Home in the Stars Box Set

by Mason, Jolie

  Kent grimaced. “Believe me, I know. It’s a logistics nightmare.”

  Laughing, he said, “You’ve led men into battle. You can’t handle a few kids.”

  “These aren’t men. These are little monsters. Security is going to be a real bitch from now on. There is nowhere they can’t go. I found one in a closet earlier. No idea why.”

  “I’ll give you a raise”, he said with a chuckle.

  “You’d better”. Kent complained and moaned a bit more, and then Caden excused himself to go to bed, unbelievably content with his place in the world.

  Ari had wrapped herself around his pillow leaving him with none. She looked so beautiful to him, snug in his bed where she belonged. Her waves of hair, too dark to be a fiery red, massed across one pillow and her face buried in another. He wondered if she’d wanted his scent to help her sleep. And she was sleeping soundly.

  No insomnia.

  He undressed and crawled in behind her. Sleepily, she turned into him whispering, “Where ya been?”

  “Talking to Abernathy. Did you miss me?”

  She yawned and curled into his chest. “So much.” She was asleep.

  He reached for the abandoned pillow, carefully stuffing it behind him without waking Ari, and he followed her into sleep, contented for the first time in years.

  *****#*****

  Morning sunlight streamed through his bedroom. Caden heard Ari’s voice in the next room. He rolled over stretching. She was in the next room on the comm. There was something about waking up with her in his space, hearing her voice and smelling her perfume. He felt like anything was possible.

  “Jack,”she said loudly. “I don’t see the problem.”

  The name got Caden’s undivided attention. She was on the comm with Jack at. . . He reached for his watch. . . 0600. What would be so important? Why would she need to talk to the Bell at this hour?

  He heard her again. “Don’t be this way. I’m not going to be on the ship.”

  Caden couldn’t hear Jack’s end of the conversation, but he could imagine a few possible scenarios. He rolled out of bed and gathered fresh clothes for the day, and shrugged into shirt and pants while he waited for her to finish. His mind played on her words, not on the ship, as he dressed. She’d tell him when she was ready, right? He knew the moment hope settled deep in his gut and burrowed in tight. If she wouldn’t be on the ship, did she intend to be here? What else could get Ari off her precious ship?

  He shook his head and reached for a pair of socks.

  Ari walked through the bedroom door wearing his thick robe. “You’re up”, she said.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She looked at him. “I need Ra’ddy.”

  “Ah, problems on the ship.”

  “Yeah, yeah. The whole damn ship is the problem. I gotta get dressed and find Ra’ddy.”

  She pulled on her clothes with the jerky movements of a seriously angry woman. He actually didn’t want to say a word, but he gathered his courage. “You need any help?”

  She looked at him and shook her head. “No, Jack just quit the Bell. Says he’s shipping out tomorrow with another outfit, so I have to get Ra’dan back on the ship.”

  “Oh”, he said.

  “Yeah, oh.”

  “He quit because of us.”

  She tossed her boots to the floor in frustration. “No, he quit because of me. I knew better, but I slept with him anyway.”

  Caden sat down on the end of the bed like a deflating balloon. “So why did you?”

  She paused while she put her boots on. “I wanted to see if I could.”

  “What?”

  “Not if I could with him. If I could with anyone.” She looked at the floor. “I just needed someone.”

  He nodded. “I know. That’s not a crime, Ari.”

  “It is on a ship. It was royally stupid.”

  “Why is Jack's short notice such a big deal, Ari?"

  Ari looked his way in utter annoyance. “Well, aren't you just adorable? If I'm gonna be here rolling around in bed with you, who in Hell do you think will be flying my ship?"

  Caden stayed very still on the end of the bed watching Ari pull back her long wavy hair into a severe ponytail. He continued to hold the pair of socks he’d intended to wear tight in his hand. There was no way he was going to screw this one up. If she was staying here, he was just going to run with it. He was going to shut up and see what happened. Ari continued her rant as Caden never took his eyes off her.

