"Okay, so just what's the plan?" I said, looking around the alien city about us. "You mentioned something about getting us moved into temporary accommodations, Miz - Alinda?" As I spoke, I hefted up the heavy bag that contained nearly all of my personal effects from the ship in which we had travelled from Earth to the planet Vrelayan.

"Yes, Maria," Alinda said, smiling tenderly in a way that reminded me very much of Grandma DeLuca. That was an odd sort of association to have, I have to admit, but it made me feel more at home. If anybody's, Alinda was Max and Isabel's family, and Lonnie's, but even if Vilandra and Zan had been her children, I knew that the Evanses didn't feel comfortable with a direct parental relationship. "The rooms that you've requested are all ready now, if you want to settle in somewhere relatively permanent."

"That sounds good to me," Michael put in. "Where did we all settle? I mean, I think I know the arrangements that I'm a part of, but not everybody's been talking, and I know that some plans have changed, so maybe it'd be good to have everything out in the open."

"Very well, I'm clear on everything, so I can give you the rundown," Alinda said. She had been quite happy to make arrangements on behalf of us kids from Roswell, and nobody had minded letting her get involved that way. "Max and Liz, to start with them for no particular reason, have picked a charming little apartment in the Gorvan complex - a little karkerrin, you could say."

"If we could pronounce it," Liz said, making a face. "Sorry, Alinda - that must not have been one of the Antarian words we've learned in our intensive crash course."

"And coming across things like that just sort of remind us that we're speaking a - a new language," I added. I've never been that good with languages, so it was kind of surprising that I'd gotten to a basic fluency with Antarian over less than two months of immersion.

"Oh, well, let's see - it just means a well furnished cozy place suitable for a young and intensely bonded couple."

"Like a honeymoon suite?" Ava put in.

"Hmm, sounds like not quite," Liz answered. "That's more a special place to stay on the wedding night, or shortly after, not a permanent home. 'Love nest' might fit, but it doesn't really matter. I look forward to seeing our karkerrin, by whatever other name."

"Good," Alinda said. "And you and some of your friends didn't want to be separated too far, as I understood it - Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Alex will be just down the corridor. As they weren't certain about the commitment of living with their beloveds, off the ship, and yet appreciated some of the convenience..."

"I'm rooming with Alex, and the girls are together, just next door," Michael finished. "So two people can switch, as appropriate, whenever we want a romantic night in by ourselves."

"Although Maria and I will have to flip some sort of randomizer to decide who has to spend time in the boys' apartment," Isabel teased.

"Right," Alinda said with a private smile of her own. "Lonnie wanted a bit of space from the rest of you, so she'll be in a single room down the stairs in the same complex, and around a corner or two."

"Okay, so that leaves..." Alex took only a moment to work it out. "Rath, Ava - and Kyle. What about you guys?"

"Well, wherever we bunk down tonight, it won't be permanent I think," Rath said, reaching out a hand for Alex to slap in friendly fashion. "Ava and I are shipping out with the military in a few days. There's a war going on out there, and needless to say, I think that the Liaret faction is fighting the good fight. We just had to volunteer."

"Both of you?" Liz exclaimed, turning to Ava. "You're leaving so soon?"

"Umm, yeah," Ava agreed, turning a slightly awkward smile to Liz. "I meant to mention it before this, but..." At this point, Liz cut Ava off with a big, tight hug. "I - I'll make sure to ask for leave to attend your wedding, girl," Ava said once she had some breath to talk again.

"You'd better, sister dear," Liz whispered back tenderly.

"And I think we might have enough influence to arrange that leave," Vorjal said dryly, which got everybody chuckling. Alinda, her grandson Prince Vorjal, Alinda's proxy girl Raydeleen, and Vorjal's seneschal Turik, were probably the highest authorities over the Liaret armed forces - and all four of them were here to welcome a bunch of kids from Roswell (or New York) to their Sanctuary.

"And, well, I'm going to be staying with Miz Alinda for the foreseeable future," Kyle said, derailing whatever train the conversation had been going down and putting the spotlight onto himself.

