Page 214 of Seven Oars
“What happened after Finn and you dropped us off on Priss?” Rosamma asked on one of those boring days.
Eze screwed up her alien face into a sour mask of bad memories.“We hopped to an outpost I had charted for him back on Seven Oars.”
“Wait. Are you telling me you’d known all along that the two of you had no intention of landing on Priss?”
“We had no intention of landing on Priss,” Eze confirmed, contrite.“Blame Fincros. I’m innocent!”
“Sure you are.”
“Well, he was right, missy.” A hinger pointed at Rosamma’s face.“He knows you too well. You would’ve thrown a tantrum and refused to land.”
“That’s right.”
“And where would you be now?”
“With Finn!”
“Uh-huh. You were dying, Rosamma. How soon you forget.”
She had nothing to say to that.
“Anyway, Finn and I barely made it to that outpost. It was really scary. That capsule was a joke. I don’t know how none of us died flying to Priss. And with him blind, not much he could do. It almost turned me off flying. Almost…”
“But you did it.”
Eze perked up.“Yes. We lied to the outpost people and told them we were support crew members who got lost during a routine technical spacewalk.”
Rosamma smothered a laugh.“Eze, he’s blind. Who’d believe he was on any kind of spacewalk?”
“But he did do a space walk while blind.” Eze winked.“We said he was my mentor who was a little visually impaired.”
“A little?”
“You know he can see heat waves, right? That helped.” Eze shook her head.“Regardless, the outpost people hadn’t wanted us at first. They threatened to send us back off in that capsule, so we were motivated.”
“I am so grateful they didn’t.”
“Not out of the goodness of their hearts. Fincros paid them with the two jet nozzles. They were made from some rare metals and all the rage. Lifesaving.”
Chapter 30
“Rosamma, look! Up in the sky. It’s the aurora.”Eze pointed at the dark expanse, lit up in shimmering hues of pink and purple.
The halos danced and shifted like plumes of multi-colored smoke, casting a muted glow on the white ground.
“Oh, how fancy!” Rosamma murmured, distracted.
They stood in a fenced, snowy field where they had landed, observing the locals dig through the containers without waiting to move them to a nearby warehouse. People pulled out carefully packed supplies and inspected them avidly.
Excitement buzzed through her system. She hadn’t been able to sleep the last few nights. Hadn’t done any reading. She was sick with wanting to see Fincros.
And now, she was here.
Megroyara.
Her new home.
Despite the bitter cold, Rosamma marveled at her feet touching the same ground Fincros walked on. They inhabited the same world for the first time.
