Nikki didn't dwell long on her despair. The vow she'd made to the masked goddess stuck like a lump in her throat - to find and expose every last deceitful love fairy. That was her purpose.

Despair cemented into unbreakable rage.

Nikki poured herself into her vow like it was the latest video game to master. Scouring the Internet for fairy websites, hitting the library to research Fae folklore; anything to dig up a possible weakness. Nikki pursued every resource at her disposal.

"I wanna know about Kyu, Tiffany."

"N-Nikki, I really not sure what to say." Even over the phone, she could picture the cheerleader sweating buckets. "Kyu, my roommate, she left months ago and I haven't seen her since."

"Dammit, Tiff, you've gotta have something! A phone number, e-mail; anything! That sneaky fairy bitch was living right next to you! You had to have noticed something!"

"Nikki..."

Wait.

"Are you covering for her, Tiff?" Nikki started pacing across her bedroom, a feral cat on the prowl. "Are you protecting her?"

"No! It's just -"

"Because she took Celeste away from me, Tiff! And I'm gonna find every last one of her kind, and I'm gonna make them pay! Kyu, her goddess; even Jessie."

A tiny gulp warbled over the line.

"I'll never forgive them," Nikki vowed, "and if I figure out you've been hiding them from me ... Well, you'd better wish we never met."

At first it was easy to sustain her fire and her fury. Her memories of Celeste were still fresh and raw as an open wound; the slightest thought made her chest ache and her teeth grit. She welcomed the pain, the righteous anger. She imagined her heartache blazing like a signal flare, a beacon to guide her Valkyrie home from the stars.

Nikki built conspiracy websites, calling for like-minded fairy haters to join her cause. She patrolled the city, scanning the night clubs and cocktail lounges for signs of cupidaemons. She stood on the beach late at night and flashed her laser pointer at the heavens, tapping Morse code messages to the stars.

When her resolve waned, she scrolled through online newspapers to feed her fire. How can people be so blind? she seethed. The carnival stampede wasn't caused by a feral dog on the loose, she roared in the comments section, it was clearly the adult metamorphosis of an alien invasive species, sent on a deliberate attack by a poacher from the Slovar star system!

And that crashed SUV, all the scorched craters in the nature preserve? Those weren't drunken teen bonfires, they were the exhaust marks of an alien bounty hunter's spacecraft! It should have been obvious, except that the invisible fairies manipulating the human race had zapped all the space debris and alien corpses back to their alternate dimension! Why wasn't anyone taking her seriously?

=Audrey, you saw it all! Back me up,= she texted.

=U sound like a raving lunatic. Tiffany's freaked ur gonna pull a knife on her.= Then she jumped topics completely. =Hey u still wanna hang out 2night?=

Nikki didn't dignify that with a response. She had no time for these so-called friends.

Weeks passed. Her websites went unvisited; her night patrols turned up plenty of creeps but they were only human. Text messages from Tiffany and her mother piled up on her phone. Then one day, her furious mission was interrupted by a bang on the door. Whump, whump, whump. Audrey awaited her on the other side, and she wasn't accepting excuses.

"Get your shoes. We're fixing your hair."

When she only squinted dumbly at the sudden burst of sunlight, Audrey snorted and thrust a make-up compact into her face. The glassy image horrified her.

Eyes, black and baggy. Skin chalk white and pockmarked with craterous stress acne. Her sweater dangled off her shoulders, not because it was too bulky, but because she'd lost so much weight. It was her hair that made her whimper in horror. An inch of colourless, brown rot had erupted from her scalp where she'd failed to reapply her dye. The blue silk Celeste had so adored was now dry and frayed, withering away at the roots.

"Celeste told you to live your life. Why the fuck are you throwing it away, Nik?"

She hadn't cried since the night she'd lost Celeste. Now the salt water stung her eyes, burning down her cheeks in briny trails. Audrey didn't wait for permission, she just stepped forward and forced her into a hug.

"I miss her," Nikki howled into the diva's shoulder. "I miss her and I don't know what to do."

"You get out," Audrey whispered. "You get out and you keep going. Don't waste your time fucking around with what you lost. Just walk on."

Nikki detached herself from Audrey's embrace. Excused herself to find her wallet and her keys.

Together, they walked into the sunlight.

Four words.

