Rissa was indeed still asleep when they landed near the Traa portal. Serenity was met by the limo service Janice had arranged and driven to the Traa portal.

The car couldn’t get close enough for Serenity to get a good read on the location data from the portal. It was fortunate there was no perimeter set up around the site; Serenity had half-expected that he’d have to talk his way in. He knew he probably could, but he was happy to not have to.

He hopped out and walked closer, then tried again. He was about twenty feet from the portal when the signal was finally clear enough. That was closer than he’d been to the Sterath portal when he pulled its coordinates; Serenity wondered if the portals were different or if it was the difference in location. He hadn’t tested how far he could sense the coordinates on the rockfin portal, after all; he’d always been right next to it.

On the way back to the airport, Serenity reached out to Aide.

Aide? Can you get the rest of the portal locations from that?

Potential minimum of three coordinates collected.

Working…

Coordinate map created. Error range exceeds threshold: approximate error radius per coordinate: 300-500 miles. Maximum estimated error distance: 850 miles. Additional map coordinates required to reduce error radius.

Serenity winced at the possible error distance. It was better than nothing, but in terms of actually finding portals, it was nearly useless. All it would really do is give a guess as to whether or not something might be in the area. He made sure to forward it before he forgot.

A quick glance at the map Aide put together told him that there were few parts of the world that weren’t ocean that couldn’t have a portal nearby. A few islands and much of Antarctica weren’t included, but even a few island chains had one. There was one that had to be on one of the Hawaiian islands … at least, he thought it had to be. There wasn’t that much else nearby. Strangely, there was also exactly one that had to be on Antarctica.

Serenity was still examining Aide’s projection of the globe when he arrived back at the airport and found that Rissa was awake again. “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine? I just feel like I had a good nap.” Rissa hugged Serenity. She didn’t say anything, but Serenity saw a notice appear that had to be because she’d shared it.

Integration Complete

Bloodline: Child of Time (Unbound) unlocked for Time Dragon

Alternate Bloodline options available:

Fateless

Unbound in Time

Wielder of Fate

Child of Time (Unbound) Selected

Initial Bloodline Ability: Unbind Fate

Unbind Fate

Fate does not rule a Unbound Child of Time. An Unbound can slip between the lines others have laid out and even break them.

Additional Root present: SpaceTime (Unbound)

Links to current SpaceTime locations are weakened. Teleportation through SpaceTime is reduced in cost.

That all looked good; even the additional Root was mostly good, though it did mean that attacks using SpaceTime would affect Rissa more. Serenity was sure it was because he’d used SpaceTime instead of Time, but it was very difficult to separate out a combined Affinity.

It was interesting that it listed Unbind Fate as the initial bloodline ability; that meant there might be more in the future.

Serenity’s attention drifted to the word “unlocked”. “You were right, Rissa. It didn’t give you anything you didn’t already have, it simply made you able to use it.”

Rissa’s grin was broad. “I thought that was what it meant. Good to hear!”

Baxter’s voice came over the intercom. “Please take your seats.”

Serenity Settlement had grown in the weeks Serenity was away. The first thing he noticed was the new parking area; instead of a spot where Doyle happened to park, there was an entire gravel lot clearly set aside for parking. It was quite a bit farther from the Settlement’s center than before, as well; probably the equivalent of two or three blocks. The buildings were still all up in the trees, but the walkways were larger and most of them had railings. There was also a wide ramp leading up into the trees instead of a rope ladder at the edge of the parking area.

Serenity led Rissa into the trees. He was heading for the dining area when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey, who are you?”

As Serenity spun around to see a woman he didn’t recognize, she continued. “How did you get past the boundary? It usually keeps people out unless we escort them in.”

Serenity smiled, trying to be friendly. “I’m Serenity, and this is Rissa; the boundary’s not going to keep me out. Who’re you?”

“Serenity? Like the town?” She seemed more puzzled than awed; Serenity was just as happy about that.

Serenity nodded. “Yeah, Echo named it after me. She’s given a couple different stories for why. Do you know where she is?”

The woman nodded. “Probably in the community kitchen, she likes to eat with people instead of using her own. I’m Rhionna, by the way. You probably know my Dad; everyone calls him Doyle?”

Serenity nodded. “He’s mentioned you. I think he said you were planning to settle out here. And something about a boyfriend?”

Serenity realized he’d put his foot in his mouth when Rhionna paled and stopped, a few steps from the dining area entrance. “He knows? But he always …”

“He seemed pretty happy about it. You should talk to him.” Talking didn’t always solve things, but for family matters it was usually a good start. At least, Serenity had always found that it helped.

Serenity pushed the door open and looked in. The dining area was at least twice the size it had been the last time he was there; there was a collection of people he was pretty sure didn’t belong to the Settlement eating at several of the tables. The uniforms and ‘business casual’ attire just didn’t really fit the Settlement. They were probably from the rockfin portal. He’d head out that way with Rissa in the morning; while he’d gotten permission to take her through, he’d been told to wait until the next day.

Serenity searched the tables until he found one filled with people he recognized. He stepped through the door, letting it swing shut behind him. “Echo!”

