A Memorable Conversation

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

It was late in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade, but students were still running around, finishing their shopping, finding their friends and completing bets before their return to the castle. Goldeye sat on the roof of one of the quieter stores, giving a brilliant view of the village from one angle and the castle from another.

The aged Professor was staring at the castle with wet eyes but a hopeful smile, his gaze focused on the Astronomy Tower where Dumbledore had fallen. He was wearing a blue and silver cloak, a silver eye traced on the back, not unlike the one found on his avatar or on the other side of the fourth wall, right next to you. The man was thinking deeply, but seemed to be open to conversation.

[Suki Samini]

Sighing heavily as she moved through the darkening town, Suki fumbled with the small cloth bag that held her purchases. Just like when she was in Hogwarts she'd made sure to make a short stop at both Zonko's and Honeydukes. It wasn't exactly appropriate for a teacher to bring in joke items and sweets, but she wasn't a technical teacher either. No matter how much she liked visiting Hogsmeade, she hated the never ending walk back to the castle. For some reason it had always annoyed her.

She was still getting used to being a staff member and not a student at Hogwarts. Adjusting the long billowing robe that established her position as an adult at the school, she slowly turned her eyes up to the sky. Not really looking at the faint stars that were barely visible by now, she couldn’t help the wistful smile that slide across her lips. Maybe she’d be lucky and get out to the forest in time to spot a clabbert tonight. The little creatures were so hard to find, but if she could catch a glimpse of their flash in the dark, she’d locate them easily.

As her eyes were lifted to the sky, she frowned as she found an abnormality in the roofline. Instead of the reasonably straight and uniform tiles that blocked sections of the sky from her view, she saw a single figure outlined. Pausing, she blinked, mind forcibly dragged from her reverie to wrap around this new occasion.

“Professor Goldeye?” she asked as recognition hit her. Stepping forward, she waved up to him slightly. “Professor? What in the world are you doing up there?” she called, brushing a few strands of hair from her face. She still wasn’t quite sure of how she felt toward the man. He annoyed her to the extreme, but she also wanted to try and figure him out to an extent.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

Suki's voice seemed to drag Goldeye back down to reality. He murmmed softly, almost impossible for Suki to hear."What indeed?" His mood seemed to brighten somewhat as he looked down on his ex-student.

"Why, if it isn't my favourite nerd! Come on up, Suki!" He gestured to a spot next to him, indicating that the libarian should either climb up the wall or levitate or something. The way he had gotten up was unclear even to himself.

He was glad of someone to talk to, he might even tell her what had been haunting him. He had to get his thoughts off his chest.

[Suki Samini]

Suki actually chuckled at his comment. Favorite nerd huh? She'd never actually been called that before, but found she didn't truly mind it. For some reason it seemed like a rather high compliment coming from the old man whom she'd never really gotten a good comment from before besides about her adeptness in meditation.

Eyes drifting down the wall from where he'd patted the roof, she found a reasonably easy climb. It would've been even easier to find a magical means up there, but where was the fun in that? Besides, she'd been climbing around the trees in the forest more than enough be perfectly capable of getting up, though she doubted Goldeye's ability to take her path up.

Offering him a small smile as she slowly sat beside him, she slipped her robe off, thanking the heavens that she hadn't worn her good clothes. "You've found a lovely spot up here sir." she mumbled, mildly amazed at the clear view of everything. She wondered if anyone else had ever considered coming up here.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

"Depends on who's looking," he told her, staring at the Astronomy Tower again. There was a brief, awkward silence, where he didn't know what to say. He had to say something, he knew he had to, but what...what would make this day memorable?

"Have you been meditating?" he asked absently, trying to think of something proper to say. Thought-provoking, if at all possible. He stretched his legs out over the side of the roof, thinking. He remembered death and life, killing and giving, but nothing proper to say. Could he tell Suki sometimes he saw his wife standing as plain as day in his classroom, her throat torn out? During breakfast, how he'd see his family lying in the Great Hall, clutching their throats and making guttural sounds as they choked on gas.

Meditation had helped with the images. He had a feeling everyone was going to need some meditation soon enough.

[Suki Samini]

"Yes. Sometimes more often than I'd like to admit." Suki replied, leaning back on a hand. "It's actually a rather useful little technique." She felt odd as she spoke, the town actually having settled down enough to where even her quiet voice seemed to be a little loud to the ears.

Studying her former professor again with curious blue eyes, she tilted her head in thought. He didn't seem as bouncy or crazy as normal. Of course she wasn't sure she wanted him to suddenly go into one of his moments with her on the roof beside him, but it also made her a bit uncomfortable. She'd actually grown accustomed to his antics by the time she graduated.

"Is something on your mind professor? You seem a bit......quiet." No matter how unusual he was, she didn't feel comfortable calling him any of the terms commonly associated with him to his face. Not only would it be rude, but as she looked back at her schooling, he was the most entertaining teacher she'd had, despite their disagreements.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

"Really? I taught it because I thought it was completely useless," Goldeye said sarcastically. "But it's good to know. Tell me, have you ever had any revelations in meditation?" He knew what he was going to do now. He was going to attempt to teach Suki the most advanced meditation technique, one which allowed an out-of-body experience.

It wasn't useful in the sense of roaming, but it allowed you to fully connect with the universe and at the same time, see the world around you. His grandchildren knew it, but he hadn't taught anyone else. It was his special, unique, technique.

