It felt like a lifetime had happened in a day.

And somehow, impossibly, she was back where she'd started the day. Ragnar had pushed every explanation, punishment, chore and duty to the next day. For her first night back on Luminos, they just laid on their bed, waiting for the bittersweet day to end.

Outside, the long night was almost upon them.

"You will hear the wind howling in the air ducts when it hits," Ragnar was telling her, talking of everything else but what was on their minds. "It makes interesting music. I know where it sounds best. I should take you there to listen to it, but only once I've made sure it's safe."

Selena nodded.

We're literally talking about weather.

Ragnar's hands were tight around her like the harbinger never planned to let her go. And although he had messed up with her enormously, Selena couldn't shake the warmth that the previous days had instilled in her.

It was a new wound, but this time the healing was close by.

"It's been a horrible day," she said, feeling the harbinger tense up.

"If you need me to swear on my blood that I will never hurt a hair on your head or let anyone harm you, I will," Ragnar promised.

His deep voice was filled with emotion and Selena knew how much he regretted it. She could feel it with every inch of her being, like his skin on hers was letting her see into his heart.

"I believe you," she said. "It's just hard to ignore, or forget."

Ragnar was quiet for a moment.

"Then you shouldn't," he said. "We made mistakes. You've taught me that the correct way of dealing with them isn't to bury them in the back of your head."

Selena laughed softly.

"That's true," she admitted, hesitating before continuing. "I was ready to tell you something else that's true today."

The harbinger didn't say a word. He almost stopped breathing until Selena finished.

"After what happened, I don't think I can do it," she said, "but you can know that it was there. It means it can also come back."

There was another long pause.

"I'll take that," Ragnar said.

* * *

A year later, Selena was watching the gates close for another long night.

"Everything seems to be in order," she said, watching the tablet in her hands. "It's going to be a good storm."

Ragnar chuckled, shaking his head.

"There is no such thing as a good storm," he told her.

"A satisfactory one, then," Selena teased him, earning herself a kiss for that.

Usually the harbinger wasn't one for public displays of affection, but the preparedness of Isidor-Fol was making him more joyful than generally.

All of that was the official image of Ragnar. In private, Selena had come to learn the true nature of her fated and to her immense relief it was the same one she'd gotten to know before the whole escape thing occurred.

Looking in the deep, stormy eyes of her fated, Selena was so glad that she could finally say the words without a doubt, without concerns or fears or anyone watching over their shoulders. Now that Mjorn was gone, Ragnar had discontinued his work. Women were once again free, or as free as they'd ever been.

"I love you," Selena said, loving the way Ragnar couldn't entirely keep his stoic expression at that.

"I love you," he replied quietly, pulling her into his embrace and kissing her more deeply, not caring who saw them or what they thought.

It was the reserved, sweet side of their passion. In their bed, the other side came out to play too and Selena was having difficulties finding time for her new duties.

She and Piper had taken over most of Kathleen's duties, at least those which didn't involve inventing. They had also created something entirely new, which was a support group for women. It had women who had an easier time on Luminos take up helping those who didn't. The project was proving to be very useful since even after a year some of the women Kathleen had kidnapped and imprisoned had nightmares.

Piper had joked that the children of Luminos would start making up ghost stories about Kathleen who came in the middle of the night to steal them away.

In secret, Selena and Piper had had a small funeral for Kathleen and her companions. They had been insane and they had very nearly succeeded in killing hundreds of women, but they pitied her more than anything. Eight years of mental and physical torture would have driven anyone out of their minds, they figured.

Speak no ill of the dead.

Ragnar was leading Selena away from the main gate. She kept reading the screen as they climbed into the hovercarrier and headed back to their quarters.

"Any answers?" the harbinger asked.

"Just a second," Selena said, scanning the report.

The day before, she'd had the healers scan her for any illnesses. She'd been feeling a little sick and Ragnar wanted to rule out anything like that with the long night coming.

Her eyes were still flying over the lines when her mouth dropped open.

"Ragnar," she said.

The harbinger looked at her curiously, unable to hide the concern.

"I'm pregnant," Selena said, barely able to speak because she was laughing out of sheer happiness.

The carrier nearly toppled when Ragnar pulled her into his arms and kissed her so fiercely her lips hurt. At that moment, Selena didn't mind a single thing that he did.

They stared at each other, not trusting words to say what they were feeling. The bond between them had worked better with each day that had passed and they no longer needed to say anything to know exactly what the other thought.

The hovercarrier was hurrying onward, taking them to their home to celebrate properly. Selena couldn't stop smiling, or thinking of all the things that had brought her right there, into Ragnar's strong, safe arms.

Not all of them had been pleasant, but if they had to happen, Selena was willing to accept it.

No one had ever found out whether Kathleen could have driven the ship in warp or not. For Selena's part, she was glad to have gotten off that ship.

Kathleen had thought that Terra was the home of all the women on Luminos, but she was wrong.

Selena's home was with Ragnar.

* * *

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