Chapter Six

Fred Moonscale

36 Years Later

The sun danced through the cracks around the shades. One of the egg brats must've dragged me onto the sofa or into one of the guest rooms after my dragon knocked my ass out. The bedroom door swung open, but my eyes weren't willing to open yet. My dragon was still out cold. I waited for him to stir or grumble or something. He did that a lot in his sleep since Lotus had to leave us.

"Grandpa!" A little voice cheered.

I blinked, forcing my eyes open, even if the giant beast were still asleep. Fuck! The whole house smelled like Duke, his cousin, and their mates. The little girl standing on her tiptoes beside the bed was doubled. I was seeing double. Probably slept a few years. That was to be expected. That's how dragons dealt with things we couldn't process. Hell, I still hadn't processed it. Who had brought me to Heartville, though?

"Good morning, Duchess," I grinned at my grand egg brat.

"I'm not Duchess! She's old!" Only one of the double-visioned girls giggled. "I'm Drea!"

"I'm Dana!" The other one piped up.

"Huh?" I blinked.

"It's okay Grandpa. They said you might sleep forever. We'll get you juice!" Drea cheered.

"Morning juice!" Dana echoed her.

"Dad?" Duke's voice cut through my ears, and he appeared in the doorway as both girls ducked between his legs to race down the hallway.

"Duke?" I blinked, forcing myself to sit up.

Someone had stolen my shirt and dressed me in plaid pajama pants with jack-o'-lanterns overlaying the crossing lines. Now that the bedroom door was open the whole world smelled like autumn.

"It's me," he nodded, taller than ever.

Dragons kept growing as long as they lived. How long had I been out?

"Just over thirty-six years to the day," Duke answered reading my thoughts over our family link.

"What?" I blinked.

"Yeah," he nodded, smelling unsure of what to say. "It's been a while. Dara, he's the doctor here, if you don't remember, said you'd probably have woken up sooner, but I had Uncle Lee and Bane hook up IVs and feeding tubes after it was clear this wasn't a little nap. Thankfully, they live here too now. So, that was easier to get done."

"In the house?" I blinked. "Where are we?"

"You're in Heartville. It got to be too much for Sequin and Daliah. They worried too much seeing you every day like that. So, Teddy brought you here. He lives here too. Well, next door to us. Sequin and Daliah come to visit a lot. They just left last night," he said, grinning like he'd won the lottery. "Don't be mad at them. Not everyone can handle everything."

"I'm not mad. I was sleeping. Didn't need them to babysit me" I shook my head and rubbed the back of my hand over my eyes. "Are they yours or Teddy's?"

"The girls? They're mine. Both little dragons with some coyote fur to keep their bellies warm," Duke beamed talking about his kids. "Duchess had her first last year. Teddy is still single. He's dated, but he's back to saying he's just going to wait on his true-mate. Daliah and Sequin haven't met their true-mates either. I feel like I'm giving you the preview trailer of our lives."

"Thanks for that, kiddo," I swung my legs off the bed and wiggled my toes. "Thirty-six years, huh?"

"Yeah. There were a lot of suggestions for how to wake you up, but Teddy and I made the executive decision to just let you sleep it out. We didn't know what else to do with everything that happened. Sequin tried to wake you up when the Cromwells' door came, but you didn't budge. We're all okay. They're not mad either. They get it. At least I think they get it. I'm not as close with them as Teddy. I know that isn't what you want to hear ---"

"The Cromwells?" I squinted in the sunlight.

"Lotus's parents," Duke said as if I had lost my memory instead of taking a nap.

"I know who they are. They're really gone? Thought that old man would live forever."

"About a year after you went to sleep," Duke nodded solemnly. "Sequin thought you'd be upset if you couldn't say goodbye, but you didn't budge."

"They understood," I yawned. "I mean, at least I didn't up and die to---" I stopped talking.

Duke may have been older but he was still my kid.

"We're glad of that. Sequin and Daliah now run Cromwell Enterprises. They're good at it. Profit is split five ways. Us and you. I didn't expect to be included but Teddy suggested it and they didn't argue. I'm mostly putting it away in case the kids want to go to a pay-to-learn university later."

"Good idea," I nodded. "We need to talk more, but I need to piss, kiddo, and maybe some coffee?"

