Outside, the night air was cool, and Vathion ran his hand through his hair to break the sweaty ringlets. Eika, Hasabi's Hyphokos Bond was waiting atop the car. It was the only way the exceptionally small Hyphokos could avoid getting trampled or run over other than being merged with Hasabi. When Hasabi came close, she leapt and gracefully landed on his mother's shoulder.

"Quit picking at it; you're going to hurt yourself," Eika admonished, catching Vathion picking at his Bondstone again. She tucked her shiny black braid back behind her long, flexible ear. She had painted green designs up her hands and feet, the color contrasting against the deep red she had acquired with age. Only a small stripe of yellow remained down her spine.

Hasabi unlocked the car doors, and they climbed in. "She's right. We'll take something to clean it off when we get home."

"It's just uncomfortable. Jathas can't see."

The trip home was uneventful and thankfully short. Stepping out of the car, Vathion reached in to help his mother from the car, and Eika scurried out afterward. The car doors locked automatically behind them.

Hasabi hurried inside, "I'll get dinner in the oven."

Taking off the belt that held his baton, Vathion dropped it over the back of the couch on his way to the vidphone in the far corner of the room. A link was already open, sending a file. He glanced at the destination: his mother's parents, the old Gannatet couple next door, and his father.

His ankle-high boots clacked on the hardwood floor as he pulled the chair out in front of the desk and sat. The video blinked with a call. Vathion pressed the icon on the screen to answer.

"Heyla!" Ha'Natan shouted in surprise, "Kiti! I said call Hasabi, not gimme a mirror!" Natan grinned, showing the faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and around his mouth.

Paymeh, Natan's Hyphokos bond, sat on the desk beside his Gilon and slurped something from a teacup. Cocking his long tapering ears, Paymeh blinked his dark blue multifaceted eyes. Being an older Hyphokos, he was mostly red with only a thin stripe of yellow down his back.

Sighing, Vathion shook his head, instantly in a bad mood. "It's just my costume." It probably wouldn't have stung so bad if Natan were there.

The icon at the bottom of the screen flashed and then disappeared, announcing that the files had been sent.

"I think Mom just sent you the play." He picked at the paint on his Bondstone some more, but it wasn't coming off, and he began to wonder what the people doing the makeup for the play had used.

Grinning, Natan nodded. "Yep! Can't wait to see it! I bet you blew their socks off." He pumped his arms above his head, then looked down at Paymeh and sniffed. "Hey, gimme some of that." He took the cup from the Hyphokos and gulped a swallow before handing it back.

Putting his elbows on the desk, Vathion sullenly rested his chin on the heels of his hands. "Yeah, Dad, they thought it was you on stage."

Shifting, the violet-haired man on the other side of the wall screen dropped his smile briefly. "Oh, come on," he kicked his feet under the desk with a loud klong of the metal toes of his boots against the already dented wall, audible over the vid. "You're not looking at it the right way. Just think of all the girls you could hook up with!"

Scowling at his father, Vathion said, "Did it ever occur to you that I'd like to make my own way instead of hanging off your coattails for everything?"

Natan paused and sat back, folding his arms on his chest.

"Is that your father?" Hasabi called from the kitchen and then briefly leaned out the door. "Oh! Vath, watch the oven for a minute?"

Getting up, Vathion gladly surrendered the chair to his mother. Once in the kitchen, he kept as quiet as he could so he could listen. "Oh, what'd he say this time?" Hasabi asked once Vathion was out of sight.

Natan sighed. "Nothing he's not entitled to think. Am I pushing him too hard? I just want him to lighten up some. He always looks like someone kicked his pet!"

Vathion pursed his lips as he walked over to the oven. :I don't, do I?: he asked Jathas.

:Eh... you do. You should lighten up some, Vath. And you really should quit comparing yourself to Natan, too.:

They had been Bonded since Vathion was seven, a very young age for them both to have done so, but Vathion would not trade it for the world. Jathas was the only one who knew all Vathion's secrets and desires and understood them.

