Hazard knows his father well. He knows that his father doesn't like to fight. He knows his father doesn't like to leave him. He knows Frill well, too. He knows that both of them don't do any of this unless they have to. Unless things are really bad.
He can only wait. He sits by the pool in the nibblers' home, holding Boots' hand while trying to practice his Crawler. He can't focus. Everything is too quiet. Father is supposed to be here. Frill is supposed to be here. There's nothing fun about this. Everything is wrong. Everything is wrong, and the last time everything was this wrong, his mother…
Don't think about it, don't think about it. He will be back. He won't leave me. He promised me.
Aurora says, "They are almost here. Nike told me this." Her tired voice sounds wearier yet. The flutter of her wings holds secrets.
Soon, Nike appears in the distance. Hazard leaps to his feet.
"Gre-go!" shouts Boots. She tries to run for them, but Hazard holds her back. Father told him to look after Boots. He has to. Father will be back soon, and Hazard will show him that he did just what was asked of him.
But there are only three people on Nike. Gregor, Luxa, Temp. But that makes sense. Father and Frill are both heavy. Nike couldn't have carried them.
"Where's my father? Where's Frill? Will they be here soon?"
Luxa steps down. Her eyes are dim. He feels the weight of her hands combined with his own. "They are not coming back, Hazard. We had to battle to try and save the starshade. Hamnet and Frill died fighting the cutters. I am sorry."
Hazard looks at her. There is dirt and purple slime on her face, bloody cuts scoring her legs. Her shoulders are strained but squared. Like holding them up is very difficult. She looks so tired.
"But… they couldn't have," he says. "They wouldn't leave me alone."
They wouldn't. They had promised him. The swarm and the scythe had taken his mother, but his father and Frill wouldn't go. They wouldn't leave him more alone.
"They did not want to," says Luxa. Her lips part slightly. "I promise you that. Only they could not help it." She blinks, and her jaw tenses momentarily. "Sometimes, you cannot help the things that happen."
"Oh. Like when my mother left me," Hazard says. His head starts quivering. "She didn't want to go, either. But she had to."
She really hadn't. She had cried as Frill ran, hunched over Hazard. Please don't, please don't, please, please, she had begged. I'm so sorry, Hazard, I'm so sorry.
His head falls. The stones below grow wet. He doesn't want to cry alone.
Luxa is on her knees now. She touches his face. "The same thing happened with my parents. They both died, too. My mother and your father were brother and sister. Did you know that?"
Hazard shakes his head. "I don't have a sister." He doesn't. If he had, she would still be here, and he wouldn't be alone.
"I do not have a brother, either. But I was thinking if you would come back to Regalia with me, it would be like I did. Will you come?"
"To Regalia?" He doesn't know Regalia. He only knows that it is made of stone and that there are no vines. No hissers. No light except the one humans make. It is the place his father ran from. "I live here in the jungle."
"But who will you live with now, Hazard?" she asks. She looks right into his eyes. "Who will take care of you?"
Hazard doesn't want to be alone. He doesn't want to be here alone. He wants his father. He wants Frill. He wants people back. "I want my father! And Frill!" His voice breaks. The stones grow wetter yet. "They take care of me!"
"I know. I know. But they are gone," Luxa says. And she knows. Her voice sounds so sad. Her arms go around him, and his around her. And he isn't quite alone, now. "Oh, Hazard, Hazard. Please say you will come with me. It is not so very bad in Regalia."
You… are always… welcome.
"My grandfather… lives in Regalia. He said… I could visit… any time I wanted to," Hazard says. It it so very hard when his throat is so clogged up. There are so many sobs inside him still.
Luxa's hand is on his head. She strokes his hair. Father does that. Father did that. "Oh, yes! Vikus will be very glad to see you. Everyone will."
Somebody is waiting for him.
"And you'll be my sister?" He sees Boots in Gregor's arms. He always keeps an eye on her. He plays with her. He never leaves her. "Like she's his sister?"
"If you will have me," Luxa says. Her voice has gone so soft. Like a nibbler's fur after a wash in a clean spring.
"All right," Hazard says. And he is not all right. He wants his father. He wants Frill. He wants everyone back, and he wants to stay. But he can't. He would be all alone out here.
But he has a sister, now. So he won't be alone.