"As long as you're not pissing coffee," Duke turned to leave, chuckling.

"I think I missed something," I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands.

***

Twenty minutes later I stood looking out the window not quite ready to face everyone who would have something to say once they knew I was awake. I didn't know what the world was like out there now, but I was old enough to know that almost four decades was enough to change everything. Thankfully, my kids weren't little. I would've hated myself for missing that much of their lives. Still sorta did, but they were grown and my last memory from before I went out cold was them all hosting a little intervention, insisting they were okay.

"Knock, knock," Teddy said from the other side of the bedroom door. "I got coffee and some breakfast sandwiches. I'm sure you'll want to snatch up a deer or something once you get going, but this should get you started."

A second later, the door opened before I even glanced away from the window. I was groggier than I wanted to admit. After thirty-six years, you'd think I wouldn't be tired. Teddy set the coffee and food on the counter and pulled me into a bear hug. I grinned and hugged him back. Somethings never changed.

"How's it going, kiddo?" I asked, reaching for the coffee as soon as he let go of me.

"I'm okay. I hope you still like it the same way you did," he said.

"I don't think a nap changed my tastebuds. Between us, it feels like I slept a couple of days, not a couple of decades."

"Good. I was worried you'd need physical therapy or something when you woke up," he admitted as I bit into a breakfast sandwich, scarfing it down without tasting much.

"No," I shook my head as I chewed and swallowed. "Dragons have slept for longer than that without suffering ill effects. We're made for it."

"How are you feeling about everything else? I know the research says it might feel like everything was just yesterday for you."

"Yes and no. Kiddo, I need more coffee, but it's always going to feel like just yesterday. Any time you lose someone you care about, it's going to seem like just yesterday."

He hugged me again before motioning for me to follow him. Duke's house was full of kids. Four calico kittens climbed the curtains in the hall, mewing all the way up.

"He's letting them explore, but they're watching on the nanny cam," Teddy pointed up to a camera in the corner.

"Those are Blithe's, right?" I blinked.

"Yeah. Duke and Syre have a pup, but I don't think they have the joint genetics to have a kitten, but who knows," Teddy shrugged. "Not all of the kids here are ours, but belong to the neighbors or cousins or whatever. I've lost track of who belongs to who. The one with the headphones ignoring the world like it's wronged him twice a day since he was born is Jonah and Blake's. He's here a lot. Nothing really going on that I know about. Duke says it's a phase. I hope it clears up before he damages his hearing with that music."

Walking by the ‘headphones kid' made me laugh aloud. He was listening to music by the Grim Howlers that was already old when I fell over.

"What?" he asked, narrowing his eyes on me.

"Nothing, kiddo," I shook my head and then when he put the music back on I told Duke, "Frost be damned on his fiery balls, not even waking from the dead impresses that kid."

"Nothing does. He's at that age," Teddy shrugged. "At least that's what Duke keeps telling their parents."

"Heartville probably doesn't have enough to keep him occupied," I shrugged.

"Well, not as much as London or Mage Street, but the village has grown into a town since you conked out. Mostly, because Bane, Lee, Blake, and Jonah moved here not long after you did. Mom dying changed everything. Even Micah and Cody moved here. Zoey and her polycule have a house here where they vacation a lot."

"Polycule?" I arched a brow as we walked into the kitchen. "How many?"

"Eh, counting her and Xander there's five of them now. All living together. I'd say that would be enough to drive anyone crazy, but," he gestured around the house. "Maybe not."

Our conversation ended in the kitchen because all of the kids still young enough to be impressed by a sleeping dragon waking up, crowded around with their questions. I answered them all, laughing, while my coffee cup was filled and refilled. Lotus would've loved this. Only if Lotus was still alive I wouldn't have taken a nap like that.

"Fred?!" An eager voice called from the door.

"Clarence? What the --- What the heck?" I corrected what I was going to say as not to cuss in front of the kids. "I know your son is here, but did you move here too?" I asked, stepping over a sleeping coyote pup.

"No, but I need to talk to you! You're the man of the hour!" Clarance laughed, letting himself in through the storm door.

"For waking up?" I laughed.

"No," he shook his head. "Let's talk somewhere private."

"It's not like I have anywhere private here," I looked around.

"We can go next door," Teddy said. "Is everything alright, Clarence?"

