Rain

Robert rose and went over and examined the stone. Then he put his hand on Khaat. He removed his hand after a moment and looked at Jack. "Its not the stone. It's Khaat. Her seers powers are still working overtime, I'm afraid. Khaat, you do need to tell us what you dreamed about last night."

"My..what? My dream? I'm not sure I remember," she said.

"It was powerful enough to cause quite a dramatic reaction. It means something," Robert insisted. "Jack, it's her seers powers that you're reacting to. My guess is that you've been around Jess enough that you're picking up on the fact that she had an extremely powerful vision last night in her sleep. Its made her body continue to react as if she's under high stress. That is what I think you're picking up on."

"You've lost your mind. I don't feel like I"m under high stress," Khaat frowned at her father.

"Your body is responding as if you're in danger. I can't help the fact that you're cut off from it. Thats part of what you learned to do from Barker, my dear. I suggest you work on remembering before you make jack too anxious."

"Well, yes. There is," Robert said, but that would require Kate and me to take her back to the farm for a short bit. Kate would have to do the work. Khaat knew exactly what her father had in mind, and she didn't want any part of it. She accio'd Remus's wand to her an apparated out. Brian sighed heavily. "Brian," Robert said. "She can't be exposed to that level of physical stress either way. We do not want to jeopardize the babies, now, do we?"

"No, we do not," Brian said, determined, whipping out his wand. He looked out the large living room floor to ceiling windows and thought he saw her disappearing into the far end of the woods. "I'll be back. Hold the fort for me." He apparated down to the woods and simply walked behind where he had seen her go. Then he caught sight of her.

"Khaat," he called. "Wait. Its just me. I'm alone." She turned and when he caught up with her, she vented on him for quite awhile about all sorts of things, and he just stood and took it. He hadn't seen the amount of stress she apparently had been feeling either. She had been just a little off, but not like this. And what she was mainly venting about was not remembering and not wanting her parents prowling around in her head. She wanted something of herself to remain hers. Brian wanted her to give it a try. He had to tread carefully now, though. She was clearly very angry now. He transfigured a log into a bench and had her sit. They talked quite a long time.

When he finally walked her back, he was holding her hand. "Alright," Brian said quietly. "We'll go. But i'm going along."

"Fair enough," Robert agreed. "Then, I take it the rest of you can take care of the house and the girls while we're gone? Oh, and hopefully Kieran turns up before lunch."

Brian and Khaat went with Robert and Kate to the farmhouse. They all already knew they were going to Kate's study. They went down one of the hallways and went into the study. Brian led Khaat to a small sofa and they sat down. Robert took a seat and Kate took one closer to Khaat.

"Khaat, what do you remember?" Robert asked quietly.

"Nothing!" she insisted.

"Then we need to bring it forward. If you dont' remember, then you should not be traumatized by our bringing it out," he said to her. Kate drew her wand and put it up against Khaat's head and drew forth the memory thread that contained the vision from the night before. It waa long and a bit twisted. Kate took it and deposited it into her pensieve so she could look at it. She studied it for several moments. Then she looked at Robert.

"I believe this is your department," she said to him softly. He frowned, got up and went over and watched the vision replay in the water. He sighed heavily. He finally looked back at Khaat.

"Thank you. That was very helpful," he said, a bit overwhelmed.

"Robert," Brian prompted.

"I just saw the very recent murder of a friend of mine and how it was done--through the eyes of his killer," Robert said. "No wonder she was stressed. I'll help you with a bit of nerve tonic, Khaat. That will ease things. Perhaps this vision is best left with me."

"Can I see?" Khaat asked.

"No," Robert said quickly. "If you do not remember, then it is for the best. My best guess is that your mind has shut it away from you to protect you. If its there, we'll leave it alone. When its safe for you to remember, I'm sure you will. It will not benefit us to stay here any longer. I think we can return to Abbey's party."

"Just like that?" She questioned.

"Do you want more?" he asked. "Oh, that's right. The tonic." He excused himself and brought it back, tucking it in his pocket. "I believe we can go now." Kate agreed and shut the pensieve away.

They apparated back to the living room at Brian's. "We're back," Brian said. "Told you it wouldn't take long."

"It's fine now," Robert said quietly. "Khaat saw some of the details about how a friend of mine died. Through the eyes of the killer. No wonder she felt edgy and on guard. She still does not remember, but I believe that her time with Barker gave her the ability to shut away things that are intolerable for her. In the muggle world, its called dissociation. In this case, I call it a blessing. It protects her. It put her unconsciously on guard from perhaps being a victim herself, I believe. Jess, you know this nerve tonic. Its very mild. Would you put some in a cup of tea for Khaat? I believe she'd feel a bit more comfortable and so would those babies if she were not so stressed." He handed her the bottle of potion.

"No," Robert said, "You don't understand, Jack. Think of it as more of a state of fear. The fear wasn't directed towards anyone in particular. I think you just were aware of it because Jess, as a seer, has felt similar things. I think it makes you a bit more perceptive, just like I have been with Kate at times. I don't know whether the stone is capable of being aware of Khaat's fears or not, but I'm thinking perhaps your being aware of the stone's capabilities of protecting her from werewolves made you a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps misdirected a bit at the stone instead of her. You know you can trust her. But you also know that the stone is geared to protect her from werewolves. I think it was a combination of her being fearful and your being perhaps fearful of the stone itself. That's my thought."

"I've never been afraid of you, Jack," Khaat said. "I've never had a reason to be. But I am sorry if you felt uncomfortable around me. I've never had anything like last night happen to me before. Not like that."

"Its not unheard of, Khaat," Robert said. "I must say, though, it is a bit rare. Hopefully it will never happen again."

"That would be nice," Khaat sighed.