Four words to reach across the silence, to mend a connection left tattered and frayed far too long. Four words to reassure that she wasn't alone.

"How's it going, Mom?"

There was no hesitation from the voice across the phone. "I'm glad you called, Nikki. How're you feeling, sweet bean?"

"I dunno, Ma. Okay, I guess." The Nutmeg Café was deserted at this sunset hour, just the orange rays of a dying sun piercing the windows. She scanned one of the mirrors, brushing aside her newly blue hair. Her skin hadn't yet fully recovered, but Audrey had trained her well in the arts of concealer.

"Everything's just kinda … ordinary." No alien emergencies to stress her nerves, no thrilling dates to make her heart race; not even a 'welcome home' lick to curl her toes. "Anything new with you?"

Her mother exhaled into the speaker. "Oh, I was asked to leave the knitting circle at our church. You remember Mrs. Matthews, Lauren's mother? Well I raised a stink when that crusty old thing made a remark about … girls like you, Nikki. The group decided I needed some time alone to reflect with God."

"Mom, you don't have to go all 'gay rights activist' with the church ladies for me. I mean, I'm not …" deep breath. "I'm not with anyone right now."

"Well that doesn't change who you are, now does it?"

Leave it to a mom to beat her at perceptiveness. "I guess not."

"Whatever happened to that Canadian girl you were with? Celine?"

"Celeste, Ma, and she had to leave."

"But I thought you two made up!" When had her mom jumped from disapproval to dying for gossip?

"We did but ... stuff came up. Look, Ma, I've gotta go. Customer just walked in. Say hi to dad for me. Love you."

Nikki killed the call and gave a weary exhale. So now she shows up? A month ago, her blood would have boiled at the sight of this petite figure with her false, brunette pixie cut and her troublesome green eyes. Now, she just made Nikki rub her head in exhaustion.

"You," she scowled.

"Heya Champ, what's crack-a-lackin' in Lesbos these days?"

Nikki imagined herself summoning Celeste's magnetized rifle and shoving the barrel in the smug fairy's face. Or maybe conjuring a magical, oversized mallet for a game of whack-a-mole. She glanced hopefully at her wrist, but the crystal bangle she wore as a keepsake just glowed impotently. With her arsenal depleted, she had to settle for glaring daggers.

"What're you doing here?"

The fairy's hand shot up. "Whoa, time out! I'm here on olive branch business, Champ. Hear me out, m'kay?"

"We're closed."

"Bull-friggin-shit, missy! You've got five minutes till closing time and this fairy wants her caffeine rush." Kyu slapped a twenty on the counter. "Double caramel cocoa cappuccino grandé with extra whip. Make it, and I leave for good. I'll never bug you again."

I just closed the till, and I'll have to clean the machines again! But if it meant banishing this worthless trickster from her life, she could endure the momentary pain. Firing an angry glare, Nikki snatched up the money and set about brewing the fastest cup of coffee she'd ever made. While she worked, Kyu pleaded her case.

"Champ, I really feel super bad because of what happened to you, honest! No bullshit – I screwed up and I'm really, really sorry!"

"You used me and Celeste."

"Because I was freaked out, okay? I help people fall in love – that's what I do. Thing is, when something alien shows up on your planet, my department gets put on high alert and suddenly I'm expected to be a border patrol guard or a police officer. There's nasty stuff out there, and it's my job to keep you humans safe!"

The fairy traced a finger across the counter. "Of course, lost tourists crash-landing in New Mexico are one thing. What's a cutie like me supposed to do about hungry space animals or a mean-as-nails slave trafficker?"

Nikki didn't answer.

"So I figured, why not leave it to the expert? Horn-girl was hunting them anyway, so I could just nudge her along – Charlie to her Angels! I honestly thought Bluebell would pack up and leave after she popped a cap in those garduk. I didn't count on you guys falling in love." Kyu's lips erupted in a mischievous grin. "All it took was a smile and you toppled my master plan, Champ. Look at you, seducing that poor alien space-babe with your sexy nerd skillz."

Nikki shot an evil glare and motioned that she was nearly done at the espresso maker. Kyu swallowed and jumped to the point.

"I wanna make it up to you."

"How?" Nikki snorted.

The fairy spread her wings along with her smile. "Let me be your love coach, Champ! With my expertise and your adorkable cuteness, we'll make you a walking chick magnet in no time! The city'll hafta re-zone your apartment as the new dog pound, 'cause you'll be shacking up with more bitches than you can shake a stick at!"

