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[Charles is sitting in one of Tranquilities mess halls, slowly stirring a mug of tea and staring down at a chess board. His face is pale, expression set in a resigned sort of calm.]

It is with great regret that I must announce that Erik Lehnsherr is no longer on the Tranquility. It would appear that he went among the missing sometime around the last jump.

[His voice is level as he relays these facts. He had hoped that Erik might have surfaced from the jump beds and gone about some project or another but as time had passed, Charles had looked more closely into the matter and found that his hope was for naught.]

I hope this means he is free of all of this and has returned to our world to continue along his path there.

[Even if that path was one that could potentially lead to war, it was better than the other possibility niggling at Charles’ mind; a possibility Charles did not want to consider too closely.

Setting aside the spoon in the mug, Charles reached up and brushed his fingers through his hair, then reached to move a pawn, pausing and then spinning the board around so he could play the other side.]

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[ there is plenty for him to speak to, of the inevitability of loss. of the best possible scenario- that they would each return to their native continuums- and that at that time, relationships would become severed regardless. that this is a possibility that he has long since accepted- as all members of Starfleet have.

but nothing of it is relevant, in the end.
to understand loss does not trivialize it's experience.

there is the barest nod of acknowledgment- not quite gratitude, but an awareness all the same. social niceties to be obeyed coupled with the helplessness inherit in the circumstances. ]

Is there anything I may provide?

Thank you, for the offer but I believe that in all material manners my needs are met.

[Charles said with a sad, wan smile.]

You can not, after all, return Erik to this ship, nor would I encourage such a thing if you could.

But I appreciate the thought.

[The thought of offering to help, even if there simply was no help that could be offered. Grief was grief and you simply had to work through it.]

[ there is a vastness that goes unsaid. perhaps something about a universal understanding of loss. of the significance of relationships and how on could interpret sudden absence upon the Tranquility. the juxtaposition of loss and a safe return- none of which could be guaranteed.

instead, his hands come together in his lap, and Spock's chin dips faintly before he amends- ]

Allow me to clarify-
Are you familiar with three dimensional chess?

[And in that musing, Spock would have struck upon the very notion that was unsettling for Charles.

He had heard the screaming, in the jump. He had not been able to delve any further than what he heard but he'd heard it. There was no assurance in his mind that Erik had gone back to safety; what if his voice was now one of those screaming?

However, Charles shook off those thoughts, his attention genuinely caught by Spock's question.]

Three dimensional chess? I can not say I have ever heard of it but it sounds quite splendid. How is it played?

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