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He didn't want to scare her.

"Well, I hate to say that almost failed miserably," she said, with another fit of laughter.

Ryziel's silver gaze shifted back over to her as he frowned. "Almost?"

Aly sniffed and shrugged. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

Ryziel watched her for a moment then let out a hiss of breath. "You are."

"Though...I was scared a few times. I'm not running just yet...I guess the pressure now is more terrifying than anything I've encountered so far."

"Pressure?" Ryziel asked, confused.

Aly nodded. "The pressure to help my team. Failing them scares me more now."

Ryziel was silent for a long moment, Aly almost believing he was finished speaking altogether, when he said, "You want to return home..."

Aly bowed her head, crossing her arms once more. "They do. And I guess I want to as well. Or at least not to be here."

"I can attest to that," Ryziel said.

Aly looked back at him with a curious glance. "You are...trying to go home too?" she asked cautiously.

Ryziel met her stare. "Yes."

"Back to your family?"

"To my brother," he said.

Aly tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. "On Nihl right? That is where they say all nillium are from."

Ryziel seemed to study her carefully before nodding. "Yes."

"They say it's like a paradise there. Is that true?"

Ryziel glanced away just in time for light to spill past the car, catching the silver fire in his eyes. "Yes," he said in a low voice, his expression darkening. "It is beautiful."

Aly hoped she hadn't touched on a sensitive subject but also didn't want to stop their conversation. "Earth is pretty, too," she said without hesitating. "At least in the places not destroyed by people."

Ryziel's expression lightened as curiosity took its place. "Your people...destroyed part of their own planet?"

Aly frowned, her eyes dropping. "For many reasons, and not all on purpose. It's...a long and complicated history. Once we started expanding into space, a lot of people left it behind. Some refused to leave, wanting to restore what was lost. Others...just wanted to expand their empires, no matter the cost." Aly closed her eyes and, for a brief second, thought of her own family then swiftly shoved those thoughts aside.

"And you chose to leave?" Ryziel asked.

Aly shifted her eyes back to him and nodded. "I...let's just say I didn't agree with my family’s values. And if I couldn't agree then I didn't deserve to be a part of it."

Ryziel looked at her, surprised. "You were cast out?"

Aly clenched her jaw, an old bitterness festering in her stomach. "For the most part. Yes."

Ryziel did not speak again for a long while. The elevator came to a stop at the bottom floor, and they stepped out into the darkness beyond. They walked for some time before Ryziel chose to speak again. "You and I have that in common, then," he said at last.

Aly turned her eyes up to him, though he could not see her as she followed him from the back, her hand grasping his belt.

"Your family...disowned you?" she asked when he had said no more. It was strange. Though they were so completely different and from separate worlds, some things didn't change when it came to family. It made her oddly sad.

"My mother, no. She passed on when I was a babe," Ryziel replied. "And my brother, never. He had wanted to hide me away, though I refused, not wanting him to lose his position. It was my father and uncle who cast me out."