The engines of the Tortoise were already on. Waves of heat made plants move fast as everyone had gathered around the ship.

Eto and the group stood in front of the entrance, while Gongarza spoke a few words of their heroism on the planet.

‘And especially you, Eto,’ he now said, less loud.

‘You, who I distrusted from the beginning, has proven to me that not everyone from outside our planet is bad.’

Eto didn’t know how to respond. He was more confused why Gongarza didn’t like him in the first place but before he could ask, the Kojo member bowed before him. And not only him, soon all the Kojo and the Ricu members bowed before Eto and the group.

‘Please get up,’ Eto whispered while he felt embarrassed.

Everyone else in the group laughed, as Gongarza and the rest got up.

Prince Otzareta slowly walked to him and thanked him, not only for saving their tribe but also him personally.

‘What about the soldiers on the planet?’ Veronica asked and the prince smiled.

‘We believe in Eto’s words. That they were just soldiers following orders. We think that given enough time, they will leave, because their leader went down.’

They saw more members in the crowd nod to this idea. Even Lowe nodded, with his Ricu warriors spread out in the crowd amongst the Kojo members.

Eto looked past the prince, looking for the princess. But he could not find her.

‘She won’t come. She already said goodbye, she said’ the prince said Eto who looked around. Eto sighed.

‘Too bad. I would have loved to see her before we went away.’

Hawk slowly walked next to him and put his mechanical arm on Eto’s shoulder.

‘Maybe it’s for the best. Goodbyes are hard. Best to leave it to themselves to handle it how they want it.’

‘I guess,’ Eto said sadly but still he showed his little smile.

The group turned around and all started to walk up the hatch to get into the ship.

‘May your paths be full of light, and it will always guide you to Daisugi, which is now a home for all of you,’ the prince said as the hatch started to close.

Djon took his place in the cockpit, and started to prepare for takeoff.

Veronica took a place beside him, looking quickly over her shoulder to Eto who took a seat behind them.

TYO drove by silently, stopping quickly to rub his tiny hand on Eto’s leg as comfort before continuing to the machines of the ship.

‘Cheer up,’ Vanessa said who patted Eto on the back and took a place next to him.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘Yeah,’ Eto said. He couldn’t explain why he felt so bad about leaving. He couldn’t help thinking about how the princess was when they last saw each other. Partly, Eto thought he had made her feel bad but he couldn't tell why.

As the Tortoise started to get up and turn slowly towards the giant tree to fly away, Hawk saw something through the window.

‘Would you look at that? Just in time.’

Eto and the rest also looked outside and there they saw the princess.

On top of the burned tree, high in the sky, she was standing there, waving.

Eto smiled and jumped forward to put his face against the glass.

Even though they were far apart, he could tell she could see him. And he waved back at her.

‘Nice goodbye,’ Djon mumbled as he pushed the thruster and the ship moved forward, flying over the tree and over the princess.

Soon, they were leaving the surface of Daisugi behind them.

‘Insert shield, we don’t want to attract the remaining ships of the council,’ Djon said and Veronica nodded, pushing some buttons of which she learned what they meant.

After that, they soon found the darkness in space and made their way to a new destination.

‘So what is the plan?’ Veronica asked as she turned around.

Everyone was sitting quietly and didn’t speak for a while as they had travelled away from Daisugi.

‘Well, I guess we will go to those coordinates. Do you still have them? Hawk asked Djon.

‘Already put in. Should take a while to travel. Not wanting to go in heavy as we won’t know what we will encounter.’

‘Right,’ Hawk answered and he looked at Eto who just kinda gazed in front of him.

‘What about Morning Python? I mean, Vanessa,’ TYO said.

They all looked at Vanessa, including Eto.

‘We still have your ship, you are free to go,’ Hawk said to her. Then, Eto looked confused at Hawk and went back to Vanessa.

‘You are not leaving are you?’ he asked. A question everyone had in their minds but not dared to ask yet.

Vanessa stood up, walked to the back, not looking at them.

‘I owe you no debt. I am free to go my own way.’

‘Well, you kinda wanted to kill Eto so by calculations, you still have a debt,’ TYO answered but Vanessa ignored him.

‘But it seems our little friend doesn't want me to leave?’ Vanessa said and she turned, looking at Eto with a grin. He smiled back at her.

‘I guess I can stick around for a while, seeing I don’t have a job at the moment.’

‘A new friend!’ Eto yelled, having back his cheerful mood he always has.

‘A killer on board,’ TYO sighed but Hawk patted him on his top.

‘A private assassin,’ Hawk corrected him.

Veronica stood up and walked to Vanessa, grabbing her hand.

‘A friend,’ she said with a smile.

Vanessa blushed but smiled back, quickly, before she changed the subject.

‘Alright, enough for this moment. How long before we get to the location?’

‘A few days,’ Djon answered. ‘Maybe more, maybe less. Depends on what we encounter on the road.’

‘Not another wreckage with an assassin, I hope’ Hawk said jokingly.

Even Vanessa laughed at his joke.

‘Fine, then I hope I will have some private quarters?’

Djon nodded to Veronica who took over.

‘I will show you where you sleep,’ and she grabbed Vanessa’s hand and pulled her to the back of the ship.

‘Guess I will do some research on the different plants we got on Daisugi,’ Hawk said as he also walked away.

‘I will let everyone know if we encounter something,’ Djon said, pushing different buttons.

‘What about you?’ he asked Eto who started to think.

‘I guess I will find something to play with,’ he said and his eyes quickly gazed at TYO.

‘Oh no,’ TYO sighed.