Pandora fully sank into the comfort of the copilot seat, her eyes closed and arms stretched out. She sighed deeply with a smile on her lips. Her neck was no longer being stressed by jerking turns and spirals of the ship, pummeled by laser fire. The low hum of the engines and the blowing of the air conditioning system helped her to block out the piercing sound of lasers echoing in her memory.

Hale’s rumbling sighs and slow breaths reminded her that he was beside her, and the warmth radiating from his body was so comforting. She was surprised, when she opened her eyes, because he was farther away than he felt. He was leaning back into his chair, his arms in his lap, and a grin on his face, as he gazed out the viewport. His shoulders and hands were tension free.

Although she should have turned away, she couldn’t resist watching him smile.

Hale caught her stares from the corner of his eye, and he turned to her, his semi-smile still lingering, his entrancing blue eyes meeting her own.

Her lower lip fell slightly, and her fingers numbed because she was stunned by the depth of his gaze. She allowed herself to remain there.

And for too long. Pandora struggled to bite back her smile and to keep herself from blushing. Hale’s blue eyes were making that nearly impossible.

She turned her head to face the viewport instead of him. She knew what his look meant, what it revealed about what he wanted. And he wasn’t being subtle.

Her blush deepened, and she turned further to the side to hide it. She couldn’t become distracted by him and forget, even for a moment, why she was here. Elani was depending on her. Her family was depending on her. But that didn’t stop her from wishing she could let herself be distracted by Hale. Well, more than she was already.

She still looked away from him. But she could almost feel him staring at her, waiting for her to turn back her attention to him.

For a while, she resisted her curiosity, a wondering if he were actually looking at her, or if she were only wishing he were. She decided she wanted to find out, and she stole a momentary glimpse of him and then returned to her original position.

Hale’s face was tilted away from her, when she glanced over, as if he had just turned away himself. She managed to catch the edge of a wider smile she hadn’t seen him make before.

A euphoric warmth blossomed within her. It was the first real smile she saw on Hale’s face, a smile brighter than she imagined it would be.

He exhaled a long sigh. “Pandora...”

Slowly, she turned to him.

He lowered his gaze to the floor. “Do you feel alright? Things got a little violent back there. My turns weren’t exactly... gentle. And—”

He closed his mouth, likely waiting for a response.

But she was afraid that any words she would speak would come out incoherently. That would shatter this moment when he was reaching out to her.

“And, I know you aren’t used to that. I wasn’t expecting that to happen. I would have warned you,” he continued to ramble.

She laughed quietly, and he simultaneously stopped talking. He looked into her eyes again with a nearly wounded expression.

Experiencing a little guilt, she rushed her reply. “Oh, I’m fine.”

He nodded without another word and turned to the viewport. He no longer smiled. But he wasn’t frowning.

“And you?” She felt as if she had to ask.

“I’m thankful to survive. We barely made it to hyperspace.”

“Is your ship badly damaged?” Pandora questioned.

“I will probably have to do some minor repairs when we land. And get some fuel.”

“Garra’s pretty isolated. I’m not sure if there are any civilizations there. Not anymore at least.”

“Oh, I really wouldn’t know,” he muttered, with a bitter edge. He sighed and returned to staring out the viewport.

His tone and composure suddenly darkened at the mention of Garra. Although he had agreed to help Pandora on her quest, she knew he held a grudge over the fact that he had no idea what he was getting himself into. And that was her fault. So far, she had given herself excuses on why she didn’t need to tell him. The main one was he had his fair share of secrets he refused to share.

But she wasn’t sure that mattered anymore. He deserved to know, regardless of the secrets he kept. He was risking his own life for her.

“I’ve never been to Garra either.” She figured that was a good start to lead to what she really wanted to say.

Hale looked over to her for a brief moment and then looked away. “And?”

“I’ve only read about it, but, from my research, it seems unlikely that there are places to fuel up. The planet is nearly uninhabitable from a frost storm that overcame it hundreds of years ago.”

Hale appeared less than uninterested. “Eventually, my ship’s going to need fuel.”

Pandora hung her head. His coldness left her spirit abashed. “Oh.”

Hale stood to his feet and stepped over to the row of compartments along the wall. He drew a compartment open for a drink. He rubbed his eyebrows before taking a sip.

There was a loneliness in his eyes he attempted to conceal with indifference. She couldn’t let his attitude stop her from revealing the truth. Not only for his sake.

“Hale...”

He pulled the glass bottle away from his lips. “What? You want some?”

She shook her head. “No, of course not.”

“You sure?”

“Maybe.” She shifted back into her seat and dropped her chin into one of her palms.

Hale returned with two bottles in his hand and sat down. He offered one to her.

“Thanks,” she said.

When she went to unscrew the cap off the bottle, she found it already loosened. She gave a small smile his way, and she hesitantly took the first sip. The drink was more bitter than she anticipated, but it was refreshing, while at the same time having a dulling effect on her senses.

“You don’t have to drink it,” he commented.

Pandora took a few sips. “I wouldn’t drink it if I didn’t like it.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“What?” Pandora asked,

“It’s nothing. I just didn’t expect that.”

