Chapter 37

When Kisaka had decided that the phone call was taking far too long for him to simply not bother and wait until Cagalli called for him, he charged into the office. The knock he roughly passed on the solid wood echoed for less than a second before his entire gait had been pulled in with the rest of him. And then he froze.

His ward was sitting in Athrun Zala's lap, looking very bashful.

The world seemed to pass in time, so fast that relativity was no longer a concept. Time passed like an instant, but the moments stood still. It did not pass Athrun's mind that Kisaka might have not trusted him and came to make sure that he would not try to stop Athrun from seeing Cagalli.

In actual fact, Kisaka hadn't even thought that he would. And therefore, upon coming face to face with Athrun, Kisaka's eyes took on the appearance of saucers.

The two men stared each other, one with the shock of one who had discovered his charge's husband-to-be-removed looking as if Athrun had just proposed, and another with the kind of complete, genteel satisfaction at being the husband-to-be-removed now stationed with the one person he had given everything up for in exchange for her.

"What the blazing hell is going on?" Kisaka demanded loudly in his astonishment, as Cagalli looked up at him, her smile was very shy. And Athrun held her tighter and answered simply, "I've won."

They all knew it wasn't a personal victory or a cause of pride or dominance over Cagalli. But he had won. He had chosen to defy a fate she could have chosen to defy as well, but hadn't found the courage to. But that didn't matter anymore, that he had chosen to fight for both of them rather than what they'd tried to do in the past, and by fighting for themselves, both he and her, they'd had became caught up in their own pasts, their own differences and duties and it had been so difficult to return here.

They'd tried to fight in their own ways, the way they'd been living their whole lives, even when Jun Thornier had been a threat to them, and they'd failed once. But now, he would not fail while fighting for both of them.

And this was simply because he wasn't fighting for himself anymore, he wasn't just fighting to live in a life where distance meant nothing for both of them in their different countries, he was fighting for her to realise that she could be as selfish as she liked where he was concerned.

His smile was gentle, Kisaka saw, as Athrun looked at Cagalli. Perhaps, just perhaps, she would finish her final stages of her maturing in her emotional growth to realise that Athrun had always provided her the right to pursue her own happiness while she had so vehemently denied it. So many thoughts, Kisaka muttered to himself, so many instances where the word 'perhaps' occurred.

And that was the most wonderful of all things. That their future was their to write in any way they wanted from then on.

After Kisaka had left, a behemoth of a guardian, nearly in tears as he vaguely stumbled out, still laughing his thunderous laugh and threatening to murder them both if they tried a stunt like that ever again.

She had lost her heart to the soldier who had tried to kill her, then lost him to his duties and her own, and then herself to her obligations, and that had made her lonely enough to want something she would not lose to anyone, something that reminded her of what she had lost even when she had tried to divide herself for him and for her country, something that would remind her of him, that she had thought she'd given up. And now, he had come back.

Cagalli looked at him and thought to herself, how stubborn she had been and how what she had lost by giving it up was returning to her. Bit by bit, little by little, and she understood that it wasn't that she had the right to give him away, because he wanted to be here, at this moment, in front of the fireplace, watching as she huddled in blankets not unlike the time they had been on the desrted island and he'd kindly given her his blanket even though they were both cold and drenched.

Now, she was cloaked in his embrace and he in hers.

"No need for anything else now," Athrun said tranquilly. "As long as I live, I will need you here with me."

"I've never heard," Cagalli said with a sigh in her voice, although it was not unhappy at all, "Of a man who came to his wife and gave up everything like this."

"But there is one who came to his wife who was bound to her land."

She looked pained and turned away. His next words, however, were firm, no longer musing.

"And there is one who came to his wife who was bound to her land and loved her for being bound to her land. You are the Lioness," Athrun said, with the air of a person who had become very still and in turn stilled the world around him, "And I will have you as you are."

She nodded, too stunned to speak, even though she did not need him to vocalise the pact of common understanding they had obtained in the last three hours. And yet, her heart had beat faster with every word that he had uttered only just.

Shortly after, they left for the place he had missed so deeply and silently, like a knife wound that never completely healed and bled for as long as he held it on his flesh. But when the gates opened with an indignant, aching creak, and they moved out from the car, he caught her in his arms and spun her around like a child, the trees around the wide path bearing witness to their antics and the wind howling and whipping madly around them in the evening. They ended up breathless and laughing, trudging their way up to the house although it was a long walk. When they had re-entered the house after climbing the length of white steps, they stepped in and in no time, the fire crackled cheerily. She removed her coat and his, and he gazed at the world wround them, stripped of his presence but now filled with his being.

