August 16, 1990

By late afternoon, Ted's nerves were shot. He had spent most of the night awake, alternating between writing what he was going to say the next day and pacing the confines of his small room when he could no longer hold still. The rooms in Holding were really more like very small barracks rooms than cells, but that did not make him feel better about being there. The longer he mulled over the conversation between himself and his uncle—if it could be called a conversation—the more he wondered at the necessity of placing him there. As much of a stickler for regulations as Franz Heimler generally was, he was not above placing them above all else without good reason and sound judgment. Even if he had taken Ted's defection personally, this didn't feel like a grudge.

That meant he was already being judged, court martial or not, and it was in Ted's best interest to do exactly what he had been advised. When he had entered the council room that morning, he had followed his uncle's instructions precisely, claiming that he had, in fact, been sent to Drachma on a covert mission to collect information on the new regime, and on their former allies who were still resisting. He had reported the information he had covered the night before, keeping it to a summary of specific details and a few specific insights that could be backed with the facts, including the information that Gavril Mihalov was alive and in hiding and had not been captured. He did not mention that the man in question had arrived with him. That was for later.

The room had been full of people, though that didn't mean a lot in a conference room that wouldn't hold more than forty very closely crammed. Still, Ted was certain every General in Central had been there. Again, he got that niggling feeling that this was in a way, part of his court martial hearing, though he couldn't have said what part. Maybe the proof I did something beneficial for Amestris while I was there part.

Afterwards, he had been escorted back to his room without a word from his uncle, and made to sit there with instructions that he would be summoned when he was needed. Who knew when that might be!

No news on if they were going to court martial him at all, and what the punishment might be. It could be anything from a demotion to prison time. No news about Anika, or any of the other Drachmans, or the zoo animals.

There also wasn't really anything else to do. There was no television or radio, no books. He could write, since they had left him paper and pencils, but other than basic military food coming at the scheduled hours, there was no break from the monotony.

He had not been told what to expect, so he did not know where they were taking him when the door opened again later that afternoon and he was ordered out.

In the hallway, he once again found Tore Closson, who seemed to have been assigned as his jailer for the time being, something the Shock Alchemist did not seem to be enjoying. Of course, since he was one of Ted's superior officers, it probably hadn't reflected well on him or Whitewater when he took off.

He was surprised when they returned to the conference room, and Closson had them sit in the back, near the door. Then he realized why he was here; because the big reveal was coming. This was the meeting they had discussed in depth last night.

The meeting started off with a brief summary of what had previously transpired in the past twenty-four hours, to make sure everyone was on the same page and to give countries a chance to make changes to previous statements based on any conversations they may have had with their governments in the interim. This included their mutual agreement to a pact to protect each other in the event Drachma should make any military movement outside its borders and threaten one of the member nations, the paperwork for which was now being drafted and would be ready to be signed the following morning. Then, the discussions turned to the more difficult questions regarding the ethical dilemma of what staying out of Drachma might mean for the people of Drachma who were not part of the coup, or members of the military who had sided with it, particularly now that most resistant pockets of military units that had tried to fight back had been mostly subdued, or split and vanished into the resistance.

This was the subject where the unity of the group nearly fell apart, though Ted got the feeling they had already discussed the subject at least once. Now, the new information from intelligence did come in to play, however, and Miss Morovich made a point of bringing it up in her statements regarding the plight of the average Drachman citizen.

No one seemed to want to make a statement in favor of any kind of aggressive military action, even when proposed with the possibility of further executions as Savahin's men hunted down and captured everyone resisting him. It would be a long slow process, but given his current pattern of behavior, any enemy of the new government would be unlikely to be given prison time instead of being made a public example.

Ted kept his temper tightly in check as the Kartosian ambassador voiced the opinion that as long as Savahin was too busy with Drachmans, he would be unlikely to make another jab at Kartos or the north of Creta for decent port access.

The discussing, bordering on bickering at some moments, went on for nearly an hour before his Aunt Sara stood up. The moment everyone realized she was standing, the room went silent, all eyes on her.

