They had a family meeting on the first anniversary of their move to the hangar. Now settled in their very own house, they convened in the kitchen and waited for Kerone to finish putting Kae to bed downstairs. It was just the five of them now, with Ty living in his own place farther out in the foothills.

Well, the five of them plus DECA, who had pretty much moved into the house with them. An informal vote had given her the run of the place, meaning projectors in every room, on condition of her observing family rules of privacy. Act like a human and be treated like a human, Andros had said. And she did.

It actually worked in their favor, even if Andros occasionally complained that it creeped him out to hear his mother's voice at their bedroom door. The new arrangement meant that DECA's hologram sometimes turned up in the kitchen, "working" at a computer terminal, or pretending to read in the living room, and the house was big enough that it was nice to have another person around. The projectors also meant that there wasn't anywhere in the house Kae could hide from her, and that was worth having her everywhere they were right there.

She didn't come to family meetings, though. At least, not all of them. She was invited when there were parenting issues to discuss, but the four of them tried to keep some aspects of their personal relationships to themselves. Andros wasn't the only one who felt awkward with a professional mentor listening in.

So when it came time to seriously consider the issue of marriage, they all agreed it was a conversation they had to have alone. Not because any of them were against it--Zhane and Kerone had been convincing proponents of legal family status--but because it wasn't just about legalities. Marriage was as much an emotional issue as it was a practical one, and no one wanted to be left out.

At least, Ashley didn't want to be left out. She was pretty sure Andros only agreed to the meeting because he didn't want to be accused of not respecting someone's wishes. Kerone, too, probably looked at the issue as an obvious solution to an inconvenient problem. But Zhane would want it to mean something, and Ashley knew that in this they were each other's strongest allies.

"Can we move somewhere more comfortable?" Kerone asked, appearing in the middle of the kitchen without warning. Well, without more warning than the violet sparkle of teleportation. She usually used the stairs, and Ashley gave her a surprised look.

"Sorry," Kerone added. "I'm just restless, and I can't tell if it's because I'm tired or magically overpowered."

Either way, she probably needed to relax. "I'm in," Ashley agreed, pushing away from the counter. "Living room?" The library wasn't as comfortable for all of them, and the deck was chilly this time of year.

Zhane picked up her drink along with his own, and Andros asked Kerone if she wanted anything as they slowly moved into the next room. "Hey," Zhane murmured, while the others were distracted. "You're going to help me with this ring thing, right?"

Ashley laughed a little, accepting her drink from him as she sat down on the sofa. "Count on it," she whispered back. He took a seat right next to her, and they exchanged smiles of perfect understanding.

"So here's what I want to know," Andros said, following Kerone into the room. She wandered toward the loveseat while he paused by the armchair. "When do we tell Kristet?"

"Here's a better question," Kerone said quietly, setting her drink down beside her. "What do we tell Kae?"

"Stop." Zhane kept his voice gentle, but there was no arguing with his expression. "We don't owe anyone more than we owe ourselves, so let's talk about us first."

This evoked a brief silence, during which Ashley would bet both Andros and Kerone were trying to figure out what they still needed to talk about. To assuage their impatience, she reminded them, "We can't tell anyone what we're doing until we know ourselves."

"Right," Zhane declared. "So, just for the record. Raise your hand if you're in favor of getting married."

Ashley grinned, but she raised her hand obediently. Andros got away with an eye roll only because he smiled when he did it, and maybe because Zhane wasn't looking directly at him. Kerone was perfectly solemn, and Zane raised his hand when she did.

"Good," he said, with some satisfaction. "So we all agree, in principle, that we're going to get married."

Lowering her hand, Kerone gave him a vaguely suspicious look. "What do you mean, in principle?"

"Well, the next question is how." Zhane paused long enough to give Ashley an obvious look. "There are a lot of rituals surrounding marriage, and I don't know what you're used to. Or what either of you expect," he added, glancing at Kerone and Andros.

Kerone's suspicion had turned to surprise. "I don't understand what you mean," she said, giving her brother a confused look. "Rituals?"

Andros sighed. "They're probably going to make us have a party," he told her.

"No," Ashley jumped in. "I've actually thought about this, okay? Marriage is a serious thing, and I want to have a ceremony. I want to get all dressed up, and take pictures, and years from now I want to be able to tell people the story of my wedding day.

