Page 207 of Commander’s Mate

Someone had forgotten to buy milk.

Someone was late.

Normal.

I pressed both hands around the cup.

Scarlet noticed.

“You okay?”

“No.”

“Same.”

Nora looked across the plaza.

“I keep thinking how easy it would be to stay.”

No one answered.

Because we had all thought it.

Governor Guryon’s government had offered temporary asylum.

Not forever.

But enough.

Housing.

Medical care.

Work-placement services once we were cleared.

Language support.

Legal identity documents.

A real planet beneath our feet.

A city where alarms did not mean incoming fire.

A place where I could probably learn to deliver whatever Halor used instead of mail.

Safe.

The word had become seductive.

Zoe stared into her cup.

“I could stay here.”

Scarlet looked at her.

“You want to?”

“I don’t know.”