  “All my careful planning. Poof! I wanted Ra'ddy to have some time, to get a feel for the Bell, but no, poor kid gets thrown right in the deep end. And why? Because of pride, stupid, childish pride. You men are all the same! Except for Ra'ddy and Jace, every damn one of you has your head collectively up your. . . “Ari had continued to rave all the way out the door as Caden sat very quietly pretending he wasn't even in the room. She'd slammed the door on the way out blocking the rest of her monologue.

  He looked down at the socks in his hands he hadn't put on yet. Here, he hadn't wanted to push her, and all the time she'd been making plans to stay. “Well, then", he whispered. “That was easy."

  *****#*****

  Ari found Ra’dan meditating beside the hot springs surrounding the house on one side. She’d asked staff and security if they’d seen him with no results, when she finally realized she needed better sources. She tracked down little Lin, her brother’s third daughter, and resident sleuth. The kid’s strengths were snooping and stealth. She knew right where to find Ra’ddy.

  Ari suspected a very girlish crush on her part was the reason for the interest in a member of her Tanta’s crew. The kid was only twelve, but she had advanced just past the boys are icky stage, and the hero worship was in full swing there.

  A warbling bird sang in swaying vegetation as an almost imperceptible breeze shook the leaves loudly. She heard the babble of water nearby, and the air was sweetly scented from the nearby fruit orchard, part of Caden’s working farm taking advantage of the crest of fertile land nestled beside the desert.

  Ra’dan stretched in the slow movements of Ta’lantha, a meditation exercise among his people. He seemed to easily hold his long, lithe young frame endlessly in the challenging positions of the Ta’lantha. Ari knew it was imperative for him to have this time alone, and she hated interrupting him. This time apart centered him, helped him deal with the scars of his past that were just as deep as Caden’s, even though they couldn’t be seen.

  She stepped along the path reverently waiting for the boy to feel her presence. He would eventually. It never failed. It seemed as though he had a sense of her approach long before she got there.

  He smiled at her. “I could feel your agitation from the house.”

  She looked back over her shoulder toward the house in question. “Bet you could hear some of it, too. I’ve been swearing for an hour”, she said. Ra’dan leaned back to sit on the lush grass carpeting the small enclosed clearing. His skin at the moment was rich and dark like the broad leaves of the plants surrounding them. Her years with the boy told her he felt tranquil and relaxed at the moment because Sorian physiology linked their emotional state with the physical. The darkest, richest tones of green tinting his skin suggested contentment and satisfaction. Lighter tones were unhealthy, stress or illness. Bright greens showed anger or agitation and worry. It was rare to see Ra’ddy in that state.

  His pale hair, like every Sorian male, lay braided along his shoulder and chest. There were many variations of that theme, but Ra’dan always seemed to prefer one simple rope of braid down his back. Within the braid were trinkets, called Ci’la. Each symbol marked a moment in time, in the life of an individual. It was a reminder of struggle and victory. Ra’dan had very few of those last. Each was a symbol, personal and spiritual, and was only removed for grooming.

  Ari found the culture of Sor to be somewhat enticing. It broke her heart that the Sor system, just beyond Imperial reach, remained a slave state, a government run by prevailing tr
ibes who routinely sold off the tribes they removed from power. In Ra’s case, he had been in the wrong place at the very wrong time. To the slavers, he’d been easy money, a boy who might not be missed.

  Ari sat beside him and tugged affectionately on his braid. One of the symbols in his hair stood for her, he’d told her once. She didn’t know which one.

  “Jack quit”, she said simply.

  Ra’dan looked at Ari a moment, studied her thoroughly. “You thought he wouldn’t?”

  “I don’t know”.

  “You thought that he would forget he loved you?”

  Ari gave the boy her stern stare. “Well, yes. It can be done. It’s happened. I’m a very forgettable person.” She plucked grass from the ground and twirled it around her fingers. “I’m staying here for a while. Just to try it out, I guess.”

  Ra laughed. “Ari, you do not believe any of what you just said. I imagine no man who has ever really loved you ever forgot. Jack suffers.”