"It doesn't have to be a huge thing," she added quickly. "But I am going to wear a dress, and there will be pictures. Pictures that can be framed and hung on the wall. That's all."

"And you'll get a ring," Zhane remarked casually.

"Yes." She smiled at him. "I want someone to give me a ring. That's important."

"Um..." Kerone looked uncertain, but she sounded curious enough that it was obvious she wasn't trying to offend anyone. "Why? The ring, I mean? Why is that important?"

"It's a tradition," Zhane explained. "I don't know where it comes from, but a lot of human groups give each other jewelry to symbolize a romantic relationship.

"You actually do two rings, don't you?" he added, nudging Ashley. "An engagement ring and a marriage ring?"

"A wedding ring," she corrected. "Yeah. Back home, you give someone a ring when you ask them to marry you. Well, I mean, you offer them one, and if they say yes then they take it and wear it. It's like a pre-marriage thing. A ring you wear until you get married and you have a wedding ring.

"Well," she amended, realizing that wasn't totally true, "some people wear them both."

"So which is the important one?" Zhane asked. "The first one, or the second one?"

She hesitated, but only because she'd always kind of wanted an engagement ring. "The second one," she admitted. "Because whoever's getting married gets a wedding ring, but only the person who's proposed to gets an engagement ring."

"Proposing," Zhane repeated. "That's when you officially ask someone to marry you, right?" When she nodded, he said, "Yeah, here too."

Then he caught her by surprise by saying, "I'd kind of like someone to propose to me, actually. Anyone want to do that?"

"But we already know what you're going to say," Andros blurted out. He looked confused, and Ashley managed to feel sorry for him only because he'd done it to someone other than her this time.

"That's not really the point," she told him carefully. "Most people don't propose unless they're pretty sure of the answer. The point is that you care enough to ask."

"Yeah, and no one ever actually asked me." Zhane sounded thoughtful. "I mean, yeah, it was my idea, so it's not like you have to or anything. I'm just saying it'd be nice if someone did."

"I'll ask you," Kerone offered immediately. "Now, or later?"

"Later," Ashley answered for him. "It's supposed to be... I don't know. Special."

Zhane gave her a knowing look. "Want someone to ask you, too?"

She wrinkled her nose, trying not to smile. "Maybe."

"Okay," Zhane said slowly. "Here's an idea. How about if we all propose to each other? I mean, it's a lot of work for one of us to propose to everyone, but what if we each propose to one other person? Then everyone gets a chance to be the proposer and the proposee."

"The proposee?" Ashley poked him in the shoulder, still trying to hide her smile, but with less success. "Is that a Kerovan term?"

"Just made it up," he said with a grin. "You propose to Astrea, by the way. Andros can't, and I already did. I'll ask Andros, and he can ask you. How's that?"

She frowned, trying to figure it out. "Does that work?"

"Yup." Zhane sounded totally confident. "What do you guys think?"

"How involved is this?" Andros asked warily. "I mean, I'll do whatever you want, but... I don't even really know what it is."

"It doesn't have to be anything fancy," Ashley promised him. "Just, I don't know, take me out to dinner or something. That's all."

"I think I want an engagement ring," Zhane said suddenly. "What about you?"

She blinked at him for a long moment, but he didn't laugh. She really wanted to ask if he was just trying to cause trouble, but what if he wasn't? "Um," she began. The question was easy enough, wasn't it? "Yeah," she admitted. "Kind of."

"I'm going to need a list," Andros told them. He sounded serious.

That was when she started to giggle. "This is the funniest conversation I've ever had," she said, when Zhane's gaze demanded that she share the joke. She couldn't keep from giggling again when his inquisitive look dissolved into a smile. "Really! It is!"

"Okay," Zhane said, looking rueful and amused at the same time. "Ash and I will figure out the ceremony, okay? Is that all right?" he added, nudging her again.

She managed to nod without laughing, but it only lasted until he grinned at her and then she was giggling again. "We'll just plan our wedding," she exclaimed gleefully. "Oh, god, remember when you asked me to elope?"

"Now we have our chance," Zhane agreed, smirking.

"At least we know Andros and Kerone can't run away together while we're busy," she gasped, still laughing.

"We'll all pick out a wedding ring together," Zhane said, apparently deciding that ignoring her was the best way to calm her down. "So the only thing you have to do is pick an engagement ring and pick a place to propose. Okay?"