Several young faces turned toward Kyle. Almost all of them had been extended the invitation to live at Alinda's own residence in the heart of Sanctuary, but it seemed surprising at first that Kyle, of all of them, would take that choice instead of a place that would be more his own home. Until Maria realized - "Oh, right. Tess and the baby have been staying with her too, right?"

Kyle shrugged nervously, and looked over at Tess, who was walking behind most of the group, carrying little Joshua - her son with Max - cradled against her shoulder. There was unexpected affection in the stare that she shot back at him. "Well - yeah. Now that we're back here and all, I'm sorta glad that I didn't make other arrangements. We need to sort ourselves out, one way or another."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Liz agreed, and then jumped slightly as something occurred to her. "How far are you from the - the Gorvan complex? I mean, I know that Max will want to spend a lot of time with Joshua - and I guess I will too, so that means a lot of going back and forth one way or another."

"It's about a block," Rayde filled in helpfully. "The way the buildings in this area are all connected, you can even make the trip without stepping outside onto the sidewalk, if you please. That route would involve taking a shortcut through a shopping arcade balcony, and crossing above the motorway on a pedestrian bridge."

"What about the future?" Vorjal asked us. "I realize that you might not have had any plans but reaching what safety we can offer you here, but..."

"I think four of us, at least, are taking classes soon," Max told him. "Myself, Liz, Isabel, and Alex."

"Yes - you'll be starting in four or five days," Alinda said. "I have the official message saying exactly when and where - back at home. I'll send it along to your rooms."

"Is that completely safe?" Michael asked. "I mean - I'd just hate to see something happen to us because some snitch in one of their classes..."

"The college, Lasare School, is largely a front for Liaretian training," Alinda put in. "Our background screening is quite good, so I don't really expect that you'll run across a 'snitch.' However, it might be well if you didn't go into all the details of your background..."

"Yeah, it'd probably be confusing, if nothing else," Max said. "So, once again, we blend in, try to avoid being noticed as too different - though this time, it'll be our human sides we're trying to hide somewhat, not the alien part." He sighed. "Let's see - Rath and Ava have already told us what they'll be up to - Michael? Maria? Lonnie?"

"Kyle, too, unless he thinks that sorting out his relationship with Tess is a full time gig," Alex joked. Kyle shook his head and sighed, but didn't bother rising to the bait this time.

"I don't have any particular plans - just learning as much about Vrelayan and the Antarian sphere of settlement as I can, and trying to figure out how I can fit into it," Michael said. "Maria mentioned something about trying out a career as a pop star."

"Hey now, that was just one day's idle fancy," I protested, but probably I couldn't really hide from my friends that I was still intrigued by the idea - and pleased that Michael had remembered about it.

"Well, I hope that you have a chance to try out that dream, Maria," Alinda told me. "Let me know if I can help, though I don't think I have any contacts in the music industry - well, except for one Symphony conductor." Turik seemed to be much less pleased about the idea - maybe as a security concern, it might fall under his responsibility.

"What about yourself, Lonn?" Rath asked.

"No big plans, I have to admit." Lonnie let out a sigh. "For all that I wanted to leave Earth - well, I guess I expected that I'd go back to the Royal Court on Antar, a princess once again. And this time, I - well, I guess none of us really had anything in mind other than escaping Earth alive when Kivar sent in the army after our hides."

"You'll work it out," Isabel told her, and Lonnie just shrugged.

"Well, that's it up ahead," Rayde said, pointing to a large building up the street and diagonally across an intersection in the city's ground-car lanes. "The Gorvan complex."

"And where's Alinda's crib?" Ava asked, smiling.

"Still out of sight, down the cross-street in that direction," Alinda said, pointing to the left.

"So I guess we split up there, huh?" Kyle said.

"Yes - but not for long," Liz suggested. "How about we all meet for dinner or something after, umm, settling in?"

"Sounds good," Michael agreed.

"I'll play hostess for that meal," Alinda decided. "Vorjal, I know that you and your able assistants will have to be leaving for other business soon - were you planning to leave one of your people at Gorvan?"