"Huh?" Nikki stared at the fairy and resisted the urge to vomit.

"Y'like that, Champ? Dog Pound? Pound? As in, you'll be –"

"You're disgusting."

The harsh words didn't seem to discourage Kyu. "Hey, that's cool. No pressure. You've got your monogamy kinks; I can work around 'em."

"My only 'kink'," Nikki clarified, "is a deep desire for you to leave me alone."

Kyu pouted as she toyed with the top buttons of her blouse. "Don't be such a sourpuss, Champ. If human hunies don't do it for you anymore, I wouldn't mind letting you take me for a ride."

Nikki's eyes shot up as Kyu's shirt slipped off her shoulders. The fairy flashed her most seductive bedroom eyes as her fingers pawed at her bubblegum-pink bra.

"Did my hotness break your brain? Leave it all stuffed with fluff?" Kyu teased. "C'mon, you silly ol' bear – come take a romp through my Hundred Acre Woods. I know you're aching for a taste of this sweet, sweet hunny. This sexylicious fairy bod's all yours for the taking."

Nikki was stone silent, fairly certain that her memories of Winnie the Pooh had been scarred for life. Kyu's cappuccino was ready, but a sick, sad feeling in the pit of Nikki's stomach told her it would take more than coffee to banish the fairy.

Sighing deeply, Nikki removed her apron and stepped around the counter.

The fairy's face popped with pleasant surprise as Nikki approached, like she couldn't believe her good fortune. Her grin blossomed as Nikki laid her hands on her shoulders. A pleasant murmur bubbled from her lips as human fingers trailed down her bare arms.

"Mmm, yeah. Don't play slow with me, Champ. I can take it hard."

Can you? Nikki snapped her hands around Kyu's wrists and squeezed.

"Aw fuck!" The fairy phased out of the death grip, wincing and rubbing at her left wrist. "Shit, I just got my cast off, Champ! It still stings like a bitch!"

"I don't want you," Nikki declared, merciless in laying down the law. "I don't want any other humans or aliens or perverted fairies. I want Celeste! But now I'll never see her again and it's all because of you!"

"Yup, totally my fault! But hear me out – I've got a Plan B!" Nikki just shoved the Styrofoam coffee cup into the fairy's hands.

"Your capp. Now get out! If you ever come here again, I swear to God I'll kick your ass!"

"Kick whose ass, Nik? The fuck you talking to?"

Nikki looked up. Audrey stared at her from the café door, and the diva looked completely mystified. "You talking to yourself again?"

Are you blind? Did she have to throw up her hands and point? Over there, it's a god damn love fairy with wings and sparkles, bouncing around and flapping her injured hand! Then she remembered their invisibility. That's right, they get to choose who sees them. To Audrey, she'd been ranting to an empty café all this time.

"It's nothing," Nikki lied. "Gimmie a sec to clean up, Audrey. There's nobody here."

Walking down the boardwalk under the cool, starry night, Nikki took a moment to appraise her friend's wardrobe. Audrey was back to her extravagant Lolita dresses, her designer purses and her super-sized platform heels. To the world, her clothes were a blunt 'fuck you': That time you saw the Audrey Belrose dressing like a shut-in slob at the carnival? Well you must have been stoned out of your gourd, because this diva is still the most fabulous fashionista this crummy town's ever seen! Oh, and who asked you anyway? She doesn't give a damn what you think!

Nikki smiled, pleased that only she could read the deeper message in those frilly dresses. Ever since Audrey had yanked her from her apartment, the party girl had dressed exclusively in shades of blue. The message Nikki got came from the heart: You're worth it.

"That's a good look for you," she said, brushing a hand through Audrey's hair. Still jet black, but now with two streaks of sapphire framing her bangs.

The diva only scoffed. "Please, I make it look good."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Hey girls!" Tiffany's perky voice waved them over, her natural cheerfulness masking the fact that she'd been hospitalized with a concussion. To the cheerleader's credit, she only flinched momentarily after catching Nikki's eye. "Hey, Nikki."

"Oh. Hey, Tiffany." Her hands retreated awkwardly into their sleeves. "Um, sorry I was such a bitch to you."

"Aw, you don't need to keep apologizing! But um… no fairy talk for tonight, okay?"