"Engagement ring, place to propose," Andros repeated, like he was trying to commit the words to memory. "Got it."

Unfortunately, that only set her off again, and he glared at her. "You know, I'm not very good at these rituals. If you're not nice to me, I might accidentally forget about the ring or something."

"No!" She was breathless from laughing so hard, and she thought she might be verging on hysterical but it was a welcome relief after a long day. "Are you seriously threatening me with no engagement ring if I don't stop laughing at you?"

Luckily for her, she heard Zhane chuckle. "Sorry," he told Andros. "That is kind of funny."

"So I have to do that too, right?" Kerone interrupted. "Get you an engagement ring, and then ask you to marry me? Do I ask you to marry me, or all of us?"

"All of us," Andros said firmly. "No one's eloping."

"Yes." Zhane nodded in her direction. "That's it. Ash and I will take care of the rest of it."

"Oh, except--" Ashley put her hand over her stomach, making a genuine effort to recover. It wasn't that funny. Really. "Except everyone has to dress up, because there are going to be pictures, remember? So clothes and wedding rings. We can all decide together on those."

"In other words, you want to approve what all of us wear," Zhane teased.

She shrugged, leaning back against the sofa with a tired sigh. Laughing was exhausting. "Pretty much, yeah."

Kerone eyed her with a combination of concern and curiosity. "So, have we gotten to the part where we talk about what to tell Kae?"

"Yes," Ashley said, struggling to sit up again. Then she paused, glancing around. "Right?"

"Everyone okay?" Zhane asked.

"Is Kae part of the ceremony?" Andros wanted to know. "He's not getting married, but he's part of the family."

Zhane looked at Ashley, and she realized that he wasn't the only one. "He's kind of the point," Ashley agreed. "We sometimes have ringbearers at wedding ceremonies... you know, someone who carries the rings for the people who are getting married?"

"Oh," Kerone said softly. "That would be nice."

Zhane smiled, and Ashley glanced over at Andros. "Whatever you think," he said with a shrug. "It does seem like it would be good to have him involved somehow."

"Ringbearer," Zhane repeated. "I like it. Plus, that way when we talk about it with him, we can talk about it as a family ceremony instead of just as us getting married."

Kerone was nodding slightly, but she didn't say anything aloud.

"We should give Kristet a heads up too," Ashley offered. "You're right that she should know probably as soon as possible."

"I'd rather not have it on the news right away," Andros said carefully.

"No." Ashley was in total agreement there.

"Maybe..." Zhane was pondering. "After everyone's proposed? Can we tell them once we're all engaged?"

"Yeah... no," Ashley realized, the practical implications catching up with her. "What if someone proposes tomorrow, and someone else does it two weeks from now? If one of us is wearing an engagement ring, we're all going to get questions."

"No wearing them until we all have them." Andros was, as ever, the voice of reason. The sometimes totally unromantic voice of reason.

Ashley made a face at him. "You'd better propose to me last," she told him. "I'm not hiding my beautiful engagement ring for very long."

"Your what?" Andros gave her a look of utter non-comprehension, then his face cleared. "Oh, right, the ring. It's a good thing you reminded me about that."

She sighed, trying not to smile. "Someone throw a pillow at him for me?"

Kerone obliged. Which was only one of many reasons that she got her engagement ring first. The other reasons were, in order of importance: Ashley liked to shop, Kerone wanted help with her proposal, and the moment was unexpectedly and completely right the next evening.

She and Kerone had a girls' night in while the boys took Kae to a holoshow, which was a sweet and sort of alarming thought. Anything that Zhane and Andros liked probably wasn't appropriate for a five-year-old boy, after all. But Kerone had suffered another magical overload that afternoon, and the boys had promised to be good, so Ashley wasn't about to turn down the reprieve.

"Feeling better?" she asked, sitting down beside Kerone on the bed as she offered her a mug of hot chocolate. She took a sip of her own while she waited for Kerone to answer.

"Still a little out of control," Kerone said with a sigh. "But I guess it's my own fault, so."

"I didn't ask who's fault it was," Ashley chided. "Just whether or not you're feeling better."

Kerone smiled at that, handing her mug back. "Hold this?"

Ashley took it, setting them both on the table beside the bed. She'd shooed Kerone into the room she shared with the boys as soon as Andros and Zhane were gone, telling her to pick a movie and make herself comfortable. Kerone had worn herself out throwing her magic around earlier.

