Rhiannon put a comforting hand on Julia- no, Lauren's shoulder.

"You've been through so many names but only one has ever fit you for me." She remained silent, listening to her old, old friend and stared off down the tunnel awaiting their new team to arrive.

"It may pay to not lean on them too hard though. You remember that it was only because of Alexis' careful tutelage that we survived at all. This time we'll keep guard as Julius did over us while others teach them how to survive. They have potential, Ju- Lauren. We can only ever hope and guide them. If they fail then we simply have to guide the generation after them, as we always have done." She thought about the promise she had made to Julius almost three centuries ago.

[i]Look after my children, Rhiannon. Let them see the new world we created.[/i]

It pained her what world had been left for his descendants to see; that would all change soon.

---------------

Gaius stuffed two books into his rucksack, having carefully chosen from his small collection which he should take. They were both family heirlooms and ones he was loathe to take into potential danger with him but he had digital copies and he had a feeling they'd be safer with him than they would left to be boxed away by whoever came to prepare his small room for the next occupant.

He swung the rucksack over his shoulder and made his way towards the designated meeting point, thinking about what was to come; not to mention the mystery of who their two guides really were. He had a feeling he had seen them somewhere before but he definitely would have remembered them; his memory was near-perfect and he never forgot anyone'd he'd ever met.