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  Duulahar smiled. “It is, but what would I do next? My gift is a little weird.”

  “Your gift is amazing. You can make holes in space. You have used it well on your mission, but I think we could make up a bit of an obstacle course for you.”

  “We?”

  “Rekonu and I met during basic training, and he is as keen to see you rise as I am.”

  She was suspicious. “Why?”

  Leythana smiled. “Because he has a good heart. He always has. We were going to become a couple, and then, Minos put an end to it.”

  “How can you be so cheerful about it?”

  Leythana sighed. “I am not. My mind is screaming for the lost time, but I can’t get it back. My soul aches for the time that I didn’t get to have with Rekonu, but that time is passed, and all we can do is start again and see if we like the people we have become. I howl with pain at not being able to watch you grow into the amazing woman you are today, but I know that you will give me the joy of you in my future.”

  Duulahar blinked and wiped her cheeks. “Right. Well, okay, so you are not cheerful.”

  “Hopeful. I am hopeful.”

  Duulahar wrinkled her nose. “I am not really sure about other people. I have basically been stuck here for the last ten years, and I need to find a way to participate in the community so I can understand how normal people think.”

  Understanding dawned on Leythana’s face. “Ah, I believe that I can help with that. We can get you a position as a peacekeeper volunteer if you like if they still do that.” She grimaced slightly. “I will look into it. It used to be something that we did in the last years of school.”

  “I don’t want a career in peacekeeping.”

  “They go to every situation, from the domestic calls to terrorist situations. If you want to see humanity under stress, that is the place to do it.”

  “Can I think about it?”

  “Of course, but I want an idea of what you want from your future in the next month.”

  “Why are you pushing this?”

  Leythana crouched nearby, and she sighed. “The longer you remain here in our happy bubble, the longer you will crave this as your goal. It isn’t. This is where you come to still your soul, not keep it static. You would never continue to evolve here, and I see so much more in you.”

  Duulahar sniffled. “If you can arrange it, I will start heading out with the peacekeepers.”

  “I will make the call when I get back in the house. How are you doing?”

  “What?” That was a surprising line of questioning.

  “How are you doing? Your life was wildly twisted, and everything that you know was taken and set on its head.”

  “Fine. Yeah, I think I am fine. I want to look up my birth mom a little bit.”

  “Good. I already have. You have cousins but remember that you were not an accidental occurrence, you came into the world via Minos’s aggression and deception. If you choose to contact them, do it carefully while keeping yourself under guard. They suffered a loss, and they have never been allowed to properly grieve her.”

  “Right. I will approach them carefully.”

  “Good. Now, the horses need to be brushed. Your mount really didn’t like the ride here in the animal trailer.”

  She grinned and got off the swing. “Yes, Mom.”

  Leythana stood and hugged her again. “I love hearing that.”

  “I know. I am trying to say it a lot.”

  She gave her mother a squeeze, and then, she released her, walking toward the barn. The horses had always been Leythana’s thing. She found them soothing. Duulahar walked inside, and she got the brush, a soft rope, and her boots on.

  She looked at the exhausted horse, and her heart was moved. She was wiped out after the travel, and even her sister’s presence wasn’t enough to lift her mood.

  “Aw, you did so well, darling. Come on, sweetie, let me get you a good brushing and a wipe down and then brushing again. How does that sound?”

  She walked her to the larger stall on the other side of her sister, and she hung up the bucket with oats and alfalfa. The horse perked up, and she gave the food her attention while Duulahar went through the painstaking process of removing every burr and fleck of dirt.

  * * * *

  Leythana watched her daughter with the animal, and she sighed. There was so much patience wrapped around a soul made of fire. She needed a chance to experience both sides of her personality. Holding herself back was only going to cause her to crack. She needed an outlet, she needed to direct all that energy into something constructive or something destructive. She just had to start getting some of that energy out.

  She turned and walked back to the house, smiling as Rekonu passed her with a box of books, a box of collectibles, and a suitcase. It would be nice having someone around the house who enjoyed heavy lifting.

  “You are going to get to work. You have a serious face.” He chuckled as he headed into his room.

  “I am. She has given enough of her life to me, she needs to get one of her own.”

  “You can’t just shove her out of the nest.” He came back from his room and wandered after her.

  “I am asking her to walk out of the nest with the door wide open. I want her to see that there are worlds out there that she never imagined, but she needs to start as a peacekeeper observer.”

  “Do they still do that?”

  “I am going to ask, and barring a positive response, I am going to insist.” She wrinkled her nose. “I am the new resurrected darling of the press. I don’t want to push Duulahar into the spotlight, but I will definitely use my own celebrity to get my way.”

  He grinned. “Just like old times.”

  “Better. This time, I am choosing the people around me.”

  He sighed. “That makes me very happy.”

  She sat down at her terminal and looked up at him. “What does?”

  “That you are finally able to choose.” He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

  She smiled. “You were always my only choice.”

  “And you were mine.”

