't know." Blair peered around the clearing then back at the temple. "I think we're supposed to go in there, but I had expected to be met by someone, you know? Someone who'd be able to help us."
Jim tilted his head and listened around the area and into the building. All he was able to hear was Blair's heartbeat and breathing. Shaking his head, he pointed to the doorway and said, "I can't hear anyone except us, but if you were told this was the place, I'd say let's just go in. We'll figure out what is next when we see what is in there."
Blair had been feeling a little anxious about not knowing what he was supposed to do next until Jim made his suggestion. "You're right, and that just gave me an idea. I've been feeling a little lost until just now. It could be that it was my job to get us here, but now it's up to you to initiate the bonding." He saw Jim raise an eyebrow in question and continued, "Think about it. You're the sentinel and naturally the one to take the lead. I as your guide follow, but I'm at your side to give you any help you might need."
"I don't know, Chief. You're the expert with the... stuff that's not normal," Jim said hesitantly.
Blair laid a comforting hand on his friend's arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Just take the lead for now and if I feel like its time for me to step in, I will. Okay?"
"Well, if you think so..."
"Follow your instincts, Jim. What are they telling you?"
Ellison stood silently and stared at the temple. Since Sandburg told him to 'follow his instincts,' he could now feel a pulling from the building. Knowing his friend would follow, he started forward and, without any hesitation, entered the temple.
The interior was dark, with the only light coming from the entrance. Automatically, Jim's sentinel eyesight kicked in and the area brightened significantly. The room was empty, but there was an opening on the opposite wall and Jim continued walking. The next room was also empty with the exception of a ledge extending from the back wall. On top of the ledge lay two objects.
"Hey, that looks like my medallion," Blair said when he saw what was lying on the ledge and walked toward it. "I wondered why it had dis--" He'd reached forward to pick up one of the objects, but a hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him. He looked up at his friend and saw that Jim's concentration was focused on the two necklaces. With an inkling of understanding, Blair stepped back and Jim released his wrist.
The light from the door faded until the room was completely dark, but only for a couple of seconds. Sandburg opened his mouth to speak when the ledge holding the medallions started glowing. As the light increased, he saw that the door they'd used to enter was no longer there and drawings appeared.
"Pictographs." Blair breathed the word almost reverently. Something inside was telling him the drawings were a historical record of sentinels and guides, just waiting to be deciphered. He started to move toward the wall when he was again stopped by Jim's hand.
"Wait..." Ellison started, knowing they didn't have much time and needed to keep his friend focused. "There's something here, too. Can you read it?"
Sandburg turned back and saw Ellison pointing at the wall above the ledge. Several lines of some language were engraved into the wall, the letters giving off a soft, red-gold glow. Leaning forward slightly, he smiled and looked up at his partner. "I shouldn't be able to, 'cause I'm not sure what language it is, but I can read it. Cool." He started reading the passage to himself, his mouth silently forming the words, and felt a power building around him. He knew it wouldn't harm either him or Jim, only that it needed a vessel to work, so he 'opened' himself to it.
Jim stepped up until he was standing next to his friend and looked down at the necklaces. He remembered the one Blair always wore, though he noticed it was missing from his neck at this time. It had different animals depicted on each side with the Chopec symbols under each. These two were similar to that one in shape and size, and seemed to be of the same material, but both were blank. Instead of braided leather, they had a fine metal chain link attaching to the medallion and looping without any clasp. Once put on, they looked as though they were not to be removed without being cut off.
"Sentinel," Blair said softly, his voice having an other-worldly quality. "Put a hand on each of the medallions. Open your heart and your soul to the bond you seek to enter with your Guide."
Ellison glanced sharply at Sandburg and saw the difference in his partner. The face of his friend still had its youthful appearance, but the eyes were of someone much older, wiser and confident about what was to be done. "Blair?"
Sandburg smiled gently. "It's me, Jim. I guess you can say this is the help I was looking for outside. It is still up to you to initiate the bond, but the power within the temple works through me to seal it. Makes it all very final... no going back once we go through it. So, you still want this?"
