A is for Application - Every skill has a use, and every use has a time. Every Priestess worth her salt knows when and where, and who to go to for the proper skill. Zhaan is pleased with the arrangement of Moya, the balance of skills and talents in one place, with her place evidently being to direct them all with the appropriate amount of delicacy and strength to how they will be of best advantage to the group's welfare as a whole, and themselves, though they may not know it yet.

B is for Balance - Zhaan maintains her serene outward exterior with the knowledge that it is the control collar on a savage interior. She is capable of being serene through anything because she knows what she is capable of. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, never too much of any one thing at a time or at all. She has a good instinct and a good sense based on precedent of how far is too far and how far is not far enough. She dances along that thin line with self-aware delicacy and constant vigilance. If she can master herself she can master any situation, it's just a matter of finding and striking the right balance. Including, at times, the balance between being confident and arrogant.

C is for Choice - They all make their choices. She sees John make his choices inherent from his upbringing and his background, D'Argo make his choices from his honor, Chiana make her choices from her instincts and emotions. Zhaan makes her choices from the clarity that comes with reaching and thinking, trying to comprehend the patterns in the world around her, knowing the limits of her understanding and embracing the consequences of her choices, both the good and the bad, as moments in time. If good, then it is well. If bad, then she needs to make the choice to correct her past action or atone for it, or move on as best she can if she can do neither.

D is for Dedication - Zhaan made her own dedication ritual twice, both times in a prison, one of the making of others and one by her own making. Not that that matters; the ritual is only a formality. What matters is that she has dedicated herself to this path and she will walk it for as long as she lives.

E is for Ego - For all the distinctive humility and piety to her faith, Zhaan has a healthy dose of ego. It is behind the cheeky, enticing smile she gives D'Argo, it is mated with the laughter in her voice when she teases Rygel. It is what makes her an inspiration to John, though he may not know it; it is what stands her up to Aeryn Sun long enough for her to win the Peacekeeper's respect. Ego, not arrogance, is a good thing. Ego gives her to value herself. When the Peacekeepers have stripped all that is of monetary value from her, while they try to break her mind and spirit and break her down so that she believes she is nothing, her own value of herself is all she can cling to throughout. What she believes, what she holds within her. Her self.

F is for Faith - The Goddess provides. Not indiscriminately and not generally, but if you do your work and have a true need, the Goddess will provide. If you do not know what you need, the Goddess will provide, even if you do not know it at the time. And if the Goddess does not have the tools available, then Zhaan herself will make the tools available. She has that faith, in her Goddess and in her own abilities. It is that faith that keeps her going when everything else seems to be falling down. It is that faith that makes her believe in others when they cannot even believe in themselves.

G is for Grace - She embodies grace not only in her movements but in her mind, in the way she reacts and the way she expresses her thinking. In the way she flows through the strange events that encompass them all and turn them upside down and inside out, shake them until they don't know whether they're coming or going. When they don't know whether they're coming or going, she is a point of stability in the flux, and she does it with grace.

H is for Hope - They've been in worse situations. Others have been in even worse ones. No matter where they are there's always a lower place, and there is always the hope of going higher and better than they have been. Of being better than they have been. She can forgive because they've all done things they're ashamed of, D'Argo, Aeryn, Pilot, John. It may take some time, but she can bring herself to hope that whatever comes their way they will make better choices than they did the last time, they will make things go better than the last time. She hopes.

I is for Integrity - Zhaan keeps her word. When she says you will be fed and sheltered, you will be. When she says you will be taken off the planet, you will be. When she says you will be safe, she will do her damnedest to make it so, yes, unto her own damnation. Her word is not an absolute declaration of what will happen but rather of what she intends to make possible, make happen, whatever she can. Her word is, in the old ways of saying it, her bond.

J is for Just - She does not offer judgment in the way that the others do, by might or wealth or strength of mind, science knowledge or usefulness. She knows that everyone has their place and sometimes it is only a matter of finding it. But she is just. She believes in taking responsibility for the choices she makes, and she encourages others to do the same. And sometimes, if it falls to her to impose that responsibility on others, so be it. She will choose that because she believes it is better than letting others go away believing that they are immune from the consequences of their choices, and perhaps they will give it better consideration next time.