Kerone was now pulling a tiny projector out of her pocket. She sat up a little straighter, adjusting their numerous pillows behind her so she could pretend to sprawl while she worked. Because Ashley recognized that projector. It was for recording things to be shared with other people--Kerone was perfectly capable of generating complicated holograms all on her own, and anything she did recreationally didn't need to be recorded.

"You're supposed to be relaxing," Ashley said, without much conviction. All of her instincts about Kerone's health issues were wrong, unfortunately. The best thing for Kerone when this happened was actually to do more, as long as the "more" was magical.

"I am," Kerone assured her, waving her over. "And yes, I'm feeling better. But we have hours with no boys, and I have questions about this proposing thing."

Ashley laughed, scooting closer and deciding she might not mind this kind of work after all. "Okay," she agreed, reaching back for her hot chocolate. "Let's hear your brilliant plan."

Kerone gave her a sideways look. "Is there supposed to be a brilliant plan?"

"I already know you have a brilliant plan," Ashley informed her. "Don't give me that look. I don't think there's anyone in this house that buys that look."

Kerone's expression melted into a smile, and she turned her projector on. "Here's my brilliant plan," she said. "It involves a lot of magic, and I want to know if you think the neighborhood can handle it."

Ashley stared at the hologram, her eyes widening as she realized what she was looking at. "Is this all you?" she asked, just to be sure.

Kerone nodded wordlessly.

"Wow," Ashley breathed. "That's beautiful."

"Well," Kerone said with a shrug. "You know Zhane will want a party. And he's the reason we're all still here, so I think he should get what he wants. Is it okay?"

"It's amazing!" Ashley exclaimed. "Can you really do all that?" Then she shook her head, giving Kerone her own sideways glance. "Never mind," she said with a grin.

Kerone winked, and Ashley went to hug her impulsively. She still had her mug, so it had to be a one-armed hug, but wow. Kerone was the best friend anyone could ask for. "He'll love it," she said softly.

"So what about the rest of it?" Kerone pressed. "Most of what I know about marriage I learned from Zhane a long time ago, and I don't know anything about proposing. Where do I get a ring? How do I ask him? Should I do it privately, or in front of everyone, or just in front of the team, or... what?"

Ashley laughed, and she decided she needed to set her mug down after all. "Okay, first off," she said, turning back to Kerone. "You're the one doing the proposing, so you get to do it any way you want. You've pretty much covered the spectacle part, so I don't think you have to be any more dramatic than you already are.

"Plus," she added, thinking about it, "the bigger the audience, the more Kristet has to explain for us later, right? I know Andros wanted to keep it kind of quiet at first."

Kerone rolled her eyes, clearly demonstrating what she thought of Andros' ideas. "What would Zhane like?" she wanted to know. "Do you think he'd want people to know?"

"I don't know," Ashley said slowly. "I mean, he definitely wouldn't care if they did, but I don't know how important that is to him."

They were both quiet for a moment. Then, out of the blue, Kerone asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Ashley smiled in surprise. "What?" She gave Kerone a curious look, maybe a little spoiled by her smile. She couldn't help it, it just seemed so oddly flattering that she couldn't do anything but smile. "Why?"

Kerone appeared to take the question seriously. "To see what it's like, I guess," she said at last. "I don't know... you and Zhane get to kiss everyone. I feel kind of left out."

Ashley considered that, a conversation from the hangar coming back to her with surprising clarity. "Maybe it's because you don't kiss us," she suggested. And in the back of her mind she thought, this is a weird conversation, but she pushed it away.

"Remember," she prompted, when Kerone just cocked her head in curiosity. "When someone asked why you kiss, you said, because other people want to. You kiss back, but you don't kiss first. Maybe people think that means you don't want to."

"Maybe it does," Kerone said thoughtfully. "Except I like kissing. I just don't really think of doing it."

Ashley blinked. "It's funny," she realized, "but Andros says the same thing."

Kerone was studying her. "I've never seen you kiss a girl," she commented. "Cassie says people on your planet sometimes prefer one gender over the other. Do you?"

Ashley's eyes widened, and she thought suddenly that this one remark explained so much about Kerovan society. "You don't?" she blurted out.

Now Kerone smiled. "That's what Cassie said, too."

"And?" Ashley said, reaching out to poke her shoulder gently.