"Oh, I am so done with that."

Tiffany clapped her hands. "Awesome possum! So, all set for karaoke?"

"Um, I guess. I mean, it's sort of like a rhythm game, right? Just with your voice, yeah?"

"Well, kinda. We'll walk you through it. Right, Audrey?"

"Oh my god, do you seriously not know what karaoke is? Do we need to use video games to give you a dumbed-down Sesame Street Story Time explanation every time you go out into the real world?"

Nikki sighed. "I'm buying the first drinks, aren't I?"

"Pssh! Like I'd drink your crappy colas. You're off the hook this time, but only because watching you try and sing in your shitty monotone is gonna be totally worth it."

"Audrey!" Tiffany swatted the diva on the shoulder, and that set the two of them off chasing each other and shrieking with laughter. Nikki smiled, but when they beckoned for her to come along, she hesitated. The sound of the sea filled her mind.

"Hey, can you guys give me a minute? I'm not flaking out or anything, I just ... I need to say goodbye to someone."

She doubted whether Tiffany understood, but Audrey caught her fiddling with the crystal bangle around her wrist. "Yeah, yeah. You know where to find us."

Free of jellyfish and spaceship debris, Turtle Bay Beach was open once more to Glenberry's surfers and sunbathers. Nikki spotted a few college kids drinking and partying around a late night bonfire, but she was able to find an empty stretch of beachfront where she could be alone. She curled up on a beach chair and gazed up at the night sky.

"I miss you," she whispered to the stars. "I miss you so much it hurts." Her arm reached for the distant galaxy, willing her crystal bangle to seize that one special star and bring it back to her.

"There's so much I want to say to you, so much I want to show you. So much I wish we could do together." The tears were welling up again. She paused and allowed her breathing to steady.

"But I can't keep living like this, Celeste. I can't keep waiting and worrying for you. I have to keep going." Her fingers took hold of the alien bracelet, the chain she'd kept over her wrist like a handcuff.

"I'll never forget you, but I won't forget what you said, either. I'm going to live my life. For both of us. So we can both be happy."

Her wrist felt strangely light without its crystal covering. Drawing the bangle to her lips, she gave it a farewell kiss and let it fall to the sand. It was a tiny thing, but in her mind it felt like she'd released herself from a prisoner's chain. I'm free, she thought. Free to do what, she couldn't say, but she was free to discover that for herself. Nikki gave a final, longing look at the glowing alien jewel.

"Kos kan, Celeste."

The bracelet just sat lifelessly among the sand. Obviously, I mean, it's not like it's gonna –

It twitched.

Nikki stopped. Did that thing just -

It twitched again.

Nikki dropped to the ground, nose hovering above the crystal circlet. She held her breath and -

There! It twitched a third time, juking like a lab animal zapped with electricity, and third time was the charm: gifted with life once more, it started sliding through the sand, away from her.

Nikki clamped her hands over the bangle. She could feel it – the tug of a fisherman's lure on the end of an invisible thread. She stood with the bangle between her fingers. Up in the air, she could see and feel it swing, tugging her westward down the beach.

Nikki started running.

Farther and farther down the sandy beach, panting frantically. Sand gave way to stone; stone grew into boulders and soon she was climbing up mounds of rocky, seaside hills, puffing and sweating as she trooped to the summit of Breakneck Peak, a local diving spot. Nikki looked over the edge of the cliff, into the moonlit waters twenty feet below.

The bracelet urged her forward.

Lesser women would have whimpered and retreated quietly from this calling; more still would have shrugged it off as an impossible hallucination. A good excuse to fall back to the dance clubs, numb themselves on booze and music. But she was Nikki Ann-Marie. She embraced the unknown. She'd stealthed her way into an active crime scene with nothing but her wits and some scotch tape. She'd outrun alien monsters and freed a fairy princess from an evil dragon's lair. She'd fallen from a crumbling building just to be with the woman she loved. And right now she was scanning the dark waters and wondering what sort of chicken-shit tourist divers thought this cliff was a challenge!

Stowing her glasses in one hand, Nikki took a running start and jumped.

The dive underwater chilled her body, but she barely noticed. Deeper and deeper she swam, pulling herself towards a light in the darkness. There was moonlight here in the ocean. Artificial light.

A spotlight.