Sara, the other General Heimler, the Twilight Alchemist… she was all those things with her sharp eyes glinting as she looked around the room. "We went in to Aerugo when the legitimate government, however many problems it had, begged us for aid," she gestured at the Aerugean Ambassador. "Twice, really. The second was entirely humanitarian aid. We went in to Xing for the same reasons," she gestured at Mao and Jiu. "Though I was not here for that event, it's pretty clear that those alliances matter. It would have brought further war to us eventually, and to our other allies. You destroyed the major Syndicate base, but I can say from personal experience, that did not stop the damage already done. As you've seen for yourselves, this is all part of the same ongoing situation.

"The Hashman Syndicate worked illegally in Aerugo for decades, and Amestris, smuggling artifacts, but also researching weapons. They murdered alchemists. They attempted to murder more. They kidnapped one. You want intelligence? I will tell you this… there are hundreds of thousands of men and women in the Drachman prison system, and thousands of them are petty thieves at the worst, and just as many are political prisoners whose only crime was disagreeing with someone in power in a period where it was possible and expedient to make someone disappear. But we are talking about a country of several billion people, the majority of whom are everyday people, like the ones we fought to protect when Drachma invaded us…when our allies came to our aid. The wolf on our border will not sleep forever. It may not even sleep for long. I've met Savahin's type, and some of his people, and I know what they're capable of. He's a rabid beast, even worse than his predecessor, and a revolutionary. If Drachma can't stop him, we will eventually be forced to do something. I believe we should act pre-emtpively."

The Kartosian Ambassador looked skeptical. "And how do you suggest we do that?"

"By helping Drachma stop him."

"Again… how?" the Kartosian asked into the silence that followed her statement.

This was it. Ted tried not to look eager as Sara nodded. "By freeing and empowering thousands of Drachmans who have spent decades of their lives waiting for this moment to prove their innocence or redeem themselves." She then went on to outline, simply and to the point, the plan that they had discussed at dinner the night before in great detail: getting the cooperation of the prison guards, and creating a wide outspread range of prison breaks, so the region could organize and break itself off from Drachma. Once it was no longer considering itself part of Savahin's Drachma, many of the military hang-ups would go away, and they could make pacts of non-aggression with other countries. Encouraging those would allow them to assist in fortifying the new, protective free nation that would buffer Kartos and Creta entirely from Drachma, and give Amestris less border to worry about.

"Who do you propose we encourage to take charge in this new proto-country?" the Aerugean ambassador finally asked. "Left up to the people living in that region, who's to say that they would choose someone to be in charge who wouldn't be worse than Savahin? We could be creating a second despot and enemy even with the best of intentions."

Now, Sara's eyes gleamed wickedly. "That is precisely what I have a gentleman with us this afternoon who has agreed to propose himself to them in light of current events. May I present to you, former member of the Drachman government and nephew of the recently deceased Chairman Gurina of Drachma, the Gavril Mihalov."

Like prairie gophers, every head whipped sharply in the direction Sara gestured as Gavril Mihalov—now dressed in a well-tailored suit—strode into the room, with Niki and Anika flanking him.

Ted felt a small flash of relief even as he wondered at their presence. They must be here as representatives of the resistance, and their father. They had both also been provided professional-wear. Ted had a vague suspicion that the maternity dress-suit Anika wore might have come out of Alyse Fischer's closet. It was certainly her style.
The Drachman Ambassador stood, shaking Gavril's hand as he then took the floor. "Good afternoon. As General Heimler has said, I am Gavril Mihalov. As little as two weeks ago, I and other members of the recently deposed Drachman government, the one which was your ally, were attempting to maintain some semblance of order in a country thrown into hysteria. Recently, the dictator Savahin ordered that the soldiers press into the city of Karmatsk, where they took the city, and captured many of my colleagues. A very small few of us managed to escape. I was gravely wounded, but thanks to members of the resistance, my injuries were treated, and we were able to sneak back out of the city. When soldiers gave chase, we were forced to fight, and flee once more. I was incredibly fortunate that our party found itself included in Lieutenant Colonel Elric's return to your country to report his findings."