:You're just fine as yourself,: Jathas concluded.

Crouching, Vathion rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the casserole behind the oven door's tinted glass.

"Natan, he's all right. He's just busy all the time." Her voice lowered. Vathion stood again, snuck closer to the kitchen door to hide against the pantry, and eavesdropped on his parents. "I think he's just mad about never getting to meet you."

"I'm working on it, Hasabi!" Natan said immediately, "I don't like it either, but things just keep happening and... maybe next year." He sounded defeated, "Things out here on the border are heating up again, and though it doesn't sound like we're doing much, there is something I'm working on that I can't just do..."

"I know," Hasabi interrupted. "You don't have to tell me."

Silence fell for a moment. Then Natan said weakly, "It's not excuses..."

Closing his eyes, Vathion folded his arms across his ribs, fingers tucked under. He hated those three words with a passion. Usually, Hasabi's answer had been "okay," but lately, it had just gotten harder; what with all the reports of defections, like Kimidas station and the destroyed fleets, Vathion feared every time he turned on Interstellar News that the next story up would be the destruction of the Natan Fleet.

Then, as if that were not enough stress, Vathion was nearly an adult. While their family had managed to stay alive this long, Vathion was terrified of the change in his scent that would trigger his mother's inevitable decline.

It was this stupid war. It had been going on for far too long, but there really was not much anyone could do about it other than continue to fight.

Hasabi shifted, making the slightly wobbly chair thump on the floor as Vathion skittered across the room to check the oven and ensure dinner wasn't burning. He returned to the door just in time to hear his mother answer, "I know. It's just getting hard to believe you even exist anymore. Natan, I love you, Vathion loves you, but, we're lonely. Can't you come for a day? I need you." Her voice lowered again, "I don't know if I can last much longer without you."

"I'll send something," he sounded distraught.

"I don't want something! I want you!"

"But... I can't just visit. I'd never be able to leave."

Vathion jumped slightly as Hasabi slammed her hand on the desk. Hasabi raised her voice, "Then why not take us with you? Vathion's out of school in a week, and I talked to the Dean just the other day. Vathion doesn't need to stay for two more years. He's got all his credits to graduate. He's wasting time here!"

Risking getting spotted, Vathion peered around the corner, spying his father sitting with his shoulders slumped, head bowed. "Hasabi, it's dangerous out here..." Natan objected, though not strongly.

Surging to her feet and blocking his view, Hasabi shouted, "I don't care! I want to be with you, Natan! That's all I ever wanted! You're playing with our lives! It was risky enough for you to leave back then, but it's been so long... It's starting to wear on me, and I doubt it's done you much good either!"

Silence fell again as Hasabi sank back down into her seat, and Natan looked past her at Vathion. He winced at his son's expression even as the boy ducked back out of sight. Lips pulled in a long line, not quite a frown. Natan remained silent, thinking, and finally sighed. "A week? And he's out?" he asked, "get it settled, Hasabi... I'll send a transport."

Hasabi lifted her head, a smile coming to her lips beneath her tears. Vathion peeked out from the kitchen once more. A spark of excitement tightened in Vathion's chest.

Natan sighed, his lips unable to stay in anything resembling a frown for long. "You two really know how to manipulate me. I love you so much." He looked first at Hasabi, then at his son.

"I love you too." Hasabi wiped her tears with the corner of her sleeve.

Stepping out of the kitchen door completely, Tassels slightly askew, Vathion played with one of the ends as he offered a faint smile. Then he looked down when Hasabi turned to eye him. "I love you too, Dad," he admitted. The words felt odd to say. He'd said them perhaps a few times in the last eight years. Embarrassed, he retreated into the kitchen to check the stove.

For a moment longer, Natan was silent, staring at the kitchen door, then closed his eyes as if imprinting that moment into his mind. "One week, then. I'll see you in a week."