THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: FINDING KOBOL

          Roark froze, staring at the holograph.  This had not been what he was expecting when he opened that door.  It was the sound of rough chuckling, and his husbands calling his name that finally roused him.

          "Are you alright, Beautiful?" came Evan's question as he looked curiously between the holograph, and his frozen husband.  "Roark?  Come on, darling, talk to us."

          "Roark?  Babe?  Came on, snap out of it."  Rodolphus lay his hand to his cheek.  "You're starting to scare us."

          "He'll be alright in a micron or so," came the amused voice from the new holograph.  "He's...processing my appearance."

          "And you are?"

          "Alexandros," Roark said softly, "The First Lord of Kobol.  YOU," he raised his hand, pointing at the grinning man, "are NOT what I was expecting to find upon opening that door.  HOW?"

          "No, I would imagine I wasn't.  Come into the study and I will try to explain what I did to create this."

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          It was over the next couple of centar's that they sat in the comfortable chairs,  silently listening to the holograph as he attempted to explain how he had done this, none of which really made any sense to them.

          "Told you," came the murmur as the two of them stared at the three sitting so still before them.  "Hell, love, even I don't understand."

          "I guess it will just have to be enough knowing you were miraculously able to create this living world within the destroyed one."  Roark stirred from the chair he had been thinking in, getting to his feet to begin pacing.  "I assume that what the others see when they look at the Manor is a crumbled ruin like most of the rest of Kobol?"

          "For the most part, at least at first, yes.  They will only see THIS," he waved his hand, "if they are with you.  In that bookcase there," he pointed a finger, "are some journals.  My personal journals start from when I was about six to just before my death.  Take them.  Hell, take ALL the books."

          That brought him around to look at him in surprise.  "Are you sure?"

          "Roark, once you leave here, this will all begin to fade.  It already has in the outer sections of the estate.  I only meant for it to hold long enough for you to get here.  I would imagine you are looking for my tomb?"

          "My father, grandfather, uncle, and cousin are, yes."

          "They will not find it.  Not without the last of my journals."

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          Roark looked up from the book open in his lap to see four disappointed men entering the tent, their uniforms nearly white with sandy dust.  "No luck?"

          "The Palace is..."

          "Not where his tomb is located."

          "What?" came their gasps as they whirled from where they were getting something to drink.

          Marking his place in his book, he got to his feet, moving to the stacks of books Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Evan were currently packing into travel boxes.  "Where did those come from?"  Thorin demanded.

          "From the First Lord's study.  He told us to take them."

          "HE TOLD you?" 

          "I opened the door to his private quarters.  To my complete shock, he was waiting in the hall," he shook his head when his grandfather opened his mouth.  "Don't.  None of what he explained to us made any sense to us, and no, you won't be able to talk to him.  He's...THEY are no longer there.  Whatever it was he did, ended when we walked out of there.  If you went back there now, all you would see is the same crumbling mess as the rest of Kobol."

          "I see," he sat down.  "So, if his tomb is not at the Palace, where is it?"

           "Tomorrow.  It's getting dark and---Rabastan?" he turned suddenly to his brother-in-law.  "What happened?"

           Rabastan had frozen, his face paling alarming.  "OH, he is FURIOUS."

           "What's he furious about?"

           "Everything.  He's contemplating setting Baltar on fire..." a sudden satisfied grin.  "Hum..."

          "Baltar is rather...singed, I would guess?"  Rodolphus asked.

           "Yes."