Tameka brought me back to the moment, standing before an audience of our favorite people. Our family. But at that point in my Verse, I knew only strangers. Never would I have imagined my home filled with so much warmth.

I sought it out.

"Devis?"

My third Progeny sat cross-legged in a corner of the room with his eyes closed throughout my storytelling. I'd wondered a few times if he was using his affinity for memory to live the moments with me. He opened his eyes, bright green contrasting beautifully against his dark complexion. His voice was deeper with meditation as he asked, "Yes, father?"

I smiled at the familial reference, still unsure after all these millennia how to take it. "Would you mind reading the next entry?"

When Devis stood, his locs swayed with him, and the decorative beads tinkered together. He bowed to Silence as he approached the ladder and relieved her for the readings. She picked her way back across the pallets before settling into Kyle's waiting arms—

Their relationship is a hereditary puzzle I will forever try to put from my mind.

I see you smiling about it, little Rayne.

"Hee. They're happy!"

Yes. My foremother and a descendant of my Progeny are happy together.

Ahem. Back to the story.

For Devis, I said, "Volume seven hundred and two. Page five hundred—"

"The beginning. The start. Our song preluded to this Verse."

The people in the room turned to look at T.a.o. who rightly guessed the entry. Or maybe she'd read it during the mystery which was her life.

Andrius tried convincing her to return to the seat beside him, saying, "It is all right, little sister."

I smiled gently at her. I always smile that way for T.a.o. I asked, "Would you like to read with Devis? Would you like to read together, all three of you?"

In an awkward motion, Andrius stood beside The Afflicted One and chafed the shiny nacre filaments down his own deep-complected arm. "Yes. Please."

The First Wave Progeny gathered together at my bookshelf and prepared to read my notes on their creation while I prayed to Elden. Please, let this not offend. Let them understand. Not everything was meant to be seen.

Ore.

Gas.

Soil.

Blood.

Why did the Progeny experiment continue to fail? What component was I missing?

Dozens of efforts, all of them unsustainable—Wasted my resources, time, and mental energy, creating only half-formed things for incineration. Figments of my worst nightmares—

"Why?!" I pounded my desk, while another failure boiled, formless and undone, in my latest progenitor. Gripping the shard of Elden's nacre, I growled, "What am I missing?!"

I'd gotten used to the smell of liquid skin and un-sacced organ fluids. Perhaps that was telling. How long ago had I last seen the night sky? Breathe the desert air? My hair dripped with gross lab work and unwashed perspiration. Blood stained my nail beds blue and red.

I missed my observatory in the fortress.

I missed Colita's care.

But most of all, I missed Korac's peppermint-scented smirk.

With a sigh, I ran a hand through my—

Nope. I couldn't even push my fingers through the cakey strands.

It was time to admit it. "I have failed."

After calculating the passage of time, I'd determined that three months had passed since I abandoned all of which I called home at the fortress. Since I broke Korac's heart and mine.

"Nox..."

While buried in my work, I didn't allow my thoughts to veer onto my brother or linger on our last argument, which drove me here. But although I feared Nox was lost to me, I still knew him well enough. He'd likely spent the last three months trying to think of ways to buy me back or lure me home. The humbling anxiety was good for him.

So much for 'my King.'

Looking about the stronghold, I groaned. How did I let it get this bad? I vowed to both apologize and thank Colita for ever tolerating me as soon as I contacted her for a quick rendezvous. I needed information, but I also needed help. She was the least likely of the Icari to force me to choke down 'return home for the species' sake' rhetoric.

I spent the remaining hours of Sol's harsh radiation tidying my documents, recalibrating my instruments, and disposing of my failed attempts at creating life. When the biological compounds were properly sterilized, I memorialized the ashes in an urn. I'd set it aside for this purpose after the third failure. It seemed too detached to dispose of them clinically. I marked the monument with each attempt.

One hundred and three tallies scarred the bronze basin.

I was tired.

Once the sun set below the dunes, I traveled to the edge of the fortress, wearing a cloak to add some clandestine adventure to the occasion. Three months ago, I'd learned Colita's routine. She spent early evenings settling disputes in the fortress, but around midnight, she traveled out into the city seeking... inspiration.

Everyone knew of Colita's desire for a harem. I chose to believe she would see the error in such objectification before she began breeding for it. I even provided a few examples and lectures on the inappropriate applications of eugenics—

But I digress.