Ted tried to pretend this wasn't a surprise as several pairs of eyes briefly glanced in his direction, with a wide variety of reactions.

"It is to him, and in extension to Amestris, as much as our own resistance, that I owe my life, and this opportunity. I was made aware only on my arrival in Central of this gathering and its purpose. I commend all of you, and offer you my thanks, that you have chosen not to ignore what is going on within the borders of Drachma. I understand, truly, what it is to want only peace, and to be concerned with the defense of a people. I was only a boy when Drachma invaded Amestris. My family opposed the war then, and still hopes that we might make right what is going on in our own country, before it spills outside our borders. That is why I have agreed to General Heimler's proposed plan, if it is approved by this assemblage, that I will go into Western Drachma, and organize and encourage the revolt needed to break the entire Western third of Drachma away from Savahin's government. Those mountains are highly defensible, and the resources a critical part of Drachma's economy. Savahin will have to respond, which will draw his attention in one direction, opening up opportunities for the resistance to retake other areas of the country that Savahin will see of less importance. I have been assured that those few resistance fighters remaining in that area will accept my leadership from the de-facto head of the resistance movement himself, retired-General and government representative Vichel Marskaya. With me, to vouch for this, are his son and daughter, Niki and Anika Marskaya."

Now people were looking at Niki and Anika with far more interest.

"I understand your concerns, your fears, and your reservations. They are well founded," Gavril continued. "However, knowing my people, I believe that this plan has a strong chance of succeeding in providing, if not a full solution, at the very worst a buffer between Savahin's government and two of your countries. Protecting Kartos and Creta from another western push is of the utmost importance. In protecting them, and giving Amestris less border to worry about, this will also allow more open treaties with the Western state, whose resources would then also be available to all of the allied countries on the continent. Provoked or not, Savahin will eventually look outside of Drachma again. He has already severed all treaties and ties with your nations. Do not expect that he will be willing to make new ones that do not put you at disadvantage, if he makes them at all. He does not care about his own people; he will not care about yours. He must be weakened, distracted, and taken out of power. In good conscience, I cannot allow him to continue. If nothing else, I ask your blessing to try."

"What will we need to provide?" Mao spoke up first.

"At first, very little," Gavril responded. "If the western province cannot hold its own long enough to declare itself a free state and convince the south-western corner to come with it, then the attempt will change nothing except perhaps to distract Savahin for a time. I will make the expedition there on my own, only with those who are willing to volunteer. What I will ask is that, at that time, this alliance allow them admittance, or at the least agree to those pacts of non-aggression that would then allow them to petition for military assistance. They would be there to protect you, and would be deserving of the same. Until that time, no soldiers, no supplies, nothing other than that promise of a deal, is asked of any of you. I will await and respect your decision, thank you."

From there the room devolved into spirited discussion once again as debate raged regarding the pros and cons of the various outcomes of the decision. Niki and Anika both spoke briefly, fielding questions about General Marskaya's willingness to support such a move, and ability of the resistance to make any kind of orchestrated counter-attacks given the time without pressure to coordinate.

Eventually there was general agreement that it was worth letting Gavril try, and that if he should be able to make it happen, Kartos and Creta would be willing to sign non-aggression pacts with the newly formed state. No one was willing, just yet, to offer troops directly.

By the time they got to that point, it had been hours, and the meeting was adjourned. Details of how the beginning stages would be managed would be discussed at a later meeting.

It had all been fascinating to watch, and Ted felt stirrings of hope for Drachma as the countries agreed that this was a positive step in weakening the new Drachman regime, which could only protect everyone's best interests. It was a far cry from the no involvement he'd been hearing before he left.

None of it, however, gave him any hint as to how things were going to go for him, personally. No one paid him any attention whatsoever until the end of the meeting, when

Shock motioned to him stand up, and they left the room.

Outside in the hall, Ted paused. "Can I at least talk to Anika?"

Closson stopped moving. "I'm under orders to return you to Holding. I'll see if they'll let me bring her by before she leaves."

