Compared to Earth freeways, the traffic was heavy, yet swift. Molly watched Cole’s head spin to follow the odd vehicles that went past, sorting out shapes and models and doing boy-brain things. She was far more interested in spotting the people inside the shapes.

Smaller females that made her think of Anlyn could be seen riding in the back. Children often had their faces pressed to the glass, watching the large shuttle rumble past. Every now and then, blue eyes would widen and flash as they spotted Molly—a human! Disbelieving shock would register on their pale faces and then be lost, replaced with the see-through reflection of Molly’s own image in the glass.

She could see Cole’s reflection in the window as well, looking past her. When their eyes met, they smiled at each other’s reflections. An old habit from the simulator.

They spent almost an hour on the road, moving at a blistering rate of speed. Molly felt tiredness creeping into her head, tugging at her eyelids, but her heart was still racing, her body too keyed up, her accelerator pinned. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until they were safe, even though such states usually ended up being illusory.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Cole asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just tired. I feel like we haven’t stopped running in over a month.”

“Yeah. Except for whenever we’re in prison.”

Molly laughed. “I guess we should start appreciating that time a little more.”

“No thanks,” Cole said. “At least when we’re running, we’re together.”

Molly faced him and batted her eyes sarcastically. “Awww. Aren’t you romantic?”

“I’m serious. In fact, that’s what I’ve been thinking about for most of the ride. Along with why this planet doesn’t seem to have any billboards.”

Molly looked out her window to confirm his observation.

“If I hadn’t gone on that trip to Palan with you, what would the rest of my life have been like?”

“Peaceful?” Molly offered.

“Boring, more like. Or empty. I don’t know. Forty years of crunching jump numbers, if I was lucky and didn’t get blasted out of the sky.”

“Why are you thinking about stuff like that?”

“Because I’ve nearly died a few times in the past two days.” He released her hand and rubbed the back of the Wadi as if to remind her of one of those times. “And I’m not freaked out by it. Not like I should be.”

Molly watched his hand slide across the colorful scales between the two protruding stumps on the Wadi’s back. “Do you feel numb or something?”

Cole looked over at her. “No. The opposite. I feel really alive. There’s something about being around you, but I—” He paused.

“But you what?”

“I’ve always felt it a little bit. Even back at the Academy. I always felt like you were special. Different. And back then I thought it was because—”

“Because I’m a girl?” she offered.

“Yeah. But not . . . that. Not the way I feel about you now. Not at first.”

He stopped petting the Wadi and rubbed his face with both hands. “Man, it’s so hard to explain. And not because I can’t say it—it’s like I just don’t understand it. All I’m saying is that I feel like I’ve lived a good life just by being around you. As friends, and now . . . whatever else we are.”

Molly reached over and cupped his far cheek, pulling his head around to face her.

“Just tell me you love me. That’s what you’re feeling. That’s what the words are for.”

“I love you,” he said. “I do. But it’s more than that. I promise. When I figure it out for myself, I’ll explain it to you.”

“You do that, handsome.” And she leaned over to give him a kiss.

The Wadi in her lap stirred, sniffing the air. Now that was an emotion she hadn’t sensed in several shifts of the two lights.

••••

The defense spaceport came into view well before they got there. Tall, streamlined shapes stood vertical against the waving tapestry of colorful, sun-setting lights. The shiny hulls scattered the hues in all directions, mixing the beauty of natural wonders with well-planned, artificial forms. The accidental and the engineered played off one another to the betterment of both.

They had to pull through a guard station to enter the facilities. As they queued up in a line of boxier vehicles, Dani turned around and showed them his palms, cooing calmly. Molly hoped he was right if he was trying to convince them that everything was okay.

They filed up to the gate, and a long conversation with the guard ensued. To Molly, the Drenard looked no different than the men they’d battled with several hours earlier. She looked over at Edison and saw the fur dancing in waves across his arms, one of which draped over his seat where she knew his lance lay hidden.

But the gate opened without a fight, the guard waving them through and directing them off to the side.

When they rounded a row of hangars and Molly saw Parsona sitting gracefully on the tarmac, she nearly burst into tears. The ship had gone from representing a lost past and deceased parents, to standing for a hopeful future—one that contained the possibility of reuniting with them.

In some ways, the ship was becoming her mother. Text on a nav screen already felt like the closest thing to a female role model she’d ever had. And the motherly doting—annoying at first—had been sorely missed over the past few days. Molly found it heart-wrenchingly tragic that the only kids who truly appreciated their parents seemed to be the ones who had already lost them.

“Thank gods,” Cole muttered at the sight. Behind them, Walter hissed with delight and scooted up the aisle to get a closer look.

All their excitement paled in comparison to Edison’s reaction as Anlyn descended Parsona’s loading ramp. He growled with delight and nearly crushed Walter in his rush to the door. The shuttle was still moving, but Edison turned and roared at Dani, who was compelled to thumb the door open.

Edison bounded out, almost falling as he fought to match his inertia, his legs pumping him toward Anlyn, who raced out to greet him.

Molly’s eyes filled with water as she watched the two friends swallow each other up. Edison pulled Anlyn off the ground and swung her side to side, feet and tunics waving with delight. Molly squeezed Cole’s hand, recalling the way it had felt to be reunited with him after the Wadi Thooo rite.

Walter stood by the door, hissing at having been stampeded. As soon as the shuttle lurched to a stop, he filed out and hurried toward the ship, waving at Anlyn before disappearing inside. Molly and Cole exited ahead of Dani and waited their turn to greet their friend.

Edison finally set her down, and she turned to face them. She looked . . . different. All Molly had seen her in was the rags of a slave, Cole’s t-shirts, or one of Walter’s modified flight suits. Here she was, decked out in colorful regalia, her posture erect and proud. She stood beside Edison and commanded attention, despite the difference in size.