"Yes, for the first few days," Vorjal agreed with a nod. "You don't need guards in there - the perimeter and entry points are already secured, but since you're new around here, I thought a guide and gofer might be useful."

"Yes," Max agreed, and then looked around the way that they'd come. "Will - will we get to see Christin or the other crew of the ship anytime soon? I guess I've gotten so used to them helping out..."

"I'll invite Christin to the dinner," Alinda suggested. "I believe that the rest of the ship's company will be too busy with preparations for their next mission to attend."

"Oh." Max sighed, and the group continued down the sidewalk. "Just how do we get across the streets, if we're not using overhead bridges? Are there safe crosswalks and indicator lights, that kind of thing?"

Alinda laughed softly, and Rayde started to explain the basics of Landorin city traffic law.

#

"It's a great apartment," Isabel's voice came through an open doorway. "No offence, but I'm glad that we don't have to actually sleep in the same room. This way is going to be much easier to adjust to."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I agreed, hefting her ship-fabricated suitcase up onto the bed and then going out of the room again. "Well, I get the impression that rents aren't too high in Landorin city, and the Liaret family treasury is still doing alright."

"Ooh, right." Isabel's head popped out of her own bedroom. "I guess I didn't really think of it that way. We'll be taking charity all over the place, really - charity and favours, like the ship, which was courtesy of Larek."

"I guess, if you want to think of it that way," I admitted with a sigh. "But is there really any shame in taking charity from generous people, when you truly need it? We're refugees, forced to flee our home planet for our lives."

Isabel sighed a bit to herself. "I wonder how much tuition at the college is."

"Maybe not that much, if our hosts are really the ones running the school," I countered.

Isabel walked out into the lounge and looked around. "It's not that spacious an apartment, but I like it. Maybe - umm, eight hundred square feet, do you think?"

"I - I wouldn't have the faintest idea, without something to actually measure each room with," I admitted. It was a bit cozy, but not too bad - a bedroom for each with a bed that was at least double-sized, dressers drawers and small closets. Each bedroom opened up onto the lounge, dominated by the seating that could fit five people, and be re-arranged so that they could either talk to each other or watch the video screen. A computer access terminal was tucked into the corner. The lounge was definitely the central hub of their apartment - as well as connecting to the two bedrooms, it had one door for the hallway outside, and offshoots to a kitchen nook and water closet.

"I wonder how much trouble they had to order our beds in," Isabel continued idly.

"Hmm? Why should they be custom orders?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh - something that Michael and I went through when we went to Stellynfrus with Tess in the first place. Your usual Antarian-made bed is something that a lot of other species, including humans, couldn't lie down on comfortably. They use special back supports built in and I don't know what all else." I was getting concerned by now. "But I tried lying down on the bed in my room first thing, and it's great. Alinda must have already thought of that."

"She's probably already been through it with Tess," I pointed out. "Wait a minute, though, the beds on the ship..."

"Were probably designed with unexpected passengers in mind," Isabel pointed out. "Since it's an official government courier ship."

"Okay." I looked around. "Come to think of it, there's a lot about this place that seems - more familiar and comfortable than I was expecting. I wonder if it was especially decorated and furnished to be earth-like."

"I suppose that's possible," Isabel agreed. "So, umm... anything else we should settle right off? In terms of starting a roommate relationship. I know that we're not really sharing rooms, but... no other word seems to fit."

"Hmm." I focused on the word issue first off. "Might as well stick with it. I remember Sean using it back when he was sharing an apartment with two other guys." Mentioning family back home brought a little bittersweet smile to my face, even if it was Cousin Sean, who wasn't exactly my most favourite family member. "We are sharing some rooms, just not the bedrooms, actually. And in this situation..." I dropped into one of the chairs in the lounge. "We've settled who's in which room, and that seems like the only big thing that needed to be covered straight off. Maybe it would be different if we were back home, and not in such an unfamiliar situation already - not that we'd be that likely to move in together back home."