"I think they might turn out that way," Clarence nodded. "Your father has the timing of Frost and Juda."

"Everything okay?" Duke called from the kitchen.

"Yes!" I called back to him. "We won't be long."

I said the last part making eye contact with Clarence. Whatever business or politics he wanted to discuss would have to be in a nutshell. I had too much lost time to make up for with my family.

Teddy's house was like a freezer despite the warm-ish autumn sun shining down on Heartville.

"Still running the AC like global warming is only happening in your house, I see," I chuckled walking in.

"My dragon is chiller this way," Teddy shrugged. "I help make the crystals that keep the heat and air running. So, I'll use as many as I want."

"Fair enough," Clarence said as if he already grew tired of our idle chit chat.

He glanced at Teddy as if he was going to leave, but he plopped down in an armchair and motioned that we could sit down on the sofa.

"Nothing's private in this family," I shrugged at Clarence and sat down on the sofa.

"This is of the utmost importance. We need to keep things quiet and not just for our sakes," Clarence said, shutting and locking Teddy's front door.

In his usual dramatic way, Clarence closed the blinds and sniffed around as if a spy hid in every corner. Before the war against Mundanes Before Magic, I'd have called him paranoid. Only now, he was still paranoid. I was just too nice to point it out to him because he may have been traumatized by his home being attacked even if he'd never admit it.

"Do you remember Starscale Search?" he asked me.

"I took a nap. I didn't grow amnesia," I shrugged.

"Making sure."

"I remember it. I funded part of it. One of Duke's cousins works for it. Well, did when I fell over anyway," I shrugged again.

"He still does. Travis is a great social media guy. He still has to hear it from Bane and Lee that he never finished medical school like they hoped he would, but that was their thing, not his. He's even done a few documentaries on the Starscales since then."

"How? Did you find them?" I glanced at Teddy.

Surely, egg brat would've told me if something that big had happened while I was conked out.

"I didn't find them," Teddy laughed. "As far as I know they haven't been found at all."

"They found us," Clarence said, still standing on the other side of the coffee table. "Well, sort of."

"Sit down, Clarry," Teddy sighed.

Clarence rolled his eyes at the nickname, and I arched an eyebrow at him.

"Calm down. You smell like I'm trying to seduce him. We're in the same air rugby league whenever we can get another team to play against."

"Good," I nodded. "I don't care who polys, but don't drag my kids into your politics."

"Polys? That is not a verb," Clarence shook his head. "Medwin and I do not poly."

"Good," I nodded again.

"This is why I wanted to talk to you alone," Clarence said, setting his expression blank like he always had when he was getting irritated but trying to hold his composure to get the job done.

"Because you don't poly?" I teased him.

"Because I remembered how easily distracted you are," he said.

"Says the man with diagnosed shiny-mania," I shrugged.

"Says the man who opened Glitter Bomb, the club that still has the GGB territory covered in glitter."

"That sounds like a win to me," I shrugged, happy to hear Feral still had the club up and running all these years later.

"Can we stay on the subject?" Clarence asked, a smoke ring escaping his nose.

"You're doing it again. Medwin's going to put you back on those mood vitamins," Teddy teased him.

"What subject? The shiny-mania?" I asked because I couldn't help myself.

"No!" Clarence huffed. "The fact that all the known Other World gateways had scrolls tossed through them."

"Huh?" Teddy and I grunted at the same time.

"Yes, all of them that we know of. All addressed to the flight, but all about you," Clarence pointed at me.

"About me?" I arched a brow. "Maybe it was an elaborate prank."

"We considered that. Only the elves on either side of the gateways didn't see anyone," Clarence said. "No one gets past those elves that easily."

"What did they say?" Teddy asked before I could.

"That they're willing to give us the space flight path to them, but only if they get a response from Freddie Moonscale."

"Freddie?" I arched my brow higher. "No one really calls me that anymore. Maybe Blake. Lotus always, but not the general population."

"I know," Clarence sighed. "We have our theories, but we're not ready to share them."

"Them maybe I'm not willing to help you," I sank into the fluffy sofa back and crossed my arms over my chest.

"They think Mom might be over there, don't they?" Teddy asked Clarence.

"It has crossed our minds. It's been almost forty years since she died. We don't know how long reincarnation takes. Hell, we're not even sure there's a set amount of time for it."

