She looks at me, and there's no wall, no mask, no ice queen armor. Just A'Vanti – open and certain and radiant.
"Us," I supply, suddenly understanding her meaning.
I set the shuttle down in the hangar, smooth as glass. The engines cycle down, and the ramp begins to lower.
A'Vanti stands, straightens her rumpled clothes, lifts her chin with that regal bearing that's as natural to her as breathing. Then she reaches down and takes my hand.
We walk down the ramp together, side by side, fingers laced, into the golden Cerastean light.
Chelsea's shriek of delight echoes off the hangar walls for what feels like a solid five minutes.
CHAPTER 16
A'Vanti
The week that follows our time in the cave passes in a haze of newly-mated bliss.
It is not that our duties have slowed. If anything, the final push of the expedition has intensified as teams scramble to complete their assessments before departure. But everything feels different now. The world has rearranged itself around this new axis, this bond between Cody and me, and even the most mundane tasks carry a serenity that I have never experienced before.
Cody flies his runs. I conduct my surveys. And in between, we find each other. We carve out stolen moments in corridors, shared meals where our knees press together beneath the table, and nights in his quarters or mine where we learn the landscape of each other. I catch myself smiling at nothing. More than once, Chelsea has given me a knowing look across the hangar that makes heat rise beneath my scales.
I do not care. Let them see.
As the expedition is winding down, the pressure of it hums through every corridor and workstation.
The final days of any project are never quiet ones. They are the scramble to finish every report that should have been done days ago. The teams move with a restless, fevered energy. We're frantically cross-checking data, consolidating reports, and arguing over which findings warrant follow-up and which can wait for the next expedition. L'Zaen's engineers are running final diagnostics on every system they have brought back online. The agricultural team is packaging soil and seed samples with the grim focus of people who know their window is closing. Dr. Petrova has not slept in what appears to be two days, and no one is brave enough to suggest she should.
Most of us will be returning to the Cerastean mothership and Earth within days. But a small contingent is staying behind: L'Zaen and his mate Ally, along with Dr. Reyes and a handful of engineers and scientists who will continue the work while the next full team is assembled. The handover briefings have already begun with the next team waiting on the mothership orbiting Earth.
The work here is far from finished, but this first critical step, proving that Ceraste can be reclaimed, has been accomplished. The rest will come in waves, each team building on what the last one started.
It is over breakfast on our second-to-last day on planet that D'Rett assigns us the northern reaches.
"There's a stretch of the northern grid we haven't covered," he says, scrolling through the expedition's master survey log on his tablet. "It's mostly old farming settlements out past the Rel'kan ridgeline. Probably nothing exciting, but I want a complete picture of the planet before we hand off to the next team." He looks up. "Cody, grab a shuttle and do a flyover.A'Vanti, you can ride along? I want to know what kind of shape those settlements are in before we head out."
Cody nods. "Who else do you want to come along?"
"L'Stourn and Dr. Reyes." D'Rett looks up from the tablet, his expression carrying the particular weight of a commander who has learned not to take routine assignments for granted. "Standard protocols. Be back before second sunset, of course."
"You got it." Cody grins. He catches my eye across the table, and the tenderness in his expression sends a familiar flutter through my chest.
I incline my head to D'Rett. "We will be thorough."
"Be careful," he says, finally looking up. "The northern territory is remote. If anything goes sideways, we can't get to you fast."
"Noted." Cody claps D'Rett on the shoulder as he passes. "We'll be boring. Promise."
D'Rett's expression suggests he does not believe this for a moment.
CHAPTER 17
A'Vanti
An hour later we are airborne.
From the co-pilot's chair, I watch the landscape unfold below, my tablet open in my lap. The steady rhythm of flight settles around me as I make notes about the land beneath us. Behind me, L'Stourn sits absorbed in rock and soil readings on his tablet. He has always been quiet, someone more inclined to observe than speak. Beside him, Dr. Elena Reyes studies a wiring schematic, though her gaze keeps drifting toward L'Stourn before she catches herself and returns to her work. She is compact and sharp-featured, with dark hair pulled back from her face and keen brown eyes that miss nothing, including, apparently, the Cerastean male sitting next to her.
I have not spent much time with either of them. L'Stourn's work with the water reclamation has often taken him to remote sites far from the capital, and Dr. Reyes has spent most of the expedition buried in the power plant's electrical systems withL'Zaen's engineering team. The ship's cabin holds the particular silence of acquaintances who are not yet familiar with one another. Though watching them now, I suspect the two of them may be better acquainted than I realized.