"Ehh, you never know," Isabel said. "But okay, sounds good - I guess we just have to be flexible and considerate with each other whenever an issue does come up. We could take turns being right, or something - or take turns getting things our own way, maybe I should put it that way."

I considered that. It was superficially a simple system, but might lead to some unusual back-and-forth and 'gaming' if we let it, because once the alternation started they'd each know who was next in turn to 'win' an argument. If I was next to get a disagreement resolved in my favour, for instance, I'd tend to want to make it count for something big, while Isabel might be tempted to bring up a bunch of little things as possible conflicts... "Nah, no need for anything so formal unless we can't work it out on a more relaxed basis," I decided.

"Fine by me. Want to take a crack at the alien TV?"

So I picked up the little remote control interface. Both of us were used to most of the conventions of Antarian video from watching weeks worth of it on the ship during our long voyage.

"Ooh, Autumn's Vale!" Isabel exclaimed, and I stopped on that program - a sort of action angst melodrama that we'd watched about a season of together. "I think we've got some stuff in between where we left off and here to catch up on - who's the tall guy with the dark brown skin?"

"Well, obviously I don't know," I replied, trying to set aside obvious snappishness for just a hint of sarcasm. "Let's watch together, a bit more quietly, and try to figure it out, 'kay?"

Isabel sighed, rolled her eyes a bit, and took the hint.

#

Autumn's vale was just getting to the cliff-hanger ending, with the Amron triplets and Gorvan Shelthor venturing up to explore the Mystified Cave when somebody pounded at the door. "Come on, it's time to go over to Alinda's!"

"Already? It's only..." I checked her watch, and it read 1310. I was about to call that back when I remembered that the watch was still set to 'Ship's time', (thanks to some reprogramming from the ship's crew.) It had been later on Landorin when we landed, hadn't it? And then it occurred to me to try to identify who had called us. Not Michael's voice... Alex? Or Max?

"It's dinner time, well, early dinner, by local clock." Yeah, that would be Alex. "And she's a fairly old lady, maybe she likes to get to bed early. Could one of you please open the door so we don't have to keep yelling back and forth?"

I looked over at Isabel, who was still staring at the action on the screen and didn't show any signs of even having recognized her boyfriend. With just a bit of pique, I picked up the remote egg to turn the video off and then rushed across the room to let Alex inside. The timing worked fairly well - just as Isabel had gotten over shock and was charging out of her chair in building fury, she caught sight of Alex. Either he put Isabel in a much better mood than Autumn's Vale had, or she was just concealing her anger until she was alone with me once again.

"Oh, hi sweetie, what's up?"

Alex shot me a look, and I just shrugged. "Umm - our local guide has mentioned that this would probably be a good time to get ready for dinner at Alinda's."

Isabel's eyes narrowed critically at the reference to 'getting ready'. "We're expected to dress up fancy?"

"I dunno, I kind of get that impression, but when I asked straight out, I just got 'whatever your honour chooses.'" Alex scoffed at the notion that anyone should use such a term of respect on him.

"That sort of fits with - well, with a culture of etiquette," I said, "especially if the people in service positions around Alinda and Vorjal see us as being of a similar social rank."

"Okay, well then, we definitely want to show respect for Alinda," Isabel decided with the kind of un-self-conscious authority that only the Christmas Nazi could manage; a sort of a matter-of-fact take-chargedness that was hard to complain about or even notice that much. "Alex, what about that dark blue outfit we had made after leaving Kaalto?"

"The one that was nearly as uncomfortable as a funeral suit and - well, and several times goofier-looking?" Alex shot back, smiling.

"That's just an Earth reaction," Isabel told him. "Christin told me that by Antarian sector fashions..."

"No, come on, Alinda would not want me to dress up in an outfit like that for dinner with her," Alex insisted.

"In clothes that you're not familiar with the look of, so you think that they're silly?"

"In clothes that I'm not comfortable in yet, either physically or mentally," Alex told her. "You can go as native as you like, my princess, but I'll show her my esteem in my own way." And with that, Alex bent to kiss Isabel's hand, and turned to leave the room again. Isabel turned to stare at me, but I just shrugged. Alex had a point, and I had a 'nice but not too stiff' dress in my small suitcase that would sound just about the right note for this dinner party.

