I wanted to hold him, to hug him again.I wanted to hold him, to hug him again. I told myself to be still. The docking facility for the Eldarfaroth is on the top of the ship; Pendorian design philosophy doesn't have the enclosed shuttle garages that Terran ships do, but rather puts the docking hardware entirely on the outside of the vessel and control of the landing entirely in the hands of the pilot. It allows for five vectors of escape instead of one, which is all the terran design permits. I cursed inwardly, wondering why in Hell I was thinking about starship design philosophy when what I wanted was Aaden. I thought about all the things I had left back home, that I hadn't had my hands on in almost a year for me, but five decades for them. Ress, Bawr, Jahn, Brieanna, Paul, Carroll... who was I missing? Them, or just Aaden? Gods, I missed him. I felt the Starcruiser clang and thunk against the hull of the larger starship. What had happened in fifty years? Was he still living at home, or had he moved back into his house at Rhysh? Did he still love me? Did he have someone else? I waited, my heart racing. A hand, no, a mitten slid across my shoulders, startling me as the lift activated and dropped the ship into the holding bay. "Ken?" "Huh?" I asked suddenly. "Oh... Hi, Nyss." "Your scared, aren't you?" "Of a lot of things. I know you love me, P'nyssa, I'm not afraid of you disappearing anytime soon." I reached out to put my arm around her waist. "But I'm really scared he's not going to be there when the door opens." "I don't think you have anything to worry about, Ken." "But fifty years, Nyss? That's such an incredibly long time, even for us. A year or two or even ten I could do standing on my head, but to miss you or him for so long... I know I would have gone crazy." She smiled and kissed my cheek. "He'll be there. |