And Cagalli glanced shyly at him. "I- I thought it might be best if-,"

"We'll need to make sure the twins don't get into trouble here," He interjected mildly, "Here and there, those corners are quite cumbersome."

"No," She interrupted, embarrassed, "I mean, the room we used to have has been bare since a while ago, and-,"

"Don't worry," Athrun replied, smiling softly, "We don't need anything but ourselves."

He bent down and claimed her mouth again, and she held on tightly to his shoulders, prepared to never let go, and she began to return his kiss with an innocent passion and a sort of golden, glowing longing that he understood as the wounds in them reopened but ceased to hurt as they held each other. And slowly, the touch became less solemn and she brushed her hand against his face with a feather touch like a playful kitten.

"Little minx that you are," He whispered into her hair, his voice a throaty, deep rumble that she shuddered against him, wanting to feel the warmth of his flesh without any external barriers.

"Don't let go," She said, muffled as he lowered her to the ground and she felt a soft thud as her back touched against the floor, "Don't you dare let g-." He silenced her with a finger on her lips and smiled.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

She watched him with lowered eyes, the fire casting golden speck in her already amber eyes, and he tenderly moved down and held her face between his hands, looking at her. The cushion he had placed under her neck made her golden hair fan out like a halo and the firelight glinted on it.

"Imagine us," Cagalli murmured, "Everything we've been through."

"I can," He muttered back drily, "From the way I tried to kill you on the island to discovering you weren't exactly a boy. What a shock.The only thing I've been more shocked by is Lacus telling me in the nicest way that she ever could, that she was a dumpee and I the dumped. I couldn't believe you were a girl when you tackled me."

She looked at him exasperatedly. "Wasn't it obvious?"

"No," He said with a serious, solemn look, "Not until you lifted your shirt."

She made a sound of distaste and smacked him across his arm, and he laughed and refrained from the urge to tackle and wrestle with his amber spitfire. Irritated at him treating her so carefully, she rashly shook him, although she did not quite manage to, given how he was bending over her, lowered and firm. "Damn it, you always make me so-,"

"But you need me anyway," He said, in a way that made it impossible for her to disagree. She pulled him down to her, searching for the warmth and in a frenzy of irritation and affection, she bit his ear, but not quite hard enough for him to bleed. He grinned. "Leave that to the twins."

She grimaced. "I can't wait."

"Neither can I," He replied carelessly, still wild with the silent joy of her in his arms, still lost in the mad, frantic pace of recovering everything they'd lost, making sure they'd never lose it again. She understood, and for a minute, it seemed as if they were in another place altogether, she asking him to make sure she wasn't dreaming, and he showing her that everything was a reality as solid as having his arms encasing her in the warmth that he provided.

A golden silence spread itself like the snow outside the house, in the room, like how the white blanket dressed the fields in the cold. But she broke into it after a while, because she could not keep quiet when she wanted to say so much, tell him so much, but didn't quite know how to begin. And when she spoke, she wasn't quite thinking any longer.

"I reckon," Cagalli offered, a slightly mischievious sparkle in her eyes, "We sell off the firms you acquired while we can. And tell them the deal's off. We won't be requiring their services anymore, either of us. The lawyer too, although he won't be as disappointed as these money-grubbers. I should really look into their accounts, since they are a monopoly in ORB."

"Wise decision," Athrun remarked, and he stood gracefully and swept the papers he had left, sheet by sheet, into the fire that consumed the white pieces eagerly. And he rejoined her again, by the fire with an intensity in his arms and lips that rivaled the fire's warmth and crackling.

And it didn't matter that there was little in the house that spoke of Athrun, because he held her now as they nestled and tussled like maddened beasts, she was wild and uncontrallable and he was cautious and firm, although she became frustrated with his semi-interest in following her pace and cried, "I'm not made of glass, damn it!"

And he laughed and took her challenge until they were completely exhausted and spent. They knew what each other was trying to do, reliving that one night they had spent, except there would be no more betrayal in the morning, and that Athrun would make a few calls in the morning for his things to be sent back here. They held each other for a while soon after, enjoying being in the other's arms and watching the shadows of the things around them flicker on flesh. "What are you thinking?" Cagalli whispered drowsily, her hands still tangled around his neck. One hand of his, likewise, was tied firm in her hair at the back of her golden head, and his other lightly tracing her.

