“It was,” I agreed.
“Thing is,” he repeated heavily. “They were just stories. Until now.”
“I’ve heard your father tell stories about times I was in, and he likes to embellish like crazy, so they quite likely are still just stories,” I assured him. “Interesting times, when you’re in the middle of them, aren’t nearly as fun as they sound like in retrospect.”
Yoan nodded. “That’s what Dad said, too, just now. But that’s not why I want to stay on. Well it is, just a bit. I’ve never been away from Darius for long, or gone so far, and I figure that crewing for you, I would get to see some of the rest of the known worlds.”
“I’m sure of that,” I told him. “What’s the major reason, then?”
His gaze skittered away from me. Then he looked back, making himself look me in the eye. “I didn’t get it until after all this was over. But now I think I know how you and everyone really did manage to overcome the array and all that shit that went down on Nijeliya, and I’d like…I want to find out what it’s like.”
I was genuinely lost. I couldn’t even guess what he meant. “I’m a bit older than you, Yoan, but that just means I know how stupid I can be sometimes.”
He frowned.
“I don’t understand,” I said flatly. “Spell it out for me.”
He blushed. “Oh. Well. It’s just…all of you…you have issues. You argue. There’s all sorts of personal shit going on most of the time. But when it comes right down to it, you get on with it and work together. Man, you work together well, too.”
I stared at him.
Yoan looked even more uncomfortable. “So, I thought, well, I’d like to be part of something like that. And I’m not going to find a group like that on Darius because my dad runs machine shops and Momma is a politician and likes being in charge, and neither of them can stop thinking I’m still ten years old…” He trailed off. “Anyway, I’d like to stay on,” he finished awkwardly.
“And your parents are okay with that?” I asked cautiously, because he was still a newt. But Sauli had been a newt, once.
“They said I should make up my own mind.”
The politician and the practical engineer. Typical.
“I think we should find out what stuff you’re made of, Yoan. Have Lyssa give you a permanent room.”
“You mean, one I can make look like this?” He looked around at my garden.
“You can make it look like anything you want,” I assured him.
*
Once Yoan was gone, I headed for the diner. I wanted a drink, but I wanted company more. I did my best thinking when someone else was talking.
Juliyana sat at the big table, watching the people on the street through the windows. A glass of something white sat in front of her.
“What the hell is that?” I demanded, sitting opposite her. I waved at the waitress, who nodded.
“It’s milk,” Juliyana said, and grimaced. “It’s disgusting.”
“Then why are you drinking it?”
“The medical concierge said it would help me sleep.”
I opened my mouth to say that a sleepy-shot would do a better job, then shut it with a snap. She didn’t want the sleepy-shot because it could impact the baby.
And dammit, I got all happy and gooey inside. She was keeping the baby. I tried to hide my smile as the waitress put my scotch in front of me.
“Your mouth is all twisted up,” Juliyana pointed out.
I gave up. “That’s because I was trying to hide how pleased I am.”
Juliyana sighed. “Okay. I guess that’s fair. I’ve been fucking my life up for a good few years now.”
“A mild understatement.” I made myself stop right there and drink, instead.
Juliyana sipped the milk and pushed it away from her, making a gagging sound.
“What I don’t get,” I said, “was what you were thinking. Weren’t you keeping track of your sterile shots?”
Juliyana frowned and I realized I was speaking, anyway. I’d started, so I might as well finish. “It’s like you meant to do it,” I added.
Juliyana drew in a slow breath. Let it out. “Perhaps,” she admitted softly. “Maybe,” she added, her voice even softer.
“Okay. Why?”
She wasn’t arguing. She wasn’t fighting me. She stared at the tabletop, pushed a blonde lock behind her ear and said slowly, “I think…I finally got over feeling claustrophobic.”
I blinked. “You’re talking about Nijeliya, aren’t you?”
Juliyana nodded. “I didn’t think it had bothered me so much, but those last days, when we couldn’t walk without bellowing and couldn’t take a deep breath…and wondering if we were all going to die right there because we couldn’t figure out how to make crescent ships work and we couldn’t get off the planet…” She shook her head. “I was born among the stars, like you. I’m not made for dirtside. Not like Dalton.”
I sighed. “No, I’m not a baller, either,” I agreed softly.
We sat in silence for a while, and it was devoid of tension, which was nice. I finished my drink and got to my feet. “You’re going to have to do something very, very nice to make up for everything you’ve put Lyth through.”
“Or a lot of somethings,” Juliyana said, her tone one of agreement. “But I found out today that I’ve already started on that.”
“Oh?”
She smiled. “I’m having twins.”
—39—
Two months later.
When the door announced a visitor, I said over my shoulder, “Come in, Yoan!” and went back to sorting through messages. There was always a shit ton of them and any of them might be more paying work, so I couldn’t just ignore them.
The joys of being a freight captain.
I didn’t hear the door open.
“It’s not Yoan.”
I spun in the chair, my heart leaping. Dalton stood a pace inside the door, and Darb sat just outside it,