I found Colita in the city square, accompanied by a two-guard escort.

Easy.

While she browsed inside a shop, her soldiers waited outside, flanking the entrance. I dropped off the shop's roof and onto one of the guard's shoulders. I clapped a chemical-soaked rag over his face, and he fell out instantly. Before the other noticed me and raised the alarm, I rolled behind him and dealt with him quickly. Both guards would wake within a few hours, unharmed.

In my study, Kyle barked out a laugh. "What are you? Batman?"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Superman!"

That's right, Rayne.

As if Colita had heard the commotion, she stepped out to find me on the stairs with my hood lowered. "Xel—"

In a heartbeat, I crossed the space between us and silenced her with a finger to her lips. "You never saw me."

Colita groaned, but the sparkle in her eyes told me she was happy to see me, too. When I removed my finger, she said, "Carry on. Tell me whatever apologies you wish me to relay to your brother—"

"I need your help."

Sky-blue eyes properly looked me over, and it embarrassed me how Colita's nose crinkled when she sniffed the air. There was a gentleness in her voice as she said, "Oh, Xelan. The entire time you were away...?"

I lowered my eyes in shame, clinging to Elden's nacre shard for the strength to admit it. "Yes."

Abruptly, Colita took my hand. "Come on." She pulled me into the shop and called out, "Lucas!"

Everyone stopped breathing and stiffly turned to look at the most conspicuous Icarus in my study. All aside from Silence and Smith. They both shared a knowing grin. Andrew in particular raised a very curious brow at his lover.

Lucas was calm and easily met their stares.

I cleared my throat to relieve some of the tension. "Uh. Lucas. Would you like to take over?"

The Icarus in question gave a small bow with his head. His gilded eyes glittered with amusement as he said, "Of course, your imperial majesty, but back then you were only a Prince. Young and devastatingly handsome, if a little naïve. Colita spoke of you often, with nothing but kindness. You came into my shop, precluded by a particular aroma I could only refer to as 'smelted people.'"

Beside me, Tameka winced, and I flinched.

Preteen you asks, "Why did you flinch?"

You know why, Rayne.

"She doesn't judge you."

After talking with you, I've come to see things more your way, but in the moment, I felt... so very alone and exposed.

Korac said, "When I first met you, Lucas, you were training future CoN agents in swordplay and helped me design new uniforms for my legions."

Sagan added, "And a few years ago when Rayne was prepping to meet..." she shot me a look before saying, "Nox at the fortress, you told us you were born during the first invasion."

Lucas crossed his legs and laced his fingers on top of them. "Yes?"

Smith grinned as he said, "I believe they expect you to elaborate."

The golden-eyed Icarus tilted his head. "This isn't my Verse."

Before the room broke into commotion, Andrew said, "Lucas has answered these concerns once before, when we moved his zeppelin to Nikki's Iona. We know he lied about his age initially, and that he's had many roles as a former agent of Imminent across the last few million years. Is it really necessary to interrogate him now because he owned a shop in Nox's settlement?"

Korac conceded with a shrug.

Sagan smiled sincerely at Lucas while saying, "No accusations here. I only want to know the whole story. That's why I enjoy the Verses so much."

Lucas returned the beaming expression. "Absolutely, my dear. If I may continue?"

I nodded, trying to hide my own considerations about Lucas' fluid past.

"Can you help him?" Colita asked, as if I were a charity case.

I certainly shuffled in smelling awful. The shop was full of nice pristine textiles and goods, and there I was, stinking the place up. My shoulders slumped as the self-doubt crested in some great wave threatening to drown me.

Was I really a person if my very existence had no effect on society? On reality? Since I'd failed my people so badly, was I any Prince to them—any leader? Did I deserve Colita's kindness or her friend's charity—

"That is enough, Prince Xelan. This way."

Lucas gestured to a back room, and after I absorbed the shock from his near-mind reading, I followed him into it. Colita set about heating some water for me in a basin, while the gilded-eyed Icarus used a blade to cut my clothes off of me. They were so matted and caked that they retained the shaped they'd molded around me.

I tried, but I couldn't stop it. A few tears sprung to my eyes.

What was wrong with me? Why did I let myself reach this level of filth and isolation?

For the race. For the people I'd failed, anyway—

"Shh. Your highness, soothe. Soon, you will feel right again." Lucas' good telepathic timing bordered on unnerving and reassuring. Exactly what I needed to hear.

