EPILOGUE
A year and eight months had passed since I had landed on the planet of Ionia. I had settled very well in my new life. In fact, I couldn't imagine a life different than the happy one that I had now. I scarcely thought about Earth; even though Sion was always deep in my heart, I had learned to let go and think of him as a fond memory of my past life. Now I was a devoted mother, and new wife to my Itions soldier. Leader of the Alva Clan.
I spent a lot of my time with the other mothers, both human and Ition. They were a supportive group, and everyone raised the children as if they were one big group. It reminded of the saying: it takes a village. This was very much the case. Everyone looked after each other, and as the wife of the clan leader, I was looked to for major decisions. It was a role I was not expecting, and to think I had been an office drone in a bank. This work was far more interesting, and it was also fulfilling. When I was not in the village and overseeing tasks that were part of my duties as the wife of a clan leader, I was at home. I found it very pleasing to be at home in our gardens and in our comfortable house playing with our child. I preferred it to anything else.
“Awtyn Ein, come to your father,” Evex said, shouting at our small toddler that waddled away, laughing in good spirits across our garden.
I laughed as I watched the two of them play. I didn't think that I could be filled with so much happiness after going through such a dark time, but I was. I was happier than I had ever been, even happier than I was with my former husband, Sion. Nothing could make you happier than having a child; it changed everything. It brought Evex and me closer than ever. Now that we were sharing a bed together as husband and wife, I truly was fulfilled in every aspect of my life. Nothing could change the happiness that I felt.
“Are you happy, wife?” he asked sitting in the grass next to me with our child in his arms.
“I am, husband: truly happy,” I kissed him on the cheek and then kissed our son on the nose.
“I am glad to hear it,” he said with a smile.
This was how we spent most of our days. Even when Evex was away on duty as the leader of a clan, my son and I ran around the gardens or had leisure time in the village. We spent time with both hybrid children and full Itions children alike. None were treated differently. I was happy to be in such an accepting place. I knew that I needed to be grateful for it. I knew that my life would be different if I were on Earth. I would be in a prison, and my child would have been taken from me. I shuddered to think of it.
The cold war between the Itions and the humans was still an ongoing effort, but we were all happy that it was a war of secrets, tensions, and few casualties because none of us wanted an all-out battle, or for the human army to show up on this peaceful paradise we called Ionia.
The End