#

"Welcome, welcome dears, come on in. Ooh, Isabel, don't you look stylish in that outfit," Alinda said when she opened the door for the entire group from the Gorvan complex. "Hello, Liz - excuse me, what's this?" Liz had been carrying a covered grey dish, and was holding it out just slightly as if she expected someone to take it from her.

"I wanted to bring something along, as a way of saying thank you for inviting us over - among all the other kindnesses you've shown us," Liz said. "It's nothing special, just a pudding cake, more or less based on a recipe my parents had. We worked out the right settings on the food dispensers on the ship, and the one in our new apartment can run the same program. Maybe we could have just brought over the program and had your kitchen do the baking, but - it seemed like a nice gesture to actually carry the dish over."

"Yes, I think I agree," Alinda agreed, nodding and smiling, and I cringed slightly. I hadn't thought of anything like this until I'd seen Liz bring out the cake pan, and by that time it had really been too late for me to come up with anything to bring - and I knew Isabel was mentally kicking herself a bit too. Michael apparently didn't care as much about that, though there was something on his mind... "Since you mention it, though, I'd appreciate all of your favourite recipe files - you can send me copies across the city network. You're all welcome over here - well, nearly any time, and I'd like to do anything I can to make you feel more at home."

"Okay, I don't mind sharing recipes," I muttered, a bit stunned at the obvious love that the alien lady had for us all. But then - well, she'd been living for decades in the hope that the children, step-daughter, and stepson-to-be that she had lost would be returned to her. Of course, Alinda had learned enough long ago to tell her that the Roswell hybrids weren't exactly the same Royal Four who she had lost, but if it gave her comfort to welcome us all as long-lost family, and she wasn't going to exert unreasonable demands on my friends, I certainly didn't mind.

Just at that point, Alinda's spacious drawing room was filled up by another group of people - Ava and Rath, Tess and Kyle. Kyle had a baby-sized bundle of blankets cradled on his shoulder, I realized with some surprise. (Well, presumably Joshua was in there and it wasn't just a bundle of blankets all the way through.) Joshua wasn't his son biologically, but if Max and Liz were serious about giving Tess partial custody, and Tess and Kyle finally got together, he'd be something like a step-father, or - well, whatever. Surprisingly, holding a baby seemed to look good on Kyle, and apparently I wasn't the only one to think so, because Liz told him that too, amidst all the other things that were said in that fifteen minute cocktail session. I didn't remember that much of the rest of it.

Soon we were gathered around a huge square table - just big enough for all of us after Christin showed up, because three people could sit on each side, and the shape seemed a bit odd to me, especially because nobody could stretch far enough to reach into the centre, but that didn't matter, because the only thing there was an elaborate crystal centrepiece in every colour of the rainbow. The foods provided were an incredible mix of Antarian cooking - most of it a bit spicy for my tastes, (even after being exposed to spicy-sweet stuff through Michael for years.) Some of it reminded me of old favourites from back on Earth - pineapple onion salami pizza, turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, even PB&J sandwiches. Others were at best vaguely familiar from our experiments with the food dispenser on board the ship on the way here. But nobody seemed to be at all disappointed in the food that was provided.

"So," Michael said with his typical lack of tact as soon as the first course was being served out, "did you tell Turik to offer me the job, Alinda?"

"Umm, no, I have to say I can't take credit for that idea," Alinda admitted, surprised but pleased. "What sort of work?"

"And why didn't you let me know about this earlier, like on the way over?" I demanded of my space-boy.

"Uhh -" Michael stared back at me, and then decided to focus on Alinda's question on the grounds that it was easier for him to answer. "Sounds like assistant stuff, working for one of his people here at Sanctuary. Gofer-ing, communications liaison, whatever else is required." He turned to me, suddenly eager to mention one little detail. "But no combat expected or anything like that - a low-risk position."

"Well, that's a bit reassuring, yeah," I had to admit to him. "Did you get a name, for this person you'd be working for?"

