Xin stared. The factions weren't ignorant. They understood, as did Xin. Something shady and unspoken must have made it profitable to let the Nordic Commonwealth burn, let the Fenris Horde reign supreme, and let Xing Hong come under threat without help.

  "Pappa?" H?kon looked up. "World scary?"

  "Yeah, buddy. World's scary. But we're okay."

  "And Sky Lady?"

  Xin thought about Sigrun. The way she'd paid for supplement without asking anything back. Fought to protect them in the Warren.

  "Maybe. Maybe Sky Lady too."

  His Nucleus Watch buzzed as he raised his left wrist to check: [ACCOUNT BALANCE: $847 AD]

  Not enough for anything, really. But later tonight, the Zephyrium delivery. $25,000 could change several things.

  "Alright, buddy. Bath time."

  "HAW-koon no like water!"

  "Hey, just a quick rinse. I'll tell you about butterflies."

  "Flutter-by?"

  "Yeah. That."

  Xin took H?kon into his palms and enterered the bathroom. He had rigged a small tub using a repurposed storage container, just deep enough for H?kon to splash in without drowning.

  He filled it with lukewarm water. Hot water cost extra, pulled from the building's central heater, billed per liter. Xin's budget couldn't afford thermal luxury. But after turning in the Zephyrium bounty with Sigrun, he would surely give H?kon a proper hot bath, maybe a dozen.

  The little Diabolisk eyed the tub suspiciously, scales darkening to alarmed brown. "Cold?"

  "A little. But I'll be quick." Xin lowered him in carefully. H?kon chirped once, startled by the temperature, then settled. The water came up to his midsection, lapping at brilliant sapphire scales that looked even more vibrant when wet. Cookie crumbs floated to the surface.

  "Pappa tell story now?"

  "Yeah." Xin grabbed a soft cloth, began gently scrubbing H?kon's back. The scales were rougher than they looked, textured like fine sandpaper. He did it carefully, washing away Mars dust and dried residue that the little Diabolisk had caught in the Warren. "Once upon a time, on Earth, there were creatures called butterflies."

  "Flutter-bys!"

  "Right. They had wings made of colors, blue and orange and yellow and green. They could fly anywhere they wanted, from flower to flower, free and beautiful. People used to sit in gardens just to watch them dance in the air."

  H?kon's eyes went wide. "Real?"

  "Real. My father told me about them. Before the Third World War, before the radiation on Earth, there were millions of butterflies. Whole clouds of them, migrating across continents." Xin worked water through H?kon's scales. "They lived maybe three weeks, but in that time they saw the whole world."

  "Three weeeeekz?" H?kon's scales flickered with confusion.

  "Yep. That's twenty one days."

  "So...not long?"

  "No, buddy. Not long at all. But it was enough. They got to fly. Got to see beauty. That was their whole purpose. Just three weeks of being alive and free."

  He wasn't sure why that story mattered. Wasn't sure if H?kon could understand the concept of such brief existence. But telling it felt important, like preserving something precious from a world that no longer existed.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "Sky Lady like flutter-bys too?"

  The question caught him off-guard. He paused, cloth dripping water back into the tub.

  Did Sigrun like butterflies? He didn't know. Didn't know much about her, really, beyond surface details and the way she moved in combat. Were there even butterflies where she came from? Something about the question felt weighted with meaning he couldn't quite process.

  "Maybe," he said finally. "Maybe she saw them long ago, when she lived on…Europa, I guess? That's where most Nordlings live. Before..." He trailed off. Before what? Before the Fenris Horde? Or before whatever trauma behind her sapphire eyes had formed?

  "HAW-koon wish see flutter-by. In real."

  "Maybe you will, buddy. Maybe one day we'll go to Earth, find a place they're trying to rebuild the butterfly populations. You can see them dance." Even as he said it, Xin knew how impossible that sounded.

  Earth was expensive, dangerous, dying slowly from centuries of abuse and post-war apocalypse. It was exactly why millenials like him needed to find jobs on another planet. The blue planet was no longer what it was in those textbooks and historical documents.

