Page 144 of Shadows of Stardust

I wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’d plead and cajole and bribe, whatever I had to do to make her agree.

But today, I simply take the device and tuck it away. I smile at her—a real smile—and accept she’s got her own peace waiting for her, even if it’ll look different from mine.

“I hope it will be,” I tell her. “And you’ll know where to find me, if you ever want to come visit.”

“I’ll have to take you up on that sometime. Will be better than coming back to this place, at any rate.”

We both fall silent.

Seconds tick by, heavy with the understanding that we’re both about to leave this place for the last time.

Off to uncertain futures on worlds far away, apart from one another in a way that might not be permanent, but will also be different from anything we’ve known. The two halves of our lives, cleaved clean through, with no way to put them back together even if we wanted to.

My throat tightens, but it’s not all grief this time.

There won’t be much love lost for this place, that’s for certain, but in spite of all its faults, it’s seen us through. We survived it long enough to leave it.

Even with all the work the Aux has done to clean up the criminal element in the city, Savvie’s still not entirely comfortable spending more time here than she needs to, and I can’t blame her. Nor do I want to give Arrik any kind of aneurysm from the stress he must be feeling over having Savvie back here in the city she was nearly killed in.

So even though I’ll never, ever have enough time with her, I can also accept it’s time for another goodbye.

I walk down with her, and take the opportunity to thank my new brother-in-law for everything he’s done for her. We sayour goodbyes with a few tears, but also with promises we’ll stay in touch, promises we’ll both do our best with these lives we’ve earned.

What our best means, I don’t know, and I don’t imagine it will be anywhere near what I might have wished for Savvie and me.

Back inside, I climb the stairs and keep climbing, past our seventh floor walk-up and all the way to the roof. I let myself out and cross to the edge. It’s not much of a view—I doubt anywhere on Thervor’s got any kind of worthwhile view—but it’s as good a place as any to wait for the suns to set.

It’s as good a place as any to think, to dream, to grieve, to hold vigil on this last night on Severin before whatever my life will become tomorrow.

45

Zandrel

The spaceport in Severin’s capital city of Thervor does not inspire the best first impression of the planet.

Dimly lit, and with outdated technology in various states of disrepair, the whole place is coated in grit and dust, an inescapable shroud whipped up by the slightest breeze. I set my cruiser’s security protocols, adding a few extra layers of protection for good measure should any of the unsavory characters skulking around the hangar decide to test those protocols for weak spots. With any luck, I won’t have to worry about it. I’ll be back before the suns have risen, and it would take the best craft thief I know at least twice that long to crack through.

Flicking open a small holoscreen from the band on my wrist, I pull up the route to my destination. Before I can take a step toward the exit, though, a voice rings out from behind me and my hand drops to the blaster at my hip.

“Zandrel! Hey, wait—woah!”

In the span of a heartbeat, Arrik pushes a very pregnant Savannah behind him and draws his own weapon. He aims it squarely at my chest, baring his teeth in a silent snarl.

Despite the handful of beings milling about, no one in the port does more than spare us a glance.

Another delightful feature of this fatesforsaken planet. Violence in anonymity.

“Drop your damn weapons,” Savannah grumbles.

She pushes past Arrik, despite his bluster and the glare he levels on me that could melt a lesser male’s flesh from his bones.

“I’d say I’m surprised to see you here,” she says as she reaches me. “But I’ve got the feeling you’ve had all this planned from the moment you sent that comm.”

I chuckle. “You give me too much credit.”

“I don’t think I do.”

She opens her arms to me. Awkwardly—I don’t know if I’ll ever have the natural affinity for physical touch that humans seem to—I return the embrace, catching another warning glare from Arrik as I do.

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