Without hesitation, Jim placed a hand over each medallion. They felt cool to his touch until Blair began to quietly recite the words on the wall. As the words echoed around the chamber, the pendants started to warm and vibrate minutely. Then Jim felt hands rest on top of his, Blair's voice and the glow from the ledge growing stronger. Suddenly, the words Blair was speaking caught Jim's attention.
"Sentinel, you felt the call of your Guide and fought to bring him to your side. By being here, he accepts his place as your Guide and the duties that will be his. As he is also Shaman, it falls upon him to help other sentinels and guides who may come into your territory before they journey to find their own tribes. Is it your desire to complete the bond to this Guide, knowing all that he is and must do even as he accepts the same with you?"
"The bond has always been there between us; it is what drew me to his side," Jim stated firmly, closing his eyes against the light flaring throughout the room. He concentrated on the hands lying on his, their strength comforting him as he finished with, "I accept this sealing of the bond, together in this life and into the next."
Blair's hands tightened slightly when he heard Jim complete the bonding, a little surprised but immensely pleased as he heard the words. Even after his meeting with Incacha and accepting his role, and despite his conversations with Jim after that, Blair had still felt a little trepidation whether the older man would go through something so permanent. Relief washed away any last doubt still in his mind
The moment was fleeting, though, as the light within the room became incandescent and heat surrounded their hands. Both men winced and leaned away from the brightness that seared through their closed eyelids, but their hands did not move from the medallions. A jungle cat roared in approval, joined by the howl of a wolf. Then came the tone of a great gong, the sound reverberating through both men until...
Ellison's eyes snapped open to find that he was back at the campsite. However, Sandburg was no longer sitting across the fire from him. The younger man was now sitting directly in front of him; their hands were clasped one on top of the other as they lay on the older man's knees. Sandburg didn't appear to be 'back' yet, and the two spirit animals were no longer in the area.
"Blair," Jim said softly, giving the hands holding his a little shake and causing them to loosen. A smirk appeared on his face as he thought how the two men would look to others, but it quickly left when he heard his friend give a low moan and slump to the side.
Jim quickly rose to his knees and closed his arms around Blair, holding him firmly until he could carefully lay his friend down and check him out. Blair's breathing was slow and steady and his pulse was strong. Jim loosened the jacket around his friend's throat, only to see a bright silver chain around his neck. He knew the pendant Blair usually wore was attached to a braided thong. Pulling on the chain carefully, he exposed the medallion and immediately noticed that it wasn't the same. It was like the one he'd seen in the temple, but now there were two animal figures etched on the front: a large jungle cat resting on its side and a wolf sitting next to it. Flipping it over, he saw the Quechua symbol for Bonded Guide.
Suddenly feeling a weight around his own neck, Ellison reached into his jacket and under his shirt to find a similar silver chain. He pulled on it and out came a similar medallion, showing the two animals on the front, but the symbol on the back side proclaimed Bonded Watchman.
"Guess this makes it all official, huh, Chief?" Jim murmured softly as he rubbed the medallion between his fingers then closed his hand around it. The medallion was comfortably warm and Jim could almost feel a minute vibration coming from it. Clasping it briefly, he tucked it back into his shirt and returned his attention to his friend.
"Sandburg?" Ellison said quietly, shaking the younger man's shoulders lightly. The response returned was unintelligible mumbling. "Come on, buddy. Time to come back to this world." Ellison carefully patted Sandburg's cheek and was rewarded with eyelids fluttering open to revealed dazed eyes.
"Jim?" Deep blue eyes slowly focused on the face leaning over his. Blair felt very tired; wanting nothing more than to just go back to sleep, but the memory of what they'd done forced him further awake. "Done?" he asked, raising a hand to rub at his eyes.
Jim caught the hand and pulled it down to rest on the medallion he'd left lying on Blair's chest. Then he reached in and once again pulled out his own. "Mission accomplished."
