by Lisa Lace
"What are you thinking about?" Mia asked, lifting her head enough so that she could see him. She laughed a second later. "Listen to me."
"What?" Asher asked.
"That was like. One of the biggest cliché girl things to ask," she said. "What are you thinking about? Especially after sex. But I wanted to know. You looked like you were thinking very hard about something."
"Oh." Asher smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. A lot of things. How nice this is. How we're definitely going to do this in space. Maybe on the way to Quantari. The transporter has autopilot."
Mia laughed and stretched. "Good to know. Are we leaving soon then?"
"As soon as we pack if you want," Asher replied. Now that he knew what he needed to know, he was ready to get back to his home and find his uncle. There were still so many questions he wanted to ask him and so much he needed to know, especially if Abon had it in his head that Asher could be king.
"That's really soon," Mia said, but to Asher's relief, she didn't sound afraid or even worried. She actually sounded excited, and that made him excited, too.
"Yeah, it is. I mean, I know there's probably things you want to do first. People you want to say goodbye to?"
That seemed to bring her up short and she actually thought about it for a minute. The fact was that once she left, it was very unlikely that she would be back. Maybe a visit here or there, but it would be dangerous with the Shaddoc looming and looking for her. Asher waited patiently for her answer, though. Part of him wouldn't believe that she was actually coming with him until she was on the transporter and they were leaving Earth, and part of him thought maybe that was okay.
If she didn't want to come, he couldn't force her, and her decision earlier had been pretty spur of the moment.
"I'm going," Mia said firmly after a moment. "I've said all I needed to say to my parents, and that's as much goodbye as they deserve honestly. Cass...well. I don't think she has anything to say that I want to hear. Other than that, there's no one who will really even notice I'm gone."
Her voice was soft, and Asher could tell that she was trying to be cheerful about it, but he could hear the sadness in her voice. The loneliness. It never would have occurred to him that someone as wonderful and giving as Mia could be lonely like that, but apparently he was wrong.
"Okay, then," Asher said with a smile. "Well, then whenever you're ready. You should pack whatever you want to take with you and then we'll go back to my place and I'll get my stuff and we can go."
That got her moving, and after a shower and something to eat, Mia pulled out three duffel bags and started filling them while Asher watched, fascinated. She seemed to have a process with which she went through her things, putting them into three piles. Quickly, he figured out that one pile was yes, one was no, and one was maybe. Clothes were instantly rolled up and put into one bag, and Asher was impressed at the way she crammed several things into one bag neatly.
It was almost like she had planned this, making an escape. Already she didn't have much to go through, clothes seemed to be the bulk of it, and Asher answered her questions about the weather and what she would need to bring to keep warm or dry with an amused expression on his face.
Mia nodded at each answer like it was a matter of serious importance and arranged her packing around what he said. She packed few trinkets, clearly things she didn't want to be without, and the rest she seemed to have no problems leaving behind.
"I should write a note or something," she muttered under her breath, seeming for a second to forget Asher was even there. "So they don't think I was kidnapped or abducted. Although…" she smirked. "Maybe I won't. I have been trying to tell them something's going on for years. Maybe now they'll believe me."
He didn't think she was serious, but just in case… "But then they would be sad. And they'd worry and try to find you," Asher pointed out. He knew her parents hadn't treated her well, but that seemed too mean to even think about.
Mia sighed. "I know. I wouldn't really do that. It's too cruel to make them think I was dead or something. I'll just tell them that I left to find better things. That'll have to be good enough."
She sat down and wrote a note, tongue poking out of her mouth while she debated over what to say. In the end, she seemed to get down what she wanted because she nodded decisively and put the note on her bed.
"I'm ready."
Things moved at an almost breakneck pace from there. Mia walked through her house slowly, collecting any other little things that she wanted to take with her, and then they were loading up Asher's car and heading back to his apartment.
"What's going to happen to your stuff that you can't take with you?" she wanted to know.
"We have friends here who will take care of all of it. They know what's been happening, and I'll send them all a message saying I'm leaving finally. I can ask them to take care of your things, too, you know. Just in case you decide you want to come back one day."
Maybe she'd hate his planet. Maybe she'd realize that she didn't want to be with him after all and that she should have stayed on Earth. He wouldn't try to make her stay.
"You worry too much," Mia said, leaning up to kiss his cheek as they walked into his apartment. "It'll be fine. But having someone make sure all my other stuff doesn't get repossessed or whatever sounds like a good idea." And then she was moving through his apartment like she belonged there, humming under his breath.
Asher didn't know enough about love to be able to say with any confidence that it was what he was feeling, but by the creators, he was feeling something.
It was easy for him to pack his things. Mostly he'd been in some state of ready to go since Abon had disappeared. He'd known that at any moment he was going to have to be ready to follow him, or flee because the Shaddoc were getting too close, and so a good number of his things were already packed and loaded in the transporter.
