A few weeks had passed since the group’s long-awaited return to Celhesru. Even the quiet Zol didn’t miss the grime and grit of his home world when he compared it to this gleaming paradise, though the strange passage of time did take some getting used to. Most inhabited worlds had on average a twenty-to-thirty-hour day and night cycle. Celhesru had this too, but complicated things further by spinning not just around its own sun, but a large gas giant called Geponnta as well. During Celhesru’s nine-day transit across Geponnta’s sunward side, the days were brightened by unobstructed sunlight, and the nights were illuminated by the larger planet’s dreamy glowing clouds. Conversely, during the journey of equal duration across the dark side, the days were dimmed by the larger planet, and the nights were as black as the expanse of space.

  This nine-days-on, nine-days-off type of schedule had a profound effect on Iolite society. Darker days and true night served as a sort of latent period, where dormancy was emphasized above all else. Likewise, the brighter nights and true days were characterized by flourishing activity, with little time for rest. The difference was more strictly observed in ages past, but these days lines tended to blur between the influx of foreigners and the insistence of the Iolites to grow their economy unceasingly. And yet, the observance of time was still so crucial to them, more so than any other cosmic race, to the point that many Iolite travelers on other worlds had difficulty adapting to the more common circadian rhythm adhered to by others. Even a seasoned space farer like Nash felt the strain of ignoring her inbuilt reality. Needless to say, she was grateful to be back for a good long while.

  When they landed back at home it was the middle of the true night. She eased the ship into a large hangar and parked it in its usual spot between other craft of similar size. The enormous doors were open to the night sky which shone with hundreds of stars and thousands of city lights. Greg, Zol, and even Kory (who should have known better), stopped to gawk at the view upon exiting. Nash wasted no time in herding them off the ramp so she could lock up the vessel and go home. The cargo and their mission weren’t going anywhere, meaning they could deal with it in a few days when the sun was up.

  Since arrival, a full rotation around Geponnta had elapsed, and Nash felt less on edge and more secure at last. She hadn’t realized she’d been carrying so much tension in her jaw and shoulders. The aches and teeth grinding vanished without a trace, and she began to wonder what had ever been so bad as to make her feel such angst. Even the weight of her true responsibility seemed lesser.

  Every sample she returned from the world of the Toravai was given a proper laboratory appraisal and vetted as pure. She resumed her off-record discussions with her uncle and a select group of researchers, who then met with even greater powers-that-be to devise an extraction plan. From the data she collected they were able to infer that this planet held perhaps the greatest undisturbed cache of any known world. She often wondered what her people would have accomplished if they’d secured it centuries before as intended, and what would have become of her friends’ people in turn. In these meetings she felt compelled to bring up the uncomfortable, unspoken history surrounding the disparate groups, but managed only the meekest positive endorsements. This time would be different, she was sure of it! If only they enlisted the Toravai as co-investors, or even just employees, all of the violence of the past could be avoided. Her uncle assured her what she accomplished was good, but finished for the time being, and that he would take it from here with the help of his dearest friend, Perry – Kory and Mia’s mother. After all, it was she who had been foundational, instrumental even, on his quest to her home planet all those years ago.

  In the meantime, Nash turned her attention to the next project: an independent, Earthling-owned refinery just a half-days’ flight away. Her uncle wanted her to scout the place out, and to see if her new Human friend had any insight on how best to influence the owners. Other measures were to be authorized, of course, but that was neither here nor there. There was time to deal with that later. In the meantime, ever the manager, she saw that the lads were accommodated.

  Greg, of course, was at ease right away. His money never seemed to run out, and as it flowed so did his confidence. He was bolstered by the fact that his father had, by this time, forgotten all about the abandoned internship, and was, by Greg’s account, impressed with his son’s incidental ‘networking’ with the ‘real power players in the industry.’ It all sounded like pointless rich boy jargon, but it kept the good times rolling. And roll they did into a decadent new apartment in the same building as Nash and Kory’s place. Though his was a little nicer than theirs, with the best views in the city of Cinnfoara he was told. Without hesitation, he invited Zol to live with him. Guys needed their own space after all, and Greg insisted his new buddy was more than content with the smaller of the two bedrooms.

  The settling didn’t take long to achieve. And like everyone past, present, or future, they made the foolish assumption their new situation would last forever. Now, they had finally made it, and despite their vague goal on the horizon, the hard times were behind them, and they could breathe at last. This presumption expired in no time at all, but only for one at first. Nash of course felt she deserved something special, something just for her after all the hand-wringing and wrangling she had done for others. Whether she was right or not didn’t matter, because just as she began to sit back and plan her own elaborate twenty-fourth birthday party, a call for help came that she couldn’t refuse.

  It filled her with dread to take on, yet again, another burden to bear no one else could know about, but she was sworn to secrecy this time, and she had made a promise. Even more important than her desire to have her own way was her commitment to keeping her word. This made her angry. Just when everything was quieting down and no one needed anything, here came the neediest one of all. Why must it always be her to take care of others? She wasn’t anyone’s mother, she reminded herself. Even so, she let her friends know she would be away for a while and not to worry. She would clarify everything upon her return, only eight weeks hence. Nash left Kory, Zol, and Greg to their gym routines, night-surfing, golf, and other frivolities while she alone departed, taking full advantage of hydro-stasis and autopilot, as there was no one to talk to and the distance was great. Back she sailed, to a place at the edge of reality, on a voyage so awful she had hoped never to make it again.

  #

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Not even a few days after Nash’s abrupt exit, Greg occupied a table just outside a little Earthling owned café. The dark days were taking some getting used to, but he was sure he’d figure it out. His kind appeared to be doing as much, filling some commercial niche for galactic expats who were out and about at this dim hour.