His fingers felt clumsy as they tried to grasp the medallion, but Blair finally was able to hold it up so that he could see the engraving on each side. He looked over at Jim to see that he was holding a similar one, though the symbols on the back were different from his. "Cool."
"Yeah, cool. How are you feeling? Think you can sit up?"
Blair nodded and grasped the hand Jim held out to him, though it was the strength of the larger man that brought him to an upright position. "Man, I feel like I just finished a marathon," he replied, rubbing both hands over his face. A bottle of water appeared before his eyes and he grabbed it, quickly bringing it to his mouth and taking a couple of large gulps.
"Easy there, Chief," Ellison cautioned, pulling on the bottle. "We have plenty, and I don't think you want to choke after all we've been through."
"Sorry." Blair coughed slightly and took a couple of deep breaths before pulling on the bottle again, this time carefully drinking the water. After he was finished, he again rubbed his face and then he grasped the medallion, looking at it more carefully.
"There's no clasp on the chain, and it looks like it's a part of the medallion," Jim commented. He was checking out his own medallion, feeling along the chain as it circled up around his neck. "I don't think it's meant to be removed."
"Would you want to?"
Ellison's head jerked up at the question and saw Sandburg looking at him soberly. The younger man's eyes held the question within them, but they also were asking another question.
"No, Blair, I wouldn't." A small smile appeared. "I knew this was a permanent partnership pretty much from the time we met at the warehouse. The only question I had was what if I was pushing you too fast or too hard."
"Together in this life and into the next. Right?" Blair held out his right hand, his left still holding onto the medallion.
Without hesitation, Jim clasped the extended hand as his left hand closed around his own medallion. The two men stayed in that position for several long breaths until a large pop from the small fire at their side brought them back to their surroundings, and they released each other's hand.
Ducking his head in slight embarrassment, Ellison shuffled over to the fire and started to stir the embers around before picking up some small branches from the nearby woodpile and laying them on top of the flames. He heard Blair pick up the water bottle and empty it before he also started moving.
"Do we have anything easily available to eat?" Sandburg asked, carefully scooting over to where he saw his backpack lying. His knee had awakened and was reminding him of its injury. He knew he had some ibuprofen stuffed in the bag somewhere. "I know we ate dinner earlier, but I'm starving."
"It was your show, Chief. I think you probably burned up a lot of energy. How about one of these low-in-nutrition-but-high-in-flavor chewy cookies of mine?" Ellison asked, moving over to his tent and pulling a plastic bag from his pack. He tossed it over to his friend.
"Oh, man. You are a lifesaver, Jim." Blair caught the bag, quickly opening the Ziplock top, taking out a cookie. He took a big bite before adding, "And I hate to burst your bubble on how decadent you think these are, but I happen to know the bakery uses nothing but natural ingredients to make them. Organically grown oats and naturally sun-dried raisons, honey instead of refined sugar, even the flour is organic. I checked the place out when you started bringing them home." Smirking at the look on his friend's face, Blair shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth and grabbed another out of the bag.
"That's just not right, Sandburg. Cookies are not supposed to be health food." Reaching over, Ellison grabbed the bag and pulled out one of the cookies. He looked it over before taking a bite.
Sandburg snagged the bag back. "Sorry about that, man. It's about the only healthy thing I can get you to eat without an argument. Gonna give them up now?"
"No, and if you'd find other healthy stuff that tasted as good as this, I wouldn't complain as much."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Ellison gave a bark of laughter and reached over to ruffle his friend's hair. He received a light smack on his arm for the action. "Think you'll be able--"
A high-pitched howl in the distance interrupted Jim and brought the man's head up as he tried to gauge how far away the animal was who caused it. As he focused his hearing, he heard the answering calls in a different direction.
"Real ones this time?" Blair asked, watching his friend concentrate. Without thinking, he reached over and rested a hand on Jim's shoulder to ground him.
