[h1][center]That afternoon...[/center][/h1]

In the middle of a warm afternoon the city was abuzz with activity. Parents and their children hurried along the many walkways to and from meetings and construction on many new buildings and paths filled the air with the drone of hammers and other tools at work. Compared to the bustling outside world, within Nema's palace was almost dead silent. Occasionally people would pass by the throne room and the indistinct sound of their conversation would fill the room only to fade seconds later, leaving those in the room with nothing but their own voices to fill the silence. A table had been set up for the group and it sat nestled between two large pillars supporting the arched ceiling, rays of sunlight flooding down through stained glass above and coating the room's walls in a dazzling rainbow. Most of the room in fact was stained glass save for the support pillars and the ceiling itself, and the rounded off, open cap above them made the already spacious area seem even larger than it already was. 

"I hope you've enjoyed you stay here so far. I'm terribly sorry there's so much work going on, we're trying to update parts of the city. After seeing yours I was inspired to try and fashion ours in the same way." Nema smiled as he accepted a tall glass of honeyed juice from one of his servants, lifting it in cheers to the others before drinking a healthy amount. "Its not an easy feat though, let me tell you! You live on the ground and we in the trees, many of your buildings would never be able to sit this high up! But my workers are some of the best and they're finding ways, I do hope you'll come to see it once its done."

"But of course, King Nema. We would be honored to come back and see your city again," Yusef replied politely, smiling as he took a drink from his glass, "Ah... But if I could be a little forward... Can we discuss why we're here? Namely my son..." 

"Ah yes, yes! Forgive me, I've been so excited about all of this I forget myself sometimes. T'charrl, we have been very busy since we last spoke, pouring through old books, speaking with the elders of the city, searching ancient sites for clues. I am very happy to say that we have found an answer to your problem." Reaching under his chair Nema struggled as he produced a rather sizable book, dropping it on the table with a resounding thud that shook everything on it. Smiling amused at Haku and Yusef's stunned expressions he waved a hand dismissively before tapping the cover with his claw. "This is just one of the many books we read through to find an answer, I'm not giving it to you to read yourself!" he laughed, "No, and you'll be rather pleased to find that the answer to your problem is quite simple, my young T'charrl."

"What you need is balance, balance of the body and the soul. Its what our ancestors did when they housed spirits like yourself, and what I did years and years ago." In theory it sounded simple enough yes? Just balance the mind and the body and you could house the spirit successfully. "It takes some training though and that's the part we wanted to discuss with you today. We have decided that your father would be best suited to train your body and I and my people will help train your mind through meditation. It will take time, this isn't an immediate solution-"

"But it's the best chance we have of helping you," Yusef concluded with a smile, "So we may stay here a bit longer if you don't have any complaints, its easier than you traveling between the cities. If we're optimistic... This could be accomplished in perhaps two... Maybe three weeks time. Of course that depends on where you are now and how much progress we have to make."

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If they were back on Earth surely whatever board oversaw therapy would have a fit with Aito's practice. Was it bad he couldn't remember who led that kind of thing anymore? In his defense it had been going on two decades now so it wasn't wholly his fault he'd forgotten, though he remembered enough to know [i]this[/i] was not an ideal setup. Instead of the comfortable rooms that therapy was generally practiced in they had to settle for one of the rooms on the rebel base, hardly fit for the kind of practice he was carrying out. After much complaining he had managed to afford them some comfortable furniture to sit on and, for the duration of the therapy, they would keep things relatively quiet nearby. That said the room was hardly all that warm, clearly it was meant as some kind of meeting room and not one to practice therapy in. The lone saving grace perhaps was the single window in the back of the room that they left open, letting in some much needed sunlight and fresh air into the stuffy space.

"I'm very glad that you're here today Viral and that you're giving this a chance. I know you had plenty of reason not to come today, so it's great that you did." Just him and Viral alone in this room together, was it just Aito or was there a bit of tension? Considering his blunder he supposed it was only natural. "As I said before there's a handful of therapies we can try to work with but I think we'll begin with CPT. Its 'Cognitive Processing Therapy', if you're wondering, and in short we will be looking at the PTSD, the events around it and how we can manage them. I've plenty of time for this so don't feel rushed to make progress, we'll move as quickly or as slowly as is comfortable for you. I'll answer any and all questions you have about the treatment as we go, so feel free to ask anything that comes to mind. Now then..." Aito smiled and eased himself back into his seat, his smile twitching slightly as his rear and back uncomfortably pressed against the hard furniture. With luck Viral's seat was more ideal than his own. "Do you know what PTSD is? Can you describe it to me?"