“I told you so.”

Rooks whipped around and slapped Alban across the face.

He held his cheek and stood stock still.

“Sorry, but that’s the last thing we need to hear.” Rooks put her hands to her temples. She exhaled a long breath.

“Right.” Alban dropped his hand to his side. “You’ll need to get back to Fauchard. I’ll call Pan, and she can draw another portal for you.”

“No.” Rooks’ gaze snapped up to his. “We need a plan to escape. We left one or two of those ships alive, including the one we spent our little meeting on. They know what happened, and they’ll know to send a message ahead. They may not have a genetic contract on file with the Scaldin, but they’ll have one with the Iruedians.” Rooks put a hand to her chest. “My people.”

Alban held up a finger. “Consider that they may not be able to send a message ahead.”

Rooks knit her brow. “What do you mean?”

“They lost contact with at least two clans, and they have a special clan home that seems largely cut off from the rest of the galaxy.” Alban raised his eyebrows. “I had Sotir check, and it would seem that our chances to reach the clan home first are good. What’s more, it’s hard to see into the clan home, which means it must be hard to see out.”

Rooks nodded slow. “As long as we’re faster than the Bacchan ships, we should reach the clan home before they do, or the wormhole.” Rooks felt her eyes narrow as she focused on Alban’s only office decoration, a picture of the Ischyros in space. “The wormhole. We probably can’t take on the clan home, but we can reach the wormhole and change the exit. I doubt they could follow us.”

“Maybe,” Alban half-agreed. “They say you won’t be able to do it.”

Rooks huffed. “We’re not going to take their word for law.”

“Fair enough. Let’s head to the wormhole. Till then. Why don’t you go back to your ship? We can discuss our plans later – when I have more from Sotir.”

Again, Rooks nodded. She could use a little rest. She couldn’t guarantee that she would rest, but she could use it.

Camellia tidied their quarters. They’d lived there for two weeks, maybe a few days more, and Camellia could not believe what a mess they’d already made. She picked a blanket off the floor, folded it, and tossed it onto the sofa. She headed to the kitchen to gather up six or seven stray glasses when the door opened.

Florian stalked through. He closed the door behind him and stared at Camellia. “What happened? How did it go so wrong?”

Camellia froze. “Didn’t you hear about the genetic contract?”

“We need more information about that.” Florian crossed the room and threw a heavy file on the counter.

Camellia nodded at the file. “What’s that?”

“All the Fauchard’s information on the Volanter.” Florian held the corner of the file between his fingers and ruffled the pages.

“We don’t know much about the Volanter.” Camellia glanced from the thick file to Florian’s eyes and back again.

“No, we don’t. That’s a problem, considering they want us for…oh – I don’t know – replacements for the lost clans.” Florian sighed.

Camellia put down a dirty glass and reached for the file. “My point was that this file is much too thick to be everything Iruedians gathered from Volanter study. Does it spell out the alphabet? Every rune circle we could get our hands on?”

Florian slid the file to her. “It’s somewhat new research actually. A review of our libraries and publications to see what we missed that might belong to the Volanter. Your mirror is in here – formally added to the roster. In fact, your mirror was what inspired me to set a few of our museum residents on the track of the Volanter.”

Camellia picked up the file and paged through. She saw her mirror. She saw the temple overview as well as the alphabet and a handful of circles. She saw depictions of the Volanter atop clouds and floating gardens, albeit in poor print quality. All those items were familiar, but Camellia counted at least five new magical objects, imprinted with Volanter symbols, and a spacecraft dig site that showed a ship map, similar to the place that Camellia had just visited. That one couldn’t have been added by museum workers.

“You did some of this yourself. The ship.” Camellia turned the file and showed him the dig sketch.

He nodded. “Now, that we’ve met the Scaldin, we can find even more traces of our Volanter ancestors. There’s a fossilized Dipinta tree in there.”

Camellia flipped till she saw it. “You’re a wonderful chair. Cernunnos would have been so proud. He loved Volanter research.”