"Yeah, coyotes. Probably one checking out the territory to find out what pack owns it." A couple more yipping barks were heard from the loner and answered by a more vocal pack before they both quieted down.
"How far away are they?"
"Far enough, and it sounds like they're moving away. We'll be safe tonight."
"Good," Blair said with audible relief and patted his friend's shoulder as he yawned. "If you don't mind, could you give me a hand getting to the tent? I'm about ready to crash and I think you'd rather help me over there than have to carry me."
Jim immediately stood up and moved to stand behind Blair. "No problem, Chief. Ready?" At the tired nod from his friend, he slipped his under Blair's arms and carefully lifted him up until he was steady on his feet.
Blair leaned heavily on Jim as he limped over to his tent. "How much ~yawn~ do you think we should tell Captain Banks about this trip? Or should we?"
"Probably about what we found in Bounty and maybe an edited version of what happened to your leg, but I don't think he's ready for much more. Simon's a pretty down-to-earth guy and you know he's still a little skeptical."
Blair snorted. "A little? Come on, man. That's like saying the Pope is only a little Catholic."
Once they reached the tent, Ellison helped Sandburg sit down, then started to untie the lacings on his boots. "True, so I suggest that if the situation arises where he asks about anything going on, then we tell him."
"And even then we'll still have to edit the story." Blair sighed quietly when he was seated back on the ground and didn't complain when Jim helped him with his boots. ~yawn~ "I hope you don't intend on getting up too early tomorrow."
Ellison chuckled as he took Sandburg's boots and placed them to the side of the tent opening. "No, I think we both need to get a good rest tonight. We just need to make it to our pickup point by noon, remember?"
"Oh, right," Blair replied with a nod then noticed the medallion resting on his chest. Lifting it to look at it closely, he flipped it over to see the back side and smiled. "I can read this now, Jim. It will let others know that I'm bonded and..."
"We might run across another one who won't care what it says, Chief," Jim quietly reminded his Guide, catching his eyes.
"Then I guess we're going to have to make sure they learn to care," Blair answered back firmly, meeting his Sentinel's gaze. He then nodded, glanced behind and started to carefully scoot back into his tent. "'Night, Jim. Sleep well." Once he was inside his tent, he pulled the zipper down to close the flap.
"You too, buddy." Ellison smiled, thinking about the emphasis Sandburg had used in saying 'we're going to have to made sure they learn to care.'
A couple of days ago, his friend had been prepared to break up their partnership in order to keep his Sentinel safe. Ellison hadn't been prepared for that or learning about the plan after reading Sandburg's journal. Okay, I never would have read the journal if I hadn't been pushed by that wolf. Now that's one thing I'll never admit to any other person than Blair, and telling him wasn't easy.
The two had things to do when they got back to Cascade. Trying to find any relatives of the former residents of Bounty was going to be the hardest job. After The Chaos, which had killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world, attempts had been made to account for who was left. At least there had been in the United States. If there weren't any, the money and valuables they'd found would be given to charity.
Next, Ellison was going to quietly find those who were hassling his friend and let them know how wrong they'd been to step over the boundary of 'harmless fun'. What those people didn't know was that Sandburg was a popular person in the Major Crime unit, especially since he had taken the position as Jim Ellison's partner and was getting the 'lone wolf detective' to mellow out. There were three detectives there who would gladly help with the situation.
The last but most important thing the team of Ellison and Sandburg had to do was figure out what their bond did for the two of them. They already knew their connection benefitted Jim with an ability to heal faster than normal, but maybe the formal connection could provide the same benefit to Blair. Jim could 'feel' his friend more clearly now, knowing where he was and his condition. The knee was going to be a problem and would take time to heal, especially if the speed healing didn't also work for Blair. Jim could also feel that Blair was a bit worn out, still a bit under the weather, but mainly feeling relaxed and happy.
Jim smiled and shook his head as he closed up the opening of his tent and started undressing. The future was unwritten and ready to be explored. This Sentinel, along with his chosen Guide, were ready to step forward and meet the future head on.
The End