"I said I prefer humans," Kerone said with an apologetic shrug. "Which sounds kind of hypocritical, considering. But I don't really have enough experience with relationships to know if I prefer one gender or the other."

"Well," Ashley said slowly. It was just a delaying tactic, really, but it came to her all of a sudden that it didn't really matter. And she had to smile at the thought. "I guess you're marrying into the right family, then."

It made Kerone laugh, and Ashley thought fleetingly that they didn't hear that enough. She was more serious than any of them, when it came right down to it, her whimsy coming through mostly in her art, but she had been quieter than usual lately. Since Kae, maybe, since she'd started reliving her own childhood through him. And sadly, her childhood hadn't been something anyone should have to go through again.

Ashley couldn't change the past, but she could indulge her best friend to her heart's content right now. So she hugged her, hard and loving, and then she pulled back and kissed her very softly. Partly because she didn't really know what she was doing, kissing her best friend, and partly because her friend might not know what Ashley was doing either.

But Kerone did know, and she smiled, and it made Ashley giggle a little. "You can kiss me anytime you want," she whispered, hugging her again.

Kerone hugged her back, murmuring, "I love you."

Ashley felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes, because she wasn't sure she'd ever heard Kerone say that before, and she hadn't even thought about it until now. She said it, and she knew Zhane said it, and she was pretty sure Andros said it to Kerone sometimes. But she couldn't remember ever hearing Kerone say it to one of them.

"I love you too," Ashley whispered, turning her head to kiss Kerone's cheek before tightening her embrace. "I love you always."

They stayed like that for a long time, but Kerone let her go to push the projector off to one side and stretch her legs out. Ashley pulled some more pillows over so she could lean back against them too, and she offered Kerone her hot chocolate again. It was the perfect temperature now, just cool enough to feel thick on her tongue.

"I still don't know what to say to Zhane," Kerone said, lifting the mug to her lips. "Mmm," she added as an afterthought. "Thanks, by the way."

Ashley smiled. "Sure." She nestled more comfortably against the pillows, her own mug clasped in her hands. "You can say anything you want. All you have to do is ask him if he'll marry you. Us," she amended.

"Easy for you to say." Kerone shook her head, taking another sip of hot chocolate. "You two have some kind of vision for this."

Ashley had to laugh, because if there was anyone with vision, it was Kerone. "Your plan," she said, when Kerone looked at her questioningly. "That's vision. Trust me."

Then inspiration struck, and she sat up again. "I know," she said, rolling over to set her mug down before getting up off the bed. "I'll show you how we do it on my planet. Wait here."

Because she had thought about taking Kerone somewhere, maybe somewhere warm with lots of open sky because Kerone had been at home in the cold of space but now she had found a new love of sunlight. But she could always do that later, and really, she knew a good moment when she saw it. Kerone was happy and unworried and maybe this would relax her even more.

So Ashley went out and got a flower from the vase in the kitchen, then came back in and took one of the candles from the window and brought it over to the bed. "This is for you," she said, handing the flower to Kerone. "This is for me," she added, lighting the candle and setting it on the table. "Because I like candles."

That made Kerone smile, and she pretended to admire the flower as though she'd never seen it before. "Very nice," she said, breathing in its scent. "It smells like it came from a bouquet."

Ashley giggled, pulling a little box out her bureau. "Probably because it did. Come over to the edge of the bed, okay?"

"Okay," Kerone agreed, sounding amused. "Why?"

"Because," Ashley told her, and she got down on one knee and smiled up at Kerone. "This is what we do at home, and it's better if you can actually see me."

She held up the box, which wasn't dark velvet or velour, but had been wrapped in something that felt like silk. Bright violet silk, with an embroidered dragon twining across the top of the box. "Kerone," she said, and when she tried to open it she realized she had it backwards.

"Just kidding," she said, turning the little box around. Cracking it open, she watched Kerone's expression carefully. "Will you marry us?"

Kerone's eyes flicked from the ring inside to Ashley's face. "That's what you say?"

"Yes," Ashley said with a laugh. "And I'm serious, so you're supposed to say yes now."

"Yes," Kerone echoed immediately. And she was reaching for the box, a delighted grin on her face as she added, "Is this for me? My engagement ring?"

"You're the first one," Ashley agreed cheerfully. "The first to be officially engaged. Congratulations!"