He got more clothes, though, and a few of the personal items he'd collected in his time there. There were shells and beads and all manner of little trinkets that he'd found interesting and beautiful, and he kept them in a box that he wrapped delicately in cloth and then tucked into his pack.
"Is there going to be food on the transporter?" Mia called, and Asher could hear her rummaging around in his kitchen.
He swore under his breath because he'd forgotten that bit. "Uh...no?"
"So you mean for us to starve for however long it takes to get there?"
"No. I just...forgot."
She sighed, but there was a hint of fondness to it. "I'm raiding your refrigerator then. I don't suppose there are things to cook with on the transporter."
"There are!" Asher replied, pleased to be able to provide some kind of positive answer. "Bring all the food, and I'll show you when we get there."
By the time the car was loaded with all the food and their belongings, Asher was practically vibrating with excitement. As much as he had enjoyed his time on earth, more than anything he wanted to go home. It had been years since he'd been there, but there was always a part of him that knew he didn't belong on Earth among the humans with their sometimes quite primitive ways of thinking and looking at things. That part longed for the lush, green land he had once called home, and his heart soared at the knowledge that he would soon be there again.
It was enough to eclipse his nervousness for the moment as he drove them into a thick patch of woods not far from his apartment. It was roped off, a neon yellow sign warning that trespassing was illegal and would be punished with a fine or jail time.
The woods were so thick that no one ever really disturbed them, since it was nearly impossible to tell what might be lurking in the trees and brambles.
Asher knew that the only thing in there that was out of the ordinary was the transporter that he and Abon had come to Earth on. Even after all this time, he'd kept it in good repair, making sure that it would still run when he needed it to.
It had been equipped with enough fuel to get them back to Quantari, as all transp
orters were before they left the planet.
"Are we supposed to be here?" Mia asked, looking around when they reached the KEEP out sign. The big bold letters didn't leave much room for argument unless you knew why it was there.
"Yes," Asher replied. "This is where Abon hid the transporter when we came here."
"You brought it all the way from Maryland?"
He nodded with a smile. "We couldn't just leave it there. This was actually our version of a moving van when we came here. It can be shielded so no one else can see it. And these woods aren't really illegal to be in. We just had a friend put that sign up so curious humans wouldn't go hunting around in there. It's worked well so far," Asher explained.
He got out of the car and moved the rope, and then got back in, driving the car as far into the trees as he could before he had to stop. The trees were too thick to get the car in much further, and they would have a bit of a walk to get their things loaded into the transporter, but Asher knew from experience that it wasn't that bad, and that it would go much faster with two of them.
But it was far enough, and up ahead, there was the transporter.
Asher saw it regularly enough, so he looked at Mia, wanting to see her reaction to it. Her mouth was hanging open, and her eyes were wide, so he had to assume that she had never seen anything like it in real life.
For some reason, that send a surge of pride through him, and he smiled to himself, opening his car door and stepping on.
"Come on," he said softly. "Let me show it to your properly."
Even though Asher had grown up around technology like this and had spent plenty of time going over every inch of this transporter, he had been on Earth long enough to be able to imagine what it looked like to a human who had never seen something like it before.
It wasn't anything like what they showed on the movies or TV shows, and Asher remembered being amused when he'd first seen the way "space ships" were portrayed in the media.
His transporter was large and shaped more like a triangle than a saucer or a rocket. It was sleek and silver, and was larger on the inside than it looked.
There were windows on the side of it, which would allow them to look out as they traveled. The nose of it was the point of the triangle, sharp and aerodynamic, perfect for reaching the speeds necessary to pierced through the veil between this solar system and the one where Quantari was located.
The Nalyi and many other clans and species have devoted much of their time and energy to making sure that they understood and knew how the vast and expansive pockets of space worked to the best of their abilities. Their crafts were designed with all of the things they learned in mind and had a very high success rate for getting to where they needed to go with no problems.
Asher didn't even remember most of the trip to Earth the first time because he'd been crying for his mother and then sleeping for the rest of it, but it had been smooth, and they'd landed with no problems.
Granted, he'd barely ever flown a transporter before, and never into space, but this one had autopilot and easy enough controls, so he figured it would be fine. Mia was trusting him to get them there safely, and the last thing he wanted to do was give her some reason not to trust him.
"What do you think?" Asher asked as they walked up to the craft. He pressed a button on the side when dropped down a panel for him to scan his fingerprints.
"It's...like nothing I've ever seen before," Mia replied. Her eyes were still wide as she took it all in. "I thought they all looked like flying saucers."
Asher laughed. "Most humans think that. But no, they have different shapes. According to my uncle, they were once saucer shaped, but those weren't actually the best shape for moving quickly through space, so they were retired quickly."
"Wow," Mia breathed. "That's cool. I don't know why I assumed you guys would be behind us in technology."
"Human arrogance," Asher replied, only half kidding. He'd learned in his time there that humans thought they'd done everything first and the best, but most of the things they had on Quantari were much more advanced than anything he'd seen on Earth.
"You're probably right about that," she said easily.
