I rocked back and forth on my heels as I looked around the spaceport and fidgeted nervously with the name tag attached to my blazer. Everyone I worked with on Nexion 6 thought it was kind of weird that I wore these things I called suits. Especially since I had to have them custom-made. But they made me feel so official and distinctly adult, especially on days like today where I was greeting my fellow humans.

In the year that'd passed since Talys and I agreed to try a long-distance relationship, with me staying back on Nexion, huge strides had been made on Korystus. I wished I could say I played a huge part in it, but I didn't. Talys had made it his mission to make up for all the things he let slide in the past, and then some.

Working together with the figureheads of the movement on Korystus—Senator Rylos, Marion, Naomi, and Kolyr—and using his connections to create immense pressure from the intergalactic community, Korystus had let go of their stranglehold on their human population.

All ownership of humans, no matter how much Korysti paid for them, was revoked and humans were free to leave Korystus—funded by the government. It was a publicity move, of course, and suggested by Talys, but despite their intentions not being pure, it was still changing lives for the better.

That was where my part came in. I'd gone to Exora, who to this day apologized profusely for not being more clear about the whole brothel situation—and asked her to let me help the new humans adjust. Eventually, under her training, I'd become a caseworker myself. To date, I'd helped over a hundred humans get settled on Nexion 6—which was thankfully ever-expanding and still had plenty of room to grow.

Another fifteen humans were arriving today, and I was waiting in front of their ship, which had just arrived from Korystus. Surprisingly, the intake of humans had slowed down quite a bit over the past month or so.

Talys told me it was because quite a few humans were actually choosing to stay. Some had found love, and others had grown to love Korystus itself despite its flaws, and there was apparently a thriving community of humans there.

The doors opened and people, my people, began to slowly make their way down the ramp. There was a Korysti ushering them off the ship, and he paused when he saw me, eyes lighting up. I muffled a gasp with my hand. I couldn't believe my eyes. Could it really be . . .?

"Ulyr!" I cried out, a wide, uncontrollable smile stretching my cheeks tight.

He waved and hurried down the ship's ramp, cutting through the crowd to rush forward and sweep me into a hug. I tossed my arms around him and squeezed.

"How are you doing, old man?"

I might've called him old, but despite the fact that Ulyr had lived twice as long as Talys's roughly thirty years (I still struggled with Korysti time), he hardly looked a day older. That was the joy of being a Korysti, though. I once told Talys that I was horrified by the thought that he'd be stuck with a wrinkled seventy-year-old me, while he still looked like he does now.

Apparently I underestimated the technology around here, because I didn't have to look my age, according to him, but he swore up and down that he wouldn't care anyway. I asked him if he'd ever even seen an old human. He hadn't. But I still believed him. The guy was head over heels in love with me, and I was just as much of a sucker for him.

"Very well, thanks to Ambassador Talys."

I laughed. "You can just call him Talys."

"Absolutely not. The ambassador deserves my respect."

I pulled back and Ulyr moved his hands to my upper arms, giving them a squeeze.

"You look so happy, my girl," he said with a soft smile. "I'm proud of you."

"What can I say? Things have been pretty good." I turned my own smile on the group of humans awaiting direction, their eyes wide as they took in the expansive, bustling spaceport. Each new group reminded me of how amazing the planet I lived on was. “C’mon, Ulyr, let's get these humans sorted."

After getting the group of new additions to Nexion 6 tucked away in their apartments, where they could take some time to decompress and get used to their new lives like I had, I'd taken Ulyr out to dinner. I even used one of those hovering spheres to get us there. I was a regular city person these days. Not afraid of using automated vehicles by myself anymore. Success? I thought so.

By the time I saw Ulyr off at the spaceport and got back to my apartment, I was the sort of bone-deep exhausted that was satisfying in its own way. It was proof that I was doing things. Important things. Sure, it was hard being separated from Talys for such long stretches, but it made me absolutely certain to treasure every single moment we got together.

With a loud yawn, I opened my apartment door and trudged inside, dropping my bag and badge in the entryway. Normally, it would all clatter against the floor, but it all landed quietly this time. I looked down and saw my badge sitting on top of luggage. A lot of very expensive-looking luggage. Talys is here?! I wasn't supposed to see him for a couple more weeks.

