All that is left is the quiet, intimate space between us. It is a small space, but it is entirely our own.
Footsteps crunch on the gravel.
I look up. Asher and Elara are walking toward us.
They look impossibly small. Their tactical gear is oversized, stained with dust and alien blood. Their faces are pale, dark circles bruised beneath their eyes. They move with a slow, deliberate caution, like adults who have seen too much and are trying to remember how to be children.
I set my tea down and open my arms.
They don't run. They walk slowly, deliberately, and then collapse into my lap, burying their faces in my chest. Kade wraps his good arm around them, pulling them into the circle of our family.
We did it, Mama, Asher projects, his mental voice small, tired, and entirely human. The bad