[Suki Samini]

Considering his question for a moment, Suki slowly shook her head. "Not really. Well nothing amazing or huge at least, if that's what you mean." Sure meditation had helped her work a few problems out, but that was more because it allowed her more personal reflection time than just sitting down and thinking could ever do. It had helped her release her fears over the past few years, but again that was more because she'd spent longer reflecting on herself.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

"Would you like to have one?" he asked, folding his legs underneath him. He had used this technique when he had written Behind the Veil and his other Divination books which had earned him his Order of Merlin, ignoring the fact he had murdered several people and was the popular assumed reason for it.

"You must not focus but not drift either. Close your eyes and imagine complete blackness. Become aware of the universe. Acknowledge that in this universe you are nothing, not even a light, but know you have the power to change it's very foundation. Forget the Past, Present and Future, there is only the Universe and yourself."

"One by one, see the world for what it is. How we all have a role to play. See, for one instant, our fleeting purpose and how our every decision is pivotal. Become aware of every action and know it's consequence, see the beginning and the End. Then you can begin to learn."

His lecture finished, Goldeye drifted into the same Universe. He floated in space, surrounded by stars and was looking fondly at the glass sphere that was Earth. He Saw it for what it was. It didn't necessarily make one insane from this experience, but it did calm one's nerves quite well.

[Suki Samini]

Frowning, Suki let her mind wrap around his words for a moment. She could see the concept and purpose to it, but couldn’t help but be a little unsure of the whole thing. Wasn’t it man’s basic hope to be something in the universe, no matter how fleeting? Taking that hope away was practically suicide for some. But then again she understood the basic purpose of taking that away. That one simple hope influenced every action and thought a person made.

Sighing, Suki shifted into a meditation position. Hands on her knees, she looked to Goldeye again. He wouldn’t purposely push her to do something completely stupid. At least she hoped he wouldn’t. Closing her eyes, she tried to do what he’d told her. After a few moments she managed to get herself close to what he’d said, but she couldn’t bring herself all the way. She couldn’t let go of the belief that she was at least something, no matter how insignificant. She could already sense that this technique would keep her up for many nights until she managed to perfect it.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

As Goldeye floated in that space, a revelation hit him. It happened as he was examining the threads of lives intertwining in war, leaving pain and misery. He imagined another force, a third force, simply directing this threads away from each other or simply cutting the ones that would not. A peace-maker, no matter the cost. He knew he couldn't do it, but...

He came out of his trance and he looked over at Suki. There was no such thing as coincidence, after all. Maybe she was the one who could do this? Was she Fate's Tool? An instrument to carry out it's master plan? Or was she an anomaly, free from it's constraints? Either way, she ended up dead, he supposed.

"Suki," he said gently, his voice still shattering the silence. "Are you sick of this? The violence, the war? Would you like to make it stop?" He wasn't sure of what he wanted himself, his strange, nonlinear thoughts only just being pieced together.

[Suki Samini]

Slowly dragging herself from her struggles with the meditation, Suki’s ever curious eyes turned to Goldeye. Taking time to consider her answer, she weighed each option heavily, also taking into consideration who she was talking to. She wasn’t a people pleaser, but she also knew that certain people were better to withhold information from, especially since they just seemed to be getting along in a fairly smooth way.

Finally looking away from him and up at the winking stars, she sighed. They were both adults more or less, why not be straight with him? He did teach History of magic after all. And everyone knew how confrontational that class could be.

“Again that depends on exactly what you mean. I don’t approve of violence or war in anyway, but I do see where it would be necessary in certain cases.” Suki slowly started, trying to choose the appropriate words to express her thoughts. “But this war I am tired of. The basic argument over wizard versus muggle and pureblood versus those who aren’t has and will go on forever, but the hatred and ways that were spawned by the dark lord and continue today does need to stop. They have claimed too many people and their efforts proven fruitless too many times for this to be sensible anymore." As she spoke, her mind drifted back to the faces that had haunted her for years. The faces of the dead death eaters and that of her friend. If people had just learned the first time, none of them would've died.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

"Then there should be a third faction," Goldeye said slowly. "People who can stand back and see the big picture, Know what needs to be fixed. What has to be done for peace." He looked back at the castle. "They would not be the Order of the Phoniex. They would not have any faction allignment. They would only want peace. Peace with minimal death. No vengeance. No wrath or ruin."

"Would you be a part of it?" Already he was thinking about it, his legacy, making plans. A truly benevolent cause.

[Suki Samini]

A third faction? A group set for peace against both the Order and the Death Eaters? It sounded perfect, but she doubted it could actually happen. There were so many variables and such left hanging and wide open.

“I would…but who’s to say such a faction would last? And if it did, who’s to say that it would keep from becoming exactly what it’s against? If peace came, wouldn’t that leave this new side the strongest and thus threaten exactly what it stands for? A group devoted to peace sounds like a dream, one that I’d love to be a part of, but the ability to do evil and become tyrants lie in even the best of us.” Suki said, eyes not leaving Goldeye once as she tried to discover his thoughts on all of this.

[Nickarlen "Goldeye" Torlen]

"But not in all of us," Goldeye said slowly. "If the leader was someone who had no ambition and was the only one who knew all it's members..." He continued to think and contemplate. "Of course, the other members couldn't know each other or the leader. Absolute secrecy. Agents in every form of organization and government working towards a single objective." He scratched his chin absent-mindly.

"I could give you a list of people I think would join such a group. Students. Teachers. Friends. Associates. If you're interested?"