K is for Knowledge - There is an old saying that knowledge is power, and Zhaan lives that saying as truth every day. No knowledge to be wasted, even the most seemingly trivial of facts can be put to use, as she has seen demonstrated time and time again in her journeys with Moya. And no one is without their store of knowledge to give, as she has seen demonstrated between all the myriad peoples she encounters. She is not fool enough to believe that the sharing of knowledge takes power from one to give to another, and she is not stingy enough with her knowledge not to give it out freely where it could be used for great benefit to all. Her knowledge is the greatest part of her power, even when it is simply the power that comes with knowing how things are.

L is for Love - Love comes in so many forms, and Zhaan feels she has been truly blessed by it. The love of friends, family. She feels it surround her at mealtimes when they all manage to sit together and talk, quarrel gently, banter back and forth and trade jokes that are at least as funny for the lack of translation as for the success of it. She feels it in the quiet moments walking Moya's halls, in the way John's mouth goes lopsided when he smiles. Even in D'Argo's constant threats to Rygel or the strange names John gives them all, the way Aeryn looks at them as though they've all gone mad. Perhaps they have, a little. But they all love each other just the same, and all Zhaan can think is that she is more than fortunate, she is blessed, to have known the love of her beautiful, brave Stark.

M is for Moderation - Everything has its time and place. There is such a thing as overdoing the violence D'Argo and Aeryn bring, the combative tone to every negotiation, or Rygel and Chiana's avarice, or John's unbridled wildness, or even Crais's military pride. Zhaan plays the role of the calming hand on an arm or a shoulder, a translator when John's ideas run too fast for his mouth to explain so the others may follow, or even when the strangeness of the others outstrips John's ability to cope. Time and patience. Everything has its time and place, and everything must be used just until the point when the benefit of the use is outweighed by the detriment. Everything in moderation.

N is for No - It took a very long time for Zhaan to learn that sometimes the best thing she could do would be to say, no. No, I will not stand by and watch this happen was easy. No, I cannot help you was harder. No, I haven't the strength, no, I am not the right person for this task. The little ones were easier than the big ones. No, John, you must deal with D'Argo and Aeryn yourself. No, Rygel, I will not protect you from Chiana's irritation. No, I am not gracious enough or forgiving enough for this, and so I must step away. The hardest part was learning when to say no, but to try and tell herself yes. Yes, you must. You must learn to be gracious or forgiving or wise or strong. No, you cannot walk away from this, no matter how much you may want to run.

O is for Open - Of all the folk on Moya, Zhaan is the one they trust. Zhaan is the one they can talk to, the one who listens without judgment and who renders her decision with as little bias as she can manage and in such a way as to not impress her superiority in such matters. D'Argo has his warrior's pride and Rygel has all the arrogance of royalty, but Zhaan puts her pride and arrogance aside to listen to the others when they come to her and offer her advice to the best of her experience and her ability. She believes, wholeheartedly, that if one is not open to new ideas and new experiences that one will be forever closed to all that life has to offer, and while not behaving with the reckless abandon that someone (Chiana) might expect from such a view, she listens accordingly.

P is for Precision - Zhaan tries to choose her words and actions with care, for she is aware that they all have a consequence even if she doesn't know what they are. There are times when she transgresses. There are times when she falls short of the care she would like to have, when she is tired or upset or strained. All she can do then is apologize, with as much precision to knowing when and how she made a mistake as she can, and do better next time. Be more accurate, more appropriate, more precise. Resources are so few out in the Uncharted Territories, even the less tangible ones, that she must do the best she can with what she has.

Q is for Questions - There are always questions. Always. What will you do next, where are you going? Why did you do that? What do you want? Who are you? At any given moment there are at least twice as many questions as answers, which does not stop her seeking them. The answers to Crichton's quest for home, to Chiana's endless curiosity. Aeryn has fewer questions than the others, so does D'Argo, she supposes it's the warrior nature in them. Zhaan herself has the awareness of questions more than questions she would like to pursue, as a general rule. The answers she finds are always useful, even if they don't necessarily match up one-on-one with what she asked.

R is for Reason - She doesn't pretend to be a creature of reason all the time. To be endlessly cold and rational would be exhausting, not to mention fruitless on occasion and frustrating when it comes to dealing with creatures of such powerful emotions as, say, everyone else on the ship besides Pilot and possibly Aeryn. And, too, to claim logic and cold calculation is the sole function of reason is a fallacy; to her mind the heart and soul have reason as well. What else is instinct but reason of the soul? And when she listens and lets her reason guide her it is all aspects of that faculty, the logical mind and the feeling heart and a soul neither pure nor tainted, but experienced.