"That I'm bloody starving."

She laughed, getting up after him, and they made do with what they could, stopping to tease each other and getting so caught up by each other's efforts to distract the other that it was remarkable that they made their sandwiches at all. And when actual night had fallen and Cagalli had dozed off, Athrun prepared himself and slipped out from the house and drove to a tiny bar he knew of. They had loved utterly and completely, and he felt as if everything had been completed, almost willing to die then, if he had been asked to. He had seen her body, slightly but only very barely fuller beneath the thin nightgown he had brought and slipped over her head, lest she catch a cold. But that was expected, she was barely in the first trimester, and still, Athrun could not stop himself from imagining her form, weighted gloriously with his children, rich with promise.

He hadn't wanted to leave her after gaining her back only so shortly ago, but there was one final thing to take care of.

And making sure nobody saw him, and ignoring the seedy-looking area even as a few women called out to him with scornful, flirtatious eyes, he crossed a few streets, flipped a coin into a beggar's cup and slipped into the seat, next to Benjamin Goebbels. He looked almost out of place in that bar, neat, well-dressed, quite handsome with his dark brown hair and oval-framed glasses, he looked the part of an intellectual and nothing else.

Neither man said anything although they each took a sip of their beverages, until Athrun finally spoke up.

"She's asleep now."

"I know." Goebbels echoed evenly, "And that's why you agreed to come to meet me."

He smiled, although it was not a scornful one. "Thank you."

"I won't be coming back to ORB after this. There's been a few offers here in PLANT for administrative work now that the developments you were incharge of have fully taken flight. I've accepted already. But then," Goebbels looked at him emotionlessly, "She won't mind."

He took off his glasses, and Athrun looked at him. He had perfect eyesight, didn't he? These were normal glasses, not eye ones. Their glint and what Athrun could see through them were as untinted as normal windows, nothing magnified or even blurred.

"No," Athrun admitted, "Because she never has."

"True," Goebbels said, shrugging, and for a minute, Athrun imagined the searing pain that went through the other man, but was faintly glad he wasn't sitting in his seat instead, "I've never possessed her. When I met her as little more than a youth, as a playmate for Yuna Roma Seiran, I imagined myself a sort of knight that would save her from that lout the Heir of Seiran was. God, you should have seen her kick at him, she was unbridled and a terror. But she was a very spirited, beautiful child. Yuna Roma once admitted to me that he privately thought that her golden hair crackled with energy and he wanted to reach out and touch it. She never allowed him to come near her, much to my relief. But then she never noticed me, she never noticed anyone because she had everything as a child and even if she didn't have a mother, Kisaka always protected her. And she never recognised me even when I left the Seiran's service to work directly under Kisaka."

"Why didn't you even try?" Athrun asked, curious.

"I did, you can rest assure that I did," Goebbels said, not bitterly, but the emptiness of his voice made the words even more bitter in their hollowness, "I was seventeen when she ran off to Heliopolis and came back, slightly bruised but none the worse for wear, and I was so relieved to see her. She was welcomed back even as she raged and screamed at the leaders and her father for allowing Heliopolis to be the weapon hell that it had become, and Yuna Roma Seiran jumped at the opportunity to ask the leaders to let them marry. Because he had come of age, and she was already sixteen by then. The leaders wouldn't have agreed because they were still too young to fully manage their tempers and their lot in life, but she ran away with Kisaka before I could even muster the courage to speak to her. At that time, she didn't even know who I was, she didn't want anything to do with Yuna Roma Seiran."

"And you were his playmate and consort?" Athrun inquired, feeling his pulse quicken. So that had been her history. All that she had thought she'd known but had never known because she had never seen past the fall of Heliopolis and her subsequent time with the Desert Dawn.

"Yes. I cursed the fact sometimes, that I was an orphan sent in to be his friend and that sort of company that money and prestige paid for." Goebbels offered tonelessly, "And that made her ignore me. I wanted to rise above that idiot. And when she ran away, I despaired, for Yuna Roma was sent away to Europe to study and I with him. And we were kept there for safety reasons while the war erupted in its fullest effects and eventually died out after the Jachin Due Battle. By the time I returned to ORB with him, he was ready to claim Cagalli again. I met you there, in fact, I stood amongst the officials watching Yuna Roma embrace his soon-to-be bride."

"I never noticed you." Athrun said quietly, unintentionally cruel. But Goebbels showed no reaction other than the wan smile and his next words.

