The River Does Not Mourn the Mountain

Posted on Thu Jun 18th, 2026 @ 10:20pm by Captain Marie Batel & Patin

2,016 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Character Development
Location: Celestial Temple

"Every life leaves fingerprints upon the soul. Reincarnation is not the act of becoming someone else. It is becoming more than one person could ever hope to be. The river does not mourn the mountain when it leaves it behind. It carries the mountain with it, grain by grain, until both a become part of the sea."

---

The stars brightened.

The Chaotic One has chosen.

Patin blinked. Then she pointed upward immediately. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She held up both hands. “You don't know that.”

The Temple remained serenely silent.

Patin folded her arms. “For all you know, I finally decided which alcohol I'm spending the rest of eternity drinking.” Her grin widened. “Could be springwine. Could be whiskey. Might even be that horrifying Orion stuff that tastes like somebody fermented a plasma conduit.”

The stars shimmered.

The rebirth approaches.

Patin's grin froze. “Rude.”

The conception point nears.

“Oh come on.” She dragged both hands down her face. “Can we please stop calling it that?”

The Temple ignored her completely.

The next life awaits.

“See, that's better,” Patin muttered. “That's significantly less traumatic.”

The mist shifted around her, softer now.

The Guardian remains.

The Prophet of Chaos and Boom remains.

Duties continue until transition.

Patin lowered her hands slowly. “Wait.” Her brow furrowed. “So I don't just vanish into baby-me immediately?”

No.

The stars drifted through unfamiliar constellations.

The protector remains until the protector is no longer required.

The teacher remains until the lesson concludes.

The Chaotic One may complete her duties.

Patin stared at the Temple for several seconds. Then a crooked smile returned. “Well.” She rolled her shoulders and glanced toward Marie. “That sounds suspiciously like they've given me permission to keep causing problems.”

The stars shimmered, they did not disagree.

Patin's grin faltered slightly as the Temple settled into its newfound certainty. "Okay," she said, dusting imaginary ash from her hands. "So apparently Baby Patin is now officially on the schedule." Patin pointed at them immediately. "Still hate that."

A few moments passed before her expression softened. The humor remained, but something more thoughtful slipped in behind it. Her gaze drifted toward Marie. "What about the Batel? What's her future look like?"

Marie shrugged, refocusing on Patin and not letting the conversation be turned away from uncomfortable subjects.

"I'm not the one they're fascinated with" She laughed lightly, thankful that Patin had indeed chosen a path that didn't involved being a cloud for the rest of existence.

"Least you won't remember what it's like to be born... or will you? All that squishing and squashing and birth canals...."

Patin's face immediately twisted into visible horror. “Absolutely not!”

She pointed directly at Marie. “See? This is exactly why I was asking about you. Every time I try to have a serious conversation, you start talking about birth canals.”

The Temple seemed suspiciously amused.

Patin shuddered dramatically. “I spent my entire life dodging Cardassians, explosions, and religious fanatics. Now I'm finding out my next great challenge involves being squeezed through... through a birth canal.” She rubbed both hands over her face. “This is the worst revelation yet.”

Despite herself, her eyes drifted upward toward the stars. “Though...” The humor faded slightly. “I genuinely have no idea what happens after that, do I?” Her brow furrowed. “Do I get to remember any of this? Do I remember Nozzie? The Temple? Do I wake up as baby-me and immediately start judging everybody's life choices?”

The Prophets remained silent.

“Yeah, that's what I thought.” Patin folded her arms and looked back at Marie again, stubbornly dragging the conversation where she wanted it to go.

“Nice attempt at dodging the question, by the way.” She pointed at her accusingly. “You've spent the last several hours or whatever helping me figure out 'my' future.” Her eyes narrowed. “What's yours?”

There was no joke behind it. “Seriously, Batel.” Her gaze softened slightly. “What happens to you?”

The temple shifted into a timeline stream again. Layers compounding upon layers.

Marie seemed to drift for a bit as she considered the timelines and possibilities within it. There was the possibility of return to mortality, to assist with the protection of the Sunfire's Captain, or she could remain within the Temple - nudging things where she could to improve our alter predicted outcomes.

" I don't honestly know" Marie shrugged, watching Patin as she revealed the truth. " I don't know where my path leads, they haven't, or won't, show me"

Patin stared at her for a moment. Then she barked a short laugh. “Well, that's deeply unfair.” She pointed toward the Temple. “Your management style is terrible.”

The stars shimmered faintly.

Patin's grin faded after a moment. Her eyes drifted back to Marie and stayed there. “Guess that's the difference between us.” She shrugged. “I've spent my whole existence trying to outrun the future.”

A timeline drifted past, showing another version of herself. She ignored it. “You seem perfectly willing to walk into it blind.” There was no mockery attached to the observation, only respect.

"Does it change the outcome? Whether you go in with fear or acceptance, it's still the same" Marie mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I'd rather fight when I need to, not just because the unknown is scary." She shrugged at Patin. "We used to be explorers and willingly go there"

Patin snorted softly. “Yeah. Nozz used to say stuff like that.” A crooked grin pulled at one corner of her mouth. “‘Boldly go where no one has gone before.’ Sounds inspirational right up until you stop and think about it for more than five seconds.”

