Rumor's Confirmed

          "Roark?" Apollo turned to look at his nephew, concern written all over his face.  "Are you alright?"

          His head turned.  "I'm fine.  Why do you ask?"

          "Because you're distracted, and your expressions keep changing.  I'm getting the strangest feeling you aren't just talking to me, and as I suspect Harry is still asleep..." his brow arched.

          : Um...oops. :

          Roark very nearly laughed at the amusement that colored his lovers tone.  : Rodolphus, my love, do go away before you get me into some serious trouble. :

          : Alright, but really, babe...We DO need to talk.  There are a few things I need to tell you about, and I don't want to do it this way. :

           : Hum...there's a park not too far from Ravenwood Manor, the Durin Estate.  I can meet you there after breakfast,  Say around...nine hundred? :

          : Sounds good, darling, I-- :

          "Roark?"

          "Hum?  OH! Yes.  Sorry about that, Uncle Apollo, I was just thinking about something.  It's just..." he ran a hand through his hair in frustration, "This makes absolutely no sense.  None at all, and what's more, the more I think about it, try to figure out what, exactly, is bothering me about this...I mean, why NOW?  The Cylons have hated us for over two thousand yahren.  Ever since the first ancient Kobolians settled the Colonies.  They have only ever wanted to destroy us.  Why, then, this sudden desire for Peace?"

          : Annihilate would be more like it. :

          : Rodolphus-- :

          : Roark, have you ever been through a Cylon attack? :

          : No.  Have you? :

          : Yes, and let me tell you, IT WAS UGLY. :

          "Why this sudden, supposed change in their attitude?"  : Now that I remember it, you DID mention your parents had been killed in a Cylon attack when you were eight.  I guess I just didn't think that you had witnessed it. :

          Apollo was shaking his head.  "I just don't have the answers to those questions, Rory."

          "Neither do I, and that is the problem I keep running into when I start thinking about this.  It's part of why I'm so uneasy, and perhaps what has led to my dreams of late," he paused, head lowering as his eyes slipped closed.  "GODS, Uncle, the destruction I saw.  The impressions of people's pain, their fear and anger, their eventual deaths."  : A memory, Rodolphus? :  "It's all just so damn confusing.  So...complete."

          : Hum...I'm beginning to think your dreams may have fed my memory of that day, : was his quiet, thoughtful reply.

          "What WAS the dream, Roark?"

          "Hum...?  Part dream, part memory," he answered distractedly as he and Rodolphus continued to share their thoughts.

          "Memory?" he looked confused.  "You have never been through any kind of raid by the Cylons, so whose memory are you talking about?"

          Roark shook his head.  "I can't answer that."

          A brow shot up at that.  "Not CAN'T, Roark.  WON'T."

          He gave a shrug.  "Fine.  I won't."

          "Ro...ark--"

          "Just WHAT, may I ask, are the two of you, but especially you, Roark Christopher, doing up this early?  It's barely dawn."

          They both turned their heads as Adama stepped silently out onto the porch tying his robe closed.  "I hope we didn't wake you, Grandfather."

          He shook his head.  "You didn't.  I have never been able to sleep when any of my children," a smile at Roark, "or grandchildren are troubled, and there is something troubling the two of you."

          "Roark, more than me, Father, but he has raised some very interesting questions that don't seem to have answers.  It's not only raising more questions but it's raised some real concerns."

          "I see," he said, looking from one to the other.  "Questions and concerns about what, may I ask?"

          "Grandfather, why the decision to send me to Saggitara when I was ten when I could have just stayed at Hogwarts?"