Janelle stood outside Andar’s home, staring longingly at the huge tree that had sheltered her for so many months.
“I can’t believe that this is the last time I’ll see you,” Janelle whispered, her heart breaking. Maslar and Andar faced her, the young tucked in each of their arms.
“We could never repay you for this,” Andar responded. He blinked rapidly, holding back his own sorrow.
Maslar nodded. “You have given us the greatest joy that we will ever know. You have given us new life and new hope. You have healed the wound in my heart.”
“And you have given me the greatest gift also. You have taught me to love and you have given me this young to raise. You have made it possible for our species to have a future again.”
Janelle stifled a sob. She had promised herself that she was going to remain strong in their parting. She stepped forward, embracing Maslar first, careful of the young, and then Andar second. She stooped and kissed the bald head of Andar’s young and then the ridged cheek of Maslar’s.
“I love you, sweet babies,” she said brokenly. The tears came then and she wiped them away with the back of her hand.
“Oh, Janelle. You have a whole life waiting for you back on Earth,” Andar encouraged her. She could see in his eyes the sorrow in his own heart. It matched hers.
“I know. I’ll never be able to forget you. I’ll always wonder if my young are well and what they look like. How you both are. If you’re well and happy.”
Maslar nodded. “As we will think of you. Don’t let that stop you from living a full life. This was a moment in time that we all needed to heal. Destiny brought us together for a reason. We can’t fully know it now, but you will in time.”
Andar gently reached out and stroked Janelle’s cheek. She knew she had to go soon. The pods would be leaving and she was expected back at the cave to be washed and dressed in her own clothing and sent on her week-long space journey back to Earth.
“We will always be with you in your dreams and in your heart. If you focus on us, you will feel us. You will know that we are alive and well, and that we are thinking of you often and that we carry a part of you with us also. That connection is strong and can never be broken. You will always have these memories, and these young will always be a part of you.”
“Yes, Janelle. That’s right.” Maslar nodded. “If you focus hard, you will always know that we are with you. Never forget that.”
Maslar and Andar held out their arms and she stepped into the ring, holding tight to the young that could never fully be hers. She felt safe and protected and loved. Part of a family for the first time in her life. She finally understood that had been the reason she was sent here. That Andar was right when he said that everything in her life had prepared her for this moment.
Janelle went to step away, and in that moment, the ground below her feet trembled. She felt the quake like a tingle in her feet and legs. She pulled out of the hug and glanced up in shock to see if Maslar and Andar had felt it as well.
“What was that?” Janelle asked, her worry and fear apparent in her voice.
“Nothing.” Maslar shook his head.
“Our planet trembles from time to time,” Andar said. “Not unlike what happens on Earth.”
“But that can be dangerous!” Janelle protested. “Are you sure it was nothing?”
Maslar and Andar glanced at each other and something passed between those purple eyes that she was not privy to. In the next instant, though, they were smiling and nodding.
“It’s nothing,” Maslar said again. “You don’t need to worry about us or the young. We are safe and we will be well. Klaskar has been our home for generations.”
Janelle had to ask the words she had been needing to voice all morning. She didn’t want to, she knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t stop herself. “If there had been no law stating that I couldn’t stay, if your lifetime wasn’t so much longer than mine, would you want me here with you? Would you love me?” Her voice trembled and tears threatened again.
Maslar and Andar’s faces were tender.
“We will love you the same Janelle,” Maslar assured her. “Despite our long lifetime and the miles between us.”
“Just because you are not here beside us and we are not beside you does not mean that our bond will ever be any less,” Andar said.
Janelle nodded. She knew what their answers would be before they asked but she had to say the words. She couldn’t spend a lifetime wishing she had, regretting that she hadn’t.
She filled her gaze with one last look at Andar and Maslar and their young. She would never forget the sight of them standing beside that tree, holding those two precious little bundles in their arms. She smiled once and they smiled back. She would remember their faces for a lifetime, cherish the memory like one cherishes photographs.