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rest.”
    “There is too much to do.”
    “Let us do it. Resicor’s children are no longer helpless. Rest here and if you are needed we will call to you.” Hahvi’s tone was solemn.
    Trala looked over to Envix and he gave her a silent nod.
    “I will rest but if there is anything that I am needed for, I want to be summoned immediately. This is my body that is at stake, and the lives of people that I have been watching over since they crawled from the ooze.”
    “Good. You might be the Avatar but you have not had the time you needed to blend together. I have met other Avatars and the first days were always the hardest. You went from being two beings to being one at war. Sleep.”
    Envix stepped forward. “I will wake you the moment you are needed, Avatar. Take the rest and finish your bonding. Your people are safe and it is only mop up now. Let the Sector Guard and the Citadel do what they have been trained for. This is what they do.”
    As if it had been waiting for this moment, fatigue swelled up and threatened to knock her down. “I will rest.”
    Envix wrapped his shadows around her and lifted her up and into the air. He carried her to the large active volcano on the southern islands and found a cave to tuck her inside.
    She was drowsy. “Why here?”
    “The signature of the volcano will hide the power signature of a fusing Avatar. Access to the energy of the core of the world will also help you recover swiftly.”
    “How do you know so much about this?”
    “I was taught by a very smart woman. She learned everything she could from those she met and kept all the knowledge for later reference. When we asked, she taught us what she had learned.”
    Two days with him and she still hadn’t seen his face. She reached up to touch what she thought was his shoulder and everything went completely dark.
     
    * * * *
     
    Envix sighed in relief. Healing sleep was what she needed. Worlds could easily burn out their Avatars in the first hours. That she had lasted this long was a testament to her own resilience.
    He held her carefully in tendrils of his shadows. When he had been promised the chance to win the heart and mind of a world, he had not quite grasped that it would be literally the planet itself he had to court.
    Nothing could have prepared him for Trala facing off against the Raiders and the incoming vessels. With the light of Trala and the power of Resicor they had taken out thousands of invaders mere moments after they had bonded.
    That bond had never had the time to set and that made them unstable. Resicor could outstrip her flesh or Trala could drop from exhaustion because her cells had not learned to draw energy from the planet. This time was critical and he would make sure that she was safe.
    The future of his happiness and hers, depended on it.
     
    * * * *
     
    Col looked at the folk who were nervously gathering to watch the Sector Guard and the Citadel staff collect the Raiders that she had dealt with. One of Makki’s friends whispered frantically to her niece before Makki smugly led her over.
    “Aunty Col, Wellia has some questions for you.”
    The little girl looked nervous.
    “Hello, Wellia. What would you like to know?”
    The girl looked back at what appeared to be her mother and whispered to Col, “How old were you when you learned you could fly?”
    “About nine or ten. It happened when I fell. Suddenly I wasn’t falling, I was flying. I was very lucky. Why do you ask?”
    Makki beckoned Col down. “She flew last month when one of the girls pushed her off a diving board.”
    “Oh. Well, what would she like to know now?”
    “How does it feel to fly free, I think? She only slowed her fall for a few feet so she didn’t splash.”
    Col nodded. “Right. Wellia, would you like to go for a flight with me, if your mother agrees?”
    Wellia looked at her mother with a worried glance. “She won’t say yes.”
    “May I ask her?”
    Wellia blinked and nodded.
    Colah smiled and headed over to the