One would think being scrubbed down by a beautiful woman while a gorgeous man tended to your hair would be remembered as the pinnacle of luxury and pampering in a lifetime, but I think I wept through it. My emotional state affected my memory so badly that I lost time entirely. I know I clung to the sliver of Elden's nacre as the cycle played on repeat.

Let yourself go to save the race.

Fail the race.

Reduce yourself to dependency on others while knowing you'd failed them.

I learned later that it took two hours for Lucas to shave off the hair I'd grown since I was a child and for Colita to scrub the grime off of me. Once finished, she assured, "I find your appearance without hair aggressive in an attractive way. Your eyes are more pronounced."

I declined her offer to look in a mirror, but I admitted, "I do feel more myself. Thank you. Thank you, both."

Something passed over Colita's face, and I narrowed my eyes at her. "Is there a reward expected for your charity?" At this point, I was honestly willing to give them anything to absolve my dependency and inadequacy.

"I would like to enlist as an officer in your army," Lucas confessed. "But you are free to decline with no indebtedness to me."

I glanced between my new friend and my old one before asking Colita, "And you?"

"I want you to consider returning to the fortress. Your brother and Korac suffer without you. We all do. But I am sure you expected this suggestion from me." Her cherubic curls dipped with the tilt of her head.

It was such a normal and expected request that I grinned at her. "I will consider it. I was alone for long enough." To Lucas, I said, "To repay your kindness, I can grant you a captain's commission. Although, I cannot imagine your motivations as a shopkeeper. Why would you want to enlist?" As soon as I asked it, I knew the answer. "Warrior-caste upgrades?"

Lucas nodded, saying, "And all the reproductive benefits granted to the Icari of this status."

We were a starving race. To prevent overpopulation with our dwindling food resources, we permitted only one child to members of the warrior caste. The servant caste were granted children under very rare and heavily assessed circumstances. With most of them mute, it was hard for them to even plead such a case. But there it was.

I resented the circumstances and easily agreed, saying, "Granted." Running a clean hand over my freshly shaved head, I sighed. What would Korac think of this? With a groan, I turned to Colita as she browsed. I asked, "How is..." I couldn't ask about Korac directly. "Leadership?"

Delight lit up her angelic face as often happened when Colita spoke of Nox. "Your brother is taking excellent care of the Icari and the humans living in this settlement. We are in talks for expansion and establishing additional colonies further west." Here, her voice went quieter. "But your absence troubles him. At every feeding, he asks about you, and he looks crestfallen when I have no word. May I tell him about tonight?"

Lucas looked between us, and even he seemed to know the answer before I said, "Not yet. I need more time to recover without his pressures." I wet my lips before asking, "And what of Korac?"

Colita's face was less pretty as she complained, "Insolent. The moping brat leaves snakes in my bed and denies it when I confront him—"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Snakes?!"

Lucas hid a smile. "How juvenile."

"Fine. You two mock me as well. As if I do not look after you both." Colita crossed her arms and huffed, browsing the jewelry at the store's front. All the while muttering her disdain for our ungratefulness.

Korac was fine. Nox was...

Still not my King no matter how much he thought it. I had other, more important matters on my mind. Was I truly finished with the experiment? Did I give up or push on refreshed thanks to Colita's ministrations? I didn't notice, but while I considered my next steps, I'd started fidgeting with the shard around my neck again.

Lucas gestured at the habit, asking, "You toil away in anguish to save our race, yes? Our tortured and burdened Prince?"

I swallowed to prevent a flinch and nodded instead.

He suggested, "Perhaps you should put more faith into your good luck charm."

Colita mused, admiring a bracelet, "Why yes, Prince Xelan. Ask Elden for guidance."

Their remarks forced me to stare at the shard in my hand. The properties of it. The mystery of how Umbra came into possession of it. And all the things I knew of Elden under mother's tutelage.

A Tritan nacre.

The beginning.

"The shard!" I went to grip my hair and found my scalp instead. Too excited to care, I cried, "This is it! This is what I was missing!" In my overwhelming gratitude, I clutched Lucas to me and hugged him. Despite my flurry to rush out of the shop and back to my lab, I kissed Colita's cheek. "Thank you. For everything."

They both chased me out of the store, calling after me, but I would stop for nothing. I'd finally realized the answer.