Florian frowned. “You’re thinking about him a lot. Did you give yourself a break? At all?” Florian leaned on the counter.

“You really haven’t thought about him?” Camellia closed and placed the file down.

Florian shrugged. “I didn’t spend as much time with him as you did, and our relationship wasn’t great, especially towards the end. After a couple of months, I didn’t think about him as much.”

Camellia supposed it made sense, but she had thought about Cernunnos at least once a week, since the day he’d left them. “I don’t think I’m excessive.” Camellia turned away. “I’ll look through the file more later. I need to clean up first.”

“Your creator had to have had a better way for you to defend yourself. Your staff and its channeling of electric current is clearly too much for your synthetic skin.” Sten worked to graft new skin onto Eva’s hands.

She wouldn’t have to wait for more to grow, since they’d been growing bits of her, in their small nanite reactor back home. Eva was glad Sten had the foresight to bring some of those bits.

Eva looked at the seam where Sten sewed the graft to her arm. He’d done delicate work on her fingers, making them look just as they should, fine and thin.

“Nice work,” she complimented.

“I wished I’d come along with you. You probably could have used my help. If you burn your hands like this once a year…” Sten’s hands worked fast to stitch her new skin in place.

Eva looked up from the skillful display and met his eyes. “I don’t intend to burn my hands once a year, but when I come up against powerful opponents, my staff is an effective solution.”

Sten nodded. He finished the last stitch, and Eva flexed her hand. All her important bits were sealed away once again. The graft glittered more than the rest of her, but it would soon take on the more subtle gold that characterized her person.

Eva looked up to find Sten staring at her.

“I was very worried about you, you know.”

Eva had become accustomed to Sten’s minute changes in expression, and she studied this one, only to conclude that his concern was of the romantic variety. Yet, again.

A part of Eva, the one that regretted her wasted time with Chrysanthos, urged her to say something encouraging. The other part of Eva, the portion of her attention devoted to Lurren, cautioned against it. Eva could barely handle developing friendships in her current state. She couldn’t put the time in to learn beyond that.

Eva said nothing, and Sten let it pass.

However, he had more to say, “Eva. I’ve been thinking about consciousness copying.”

Eva stared away. “That’s something we’ll discuss with the rest of the androids. Not here, not now.”

“Well, I…”

Eva held up a hand. “I need to shut down for a few hours.”

“It’ll help the graft integrate. It’s a good idea.” Sten wandered away.

Eva would be sorry if he died, and she treated him like this at the end. But, he lacked focus – focus on Lurren. Sten toyed with the nanites. He toyed with other bits of old Lurrien tech, and he tried to engage Eva in a complex dance of relations. Not to mention, his foray into the topic of consciousness. Sten needed to focus on rebuilding, not exploring.

Eva could not remember if he was always like this, and with Lurren in trouble, he put it aside. She thought back and remembered a time that Sten put his hands to work on a small Lurrien robot. The toy jabbed at him with pointed legs, but Sten worked. That happened in the middle of their rescue of Lurren.

Eva decided that Sten had always been a bit too curious. She only just noticed.

“I almost lost my dragon…my basan.” Meladee relaxed on the bed that she and Benham shared.

He sat on the edge, stealing glances at her sore figure.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back on my feet in no time. Just wish I knew some of that sweet, sweet Volanter magic.” Meladee rubbed her forehead and tried to get more comfortable.

“Maybe if Pan hadn’t abandoned you and Eva on that ship.”

“Hey. She came through. She destroyed half the damn fleet.” Meladee kicked a blanket over her feet as it slipped off. Her flank ached with the motion.

Benham fixed the spread.

As soon as Meladee got the energy for a healing spell, she’d set it off. She kind of wished they’d kidnapped Chara before they shuttled back to the Fauchard. That woman seemed damn useful to have around.

“Do you think you would have lost them forever?” Benham asked.

