Page 141 of Commander’s Mate

“No. I mean really different.”

I looked at her.

“What if Meya doesn’t want to be a survey pilot anymore? What if Tarem never wants to carve again? What if one of them doesn’t want to come back to Farseek?”

My instinct rejected the last possibility.

Home was home.

Clan was clan.

Then I remembered Ursaga.

Remembered people deciding destinations for bodies they had purchased.

Different scale.

Different intent.

The comparison still cut.

“They would be free.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

Harper had learned that from Scarlet.

Or perhaps Scarlet had learned it from her.

“What if they don’t want what you want for them?” she asked.

Pain moved beneath my ribs.

“I would want them alive.”

“That’s not enough.”

“No.”

I hated her a little for making me answer.

I loved her a little for refusing not to.

“If Meya chooses another world, I will help her reach it.”

“Even if it hurts.”

“Yes.”

“If Tarem doesn’t want to see family.”

I almost said impossible.

Then I imagined captivity.

What it might do to shame.

To memory.