“It occurred to me,” Alejandra continued, “that we’re pretty resilient ourselves. Rahel says she’s had three lives: the life she lived before her best friend died, the life between that moment and when she took Bondlancer Opah hostage, and the life since then. She’s lost parts of herself and been reborn.”
“The way you have.”
She nodded. “I’ve been around long enough that I could be thinking about retirement. I never imagined I’d be thinking in terms of rebirth. But that’s what it feels like. I’ve hurt for Josue more in the last few weeks than I did for the last two decades. But it’s different. It’s more . . . peaceful. A hurt I can live with instead of one that tears me apart. I feel more alive, if that makes any sense.”
“It does.”
“And you. You’re not the same person you were before Alsea. Another rebirth.”
Ekatya stared at her, the realization making her skin prickle. “I’ve thought so often about what we lost when Lhyn was tortured. But it’s not really about loss, is it? Or it’s not only about that. She’s changed, too. She was strong before, but now . . .”
“She’s stronger.”
“Shippers, yes. She won’t let fear stop her. She won’t even let it slow her down.”
“Resilience.” Alejandra raised her glass. “It’s the difference between surviving and truly living. I’d rather live.”
“Resilience,” Ekatya said, tapping their glasses together. As she drank, her gaze went to the display, where a wave crested and crashed onto the cobbles. Somewhere beneath those pristine waters, the Resilere and their hatchlings were home.
She wondered if they were singing.
Published by Heartsome Publishing
Staffordshire
United Kingdom
www.heartsomebooks.com
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Available in ebook and paperback.
ISBN: 978-1-912684-03-8
First Heartsome edition: October 2018
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.
Fletcher DeLancey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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Copyright © 2018 Fletcher DeLancey
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
About the Author
Fletcher DeLancey is an Oregon expatriate who left her beloved state when she met a Portuguese woman and had to choose between home and heart. She chose heart. Now she lives in the beautiful sunny Algarve, where she writes full-time, teaches Pilates, tries to learn the local birds and plants, and samples every Portuguese dish she can get her hands on. (There are many. It’s going to take a while.)
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She is best known for her science fiction/fantasy series Chronicles of Alsea, which has collected an Independent Publisher’s Award, a Golden Crown Literary Society Award, a Rainbow Award, and been shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award.
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Fletcher believes that women need far more representation in science fiction and fantasy, and takes great pleasure in writing complex stories with women heading up the action. Her day is made every time another reader says, “I didn’t think I liked science fiction, but then I read yours.”
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All about Alsea: alseaworld.com
Also By Fletcher Delancey
The Chronicles of Alsea series:
The Caphenon
Without A Front: The Producer's Challenge
Without A Front: The Warrior's Challenge
Catalyst
Vellmar the Blade
Outcaste
Resilience
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Now available worldwide in paperback and ebook.
Coming Soon
Uprising
Resilience Page 36