"Why else would they ask for Dad? Why not Brendan Moonscale? He's descended from one of their flight who didn't leave with them."

Clarence squeezed the bridge of his nose and for a second I almost felt bad for him. Then I realized that he wouldn't have copped up to his theory if Teddy hadn't called him out on it.

"You weren't going to tell me?" I asked when he finally quit trying to break his own nose.

"I didn't want to get your hopes up. We thought it was moot. Frederique, some of us resigned ourselves to the fact that you might sleep forever. We thought the missive was a lost cause because if you were asleep, you couldn't answer anything. You woke up. You woke up so close to them being tossed through. I still don't want you to get your hopes up. If it turns out that we're wrong and maybe someone else you know stumbled there and they want you to come get them," Clarence sighed and shook his head. "If it were Medwin and someone got my hopes up I'd burn down their whole fucking lives."

"I would if they lied about it. You didn't come here and tell me you found Lotus. Theoretically, anything's possible."

I refused to believe Lotus was with the Starscales. It was possible. Things like shifter type, ethnicity, Alpha/omega gene, and gender didn't remain stable throughout everyone's multiple reincarnations. That much we knew. Souls were more fluid than that.

"What do they want from me?" I asked.

"Confirmation that you'll be on the ship."

"Sounds like a trap," Teddy said. "Do we even know it's really from the Starscales?"

"No," Clarence admitted. "It would be a very elaborate trap. Keep in mind, hatchling," he teased Teddy, "just because we get the flight path doesn't mean we have to take it. We just have to gather the information before we make any decisions."

"I'll bite," I shrugged. "Tell them I'm up for it."

"How are you going to do that?" Teddy asked.

"All the scrolls have yes or no check boxes. I tried to check the yes box myself just to see what they'd say, but apparently their magic knew it wasn't you."

"Weird," Teddy said, but I shrugged it off.

"Yes or no boxes. Sounds like something Zoey and Lotus would come up with together."

"We haven't told Zoey about this. We haven't told anyone outside of our military leaders and Starscale Search higher ups about this. Were not sure what we're dealing with," Clarence sighed.

"Never mind," I shook my head. "I forgot I was talking to Clarence the leader of the Moonscale Flight and not Clarence doing keg stands at a party."

"You know there is something in between those two things, right?" Clarence sighed again. "Keeping it quiet also protects you. We don't know who these people are or what they're up to. I think they are Starscales, because we had a common written draconic language around the time they flew off into space. That's what they wrote in. Not in English or any humanoid tongue. Not in modern draconic, but in perfect draconic from that time period. If someone is playing a joke they spent years studying a dead language. We had to get Jake from Hemlock Academy to translate and ensure it was one hundred percent accurate. He teaches Shifter Cultural Studies there. I couldn't write a sentence in that language without looking at the cipher if someone threatened to cut off my dick if I didn't, Fred. I think this is real, but I don't know what they're up to."

"Let's find out," I shrugged. "Do you have one of the scrolls with you?"

"I do," he nodded and reached into the breast pocket of his suit.

"Hand it over and give me a pen," I reached out for it.

A second later, I glanced over the script. It was genuine. I didn't know it all by heart but researched it enough to get Lotus's name tattooed on the back of my neck in it years ago. It was the real deal. All the L shapes were perfect, and they were a bitch to find a tattoo artist who could draw them out perfectly.

"What do you think?" Teddy asked, moving to the sofa arm to look at the unfurled scroll.

"I don't think your mom wrote this. If she did, her handwriting has changed. Which I guess is possible, but the script looks perfect to me."

"That's what Jake said," Clarence nodded, handing me a pen. "I don't know what will happen when you check yes."

"We'll kick ass if we have to. I work out with Adrian and Nem every morning in addition to sky rugby," Teddy said, and I bit back a smile.

At least he found something to put all his big emotions into.

"Sniff it," my dragon chimed into my thoughts opening one of his massive eyes for the first time in decades.

Following the tenants of Frost I took his advice. The paper mostly smelled like the cigars secreted away in Clarence's pocket. I almost asked for one, but decided against it since I didn't want to set a bad example for Teddy. Sure, he was a dragon too, but no one wanted to see their kid become a chain smoker.

Beyond the rich, smooth scent of those secret cigars was someone or something metallic. A dragon who left behind no real trace of their personal scent.

