Pan’s com buzzed. She knew what it would say, but she snatched the com from the counter anyway.

I’m at the stop. Can you help me commute?

Pan didn’t bother to type back. She rounded the kitchen counter and paced the floor. She found the picture on the end table by her seaside view.

Pan traded the com for the picture. She held the sharp paper before her face and studied the image of the bus stop.

A covered bench sat beside a tree, and grass surrounded the space, extending back into a park. Sunset watched over the whole scene. Sotir would wait on the bench. She pictured him sitting there. Then, she conjured the portal and plopped it directly before the place she’d imagined him.

Sotir stepped through and tossed a hat off his head. His staff thunked on the wood floor. He dropped it. It collided with the couch softly and slid to the rug. Sotir opened his arms for a hug, and Pan made sure he got it.

“I’d ask you how you’ve been, but I know you’ve been fine.” Sotir loosened his hug and stared down. He played with her hair.

“Because you’ve been spying on me.”

“Checking up on you.” Sotir smiled. “What’s for dinner?”

“You can have leftover pasta and root vegetables, or leftover bread and fish fry.” Pan walked from their open living area to the kitchen and its large fridge. “The pasta and veggies aren’t so nice anymore, and the bread and fish are about the same. Which will it be?”

Sotir kicked off his shoes and padded into the kitchen after her. “Should I have gone shopping before I came home?”

Pan waved a dismissive hand. “No. No. We have plenty of food. I just didn’t cook anything new.” Pan opened the fridge and gestured to both sets of leftovers.

The pasta and veggies occupied two covered bowls, one small, one large. The fish and bread sat under a makeshift cover on a dish.

Sotir stared into the fridge, and his eyes glazed. He shook his head slightly and looked at Pan. “Have you eaten?”

“Yes,” Pan said.

“Then, I’ll take the pasta and veggies. You might want to toss the fish. I wouldn’t want you to be sick – again.”

Pan reached for the smaller veggie dish and passed it out to Sotir. He dodged the handoff and reached in for the larger pasta bowl. Both set their bowls on the counter, but Sotir left the preparation to Pan. He returned to the refrigerator, picked up the fish, and held it out some distance from his body. He took the fish to the back door and straight out to the composter on the side of their house.

Pan spooned out Sotir’s meal and set it on a plate, ready to microwave. She thought the fish must have been very bad if Sotir sent it straight out, though he’d been willing to risk food poisoning if she still needed to eat.

When Sotir stepped back over the threshold, she pulled his warmed food from the microwave and set it on the table, with a flourish.

“Your dinner, my keeper,” Pan said.

Sotir smiled, with a touch of awkwardness. “It’s in your best interest.”

“Sure, it is,” Pan agreed.

Sotir held up a single finger. “Hold on just a minute. I have to call Scaldin defense, preferably Alban. I tried to get through on the bus, but he didn’t answer.”

Sotir walked back into the living room.

Pan followed. “Why do you have to call?”

Sotir shooed her. “Go sit in the kitchen and wait for me.”

“No.” Pan stood by his side and watched him, with narrowed eyes.

Sotir sighed. “The Volanter will send a scout tonight. It won’t be long after that before they try for a delegation, and when that fails, they’ll come in force.”

Pan could feel her spirit droop.

Irini sat in the chair behind and between a couple of navy officers. She wanted to fly, but they insisted she get the back seat.

Irini hunched her shoulders and let her arms hang down. It was a top-notch sulk, but it had no effect on either man. The young, grey-haired men chatted and generally ignored her. Irini sighed.

The asteroid field, on the edge of Scaldigir’s solar system, came into view. Some of the asteroids contained an ore precious to Scaldigir, especially since it could be used in arcane suppressant. The factories pumped that suppressant out, ready to be used in a battle against Volanter. Thanks to the Volanter, Irini spent much of her time serving as a space miner. It sucked.

She could have been in the center of a war. Instead, she had to find the best space rocks.

“Alright. Which ones have the most ore in this section of the belt?” The officer turned around and stared at Irini, with an open, innocent expression, as if he didn’t remember her request to fly.

Irini sighed. She held up her hands and splayed her fingers. She asked the question of her thread: best asteroids for making suppressant?

Several threads glittered around her fingers. They snaked through the cockpit and out the windshield. A short distance from the ship, they spread wide, and each thread shot to an individual asteroid.

