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Niika looked out the archway toward the fountain in the centre of the square. “It was a plain, ordinary day. Em and I were foraging along the coastline when we saw a strange streak of light, and being curious idiots, we ran to see what impacted the ground with enough force to shake us.

“Now, remember, we hadn’t seen a Tokkel ship before. The attacks hadn’t started, and this was the first alien craft that any Gaian had seen since before the colony began. I headed for the silver hulk while Em ran back to the habitat to alert her parents and call the authorities. The ship opened, and a gross, green, lumpy hulk of a man stepped forward, shouting at me in a language I did not understand. He fired and missed me by inches, so I turned to run. That is when I was struck in the back.

“Pain burned outward from the strike point, and I blacked out.”

She shuddered at the memory of what happened next. “When I woke up, I was in a full-control harness. I could move my body slowly, but whenever I shifted quickly, I locked in place and fell over.”

Cavos nodded. “That is the tricky bit of those harnesses. The moment you are in one, you are a slow, plodding worker for the Tokkel. It is a very effective restraint.”

“It was three days with that creature shouting at me until I understood his language. Once I knew that he was a scout and he wanted my help repairing his ship, I knew that I was being faced with a choice. Live my life in that damned harness or die trying to escape. I managed to liberate a shard of steel from the inside of the ship, and slowly and carefully, I slit his throat from behind.”

Cavos took her hand to encourage her to continue. “What happened next?”

“I left the ship and found my family. He had shifted us down the coastline, and their search party was on their way to find me. The first thing Em did was get me out of the harness and that is when we found out about my little problem. My legs didn’t work. I had feeling but no muscle control. Ula was there to see the ship, and she immediately altered the harness into something that could be worn under my clothing and that I could live with. That was six months before the first warship attack on Gaia. We warned the government about what was coming, but the violence of the attacks still caught everyone by surprise.”

The men in the room nodded, and Tidae grimaced. “And then, we arrived and the Tokkel were driven off.”

Cavos tilted his head. “What happened to the ship?”

“With Ula’s guidance, we gutted the AI and turned the ship into the Nitdka. Em’s sea skimmer. It took months of work, but it was easier to tell folks that we salvaged a severely damaged ship. The AI was pulled apart, and Ula integrated it into her personal defences when she went off for her privacy.”

Tidae cocked his head, “Who is Ula?”

“She is a designer par excellence, but she gives each piece a part of her soul, and when that item is misused, it becomes a point of pain for her. She is bleeding psychically, and with the Nine here to offer their assistance, she is no longer required to work for the defence of Gaia around the clock. There is no tech she can’t unravel and piece together using only the most basic of tools.”

She smiled with pride.

“The Bakers are my family. They took me in after my parents died during a localized epidemic. Em and I managed to find herbs to effect a treatment, but it was too late for my parents. They died with fifty other colonists in a matter of days.”

Cavos blinked. “How did you find a cure?”

“I found a treatment in a plant called Garish. Em found the cure in a very ugly fish named Eric.”

Morro laughed. “The fish had a name?”

“It did when Emharo was done with it. You have met her. Am I wrong to say that she would name the sun and stars if it suited her?”

Morro wrinkled his nose. “No, if something needs to be told what it is, I am sure that your cousin is the one to do it.”

“Anyway, so we diluted Eric’s liver, and the enzymes released were just the thing to stop the virus in its tracks and reverse a great deal of damage.”

She sighed. “And then, we had a nice memorial service for the fallen hero. It didn’t seem right to eat him after that.”

The men laughed, but she was serious. There was still a stone marker for Eric, saviour of Gaia. Only the Bakers knew that it referred to a fish.

“So, my parents died and were buried, the Bakers legally took me in, and my name was changed for simplicity. I am their daughter as much as Em, but to her, I am and have always been the beloved cousin that was as close as a sister.”

Morro asked, “What about Ularica?”

“She is the weird cousin that gets invited to everything but rarely comes.”

Tidae got up and turned the meat.

Silence fell over the gathering, and Cavos reached out to caress her ankle. “I know what it’s like to be in the harness. They put us in it while we are training for battle so that we know how to fight against those being held without injuring them. If we know their limits, we can take them down without injury.”

Niika smiled. “How did you find it?”

He shuddered. “I fought so hard, I dislocated my right arm within hours.”

Tidae muttered, “I was trapped in the foetal position for three hours before they let me loose.”

Trusk said, “I panicked and fell down a set of stairs, stiff as a board.”

Morro shrugged. “I got along fine until I had to walk across the training ground and go through the obstacle course. I ended up dangling from one of the climbing frames, locked in place.”

Their travails made her feel like a professional dancer in comparison. “It took me a few minutes to move and a few hours to learn my limits.”

She shivered, it had been so frightfully cold without her clothing and the Tokkel’s hands had gotten more aggressive with time. It was that aggression that had cost him his life. In the case between death and honour, it was his death so she could keep her honour.

“You just went dark.”

Cavos’s words came through her thoughts.

“Yes, I suppose I did.”

Niika focussed again. “I apologise. So, gentlemen, what did you think about the most benign prey on Gaia?”

The room burst into astonished laughter at the effort it had taken to down the small creature.

She grinned. “Gaians are very focussed on survival, no matter the species. As you know since your folk developed here as well.”

The Wilders puffed up with pride, and the Stone Folk merely looked at each other ruefully.

Dinner was ready in another hour and conversation shifted from evolution to why Zaphlings had to be so elusive. It was as delicious as promised.

“So, where do the fire stones come from?”

Niika leaned against the wall and sighed as she enjoyed the sensation of a full belly.

Trusk winked as he tossed the bones into the flames. “We make them. It is something that all Stone Folk are taught when they are children.”

Nik laughed. “Like snowballs but not.”

“Definitely not. Manipulating the properties of stone does not usually go any further unless a child has a particular focus for the art of molecular alteration.”

Trusk nodded toward Cavos.

“Why are your heights so different if you are the same branch of the Nine?”

It was blurted out on a yawn.

Cavos blushed and looked down. “I am an aberration. My species was born to run through caves. This height is a distinct disadvantage.”

Trusk grimaced. “The Giants amongst us usually try to find administrative work, but no, this galumphing idiot wants to travel the stars.”

Niika laughed. “I am guessing that you have been around each other for a while.”

Cavos sighed, “He’s my cousin.”

Nik yawned and chuckled. “Cousins. Can’t stand them and can’t enjoy life without them.”

Trusk chortled and glared, “Define enjoy.”

“They keep life interesting and help you find your way into trouble.”

Trusk lifted his water cup. “Enjoy it is.”

Cavos covered his eyes and shook his head with a grin on his face.

Nik could tell that there were dozens of stories behind that gesture, and she looked forward to hearing a few.

She slumped into her bedroll and yawned again. “Are you sure that you are all all right with my seeking medical intervention on this matter?”

Murmurs of agreement rang around the room, and she slipped into exhausted sleep with the feel of a hand stroking her forehead.