“I know.”
“You don’t have to go at all.”
“I know that too.”
“But you want to. You want to start over.”
A long silence.
“Yes,” Tess said finally.
“Then start there.”
Tess stared out at the mountains. “Do you really think I could find work as a bartender?”
“Of course. People drink everywhere.”
“That’s your grand knowledge of the galaxy?”
“I’ve been to at least two planets. I think that makes me an expert.”
Tess laughed. The sound was rusty and reluctant, but real. Then her expression sobered.
“If I went to Sherae…” She hesitated. “Would you come with me?”
He stopped breathing. Polly didn’t say anything, but he forced himself not to turn around. It wasn’t his question. It wasn’t his choice. But his claws curled into his palms. Polly leaving the caves. Polly boarding a ship. Polly crossing the stars to a world he had never seen. Polly leaving him behind. Every instinct in his body rejected the idea.
No!
The word rose so powerfully he nearly spoke it aloud. Somehow he managed to swallow it.
Polly was silent for so long that he finally turned. She was staring at Tess, another expression he couldn’t read on her face.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’d have to think about it.”
Tess nodded.
“Fair enough.”
A knock sounded at the door, followed by Caralt carrying another tray of steaming drinks. The moment broke, and he was grateful for it. And hated himself for the gratitude.
They didn’t speak of Tess’s question until much later.
The sleigh carried them home through falling snow, both females quiet beneath their furs. When they reached the clan caves, Tess went directly to Cera. Polly walked beside him towards their quarters. He knew the question was coming before she asked it.
“You don’t want me to go, do you?”
He kept walking.
“No.”
She didn’t say anything, and he had the overwhelming urge to explain. Sherae was distant. They knew too little about it. Travel carried risks. Tess was still recovering. Polly had only recently become comfortable in Port Eyeja. There were a hundred reasons why leaving Hothrest might be unwise. A hundred reasons he could offer instead of the truth. He offered none of them.
“No,” he repeated. “I don’t want you to go.”
She stopped, and he stopped with her.
“But you didn’t say anything.”