No one else was in the hallway. Ted followed as the other man started walking again, but he wasn't done. Still, there were things he wasn't going to ask in a hallway. He waited until they got back to the room. "Can you tell me anything about what this is about? Like when they're going to have my hearing? I assume there'll be a court martial."

For the first time in almost twenty-four hours, Closson looked at least sympathetic. "I can't tell you because I honestly don't know. As your direct commanding officer, I'll be lucky if they even let me be one of the officers on the council. Franz has told me very little. From what I can glean, they're still deciding if there will be a court hearing at all."

"Can they just drum me out without one?" Ted was almost certain they couldn't.

"No. So that's probably good news," Closson pointed out. "Some of the Generals involved I don't think are entirely sure which story to believe: the original that you ran off without permission, or that you were actually on a mission this entire time for Franz that couldn't be official because it was illegal, and that the attempts to track you down were a cover-up."

Privately, Ted hoped they would believe the second one. If that were the case, he wouldn't be in trouble at all. But if it were true, wouldn't they only need the President's word to clear him? "And do you know which one is true?" he asked.

Closson rolled his eyes. "I didn't even need to ask, but yes, I do."

Ted winced. "You understand, don't you?"

"Better than you can possibly know," the other alchemist replied. "But I can't condone or support what you did, even if it happens to be fortunate enough to have an outcome that works in your favor. Rowdy and unorthodox a bunch as we State Alchemists are, that doesn't make your actions condonable. You've always been a loose cannon, Proteus. Up until now, you've been lucky. This time, you not only cross the line, you stamped it out into the dirt. Even if, by some miracle, they don't discharge you following a court martial, there will be consequences."

"I understand, Sir." Ted couldn't think of anything else to say. An apology would serve little purpose, and he still couldn't find it in himself to be sorry for his decisions. He had done a lot of good, and saved many lives. Thanks to his plans, they might save thousands more in the long run.

Closson nodded. "I don't know how long they'll wait before making a decision on your hearing. With the summit it may be several days. You'll be required to remain here unless sent for until I hear otherwise. Is there anything I can bring you to make it less monotonous?"

Ted refrained from any of a dozen sarcastic remarks that went through his mind. "Something to read would be nice," he said finally. "Newspapers, books. Anything, really, though it would be nice to catch up on current events."

"That should be permissible. I'll see what I can find." With that, he turned and left Ted alone again.

The room was not locked. Ted knew that. In case of emergencies he had to be able to leave the building; but he also knew better than to step one foot out that door without express permission.

While he'd been gone someone had brought over clothes he recognized as his own, as well as a fresh set of standard military toiletries. They must have gone into his quarters. At least he'd be able to shower and change again. Someone should be bringing him some sort of dinner before too much longer as well.

He wondered if Closson would make good on his word to try and get permission to bring Anika down here, even for a few minutes. Of course, if he tried and failed, Ted might never really know either way. After sitting for so long, he took to simply pacing the room to get out excess energy.

When he heard steps in the hallway, he stopped, and waited, hoping it was more than just a mediocre meal.

Closson opened the door, and held up what looked to be a small stack of newspapers. "Got these from the office. It's everything from the past week, so it ought to keep you busy a while. Can't promise the crosswords haven't been done."

Ted shrugged. "Thanks." That wasn't what he wanted to hear about, and he was sure Closson could feel it from how hard Ted was staring expectantly.

Then the other alchemist smiled, just a little. "You do have a guest. You've been granted ten minutes." He stepped out of the way and Anika, looking anxious, entered.

Ted didn't wait to see if Closson left the room. He crossed the distance and pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips to hers as she wrapped her arms around him. Even after the kiss ended, they stood there, holding each other. "I missed you."

Anika smiled. "You know it's not even been twenty-four hours, right?"

"It feels like a week." Ted's fingers twined themselves in her hair that fell down her back. "I wasn't expecting to see you."

"It was decided this morning that Niki and I should attend. I didn't know until then either." Anika nodded. "Then they brought us clothes more suited to the situation."

Ted felt a smile on his own lips. He couldn't frown when she was smiling. "Did you get that from Alyse Fischer?"