  He lifted H?kon out of the tub, wrapped him in the good towel. The little Diabolisk shivered, scales cycling through colors: wet bronze to drying copper to comfortable sapphire.

  "Pappa warm?"

  "Always, buddy. Always warm for you."

  He carried H?kon to his heated nest: salvaged material, thermal wires Xin had connected himself. H?kon burrowed into blankets. Scales shifted to drowsy gray shot through with new silver highlights.

  "Pappa? We got shiny treasure, yes?"

  "Yeah. Later Sigrun and I will take it to Dilinur's office, get the payment."

  "Then HAW-koon want buns! Meat buns with caaaaaabbage. Soft buns with cream!"

  Xin smiled. "How many buns?"

  "Many buns?" Hopeful tail wag under blankets.

  "Many buns. We'll go to Opera District after I get back. You can pick whichever ones look best."

  "Promise?"

  "Promise."

  H?kon's eyes drifted closed. Before sleep claimed him: "Pappa best. Sky Lady nice too. Family?"

  Family. The word hung and hurt a little.

  Xin had never really had one. Parents were distant memories. Mother had always been asking for more money before she'd suicided. Father had told Xin to chase his dreams instead of money on the day he had died in the hospital. Fellow Riggers he'd worked contracts with became friends for a few months.

  Then the gigs dried up and everyone scattered to chase whatever the algorithm offered next. Then months of isolation broken by finding an egg he couldn't remember finding. Then Mars.

  Now a Diabolisk calling him pappa. A Nordling woman who paid for medicine and looked at him like he was both puzzle and problem.

  Was family coming back to him, even though it had always been a fractured and painful thing?

  "What are we getting into, buddy?" Xin whispered.

  No answer. H?kon was asleep, scales settled into steady silver glow. Tiny claws curled against his body.

  Xin walked to his workstation, the Quantum Laptop. Pulled up his bank account.

  [CURRENT BALANCE: $847 AD]

  Tomorrow, by now, he could very well have $25,000 added. After rent, food, oxygen, more supplement...at least three months of stability if nothing went wrong.

  His watch chimed softly. New message.

  [FROM: SIGRUN FJELD]

  [Tonight at 21:00. Corner of North Killarney and Alfalfa Street. Got the Zephyrium with me. ]

  Short, clinical. They'd meet, deliver, collect payment, part ways before midnight, perhaps. As much as he'd wanted to see her again afterwards.

  Then the watch buzzed again:

  [...thanks and see you :) ]

  The smiley emoticon looked strange attached after the professional message. Like she wanted formal but decided differently last minute.

  Xin stared at that smiley face. What did it mean? Genuine friendliness? Social obligation? His programmer brain wanted logic trees, syntax to parse. But human interaction rarely worked like code.

  He typed: [Sure thing! I'll be there. How's your injury? All healed up? Coat repaired? Thank you again for the supplement!]

  Sent. Sat there feeling vaguely idiotic for waiting to see if she'd respond immediately. She didn't.

  Behind him, H?kon mumbled in sleep. "Sky Lady... pappa... happy-family..."

  He closed his laptop. Later tonight it would all happen. The delivery. The money. Whatever conversation happened with Sigrun again, without H?kon as buffer or—if Xin were honest to himself—helpful guardian spirit whenever things got awkward.

  Xin closed his eyes. H?kon's breathing provided steady rhythm. Each breath a small reminder that he was fighting for more just than himself. That the best family was not given, but earned.

  Later everything could change.

  But for now, just this: H?kon sleeping, his screens glowing, the strange sensation of having someone worth protecting.

  His watch buzzed once more. Xin cracked one eye open.

  [FROM: SIGRUN FJELD]

  [Injury's gone. Just got the coat fixed. I'll be waiting.]

  Just words. No emoticon. Simple statement that might mean nothing or everything.

  Xin smiled.

  H?kon's new silver scales settled into deeper sleep rhythm. Xin now deduced it was a color meaning 'calm'.

  "Sleep well, buddy. I'll be back soon." he whispered toward the cushion nest as he made for the bathroom, preparing to wash his face. Somehow, it felt right to do so.

  But for now, he would meet Sigrun and see what awaited them both.