The next day came quickly and Kail found himself eagerly awaiting the arrival of the two girls from their rooms. He had dreamt about taking Connie to the Lerrena Cliffs the night before as he was resting. He sat at the kitchen table, his pack resting at the foot of his chair.

"Hello, Kail!" Kelsee greeted him as she walked into the kitchen with her own pack; Connie was close at her heel. "Are you ready?"

"I've been ready!" Kail exclaimed excitedly.

"Let's go then!" Kelsee said, leading them out the door. "The less time we spend here, the more time we have to hike!"

Kelsee led them down the same trails her father had taken her as a child, the trails that Dovan had also shown Kail. The first hour of the hike was traveled in relative silence as they climbed steadily upward at a slight incline. Kail stopped after a while when he saw a patch of wild lavender bell-flowers growing next to the trail. He picked a few of them and hid them in his pack to give to Connie after they made camp.

They passed a few other beds of wild flowers, some of which Kail also collected, as they continued on upward towards the top of the ridge where the Lerrena Valley was formed and the cliffs overlooked the entire valley from the eastern side. When they got to the top of the ridge in late afternoon and if it turned out to be a clear evening, they might even be able to see the lights from the city of Lerren farther down in the valley.

Evening came and the afternoon haze faded with the sunset as expected. As the three climbed higher up the ridge, they could see some of the light from the city through breaks in the trees. It was just after twilight set in the sky when they finally found a fair-sized clearing to make camp, and they set up their tents and lit a campfire.

After Kail set up his tent, he removed the carefully stored flowers from his pack and arranged them in a pleasing manner for presentation to Connie. She was sitting on a fallen log near the campfire, listening to it crackle and looking up into the stars, thinking about how very soon she would be traveling among those stars once again. Kail came up behind her so as not to be seen and kept the gift out of her sight to surprise her.

"How are you this evening?" Kail asked politely as he sat down next to her.

His sudden presence seemed to startle her a bit. "Oh, I'm fine. I was just thinking about how much I'm enjoying this, but I'm still anxious to start that survey of the Denorius Belt from Deep Space Nine."

"I see," Kail said, looking around to see if Kelsee may have been listening in, but she was still busy making minor adjustments to her tent and bedding. That was good; that way, he and Connie could have a few moments alone to talk. He brought the flowers into her view, which she almost immediately noticed.

"Oh, Kail, they're beautiful!" she exclaimed as he held them out to her. "I had no idea Bajor had such a diverse and beautiful variety of flora. You found all these here in this forest?"

"Yes, I found them as we were hiking," Kail explained. "The Lenner forest is one of the few place that remained relatively untouched by the Cardassian occupation. I think even the Cardassians found this place too peaceful and beautiful to destroy."

"That, and the fact that this land has virtually no mining or major agricultural value whatsoever," Connie pointed out.

Kail smiled. "Yes, that too."

"Thank you so much for the flowers, Kail," Connie said. "I love them so much."

"You're very welcome," Kail said, feeling very pleased with himself. "There's also something I'd like to show you tomorrow morning."

"Oh? What is it?" she asked with curiosity.

"It's a surprise, but I will tell you that it's a place I'd like to take you early tomorrow morning. Kelsee likes to sleep somewhat late, so we should have time to do it before she wakes up."

"Wouldn't she miss us if she wakes up while we're gone?" Connie asked, hesitant to leave Kelsee out.

"We can leave her a note, but I imagine we'll be back before she even wakes up. Besides, it's not far, not even a half-hour's walk. Kelsee knows where it is, but the place is a while off the trail we're following, so we wouldn't be seeing it on our way. I thought you might enjoy seeing it, though."

"All right, but I must warn you, I'm not a particularly early riser myself," she admitted. "You may have to wake me up."

"That's all right, I don't mind," Kail said with a smile, and then suppressed an involuntary cringe as Connie leaned up against him with her head on his shoulder. He cautiously placed a protective hand around her waist and she happily cuddled closer to him.

They remained in this comfortable position for almost half an hour until Kelsee came over to join then at the campfire and brought some food rations with her. Kail, like always, ate very little. Connie and Kelsee chatted lightly while they ate to their hearts' content, but Connie kept looking curiously over at Kail, who seemed unusually quiet. Like most women, Kelsee and Connie never seemed to run out of subjects to talk about. Even after they finished eating and were lounging by the campfire, they did not stop talking for more than about thirty seconds. Kail was reserved for most of the evening, but occasionally made a comment or two while listening to the girls.

It was getting quite late when the first yawn of the evening came from Kelsee. Another came from Connie and their conversation dwindled for more than a minute, the longest period of silence that evening. Kail was becoming very tired from holding his humanoid shape and was about to excuse himself to bed when Kelsee spoke first.

"I'm really tired," Kelsee said, followed by another yawn. "I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Good night, Kelsee," Kail and Connie said in unison as Kelsee got up and walked inside her tent, leaving them both sitting on the log next to the campfire.