"She brought it over this morning. What do you think?" Anika looked slightly skeptical.

"You look classy and competent. Why, don't you like it?"

"Fuchsia is not my color."

Ted chuckled. "It's pretty bold, but it works." He wasn't really a judge of color, but he thought she looked good in everything he'd ever seen her in. "Did they let you see Myrda?"

Anika shook her head, clearly frustrated. "They took Fyo, Mrs. Volkova, and Liena over there this afternoon to see the animals, but since Niki and I had to be here, I didn't get to go. They're going back tomorrow though, and I can go then."

"Good." He didn't want her stressed out with worry about the animals she cared for. "I'm sure they're fine."

"What about you?" she asked. "Do you know anything?"

Ted shook his head. "I gave my report this morning. It seemed to go over well and it was definitely useful in getting people to agree this afternoon, but no one seems to know what they're going to do with me, and I was told to stay here until they do."

"That seems unfair."

Ted shrugged. "As long as I cooperate my chances of getting out of this are better than they would be otherwise. I might even still have a job after all. Not that they've told me anything, but I get the feeling that the information I brought, and the fact that we brought Gavril with us, are going to heavily sway them against running me out or throwing me in prison." He hoped he sounded reasonably confident. It was a hunch at this point.

"That would mean staying in Amestris."

"Is that okay?" Ted asked. He had to admit, he hadn't thought far enough ahead to see them moving back into Drachma. Not while they were wanted criminals, and not with a child; but maybe Anika still had a different preference.

Anika nodded. "My head knows that this is the best place for all of us right now. If you have your job, and I can work here at the zoo, it's a safe place to raise a baby. My heart just still feels like I'm giving up and abandoning my family, which is silly, but I haven't shaken it yet."

"It's a perfectly valid feeling," Ted disagreed. "It's not silly at all. It's not what you'd planned, or even what I expected but what we've started here… what we're part of, may do more good for Drachma than anything we did sneaking around in the mountains rescuing a handful of people at a time. We're not done, it's just not the only thing we need to take care of." He held her just a little tighter. "I promised you I'd end this war if it meant we could stay together, and I meant it. What happened in that room today, that's huge. Once these governments are invested in it, they won't back out at the last minute."

"How can you be sure?"

"Well, for starters, I've met half the people they sent," Ted admitted. "Thrakos Argyros, the Cretan President's son, his wife Minxia is my Dad's cousin's daughter, so she's my second cousin, and the couple here from Xing? That's the former Emperor."

He couldn't help but feel slightly amused as Anika's eyes went a little wide. "That's the Emperor's parents?"

Ted nodded. "Yes, and Minxia's mother's brother and his wife. Dad's cousin Will, the college professor, is married to Ren, Mao's sister. She's a doctor who specializes in alchemy. She's the one who has the clinic with my Uncle Ethan."

Anika shook her head. "Your family is even more widely and weirdly connected than mine is in Drachma."

"Smaller countries…well, except Xing," Ted teased. Having her close made him feel so much better, and much more positive. He wished she could stay. "We have friends in Aerugo, but no family. We haven't been working with Kartos very long."

"Still, an Emperor's sister and a President's daughter-in-law."

"A doctor and an archeologist. Yeah, and I fall in love with the daughter of a Drachman general; one who takes care of large predators for a living. You're just as incredible. Well, I think you're more incredible—"

"But we all know you're a little crazy." Anika's expression softened into one of fondness. "Lucky for you I like crazy."

"Very lucky." He leaned in as their noses touched, and he kissed her again. For the few short minutes they had tonight, he was going to make the most of every moment.

Aldon enjoyed evenings when Resembool wasn't having some sort of emergency—imagined or real—in which the Mayor absolutely had to be called upon to make some kind of decision. Those were the evenings he was able to go out to his workshop, and tinker around with his engineering projects without disruption for as long as he wanted. At least, when he wasn't spending time with Cassie. She, however, understood that he had times when he just needed to get his arms covered in grease to his elbows, or work on detailed models of ideas he had for all sorts of inventions.

