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“I did not think you would be so agreeable to joining me.”

S’rin’s voice was bemused.

They had made it through the pod in silence, and when they reached the Balance segment of the ship, he had begun to speak.

“Why not? I can see you, and I find you wonderful to look at on both planes. I cannot say that about many men of my acquaintance.”

“You burn brightly as well. I find your urge to run into danger in complete harmony with your compulsion to help those around you. It is an odd balance, but a balance nonetheless.”

Vida laughed. “And balance is your primary point of attraction?”

“Each race has their own points of interest. Balance just happens to be ours.”

“What happened with you and Lerinian?”

“He wanted to help you with your search. I could not allow him to blend his energies with yours. It would be an intimacy that would bind you whether you knew it or not.”

“Ah, and you are willing to bind yourself to me?”

“In a heartbeat. You are the brightest star I have ever seen, and you simply walked into my lab by chance. That has to be the design of the stars.”

She cleared her throat and fought her blush. “Where will we run our first test?”

They had crossed the Balance spaces and were walking along the outer edge of the ship. He pointed to a platform that was raised and separated from the walkway by a small metal barrier.

He opened a gate with a small catch and closed it behind them. “I believe that this will work if you stand in front of me and I place my arms around you.”

“I can see why you thought Lerinian and I would get too close. It is a rather intimate position without adding in the mental connection.”

She knew she was babbling but staring out into space was making her a little dizzy. She swayed and his arms came around her, offering her support and an anchor to the world where gravity still held sway.

“Open your senses and look at the world beneath you and the endless space stretching in front of you. I will keep you safe.”

He held her tight and breathed slowly until her breathing matched his.

Vida leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes, letting her vision soar. She could see traces flying from the planet to the mother ship, but beyond the mother ship, there was nothing.

“There isn’t anything.”

Depression gripped her.

“We are going around Gaia every few hours. Keep looking and you will see something. I will keep you supported. You need not fear.”

She could feel his energy wrapping around her, and the balance of hot and cold, calm and passion, almost made her dizzy. It also made her feel more powerful, and she extended her vision far beyond her normal range.

He was right, the world was turning under them or they were spinning over it. Either way, the five-and-a-half-year-old traces left by the Tokkel soon became visible. She could follow their paths from space to the ground.

Anticipation burned in her as she caught a trail leaving the planet and entering space. It broke up, and she howled, the connection broken.

S’rin stroked her hair and murmured in her ear. “We will find the path again. We just need a different vantage point.”

She was sobbing at having come so close and having it taken away from her the moment that the ship left the atmosphere. “Why can’t I see them?”

He stroked her hair again and smoothed it away from her face. “Because you aren’t looking in the right spot. We will work this out. I have a few ideas as to how to find them. Will you work with me?”

She swallowed and looked into his strange glowing eyes. “I will.”

“Will you have dinner with me?”

Vida smiled. “I will.”

Dinner with a member of the Balance was apparently not something that most women did. The servers fell over themselves to bring the food out and they never had the same one two times in a row.

Vida leaned toward S’rin. “I think this is a little odd.”

“We normally eat our meals in the Balance section of the ship, and courtship is done in the same manner. We separate the women from their communities to see if they can accept our ways.”

“You didn’t think that it was necessary with me?”

She laughed and sipped at the strange cool-hot wine that had been served with dinner.

“You are one of the most accepting women I have ever met and the most determined to have your own way at the same time. The balance is incredible.”

“What will you think if I solve my problem by finding my parents and I have to surrender my quest?”

She could hear the smile in his voice.

“You will find another quest to drive you. You cannot remain still.”

Vida cocked her head. “You actually are getting satisfaction from that thought.”

“Yes, I am. You have a difference from the women more often chosen by our community, and yet, you fit in perfectly.”

“Do I?”

S’rin took her hand. “Your aura calms when you enter the Balance area. Your mind clears and you smile a little. You already want to be there. With us, with me.”

Vida sighed and placed her hand over his. “I do. I fight every day to keep myself calm, to keep my sight clear. In that one place, it comes to me effortlessly. I haven’t felt anything like that since before the Tokkel attacks.”

“You can feel that every day if you agree to be mine for life.”

She blinked. “Just like that?”

“There is surety in my mind, just as there is in yours.”

He kept his hand on hers.

“How is it done?”

“We go to the gardens and exchange blood for blood. We can return to your quarters for the night and make the announcement tomorrow, but we will have to bond on the same day that we mate for the first time.”

She blinked and pulled her hands back. “Too fast. Ask me again tomorrow. I am still getting over having my bones overhauled.”

He reclaimed one hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “I will accept that and I will ask you again tomorrow.”

Ziggy escorted her to the Balance section the following morning and left her alone with S’rin.

He ran a detailed exam on her with the scanner that Meevin had brought in. Her transformation was still underway, but she was getting stronger.

Once the exam was over, she found a chair and pulled it over. She stood on it, flipped the hood of his robes back and kissed him, just to try it on for size.

His arms snapped around her and held her tight to him until he was ready to release her.

When she had finished her exploration and her head was spinning with energy that wasn’t all hers, she lifted her lips from his. He slowly opened his embrace and she braced herself on his shoulders as she stepped to the floor.

“That is going to be hard on your neck, S’rin.”

She smiled. He was a foot and a half taller than she was. It was going to be an adjustment for him.

“I believe that the mating ceremony will let you meet me halfway.”

It took her a moment to absorb what he meant. “You are kidding.”

“No. Most Balance brides gain height as a side effect of the bonding process.”

She blinked. “I just got clothing that fits me. I don’t know that I will be amenable to throwing that all away.”

