Three years later…

Stax dodged the snowball and tossed one at his son, but two-year-old Benn easily deflected the projectile with a stick. Benn laughed and ducked behind a bush, while his cousin Marie poked her head out from behind a tree and finally managed to hit Stax in the chest with a snowball. Only a few months older than Benn, she was growing like a leyana weed and had a strong arm.

“I’m hit!” Stax yelled in a dramatic fashion as he feigned dizziness and soon collapsed on the ground. He remained still while the two giggling children slowly approached him, their footsteps crunching in the snow. When they reached him, he peeked one eye open and then lunged at them, sweeping them off their feet. They erupted into laughter and immediately began making more snowballs.

Stax ran for the trees near the picnic Mila had recently spread out on the ramp of the Yeronna, only for her to give him a playful warning look when he came too close. “I’m freezing and I don’t want to get hit. Shoo! Playing in the snow was much more fun when I was a child,” she said with a smile as she motioned him away.

He chuckled and moved to the other side of the trees. Full blooded humans did not handle the cold as well as Vaxxlians or half-Vaxxlians, like Benn and Marie.

Benn and Marie had been begging to take a trip to the snowcapped mountains for some time. The children had jumped for joy when he’d announced they would finally visit and play in the snow today, and his heart warmed as he recalled the moment they’d both tackled him in a group hug. He loved being a father and an uncle.

Since Annika taught classes at the school every other day and Deza had been promoted to a commander, Mila often watched their daughter for them during the days, which was wonderful as Benn usually had a playmate to keep him occupied. Benn and Marie weren’t quite old enough to start school yet, but in only a few months they would match a five-year-old human child in size and in intelligence. Vaxxlian offspring grew faster than human children and reached adulthood at roughly ten years of age, and the half-Vaxxlian half-humans grew almost as fast.

“I think he went this way!” Benn called.

“You’re right. Look, I see his footprints!” Marie replied. “Let’s make stardust out of him!”

Stax scooped up a few snowballs and waited to be found.

Through the trees, he saw the children approaching, their bright red shirts giving away their location, as well as their continued laughter. But as he prepared to toss the first snowball, something big and wet splatted into the back of his head, causing him to lose his balance and drop his armful of projectiles. He turned to find Mila running at him, another snowball at the ready.

He scrambled to return fire, but in the end, she hit him again—this time on his forehead. He growled and started chasing her. She giggled and tried to outrun him, but he caught her quickly and lifted her off her feet, settling them both on the ground. He moved to lay beside her and pulled her close while she squealed. Then he pretended he was about to shove her face in the snow.

“I’m sorry!” she yelled. “Truce! Truce!”

He cupped her face and stared into her eyes. “I’ll honor your truce, but only under one condition.”

“What condition is that?”

“Kiss me,” he commanded.

She blushed prettily but leaned in to kiss him. Her lips were warm and soft, as enticing as ever, and she smelled of the floral shampoo she always used in her hair. He dropped one hand from her face and rolled a dozen snowballs in secret behind his back, trying not to laugh as he did so.

The children finally arrived at the scene, but they didn’t throw any of their snowballs.

“Ew! Gross!” Marie cried.

“Yuck,” Benn agreed. “That’s not how you snowball fight.”

Stax pulled back from Mila and looked at the children. “You’re right. This is how you snowball fight.” With that, he began hurling snowball after snowball at them. In their surprise, Benn and Marie dropped their own snowy projectiles and ran for cover behind some nearby bushes.

Mila laced her gloved fingers through Stax’s and squeezed his hand. “Thanks for taking a day away from the laboratory to bring us up here. The kids are having so much fun, and so am I.” She peered around the snowy mountain. “Truly, it’s magical up here.”

He embraced her, holding her against his chest as he moved his hands up and down her back, trying to warm her up. “You’re very welcome.” He shifted and placed a hand on her growing stomach. “We’ll have to visit the mountain a few more times before our daughter is born.”

“Agreed.”

He helped her stand and they both called a truce with the children, promising to let them have extra cookies if Mila or Stax threw another snowball at them. Benn and Marie emerged from the bushes and they all ventured back to the Yeronna, where they enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch with a majestic view of the valley below, as well as the new Vaxxlian settlement now known as Starrzia.

Stax’s people had grown stronger since the war against the Irrcons. Most of the Vaxxlian warriors now had human mates, and the few who didn’t yet were planning a voyage to Earth in the near future. The valley was filled with white stone houses, all containing lush rooftop gardens.

Each house signified a family. He smiled at the sight.

“What are you smiling about now?” Mila asked. It was a private joke between them—how often he smiled, which was far more often than most males of his kind. But he couldn’t contain his joy at having a loving mate and a son, with a daughter on the way, and the evidence of other families in the valley only increased his happiness.

Stax met her eyes. “I’m smiling at the view,” he said, making a sweeping gesture at the brilliant landscape that rested before them, the ghosts of the twin moons resting high in the vast blue sky.

Mila pecked him on the cheek. “Keep smiling,” she said with a grin of her own. “Your eyes glow brighter every time, and I love to see you so happy.”

He kissed her again.