"Don't make out with it," Clarence huffed. "All of them were tested for DNA and scent molecules. Either they used pheromone blocker spray on them or the material the scroll is made from just didn't pick anything up. We're not imbeciles you know."

"You're really nervous about this, aren't you?" I asked him.

"Yes, I am. London is finally fully restored. All of the territory is restored, and our people are happy. The last thing we need is another damn war."

"You think they want to fight us?" I laughed.

"You never know," Clarence said.

"He's in therapy still," Teddy said.

"That's personal," Clarence shot him a dirty look, that was more kinship than actual anger.

While they bickered like teammates, I checked the box. The scroll vibrated and something akin to a QR code appeared on the bottom of the page under the check boxes. Clarence and Teddy fell silent and leaned in closer to examine it.

"Scan it with your phone," Teddy said.

"My phone?" I asked.

I'd barely had time to get dressed before he dragged me into the kitchen at Duke's house.

"It's in your pocket. We kept it charged and on while you were out cold. We kept it in the pocket of the outfit we always kept ready for you. We didn't know what you'd want when you woke up."

I fished the phone out of my pocket. My home screen was still a photo of Lotus laughing at a joke I no longer remembered. I swallowed hard. Maybe she had died just yesterday and all this – the nap and the scrolls were just a fever dream of grief.

I unlocked the phone and ignored all the missed calls and texts. I scanned the code and the scroll vibrated again.

"Downloading now," my phone said, and Clarence frowned.

"It's not going to explode, Clarry," Teddy rolled his eyes.

"We don't know that," he furrowed his brow.

"Projecting now," my phone said.

"Projecting. Not exploding," Teddy said.

"Shush, both of you and someone turn out the light," I said.

Teddy told his Magi house system to turn out the lights and the house went dark except for a map projecting through my phone's camera. It wasn't an ordinary map. It was a star map. Between the stars were little yellow dots marking the path from Earthside to what I assumed was whatever planet the Starscales ended on.

"Yellow was her favorite color," my dragon pointed out.

He still only had one eye open. It would take pounding music and at least a keg of coffee to get him on his feet.

"That planet doesn't exist," Clarence said, glancing down at his phone screen.

"Well, maybe it's a prank then."

"Let me take your phone," he started, and I swerved before he could take it.

"No," I shook my head. "This is my phone. This has my personal stuff on it. You try to take it and Cade's going to have to leave Heartville sooner than anyone planned because you won't be in any condition to lead anything."

"Calm down," Clarence sighed. "I don't want to see your dick pics. I want to take it to the lab to be examined."

"No," I said. "My videos of Lotus and the kids when they were little---"

"Are stored in the cloud," Clarence tried again.

"No. The answer is no. My phone goes where I go."

Teddy stood up too.

"We're not going to fight, Teddy," Clarence said. "Don't punch me again!"

"When did he punch you?" I asked.

"When he was drunk and made fun of Sequin's name," Teddy said. "Don't punch him again. He had to have his nose set that time. I think I got the point across."

"Fair enough," I nodded. "Lotus named him. Don't you make fun of anything my dead wife did."

"This could be the greatest discovery of our lifetime!" Clarence tossed his hands in the air.

"Did any of the scrolls say time was of the essence?" I asked.

"No, but—"

"You're impatient," I grinned. "Well, go visit Cade or something. I plan to spend some time getting reoriented before I go to any lab. I have family to catch up with. Not everything moves on your time Clarence."

"What if it is Lotus?" Clarence asked.

"That's a low jab, but if it is, she'd want me to reunite with the kids and make sure everyone's okay before I jump on a spaceship."

"Who says your going on the spaceship?" Clarence growled.

"My phone has the only map there."

Clarence scanned the scroll with his own phone, but nothing happened.

"See," I shrugged. "I'm not doing this to be an asshole, but some things are more important than alien space dragons across the galaxy or wherever they are. Thought you'd have learned that by now."

Chapter Seven

Fred Moonscale

6 Months Later

It was my last night on Earthside for a while. Eventually, I gave in and went into the lab with Clarence. We tried to match up any of their existing maps of the sky to the one that now projected from my phone's camera on demand. We found the closest match, but nothing on the Earthside map showed the planet the Starscale scrolls claimed they were on. So, everything about the mission was now pure speculation. Every Moonscale who heard about the mission had a different opinion. Clarence was banging his head against all the voices pouring out their theories over social media, but I shrugged it off. I was used to being at the center of a spectacle and for the love of Juda I couldn't figure out how Clarence hadn't managed to adjust to it by now.