"Umm, let's see... Naleeword, I think that was his name."

"Her name," Alinda said with a small smile, and Michael jumped. "I hope that won't be the deciding factor against your accepting the job, Michael, if you're interested in it otherwise. She's a good woman and a capable administrator, and I think that you'd learn a good deal by working closely with her."

"Really?" I asked, smiling curiously. "Just what are her responsibilities?"

"Let's see - umm, I suppose you would call her the managing Coordinator of Sanctuary - supply requirements, general secrecy precautions, managing liaisons with the other Liaretian strongholds in the Antarian sphere of space - all this she is in charge of."

"And how does that relate to Turik's duties?" Rath asked, as he passed Ava the 'pasta pancakes.' (That was just how I thought of the item in question - I still can't remember the Antarian name.)

"Well, Turik, as Vorjal's seneschal, has to consider the needs of the overall organization more than just this little hiding place in the middle of Landorin city." Maria wasn't the only one who scoffed at the characterization of Sanctuary as 'small', though they didn't have much direct experience as to just what its extent was. "They don't spend all their time here, nor does Rayde, acting as my personal emissary. Naleeword's job is making sure that there's a safe place here for them to return to whenever things are a bit too exciting elsewhere."

"I think that might be good for you, Michael," Isabel told him. "And I agree with Alinda - you'd better not turn the job down just because you'd be working for a woman." There was a mostly agreeing laugh that ran around the table.

"Maybe I should be thinking of finding some work too," Kyle suggested. "Would I have to hit up our friends in high places, or would there be some way to just pound the pavement and find - well, somebody willing to hire an alien without much experience in the way that things work around here, or any references beyond said friends in high places... hmm."

"Well, let's think about that," Alinda said with another of her gentle smiles. "The economic situation here in Landorin is fairly promising at the moment, I believe - plenty of work, probably including some available 'entry level' positions in the trade centres, hospitality complexes, even in the extended spaceport facilities."

"That sounds good," Ava said, shooting a reassuring look at Kyle, who was probably one of her best friends.

"Yes, but - unfamiliarity with local custom might be an obstructive wall," Alinda admitted. "I know that you didn't express interest in an extended course of study at the college, Kyle - but I believe that the City government offers a free orientation course for travellers from far away. That might be a good idea for several of you."

"Yeah, I might be interested in that," Michael admitted.

"Would you be able to do that and start working for Naleeword at the same time?" I asked him. "Or would you defer starting the job?"

"I'm sure that Turik and Naleeword would understand and approve of the delay," Michael put in. "Especially if communications are an important part of the job - they wouldn't want me learning how to not offend people as I go."

"Maybe we should try that too," Max said to Liz and Isabel. "Could help us fit in better at the college. Most of the other students in a college-level course are probably going to take plenty of things for granted that we don't know yet."

"Yeah, well, we'll work it all out," Isabel told him, shooting Alex a tender look. "There's time."

"Not that much time before we start classes," Alex pointed out. "Unless we defer until later too." Isabel sighed softly.

"Speaking of not much time left," Liz said. "Ava, Rath - do you know when you're shipping out yet?"

"Yeah, late tomorrow afternoon, Landorin time," Rath told her evenly. "Rayde's going too. The freighter 'Constant moon' is on its way to Breoll - but the Breeolyn don't know that it'll be making a little stop along the way - rendezvousing with the main Liaretian fleet."

"Really?" Max said, interested by this. "Where are they hiding?"

"Deep space between Antar and Rahlicx," Ava told him. "Well away from the usual hyperspace recalculation points."

"So Rayde's leaving you?" I asked Alinda, before Max could ask more questions about how many ships the Liaretians had in their fleet. "Does she often spend much time away from here?"

"Yes, most of the time she's elsewhere," Alinda said regretfully. "Much as I'd love her company more often - I count her as a dear friend, but she's not a personal assistant or lady in waiting - not anymore. Her responsibility now is to travel abroad, be where I cannot go and allow me to exert what remains of my Royal authority as the Matriarch of Liaret where it counts."