Meladee shook her head. “Nah. Too easy to take ‘em back. We really took those guys by surprise. They just couldn’t fathom that we wouldn’t be into them, you know? But, I don’t think they were peak Volanter specimens.”

“You think we’ll find worse?”

Meladee propped herself up. “Hell, yeah. This idea to move the wormhole, man so fucking stupid. That Carex guy did know a thing or two about magic. Don’t tell Inez or Eder I said that. How’s the return spell coming by the way?”

Benham laid across the bottom of the bed and put his hands behind his head. “It’s coming along. They’ve only taken a break to help the Fauchard’s battle mages with that…slaughter.”

“You know, we only got out so easy because Eva jammed up their communications. And because they were such cocky bastards. And because Pan has got one hell of a familiar.” Meladee accidentally poked Benham’s side with her foot. She decided that it shouldn’t have been an accident and poked him again.

Benham caught her foot. “So, how is a familiar different from a summon?”

“More complicated spell. A familiar draws all its power and personality from the caster. It has a stronger connection. You don’t have to give them as many orders, and they have a stronger sense of self-preservation as well as free will.” Meladee didn’t bother to get her foot free from where Benham still held it.

“Why don’t you have a familiar?” Benham asked.

Meladee shrugged. “Too much work. Too much effort. I want the kind of spell you can use and then shut off. It’s hard to get a rapport with a summon, but once you do, they work fine. And, they never go haywire, unless some Volanter…”

The microwaved announced the completion of their food, blotting out Meladee’s curse.

Benham sat up. “I’ve got to get that.”

“Hey.”

Benham paused. He balanced on the edge of the bed. “What?”

“Carex said that we wouldn’t be able to do it. To shift the wormhole. I’m really hoping that Inez and Eder prove him wrong, ‘cause we can get home…but…”

“The Scaldin will be stuck. Plus, the Volanter will be able to get to us.” Benham pushed against his knees and stood. “Eva was right. There is so much worse than the Finial.”

Aria stirred the pot of pasta she’d been cooking. Gavain worked on the sauce and the vegetables. He had less to do. He just had to watch the stovetop. Aria slowly took over that job too, just to keep her mind off things.

“Let me help a little. I didn’t even go over to the Volanter ship.”

Aria shooed him away. “No, I’ve got it. You can sit down.”

Gavain, instead, got behind her and hovered over her shoulder. “I’ve reviewed the recording from your conversation, and I’ve been thinking of different ways we could have negotiated with them.”

“Oh?” Aria stirred both sauce and pasta at once, earning a sigh from Gavain.

“I wonder if we should have just left a group behind – to distract them.”

“That would be a sacrifice,” Aria said.

“And who would volunteer for that?” Gavain hummed his frustration. “I wonder if we could have tricked them into letting us pass, with a promise to meet another time. Do you think that would have worked?” His aura started to creep around in shades of pink.

“I honestly don’t know. They wanted to come with us more than they wanted us to visit them. And, they acted as if our refusal was the most unnatural thing. Their auras…” Aria left it at that.

She didn’t know how they would have escaped the Volanter if Meladee, Eva, and Pan hadn’t done what they did.

“I’m worried about Pan. When do you think that thing will go away?” Aria asked.

An alarm went off, signifying the end of their meal’s cook time. Gavain shut all three stovetops down. Aria moved aside and let him finish the rest.

Gavain spooned food onto their plates. “I don’t know when that thing will leave, but I doubt we can help. I’m more worried about you.” Gavain’s aura skittered over the table and rested its colors on Aria’s chair. Gavain’s hand followed. He pulled it out for her.

Aria sat down and scooted herself in. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I got us a chance to go see the doctor aboard the Ischyros tomorrow. He understands that it’s completely confidential and won’t even say that we saw him.” Gavain took his seat.

Aria poked at her food. “Fine. But, we shouldn’t even be trying in this situation. It’s a bad time.”

“Maybe, but let’s at least get ourselves checked out.”

“It’ll be me.”

“You never know,” Gavain said. “It might be me.”

Aria shook her head.

