Kira cupped the hand Jin had placed on her cheek, her smile sad. If he wanted her to, she'd lie to him. But that's just what it would be. A lie.
She could feel the future barreling down on them like a rushing wave. If he went, so would she.
Denial showed in his face as he shook his head. "No, I won't let you. You don't get to do this."
He leaned his forehead against hers. There was a tickle in the back of her mind, Jin fiddling with a few of her bonds.
Her brow furrowed as she sensed his tinkering. A few connections strengthening. One in particular that while much newer than the rest was among the strongest.
"What did you do?" Kira asked.
Threads spread out from her body, disappearing into the fog.
There was Jin's. Thin and frayed. Its glow dampened until it was almost invisible. Next to it, another bond shone, younger but brighter and more dazzling than the rest. Its stable presence in her mind radiated love.
"You have other people around you now. You aren't alone. Lean into them. Trust them to catch you should you fall," Jin urged.
Kira's gaze moved back to the bond that she somehow knew represented her connection with Graydon.
"Now enough of this laying about. It's past time to wake up. Elena and I are waiting for you to come find us."
There was a hard surface under Kira's cheek. Strangely, she didn't find it uncomfortable. There was also the incongruent scent of damp earth and the smell of growing things that left Kira vaguely disoriented since last she recalled she was supposed to be on a ship in the middle of space.
Kira blinked, opening her eyes to find black synth armor directly in front of her. She shifted, rolling partially onto her back to gaze up at the man the torso belonged to. It turned out that hard yet comfortable surface was Graydon's thigh. Her head lay in his lap, her face toward his front.
Graydon had always been beautiful, but there was something mesmerizing about his current expression.
It wasn't that it was gentle. Though it was. There was a softness that came with his guard being down. A vulnerability she'd only caught glimpses of here and there.
It was a version of Graydon that very few ever got to see.
Kira squinted at what he was leaning against. "Is that a tree?"
The sapling's trunk was thin but strong enough to support Graydon's weight. Its branches reminded Kira of a willow tree, sweeping in a graceful arc to brush the ground. Its white bark was tinged with traces of fuchsia. The leaves were an intriguing pastel blue, contrasting with the backdrop of space visible through the glass ceiling that had definitely not been there before Harlow got ahold of her ship.
Graydon's gaze dropped to Kira's face. "I see your powers of observation remain intact."
There was a tenderness in his gaze that made Kira's chest hurt. Their connection pulsed, feeding her warmth.
"What happened?"
"We left Ta Sa'Riel."
Kira closed her eyes. "The Mea'Ave."
Graydon's touch was gentle as he massaged her temples.
"This isn't the first time I've left the planet," Kira argued.
The side effects on that occasion were nowhere near as brutal. A slight absence. Barely noticeable unless you were as sensitive as she was.
"The circumstances then were different."
"You mean Jin's absence."
His nod had her sighing in resignation.
"Who would have thought the Tuann were so damn fragile?" Kira grumbled.