He stared at her in astonishment. “You would throw away a proper match because of clothing?”

Vida looked at him with narrow eyes. “Do you know how hard it has been for me to keep myself fed and clothed over the last six years? Clothing that is new and that fits is definitely a consideration.”

He sighed. “I will set you up with an account so that you can replace the clothing as needed. Now, would you like to hear my idea on how to see your family?”

She blinked. “Fine, but we are going to revisit the clothing thing. I don’t take. I earn my own keep.”

He grinned and flipped his hood up. “I expected nothing less. Now, come with me. We are heading to the projector.”

He explained his theory as they walked through the Balance section until they reached a theatre.

He led her to the centre of a huge room where a cushion was waiting on the floor. “Sit on the cushion and get comfortable. We are going to be there a while.”

She followed his direction and sat with her legs loosely crossed. He sat behind her and once again wrapped around her. He poured energy into her until her skin was tingling.

“Now, think of your parents and hold their image in your mind.”

Vida pulled her memory of her parents’ energy patterns in toward her and held them tight.

“Good. Now, extend your mind toward them, keeping your mind focussed.”

“Should I close my eyes?”

“Not yet.”

He made a small gesture and the theatre above them filled with stars.

“Vida, keep your eyes open and look through those stars. Try to see what they face when they look up through the night sky.”

She shivered and followed his low instructions, trying to fasten more firmly to her parents, hundreds of worlds away. Her parents were blind but they had a feeling for space that she hoped would kick in.

Vida actually felt a flicker on the other end. “I have a connection!”

“Excellent. Hold it and remain calm. Find an image of the night sky through their eyes. Find it and hold it.”

She looked through her father’s eyes and saw the signature of a red star, a blue planet with orbital rings, and a series of moons. Vida relayed them all to S’rin, and he relayed them to the man running the projector.

“Now, close your eyes and look. Tell us what does and doesn’t match.”

He kept her power level high, but she could feel her father fading. She sealed the memory in her mind and said, “I have to let him go. He is tired.”

“Fair enough. Look and tell us what you see.”

She looked through closed eyes and shook her head. “Not that one. The rings are whiter.”

“More moons.”

“Redder sun.”

The feeling on her face needed more energy.

Nineteen different combinations were found, and finally, she opened her eyes and senses. “That is it. That is the one.”

S’rin helped her to her feet, and she was able to line herself up until she had the same view that her father did. “That moon shouldn’t be there. I can’t see it through my father’s vision.”

S’rin smiled and expanded the view of the moon. It was green, lush and heavily armed with bases and turrets visible from space. “Your parents are on this moon. That is why you couldn’t see it. They are standing on it.”

She smiled and took a few steps before she collapsed.

Dr. Meevin shook her head, looming over Vida with a curious look. “You unmated morons. I am shocked how you Gaians fight the bonding. You should have locked in the moment you met.”

Vida sat up and groaned. “What the hell?”

S’rin was next to her in an instant. “You fainted. Your system was in shock.”

Meevin flicked her hand at him. “If you were accurate when you said she had sent her mind across the stars, I have no doubt that she was in shock. She was lucky that her brain wasn’t scrambled.”

“She is sturdier than that, and I was backing her up.”

“And yet, you aren’t linked, so it was not a perfect seal. Idiots.”

Vida rubbed her head and swung her legs off the medical bed. “You have an excellent grasp of the Gaian language, Doctor.”

“It has been growing by leaps and bounds since your compatriots have begun arriving. No one gets into odd medical scrapes like a Gaian.”

“We have a talent for it.”

Meevin laughed. “That is what you all say. Now, you are fine, you need to eat and get some sugar in you. Your system is out of balance, oddly enough.”

“I will see that she gets what she needs, Doctor.”

S’rin helped her off the table and held her against him for a moment.

“See that you do. I have never seen a Gaian with mating weakness before, but I suppose there is a first time for everything.”

Vida made a face and said, “Thank you, Dr. Meevin.”

S’rin walked out with his arm around her, hauling her along.

“We are going to lunch?”

He made an odd sound. “No, we are going to the mating gardens. Then, we are going to lunch.”

“What?”

“In a woman of the Nine, your little fainting spell is considered a sign that a true mate has been found. The bonding is carried out immediately before your body goes into full revolt.”

“But I am not a lady of the Nine, so what is going on?”

“We don’t know, but if a bonding can solve it, we will not wait. Will you bond with me?”

She snorted. “Yes, S’rin. I will.”

Over lunch, Vida tried to recall the details, but all she knew was that he had bitten her, she had sliced him and their mingled blood was placed into a stone that registered their union.

There had been some vows about sharing everything, but all she remembered was the glow of his soul as he looked at her with his entire being. It had been like being bathed in adoration.

She was hungry enough to devour her meal, but she didn’t remember it either. They were eating in the Balance section of the ship and the meals were carefully prepared and designed to please the eye. All she saw was S’rin.

After the meal, he took her to his quarters and they rivaled Ziggy’s for space. He disrobed and removed the black and white suit that he wore underneath. His skin had the same swirling light all over.

Vida shucked her clothes off and folded them neatly before turning to S’rin and taking his hand. He led her into the bedroom and kept the lights off.

Together, they struck a balance, and when it was over, they did it again.

Epilogue

She slapped dust off her clothing and headed for the gates. Two guards tried to bar her way, but a short glare from her and they backed off.

She entered the building and waited while the eager receptionist ran to get the ambassador.

Daphne was at his side, and she smiled warily. “Hello.”

She nodded curtly and turned to the ambassador. “Ambassador Apolan, I am Ianka Senior and I believe my sister needs to discuss something with me. I need to get to the mother ship.”