Irini unbuckled herself and leaned forward, between the men. She found the screen and its scan of the belt ahead of them. She tapped the screen, marking the asteroids that they should grab and bring back to Scaldigir. Then, Irini plopped back into her seat.

“Thank you,” the officer said. He began to work the controls, ready to release the arms that would snatch the asteroids out of the belt and pull them into the ship’s large cargo space.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The ship drifted sideways as it matched the slow orbit of the asteroids.

Irini stared up and out the windshield to a place beyond the belt.

“Cheer up.” The other officer twisted in his seat to address her. “We might let you fly us home if you like. Well, as far as the planet. One of us will have to park; otherwise, we could be in trouble for letting a fourteen-year-old arcane fly.”

“I’m fifteen now,” Irini said.

The man faced forward again. “It really doesn’t make that much of a difference. We’re not supposed to let an underage Scaldin pilot vital missions. No offense.”

Irini sat back. Her eyes found the windshield again, but she didn’t stare. She hardly saw it.

I missed it all. The whole battle against the Volanter, not that I would be of much help. The best jobs I ever had were the ones that Pan and Aria got me by mistake. Now, they’re both off duty, and I don’t have a hope for something exciting for ages.

Irini’s threads shimmered and fell to pieces, evaporating in the air.

Irini watched her hand and thought, is it too much to want a little excitement? If I were just unbound…

A new thread formed and ringed a single finger. Irini wiggled that finger and watched the glitter sparkle between her two rule abiding pilots. The sparkle led out the windshield and off into space.

Irini squinted. She could barely see it, but the glittering thread led up and away to…

A warning beeped from the helm.

“Uh oh. That’s a ship. No Scaldin ships should be out this far,” the officer said.

Irini felt her eyes go wide. The officer might as well have said that no ships should be out there because only Scaldin ships entered the solar system. It was not a Scaldin ship.

“Is it…?” One man asked.

“Volanter? You bet,” the other man answered. “The design matches to the letter.”

“Shit.”

Irini shook her hand, as if she could banish the Volanter and the excitement she’d been looking for. She didn’t even succeed in banishing her thread.

“We only got two rocks, but I’m getting out of here. Don’t need to alert them to how important this stuff is.”

A loud thunk sounded below, and the ship turned, accelerating before it got fully clear of the asteroid belt.

Irini clutched her seat. Her knuckles went white. “Are they going to shoot at us?”

“No, but they might be looking to capture us. I sent a call for help. Don’t worry.”

The ship fully turned, and Irini saw the rest of Scaldigir’s solar system. She could no longer see the threat, which sailed above and behind. Irini hadn’t been able to judge the Volanter ship’s size. She thought it might have been small, but far away things looked smaller than they were.

“Is it big?” Irini asked.

Her thread attempted to answer. It glittered; then, fizzled away. Her question didn’t really give it a chance to pinpoint a location or even a general direction.

“No. Relax. It’s small. Just a scout.”

The second officer pointed ahead. “Look. Our rescue is already here.”

A Scaldin ship appeared in the distance, but Irini couldn’t make her hands relax. The large Scaldin ship seemed to drift so far away and so slowly.

Irini felt her grip tighten, and her legs locked up as well. She thought ever sphincter in her nether regions must be clenched.

“They’re turning off. Volanter scout is leaving.” The officer swiveled. His brow furrowed, as soon as he saw Irini. “You alright?”

Irini nodded but didn’t yet relax. She waited, until the Scaldin ship loomed above them like a great sea monster.

Aria hurried after Gavain. A shuttle waited ahead. Aura puffed around its landing gear, making it seem like a fanciful beast, rising from a cloud of magic.

They had a delegation to meet, and despite Gavain’s objections, the Scaldin government decided to send Aria along with him. She was still an aura reader, and she was insurance against any harm that might come to the Scaldin ambassadors, including Gavain. The Volanter showed great restraint and tried not to injure civilians on Iruedim. They extended some of the restraint to the combatants themselves.

The thought that Aria might keep her husband alive motivated her to accept the job. It was also finally her choice. She decided the jobs she would take.

“I can’t keep up,” she called.

Gavain stopped and waited, until she walked alongside him. Then, he set a slow pace. Aria walked within his orange of anxiety, his loving pink, and red frustration.