“Or, it might be neither of us. It might be bad luck.”

“How long can we have bad luck?” Aria didn’t feel like eating.

“Someone has to have an unlucky roll of the dice. I think that’s us. Or, maybe it’ll be an easy fix.” A flicker of lavender drifted through Gavain’s aura.

Lavender? Bad luck? What an improvement to Gavain’s mood, and with those thoughts, Aria was suspicious that he had been to see a certain fortune teller.

Pan huddled in a corner of her training bay. She hugged her knees to her chest and watched the dragon rage at the walls that held it.

The dragon had come through the portal, only to throw a tantrum that they left the job “undone.” It climbed the walls, scratched the hull plating, meant to contain Pan’s spells, and roared, probably loud enough to be heard on the bridge.

Pan plugged her ears in anticipation of another roar, but the beast was spent. It panted at the center of the room.

“I thought you were supposed to be my summon, not the other way around.” Pan ventured a glance up. She watched those red eyes. “Why don’t you just go? Go on, get.”

The dragon waited.

The lock churned, and Pan heard its motors work. She sat stiff and held her breath. The sliding doors and hinged door, the double seal that kept her and the dragon in, started to open.

“Don’t you even think about it.” Pan pointed to the back of the bay. “You’re not going anywhere without me, and I’m staying right here.”

The dragon slunk to the back of the bay.

Sotir strolled in. He immediately closed the door behind him, only glanced at the dragon, and headed towards Pan.

Sotir knelt beside her. She avoided his eyes, but she studied where his bended knee met the floor and where his hand rested on his other. Sotir laid his staff in front of Pan, and it seemed a barrier between her and the dragon. Not that Sotir’s slim staff could stop the creature if it decided to give Pan another cuff about the head.

“How are you?”

Pan’s eyes darted to him. “How do you think?”

“Can’t dispel it?”

Pan stared at the dragon. “It thinks I need it, like I need air.”

The dragon crouched and laid down slow on the deck.

Sotir settled himself beside her. “I’ve been reading about familiars, not from the Volanter spell book but from some information Meladee gave me. It’s difficult now, but it does get easier.” Sotir gestured to the dragon. “It’s not a lost cause.”

Pan thought it might be. At first, she didn’t understand why her familiar was like this. She’d gotten the brief expo from Meladee that familiars weren’t usually combat tools. That was a summon’s job. Yet, Pan’s was a killing machine. It drew its power from her, and the link between her and her familiar was stronger than what Pan’s link with a summon would be.

It seemed obvious. Pan’s familiar was a reaper. And, unlike Pan, it would remain a reaper, or so she worried.

Sotir put a hand over Pan’s.

She startled and set her eyes on their touching digits.

“I’ll stay with you,” Sotir offered.

Slowly, Pan looked up to his face. A breeze passed through the bay. It came from the direction of the dragon. Pan checked on the beast and found it gone.

Her whole body relaxed. Muscles in her toes, that she hadn’t even known were tense, relaxed.

Pan pushed herself into Sotir’s arms. “Finally.” Pan took a deep breath. “I think…” she began. “I think we massacred them. I think that thing did, but I summoned it so…”

“Pan.” Sotir’s tone was firm. “If you had not, we would be trying to find our way out of a Volanter escort and then a stronghold. We would be trapped. I was wrong.”

Pan raised her head and looked him in the eyes.

“That stronghold seems to stand apart from time. It’s why they were so confused by our viewpoint. They didn’t realize how long it had been. They can’t conceive of a time period that long. If they took us to that clan home, we would become like them. A year would turn into two; two into ten, and ten into a lifetime. And, we wouldn’t care at all. Is that how you want to spend your life?” Sotir asked.

“No,” Pan answered, with conviction.

Irini wanted to see the beast. But, that would be insensitive to Pan. She wanted to go bug Aria, but Aria seemed to be in a really bad mood. Instead, Irini’s thread suggested she should bug Kat and Chara, and though she had no enthusiasm for the prospect, she’d done just that.