She reached into the mist and pulled out a half-finished Bajoran mojito as casually as if she'd left it there herself. “I'm not entirely convinced that's bravery.” She took a sip through the straw. “Sometimes I think explorers are just people with a highly developed inability to recognize bad ideas.” The grin widened slightly.

“I mean, I've done plenty of dumb things in my life. Charged Cardassians. Picked fights with gods. Taught cosmic entities the finer points of explosive engineering.” She swirled the drink thoughtfully. “But stepping into the unknown with no plan, no map, and no guarantee you'll come back the same person?” Patin shook her head. “That's a whole different kind of Köhlar beast.”

"How else do we find new places and new races? If we stay where we know we never meet anything new head on, we never learn, we never grow" Marie said earnestly, passionate about the topic. "We would never had found Bajor, or this...temple place. We also wouldn't have met the Gorn, or the Vezda" she shrugged as though arguing for both sides. "Someone's gotta do it"

Patin snorted. “There's also something to be said for spending your entire life as a hermit with a collection of spiders and a healthy distrust of civilization.” She took another sip from the mojito. “Yet somehow only one of us picked that option.”

The Temple drifted quietly around them while she studied Marie over the rim of the glass.

“So what about the Batel?” she asked. “What made you decide to throw yourself into the stars in the first place?” Her hand made a vague gesture toward the endless timelines surrounding them. “Was it the new places? The new races? The learning? The growing?”

A faint grin appeared. "Or did you just wake up one morning, look at a perfectly safe planet, and decide it had entirely too low of a chance of exploding?”

Marie plonked on the cloud next to her, comfortable in her history and her past choices.

"Did you ever look up at the stars when you were little and wonder what was up there?" Her voice drifted a little as she recalled the memory. The Temple shifted and showed a little Marie - only 6 or 7 years old, lying flat on the green grass staring up at the stars on a dark night, pointing to the different constellations and naming them one at a time. The child called the colonies, and pointed to where the current Starships should be in the night sky.

The current Marie looked fondly at the scene. "I always wanted to be in space, and I always wanted to be a Captain. They just seemed so cool to an 8 year old" She laughed a little. "Only later did I learn the 'Coolness' is rapidly diminished by the volume of paperwork"

Patin barked a laugh. “The best solution to a little paperwork is a little fire.” She spread her fingers and a tiny fireball bloomed above her palm, crackling orange and blue before collapsing into drifting sparks. “Admittedly, most people seem to disagree with my filing methods.” The last embers faded into the mist.

“Nozzie used to lie awake looking at those same stars.” Her gaze drifted upward for a moment. “Except it was different for us. We weren't looking for adventure. We were looking for an escape route.” She rolled the mojito slowly between her hands. “Anywhere the Spoonheads weren't. Anywhere we could wake up without wondering who was getting dragged away next.”

The humor softened around the edges. “Hate's a powerful motivator.” She took another sip. “Gets you outta bed and moving real fast. Just doesn't do a great job of telling you where you're supposed to go once you get there.”

"It must have been challenging growing up like that" Marie said softly, still sitting comfortably next to Patin. "I can't image it"

Before Patin could answer, the Temple stirred. The stars above shifted into slow currents. Constellations unraveled and rewove themselves. One path became many. Many paths became one.

The finite arrive by different paths.

The image of young Marie beneath the stars lingered beside another memory. Two Bajoran girls huddled together beneath a darkened sky, searching the heavens for somewhere safer than home.

Both arrive from different paths.

The memories drifted beside one another, moving through the Temple like twin currents meeting in the same sea. In each was the ache of wonder reaching beyond the horizon, the shadow of fear pressing close behind, the fragile glow of hope refusing to be extinguished, and the desperate longing for escape from a life that could no longer be endured. Though their journeys began beneath different skies and for different reasons, both hearts had followed the same distant light toward the same destination.

The Temple grew still.

If hate began the journey...

The stars dimmed slightly around Patin.

What causes it to persist?

Patin opened her mouth immediately. “Spite.” The answer arrived so quickly that even she almost believed it. The thought caused her to grin slightly. Then it faded.  “...Nah.”  The empty glass of mojito turned slowly between her fingers while she watched the stars drift overhead.

“Hate gets you started, got me started any way.” Her voice had grown quieter. “It's real good at that.” She shrugged lightly. “Gets you out of the dirt. Gets a weapon in your hand. Gives you a reason to keep breathing even when breathing feels optional.”

The Temple listened.

Patin stared into the glass for a long moment. “But eventually you get where you're going.” Her eyes drifted toward one of the countless timelines. Toward laughter around a dinner table. Toward a family she never expected to have. “Hate doesn't know what to do after that.” A small smile appeared.

“But people do.”

The mist stirred softly around her.

“Nozzie. Remal. Patina. The crew. All those idiots aboard the Sunfire. The dude down at the pub.” She laughed quietly. “Somewhere along the line I stopped fighting because I hated what was behind me.” Her gaze lifted toward the stars. “And I started fighting because I loved what was in front of me.” She placed the emptied glass back into the mist, returning it to where she pulled it from.

For once, the Temple offered no correction.  Because there wasn't one.

TBC

 

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