Wind whipped their clothes and hair. Aria’s curls stretched and blew across Gavain’s chest. He put his arm around her, sheltering her from the wind. In return, he got a face full of her hair. Aria figured he’d grown used to it.

“I went to all this trouble to get you home safe. I can’t believe you picked this job – of all the jobs you could choose.”

“They say I can keep you alive, simply by being present.” Aria glanced askance.

She looked beyond the anxious orange and frustrated red. She saw beneath the emotions to his base colors of friendly yellow and confident purple.

Gavain harrumphed. “They were going to kill Camellia, despite the situation.”

Aria nodded and said nothing. It was a valid concern, but Aria would rather she and Gavain die together, than she become a widowed mother and live a life without him. It was her choice.

The shuttle looked more impressive up close. Its bottom-heavy aural cloud glowed in greens and blues, with a touch of red.

Irini waited beside it, nearly swallowed by its heavy aura, but her yellow shone through. Aria would know Irini’s brand of yellow anywhere.

Aria quickened her pace and pulled away from Gavain’s arm. “Irini.”

Through the bright yellow, Irini raised her hand and waved. Her fuzzy smile got through too. “I don’t get to be part of the delegation. I’m going aboard the Ischyros.”

“We’re using the Ischyros for this?” Aria glanced at Gavain.

His aura reached for both Aria and Irini. He adjusted his gloves and began to motion them aboard. “The Ischyros stayed out of the battles. That makes it a better candidate for negotiations.”

Irini stepped aboard, with a clunk and clang. “Ow.”

Aria rested her hand against the shuttle’s doorway and took a careful step inside. She passed through the cloud, and the light dimmed. The shuttle seemed so dark, with anemic aural light. It puddled on the floor and formed thin clouds along the ceiling.

Aria shuffled into the space, quick but careful. Her toes tapped a hard surface and alerted her to what tripped Irini. A metal box waited on the ground, etched with runes. Aria scooted around it.

Gavain stepped aboard and banged his foot on the box. “Mother Tree,” he swore.

“What is that?” Aria squinted and studied its aura.

“Suppressant.” Alban, more bearded and blue-red than normal, stood with his arms crossed at the head of the shuttle.

“Did you have to put it in the walkway?” Gavain inched around.

The shuttle door slid shut. Aria sat down, half because she thought the shuttle might take off and half because she just wanted a good place to sit. The seat lacked a cushion, but it curved with her legs. A seatbelt dangled on either side of her shoulders, and the buckles brushed the edge of her lap. Aria touched the cool metal, feeling it better than she saw.

She realized that she didn’t know the proper protocol for belting herself in. She didn’t really have much of a belly, so could she just seat belt as normal?

Gavain plopped into the seat beside her and grabbed one side of the belt. He leaned over her and retrieved the other. With both metal buckles in hand, he froze. In his aura, Aria read uncertainty, akin to her own.

Footsteps crossed the shuttle. Alban’s hands, covered in shades of blue and a touch of red, snatched the buckle from Gavain. He belted Aria in. “Get yourselves settled. I want to leave and get this over with.”

Alban strode away. He hurried Irini into a seat. She struggled to belt herself, hindered by her own anxious fumbling, shown in stark yellow.

Gavain belted himself. “Guess there isn’t anything different about it.” He grabbed Aria’s arm. His aura stretched further. It belted her in colors of pink and yellow, as if marking the place Gavain would really like to put his arm – across her chest.

Aria laughed quietly.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“When are we using the suppressant?” Irini turned wide eyes to Alban.

He belted himself into the pilot’s seat. “Whenever they give us the chance. This time is probably just for insurance.”

Irini’s aura crept over the floor and traced a path of yellow. It looked like a road through a muddled fluff of color. Irini’s yellow road stopped at the second pilot’s chair. “Oooo, can I come be copilot?” Irini fiddled with her seat belt.

“Get up here fast.” Alban’s fingers flew over the controls.

Irini scrambled free and joined him.

“I think this is too big a job for just me,” Gavain whispered to Aria. “I rather wish we had a few Iruedian representatives to round this out, or any other Scaldin ambassador.” He drew a short breath.

“You’re the only one they’re sending?”

“Yes, because you count as number two.”

Aria perked up a little to hear it.