  She wanted to stare into his bright eyes, but instead, she sighed and opened her personal files. “I am going to find something for my daughter to do, and then, you and I can return to discussing what we were discussing before my retirement.”

  His voice was low. “Do you mean it?”

  “I meant it on our first night, and I mean it now. You were always the one I chose. He took those years from us, but he isn’t going to take any more.”

  She typed with one hand and lifted the other, smiling when he gripped it.

  “He is not going to take any more of our lives.” Rekonu kissed the back of her hand.

  “That’s it. If we regain our lives quick enough, we might even be able to fit in a sibling for Duulahar.”

  The sound of Rekonu hitting the floor made her laugh as she checked the records and got ready to make her first call to an old acquaintance. “Oh, look, she is a peacekeeper general now.”

  He made a strangled noise, but he still kept hold of her hand. She typed her request one-handed, just as she used to do when they were dating.

  A little flicker of her past was back. Time to make a new future.

  Chapter Six

  Duulahar sat through three warning briefings and a number of waivers before she was able to actually go with a pair on an assignment.

  Mixall and Niida were both efficient and were not fond of her presence. They tolerated her and made sure she had the same files that they did before they arrived at their first assignment for the day.

  The shouting from inside the house was a definite indicator that they were at the correct house.

  She left the vehicle and kept her position behind and to the side of the peacekeepers.

  Duulahar watched them approach the house and knock on the door. She trailed in and hung back, seeing the owner of the home sneaking
around the back and up the side of the house. She did a quick check, and he had seven outstanding warrants for domestic violence. His wife had six outstanding warrants, but she was inside the house, wailing.

  She opened her com and said, “Is the male from the house free to go?”

  “No. We are searching for him now.”

  Duulahar stepped out and blocked the man from fleeing the premises. He stopped short.

  “What the hell are you doing? You don’t have the right to stop me.”

  He lunged for her, she grabbed his wrist, and moved to the side, using his momentum to ride him face first into the pavement. She knelt on his back and was about to open her com when a hand came around and cuffed her prisoner.

  “Well done, Neemi.” Peacekeeper Niida murmured it with a gruff voice. “Perhaps you will be good at this, after all.”

  Duulahar got off her prisoner, and he was pulled to his feet with very little ceremony.

  The female at home was clutching a broken arm, small faces were peeking out from behind her, and Duulahar didn’t know how she was going to do this.

  A child services vehicle was called, and when the children were on their way for a fun sleepover, their mother passed out.

  The immediacy of what was going on struck her. In one argument, the children had lost their father, their mother, and now, they were in custody until it was determined whether their mother was suitable to be a solitary parent. It had all taken less than twenty minutes to change four lives forever.

  When everything was taken care of and the home was secured, they were back in the vehicle and waiting for the next call.

  “Good catch, Neemi.” Mixall grinned at her. “You work out?”

  “A little. Nothing formal.”

  Niida snorted, his voice gravelly. “That was Cohal. The suspect couldn’t have landed a hit if he tried.”

  “I didn’t know it was legal for members of the public to learn it.”

  Duulahar’s cheeks heated. “I never actually looked into that. A friend taught me, and my mother has been keeping my skills sharp.”

  They whistled softly in unison.

  “The friend you have must have done time in the elite military. Did they?”

  “I honestly don’t know. It never came up.” She sighed.

  The com crackled, and the next mission came through. There was no need for her to bring up files, it was a fire.

  They raced through the streets, and the fire crews were on hand and working. They got out, and the peacekeepers sprang into action, moving the watchers back, checking on the family to make sure they were all accounted for, and aside from a missing pet, they were.

  Looking at the flames that were consuming the house, there was no way that the structure would make it. If the pet were alive, it wouldn’t be for long.

  She knelt next to the little girl. “How big is your dog?”

  “She’s a puppy. She’s this big.” The girl held her hands apart.

  “Where does she sleep?”

  “Back of the house, in the kitchen.”

  “How did you get out?”

  “Through the window on the upstairs.”

  Duulahar patted the girl’s leg and whispered, “I am going to see if I can find her.”

  She moved as casually as she could, with a loose purpose. No one looking at her would think she was up to anything, but she definitely was.

  The back of the house wasn’t damaged, but smoke was roiling inside. She walked up to the glass and opened a port inside the home to the vacuum of space. The smoke was sucked in, and she moved quickly. The back door was unlocked, and she opened it, holding tight to the wall. She scanned the floor and found the small body. Crossing her fingers, she moved toward it and grabbed the small form.

  She left the house and dissolved her port hole, the smoke coiled in.

  The small body in her arms was limp but still warm. She crouched and put it on the ground, rubbing the ribs and massaging the abdomen. The dog let out a little wheeze, and its eyelids flickered.

  She put the port to a rainforest at daybreak into her hand and positioned it over the little muzzle.

  The dog’s legs began to move, and it coughed a few times before whining and wiggling.