“What do you think of Volanter?” Irini laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

Kat rested in a chair. “What do I think of Volanter?” She set her chin in her hand. “I don’t know.”

Irini looked to her side where Chara read on the couch, a cup of tea in hand.

“What about you?” Irini asked.

Chara put her cup down and set her tablet aside. “I think the question is complicated. Obviously, none of us would be here without them.” Chara put a hand to her breast. “I wouldn’t be me, and you wouldn’t be you.”

Irini turned her head to stare at the ceiling again. “How is it even possible – for them to, you know, make us?”

Chara fingered her cup but didn’t pick it up. “It likely involves some genetic engineering, which must be quite the blow to them. We know they love nature and all things natural. Because we do.”

“So, why bother?” Irini shrugged. The motion felt strange on the floor.

“They must need us for something,” Kat said. “Maybe, they’d rather experiment on us than themselves. Who knows?”

Irini could tell that Kat’s opinion of the Volanter leaned negative. She thought Chara’s might lean in the opposite direction. Irini feared the Volanter, but other than that, she didn’t have strong feelings.

“You know, old age might be a little better if I wasn’t arcane,” Kat complained. “I can pin that on the Volanter. They really made a muddle of our lives, didn’t they?”

Chara tsked. “You’re in good shape.”

“For a woman that’s ten years older, yes.”

Chara took a drink. “If that’s how you feel, then I guess you would trade our friendship for your health.”

Kat frowned. “Of course, I’m going to say no to that, but…”

“Maybe, you would,” Chara said.

Irini sat up fast. “I would never trade my friendship with Pan, Aria, or you guys for my health.”

Kat smiled. “But you have your health. Irini, you have no idea what’s yet to come.” Kat gestured to herself. “Look at me. You have no idea how fast I used to be. How much more I could do. You also don’t know what it feels like, when your nerves finally get tired of your arcane power.”

Irini looked at the floor.

“You say that now, but you’ll learn to live with it,” Chara promised. “You’ll adjust.”

Kat grumbled but didn’t word her response. After a short pause, she said, “I’m going to miss my grandson’s birthday.”

Chara looked up from her reading. “Which one’s?”

“At this rate, all of them.”

Still on the floor, Irini hugged her legs. She realized that she didn’t know about Chara and Kat’s families. She thought she might ask. Should I?

Her thread lit up in gold and traced its way to Kat and Chara.

Irini wiggled her finger. “How many kids do you guys have?”

Kat answered first. “I’ve got four. All grown. I’m up to five grandkids and counting. My kids are a little slow on the uptake when it comes to family additions. To answer your next question, three of my kids are arcane, not sure how many of the grandkids are yet.”

Irini turned to Chara.

Chara smiled a little. “I’ve got six kids.”

Irini’s mouth dropped open.

Chara laughed. “It was quite the payday by the time I got up to number five.” Chara continued, “Three arcane. Twelve grandkids…and counting.” After a short pause, Chara added, “I miss them.”

Kat drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. “And, Irini has two siblings – one brother, one sister.”

Irini’s head whipped to face Kat. “You know who’s in my family?”

“Of course, we do,” Chara said. “We know all the statistics of our mentees. For example, Pan has two sisters.”

“And, she hates them,” Kat added.

Chara inclined her head to agree. “Aria is an only child. Sotir has an older brother. I know that, and he wasn’t even my mentee.”

“So, I guess you read up on us.” Irini frowned.

“It’s in your records.” Kat itched behind her ear. “Now, why don’t you ask about our husbands. Chara is married to a bodybuilder.”

Chara laughed. “No, I’m not.”

“He’s huge,” Kat said in a hushed tone. “I’m married to an accountant. He’s not huge. The one time we went to a nude beach, we had to go with Chara and her man. Do you think my man ever wanted to go back?”

Irini felt a smile forming on her face.

“No. He didn’t,” Kat said.

Chara laughed. She seemed unable to stop. Kat continued the story. Irini smiled and listened.