  Ari scrunched her face up sourly. “Suffers. That’s not.. . a thing.”

  “Yes, Ari, it is. How long have you suffered your love for Caden. Sorian brandy, long nights working, never taking vacations. You punished yourself for years. Jack is not content in the place where he knew you. Let him go.”

  She sighed. “Okay, fine. He suffers. Are you ready for command, Ra? I wanted to give you time to really learn the trade. It’s your ship.”

  “I wish you would stop trying to give me your ship, Ari.”

  She took his hand in hers. “Ra’ddy, you are the son I raised. The Carry Bell will keep you safe, give you a home when I can’t one day. It’s important to me to know you are safe.”

  Ra leaned his head down to touch his forehead to hers. “Dea, I will do as you say.”

  “What does Dea mean?”, she asked curiously.

  “It is our word for mother. You win as all mothers do. I will fly your ship.”

  “So obedient. Everything you say sounds sarcastic. When are you going to find a nice girl and give me grandchildren?”

  Her teasing made him laugh. He shook his head at her. “Many years, Dea. Many, many years.”

  “You’re so young to have a command, but I know you can do it. You may have to make some changes to the crew roster. There are a few in the hold that may be too bigoted to keep around long.”

  He nodded.

  She pointed her finger at him. “You are not to do business with the slaver planets. I don’t even want you on one of them. Understood?”

  He nodded and said, “Yes, Dea”. He grasped her hand tightly in his. “I will be careful.”

  She leaned on his shoulder. “You better. And Luca’s my spy, so you can’t fire her.”

  He laughed again and stood pulling Ari up with him. “I guess I need to get back to the ship this afternoon.”

  They walked slowly back to the house discussing plans for the Carry Bell as the sun lowered to its lunchtime position. Ari enjoyed her time with Ra before he left her behind to find his own home in the stars, and she watched the grand, sunset red roof of her new home get closer as they walked. When she’d set out on the Bell all those years ago, Ari never dreamed she’d end up here. Back on Taarken. In the arms of Caden Carnes. It hadn’t seemed possible she would ever find home.

  But, here she was.

  Home from the Sea

  Jolie Mason

  1

  Jungle dew hung in the air like an almost veil a man had to push his way through as brilliant sunlight high above pelted the ground with its rays. His human crewmen remained on the Carry Bell because they couldn’t tolerate the heat for long, nor did most of them want to brave the hot temperatures. The species on the planet, plant and animal alike had evolved to accept the continually hot conditions.

  In fact, Luca Brine, the pilot, stuck her head out of the hatch as he descended and said, “Nope”, then turned to head back into the cooler interior of the Bell. Later, he smiled to himself as he put one foot in front of the other walking the path that led up the hillside to his grandmother’s hut. Luca would always be a creature of comfort.

  She wore the Carry Bell uniform almost. Usually, she put a flouncy black skirt on just to be contrary. When they came to a tropical climate, she never, never left the boat. You didn't even expect her off if there wasn't shopping to be found on a planet. As crazy as she was, she was the best pilot he'd ever seen, and she was part of the family.

  Ra’dan Sevarus surveyed the majestic view of his old home. From this position, he saw the teeming jungle below as ralligoos, the largest local bird, swept upward from the treetops in arcing ascent and dove back into the jungle once their natural predators had moved away. Their shining white and black wings reflected sunlight in shining fractals throwing bits of rainbow color around as they flew. Farther up the well worn pathway, the thatch roof of his Marm-marm’s hut jutted just between the trees in a clearing. There were only two families this far up on the hillside. Marm’s was the only hut visible from the path.

  Ra stopped a moment to look at the place from the top of a rise. He would be there in moments. His first time back since he’d been taken. He swiveled his gaze about the lush setting of his home world. It was strange to be standing here again, as if he wasn’t truly the man who’d left.

  Back toward town, he remembered a small spring flowing out into a pond. The chill of the spring kept the water cool, too cold for snakes. They had a bar swing tied to a banyan tree sweeping out over the water off the bank where they could swing out over the cold water and fall in. The boy who jumped from that tree into that water couldn't be him.

