by T. J. Quinn
Nalina paused and shifted herself on the bed beside Orin, half lying with her dark head nestled against his massive shoulder.
"You can come to Oltarin live with us---Lanimer and me," Nalina continued. "We can be together--if you still want us. I mean---you don't have to take care of us anymore. You don't even have to go with unless you want to. You are free, free to go wherever you want, thanks to Hankura and Casir."
"Don't talk crazy, woman! Of course, I still want you," he admonished. His strong fingers under her chin forced her to meet his eyes. Her feelings were all mirrored in her dark, luminous eyes for him to see and savor.
Freedom was a relative thing, he thought, smiling fondly at her. To some, it meant not having any emotional ties to keep them in one place. To others, to him, when he deserted from the Raiders, it meant he had nothing left to lose. But, that wasn't true anymore. He had a lot to lose if he let her go without him---this tender, gentle woman who loved him and a son he claimed in his heart for his own. These were just the most fragile of dreams that had died the day the Commander General hauled him from his home on Veldis Lar, what seemed so long ago.
Orin had fought long and hard to claim these simple things in life that other men took for granted. Now, he had found a place to belong, and he would fight for it again if it ever came to that. But, Orin Hart was no warrior; he was a gentle man of simple dreams who could and would fight to the death to preserve them.
"I'm not going anywhere without you, Nalina, and I'm not just going to desert Lanimer. I love you both too much for that," he murmured fiercely. "If I go there, though, what am I to do?"
"As soon as you're well, we can go and live with Hankura and Chelle and Lanimer when Casir builds their house on Oltarin. I will care for Lanimer and for their child when he is born. You were raised as a farmer, and they need someone to run the farm and care for some kind of animals. But, if you don't want to ...."
"It's what you want, isn't it?" he half smiled indulgently.
"Yes, but I thought that someday, that you and I---”
"That we could do what?"
"That---that we could have our own son---our own land---that I could be your wife just like other people."
"But, I thought---I mean, I'm sterile. All of us were."
Nalina smiled and shook her head. "No, Orin. Hankura said you only had a temporary implant. It can be removed."
There was that stranger's name again---yet somehow Orin knew he wasn't really a stranger.
He might as well get used to it, he sighed. He was in a world full of strangers, and his future happiness depended on his being able to come to terms with it. He was going to stay with them and try to forget the same as they what havoc his former comrades in arms had done to his life on this little desert world called Zevus Mar.
For the first time in months, Orin Hart really believed his life would be whole again . . .
THE END