Nikki swam towards the glowing halo, and it expanded in greeting. The hatch was opening.

An invisible tractor beam guided her forward, welcoming her into a kind of decontamination pod. Sea water filtered out and Nikki gasped in the cold, refreshing air of a refrigerated ship. The hatch locked shut, and Nikki braced herself as the clank and whir of automated machinery filled the chamber. It's moving, she realized. The pod was moving from the outer hull, deeper inside until she –

The door clicked open. Barely containing herself, she exited to the cool, metal surface of a familiar chamber, silvery and smooth like the inside of a giant egg. Dimly lit to suit a pilot with night vision. Refrigerator chilled for the comfort of an arctic species.

Was this -?

"Kosoko kangai, Nikkeeee-da."

She jumped. Spinning around, she jumped again, seeing the blue-eyed security camera on its jointed stalk. The ship AI leapt back in mutual surprise. "Cogni!"

"I see that reversing the bracelet's polarity attracted your attention."

Was that a pun? Does she know how to make puns? Oh, who cares, it's Cogni! Nikki grabbed the ditzy little bowling pin and hugged her tight. "It really is you!" She really was aboard the Wraith's Wings! "Wait, how did you get back here? Won't the fairies know?"

"The ship has been substantially upgraded," a familiar voice explained. Nikki and Cogni glanced to the captain's chair, turned away towards the busy computer monitors. "With a visual refraction device installed, any tracking system will be hard pressed to discover this vessel."

Nikki's heart skipped a beat. "Celeste? Celeste, is it really –"

The chair swiveled. Nikki recoiled.

Human. The pilot looked like Celeste – tall, athletically built but … human. An Asian woman with flawless skin and black hair in a regal princess cut. Her unnatural, golden eyes were the only flaw in this terran form.

"A holo-cloak," the woman quickly explained. "More efficient than cosmetics. More … pleasing to the eye, I would think."

Nikki stepped towards this bizarre mirage that spoke in Celeste's gentle voice. The Norai allowed her to stand directly before her chair, but when Nikki reached a hand to touch her face, Celeste ducked away.

"Chiletto, the surgeons … there was only so much they could accomplish with my injuries."

Did she still think scars mattered to her? "Damn it, Celeste, just let me see you!"

Swallowing carefully, the alien nodded and punched several buttons on her wrist-top keyboard. The Asian face crackled and distorted, and then faded like a TV signal, leaving -

Celeste.

She'd cut her hair – lopped off the burnt strands and evened it out into a raggedy bowl cut, with only two long bangs of silver framing her cheekbones. Nikki pushed the hair aside, and Celeste shut her eyes as human hands explored the injured side of her face. Rondarr's laser bolt had cut across her cheek and back to her ear, leaving a white, waxy tattoo over her blue skin. "That's badass," Nikki whispered.

"It is shameful," Celeste countered, but she didn't stop Nikki's fingers from tracing across the puckered skin.

Nikki's hand explored further, towards a stark-white earlobe that felt cold and rubbery to touch. A red light blinked below the skin. Prosthetic. "I can tune it to radio frequencies. Communicate with Cogni without the need of a transmitter," Celeste explained softly. Her downcast eyes didn't entertain any great enthusiasm for having her body parts replaced.

Nikki nodded idly, her hands wandering higher. Celeste's horn was still sliced down to the ivory root, but the tip looked newly rounded, a bud covered in fuzzy white velvet. "It's growing back," Nikki whispered.

"It causes my head to feel… off-balanced," Celeste explained.

They stared at one another, lost for words. Nikki finally broke the silence by launching herself at Celeste.

"Chiletto!" The full-body tackle sent the chair crashing back, leaving Celeste pinned under her weight.

"I thought I lost you! That you'd never come back!" While she sobbed into Celeste's chest, her Valkyrie's powerful arms wrapped around her shoulders, pressing their bodies together. Callused fingers brushed through her hair.

"Where were you all this time?" Nikki sniffled.

Celeste looked away shamefully. "The closest medical station was in the Oryun cluster. It is an irreputable system known for its criminal activity, but I had datari for payment and the staff asked no questions." She picked at her ear a moment, then continued.

"After the surgeons released me, I followed my own counsel and continued my prior life. If returning to your planet would jeopardize your safety, then my only course was to move forward. I resumed collecting bounties, I drifted from one system to the next." Just recapping those empty days made Celeste's eyes glaze over.

