The Necromancer's Stone; The Pale

Thalia made a point of never telling her dad where she was going.  For starters, he'd never asked.  Beyond that though, she usually preferred that people didn't know what she was up to.  Most of the time, she was the most dangerous thing in a ten thousand kilometer radius.  The rest of the time she was within ten thousand kilometers of Professor Zinksfeld, and even that she only had on nothing more than here-say and whispered legends.  And the Arcane Academy was hardly a bastion of stupidity and weakness; so that meant she was generally safe anywhere she went.
Traveling with a relative stranger, who had only a few days prior had her at the tip of his sword, was probably the scariest thing Thalia had done in upwards of twenty years, twenty-seventh come August actually.  Not because she was afraid he'd try anything unseemly, or attempt to kill her, but because she wasn't sure what to expect, why he was doing this, or why she was going along with it.  It was uncharacteristically impulsive of her.  Not that she didn't normally act impulsively; it was more that she was normally better informed than this.  She never randomly did anything; no matter what it seemed like.  Everything she did was done with information, planning, and confidence; but here she was acting with no knowledge of what she was getting herself into, no plan for how to get out, or even in, and any confidence she had was limited to her own abilities.  She was running on trust, and she didn't even know anything about the man she was choosing to trust.
Hal's ship was small; barely even a yacht.  He'd taken good care of it though; polished hull, clean windows, and even though there was only three rooms; a cockpit, a living room, and a bedroom with attached bathroom, he'd managed to keep it from feeling claustrophobic using  properly sized curtains and a few well placed mirrors.  Other than a lone cushion, she couldn't spot any more purple.  Maybe the ribbon had been an isolated case.  She shuffled into the cockpit and took up the empty copilot's seat.
"Have you ever been off Krove?"
"On a field trip once, never needed anything off world."
"That'd be Zinksfeld then; most of the professors up at the school only leave when they have to get something or attend a funeral.  A lot of immortals are the same way, like your parents."
"When you have a fortress of ice, why would you leave?"
"To get inspiration, find a new book, maybe even do a little good in the world."
"Point taken.  How long should this take?"
Hal reached down and pulled a lever back, then pressed a large blue button.  Thalia felt space shift and for a split second, saw the absence of existence that was between them and their destination.  She'd read that most ships only made the jump with their windows closed, because the sight of the true void could drive men insane, but she only glimpsed strands of gleaming white, almost like hair that had been purged of any color.  And behind the white was a pair of death-pale eyes, and a whisper of 'Mother'.  It seemed strange to her, and as space restored itself, and they passed back into reality, she turned to Hal.
"Did you see that?"
"The Pale?  Every time I travel; and it always says the same thing.  Takes some getting used to I'll admit, but I can't get the shutter to work."
"The Pale?  The void is a woman?"
"Yes, or sort of anyways.  No one really knows what the void is.  Many have tried to explore its mystery, but since everyone hears something different its impossible to pin it down."
"What does it say to you?"
"My mother always used to say it told her to fear the reaper.  My father said it told him that the void is cold."
"But what does it tell you?"
"It just says, Father.  But it says it with sorrow, remorse even.  Like its ashamed to say it."
"It called me Mother."
They were both quiet for a while, Hal still quietly working the controls to bring them to a safe landing in a remote Appeni starport.  At last the silence was broken as he looked up and stated simply, "We're here."