Kragon and JaKaelath ride on "Whisper", Kragon's horse. There is a safe spot near the camp that he has taken her to a few times before. Here, they can take a moment to relax, away from the camp.

  They lie on their backs looking up at the stars.

  "Remember when I was in the cave," JaKaelath said. I thought about you out there, waiting on me, looking up at the stars. I never really said thank you.

  "No need to say thank you, but I am curious, when you were thinking about me out there, was that before you and that person from the cave became soul mates? What was her name anyway?

  JaKaelath buries her head into his shoulder. "Kragon, I am so sorry. I told you that before, but I will say it again. I was scared, I was saying the wrong things, and I am sure they suspected I was spying on them. I exploded on this one Ponu woman once, my twin that I told you about. I did so many wrong things in that cave. I hope you can one day forgive me."

  Kragon looks at her with a serious expression that turns into a smile, indicating he was playing. "Already forgiven. Look, you were spying, and your life was in danger. Whatever you needed to do in there to return safely is good with me, just tell me..." he says with a grin, "Do you think she would have been a better kisser than me?"

  She slaps his shoulder, and they both laugh.

  "Thanks again for giving me that advice about the vaults," she says, "I almost thought that was going to get me killed. Pick a high number, you said, something close to 100. I picked 90 and they looked at me like I had the word 'spy' written on my forehead".

  "How was I to know? I never said I was the expert in Ponu culture, it was just advice". He says, defending himself.

  "So what do you think they are?" Kragon says. JaKaelath looks at him curiously, "What do you mean, they're whatever I am".

  Kragon says, "But that's just the point. There are so many questions. I remember you as a child, but we've never ever seen any Ponu children. We've never seen a Ponu couple. If you're Ponu, it means...."

  "Yes," JaKaelath interrupts, "It means the man and woman who raised me were not really my parents. But you know what, I don't care. They are my parents as far as I'm concerned, and I don't really care how I got to them."

  Kragon continued, "But don't you wonder why they are here? It seems so bizarre".

  JaKaelath asks, "Why do 'you' think they're here, Kragon, or better yet, what are they? What are we?"

  "You might not like it," he says. "Before I found out you were truly one of them, I suspected they might have been artificially created organic beings, something cooked up in a lab from Geeryo. Now, I suspect they are travelers from somewhere else. Maybe it could be a star, or a different dimension or whatever. They are indebted to Geeryo, so maybe Geeryo are the rulers in whatever world they come from. Perhaps that's why they are all the same age. They were the volunteers of their people. Maybe their males can't adapt as well to our climate. I would suspect that maybe a couple was among them, and you could have been separated from them as a small child, and your scavenger parents found you."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  JaKaelath looks at him, amused. "That's some imagination you've got, 'Bookworm Beefcake.'" She laughs at the name Dukota gave him. "The only problem is they come out of the ground, not from the sky. There were so many things I wanted to ask them, but I was scared it might expose me. I'm not a spy, I'm a scout. I didn't even know what I was doing."

  JaKaelath looks at the sky. "One thing I do know is that they are scared of us. They fear that we are going to attack them. Yes, some of them have contempt, like my "twin" I told you about. But for the rest, it's just fear. Even with the Dowath. Even they..." she can't believe what she's about to say "...even they seemed different from what I expected. They have no unified direction in how to deal with us. Some want to make peace with us, some want to fight with us." JaKaelath laughed at what she was about to say next, "One poor, frightened-looking Ponu woman even suggested that they surrender to us, to be the ruling class over them, replacing Geeryo. I guess what I am saying is, in general, yes, the Ponu are the enemy, but those women in the cave are no threat. They are just scared women, holding on to a fragile alliance with the Dowath, hoping like anything they survive the next day and are not attacked by us."

  Kragon looked at the sky. "Do you remember the battle at the super vault?" JaKaelath turned around, facing away from him. Of course, she remembered, all scavenger children were told about it. It was the last battle in the 4th and most recent Ponu-Scavenger war. She learned her father had fought in it, and a young Kallian also.

  A Vault 5 times the size of a normal one had emerged. The entrance came right out of the ground near a scavenger village. The Ponu who emerged came out angry and violent. Hundreds of them, including many unaffected male ponus, roughly half the number. The Scavengers fought with desperation, almost being run off their own land.

  "That is what they are capable of. Whatever they are, and wherever they came from, they sold their soul to get here, to whoever, or whatever Geeryo is. Their masters can flip a switch and turn them into killing machines. How do you live with someone capable of that?"

  She can feel the rage starting to build in him. The hatred most of her people have for the Ponu is not without cause. Still, she can't stand to hear it now, not from him. If there is anyone who should have compassion, it should be him. She turns towards him, her eyes staring into his. "Just hold me," she says. He does, pressing her against his chest.

  She always felt so warm, so safe with Kragon, but recently she has been seeing a side she had tried not to see. He loves her, but only despite her being a Ponu. He still hates Ponu. He would hate her if she were not raised by scavengers. He is the only one who knows the truth, that she is actually a Ponu, and instead of that making him more empathetic, his coldness towards them is growing.

  Still, she loves him. She caresses his thick, dark eyebrows and kisses him.

  "No, wait," he says, "It's too dangerous out here for us to get carried away, let's go back to the tent."

  "Yes, of course," she stammers, "the tent, back where that machine is that you're working on. I can't think of a more romantic place. The machine that will single-handedly wipe out the Dowath and Ponu."

  Kragon laughs, "That machine is what will give us victory". He looks with a grin, "What makes you think there would be only one?"

  It was her worst fears realized. There were more than one. Many more from the sound of Kragon's confidence. There were, somewhere, enough to get the job done against the few Dowath who were not hibernating. Information she had told Kragon in confidence when she thought he could be trusted with such info. This one Geeryo Guard was important, though. Perhaps it was the main node that could give instructions to the others. Suddenly, she realized Kallian might actually win.

  A shiver runs through Kaela.