Cole stepped forward and gave her a big hug, but Molly saw her looking past him, concentrating on the creature perched on her shoulder.

“So it is true!” Anlyn whispered. She smiled at Cole as she pulled away from him, walking over to Molly with her hand out and shaking. She cooed to the Wadi in her native tongue.

“Hello, Anlyn,” Molly said.

Anlyn broke her pale blue eyes away from the Wadi to meet Molly’s. “I’m so sorry you got mixed up in this,” she said.

Molly put a hand on Anlyn’s arm, squeezing it affectionately. “Don’t be. I’m glad. I’m happy for you and Edison.” She smiled up at him. “I just wish we’d known, so we could’ve helped you.”

“I know,” Anlyn said. “I didn’t plan on . . . on arriving in a coma. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I . . . I was fine one minute, and then I just blacked out. I woke up here and—”

“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine, now. Right?”

Anlyn frowned. “Eventually, perhaps, but not right now. I’ve already heard the reports about the Circle Members and their ambush. The government is going into shock, and rumors are spreading about you and—” she glanced at the Wadi wrapped around Molly’s neck. Its tongue flitted out into the air.

“I haven’t named him, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“It’s a she,” Anlyn said. “If that were a male—” she chuckled in Dani’s fashion, the first time Molly had ever seen her laugh. “—you’d be crushed!”

Dani joined in with her, panting as he came up behind Molly. The spot of levity slightly cracked the dour mood. Molly turned to him, remembered he couldn’t speak English, and looked back to Anlyn. “Can we leave? Is there anything we need to do before we go?”

Anlyn and Dani spoke in Drenard, and the seriousness in her face returned. She turned to Molly. “You can go. Planetary Defense probably wouldn’t attack you right now, even if the Circle demanded it.”

“You? You mean we, right? You’re coming with us. Dani, too.”

Anlyn shook her head. She reached a hand out and grabbed a fold in Edison’s tunic, as if anchoring him in place as well. “I can’t, Molly. I need to stay here. Sorting out the Circle will take time, and I’ll be needed.”

“Oh, my gods, I completely forgot. You are like fourth in line for the throne or something, right?”

Anlyn formed a small circle with her mouth and clucked, shaking her head sadly. “Wrong on two counts, I’m afraid. If I were a male, perhaps. Or if I chose to produce a male—which I will not. And I’m second in line, now. The stir we’ve caused is not just because of your Rite and the Wadi, but the news in the last hour that two of my uncles are dead.”

Molly felt her stomach sink. “Uncles? Oh, gods, Anlyn. I’m so—”

Anlyn waved the thought away with her thin, blue arm. “Don’t be,” she said. “If you will not allow me to apologize for their attempt to kill you, I’ll not hear you explain your self-defense. I heard the wireless report from the guards you stranded, and I know how to translate their lies. I’ve been around Circle members all of my youth, and I am fluent in that language.”

Edison followed up Anlyn’s crushing news with another emotional blow: “My proximity to Anlyn will remain decreased,” he told Molly.

And she understood. All too clearly.

Stepping forward, she pressed herself into his tunic, her friend’s paws wrapping around her back. Molly remembered the last time they’d held each other like that, just a few weeks ago. Edison had asked to join her crew aboard Parsona—and now he was leaving.

She felt the Wadi move from her shoulders and attach itself to Edison. Pulling away, she wiped her cheeks and laughed as the colorful creature scampered to the top of Edison’s head. It swung its neck back and forth, as if taking in the commanding view.

“Ascertain its function,” Edison pleaded, his hands comically frozen halfway to his head.

Cole laughed. “I think it just laid claim to you, pal.” He reached up and coaxed the Wadi down to Edison’s shoulder. “Now do me a favor and hold off on the wedding for a week or so. As soon as we figure out what’s going on with Molly’s parents, I’m coming back to be your best man.”

Edison cocked his head at the expression. “Best by what metric?”

Anlyn patted him. “I’ll explain later.” She started to say something to Cole, then stopped. Instead, she embraced him, and Molly could hear her sweet whisper: “Take care of Molly.”

“I will,” said Cole. “And you take care of Edison.”

The Wadi leapt back to Molly’s shoulders, the movement hardly startling for once. Anlyn turned back to the creature, her eyes lit up. She seemed mesmerized by the sight of the living, docile Wadi.

“Be very careful with her,” she advised.

The tone suggested a responsibility Molly wasn’t sure she wanted to bear.

“Should I leave her with you?” she asked. “How will she survive if we pull Gs or lose cabin pressure? I should leave her here with you, shouldn’t I?”

Anlyn shook her head. “I don’t think you could if you wanted to. You’re bonded, the two of you. Besides, the Gs shouldn’t be a problem, but atmosphere might. She can crawl in my old suit if she just needs some air to breathe. Either way, trust me, she’s less safe here right now.”

Molly nodded. “I wish you didn’t have to stay.”

“I know. Me, too. But there’s something bigger going on than any of us. Something that involves trillions of lives and thousands of galaxies. I thought I could run away from that, avoid duty and take care of myself, but I was wrong. In fact, I was wrong to want to.”

“I don’t understan—”

“It’s okay. Your mother does. She’s been through this before and can explain a lot. I’ve given her permission.”

“My mother? What have you two been—?” She didn’t know how to finish the question.

“She and I have spent most of the last two days together. Talking. I had some Defense Port engineers make a few changes that helped us out, and they should serve you as well. But I’ll let her tell you about them.”

Molly felt a tinge of jealousy, betrayal even, with the passing of secrets, the idea that someone else knew her mother more intimately than she. An alien, no less. She fought these negative emotions down, comforting herself with the knowledge that her mother had company the past few days and had stayed abreast of events.