  Ra thought he might have returned here another person entirely. This one, a confident man, in charge of his own ship, his own path. If he was truthful, he was a scarred man. As a child, he'd been traumatized and abused, until he hardly knew himself anymore. No, that wasn't right. He didn't know who he was meant to be; the survivor or the boy he'd been. His last six years hadn’t been idyllic or even simple either. He’d been relearning the world, relearning himself, however, perhaps it was time to just accept that the boy he was never would be again. He'd been changed as a slave.

  Growing up in this remote, beautiful landscape, he’d known of slavers and seen their ships in the sky, been warned not to go near the docks, not to stray far from home; but he’d never understood what they were. Horror. Pain. Degradation. Until he’d stood on the auction block and been manhandled by a lovely aristocrat, with flowers in her hair, no less, looking for a young, nubile sex toy, he’d never understood a thing.

  That hadn’t even been the first time he’d been used for sex as a slave. The slavers themselves were killed if they touched a female in transit, but boys were fair game. He hadn't remained innocent long. He shook his head to clear away the dust and cobwebs of old memories.

  Marm-marm would know in moments that he wasn’t doing well. She’d been one of the seers with a tendency toward just knowing something as soon as she looked at you. It happened among his tribe with more frequency than in the other tribes. All Sorians were born with some psychic abilities. Try being a young kid keeping secrets in a house with a seer. There wasn't much he could get away with in her house.

  He smiled quickly and began to move once again. This time, down the hill into the valley that would take him back up another path and wind around to Marm’s. Banyan fowl, so named because they preferred the tree of that name for nesting, strutted and pecked in the field as he approached. Bright sun glinted through the trees lining the back of the small farm. His Marm-marm wore a long draped brown dress with white over apron. She stood shading the sunlight from her eyes as she stared off into the field. No doubt inspecting the fruits and vegetables she raised to haul to market.

  He heard her shout in the old language, “Bring the damn thing into the barn!”

  Her silhouette against trees was sturdy like the hut, not round and soft. Like the land she'd farmed all his life, she stood like a rock in a field, unbreakable, immovable. Ra opened the rusty gate, cau
sing it to give the old squeal it had always made. His Marm-marm turned to see him and smiled broadly, joy written clearly on her wizened face.

  Her round cheeks were weathered and bright as she raced up the hill to him despite her age. She’d always had a vivid glow like the lanyar flowers at night when their natural bio-luminescence showed bright as the stars, but he saw changes in her brought on by struggle. Her skin had faded to the shade of green citrus, soft, not vivid. Her hair hung white as what his human compatriots called snow. They brought him pictures to look at on the ship, though he’d yet to visit a planet with a cool temperate environment. She’d twisted her hair into a long, long braid down jutting from the top of her head and falling in a rope to her waist. The wooden and silvered beads woven into her hair were plentiful, but she had lived 110 years as the oldest of them frequently did. The memories added up in a long life.

  Marm-marm marked everything she could take joy in or things she’d changed with a bead she carved herself. She told him as a child the silver marked, for her alone, the things that had changed her. Her arms were wide open as she ran for him. That much never changed.

  “Ra-ra, You’re safe home again.” She repeated the thought in the old tongue as she gripped him. Ra buried his nose in her hair. She still smelled like sunshine, line-dried laundry and soap.

  Though the tears swamped his Marm’s eyes sliding down her cheeks, he held his behind the smile he’d been practicing for her. She must never guess what he’d been through as a boy, stolen from her and his world. His letters were all about his good fortune in companions, his place on the Bell, and his work. He never intended her to know more. She would go to her grave thinking the worst hadn’t happened, if he had any say in it. He knew the futility of hiding things from her, but he needed to try.

  She clutched his arm tightly, pulling him into the little hut. He looked up to see the small addition jutting out of the roof, a miniature of the larger dome on the house. It had been his escape. He could just make out up the stairs the hammock swinging in the light breeze. It had been his room high above the house. He’d thought it the best place in the world. Still did. He wondered if his books were still there.