Once the panel had scanned him and confirmed his identity, the door hissed open, folding down into a staircase that led into the main part of the ship. Mia was standing there, stunned for the moment, so Asher smiled and climbed up, deciding to check and see if everything was in order.
The inside was spacious and equipped with places to sit and cots for sleeping on. The sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the inside and glancing off the shiny knobs and switches of the control panel. There was a fair amount of chrome inside, but nothing like he'd seen in the sci-fi movies that apparently liked to make it seem like everything aliens had was shiny and metallic. Actually a good portion of the inside of the ship was done in dark woods to give it a more homey feel, and the Nalyi love for things that looked artistic and nice was present even in their transports.
Once he'd checked everything over, Asher leaned out to offer Mia his hand and help her up the steep stairs to the inside.
Her gasp when she looked around, made him smile. "Feel free to poke around," he said. "We'll be on here for a couple of days at the least, so I want you to be comfortable."
"Doesn't seem like it's going to be a problem," she said, awe in her voice. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this. This is like. I dunno. Some kind of fancy airplane or something. It's lovely."
His face was starting to hurt from smiling so wide. "I'm really glad you like it."
Her opinion was important to him, and even though this craft had been built long before he was born and he'd had nothing to do with it at all, there was a warm little glow of pride inside of him that she liked it.
"I'm gonna start bringing the stuff in," he called, and Mia waved a hand over her shoulder while she examined the cooking machines that were near the back of the transporter.
In his head, Asher went over the list of things that needed to happen before takeoff. He needed to make sure that there was enough fuel in the transporter and add the reserve fuel just in case. The craft was in a clearing that was just wide enough for it to rise up out of the trees and then take off at an angle heading upwards, but it would be good to check and make sure there were no obstructions in the way before he started flying.
...And he needed to tell Mia the whole truth.
It had been in the back of his head since they'd slept together, and he knew that he couldn't take her to another planet without first explaining what Abon's intentions were, even if they didn't match up with his own.
His fear was that she was going to be mad and then decide that she didn't want to come anymore, and it would hurt if that was the case, but he knew he had to tell her. If she decided that she didn't want to come, then that was more than fair, considering how much responsibility and extra stuff being queen would heap on her.
Asher didn't even know what all went into it, but he knew that it probably wouldn't be easy.
He was lost in thought as he brought their bags onto the craft, and when Mia asked if there was anything she could do to help him, he waved her away, telling her that he had in under control. Hopefully, he actually did.
Once all of their things were on board, he sent a text to Madison, asking her to come and make sure his car got taken back somewhere safe. It would be fine in woods for a bit, but he didn't want anyone to get curious and come steal it.
Unable to put it off any longer, Asher bit his lip and walked to the back of the transporter where Mia was examining the fuel tanks.
"I need to talk to you," he said, hoping that the sincerity in his voice carried to her.
"You're not going to tell me I can't come, are you?" she said. "Because I'm pretty excited now, and I might not forgive you."
"No!" Asher hurried to assure her. "No, of course not. The only thing I want more than to go home is to have you come with me. There's just... There's something I
have to tell you before we go and I'm not sure how you're going to take it."
Mia arched an eyebrow at him. "I guess you'd better tell me, then."
He drew in a shaky breath and then nodded." Okay. I'd like to point out for the record that this wasn't my idea, though. Abon... He wrote about it in his book. There's...there's a reason that he wanted you to come with me. I mean, other than he thought you'd enjoy being somewhere other than here."
"What reason is that?" Mia asked with a frown.
"He wants you to be queen."
A moment of silence followed his statement, and Asher bit the inside of his cheek, waiting for her to say something. He didn't know her well enough to know what she was thinking or feeling about what he'd said, and she was just standing there, staring at him and blinking.
The few seconds stretched to a few minutes, and Asher was going to say something else before she burst out laughing.
Well. It was safe to say that was the last reaction he'd been expecting. "Um," he said. "Is it funny?"
"Of course," she said back. "I mean, for a minute there I thought you were serious, and I was scared out of my mind because what do I know about being a queen, right? But then I realized that you had to be kidding, so it's all good."
Oh. This was going to be harder than he'd thought, and he'd already thought it was going to be hard. "Um. I'm not kidding," Asher said softly. "I'd show you the letter in the book, but you wouldn't be able to read it, so you'll have to take my word for it, I guess. But. Yes. He said that he thought you would make an excellent queen for me."
"How would he even know that!?" Mia demanded. "I was a child the last time he saw me. Do they make children into queens where you come from because if so, that's messed up. Do we have to get married or something for me to be queen? Oh my god, are we already married?"
Asher's eyes flew open wide at her questions and he held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "No! No, no, no," he said. "No. None of that. We're not married, we don't have to get married, and we definitely don't make children into monarchs. It's just. It's something my uncle thought would be nice, I guess? I don't know. He thinks a lot of you, obviously, and so do I, but you definitely don't have to be my queen if you don't want to."
