I was pleased to discover Edie was far from upset that I’d been so occupied with Venan. She’d been spending a lot of time with the Corporal, and she had a lot to tell me about him, but her excitement about her own life wasn’t enough to quell her excitement about mine.

“You have to tell me everything!” she exclaimed the moment she walked into my hut.

I was sitting on the couch as usual, but for once I didn’t have a book open in my lap. I knew she would’ve had something to say about it if I did and, frankly, I was rather excited to hang out with her too. It made it easier knowing Venan was going to be away anyhow for Forum. Though it was still in the back of my mind what the Forum was about and what it would mean if the Elders decided the Novai could live on Albaterra with the A'li-uud and us.

“Tell you everything about what?” I asked, playing dumb.

Edie threw a playful glare at me and jumped over the back of my sofa to plop on the cushion. She wasn’t in her scrubs, but her hair was extremely messy like she’d been doing something physical. I hoped it wasn’t something with the Corporal, or I’d have had to ask her to wash her hands.

“You know exactly about what, missy, now spill it,” she gushed.

I laughed and shook my head. “You first,” I insisted. “I’ve been the one neglecting our friendship, so I should have to be the one who listens to someone else’s relationship for a little bit.”

She scooped her legs up beneath her and propped her heels under her rear, bouncing on them. “But I want to know about you and the alien!”

“Why do you say it like that?” I chuckled. “’Alien.’”

“Because I think it’s totally cool that aliens and people can be together,” she admitted. “Not that I’m unhappy in my relationship or anything, but not too long ago being with someone like Venan would’ve been something we could’ve only imagined in a movie or a book. Now, it’s reality. Don’t you think that’s awesome?”

I did think it was awesome, but not in the way she did. I thought it was awesome Venan and I had the connection we did, and I thought it was awesome I finally felt like I had a good relationship instead of a questionable one. The fact that I was a human and Venan was an A’li-uud barely grabbed my notice most of the time, except for when topics like Forum and the Council came up.

“Yeah, it’s great,” I agreed, deciding not to go into the differences in our opinions. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

“Everything!” she cried again. She bounced more energetically, and my body was jostled by her movements. “Is it official? Do you have titles on each other? Have you even kissed him yet?”

“I don’t know, no, and yes,” I answered without hesitation.

Her bright, sparkling eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Okay, we need to talk about all of that,” she yelped.

Edie was like a child on a sugar high, overly enthusiastic and extremely energetic. If I could’ve compared her to any animal, it would’ve been a young puppy with its tail wagging profusely until it was finally pet, although she would’ve been the kind of puppy who wouldn’t have calmed down even then. She could be exhausting at times just because she possessed the kind of energy allotted only to the Energizer Bunny, but it was a good kind of exhausting. I liked her company, and I liked that she was genuinely happy for the achievements and successes in others’ lives. Thankfully, I’d never been injured or sick since I’d come to Albaterra, but I imagined it wouldn’t have been so terrible if I had because she was a nurse and it would be extraordinarily difficult to be unpleasant about anything with someone like her tending to me.

“So, you don’t know if it’s official,” she reiterated, now pulling her legs upward to prop up her knees and rest her chin on them.

“No, we haven’t talked about that,” I said. “We don’t really talk about the terms of our relationship. We just know there is one.”

“Well, are you exclusive?”

It was a strange question, not in and of itself but because it was one I used to be obsessed with back on Earth. With Venan, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that we weren’t exclusive. I obviously wasn’t seeing other people, nor did I have any desire to do so, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t either. More than that, it seemed completely impossible to imagine seeing anyone else—ever. He’d mentioned the Grand Circle to me a few times, which was an A’li-uud version of the human blend of God and fate, and what he’d told me about it in conjunction with what we had between us made a believer. We didn’t have to discuss such things as exclusivity because we were just right together.

“Yes,” I replied hesitantly, “but not in the way you’re thinking.”

Her face fell, her pretty mouth turning downward and her eyes drooping a bit at the corners. “Don’t tell me he’s sleeping with some alien bimbo,” she said darkly.

“No, of course not!” I retorted, grabbing one of the throw pillows I’d propped up behind me and smacking her across the legs with it. She snagged it from my hands with a grin and threw it back at me.

“Well, I don’t know! You’re not giving me much to go on here! You’re being really vague, and vague is usually a bad sign.”

I shook my head. “I’m not being vague, I’m just…happy. I don’t know how else to put it. We’re together, and we’re happy.”

