Onboard a shuttle, in Rough Skull space.
"Mom? I don't know if you can hear me..."
A picture flashed up on the view screen, misted with static but clear enough to show a face.
The pilot's spiny brows wrinkled "What in the many filth-sucking hells is this?"
"If you can hear me, that means my message got through."
"He has the look of one of our juveniles," The pilot squinted at the screen "But... that is the ooman's language."
"Do you understand it?" The co-pilot asked.
The pilot tossed his braids "Enough to recognise, not to decipher."
"His face..." The co-pilot chittered in disgust "We must erase this heresy!"
"Do not be a fool!" The pilot hissed, knocking aside the hand that reached for the coms control.
The co-pilot glowered mutinously "Why are we wasting our time on this? It has the look of a trick ...an abominable joke!"
"I...I miss you guys."
The pilot froze the image, staring at the screen for a long moment
"Abominable or no, this is not for us to decide." He said finally, "We must send this to our commanders."
Daylight was just stealing across the sky, the sun reflecting the translucent sparkle off the snow. Dawn found Lex seated at Hobbes's computer, drinking coffee.
She looked up and smiled as Spyrro appeared on the stairs "Hello, my daughter. I hope you slept well?"
"Mei'Varsi," The girl demanded without preamble "Why did we come here?"
"Do you not remember? We are on Earth - my planet. We are staying at the home of my friend, Hobbes."
"Why?"
"Because we need to find Selim and Isaac… and your Father."
The child glowered at her "And how will being on this soft meat planet help us find my Father?"
Lex regarded her stonily. "I have told you before, do not use that phrase."
"Oh yes, I know those words bother you." Spyro smirked.
"Do not be disrespectful!" Lex snapped, then she stopped. Her daughter always seemed to be able to push her buttons - she wondered if the ability was genetic.
"Spyrro," She said, in a softer tone "I know you miss them, but - "
"And what about you Mother?" The mischievous grin hadn't left Spyrro's face. "Do you know where they are?"
Lex drew a deep breath "I don't," She said in English, leaning forward to grip her daughter's shoulders "I don't know where they are right now Spyrro," She said "But I think there is something here on Earth I may be able to use to find them."
At her words, Lex noticed the girl's grin faded and she dropped her eyes "She likes to push and push," She thought "Still, under all that bravado she's a little girl who's missing her brothers and her father. Of course, she's pushing me! It's a test to see if I'm going to leave her too."
"Do not be anxious daughter," She said, smoothing down the girl's hair "I am not going anywhere."
"Yes Mei'Varsi," Spyrro's eyes flashed upwards for just a second "I know."
Lex smiled at her "It's still early," She said "Why don't I get you some breakfast?
"Can I have more eyessss creeem?"
"Not for breakfast." Small jaws curled up obstinately. "Maybe you could try some pancakes with maple syrup?" Lex offered as a compromise "It's a different kind of human food."
"Is it like eyesss creeem?"
"It is... similar."
Spyrro gave a grudging nod.
Spyrro had been thinking whether to tell Mei'Varsi about Isaac's message. At first, she thought maybe she should tell her "Then we could go and find Selim and Isaac and Mei'Savir right now!" She had felt so excited by this idea, that the night when she first heard from her brother she'd thought about running and telling her mother right away. But then she'd fallen asleep in the chair - so embarrassing!
She'd still been feeling cross about that when they got to the ooman place, but the wonderful eyess-creem had made her forget her anger. The ooman was about to give her some more but then Mei'Varsi had refused! When she woke the next morning, Spyrro lay in the ooman sleeping pod, fuming to herself.
"All she ever says to me is 'No'!" She grumbled "No more eyess-creem Spyrro! No running off Spyrro. No night-hunting Spyrro. No getting out of bed Spyrro! No! No! No!" She hammered her small fists on the bed.
She missed her Father terribly. Scar might have been sometimes harsh with his sons, but his daughter was a different matter. Spyrro had always followed her Father's yautja code in all things and she was a quick and confident pupil. In return he petted her and spoiled her unashamedly, charmed by her appearance that was so like his own and her black eyes that were the carbon copy of Lex's.
"Well done, my merciless one!" He would say whenever she mastered some new weapon or laid her latest kill at his feet, "The bitch goddess truly favoured me on the day she sent me a daughter as fierce and as fearless as you. You are just like your Mother."