  He didn’t have long to wait. Soon she appeared in the dusky afternoon, rendered gold and glittering in the light of the streetlamps. Everything about her seemed to shine except her eyes, as dark and unrelenting as her older sister’s. Greg rose to meet her and slid her chair out for her in the chivalric fashion, stumbling over himself to insist she order whatever her heart desired, coffee, ice cream, the whole store if she liked. Mia couldn’t have been that much younger than him, but still he fell into that paternalistic pattern common to all his liaisons. She took her seat and observed him carefully over the edge of her pink tinted glasses.

  Whether out of shyness or disdain, she was hesitant to say much to the over-zealous Human. He could see at once how odd the whole encounter must have felt for her, so he charged ahead on his own rambling course, intent on breaking the ice for the sake of both their nerves. There was a little business venture he was undertaking right there in Cinnfoara, and he was more than happy to talk at length about it.

  “So, as I take it…” he said, through a mouthful of the banana split they were supposed to be sharing. “…Golf was an Earthling curiosity imported decades ago without much fanfare. Iolites in general didn’t take interest in it, especially in this city, which maintained more of a… purposeful fixation on the arts and sciences. Isn’t it so cool? I’m learning all this stuff I never knew about before!”

  “I saw golf on TV once… it looked boring,” Mia said flatly, twirling her spoon around the edge of the dwindling dessert.

  “You’re not wrong!” His eyes lit up. “The screen is, in my opinion, the worst way to experience the game. You have to be there in person, hitting the ball yourself, watching how the light plays between the trees, smelling the fresh-cut grass… it’s unreal! And speaking of grass, the only course here in town is pretty worse for wear as I’m sure you can imagine. But as its new patron, I plan to change all that! We’re already making great strides! I got a guy I poached from Augusta National coming out to see about the head groundskeeper job, if he can stand nine days of dark at a time that is!” Greg laughed, glancing up briefly at the dreary sky. It was a wonder he paused at all.

  “Poached… like an egg?” Mia sighed, wondering if he’d take her seriously.

  Her response caught him off guard. Turns out he had been listening. He smiled awkwardly at the surface of the table for a moment, before deciding to change the subject.

  “So do you and Kory have different dads?”

  “What…?” Mia gasped, wishing at this point he’d just stuck to golf.

  “I mean, I can obviously tell you two are related,” he drove on senselessly, believing his gamble would pay off. “But it goes without saying that you’re the prettier one.” A clumsy wink of his eye was the cherry on top. The real cherry that once adorned the sundae was a thing of the past, much like any pretense of decorum left between them.

  Mia stalled for a moment, struggling to find the words with which to answer his audacity. “I – I suppose I didn’t know my dad… my mom tells me he died when I was a baby…” she sighed, lowering her eyes to the crumpled napkin in her lap. At once the wind fell from Greg’s sails. He was heartbroken for her and devastated he’d been so callous. “But I’m sure he’d be thrilled to hear how pretty you think he was.” The drab delivery of her comeback led Greg to regard her with caution. He hoped it had been a joke, but he was desperate not to offend her further, so he waited to see what she did next. After an overlong interlude she cracked a wicked smile at last, content with the ridiculous position in which he found himself.

  Greg followed suit, shaking his head in contrition. “I suppose I walked right into that one,” he chuckled.

  “I mean you talk about your own dad a lot. Are you just like, obsessed with dads or something?” She mocked, more than a little impressed he could roll with the punches.

  “I’ll cut you a deal,” he laughed, finally able to feel at ease with her. “I won’t say another word about dads if you promise not to tell Kory what I said about you and her. Wouldn’t sit right on my conscience I guess. I do consider her a friend after all.”

  “Please,” Mia rolled her eyes. “I never tell her anything. She thinks I’m a pest.”

  #

  They’d been set up, it seemed, by Kory, who was more than content to let the old pest and the new pest occupy each other for the time being. It’s not that Greg was an unwelcome friend most of the time, or that Mia was a wholly intolerable sister, but Kory had other business to attend to besides the material and leisurely. She wasn’t completely ignorant to what was coming next, and it was high time to get her and Zol shored up against it.

  Together on their home world they arrived at the sobering realization that neither of them were practiced enough to put up any amount of a fight against those who might wish them or their friends harm. They’d been luckier than they could imagine when they set foot in the city, but the times to follow held no such promise. New assignments awaited them upon Nash’s return; ones that might require a broader set of skills than some vague fencing advice. The imperative to improve was one they couldn’t ignore.

  It was a challenge to find places to train. Without question, they couldn’t exercise the electric aspect of their power. But Kory wasn’t content to sit around rotting, and she knew Zol wouldn’t be either. After enough pounding the pavement, they found a martial arts gym patronized mostly by a mixed bag of foreigners. It was promising, if not a little grungy. If there was anything the majority of the locals cared for less than golf, it was recreational combat. Though there were exceptions to every rule.

  The place was run by an Iolite guy named Billy. Zol didn’t seem too keen on Billy right out of the gate, but it took him a while to warm up to folks, seeing as city life didn’t suit him just yet. In any case, the two got the mentorship they needed for the time being, learning fast and taking the blows day by day. They were able to learn fast because Billy could teach fast, hit fast, and move fast, almost unnaturally so. After sparring with him a few times Kory began to wonder if he wasn’t telekinetic like Nash. If he was, he hid it well enough, like any of them would.

  Billy himself must have imagined Kory had a secret or two of her own, but he was beginning to look forward to her coming around, so he kept his less casual inclinations to himself. All enjoyment aside, repeat clients were good for business, and a business as unconventional as his in a city as expensive as Cinnfoara needed all the help it could get; a mutually beneficial prospect for his new trainees who needed more help than they could say.