"And I knew she loved you, because she kept turning her head, back to look at you even as she was led away by the imbecile that he was. Yuna Roma kept trying to possess her, he tried to control her and make her comply to his wishes, but the more she fought him, the more enamoured he became of her. I was always jealous of his power. Because power equated to ability."

Athrun understood. The power to do, the power to be. "And the wedding after I left?"

"I was surprised," Goebbels said, looking directly at him, "I half-suspected you would come for her. But you didn't and the Freedom did. But I wasn't even there at the ceremony. By that time, I had fled on the pretense of managing the work that Yuna Roma was neglecting in EA, and had stayed there, unwilling to watch her give her hand to someone as unworthy as him. And immediately after that, I handed in my resignation and came back to work for the government itself, rather than the Seiran House."

"All so Cagalli would finally notice you by the time she came back to ORB to reclaim her rightful ownership?"

"Obviously so." Goebbels said with a sort of sigh. "When she came back, she removed Yuna Roma quite successfully, and I was already answering to only Kisaka. But there was a marked difference in her, something I still can't quite understand up until today. And for the next two years, I served under her, and she trusted me quite completely. And I realised as time went by, that I was never existent as more than her subordinate, because the more I tried to control her, the more she grew distant. And in the most ironic sense," He gave a dry smile, "I was like Yuna Roma in that way."

"But you still had a chance before we married," Athrun interjected, "Why didn't you?"

"Because I found that the ache wasn't so deep after a while," Goebbels said simply, touching the cold rim of his glass, "I could never throw away my career and what I had worked so hard to achieve after so long for just the chance to be with her. And Cagalli was far too caught up with you to even notice. But I was careful not to show anything." He admitted, "I never let myself get too near her. And she never made the effort to draw me nearer. When she came back from Berlin two years after the Second War, I knew you had returned."

"I punched you," Athrun recalled wryly, and Goebbels gave a short bark of laughter. " I detested you."

"Mutual," Goebbels agreed, smiling slightly. But the smile made a warmth enter his eyes that Athrun had never seen before. His eyes were reflected in a pair that could have been his. Uncanny. Had that made Cagalli accept Goebbels even without fully understanding what she had meant to him? Athrun would never know.

"And I was sent to travel on a diplomat's task," Geobbels continued, "While you were with her. And it wasn't a long trip, but it was enough for you to secure your hold on her even tighter than before. And I opened the newspapers one morning to see the ruined beach and both your names, and I knew you would eventually make her come back to you. So I stayed where I was, unable to watch her give her hand to someone who was now worthy of her. It was less difficult however, than watching her give her hand to Yuna Roma, because you are a deserving man. I eventually came back and she hadn't even noticed that I had been gone. But then I realised, although I didn't say anything, that you were becoming as estranged from her as she was from you. But I thought only of aiding her. You will think what you like of me, but it is done for anyway and you still have her."

They sat in silence. And Athrun eventually stood up and offered his hand. Goebbels took it after a split-second's worth of hesitation.

And Athrun left to return to Cagalli.

In Athrun's apartment, Meyrin was rifling around the place, searching in cabinets and fridges for something to eat. She had always been a good actress or liar, whichever, in her desperation. And she had waited a long time before the phone had rang, and true to her word, she did not answer. And when Athrun's cell had rang, she had answered it in a way she deemed as suitable for creating the impression that he was still in PLANT, with her, in fact, as if to live out the last of her childish fantasies that Athrun Zala loved her, Meyrin Hawke, and wasn't away in another place, fighting for another.

And she had helped Athrun more than once now, with her lies. Was that a loaf of bread? Yes. Surely, he would not mind to her eating what had probably been meant to be his lunch, not after she had willingly helped him.

She smiled, and her smile was very contented and child-like, before she reached for another cabinet, searching for proper utensils. And that was when a few tears came but she dried them and smiled again, in her semi-disappointment and semi-joy.

After that, she went home, glad that Bonita was at her mother's and would not be around to ask where Meyrin had disappeared to for the past hours. Meyrin would tidy up the place a little, because Shinn Asuka had given her a call and asked if she would put up with him for a while because he was here in PLANT and wanted to see her.

She walked back to her apartment and stopped in her tracks, a few meters away from the door, her key already in her hand. He looked up at her from where he had been leaning on the grail, his hands in his pockets, and he stared at Meyrin with his ruby eyes moving in his white face, his dark hair tousled with the wind, and he smiled.

