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such harm to Ember had yet to be punished. Maria looked at him puzzled not knowing what to say.
     
    “This is Ceylon, a Salinian diplomat. I would be willing to arrange transport to this ship if you need to speak with Ember about the incident.” He stated. Even he could hear the strain in his voice as he attempted to keep his emotions in check.
     
    “That would be helpful.” The male voice replied. “I’ll let the Chief know and he will send someone to wherever you deem appropriate.”
     
    Ceylon nodded to Maria and said, “Make the rest of your arrangements and tell Silvius. He will land the transporter in as soon as an hour. Just let him know what you need and he will ensure that it is done for you.” He didn’t wait for Maria’s acceptance he turned to leave.
     
    He still couldn’t explain how Ember was important to him in some way. In all of his thirty-two years of life he had never felt this way about someone. He felt elated in her presence, but that elation was tainted by his guilt. How could he feel this way for Ember when he never felt this way for Ashwin? He loved Ashwin, he knew that he did. He grieved for her, and still did. His friends and colleagues often accused him of existing instead of living. After his death, he supposed he did. He wrapped himself in his work, desperate for the distraction. Now Ember, the girl that was so battered she shouldn’t have stirred any feelings, besides protectiveness wouldn’t leave his mind. He had spent the night dreaming of holding her in his arms and tasting her, every inch of her. She would smile up at him and smile with her green eyes lighting up with arousal. The guilt left a bitter taste in his mouth.
     
    He almost missed her but her intake of breath alerted him to her presence. He turned and her green eyes speared him. The tears were flowing freely. Before he understood what he was doing he was on his knees and pulling her into his embrace. He saw her flinch when he reached for her and felt the tension in her as he sat her upon his lap. He held her close and whispered to her how beautiful she was to him in his own language. She wouldn’t understand and it was the only reason he found himself able to admit the truth. She slowly relaxed into his hold. Maria’s voice could be heard in the background, speaking to her roommate as she assured her that she was perfectly fine and the reason she needed the clothes.
     
    Ember pulled back from him, terror in her eyes pulling at his heart. “What am I going to do? He will kill me this next time. I only wanted to leave. I only wanted to be loved.” She said as sobs racked her small body. He pulled her close and tried to harden his heart to the little bundle that had just become more important than Ashwin ever was, despite the lies he told himself otherwise.
     

FOUR
     
    Serenity stood in the place that had once been her playground as a child and later where she and Eon met in their dreams while she lay dying. Her heart was breaking at the barrenness that greeted her senses. It didn’t even look like her field anymore. It looked like a desert, no trees surrounding the missing wildflowers. The creek that they had swam in-gone. The perfect blue sky that’s sun had caressed her face-gone. All that remained in its place a sickening gray and black swirling cloud that seemed to drown the world in darkness. Her lungs protested the smell of ruin that hung in the air like death. But then she couldn’t describe what she saw with as a desert. A desert though appearing barren was teeming with life. This just felt wrong.
     
    She fell to her knees and touched the now ravaged ground and gasped as the images played in her mind, this world of hers telling her its tale in the only way it knew how. The disappearances came first. She could see them taking females and males, always children in the still of night. They had to study each species. Their eyes, deep and fathomless pools of darkness and their skin a sickly green