Giddy with anticipation, I kicked off my shoes and rushed inside to find Talys waiting for me, just like I'd expected. I hadn't, however, expected him to be sprawled out on my bed, butt-naked in all of his shining, purple glory, and snoring softly. The final volume of Sera and the Space Pirates was tucked beneath one of his arms. We'd been reading them together whenever we could over the past year. Well, I did the reading and he listened. He was more invested in the story than I'd ever been, and I was a pretty serious fangirl back in my day. I bit down on my lower lip to stifle a laugh and crept over to him, kneeling at the foot of the bed.

I reached out and poked the tip of his nose as I whispered, "Talys. Wake up."

He twitched his nose, frowned, then reached out for me, murmuring, "Why're you up? Come back to bed, darling, I'm cold."

"I'd imagine that's because your shapely butt is on display," I replied with a laugh. "Why aren't you under the covers?"

"I'm naked? Oh, right." He opened one glowing eye and squinted it at me. "I was going to surprise you when you got back."

"You succeeded," I said with a laugh. "Maybe not how you'd imagined, but I'm still impressed."

He gave me a sly smile as he stretched. "Did you get back late, or was I just exceptionally tired?"

"Probably both. You've been working a lot."

"So have you. You deserve to lie in bed and be lavished with attention by the most handsome man in the universe."

"The most handsome and humble."

"We've long since established that I'll never be humble."

He reached out and urged me up onto the bed. I stood up and got in with him, still fully dressed. He wrapped me up tight in his arms. I pressed my face against his chest, breathing in his comforting scent, and let out a content sigh. These moments we had together were always perfect. Our brand of perfect, at least.

"I like this surprise," I said, my voice muffled against his chest, "you should do this more often."

He pulled back to look down at me, his smile growing. "No, I don't think I'll be doing it anymore."

"Is this you breaking up with me?" I asked dryly, fighting back a smile.

Talys arched a brow. "Yes, I find getting naked and passing out in a woman's bed to be the best way to go about that sort of thing. It's a flawless plan when you think about it."

I snickered and wound my arms around him. "You're practically naked all the time anyway. Not like it changes anything because you took off one strip of fabric."

"It's my culture. I don't make fun of you for all of this." He pointedly plucked at my blazer, my blouse, then my pants. "And it's far more ridiculous."

"You make fun of my clothes all the time."

"True, but in my defense, you look much better without them."

"You're biased."

"Very much so."

I rolled my eyes. "So, what were you actually talking about? In regards to never surprising me again?"

"I'll continue to surprise you, just not with random visits," Talys replied breezily. "In other, more direct words, I'm a new resident of Nexion 6. Blessedly, this means Artos will stop complaining about how infrequently we visit." He frowned. "Hopefully I'll be able to claw him away from Roxa's grip long enough each day to still have an assistant."

"Yeah, I'm happy for Artos too, but let's back that up a few sentences." I scrambled out of his arms and sat up on my knees, staring down at him with wide eyes. "You're moving to Nexion?!"

He settled back, arms crossed behind his head, and nodded, clearly pleased with himself. "You heard correctly."

"But why?"

Talys gave me a flat look. "Because I love you and want to be with you?"

"You know what I mean." I batted him on his bare leg. "Are you not an ambassador anymore, or . . .?"

"I still am. Korystus has decided that it's time to set up proper embassies, and I jumped at the opportunity to head the one here on Nexion."

Although I was excited, a sudden thought made me wrinkle my nose. "Ambassador Elyos isn't going to work here, is he?"

Talys chuckled. "I think he's too embarrassed to even travel to Nexion 6 anymore."

In the past year, I'd only run into Elyos once, and it'd been painfully awkward. I eventually found out through Talys and Ulyr that apparently Elyos wasn't as brave as he'd seemed to me back then. He chickened out the day he was meant to take me to Nexion and left early without telling Ulyr. So, Talys had been wrong about Elyos's ship being behind his that day. It was long gone by the time I went inside the spaceport.

"Oh, by the way," Talys said, a hand slowly sneaking inside my blazer, "I might've also been the one to suggest we establish an embassy here in the first place, so if you want to congratulate me, preferably with that luscious body of yours—"

He didn't have to ask twice. I cut him off by jumping forward and crashing my lips against his in a gleeful kiss. I'd thought that things couldn't get any more perfect than they already were. As Talys slid his arms around me and sank me back against the bed, whispering about all the wonderful things he would do now that he had me to himself every day—I was happy to be wrong.