“No. I’m by myself.” He did sit, across from Jenna and Marcus, shifting a bit until he found a comfortable way to place his wings. I watched him as Jenna brought him water. He was a rival; to all intents and purposes a rival who’d won.
I had to ask him. “Have you seen Alicia?”
Jenna shot me a disapproving glance.
He looked at the table and then over at me. It struck me again how beautiful fliers were, how pretty he was for a man. On the ground, they had a brittle strength, but nothing like the strength they’d shown in the air when they threw Bryan down. It had taken at least ten of them to do that, because Bryan had the bigger wings, the machine that helped him fly. I shut my eyes for a moment, dizzy with memory. I had not seen Tsawo in the fight, or I would have had trouble sitting there.
When he did speak, he said, “We buried your friend, the strongman. I apologize for our people. It was . . . not me. Not the people I represent. But it was an act of my kind, and I’m deeply sorry.”
He sounded like he meant it. It took as much strength as I had to stay calm as I asked, “So Alicia is all right?”
“She’s choosing to stay with us.”
I had thought so. Still, a lump rose in my throat. “Please . . . tell her . . . tell her I said good luck.” I got up and busied myself at the sink, washing a glass that didn’t need to be washed and refilling it with water just like the water I’d thrown out.
He sounded sure and calm as he said, “I’ll tell her.”
He could at least sound regretful. Surely he knew his words were knives. An awkward silence fell. Marcus was the only one with the presence of mind to fill it well. “Chance thinks your niece will have babies.”
Tsawo’s reaction was to simply nod and chew a bit on his upper lip.
I sat back down with my clean glass of water and watched. Even I knew Tsawo wasn’t giving us the reaction we expected. He shifted on his seat. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m glad. It will help us greatly.”
Chelo pressed him. “What about the war. You will come with us, now, right? We’ll go together?”
He shook his head, mute.
Marcus leaned in toward him, his voice strained. “We have an agreement.”
Tsawo met Marcus’s eyes, and spit out what he’d clearly come for. “And we have new leadership. We will not go to war.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed further, and his shoulders sank. He blew out a long, slow breath, never taking his gaze from Tsawo’s face. As if simply staring him down would change his message.
After an uncomfortable silence, Jenna spoke. “And you are the new leader.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded, sitting up straighter. “And we will not go to war. Why be given this wonderful chance at life, and then throw it away? We will stay neutral.”
Only three days had passed since Tsawo’s announcement, but I still felt betrayed. We’d done the work! We’d given them what we promised.
Marcus had found us a new ship, purchased outright so that we were the only passengers and Marcus and I and Kayleen the only pilots.
Marcus had taken the extra day to have her renamed. So we flew away from Lopali in Bryan’s Hope. I didn’t actually like the name much, but Chelo seemed very happy with it.
The best thing about Bryan’s Hope was a single large room big enough for all of us to gather in. It already had a wall of simulated sun for the kids and Chelo and Liam, so we would have daylight and night as we flew off to meet the fleet. It had enough workout equipment to please Jenna, and to make me groan. I knew what she’d put us through as soon as we were well and truly between worlds.
And it had a big entertainment corner with enough room for us all. We’d lost three: Bryan, Alicia, and Induan; and gained two: Mohami and Kala.
And, right now, I was as happy as I could be, given our losses. Everyone was in one place. The wall of simulated sun made it morning on Bryan’s Hope, and the children played, each of them with a keeper bot by their side. Sasha sat at my feet, her tail thumping on the floor.
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright Notice
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prolog
1 Joseph: The Ship’s Nursery
2 Joseph: Messages
3 Alicia: Invisibility
4 Chelo: The Sister Worth a War
5 Chelo: The Fifth World
6 Joseph: Settling
7 Alicia: The After Party
8 Chelo: Made Things
9 Joseph: Waking on a World
10 Alicia: Flying Lessons
11 Joseph: The School of Heaven’s Flight
12 Chelo: What Seeyan Kept
13 Alicia: What are Protectors?
14 Chelo: Caro and the Wind
15 Alicia: A Run about Town
16 Joseph: The Men on the Ship
17 Joseph: A Mother And Child
18 Chelo: The Keepers of the Gardens
19 Joseph: Flying Long
20 Chelo: The Gardens
21 Alicia: Being Kept
22 Joseph: The Cave of Real Power
23 Chelo: The Heart of Mohami
24 Joseph: We Begin
25 Joseph: Shades of Gray
26 Alicia: At The Festival of High Summer
27 Chelo: The Keepers
28 Joseph: Making as well as we can
29 Alicia: Invisibility Counts
30 Joseph: Letting Go
31 Alicia: Friends and Enemies
32 Joseph: A Friend In Need
33 Chelo: Caro’S Link
34 Alicia: Captured
35 Joseph: Down in the Cave
36 Chelo: A Fortune
37 Alicia: Empty Beds
38 Joseph: Into the Light
39 Chelo: Escape?
40 Alicia: Angels and Devils
41 Joseph: The Journey
42 Chelo: The Spaceport, Charmed
43 Alicia: A Hole in Charmed
44 Joseph: The Last Work
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