  “All right. We have to go find your little girl. Dogs are important.” She scooped the wiggling body up and kept the oxygen aimed at her muzzle.

  She walked to the front of the house and the crowd that was forming. Duulahar walked to the little girl. “I found your puppy, but it needs to see a vet before you can cuddle her as much as you like. For now, you can give her a lot of petting around the ears.”

  The little girl burst into tears and reached out with both hands, stroking the soft ears, and the puppy went berserk trying to get to her.

  It took some doing, but Duulahar kept the oxygen flowing while the two were reunited.

  She asked the medics where she could find a vet, and they pointed out the neighbour watching the burn with three dogs on leashes. She closed her port and gathered the puppy close.

  She walked over to the vet and spoke softly. The man nodded and led her to a nearby vehicle where he engaged in an examination of the wiggling ball of happiness.

  “If I didn’t know that the house was full of smoke, I would say this dog was out in the back yard. How did you get her out?”

  Duulahar smiled. “Confidential, I am afraid. Is she okay?”

  “They are going to have to avoid letting her run for a few days, but she should be fine.” He pulled out a card. “Tell them to contact me if there is an issue.”

  “I will. Thank you. I just didn’t want to turn over a dying pet.”

  “Understandable. You must have gotten there just in time.”

  She inclined her head and returned to the family. They all gushed and cooed over the puppy, and it got a lot of love.

  She gave the card to the father, and he nodded.

  When she stood up, Mixall and Niida were grinning at her. She walked over to them and whispered, “What?”

  “There are some folks who are designed to be observers and some who are made for action. It seems you know what to do. So, do you know how to stop the fire?”

  “Yes, but unless they can cool it down, it will just relight when I stop.”

  Mixall stared. “Really?”

  “Yes. I can bleed the air off, but the heat is going to remain. If they can concentrate on taking care of that, I can put it out.”

  Niida ran to the fire chief, and they talked, but Niida soon nodded with one thumb up.

  Duulahar ran to the back of the building, opened one portal in the kitchen and another in the dining area beyond. When the air cleared, she carefully climbed onto a shed in the back yard, using a grill as a step. When she could see into the window, she released the vacuum in the kitchen and opened one on the upper floor. The flames flickered and began to go out. She closed the living room port and opened a second one down the hall from the first. She could see them both, see the flames bending and shrinking and going out.

  She held the ports, shrinking them while water poured in. It took long minutes of intense focus to hold the ports, but when the cascade of water soaked everything, she closed the holes in space.

  Duulahar knelt on the shed, catching her breath while her head spun. She had used her ports more on this one house than she ever had before. Hers was not a gift that came with stamina. She was designed to act and move on.

  The fire was officially out. The cheer from the front of the property was proof of that.

  Niida came in search of her, and he gasped when he saw her. “Neemi! Geez. What did you do?”

  She smiled and sat down to slide off the shed. “I put the fire out. It just doesn’t come naturally.”

  He caught her and held her until she could stand on her own two feet.

  “What is your gift?”

  “Ports. I open ports and connect here to another place. For the fire, I
used space.”

  “Why were you up on the shed?”

  “It is high. I have line-of-sight talent. I can’t make a port in a zone I can’t see.”

  “So, you had to see through the window.”

  “Correct. I saw this earlier and knew it would be good enough for my purpose.”

  He chuckled as they came around the house. “You could have used the ladder leaning against the shed.”

  She tripped, and he had to hold her up. She glared at him as he helped her back to the peacekeeper vehicle. “Oh, just shut up.”

  He helped her sit in back, and he nodded. “You did good, Neemi. You should be proud.”

  She leaned back on the seat, and she smiled with her eyes closed. “I am.”

  Chapter Seven

  After discussing her exhaustion with Leythana, they created an emergency snack stop for her at home. If she was exhausted, dehydrated, or just hungry, there was always something waiting for her to reach out and take it. The spot was marked, Duulahar’s emergency snacks, and it was a spot she knew well.

  Her ride-alongs with the peacekeepers were intriguing. She stopped robberies, retrieved stolen goods without approaching the suspect, and helped a depressed teen with his homework. His father had been worried about a suicide when the teen wouldn’t open his door, so Duulahar picked the lock—another new skill—and sat down to discuss what the problem was. She helped him with his homework and talked to him about his thoughts on higher education. The peacekeepers left her at Romos’s home and picked her up at the end of the shift, when she had discussed life skills, choosing a path, and not being afraid to change direction when the path twisted away. He promised to keep her posted on his progress, his grades, and learning how to cook and do laundry. His father went from sobbing softly to tell her how proud he was of his boy.

  It was amazing how many things that she had learned over the last few months were applicable in actual life. You had to attend to all aspects of your life if you wanted to be whole. Being a student was great, but knowing how to take care of himself would help his appeal to others and himself. It would also give him a break from the relentless studying. Cooking was excellent meditation that would give him a chance to create. He also had the com information of several tutors that she had gotten in contact with. If he had a question, he had places to go.