Her wagging-tail expression returned to her face in full effect, and she pressed her cheek to her knees as she whined a long, drawn-out, “Awwwww.”

“Don’t do that,” I warned, holding up a scolding finger.

Edie laughed. Already, I wasn’t feeling so forlorn in Venan’s absence. Edie had a way about her of bringing sunshine and cheer to any room she entered, and apparently, no amount of annoying lovesickness was immune.

She continued to grill me, and I continued to give her answers. She was horrified to learn Venan and I had only just shared our first kiss when I took him to the oasis, but she oohed and aahed when I explained to her what I’d done in taking him there and why.

“Now, that’s romance,” she said firmly.

When she asked if I’d slept with him yet, I told her an honest no, and that opened up an entirely new battery of questions.

“Why not? Are you scared to sleep with him? Have you even seen…you know…it? Do you want to sleep with him? Does he want to sleep with you? How do you know?”

It felt good to discuss Venan with someone other than him for a change. I realized just how much I’d missed my friend and how important it was we maintained regular contact. It seemed she felt the same way because, when we turned to the topic of her Corporal, she had plenty to say and wanted a lot of advice. I figured, if our friendship wasn’t all that important to her, my opinion wouldn’t be either.

Apparently, her biggest frustration in the relationship department was the Corporal’s lack of commitment. It was my turn to ask her some things.

“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but that’s not really a commitment,” she complained.

I snorted. “It is on Albaterra,” I said. “It’s not like he has billions of females to choose from and he’s holding back because he still wants to sow his seeds.”

“But I want to get married,” she argued. “Or at least be engaged. Put a ring on it, you know?”

“Are there even rings here?” I asked. I tried to remember if Phoebe had been wearing one during the wedding ceremony, or if she’d been wearing one when she came into the salon, but I couldn’t recall.

Edie gave me a look like I was the stupidest person she’d ever met. “Of course there’s rings here,” she snarked. “The A’li-uud don’t use them for engagements, but they have them. And just because the A’li-uud don’t use them that way doesn’t mean we can’t.”

“I suppose.” My mind was wandering of its own accord, drifting into a territory I wasn’t sure I wanted it to enter. An image of Venan proposing to me in standard human fashion, down on one knee with a ring presented in a plush velvet box, popped into my head, and my entire body from my scalp to my toenails grew uncomfortably warm. It was way too early to think about that, but I couldn’t stop until I shook my head like an Etch A Sketch and refocused my eyes on Edie. “I guess I never took you for the marriage-and-babies type.”

“Babies?” She wrinkled her nose. “Who said anything about babies? But, oh, you probably don’t know…” She leaned in toward me and pressed her hand on my arm briefly. “Guess who’s pregnant?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know much about the romantic goings-on around the colony and wasn’t a good source for that kind of gossip.

“Phoebe!” she cried, rolling back against the arm of the couch and kicking her feet like a duck paddling itself through water.

“What?” I demanded. I was stunned, and I wasn’t sure I completely believed her. It had never crossed my mind that humans and A’li-uud could mate, as crass as the term sounded. After all, what were the odds our reproductive biology could be compatible? “Are you sure? Did she actually tell you this, or are you just making assumptions because she hasn’t been feeling good or she’s put on weight or something?”

Edie flung her arms out to the sides, smacking her hand against the couch’s back. “No, she told me! And she just came to the infirmary yesterday for her first prenatal checkup, which, I can tell you, was interesting. We’re still getting the hang of A’li-uud technology, and obviously, we can’t use stuff like ultrasounds here, but she seems to be healthy, and we’re guessing she’s about three months along.”

“Three months? But she was only married a month ago.”

“Oh, jeez, Octavia,” Edie scolded. “It’s not like you’re a Quaker. They were having sex before they got married, you know.”

“Right, yeah,” I said quickly, a little embarrassed. “I’m just surprised.”

She held up a finger and crooked her eyes toward the ceiling thoughtfully as she added, “Although, we aren’t quite sure when she conceived. She could actually only be a month along, but maybe A’li-uud babies have different gestation periods than human ones. And, since this baby is half-and-half, who knows what to expect? Anyway, I’m insisting on throwing her a baby shower in a couple of months, and you have to come, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed absently. The image of Venan had returned to my mind, but hot on its heels was another image. It took everything I had to dismiss the tiny blue face from my brain and tune back in to Edie’s chatter, though I somehow managed it.

After she left and I’d crawled into bed, though, I closed my eyes and saw the most beautiful sapphire-skinned child anyone could hope to see.