Chapter 5

He dressed and caught a cab back to the chamber, nerves in his throat. Had a decision actually been made, or had they just been yelling at each other the entire time? The chambers were exceptionally quiet as he walked back in. All of the councilors were staring at him, and someone had brought the hologram in and it was shimmering in the middle of the council floor.

It distracted him for a moment. Whoever she was, she was lovely and utterly inhuman. She was silvery, almost metallic and her eyes were pitch black, no sclera, no pupil, just solid black. She also had thin swirled tattoos over the exposed skin of her arms. But what had really drawn him in was the timbre of her voice, it was low and smooth, and it made something protective rise in him. He shook it off and looked up at the Speaker and bowed.

"I am prepared to hear the decision of the council." He said, tearing his eyes away from the shimmering figure.

The speaker looked at him, half a frown on his face. "The council agrees to your plan, you will have an escort of two people of your choosing, and you will leave in a week."

"Thank you, speaker." Ishaan bowed again and left the chamber, cabbing back to Damien's and crawling back into bed.

"Did you win?" Damien murmured to him, cuddling back into his neck.

Ishaan wrapped the other man in his arms and sighed. "I won; do you want to see some aliens with me?"

"Not gonna let you go alone." Damien lifted his head and looked at him with bleary, sleepy eyes. "Who else is coming?"

"You, me, Lauren." Ishaan tried to relax into the bed but there was excitement running through him. "We've got a week to prep and then we go."

They fell asleep after that, waking late in the morning to a knock at the door. They both got dressed and Damien went to see who was at the door, coming back with the hologram in his hands. It had curiously shrunk; Damien was able to hold it in his cupped hands. Damien pressed the hologram into Ishaan's hands and stepped back.

"Brought you your girlfriend." Damien grinned and dodged when Ishaan swung at him playfully. "Should I leave you two alone?"

"Go get us breakfast." Ishaan swung at him again, laughing as the man dodged and left. He turned his eyes back to the silvery figure in his hands. "We're coming to see you. Come out of wherever you are, and I'll find you."

The hologram wavered and collapsed into a silver-gold ball and shot out of his hands and through the wall. He tried to catch it, to hold it, but it was fast enough that it left a glowing trail in the air as it vanished.

When Damien came back, he gave Ishaan an incredulous look over the bag in his hands. "You lost your girlfriend."

"I think I sent her a message." He pointed to the wall and shrugged. "It became a little ball and whizzed off that way."

"Well, at least they won't be surprised we're coming I guess." Damien looked at the way that Ishaan's finger was pointing and just set the bag on the table. "Come eat, then we'll go see Lauren and invite her on this crazy escapade."

"You know she's gonna want to go, the scientist in her won't let her stay here if there's the chance of alien botany." Ishaan unwrapped his breakfast sandwich and inhaled. The smells of cheap cheese and sausage hitting his nose. "Thanks for breakfast, Damien."

"It's not fancy, but the bodega down the block does a great egg sandwich." Damien sat and unwrapped his own sandwich. "So, tell me what's got you all hot and bothered about these people?

"There's something about her, something important." Ishaan took a big bite and considered his feelings. "Besides, you know I can't just sit by and watch while the council screams at each other forever. If these people need help, I'm going to make sure that they get it."

"Bleeding heart," Damien said with a lopsided smile. "Ok then, it's a good thing I'm going with you."

"Why do you think I wanted you to come?" Ishaan finished off his sandwich and tossed the crumpled paper back into the bag. "You and Lauren will keep me grounded enough to make smart decisions while I'm surrounded with an entirely new species."

They talked for a little while longer, Damien finished his sandwich and then they went to see Lauren.

Chapter 6

The Flight was in a tizzy, and it was all Carina could do to keep them calm. The house straddled inter-dimensional space and the orb had finally come back with its message. The Soul that had sent back to her had been an attractive male, bronzy skin and dark eyes, a soothing voice that had called to her and she'd felt herself go hot at his words. 'I'll find you' he'd said, and he hadn't spoken with the voice of his people, hadn't spoken as a Soul so perhaps the people of this planet were sending someone else to meet with her? Someone to vet her sincerity.

She had to be on her guard then. Stefan had already recruited another guard for her. Someone else to stand between her and the visitors. The Head and the Heart had volunteered to be the faces of this meeting, had wanted to keep her safe and she had agreed to meet with them in their presence. It had been her face that called to this male, and it would be her that he was expecting to see.

The Arms had been monitoring the planet as they had waited, and they had a much better picture of the way that the humans of this place operated. They were a warlike people and had done terrible things to each other and to their planet, but it seemed that they had finally gotten themselves together in time to reverse the damage. The planet was ruled by one Body, but they called it the Planetary Council and it didn't seem to have the same structure that the Flight's Body did. It was all very strange to Carina, and it only became more so when the image said that they had one week to prepare for the arrival of the delegation from the planet.

That was when she decided to have the house straddle the inter-dimensional gateway. It was hard, hard to hold the gate open and keep the house stable in the turbulent flows that surrounded the gate. Finally, as they approached the last days of the waiting period, Carina brought the house fully out of the gate and into the dimension of the planet. Surely this would make it easier for the Soul to find them, to find her.

She shouldn't think that way, she only needed to think of her people and their plight. She had to choose the right words that would help this Soul know that she was no threat, and neither were her people. They were simply alone and frightened and hunted. The Flight had been a civilization once, millions strong. They had been haughty and proud in their sky houses and their magic had made them untouchable. Until the Cassoth had come with their honeyed lies and flattery and had torn the magic from their world and from the greater part of the Flight until there were only these few that had managed to gather in one of the houses as Carina stepped it through the inter-dimensional gateway and to something approaching safety.

But she couldn't think about that either. Couldn't think of the years in stasis and their return to their home which had been reduced to an arid, magicless wasteland where there was no survival for the Flight. They'd had to leave again, had to flee because there were still Cassoth hunters roaming nearby, waiting to take whatever members of the Flight they could get their hairy hands on.

They had spent decades running, hiding, mourning, and now there was safety close at hand as long as Carina said and did the right things. And she had to, had to do everything correctly because if she didn't, if the humans didn't take them in, how long would it be before they found another refuge?

"My Soul," Stefan called to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She realized she was biting at her hands in worry, and she forced herself to lower them to her sides. "It will be alright; you are very intuitive, and I am beyond certain that it will all turn out for the best."

Carina wanted to cry, wanted to plead with Stefan to see her. To see how young and afraid she was. Wanted to beg for comfort, for more than a vague impersonal touch on the arm. But she was the Soul, and all of those simple things were not for her now. She had a house of people to guard, and it was not the time to fall apart. So, she pulled herself straight, imagined the milieu of the old Soul when he was at his most serious and sailed on down the hall as though she had all the answers to the mysteries of the universe.

She could fake confidence; she was good at that.