"All my life, I took pride in being feared and despised, the terrible Koru-Shikai, but now, I had someone who would welcome my return. For the first time since I departed Tendricide, I had a home to return to." Celeste pulled a string necklace out from under her garment. A set of human apartment keys hung on the strand like a jeweled pendant.

"My resolve was set," she declared, "and I swore by the stars - pa na isho - that I would fight for you."

Nikki felt her chest squeeze, and she wondered how this woman knew exactly how to spur her heartbeat. "What did you do?" she asked.

"I began investigating systems known for cupidaemon folklore, searching for some knowledge or weapon I could use against my new enemies. My exploration brought me to a series of ancient ruins on the Shen'to home world. That was when I encountered her."

"Her?" Nikki repeated.

"Madame Butterfly, that's who! Miss me, Champ?"

Nikki yelped and scrambled from Celeste's lap. The pink-haired love fairy fawned over them.

"Aren't you two adorable?" Kyu cooed. "It's crazy how anyone would want to keep you girls from getting your same-sex, age-gaped, interspecies freak on!"

Sitting up, Celeste was less than pleased with her visitor. "We agreed you would notify me before boarding my vessel."

"And miss the big reunion? Yeah, fat chance. You two were this close to ending in tragedy porn, and I worked my buns off getting the gang back together!"

Nikki was stunned. "Kyu, you brought Celeste back?"

"Oh, she could've come back any time, Champ. She just would've had a shitload of trouble from my boss and her 'no outsiders' policy. Me? I saw something powerful as magic spark between you two – a sweet little dork and a badass bounty hunter babe, each of you looking for a little slice of home. I totally 'ship you two! It'd be like 'aw hell no,' if my new OTP fell apart!"

"Um… okay," Nikki blinked.

"So after that fiasco at the apartment, I scanned Bluebell's DNA off the clothes we snatched and logged her in my Huniebee to track! Once I saw that she was slumming around old fairy planets, all alone and sobbing for her sweetie bae, I knew it was high time to swoop in and save the day!"

Celeste clarified. "At the ruins, I unloaded an entire laser battery into her. When I realized she could phase-shift indefinitely, we agreed to talk and devised an arrangement."

"We went shopping!" Kyu squealed. "I set my girl up with that fancy personal hologram, then I pimped her ride with a sweet-ass cloaking system. After all, I can't have the fairy force pulling over our little starlet to check her ID every time she flies in for work."

"Work?" Nikki repeated.

"Yeah, y'see after this little episode with Lizard Man, I learned something: fairies suck ass when it comes to fighting rabid space dogs and asshole dinosaurs. Solution? Outsourcing! I figured we'd all be better off - human and fairy - if we hired a private contractor to look after local security." With a flourish, she gestured to Celeste.

"From now on, whenever anything nasty, tentacled or creepy-crawly crash lands on your planet, Bluebell here shows 'em to the door. With or without their arms. Lady's choice."

Nikki looked between the two otherworldly women, and her mind flashed to the masked goddess. "And your boss is okay with this? I thought she hated outsiders."

Here, Kyu winced and scratched her neck sheepishly. "Um… let's put it this way: what the Big V doesn't know won't hurt her, right? This arrangement is strictly off the books, if you get my drift."

In spite of the fairy's upbeat attitude, Nikki noticed that her fingers were trembling uncontrollably. She was defying a literal goddess to help them. Nikki reached out and took Kyu's hand in her own.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Kyu played off the quiet moment with a snort and a laugh. "Pssh! I'm a love fairy! Matchmaking lovable losers like you two dorks is what I do." Glancing quickly at Celeste, she added in whisper. "By the way, Champ, I'm putting you in charge of payroll. I hear she accepts payment in MasterCard, Visa and long, horny nights without any sleep."

Nikki winced. "You're so gross, you know that?"

"Oh, like you weren't thinking of it too!" Nikki didn't reply, but the fairy seemed satisfied with her mad blushing nonetheless.

"Hey, real talk, Champ? Look after her, okay? Make sure she's wearing that holo-cloak outdoors, 'cause you girls are on your own from now on. Me hanging around would only make the fae back home suspicious. My boss may be a lazy ass, but if word ever gets to her about you two … Well, she calls herself the goddess of love. Love can be a scary thing sometimes."

