Epilogue

Mnemosyne

Four Months Later

"Should you be doing that?" Riddick asks as he comes up the hill toward the stone cottage. Over his shoulders, he carries the carcass of one of the local wildlife. To call it the Furyan equivalent of a hog is doing it a kindness. Since the genocide the wild has owned this planet, and we're not looking to tame it, we look to coexist with it.

The that that has Riddick concerned is gardening, or at least, my poor attempt at it. Our explorations of the ruined city in a nearby valley have yielded us things that look and smell like vegetables, if I could just get them to grow. I'm on my hands and knees in the dirt, weeding around the transplanted crops.

"Oh, please," I tease him, straightening my back and wiping my hands off. "If you hadn't smelled it on me, you never would have known. Not for a few months yet, at least."

He drops the hog onto the metal panel that's come to serve as our outdoor table, before heading into the cottage to fetch a pair of blades, only pausing long enough to stoop and kiss me. A simple life suits him well. He fits into this world because he was made for it. He smiles more often than not these days, and even though we can go entire days without speaking to one another, I've never felt more connected to another being in my life.

My plan to not get attached failed spectacularly, and I'm not mad about it.

Picking myself up from the dirt, I join him at the hog. He won't let me hunt with him any more, not for the past two weeks, but he'll let me help process whatever he brings back. Together, we set to skinning the beast, each starting at a different end. Every part is useful, everything is saved.

We've managed to repair the cottage. The roof still leaks in one or two places, but neither of us has fully mastered the concept of thatching properly. We gutted Danforth's ship and made essential tools out of everything we could. We scavenge the nearby city on clement days, and bury any humanoid bones we find along the way.

We are building a life. And also, against all odds, building a family.

"What're you so smiley about?" The question comes after we've skinned the hog, and I'm holding the ribcage open so Riddick can halve the spine.

"No reason," I evade first, but immediately think better of it. "Just thinking about how much I love it here. I think today we should go back to the city. Now that we have the solar chargers hooked up, maybe we can power some of those data pads we found?"

"I thought you were still reading the books you found in that temple-thing."

"They aren't religious texts; it's philosophy. From what I can tell, we come from a people of militant scholars."

Riddick rumbles, but he's smiling. "I'll do the militant. You do the scholar."

"That's the pla—." I trail off at the same time that Riddick looks around.

There's a sound out of place. And it takes me a moment or six to figure out where it's coming from. Riddick is faster, squinting towards the sky, and shading his mirrored eyes with his hand. He has to point it out to me. A ship in the distance, skirting beneath the clouds, cruising slowly at observation altitude. Just like we had done on our initial fly-overs.

My knife rattles as I set it down on the paneling. "Mercs?" It's too soon. They couldn't have tracked us this quickly. I touch the scar on my collarbone, my mind taking a worse jog as I wonder aloud. "Company?"

"Looks civilian." I don't know why, but I'm not entirely comforted by his observation. "Stay here." He starts for the cottage, and I immediately chase after him, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"Like hell!" The words are out of my mouth before I realize I mean them. I don't shy away from the stormcloud that's crossed over Riddick's expression. "We are in this together, the whole way, remember? You and me."

He straightens his favorite curl, the one that lives right at my temple, the stormclouds passing as his expression softens. He lowers his hand, and presses his palm to my stomach. I still have a few more months of it being flat at least.

"I can't lose you. Either of you."

The raw emotion in his voice causes me to kiss him, cradling his face between my hands. "You won't. I promise. We still have sound rounds for the rifle; I can cover you that way at least."

Riddick's eyes close. I listen to his breathing steady as his hand slides around my waist to pull me close. I rise on my toes to twine my arms around his neck. We stand that way for a long time; his face buried in the crook of my shoulder, clinging tightly to one another.

"We're not the only Furyan's left in the universe, Riddick. Remember what Menko said. Maybe, maybe someone else has been searching for home, and finally found it." My fingers trace down the back of his neck, finding a knot of tension that hasn't been present in a long while. "Maybe they won't land anywhere near us, and we can live peaceful, separate lives..."

"One by one, they will come to us.." Riddick intones against my skin. "They will find us."

My breath catches. "You've been dreaming about Shirah again."

I feel his smile against my skin. The kiss he places against the shell of my ear, right before he straightens. "So have you."