“Every time I see this,” Wonder waved her hand at the lush tropical gardens she and Annani were strolling through, “I’m amazed that all of this is hiding under tons of snow and ice.”

Waterfalls, vivid green trees, bushes, flowerbeds—the garden was a feast for the senses. The sanctuary’s residents called it the Central Park, after the one in Manhattan, which Annani had taken her and Anandur to see.

It had been a fun-filled week.

Annani had made sure of that, taking them first to Paris under the pretext of a shopping excursion, and then to New York under the pretext of showing Wonder Central Park, which Wonder thought looked nothing like the one in the sanctuary. It was much bigger, but not nearly as lush.

Except, she knew it was sort of like a honeymoon, and once things settled into a routine, Anandur would be miserably bored and so would she.

There was only so much she and Annani could talk about without bringing up the past and making each other sad.

“It is even lovelier here when we have little ones,” Annani said. “I love hearing their squeals of joy as they splash in the ponds or go down the slides. Those are my happiest times.”

“How come there aren’t any here now?”

“We had a couple until recently. But it is hard for the new mothers to be here for an extended period of time, away from their homes and their jobs. As soon as they think the children are old enough to be safe in the outside world, they leave.”

“Do all of them come to have their babies here?”

“Most do. Nathalie and Andrew decided against it, which was very disappointing. I adore that little girl. But Andrew could not leave work, and Nathalie refused to leave him behind, which I can understand. It is different for the single mothers. We did not have mated couples until recently.”

“So I guess Eva is not going to have her baby here.”

“I do not think so. I will extend the invitation, of course, to her and to Bhathian. Perhaps having his old friend here would make Anandur happy. He will have someone to train with.”

That wouldn’t solve the problem. Anandur missed the village, he missed his brother, and he missed his friends. He even missed working for Kian.

Wonder missed everyone too.

In time, they might make new friends in the sanctuary, but the new ones couldn’t replace the old ones, and they would still miss their friends.

Besides, before the return of her memories and the move to the sanctuary, Wonder had aspirations that hadn’t included going back to her old job as Annani’s companion slash maid. She’d had dreams of doing more for herself, even though she hadn’t decided yet what that more was.

She could become a teacher, or a fitness instructor, or a nurse. There were so many possibilities. In the sanctuary there were none. It was isolated, and a daily commute to town was not practical. Which precluded school. She could do what Amanda and Syssi had suggested and study online, but the idea didn’t appeal to her. After spending five thousand years in the ground, she didn’t want to resume her life in isolation.

“What do the people here do?” she asked. “They can’t work outside the sanctuary.”

Annani shrugged. “All the things that can be done remotely, which nowadays is almost everything. We have a fashion designer, a couple of jewelry designers, games and software designers, poets, writers, philosophers, and screenwriters. Some do book editing and several offer translation services. Immortals absorb new languages with ease.”

None of the occupations Annani had listed appealed to Wonder. She had no artistic talent, be it fashion design or poetry. Besides, all of those jobs were done in solitude. She preferred working at the café and meeting people to sitting alone in a room all day and doing whatever.

“Why do you ask? Are you not happy spending time with me?”

Gods, how was she going to answer that without hurting Annani’s feelings? Her old friend had done everything she could to make Wonder and Anandur’s time in the sanctuary as pleasant as possible.

“I love spending time with you. But I want to do more with myself.” She lowered her head. “I also miss the new friends I made. But if I go back, I’m going to miss you. I wish you could come live in the village. That would’ve been perfect. We could hang out together wherever we want, and I could pursue whatever career I decide on. Kian said the clan would fund my education. Naturally, I will only accept it as a loan and repay it as soon as I can.”

Annani nodded and pointed at a bench. “A serious talk needs to be done while sitting down.”

What did the goddess mean by a serious talk? Should she worry?

Once they were seated, Annani took Wonder’s hand in hers. “I cannot move into the village. It will create strife between Kian and me that I would rather avoid. He would try to restrict my freedom because he worries for my safety, and I would have to put my foot down because I love to travel and visit different places around the world. Also, having me there would undermine his authority, which is something I would rather avoid as well. I love my children, and they love me, but we all have strong personalities. Living in close proximity to each other we would be stepping on each other's toes.”

“What about you and Alena?”

“Alena chose a different path than Kian and Sari’s.” Annani chuckled. “The official reason is that she loves children and wants to manage the sanctuary, which she does wonderfully. But the truth is that she is here to keep me in check, so I do not go overboard with my stunts and take crazy risks.”

“Kian and Amanda seem to get along just fine.”

“They do, but that is because Amanda does not seek a leadership position and is very happy to see Kian shoulder the responsibility. That is the only reason she defers to him.”

“I guess I have a lot to learn about politics.”

“It is not about politics at large. We are a family. But even within a family there are power struggles. I do not want mine to squabble. That is why we have three locations and two centers of power. Sari and Kian are leading their people independently from each other, and they have me as a figurehead, so neither is tempted to boss the other because officially I am still the head of the clan.”

“You’re very clever.”

Annani smirked. “Thank you. But mostly I learned by trial and error. I had five thousand years to perfect it. Which brings me back to you.” She sighed. “We are not the same girls we used to be. I have lived for a very long time and followed the path I was destined to follow. You are still a nineteen-year-old girl who needs to figure out what her path is. The truth is that you cannot do that here as my companion. I would have loved for you to stay, but as selfish as I am, I would be a lousy friend if I prevented you from becoming all that you can be.”

Tears pricking her eyes, Wonder wrapped her arms around Annani’s shoulders and hugged her gently. The goddess’s appearance was so misleading. Her delicate features and compact size hid a powerhouse of inner strength and wisdom.

“I’m honored you call me a friend.”

For a long moment, they stayed in each other’s arms, but then Annani pulled away and took Wonder’s hands in hers. “There is something you can do to make it up to me for leaving.”

“Name it.”

Annani waggled her brows. “I love presiding over weddings.”

“You mean Anandur’s and mine?”

“Who else’s?”

“He hasn’t proposed yet. Not in so many words.”

“Pfft. As far as Anandur is concerned, it is a done deal. A wedding is just a party to celebrate your union, and I do love parties.”