The team consisted of six dragon shifters, including Teddy and myself. Teddy was going in place of his Duke's cousin Travis that ran Starscale Search's social media on Earthside. The requirements were simple: No underage kids counting on you, no true-mate or chosen mate left wondering what happened, and of course, you had to be a dragon. We could breathe for extended periods in space from all the research done. Teddy wanted to come along. At first, Clarence was against it. It seemed he and Teddy weren't the real friends of the sky rugby team. Sunny, Clarence's second born, also played on the team. Clarence didn't want him to lose the friend he actually approved of his son having. Me and the hot head argued for a few days. In the end, not only Teddy was coming along, but also Sunny. The latter was the official Moonscale leading family diplomat. There was also a doctor, a co-piloting cousin, and of course the guy who built and could fly the damn ship. Part of me thought Clarence was jealous that he couldn't jump on the ship himself to find out what was going on.

According to the calculations of the Starscale Search team it would take us somewhere between nine and twelve months to get there. I planned to sleep most of that. I wasn't worried about the vast emptiness of space or the lack of some creature comforts. Boredom would be the biggest enemy aboard the Medwin 2. The first one never got off the ground and gained its name because Medwin Moonscale, Clarence's Mate, funded most of the original process to experimentally build a spaceship that could house a draconic crew.

None of that mattered as I sat at the dinner table back home with all four of my kids. Daliah and Sequin tried to hide the looks that said they thought Teddy and I both lost our minds. Duke was more excited about the prospects of what life in space might mean. Most of the worlds we knew about weren't in outer space as we knew it, but all connected through the Other World gateways. Only, no one had ever found a gateway to this particular world that didn't seem to exist on any Earthside map. The elves of the Other World couldn't seem to locate it and give it a gateway despite the scrolls being tossed through said gateways all over Earthside.

"And you actually think Mom is on this world? Reborn I mean," Daliah shook her head.

This wasn't the first time we had this discussion. I didn't actually think Lotus was there. That was an impossibility. Lotus was dead. She was dead and gone and my heart ached every day and night for her. Even if she had reincarnated on this world no one could map, she wouldn't be Lotus. That version of her was gone forever or at least only lived on in the memories of those who knew and loved her. Rediscovering her, wasn't something I'd turn down, but I wasn't holding my breath. It hadn't been that long in the grand scheme of a soul and as much as she said she'd come back as quickly as she could, I prayed she took the time to get all the rest she needed.

"Let's not do this tonight, Daliah," I sighed. "Whether she's there or not isn't the point of the mission. For Clarence, it's about the damn Starscales. I want to know how the hell these people on another planet knew my name and why in Frost's Pit they want me to come visit."

"It seems sketchy to me," Sequin shook his head, agreeing with his sister. "Why you?"

"Why not me?" I scowled.

"I didn't mean it like that, Dad," Sequin sighed.

"Well, however you meant it, I mean to find out the answer. I invited you two along and you didn't want to come."

"I would, but I can't leave Syre and the kids," Duke chimed in. "You two better take really good photos."

"That's my job apparently," Teddy laughed.

"Then be good at it, brother," Duke grinned.

Teddy shot him a bird and refilled his wine glass. We toasted to us, to the family that somehow survived Lotus's death and my almost four-decade long nap. We toasted to the trip and to Lotus wherever she was. If she wasn't reincarnated on this invisible world, I imagined she beamed down at us toasting with her own wine glass. She always loved a good, dark red wine. Though, she never said no to brandy either, no matter how much her dad frowned at the selection.

I went to bed early, leaving the siblings to say their goodbyes and have their fun, after reminding Teddy he didn't want to be hung over come morning. I slept in a guest room not daring to unseal the bedroom I shared with Lotus. The last six months had whooshed by me and my dragon. There were so many new kids to meet and meetings to attend about dragons in outer space. I hadn't the time to go through our old stuff and process whatever might come up. I didn't even have time to pay Glitter Bomb a visit before leaving Earthside. I wasn't about to break that seal and risk sending my dragon back to sleep the night before the biggest trip of all of our lives.