"So just why is it that you can't leave yourself?" Isabel asked. "Is that just a precaution for your safety, or are you really..."

"You wouldn't ask if you'd known me for a bit longer, but it's only fair that you should know now," Alinda admitted, the edges of her mouth turning down. "My health isn't good, though with care I should last a few more years yet. I have better days and less good ones, and to a certain extent I can stack the deck for a particular day to be good by resting up for it and - and undergoing a procedure with a trained healer to boost my bodily systems, which I then have to recover from later."

"You - you did all that for today, knowing when we'd arrive?" Max guessed, and Alinda nodded. "But the healers can't cure whatever - whatever is plaguing you?"

"No," Alinda admitted. "For one thing, I am growing old, even by the standards of our people, and a healer cannot extend a natural lifetime more than a very short fraction, when the organs are beginning to decay and even cellular structures begin to break down. In addition, I am struggling with an ongoing infection of a microscopic life-form in my lungs - it is incurable by all known medical technology in this sector, resistant even to a healer's powers."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to - to hear that," Liz said, turning a piteous look on the matriarch.

"Don't be quite that sorry, my dear," Alinda told her. "The contagion is under control, and the healer tells me it will certainly be my worn-out heart, not the bug in my lungs, that brings me down - though the two conditions inevitably complicate each other."

"Do you know how you got infected?" Rath asked. Then he winced, and I guessed that Ava had kicked him under the table or something like that.

"Not for certain," Alinda said, smiling slightly, "but if you think that Kivar's people had a hand in it, you might be right. It happened at a time when I was staying as a guest at the Ducal palace of Taliernar - the old Duke was refusing to take overt sides in what he saw as an Antarian civil war, so he assured my safety from overt attacks, but allowed Kivar and a retinue of his followers to visit the court as well. They may have released contaminated air into my chamber, or dosed some of my food in such a way that the taint proceeded down from my throat into - well, never mind. That's enough talk of depressing matters, isn't it?"

"I guess so," I said. "Okay, tell us something that's cheerful, Alinda."

"Oh - I was just about to ask you about your families back on Earth," Alinda said. "I - well, I guess that might be somewhat depressing, because you probably miss them, but..."

"Yeah, it's nice to think about them too," I agreed. "Okay, well, I'll go first I guess. My mom - it's just been me and my Mom for years, and Liz and our other friends, and maybe Kyle's dad, but... do you know what I mean? My Dad left when I was really little, but - Mom. She's really kinda crazy in a lot of ways, but - but I love her so much, and I know that she'd do anything she had to show her love to me and keep me safe. I - I really think that if she'd been given a chance to leave with us, she might have come along, but Christin sort of hinted that she and Mister V and Laurie should get out on that little alien plane, and she went along with that. But - umm, you probably want to hear something that will give you an idea what it's like to be around her, and all of a sudden, I'm mental blanking, and..."

"What I remember was how she lectured me after she found out that you and Michael were off on a road trip - the time you were taking Laurie home to find out what was going on with her," Liz said. "You weren't there, obviously, but - well, at that point we hadn't gotten up the nerve to tell her about alien stuff or whatever..."

"You never did get up the nerve, as such," Kyle put in. "She and cousin Sean and Maria walked into the middle of the Brody hostage crisis thing, and Tess tried to cover up her memories of that, but it didn't last so you had no choice but to start telling her everything."

"Well, yeah," Liz agreed. "But that was much later. She actually showed me Maria's long johns to demonstrate that she wasn't off camping - that's a kind of Earth clothing, Alinda. Long leggings that are worn for extra warmth in cold conditions, especially at night. And she took my phone, because she knew that Maria would be calling me to check in, and that that was the only way she'd be able to talk to Maria before she decided to come home herself."

"So, an intelligent, determined, and resourceful mother," Alinda said, nodding. "I'd like to think that we have something in common. Who's next?"