With a shrug, she took another sip. She noticed Hale watching her from the corner of his eye as she drank. But his eyes would dart to the viewport each time she looked at him. His puzzled expression made her want to laugh, until she reminded herself that she couldn’t get distracted. She had yet to reveal the secrets he needed to know.

“Is there something you want to say?” Hale asked. “You seem nervous.”

She set aside the drink and cleared her throat. “... um sort of... well... yes.”

His expression pushed her to continue. “Hale, you deserve to know more than what I’ve told you. You’re the first person who has agreed to help me—”

He sighed. “Please don’t read into it too much.”

“I’m not.” She faced his electric blue eyes. “I think that you should know why I’m risking our lives. Don’t you?”

“I won’t argue with that.”

This was her opportunity to explain herself, everything. But she was afraid, afraid that he wouldn’t understand her and that she wouldn’t be able to communicate her reasoning to him. She had to risk that though. Hale had already died because of her and nearly did again... because of her.

“My home, Elani, is dying. I have felt it for a long time. And I’ve spent too long waiting for my father and his advisors to believe me. No one else seems to notice or even care. Maybe it’s my gift, and that’s why I can feel my planet dying. I don’t know.”

Hale’s expression remained unchanged. “It’s a natural occurrence. Everything eventually goes away. Planets die too.”

“That may be. But I think I have found a way to save Elani.”

He squinted his eyes in doubt.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but I believe there is a way I could fix everything,” she stated.

“And that would be?”

Pandora exhaled. She would have to carefully but directly explain this. “There is an Elani myth that has been around for thousands of years. According to this myth, there was an Elani gifted with complete understanding by our planet. This person spent her entire life writing a book which is said to contain anything you want to know about the Elani people and all of the possible variations of their powers.”

“Whatever happened to them and the book?” Hale questioned.

“My people call it the Ancient Book. From what I’ve read, she left it hidden on a planet called Garra. The absolute knowledge contained in the book was dangerous because the people became obsessed with gaining more power. It destroyed countless kingdoms. She decided to leave Elani with her book forever.

Hale scoffed, no longer withholding his skepticism. “Pandora, you can’t be serious.”

“I must find that book. It’s supposed to be on Garra, and it’s the only way to save Elani.”

“Supposed to be doesn’t mean it is. And your grand plan is based on a story! Don’t you think if the Ancient Book existed someone would have found it long ago?” Hale snapped.

“The people who have gone looking for it never came back and were never heard from again.”

Hale groaned in annoyance. “What makes you think that you would be successful then?”

“Everyone that I love is unknowingly counting on me. My planet is counting on me,” Pandora replied firmly.

“You talk about Elani as if it's a person,” he commented.

“It’s not a person. But it’s more than a planet. You would have to live there to understand.”

She made no more effort to clarify why she spoke of her world in that way. It would be very odd to anyone who was an outsider. Hale was a special case. He was Elani, but he had no memory of his home. So it was as if he were an outsider.

“This is insane. I hope you realize that,” he grumbled.

Pandora gave a mournful sigh. Though she had done her best to explain her situation, he still thought she was an idiot most likely. His eyes and reaction seemed to say that he did.

“Hey.” He tapped her on the shoulder.

She found his eyes waiting for her. “What?”

He scratched the back of his neck before responding. “I don’t mean you. But I don’t think this is a good idea. However, I’m not going to stop you.”

“Oh... good.”

He offered a grin before looking away.

A grin so disarming that she let go of the tension she felt between them. And she could breathe.

Though she knew he thought her plan was terrible, he had let her know that that didn’t matter and wasn’t going to change his mind about helping her.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you told me about your planet and the book. I don’t understand it, but... we don’t think the same. Clearly”

A wide smile appeared on her face. “I thought it was important to tell you. Elani’s your home too, Hale.”

“Eh, maybe. I have no memories of it.”

“That’s too bad really. But where do you consider your home then?”

It was a question she asked out of pure curiosity. But his silence made her wonder if she had overstepped his boundaries.

* * * *

Zaya found herself kicking her legs back and forth monotonously. Her hands were interlocked on her lap as she randomly tapped her thumbs, and her breaths came out as short pulses. She craned her head to the side to check the map for the one hundredth time.

Zaya hissed. She still had nearly an hour left of traveling through hyperspace.

An hour wasn’t very long. But she wanted to capture Hale and get this job over with as soon as she could. She could feel her anxiety winding inside her mind. And she was furious to such an extent that her anger was consuming her ability to focus. She could only focus on wanting to destroy Hale, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if she wanted to obliterate him and his ship all at once. But that wasn’t what the job called for.

He was a better pilot than she and her crew combined. Zaya accepted that. She had watched Hale make a brilliant escape with his raw talent and perhaps a little luck. And she could do nothing more than be amazed.

That and hit him with a tracking beacon.

She was thankful that she had thought of sending out a tracker before it was too late. Because of that decision, she (and her crew, of course) had a second chance to destroy Hale... wait... capture him.

She covered her face with her hands and exhaled forcefully. She hoped she could get that right when the moment came.

If only she could figure out what was right. Half of her wanted to kill him, obviously. And the other half was beginning to wonder if she should let him go.