***

When I first saw the Medwin 2 a month ago it looked nothing like I expected a rocket ship to look. Later I learned that was because the Medwin 2 wasn't a rocket ship at all. It was a spacecraft that existed somewhere between luxury cruise and battleship. Only it was meant to launch itself above the atmosphere of Earthside for space exploration. It was equipped for parties and wars. I wasn't very much interested in either of those these days. What good was dancing when my dance partner hadn't been around in decades? Though, Castor, the engineer and pilot of the Medwin 2, tried to sell me on the dance floor during the early days when I wasn't sure I wanted anything to do with the mission. I still suspected Medwin and Clarence put Castor up to it, because he was the only omega on the mission, and they figured that might make him my soft spot. I didn't agree because of anything Castor said. I'd never tell anyone else, but if Teddy didn't look so damn excited about getting to go to outer space, I probably would've ignored the scrolls and put them off as a prank. But if one of the egg brats wanted to go into space, that's what we'd do.

The morning of our exit, it didn't look much different, and my dragon was still a little disappointed the damn thing didn't look like a rocket ship. I wasn't sure what made him obsessed with rockets, but hopefully he'd forget about that soon. Teddy and I left the house while the others were still out cold. There was no reason to wake them up at four in the morning. We said our goodbyes the night before and we were coming back. Probably not for two or three years, but we'd be back and Castor was eighty-five percent sure we'd have contact with Earthside for most of the trip through the Medwin 2's built-in communication devices. Mostly, I didn't want Sequin or Daliah giving us those doubtful looks and dampening Teddy's excitement.

We were the first of the crew to arrive besides Castor, who spent the night sleeping on the ship. It was his baby and I, for one, was glad he thought of it that way. If he babied the ship, it would probably stay in good enough shape to get there and back. He sat with Clarence and Medwin in a conference room on the Starscale Search compound. Luckily, Castor made us give him everything we intended to bring with us two weeks ago. He checked all the items for safety hazards before boxing them up and putting them in our rooms. Since outer space was deemed too dangerous for any of us to spend much time alone, we'd all have roommates. Since Castor was the only omega on the mission and it was his ship, the rest of us agreed, he got the first pick of roommates. For whatever reason, whether because I was the oldest or the widower, he chose me. I didn't mind. Mostly, because it gave Teddy an easy out to room with his friend, Sunny, without feeling bad about it. The last bedroom was taken up by the doctor and the co-pilot, Izora and Casimir, respectively. When I asked Castor why he chose not to room with his cousin, he shrugged off the question. Later Casimir told me that they worried they'd spend too much time together between work and off hours if they shared a room. Too much time around any relative in an enclosed space could lead to drama and hurt feelings. The Medwin 2 wasn't a small space cruiser but there wasn't room for either of those things aboard the ship.

"Everything good, Cast?" Teddy asked, sinking into the chair next to him as one of the Starscale Search assistants put coffees down for the four of us. I nodded my thanks as Castor launched into all the checks he ran before leaving the ship. I was glad it was a long list, but I zoned him out to think about Lotus. I found myself doing that more and more as time went on. If I found myself in a boring moment, I relived a memory of her. I tried not to do it too often each day, fearing I'd eventually run out of memories, because we'd never make another one together.

Eventually, we were all there and Medwin came in to give a speech about how grateful and proud of us he was. I tuned most of that out too. I wasn't here in service to my flight. I was here because Teddy wanted to see outer space and Lotus may have been reincarnated on some invisible planet. Flight loyalty had nothing to do with it.

Medwin and Clarence hugged us all goodbye as we followed Castor through the maze that led to the Medwin 2. Today wasn't about settling into the ship. It was all about the lift off. There was even a special chamber we all had to stay inside of while Castor and Casimir got us off the ground and out of the atmosphere. They said that would take a couple of hours. So, as soon as I was fastened into one of the seats designed by Castor, I gave into my dragon and he put us both to sleep. I woke up for dinner after we cleared whatever height Castor approved of and then stumbled off to our shared sleeping chambers to pass out. None of them believed me that I planned to sleep the whole trip, but that's exactly what I did. Teddy would wake me up if he needed me. Besides, there was plenty on the ship to keep him and Sunny occupied.