Pan snuck up behind Sotir and put her hands over his eyes. “Guess who’s been waiting in your quarters all this time.”

“Let me think…” Sotir said. “Is it a tree spirit?”

“Nope, not even close.” Pan kept her hands over his eyes, but her arms already started to grow tired. Still, she’d started the game. She’d see it through.

“A sneaky stowaway, possibly a stuffed animal from Pan’s room,” Sotir guessed.

Pan smiled. “Wrong again.”

Sotir lifted his staff and placed it upon the counter. He turned slightly. “Of course, my beautiful and loving wife.”

Pan let her hands fall from his eyes as he faced her.

Pan scowled. “Well, I don’t think that’s right either.”

“I was thinking in the future tense.” Sotir wrapped his arms around Pan.

She, however, did not return the embrace. She stood in his arms, with her hands by her sides. A bit unfair, considering she had enticed him.

What was less fair was Aria’s fate.

“What is it?”

Pan slid out of Sotir’s grasp. “I’m just thinking about Aria. She…has a problem, and I don’t know how to help.” She headed away. Her choices consisted of their small bedroom, bathroom, or the couch.

“I think I know what you mean,” Sotir called. “It’ll be okay.”

Pan whirled. “How would you know what I mean?” She set narrowed eyes on Sotir.

He left his staff upon the counter and strolled after Pan. “Gavain told me. He asked me to take a cursory look into the future for him.”

Pan felt her eyes widen. She crossed the gap between she and Sotir and stood face to face with him. “What did you see?”

“I just took a vague glance ahead, long term so that I wouldn’t see the exact problem. Trying to preserve her privacy,” Sotir said.

Pan nodded. “And?”

“I saw Gavain and Aria with three, sometimes four kids. There were even a couple of scenarios where they had five or six.” Sotir reached for Pan again.

She didn’t stop him, but she continued to stare. “So, that’s it? Gavain and Aria will have all the kids they want? You make it sound so simple.”

Pan bit her lower lip as Sotir’s fingers met her shoulders.

Sotir smiled, gentle and assured. “It is that simple. It might be a rocky start, but they’ll end up where they want. There aren’t a lot of problems that our medicine can’t solve. At least, in this facet of life. And, you know that Aria won’t have to pay for any of it because she’s arcane.”

Pan narrowed her eyes and studied his face.

His calm expression didn’t waver.

Pan nodded. “Did you tell Aria?”

Sotir shook his head and gave a short laugh. “Oh no. That would be a big mistake. That’s up to Gavain, if he wants to come clean.”

Pan looked askance. “Someone has to tell Aria. She has to know. You know, and I wasn’t supposed to let you in on this secret. But, you found out anyway.”

“I did, and if you want to be the one to tell Aria, you should reconsider. Gavain will need to do it if he doesn’t want to make things worse first.”

Pan looked back at Sotir. “I’ll wait, but it’s killing me. How long does Aria have to wait?”

“I can’t say. I don’t know how or when. The only information I have about timing is that it might take a bit longer still.” Sotir lowered his gaze to the floor.

Pan sighed. “I try to keep her distracted. I’ve scoured the ship for music she hasn’t heard, games she hasn’t played, and places she hasn’t been. But, the ship is only so big. I’m running out of things to try. What can I do?” Pan watched Sotir for an answer.

He didn’t look at her, just shook his head. “I don’t know. You’ll have to find the answer to that one.”

Aria worked on food. She wanted to let Gavain help, but he was the one with actual work. She should cook.

Gavain sat quietly at the table and sorted through what they knew of the Iruedians. He was convinced that Scaldigir would need a long-term ambassador to the Iruedians, someone who could live on Scaldigir, nearby by the wormhole’s exit, once the Iruedians moved it once again.

He wanted that job. He wanted to be that ambassador. To be the one who dealt with the Iruedians would be a privilege as well as a pleasure. Gavain and Aria both agreed that the Iruedians were some of the warmest species they’d met, with the exception of the friendly Liti. He also wanted to be near her, and he wanted Scaldigir close. His perfect job presented itself, and Gavain pounced on the opportunity.

Thanks to the Iruedians, they could have their ideal family.

Aria couldn’t see that it mattered. Although the doctors said they could find nothing wrong with her, it made her situation no better. She had no steps to take. No course of action that could fix things.

As Aria stirred the pot, she looked down. Her own aura was grey, only a little ice blue remained. Aria sighed.

She glanced at Gavain. His aura was normal, purple and yellow. He wore a touch of grey and a touch of thoughtful blue as he thumbed through his notes on the Iruedians, as he studied the individual cultures that made up the whole.

Gavain looked up and then back down. He must have caught Aria staring because he looked up once again. “Dinner ready?”

Aria shook her head. “Ten more minutes.”

“Oh.” Gavain nodded. “I could use more information about the southern hemisphere, but as I understand it, they don’t know much themselves. I’ve got a lot on Tagtrum and Groaza. Ponk is a bit complex, kind of a scattered group all to itself. I guess the people we have the most exposure to are the Lurriens.”

Aria listened to him speak, but in the back of her mind, she wondered about what Gavain might have said to Sotir. She let the question fester for days. Now, it seemed to have gone rotten.

“Gavain?”

His eyes darted to hers. “Yes?”

“Did you…” Aria set her gaze on the floor. “Did you tell Sotir about our problem?”

Gavain froze. He didn’t say a word, but Aria could see the panic roll through his aura in shades of orange. She didn’t need him to a say word.

Aria huffed and turned back to the pot. She stirred it with vigor.

“I’m sorry. I was getting worried…”

“Thinking about replacing me before it was too late?” Aria asked over her shoulder.

“No. I just wanted to know if we’d end up okay.” Gavain took a long breath. “And, we will. Sotir checked our long-term future, and he saw that in every instance, we had at least four children – all of them ours. They all had your hair.”

Aria paused. She edged the heat down as she prepared to finish the cooking.

“He never looked anywhere near the present. So, he doesn’t know the personal stuff. We did the best we could to make it something you could be okay with,” Gavain said. “Aria?”

She nodded but didn’t turn around. Red skittered through her aura but so did small shimmers of soft yellow. For once, the colors gave Aria a clue to her own complicated feelings. Anger and hope. Aria could not settle on one.

“Aria?”

“It’s fine. Just don’t have him look again.”

The new colors continued to move through her aura, though grey still dominated.