The three children were sitting cross-legged on the deck with the gameboard between them. It was an ancient Minbari cooperative strategy game where each players assumes the character and abilities of a member of one of their castes. Guardian could guess without seeing the board what characters each had chosen for themselves, so apropos to their natures: Mireen as Religious caste, Ta’Rok as Worker caste, and Brian as Warrior caste. In the game, the players worked together to get all three to safety before the Darkness caught one of them. If even one caste fell, the Darkness was the victor.

Ta’Rok squinted his cinnamon-colored eyes and pointed a finger accusingly at Brian. “You should have used The Warcruiser to stun the Darkness instead of moving yourself forwards.”

The human child was the youngest of them, only ten standard years old, but had more than a spark of the defiant courage his race had exhibited at the Line on the eve of their inevitable destruction. He leaped nimbly to his feet. He was tall for his age and thin, with long limbs corded with wiry muscles. His sandy-blonde hair was naturally curly and wild, wild like the angry pale blue eyes that blazed like a PPG blast at the older Narn boy across from him. “But then I would have been in the most danger of being captured!”

Now the Narn boy was on his feet. He was only slightly taller than his younger human counterpart, but almost as wide as he was tall. His yellow-orange skin had darkened in anger and his mahogany spots seemed to uncoil like vipers on his forehead as the bones of his brow drew downwards into a glower. “You would have had a small chance to be captured, but by moving yourself forward, you guaranteed that I would be caught. You cost us the game!”

Before Brian could respond, Mireen rose gracefully and although the shortest of the three despite being the oldest, seemed to dominate the center of the small space with her presence. The hands she rested upon each of their shoulders were those of a scholar, the fingers tapering and white. She calmed both through the combination of her small, beatific smile and wide, imploring lilac eyes, but before she could speak, they became aware of his approach and all three stopped, even the young Minbari wearing a bashful expression and guilt in her body language like her brothers.

Guardian could hear the argument between Brian and Ta'Rok arguing about the outcome of the game.  Their words were clear to him as he approached and he knew he would have to talk to them about this.  Ta'Rok was likely right in his assessment, Brian had a lot of fire in him, just like most humans had, and he wasn't going to take being yelled at lightly.  Sure enough Guardian heard the argument get well under way only for it to cut off abruptly.  That meant that Nireen intervened and got them to stop.  The girl was a born diplomat and Guardian knew it would likely be soon that his daughter decided she was ready to leave them.

The thought of any of his "children" leaving always left him feeling sad but he knew it would be necessary one day.  Part of having children was one day letting them go when they grew up, he had survived such things before and he would again he knew.  It came with age and experience, not that he was all that old for his kind.

Guardian's cloak hem brushed the floor lightly and the claws on his feet clicked against the floor ominously as he came closer to the children.  He could be completely silent if he wanted to be but he intentionally chose not to do that right now.  When he caught sight of the children he saw Nireen's bashful look and recognized her stance as one of guilt.  Sometimes she took too much responsibility on herself, especially with her two younger brothers.

Guardian saw the pieces of the game on the floor and recognized it.  If it was translated into the human language it would roughly be titled The Last Great War.  Since it was cooperative the failures of one were the failures of all something that Ta'Rok needed to learn, while Brian needed to learn when to protect others and when to make a last desperate move to win.

Once they all saw him Guardian said, "Hello my children."  His blue gaze within his hood went to the game and back up as he added, "Playing again I see?"

Guardian approached and pulled back his hood with his tipped hands.  He didn't reveal himself to most people but his children were different and he had no problem with them seeing "beneath the mask" as it were.  His head was much like any humans, though he did have some strange ridges over his eyes, a pair of nubs that might have once been, or would yet become, a pair of horns, pale skin like Brian's, and vivid pale-blue eyes.  His brown hair was kept short and he smiled at the kids revealing a pair of fangs like many predators would have.  It was a quite fiendish look but they kids knew by now that appearances were deceiving.  As he knelt down he said, "Let's discuss how this game ended.  Ta'Rok, you may start, Brian, let him finish and then we will get to your explanation."