Nikki jumped a little when Celeste's hands clapped over her shoulders and pulled her into a possessive embrace. "If your so-called deity attempts to harm my Nicole, she will learn that I can just as easily be a goddess of war."

Even Kyu didn't dare joke over that threat.

The fairy nodded quickly. "Welp, I'd say it's smooth sailing fer this ship. Reckon it's time for me to ride off into the sunset, playas! Places to go, O-faces to see!"

Kyu's wings puttered to the walls but Nikki ran after her. "Hey, wait!" She had to know. "When you visited me at the café, offered to set me up with a harem... That was just a test, right? To see if I still loved Celeste? I mean, when you started stripping, you weren't really offering to –"

Kyu's foxy grin cut her off. "Thirsty for answers, Champ? You could always buy me a drink and find out."

"Yeah, um... Pass." Some mysteries were best left unsolved.

"Whatevs! Be seein' ya, Bluebell!"

"Never approach my mate again, cupidaemon."

A green-eyed smirk. "Keep her satisfied, space girl, and I won't have to."

In a jet of pink sparkles, Kyu phased through the ship walls, leaving Nikki with much to think over. Their boss is a complete bitch and they're completely perverted, but I guess they mean well, these 'fairies of love'.

Alone once more, Celeste approached her slowly, arms cautiously slipping around her shoulders as though asking, is this acceptable? In reply, Nikki jumped into her lover's arms for a long overdue kiss.

At least they know a good match when they see one.

"Are you certain this form is acceptable?"

They were walking up the boardwalk into the city, and Nikki scanned Celeste one final time for reassurance. They'd spent a good half hour tinkering with her holo-cloak's projection, stripping away the hair and ethnic ornamentation for something basic. Her skin was pale pink, her horns were hidden and her clothes appeared human, but otherwise she was Celeste.

"It's good. It's you," Nikki insisted. They'd argued back and forth about keeping the scar across her cheek, but in the end Nikki had conceded to a smooth-skinned image. That was a discussion for another day.

"So you're the unofficial guardian of Earth," Nikki continued, switching topics. "I guess you'll be kinda busy."

"According to the cupidaemon, your planet has witnessed five visitations by extraterrestrials over your last century. This includes Rondarr and myself." Celeste smiled. "I anticipate I will have ample leisure time during this mission."

"You'd better," Nikki warned, snuggling up against Celeste's arm. "Cause you've got a lot of missed dates to make up for." She'd been dreaming about this reunion and had every detail planned.

"First, we're going to the karaoke parlour so I can show off my awesome girlfriend to Audrey and Tiffany. Then, you're taking me dancing, somewhere nice where we can slow-dance and hold each other. And when my feet get sore from twirling around so much, you have to carry me home." She squeezed Celeste a little tighter. "And you have to keep me up all night long."

Celeste purred with arousal, and Nikki squealed as she was pulled into another heart-stopping kiss. Celeste's hands began prowling under the hem of her sweater, and loathe as she was to pull free, they kinda were in public...

"Hey look, it's a shooting star!" Celeste followed her pointing hand and frowned.

"Shooting -? Nicole, that is merely passing debris incinerating in your atmosphere. A star is -"

"I can tell a star from a comet, Celeste!" Ugh, another non-literal expression. "Just make a wish!"

The Norai tilted her head. "Why?"

"Look, it's a human superstition. It's good luck to see a shooting star so ..." There she went, tilting her head again. "Oh, just look at it with me. It's supposed to be romantic or something!"

"Ah."

Arm in arm, they gazed up at the sparkling diamonds of the Milky Way, the treasure trove of alien wonders that had enthralled Nikki's imagination all her life. "There's gotta be at least a billion of them out there," she marveled.

"At minimum," Celeste agreed.

"And there must be millions like the Sun, with living worlds of their own all full of amazing creatures and people."

"It is very likely."

Nikki sighed. "All those possibilities and here we are." A nowhere city on a nowhere planet. No warp drive technology, no advanced AI; not even freaking lightsabers! All it had was the friends who cared for her, the family that supported her, and the woman who made her feel like she was the center of the universe.

"Here we are," Celeste agreed. "I could not ask for a more wonderful place to call my home."

And as her Valkyrie pulled her into the first of many kisses to come, Nikki couldn't help but agree.

Fin