S is for Sympathy - Zhaan expresses the greatest of sympathy towards her crew-mates and members out of all of them, though they may not understand why. It is one of the results stemming from the sum of all her parts, from the understanding and the questions and the application of careful thought and consideration, stretching her feelings. She is aware, both from her experience before the living ship and her life with the others, of what benefit and comfort a little sympathy can bring, and in their situation which would try the patience of any soul no matter how pure, a little comfort and sympathy will rarely go amiss.

T is for Timing - Every living and thinking thing is aware of its own mortality on some level. From the moment we are born or created or conceived, the cells begin to split and the timer begins to count down. Events, too, have a life measured in moments. Sometimes in microts, in arns, in cycles, in increments of time greater than even Zhaan's mind can conceive. She has learned to live in this rhythm of measured beats, aware that everything has a beginning and an ending and sometimes you simply live from ending to ending, waiting for the wheel to turn and the beginnings to come around again.

U is for Understanding - It is not enough to know the facts of a thing, one must understand it. It is not enough to understand a thing, one must realize that understanding is never a completed action. As life is fluid, so the understanding of a thing or a person or an event is fluid, from time to time and context to context. The goal of understanding is always an attainable one and always within reach, and Zhaan never stops reaching for it if for no other reason than the simple pleasure of having gained some new insight into the world, the smile that puts on her face.

V is for View - Though she may not be from the far-off planet or have been ousted from her throne, she tries to stretch her mind to encompass their point of view nonetheless. Perhaps it is a matter of degree, one distance for another and the dubious certainty of being able to point her home out on a star chart versus the common sense of having no idea what is transpiring among one's family and friends of home. Not the loss of authority and prestige and power, but the loss of the structure surrounding one's life, yes. She has felt that. So many things can change, when one steps a little to the side of one's point of view and looks at it from elsewhere. Zhaan tries, when the situation calls for it, and even as a simple exercise sometimes when it doesn't.

W is for Words - Communication is something she finds very important, but not everyone can be a telepathic race. Not everyone can gain enlightenment from unity and unity is not something to be shared lightly in any case. Words are fascinating to her, the way one uses words to shape their world inside their heads rather than the world around them, the releasing of that inner world to the outer then shaping the world around them. The way words pass from one person to the next, never quite meaning the same thing when they come back. The way words are never as precise as you want them to be and yet within the myriad interpretations can be found entire lives, hearts, connections, as many ways of connecting as there are moments in the lives of all the beings in all the galaxies.

X is for the Crossing - Life is made up of little crossings, big ones. Her path crosses with so many others, ten times as many now as before. Each crossing brings with it new opportunities never before dreamt of, new ideas and new concepts. New lessons to be learned or taught or both at once, sometimes. Zhaan looks forward to every new crossing, most with calm anticipation, some with wariness, others even with dread. But she does look forward as well as back to reflect on meetings and partings behind her, looking forward to hope for the next time she may meet again with ones dearly loved and now, finally, lost.

Y is for Yes - As with saying no, sometimes it is necessary to say yes. There are so many choices in life and decisions to be made and potential paths to take that some of them by simple probability must be acceeded to. Zhaan has her own criteria for saying yes or no, and while it is an easy enough task (relatively speaking) to recognize what is bad for you and say no to it, sometimes (most times) it is a far harder task to find what fits in the moment and say, yes. To reach out and embrace it with an open mind and full heart and say, yes. This is me, here, this is mine.

Z is for Zeal - Zhaan is quiet about who she is and what she does, her calling and her life's work, but she is no less passioante for her relative silence. She has the strength of her convictions and the certainty that what she is doing is right for her, is the right way to go about things, is what she needs to do. She is ardent in her pursuits of what she views as perfection and even, perhaps, sometimes, wishes that the others could share in her journey a little more fully. She doesn't argue, most of the time. She advocates one aspect or another that they seem to need at the time but the idea of Crichton or D'Argo on the Seek is a disastrous one, and she knows it. Her journey need not be halted to try and drag others along the path.

Go to the top! For you have reached the bottom.