On very rare occasions, when she thought of Hale, she thought of the way he was when he was younger, prior to the betrayals, when she used to trust him. His eyes, his smile—

Zaya came to a screeching halt, prohibiting herself to imagine further. Then she forced herself to remember every reason she had to despise him. And there were countless reasons. She especially loathed how easy to was to forget those reasons sometimes, just because he was absolutely gorgeous.

Even Zaya couldn’t deny it.

But she had grown to hate the very features that made him attractive, as his behavior became more and more revolting, especially since he wasted himself away on women like Lorelei. When she thought of what he had turned into, she saw only her reasons to despise him.

A crackle sounded from the speakers. “Zaya?”

She welcomed the distraction to keep her from thinking anymore about Hale and her hatred. “I’m here.”

“We were wondering if you had a plan in mind for when we leave hyperspace,” one of her crew members said.

“Oh.” Zaya paused to ask herself that very question. She had been too consumed with beating Hale that she forgot to think about how she would go about beating him. She was quite sure she didn’t need one and that she could rely on pure instinct. But her team clearly wanted an official plan.

“Hello?”

“Oh sorry,” Zaya apologized. “I do have a plan, but it’s subject to change.”

“And that would be?”

“Hale’s shields will likely be recharged by the time we leave hyperspace. But we still have the upper hand because he doesn’t know we’re following him. Once we enter real space, divert all your efforts to firing on him. We can’t let him escape. I only had one tracker. So, we must damage his ship until he has no choice but surrender.”

“Copy that, Zaya.”

* * * *

My home?

Hale could feel his heavy heartbeat echoing through his chest.

The memory of home— a place to feel safe, secure, and... loved— was distant, almost foreign, to him. He could barely remember the last time he felt safe. He and his financial status had never been secure. The feeling of being loved by someone truly was even more agonizingly distant.

The mention of home flooded his mind with the past, with thoughts of everything he had lost including who he used to be, and how every potential good thing he could have, he pushed away.

He accepted how his life was and the choices he made and their consequences. He hadn’t decided whether he wanted to take anything back or not. But that didn’t stop regret from seeping into his mind during moments of weakness.

And feeling weakness within himself was intolerable. Unacceptable.

This was not a moment for weakness.

Especially around Pandora.

Coupling even a little weakness with his constant, though despicable, lusting was all too risky, because it would make him too desperate for her.

And he suspected that Pandora would then sympathize with him and try to console him, which might lead him to ask for something from her he had no right to ask for.

He knew the patterns of his own behavior too well.

“Hale?” a gentle voice called.

He felt a delicate touch on his shoulder and looked over to find her hand resting on him.

He couldn’t think of how to react. He could only stare at her elegant hand.

“You feel really tense. Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

Reluctantly, Hale lifted her hand off his shoulder. He couldn’t leave it there. “Don’t ask those questions.”

“Why not?”

His jaw tightened. That wasn’t something he wished to explain to her. That would require him telling her the most personal details he had about his past. “It doesn’t even matter. After we leave Garra, you won’t have to see me again.”

“It was just a question.” She shifted over to the armrest farthest from him and turned her head away.

His response came out colder than he anticipated, and she didn’t deserve to be hurt. “I’m just not into talking about my past.”

“I wasn’t asking about your past,” she retorted. “You don’t have to—” she huffed. “...never mind.”

She was clearly annoyed with him. But he found her pouty frown and frustrated sighs undeniably adorable. He couldn’t keep himself from grinning though this should have been a serious moment.

“Dunwar.”

She titled her head his way. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Dunwar.”

“You grew up there?” Her voice grew hoarse.

He nodded. “For the most part. Since I was five.”

Her lower lip fell. “That must have been difficult.”

“For a kid who lost everything, yeah. It was. But I was able to get over the delusion that the galaxy is a wonderful place early in life.”

“L—lost everything?” Pandora asked, trembling. “What do you mean?”

The sympathy he found in her eyes was soothing and mitigated his anxiety caused by thinking about his past. The constant dread that he usually felt churning in his heart had calmed and was replaced, temporarily, with a sensation of security, of safeness. As if, maybe, he could trust her enough to give her the answers she wanted, instead of saying nothing.

She sighed. “You don’t have to tell me. I understand.”

“I used to have a family,” he murmured.

She turned aside, towards him, with searching eyes. “What were they like?”

He gazed in the direction of the viewport, though he wasn’t looking at the stars. “Wonderful.” He smiled. “My parents were wonderful to me. And I wasn’t even biologically related to them. They took me in when I was maybe one.”

Hale’s eyes fell to the ground mournfully. “Our time together was so short. Because—” he paused and took a shaky breath, then closed his eyes. “I still remember it vividly— in a single moment, I lost them. In a crash on Dunwar. And that’s how I ended up there. My brother and I made it. They didn’t.”

“I shouldn’t have asked about—”

He found her wiping a few tears from her eyes. “I wouldn’t have told you about it if I didn’t want to, Pandora.” Instinctively, he reached out and placed his hand on her small shoulder.

Pandora set her hand atop his, a faint blush present on her cheeks.