Echo jumped in surprise. She pushed her chair away from the table and launched herself at him, grinning broadly. “Serenity!”

Serenity caught Echo in a hug, then followed her back to the table she’d been sitting at. “Good to see you too. How are things going?”

The rest of the evening was consumed by talking about the Settlement. As far as Serenity was concerned, everything sounded good, especially the part where he didn’t have to deal with it. There were a few minor things Echo asked him to adjust within the Settlement Crystal as long as he was there, mostly the way the dungeon was arranged, but she and Doyle could handle essentially everything else.

The next morning, Serenity and Rissa rose bright and early. The time difference meant that it felt like sleeping in.

Unlike Serenity Settlement, the camp outside the rockfin portal wasn’t any bigger than when Serenity left. It was a bit more settled; many of the tents were replaced with portable trailers and mobile homes. Getting through the gate was surprisingly simple; “Thomas (Serenity) Rothmer” and “Rissa Latimer” were both on the list, and the gate guard didn’t seem surprised at the differences between Serenity’s ID and his appearance.

It probably helped that they were met at the gate. “Mr. Rothmer, Miz Latimer. It’s good to meet you; I’m Sergeant Rodriguez, and I’ll be your guide while we head over to the other side. I understand that you’re testing something? Do you need any equipment from your vehicle?”

Serenity shook his head. “No, we’ve got everything. Are you good, dear?”

“Yeah. Can we get underground quickly? I’d really like to take the hat off.” Rissa was completely covered; only her face was exposed. She’d even managed to find a “sun hat” with fabric that came down on the sides and back. It was strange to see, given how cold it was; they’d already had the first snow of the winter the previous week. The snow was gone now, with the low up to the mid-forties, but it was still not exactly normal weather for sun protection.

Rissa needed it. They’d landed after dark the previous night and she’d been just fine in the Settlement, but the moment they left the Settlement’s area she felt the burning start, even in the shade of the car. It wasn’t bad as long as she wasn’t in direct sun, but she definitely wanted to be covered.

Sgt Rodriguez led the way to the cave entrance; Serenity watched, interested. He’d never actually gone in the normal cave entrance; he’d always come down from above in Sovereign form. “What are you testing? If you can say.”

Serenity wasn’t sure how to answer the question, so he hesitated. He was about to say that he couldn’t answer when Rissa did. “Solar components, with an emphasis on magical and Affinity effects between the two worlds. I’m also planning to check absolute and relative timeflow for the transfer process and if I have time do a mental analysis of the surroundings. Did any of that make sense?”

“You’re checking something about the Sun. Didn’t they already determine that the other planet’s Sun was similar?” The caves were well enough marked that Serenity wasn’t sure a guide was necessary, but it was clear Sgt Rodriguez had been through them many times. He didn’t even seem to be reading the signs as they walked.

“Physically, yes. The spectrum is similar though the exact percentages are somewhat different.” Rissa was clearly enjoying this; he’d watched her look up the public portion of the research, which had come out surprisingly quickly. It was almost like someone wanted the public to know something about another world. “There’s been no research yet on what that means for localized magic use. The assumption is that it won’t matter, but is there really any reason to assume that the proportion of hydrogen and helium in a star’s makeup won’t affect local magic? The variance indicates that the rockfin’s sun is younger than ours, even though the planet doesn’t look visually different.”

Maybe Rissa really wanted to go into magical research instead of joining his combat team? Serenity knew he wouldn’t be happy long-term as a researcher, though a decade or two at a time was enjoyable, especially if he had breaks for more active activities. Perhaps they should settle down once their child was born?

Only they couldn’t, or at least he couldn’t. There was too much to do to prepare Earth for what was to come, starting with finding out exactly why it was destroyed the first time. Not that he could do anything about that until after the invasions were dealt with.

Rissa and Sgt Rodriguez talked the entire way through the caves, leaving Serenity to ponder his future. When they finally reached the portal itself, Serenity was surprised at both how much and how little the cave had changed. All of the rubble had been cleaned up and it was clear that the wall and ceiling were reinforced in a few places, but other than that the area was similar. The gun emplacements were even in the same locations.

“Has there been a rockfin through here?” Serenity looked around the room. He didn’t see any sign of combat damage, but it was possible he was just missing it.

Sgt Rodriguez shook his head. “They’ve seen a couple at the camp on the other side, but none have even chosen to approach it.”

“There’s a camp on the other side now?” Serenity wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Something to protect the equipment and serve as an early warning only made sense.

“Yeah. Okay, you ready? When you go through, treat it just like walking through a door but try not to trip. The gravity is a little higher, but you won’t really notice it at first. It’s just a bit tiring.” Sgt Rodriguez looked at both of them until they both nodded. “Okay, follow me.”

The gravity was indeed just a touch higher than Earth’s. Serenity was surprised he hadn’t noticed the higher gravity when he went through the first time; it really wasn’t a big difference, but it was still there. He turned to look at Rissa, who had notably not put the sun hat back on. “You’re good?”

Rissa nodded. “Yeah. Now it’s time for the rest of the tests.”

Serenity wasn’t sure if he was happy or annoyed that Rissa’s sun issue was limited to Earth. The first thing it meant was that he needed to have a conversation with Gaia.