Cassie understood, because on evenings he retreated to his workshop, she went upstairs to hers and worked on her paintings after they had finished dinner and cleaned up together. It was a very satisfactory and relaxing way to unwind. Then, later, they would meet back up again before bed and talk about what they were working on, or maybe watch a movie on the television if there was anything they liked, or that sounded interesting.

He had just gotten all of his tools laid out for his latest tinkering job when he heard a muffled, but urgent shout from inside the house. The words were indistinct, but it had clearly been Cassie's voice. Concerned, he went to the workshop door and looked up towards the house. A moment later the front door opened on the porch, and light spilled out across the yard. "Aldon!" she shouted across the lawn, something she almost never did. It sounded urgent.

"Coming!" He took off, jogging up to the house. What could be wrong? If something wasn't wrong, why wouldn't she have just walked down to tell him like she usually did.

"What's going on?" he asked as he hit the porch, but Cassie had already gone back inside. He opened the door and went in.

Cassie was standing in the living room holding the phone. Her eyes were wide as she held it out, and there were tears running down her cheeks, but she was smiling too. "It's Sara."

Sara? Aldon's stomach dropped until he saw the smile, and he snatched up the phone. "Sis?"

"Hey Don." On the other end of the line Sara sounded calm, and slightly amused. "Do I need to repeat what I just told Cassie?"

"Please." His wife seemed too overcome to blurt out anything else at the moment which, Aldon suspected, meant the news was about at least one of their children, though she was even more overwhelmed than she had been when Ian called with the good news that he and Bonnie were expecting their first. "Is it news about Ted?"

"Yes, it's Ted. He's back."

"Back…wait, in Central back?"

"Yes! We got a call from the border. He showed up with a caravan of escaped Drachman refugees and several trucks of rescued zoo animals."

Zoo animals? "That sounds… like my son," Aldon admitted as he tried to wrap his shocked mind around the fact that Ted was not only safe in a known location, but already back in the country. "Can I talk to him?"

"He's not here," Sara admitted, sounded both regretful and exasperated. "Given how he left, there's some pretty complicated politics going on around that right now and we're doing everything we can to lessen the damage."

"I understand." His son was lucky Amestris didn't execute people for this kind of thing anymore. At least, not unless Amestrians died. "I know you'll do your best, Sis. Is he unhurt, otherwise?"

"Nothing serious," Sara assured him. "Especially not after spending months fighting in the mountains. No, no, the only injury at this point is to his ego, which needed a good bruising."

His son had certainly taken worse since becoming a State Alchemist. Aldon felt a knot of pain and worry that had settled into his insides months ago finally begin to ease. "So, what haven't you told me that has Cassie over here unable to speak and crying tears of what I… assume, are joy?" he turned around to find that Cassie had already vanished from the room.

Sara chuckled. "Ted brought Anika with him."

The Drachman girl, of course. Aldon felt slightly guilty that he had given little thought to her lately outside of the fact she was the stated reason his youngest son had vanished into a war zone. "What's she like?"

"Very level-headed, well-spoken, intelligent. As he said, she's a zoologist. The animals and the rest of the people he brought with him are from the zoo. Apparently Savahin was selling them off for cash, and they staged a rescue. Alyse, Charisa, and I all sat down and had a nice chat with her. As I told Cassie, I like her, and I think she will too. At least from what I've seen. They only got her late last night, and I wasn't allowed to call you until Ted was officially back. We're still working on getting the Drachmans legal work visas, so do not mention them to anyone…well, except Mom and Dad, and Aunt Elicia and Uncle Al. They won't say anything and it'll be all over the news in the next couple of weeks. If only because there will be all those animals at the zoo that it's hard to pretend aren't there."

Aldon tried to imagine hiding trucks full of zoo animals. "They'd be hard to hide from the zoo staff if nothing else," he agreed. "So…Ted and Anika… have they said anything about plans now that they're here?" He could assume that they were a couple, given the way Sara was talking, and Cassie had been reacting, but he preferred to hear facts for himself.

"Well, they plan to get married at the first opportunity," Sara replied. "It'll be easier for them to stay together, and harder for anyone to argue to have her deported, so they'll probably do something small and quick first, and have a big party later."