In the Joule Estate, Shiho was brushing her long, fine dark hair, and Yzak watched her from where he sat, no longer speaking brusquely and impatiently tapping his hand against the desk, instead, he had retired to their bedroom and swapped his full military attire for a suit. They would go out for dinner tonight. Now, he reclined, slightly worn-out by the day's events. His reflection showed as a striking man, upon the large, oval and ornate vanity mirror as well. She turned around to face him with a little upturn of her lips, and he smiled, silently approving of the wine-coloured silk dress she had chosen to wear. In her ears dangled a pair of magnificent opals that Ezalia Joule had sent along with the wedding gifts and her blessing.

"They nearly died, the both of them, when I called the deal off. Imgaine losing the propsect of seventeen billion and eight-five thousand in less than an hour." Yzak remarked, his eyes tracing Shiho's face in his usual calculated manner. She laughed, a weak cry, and answered breathlessly, "And to think you sat here all day, with a phone in your hands, just waiting for the other side to make her bargain, and you were so stern with them! Why, it was almost watching you with the troops in putting forward your terms! And all to render a heart attack on the directors once you cancelled it."

"What about it?" Yzak sneered, coming forward so that his hands were firm on her as she shifted around, standing up form where she had previously sat, "It wasn't difficult. Nothing ever is."

"I still cannot believe that you kept doubling the price that she offered," Shiho said doubtfully.

"And why not?" Yzak asked amusedly, "The directors couldn't either, they kept tabs on the Joule assests al; the while just to be sure I wasn't lying, and I think the deposit I placed each time proved it wasn't empty talk. The onyl reason why they believed it was I who wanted to purchase the entire proprietorship was because I made sure to look official. But I don't see the point in acquring a genetic research foundation, I'd prefer vineyards, they tend to break even on a more regular basis and ensure profits within ten years of establishment, rather than an unstable messing around with Science."

He watched her sit down and slide her white foot into a slipper studded with rhinestones. Her mother's. And she looked up and grinned suddenly.

"But why did you help a man you said you couldn't quite stand?" Shiho asked, provoking him with her teasing smile, and he growled and promised to ravish her after they came back from dinner, with the look in his deep blue eyes.

"You could say I like the idea of Zala making me the godfather of his child." Yzak said carelessly.

She grinned, enjoying his mock-arrogance and she stroked his cheek tenderly. His eyes closed as he pulled her in. "Now we'll have another couple to add on to the guest list. I imagine they will congratulate us whole-heartedly."

He bent forward to kiss her cheek but paused. She stared up at him, not quite understanding why he had paused.

"Certainly," Yzak said ruefully, "Amongst other things as well."

A month later, Athrun sat, watching the sea churn and toss fitfully. But his mood was tranquil, as was Cagalli's. The sun was not up yet, and most of the world here was still tucked in their covers, fast asleep. And there was only a faint pink dyed in the fabric of greys the sky wore that morning, near the crying of the wind and wild breezes that made their hair flutter from where they sat, facing the vast stretch of isolated beach and ocean. He had woken up to find her sitting outside their room, alone at the balcony.

"This is disconcerting," Cagalli muttered, turning back to Athrun. "The rumours fit in so well with the facts that I've started doubting what's real and what's not. Worse thing is I actually know."

She let the papers fly to the side, and they moved closer, pressing her towards the couch's back her chest was faced to.

He grinned. "No matter. We'll collect these and laugh over it one day."

They were sitting at a balcony, facing the beautiful gray seas, in the same couch. For she had nestled on it, her chest turned towards the crisp cold air and he next to her, although his bare torso was not wrapped in the blanket like hers, and his arms were pressed over her bare arms as they surveyed the seas from high above. Their hair flew in the wind, so lightly and so freely that she felt like they were seagulls, bound to nothing and free from everything.

"How do you find Marseilles?" He asked lazily, and she grinned, turning slightly to look at him, and she replied easily, "It's beautiful. And I won't have to deal with Kisaka fussing over what I do when I'm expecting."

They smiled at each other, enjoying the breeze that came in. It was bold being in this state, but this part of the sea was deserted and mysterious, very quiet, and no other suite had its balconies facing this way. Athrun however, frowned a little. "Shouldn't you get back where it's warmer?"

"No," She reminded him, "It's precisely because the rooms are so well-heated that I felt it was too stuffy and came out here. And if you're chiding me for not being properly clothed," She gave him an amused look, "I'll have to remind you that you're the one without the shirt."

