"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked Jeri, looking at the verdant pink and red colors of the Seefran sunset.
"Very," answered Rhade, slipping his arm around Jeri's shoulders.
Jeri and Rhade were sitting on the roof of their house watching the sun set behind the mountains and enjoying one of Rhade's few nights off. Andromeda had decided that Jeri was healed enough to go home and had sent them back to Seefra City. It had been a good news/bad news sort of departure. The good news had been that Jeri's unborn babies were none the worse for their mother's injuries. The bad news was that Jeri had indeed suffered brain damage and was now prone to seizures. Fortunately, there were medicines available in Seefra City that could, if not eliminate the seizures, at least reduce the frequency and severity of their occurrences.
"Mother says that she thinks this area is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. That it's a wild beauty, but it's beautiful nonetheless. She says when she first arrived here she thought the area was a desolate wasteland, but now that she's lived here, she wouldn't leave it even if she could. What do you think?"
"I think your mother is right," answered Rhade. "Tarazed is beautiful, but it's a well-manicured sort of beauty. This is different."
"Do you think it will work?" asked Jeri. "The umwa? The union?"
Rhade shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he admitted. "The umwa lost every pitched battle they engaged in."
Jeri turned so that she was looking at Rhade rather than into the distance. "But in the end they won," she said. "They made it too expensive for the landholders to fight and still make a profit. We don't need to fight a war. We just need to make the company realize that it will cost them more to fight us than to give us what we want." She changed the subject slightly. "The land here is so fertile. I've heard the farmers in the market talking. They swear that with proper irrigation if they were planting by the time they planted the second seed, the first one would have sprouted. Andromeda says there are even places here where we could raise herds of cattle. And the mines would be a good source of jobs if the company would pay a living wage. Seerfa City could be a good place to live, Rhade. We just need to make it one."
Whatever else she was planning to say was interrupted by Rhade's kiss. "Then that's what we'll have to do," said Rhade when they came up for air. "We'll make it one."