"Well, if you're going to be taking me to see something tomorrow morning, I'd better go to bed, too," Connie said.

"Yes, I'm feeling quite tired myself," Kail agreed.

Connie stood and then kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Good night, Kail."

He said nothing and just stared after her as she walked away to her tent, then disappeared inside. She had kissed him on the cheek. What did that mean? He didn't know what it meant, except that she liked him. He still wasn't sure how much she liked him, though. It was almost like she had changed overnight from being confident and inquisitive toward him to being aloof and slightly cautious, but it was still obvious that she liked him a lot.

Kail got up and retired to his own tent, still thinking. She was probably able to guess by that point that he was interested in her too, but how else could he show her? He'd gotten her flowers, he's going to take her to see the cliffs tomorrow morning; what else could he do? The only thin he could think of was to wait and see what opportunities arose. But what if it wasn't enough? Would she expect more from him?

Kail banished the thought that he was not good enough and settled down on some blankets he'd brought to substitute as a bed. But he couldn't help but worry about what she might think of him if she ever found out the truth about him. Would she still love him if she knew he was a Changeling? Would she become afraid and turn him over to the authorities? Many humanoid species had a xenophobic tendency to fear or even hate others who were different and often stereotyped them all as being the same. Would she think him as the same as one of the founders of the Dominion, the empire her own people are at war with?

He wanted to think of her as being smarter than that. He wanted to believe that any initial fear she might have would be overridden by the knowledge of what kind of person he really is. But will she know him well enough if and when she finds out? He wasn't sure of that either, but he would trust her. If he was going to persue this relationship, it's only a question of when she will find out. And if it got really serious before she found out herself, he would just have to tell her.

He could not hold his shape any longer. As the molecules of his body lost their cohesion, he hid himself under one of the blankets so as not to be seen. Kail rested, his thoughts in turmoil.

Bajor's red dwarf sun was about forty-five minutes away from its rise over the horizon. Kail arose from his bedding and solidified himself, fully refreshed and anxious to take Connie to see the Lerren cliffs. He quickly packed up the blankets and then left his tent to rouse Connie. As he approached the opening to her tent, he was almost run down as she was exiting. She obviously didn't see him until they were standing virtually nose-to-nose.

"I see I didn't have to come and wake you up after all," Kail said.

Connie smiled and blushed slightly. "I guess I was more anxious to see whatever it was you wanted to show me more than I thought. I woke up about half an hour ago and couldn't go back to sleep."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Already?" Connie asked, surprised. "The sun hasn't even come up yet. There's no light."

"That's the best part," Kail hinted.

Connie put it together very quickly. "So, we're going somewhere to watch the sunrise?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "And before I manage to spoil any more of it for you, perhaps we should be on our way."

She quickly grabbed her jacket from her tent and joined him at the edge of the clearing they were camping in. "Lead the way."

Kail led her through the trees and thick underbrush. It was still a bit too dark to see everything clearly, so she ended up tripping a few times on loose stones or exposed roots from time to time. Overall, they had a good pace and Kail was glad to know they would arrive just in time. Connie still didn't know where exactly he was taking her, and so was visibly disappointed when they stopped suddenly.

"Are we here already?" she asked in confusion.

"No," Kail said. "I just thought I should stop and warn you to be extra careful that you don't trip and fall or lose your footing around here."

"Why is it I should be so extra careful now?"

Kail stepped forward, parting the bushes in front of them, and offered out his hand to her. "This is why."

She took his hand and stepped forward to see that the ground became very steeply inclined for a few meters and then disappeared completely, revealing a very wide-open space. She took another cautious step forward and suddenly realized she was looking down upon the entire valley from above on the top of a cliff. The early morning twilight still made it difficult to see everything, so Kail sat down to wait for the sunrise and urged Connie to join him. She sat down next to him, a safe distance away from the edge, and marveled at the sights being unveiled before her. The sky brightened with the sun's first rays of light.

She could just make out the lines of the trees that covered the ridge as they wrapped protectively around the valley on its southern and eastern edge. And, if she looked hard enough, she could just see the farthest outskirts of the village they had left the day before. It was towards the bottom of the valley. A few distant clouds had just become visible as the morning sun's first rays peeked up over the distant horizon in the general direction of the city of Lerren.

Those first rays of light shone out upon the trees and the ridge like beams of spotlights looking for someone to shine on. The beauty of the scene took her breath away as the beams of light grew to encompass the entire valley.

"This is so beautiful, Kail," she said dreamily. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

He smiled as she leaned closer to him. "You're quite welcome."

No sooner had they stood up to take in the whole scene when he felt her lips upon his. It startled him at first, but as she wrapped her arms around his chest, he relaxed and kissed her back. His own arms found their way around her waist and they held each other in a passionate embrace.

They remained in each other's arms a good while before an unusually strong gust of wind came at them and the sound of a shuttlecraft hovering just above them greeted their ears. It was a Starfleet issue shuttlecraft and in the main window port they could see Kelsee, who waved at them just before a transporter beam whisked them away.