She was still not telling him everything, he could hear it in her tone. He knew that tone. "You're smirking at the phone."

Sara laughed. "I'm amazed you can tell."

"You're always smirking when there's something you haven't told me, so just spill it."

"Anika's pregnant."

How many surprises could she drop in one conversation? "How pregnant?"

"Due in October pregnant."

Aldon tried running the math quickly, because there was no way she'd gotten pregnant after Ted left. "She was pregnant before he got back."

"Barely. She didn't know, and he didn't know until he got back up there. That's another reason they're in a bit of a hurry."

And that explained why Cassie was even more emotional than usual. Her son had returned after not a word for months, safe and alive, with his pregnant fiancée. "Which mean's Cassie's probably packing luggage right now," he pointed out to Sara.

"I expected as much. There won't be any weddings, small legal ones or otherwise, for a few days, so she's got time to get up here. She might be packing for you too."

"Probably not," Aldon admitted regretfully. "There's a huge Town Planning Meeting in three days."

"So come up afterwards. Resembool will still be there when you get back. Just tell them you're visiting the kids. You don't have to say which ones; most of them live up here now anyway."

That much was true. "I'll see what I can arrange." If he had been planning to run for re-election, he would have been concerned, but he wasn't, so he didn't need to be.

"Good. Whether he'd say so or not, your son could use you right now. I need to go, but I wanted to make sure you had as much news as I could give you."

"I appreciate it, Sara. Thanks."

When he hung up the phone, Aldon headed down the hall towards the bedroom. "Cassie?" When he entered, he was unsurprised to find her already packing suitcases. "You know we can't buy train tickets before tomorrow morning, right?"

Even in a hurry, she was pausing to fold clothes as she packed. "Yes, but if I remember the train schedule correctly, there should be a train coming through on the way to Central early tomorrow afternoon. I just want to make sure we don't forget something."

"You do remember the Town Meeting right?"

Cassie turned and stared at him for a moment, exasperated. "Of course I do, but our son is more important. Can't you get someone to cover it?"

"Do you really trust the town council to vote on this issue without me there?"

"Fine, but you'd better be on a train too the moment it's over." Cassie turned around, and hugged him tightly, still clutching a pair of socks. "I'm sorry, I'm just still trying to take it all in. Months of nothing and he's alive, and healthy, and almost in reach, and he came home engaged and about to become a father and…"

"And boy does that sound a little familiar, doesn't it?" Aldon laughed, hugging her close. "Though I doubt a hideaway in Drachma was as cozy as our little apartment in Briggs. And at least he didn't get married in Drachma without us."

Cassie made a soft choking noise that he realized was half of laugh. "No, it probably wasn't nearly as cozy," she conceded. "I'm not angry at all, just relieved, and glad they're older than we were…but I'm nervous. What if this girl doesn't like it here? What if she wants to go back to Drachma? What if… what if she doesn't like us?"

"Never yet have we had a daughter-in-law who didn't," Aldon pointed out. "So as long as we're ourselves, I'm sure it will be fine. Sara said she, Alyse, and Charisa liked her and got along with her. I'd say that bodes well for her fitting in just fine with the rest of our crazy family, don't you?"

Cassie relaxed a little. "You're right. I'm just not even sure what to pack for this trip, when no one knows we're coming almost, and we can't really tell anyone everything either. My first instinct is to pack presents, or new things for a baby but… I don't know."

"Go with your instincts." Aldon kissed her briefly. "I know it'll be fine."

Author's Note 2/3/2020: I hope everyone is having a good year so far. This one has gotten a bit away from me with work and other things, so I haven't been as consistent in posting as I have in the past decade. To make up for it, I am posting four chapters tonight (this and three more) to catch up the whole month. I do not intend to wait so long for the next ones. This story turned out to be one of the longest and most complex yet, so I am trying to get chapters out as quickly as I can get the rough drafts edited. Thank you to everyone who has read this far! I know the stories generally cover months and years of time, but it's nice not to have to wait that long to read them I'm sure. ;)