#

We stayed for hours at Alinda's - the first activity after dinner was playing a game on her computer system. Despite her talk of fading health, the old queen's mind was still keen, and she paired up with Lonnie in a paired strategy game, and their team ended up in a stalemate with Rath and Ava, so all four were declared winners. I was surprised that Alex and Isabel hadn't done better, but with so many teams, there was an effect at the beginning where anybody who was thought of as 'a threat' was immediately besieged by multiple attacks on different fronts. This pile-on syndrome wiped out Alex/Isabel and crippled Max/Liz before it eased off and people started to treat all of their potential enemies with the same level of concern, according to the strategic situation.

"Do you have home movies that we can watch or something, Alinda?" Ava asked, when she, Lonnie, and Rath were prompted to choose the next activity as a sort of prize for sharing in the victory. "Anything with happy memories of the older days, or - that sort of thing. Probably we shouldn't watch anything with video of the original Royal Four in it yet, though, if you have it - that might be too weird."

"Oh - um, I think that I can rustle up some actual home recordings, but since you've mentioned video, there are others that I should play now. There have been many greetings that have been coming here for you - Rayde and Turik didn't want me to relay them to the ship while you were still on your way, for various reasons, but you should go through them now. There are video messages from - let's see, Larek, and a cousin of Rath's, Kelim far-Selezir, and members of the Liaret family who aren't here at Sanctuary, and several others."

So we played through the videos, which were a somewhat overwhelming welcome out into the Antarian sector, and watched a video that was actually from Rayde's home, a small colony on a hollowed-out asteroid in the Antar star system, on the occasion where she had first met Alinda's entourage and joined her service. By this point, I was feeling really tired, and went over to tell Michael that I wanted to go back to my new apartment.

Michael grinned a bit too widely. "So go. You don't need my permission to go anywhere around here, now do you?"

"Yeah, but, well - umm. I wanted to go back with you, and - have some time all to ourselves." I flicked one glance across the room. "Isabel looks like she'll be happy to stay here for hours yet, so we could go back to our room, and..."

"Hey, if you want to get funky, I'm up for that. But I thought you said you were tired - unless tired is now code word for horny..."

"Oh, grow up Michael. Just because I want the two of us to have some privacy, doesn't mean that it's all about sex." I stormed toward the door, but turned back just as she got to it, possibly because I thought that it was asking a little too much out of a guy like Michael to jump to immediately what I had in mind, and the way he teased me was just the way he was, no point in getting upset about that. (And a lot of the time I did like it.) Somewhat to my surprise, Michael was just a few feet away - he had already been coming after me.

"I - I am tired, really," I whispered to him. "Having - making love isn't the uppermost thing on my mind, though you could possibly change my mind if you were creative about that." He chuckled in response. "But - but it's been weeks since I went to bed with your arms around me, since we agreed to give up the third double-bed room on the ship to Rath and Ava."

"Yes, I do know that," Michael said softly. He'd been sharing a bedroom with Kyle, and I'd been living with Lonnie, and it would probably be hard to say who had been most frustrated with that arrangement. "If that's what you wanted me for, why didn't you just say so?"

"I - I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm saying it now."

"You're right, that's enough. Come on." He raised his voice just enough to call 'Bye, everybody' as we slipped out the door, and nodded a polite acknowledgement to the guide and guardian who fell in just ahead of us and to the side in the hallway.

As we headed back to the Gorvan complex, Michael brought his arm up to the top of my back. I smiled, wondering if he'd wrap the limb around to my shoulder, but Michael's hand moved in a slightly different direction, first massaging my neck gently, stroking and fondling my skin, and then tweaking my earlobe in a teasing way. "What - uh, what are you doing?" I gasped, as I felt the surge of reaction that his caress brought.

"What does it feel like?" he whispered back to me. "Using the time that I have to change your mind. Is this creative enough?"

I shook my head, laughing tenderly, and using my own hand to cup and fondle my dear space-boy's backside. "I give you full marks for originality, but now we have to wait for a few minutes more before we're in the room."

"It'll feel better when we get there for all the heightened anticipation," Michael pointed out. He was absolutely right, but that didn't make it any easier for me to wait to really get my hands on his body. Patience has never really been my strong suit.