HOME, SWEET HOME — Arthyr’s smile

When they reached the meeting place, she looked around at the members of the Council.

She recognized an expression before she recognized a face.

Arthyr Aurelio was watching her with the same smile that had so often bewildered her in the Sangha.

Skyblue stood still. Then she burst out laughing.

“It was you!”

Arthyr inclined his head in greeting. His gaze held the warmth of an embrace she had long waited for.

“You’ve come back, Skyblue.”

She remembered the afternoons she had spent listening to him talk about other worlds. She remembered her own sardonic reply: ‘My house is empty. Everyone left long ago.’

“I think I’ve finally started looking inside,” she told him.

“That’s very good.”

Skyblue knew that phrase. This time she could accept it without arguing.