Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Thirty, Part Two

 Notes: We're winding this arc down! Probably two or three more posts and then we'll be...gosh, not done, HA, not with all the loose ends I left dangling, but done for now. Then we can figure out what the heck I should write on the blog next. The next part of this? Something completely different?

Title: Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Thirty, Part Two

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Chapter Thirty, Part Two

 

After that, Kieron worked harder to keep up with Lizzie and Catie’s technical arrangements and manipulations, which were somehow getting them all to Gania two days ahead of schedule. He also made sure to schedule time for Pol and Xilinn to talk every standard day, sometimes twice. Xilinn’s implant had been shut down, like everyone who’d been on the refugee ship, and the mercy fleet didn’t have the technology to reinstate them, but they made private communications possible for the mother and son. No one else over there needed them, after all—it would be far too dangerous to communicate with someone back on Trakta via implant, and all ship-based comms were being intercepted by the government.

Making time for himself was harder. There was just too much to do. Lizzie should have never felt like she had to take such a leading role for this mission—she was just a child herself. That she and Catie would go behind his back to do so wasn’t surprising. They were both compassionate people, and Catie at least had Elanus’s sense of mischief. But he was…he was the parent, damn it. He wasn’t going to be like his own mother, throwing a child into the wilderness and telling it to survive, or else. He was going to take care of Lizzie, and Pol, and everyone else he damn well could until he didn’t have to anymore.

Pulling that off meant consuming more coffee than was good for him, having short daily Regen sessions to replenish his reserves, and putting a good face on their still-precarious position. Everyone involved in this, from Xilinn to Pol to Captain Hu to Elanus himself, was relying on one person to make sure it all stuck together: Kieron. He wasn’t going to let them down by being too tired or too fuzzy-headed to handle whatever came their way.

Apart from some sickness on board the mercy fleet vessels thanks to ill refugees and an engine malfunction that had them all paused while Lizzie in her “Kieron” guise figured out what to do for it, though, it went as well as he could hope. They made it to Gania in good time, and although everyone was restless by the time they got there, no one was actively having a mental or emotional breakdown, which…had been a problem early on. Thank goodness the mercy fleet had a large staff of medical professionals in addition to Regen treatments, because they’d caught three near-suicides and were treating a host of anxiety disorders in the refugees.

Elanus had coordinated with Captain Hu to provide informational sessions on Gania and what to expect when they got there for everyone, but Kieron mostly ignored those. He had to, if he was going to have time for everything else. That’s why he thought it was excusable when they finally had Gania in their sights and all he could do was stare at it for the longest time. It was so…shiny. The oceans were shiny, the land was shiny, the city was shiny…

“There is a great deal of mica in the natural environment,” Lizzie supplied quietly.

Kieron sighed. “How did you know what I was thinking, hmm?”

“You haven’t blinked in nearly a minute, Kee. I assumed it was a reaction to the planet, and that the mostly likely cause was the unexpected appearance of it.”

“Good assumption.” He rubbed his eyes, which were rather dry now. “You’ve got the landing coordinates, I take it?”

“I do.”

“I’ll let you handle taking us in, then.” He glanced at Pol, who was also rapt at the striking image of Gania. “Ready to see your mother?”

“Yes,” Pol whispered, reaching out and taking Kieron’s hand. Kieron gave him a gentle squeeze as they neared the planet, finally descending through the atmosphere and heading toward Chelen, Elanus’s home city. The mercy fleet followed suit, and soon they were all landing at a large, well-appointed space dock at the edge of the metropolis, held up on elevated platforms.

The city itself was an amazing sight, with buildings so tall that they seemed to create their own ecosystem of light and dark, heat and cold. Kieron was sure he saw clouds drifting off one of the larger ones—perhaps created by releasing water into the sky? Why bother, though? He’d have to ask Elanus…whenever he saw him, which likely wouldn’t be for hours yet.

City officials came in a delegation to meet them, along with immigrations experts and several lawmen. After reviewing documentation with both Kieron and Captain Hu, they allowed the passengers to be released from the ships. The first person off a mercy fleet vessel was Xilinn, and the second Pol saw her he dropped Kieron’s hand and ran with all his speed toward his mother. She cried out and opened her arms to him, and then…

It felt too personal to watch. That had to be the reason that Kieron’s eyes were tearing up. Or perhaps he was just too tired to do this right now, too tired for more lines and more questions and more demands. He’d done so much already, more emotional lifting than he’d ever done before in his life. The physical was something he could handle, but this? And now it was almost over, and he was more exhausted than ever, and all he wanted was…

A warm hand on his shoulder made Kieron spin around, but his body knew who it was even as his mind briefly panicked. He immediately leaned into Elanus’s tall frame, burying his face against the other man’s chest. Elanus smelled like lightning and fresh rain and machine oil, like he’d been in his workshop right before flying here like some sort of angel. He held Kieron up with ease, which made it that much easier for Kieron to allow himself to sag, just a little bit.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Elanus laughed. “I never thought I’d be reduced to monosyllables like this, but I suppose you’re always surprising to me.”

“Mm.” Kieron’s hands tightened across the back of Elanus’s shirt.

“Mm indeed.” Miraculously, Elanus shut up and just let Kieron hold onto him after that. This, this was what he needed, what he’d been missing. Someone who wasn’t a dependent, or a beloved child, or a fellow professional he needed to keep at a distance. He’d been missing his partner, the understanding and support that only that person could give him. He had a partner. Not just someone he loved, but someone who made him feel like everything was going to be all right, because they were together again.

“I’ve got you,” Elanus said at last with the faintest tremor in his voice. “I’ve got you.”

Good.