"It's not that cold." He protested. She chuckled her answer. "Precisely."

He admitted defeat by resting his chin above her head, wrapping her closer. "Imagine if we had announced anything before I'd came back to you."

She looked pensive. "I'd rather not, now that I have the alternative."

Athrun smiled peacefully. "Lacus called last night, while you were in the shower. She says she'd like you to call her back."

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked reproachfully.

"Because you'd have gotten distracted."

He relished the invasion of color in her cheeks.

"I have the worst timing," Cagalli sighed, "Always seems that I miss her calls directly at the point when she dials for me. Did you speak to her?"

He smiled a secret smile now, his former one becoming slightly sly. "I did. But nothing very- important."

She snorted. "Important? What are your standards of important anyway? I should get up and call her now, or I'll never get to know what you were both talking about that might be important by my standards and hers. I suppose your standards of important w-"

He nuzzled her neck and she shifted her golden hair to allow him better excess, her words dying away on her lips, never once tired of the effect he had on her although he had demonstrated it so many time already.

He whispered something into her ear, testing her patience with his slow, languorous teasing and she colored, not with embarrassment, but with the unbridled sensations.

"Yes," She whispered faintly to him, pink where he had kissed her, and she turned herself and gathered the blanket around both them, "Very much."

"Good." He said, satisfied, and well recovered from the heat of the rooms, he led her back in. The papers rustled in the wind, whispering the secrets of the world and the endless time of each moment joined to the next and the subsequent next.

C.E 80- 21st December

Excerpts from PLANT PRIMETIME-EXCLUSIVE REPORT

Page 1

Commander Yzak Joule, (aged 26) has been recently promoted to shoulder new responsibility as ETERNITY's new Chairman. He is uncontactable for comment. His comrade and long-time friend, Dearka Elseman, who fought in the First and Second Wars with Chairman Joule, eagerly commented that the newly-promoted Chairman is prepared to take on the fresh challenge to the best of his abilities.

Page 5

After a length two years, the groundbreaking step to restructure and recreate the internal and external prong of deterrence has been taken and completed. PLANT economists have calculated that the initial outlay of the new systems will set PLANT back by half a year of the sum of national incomes at the very minimum, but General Hohenheim begs to differ. Below is his statement.

Page 6

Athrun Zala (aged 25) has confirmed that his resignation from PLANT'S Ministry has been forwarded and approved. He leaves behind a string of dazzling accomplishments that are astonishing for his age. (For the list of achievements, refer to the inserts pf pages 6-7 of Article C.34, Section DII)

The latest accomplishment has been achieved at the expanse of nearly two years of intensive research and testing for an entire revamp of the PLANT security system, inclusive of the internal security locking of the PLANT system and the universally employed OS of the current generation of mobile suit fleets ZAFT uses. The former ETERNITY Chairman has declined any comment on his sudden resignation, except for a single sentence he has issued when caught up with in Aprilius a week ago. Known for his succinct ways and quiet mannerisms, Zala has said this in response to being asked why he abruptly shifted away from PLANT's government to being permanently situated in the United Emirates of ORB as a certified citizen. According to the High Council's Chairman, when asked if it was worthwhile in giving up his place in PLANT and ZAFT for another country as entirely as he had done, Athrun Zala replied as follows.

"It is."

His wife, the Supreme Commander of the United Emirates of ORB, Cagalli Yula Atha, (aged 25) has similarly declined comment when asked why Zala has taken the initiative to change his provisional citizenzship in ORB to a permanent, certified one. Zala will oversee the entire military system of ORB as its commander-of-military while assisted by Ledonir Kisaka, the Official Advisor of ORB. The latter has been quoted to responding to rumors that Zala was frustrated with leading a separate live from Atha as such, "I don't know about you, sir, but I wouldn't like to live a few billion kilometers away up in space while my missus is at the other end of the universe."

Kira Yamato, (aged 25) has reportedly convinced the military leaders and the head council he is part of to approve of Zala's decision. He is the brother of Atha and is well-known to have been a war hero who fought alongside Zala while primarily in allegiance to the Eternal, which Mediator Clyne, (aged 25) Yamato's wife, was the leader of. Neither of them are contactable for comment on Zala and Atha.

Meanwhile, Atha is expecting the couple's first children, reportedly twin boys. It is therefore debatable if the rumors are accurate in the allegations that they are facing marital difficulties. Further speculations include the famous couple naming the expected twins after Zala's parents. The world rejoices with the soon-to-be parents.