I rose from the table and went into my bedroom. I wanted a shower, not a war council. I decided to let the guys hash it all out for a while. They had my report and they could make of it what they wanted. I still hurt and I seemed to feel it all even more, now that I was safe. I heal much faster than a human does, so I wasn’t worried about infection setting in or some other permanent damage. But, I still ached and hurt.

Slowly, I peeled away Tychon’s clothes and walked to the small bathroom that had probably once been a closet. I turned on the water in the shower and let it run over me in soothing sheets. There is something incredibly tranquilizing and calming about water. Maybe it is a subliminal reminder of our time in the womb when we are cradled, safe and comfortable all the time.

Predictably and right on time, I ran out of hot water, but I stayed in the shower. Maybe if I stayed in there long enough, I could wash away the memory of the people hanging from the ceiling, of the meat piled on the platters, of the reek of blood that filled the dining room. Instead of washing away the memories, the cold water seemed to make them crisper and more in focus. Or maybe my brain was finally making sense of what I saw in that dark, dark house.

Then, I started to cry and I curled up on the floor of the shower. Water splashed over my back in a steady rhythm as I sobbed aloud.

I felt his hands on me, even though I didn’t hear Eli enter the room. He turned the water off and covered me in a large bath sheet. He lifted me out of the shower as if I weighed nothing and carried me to the bed we shared.

“You’re freezing,” he told me. I hadn’t noticed the shivering. He pulled the damp bath sheet away and wrapped another one around me that was warm and dry. He slid into the bed beside me and spooned me from behind as he rubbed warmth back into my arms and legs. When I finally stopped shivering, he pulled the bath sheet away and pulled the blanket over me.

“How can I make it better?” he asked in that voice he only uses to talk to me.

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

“Do you want to sleep?”

“Every time I close my eyes, I see it all again. On some level, I knew things like that happen, but I never saw it until last night. I was even raped before, but it wasn’t like this. Last night was not about sex, as the first time was. Last night was a deliberate attempt to hurt me. To force an issue. I think Phobos would have been just as happy if you three had shown up, guns blazing. He would have killed you all like he killed those humans... with just a thought. I tried so hard to contact you to make certain you didn’t rescue me, because you would be dead now.”

“I’m not as easy to kill as all that, love. I am still here.”

I sobbed again, allowing the tears to wash away the deep anguish inside. I cried like I could not remember ever crying before. It was a deep thing that hurt my chest and my throat, but I couldn’t stop for many long minutes.

Eli held me while I cried and he did nothing to halt the tears. He seemed to know that I needed the cleansing that crying offers. I needed to get rid of the ugliness inside of me. After a time, the sobs eased, but the tears still ran down my face.

He pulled on my shoulder and I turned onto my back. He put his hands on my head and kissed my eyelids so that I would close my eyes. Instead of seeing the horror in Phobos’s house, I saw a pristine meadow that had never been touched by any intelligent creature. Across the field, tall soft grass flowed in the wind, changing colors from a shade of teal that was more blue than green to deep ocean blue. Wildflowers could be seen in every direction in a splash of color that looked like the Creator dropped his paint box. Reds, yellows, blues, oranges, and purples swayed across the landscape. Overhead, the sky was pink and dotted with fluffy white clouds. This place had a ring system as intricate as Saturn’s Rings and in the daylight, they sparkled like diamonds. Two moons hung in the sky, one looked to be the size of Earth’s moon and the larger of the two moons felt closer to the planet than Earth’s moon.

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

I walked through that flowery meadow with Helios beside me. For it was the Helios of old before the struggles of Earth left him with the delicate tracery of wrinkles on his face. His hair hung only to his waist and blew in the fresh breeze. Helios was naked and perfect. “I wanted to show you this,” he whispered. “This is our Home World, Sonara.” I felt the breeze caress my skin and I knew I was naked, too. The temperate zone on this planet made walking naked across a flowery field a sensual experience because I felt the breeze and the grass under my feet. I saw the colors of the flowers. I smelled their fragrance floating on the wind, first jasmine, then freesia. I heard the grass rustle as the wind rippled it like so much water. I tasted the beauty on my tongue.

Helios and I topped a hill and looked down into the valley that looked like a forest at first glance. Then, I saw buildings that were constructed to be a part of the landscape. They wrapped around trees and rocks and were mostly glass or another clear substance. Nothing like this existed on Earth. Tiny people walked on grassy walkways, going about their daily tasks.

The scene changed and it was nighttime in the same place. Lights burned inside the crystal houses and luminescent plants lined walkways of grass. We turned and walked back down the hill.

A chilly wind blew across the meadow and I was suddenly attired in a white gown with long white sleeves and a skirt that hung to my ankles. I wore no shoes, but walking across the plain of flowers didn’t hurt my feet. Helios wore a robe of white that hung to his ankles and was belted at the waist. “Look,” he said. I followed his finger and saw the rings shining brighter than any full moon on earth ever shone. The sky was a deep burgundy, not midnight blue like Earth’s sky, and the stars were scattered more thickly here than in Earth’s sky. And now, three moons hung over our heads, slightly off of the plane of the rings. “Diamonta, Celia, Marton.” He said as he pointed to first the largest moon, then the two smaller ones. “Marton orbits Diamonta,” he explained. “We couldn’t see it earlier because it was on the other side of its parent moon.”

“Why is the night so bright?” I asked him.

“Sonara is much closer to the galactic center than Earth is. Earth is way out on a galactic arm... just about there.” He pointed into the sky and I followed the direction he pointed again. I saw the narrow band of stars clearly showing the structure of the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way galaxy, where Earth resided.

“You lived here?” I asked him.

“Yes. Until my first assignment. Look there,” he said, and my overwhelmed brain saw what he pointed toward. It was a building that blended with the surrounding gentle hills so perfectly, it was easy to miss seeing it. “That is my family’s home. Your home, when we finally leave Earth. In the springtime, when the valley in Caucasus blooms with wildflowers, I am reminded of this place. That is why I love the valley so much that I keep my horses there.”

I turned slowly, in the meadow, trying to see everything, trying to understand the intense beauty that lay before me. Every time I turned, my eyes found something new to stare at, in wonder: Butterflies with transparent wings and the size of dinner plates, a small animal that looked like a teal-colored deer but only the size of a toy poodle, flowers tugged away from their anchoring stems to float in the breeze like tiny kites.

Helios sat in the grass and pulled me down with him. A pungent scent arose around us as we crushed flowers with our bodies. Jasmine, honeysuckle, and freesia filled the air. Looking up at the glorious rings, I realized we could actually see them spinning. We lay back on our bed of flowers.

“Why have you kept this hidden?” I asked him.

“I was waiting for a perfect time to show you,” he said in my ear.

I understood so much, at that moment. I knew this was the place he remembered every morning when he communed with the sun.

Then, Helios covered my mouth with his and held onto me. His body was warm and comforting as he held me close to his chest. I could hear his heart beating, in counterpoint to my own heartbeat. His large and booming, like a bass drum, and mine smaller and lighter and slightly faster than his. When I closed my eyes for sleeping, I saw the painted meadow and not a horror movie from the night before.

I slept.