"I am not like Mei'Varsi!" It angered her that he always compared her with her Mother, "I am not ooman, but yautja - like you!"
He would grin at her explosions of temper, unable to contain his glee at her stubbornness and defiance, and Spyro would find herself grinning back. Now, she missed him so much she thought she might cry although, of course, she did not. Her Father would not wish her to show such weakness.
"Mei'Savir never says no to me," She thought fiercely. "He lets me do what I want. He knows I am a warrior! A hunter! Just like him!" She clenched her small fists again, "How can he have taken my stupid brothers and left me behind? Isaac does not know how lucky he is..."
Then an idea came to her, an amazing idea! She would use Isaac's message herself! "My brother said he sent his location with the message," She thought "I will take the location and go and find my Father and Selim and Isaac! What a great joke it would be if I were the one to find them!"
The more she thought about it, the more excited she was "If I bring them back all by myself, my Mother will see that I can do things alone - and my Father will see he was wrong to leave me! But I need to get onto the shuttle!"
A quick glance out of the window told her that day was already breaking. She would have to be quick if she wanted to reach the ship before Mei'Varsi. She knew she would also need Mei'Varsi's satcom if she wanted to get onto the Dragonfly. Spyrro rose from the ooman bed "Maybe she still sleeps now."
Spyrro crept along the corridor, checking each of the ooman sleeping chambers to see which one Mei'Varsi might be in. She was disappointed not to find her in any of them and even more disappointed when she ventured down the stairs to find her Mother already awake "But that spoils everything!" Spyrro thought desperately "How am I going to get onboard the Dragonfly now?"
She thought again of telling Mei'Varsi about the message because that would mean they could find her Father and brothers more quickly, but then her Mother had to go and spoil things again, scolding her just for using the yautja phrase.
"I have heard Father use those words!" She fumed "Words are not weapons - they do not harm you!"
She was briefly distracted from the ruination of her plans by her Mother's offer of breakfast. Despite her determination to follow the way of the yautja in all things, Spyrro was developing a liking for these sweet-tasting ooman foodstuffs. "It is probably fine," She reasoned, "I just need to make sure Mei'Savir never finds out!"
Hobbes entered the kitchen to find Lex fully dressed and standing in front of the refrigerator. Spyrro was perched on one of the kitchen stools, subjecting the medic to the same gimlet-eyed scrutiny she had last night.
"Wow, you guys are early risers, huh?" She said, stifling a yawn
Lex nodded. "I've got to prep the shuttle before we leave."
"What're you making?"
"Pancakes," Lex set eggs, butter and milk on the counter. "I thought Spyrro would like them."
Beside her, the girl spread her jaws in what the medic had come to recognise as the hunter's version of a grin.
Hobbes picked up the milk. "You just leave this to me - I'm the Queen of Pancakes!"
Lex sat down and then hesitantly half rose again "I should probably go and - "
"Sit down and drink your coffee, that's an order." Hobbes said, mock stern "You've got time to eat breakfast before you go out and take on the rest of the universe."
A short while later, the two women were watching Spyrro demolish her second helping, with no sign of slowing down.
"Are you sure you don't want any more?" Said Hobbes.
Spyrro mumbled something through a mouthful of sticky syrup. Hobbes wasn't sure which language she was speaking but the meaning was quite clear that she, at least, wanted more.
Lex drained her coffee "I have some routine maintenance to do on the Dragonfly before we take off. Spyrro, you can come with me."
"But Mei'Varsi - " The girl began indignantly.
Hobbes cut in. "Look Lex, why don't you go do what you gotta do? She can stay here with me while I cook up some more."
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Lex looked uneasy.
"We'll be fine, I promise." Said the former soldier. "Let Spyrro make the most of the best pancakes on this planet, she seems like a girl who can do them justice."
Spyrro gave her mother a pleading look.
Lex hesitated for a moment more "Spyrro," She prompted "If I let you have some more, will you be good and stay her with Hobbes?"
"Yes Mei'Varsi." She said, uncharacteristically meek, squeezing yet more syrup onto the remainder of her breakfast.
"You will stay here, won't you Spyrro, and not run off?"
"Yes, Mei'Varsi."
Lex went over to put her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking her in the face "You promise me?"
"I promise to stay here, Mei'Varsi."
"You're a good girl." She kissed her and turned to leave.
Much later, it occurred to Lex she never should have believed a promise from her daughter that wasn't spoken in yautja.