And to her surprise, Kerone laughed again and reached out to hug her. "Thank you." She held the box in one hand and the flower in the other as she wrapped her arms around Ashley. "Thank you for being my family, Ashley."

Ashley squeezed her eyes shut, holding onto the first and only person she would ever ask to marry her. "Thanks for letting me be yours," she murmured, smiling into Kerone's shoulder.

He remembered a time when they had promised: no more secrets. Except on present-giving holidays, Zhane insisted, and apparently this counted. Because mysterious holes kept appearing in Andros' schedule, with no advance warning and little explanation, and he was pretty sure that his role was just to keep his mouth shut and go along with it.

Until Ashley cornered him at lunch one day and let him in on Kerone's plan. That explained one of the gaps, then, and also the question mark he'd gotten from Kristet that morning. Literally, a single question mark at the bottom of a copied message she'd received from Ashley, which listed the date of the second schedule hole and the words, You might want to clear your schedule. By the way, here's your invitation.

Andros agreed to help keep Zhane out of the way as much as possible, but all of them knew that "as much as possible" wasn't much. So when he found a handwritten note on his side of the bed that night, with the dates of the other gap and the word Camping? underneath, he just smiled to himself. Leave it to Zhane to play along even when the surprise was his own.

He really didn't give it any more thought than that, which the rest of the family would tease him about mercilessly probably for the rest of his life. Even Kerone gave him a skeptical look for not getting the message beforehand. We told you, they would say forever more, we warned you it was coming, and you still didn't have a clue...

Of course it was Zhane's way of proposing. He took Andros out into the Keyota hills with a tent, no morphers, and a single communicator between them. They spent three days and two nights away from everyone and everything that mattered, hiking and cooking their own food and staring up at the stars, just the two of them.

It was so much like growing up it hurt, and Andros didn't get through it without crying, which they would also never let him forget. He swore Zhane to secrecy on the subject, and then was actually surprised when the promise lasted a good thirty seconds after they'd arrived back at the house. Andros wore the ring under his shirt, on the chain that held his locket, until the day of the party.

Because he wasn't stupid. Ashley might say she wanted to be last, but she didn't want to be last by much, and once word was out he didn't want to deal with the pressure anyway. So he told her he was taking her to dinner on the night of the second schedule hole. Kerone and Zhane could either watch Kae themselves or find a babysitter, and that was the end of the discussion.

The day of Kerone's proposal started well. Ashley rolled out of bed at her usual ungodly hour, and Zhane still couldn't keep from waking up when she left. He was attuned to his environment in a way that had nothing to do with Ranger senses or threat. He just noticed people, what they did, when they came and went, and it hadn't taken either of them long to understand what Zhane meant when he said he'd rather sleep alone. If he wanted to sleep the night through, he didn't share the bed.

Today, Andros was happy to oblige both of them by making Zhane's early wake-up worthwhile. Zhane was up, Ashley and Kerone wanted him kept busy, and Andros didn't feel like getting out of bed. Thanks to the girls, he knew perfectly well that neither of them had anywhere else to be that morning, so he figured they should take advantage of it.

Ashley closed the inner door behind her on her way out.

When they wandered out into the kitchen in the middle of the morning--the real middle of the morning, no matter what Ashley called dawn--they found a message from Kerone waiting for them. Enjoy your breakfast, it said. But don't go outside until you're dressed.

"Yeah," Zhane said with a snort. "Because that's a problem you have all the time."

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't directed at me," Andros replied, amused. He was already getting food out when he realized Zhane had wandered into the front room.

Of course. Tell Zhane not to do something, and the first thing he had to know was why. He pushed the juice glasses to the back of the counter automatically--Kae might not be around, but he was getting bigger and they were in the habit--before following Zhane.

"Hey, Andros." Zhane was standing by dining room window, thick curtain pushed aside just enough that he could peer out. His voice sounded odd but unworried as he remarked, "The house is on fire."

"Oh?" Andros joined him at the window, twitching the curtains out of the way on the other side. It wasn't so much the house as it was everything around the house that caught his eye. "So it is," he agreed.

Even with the warning, it was hard to act nonchalant, and he couldn't imagine how Zhane was managing it. The flames were very realistic, licking up the house around every window on their way to the sky. Realistic, except for the complete lack of smoke, which after all would have lessened the effect.

"We set the house on fire," Zhane mused.

If there had been anyone else around to hear, Andros might have rolled his eyes in embarrassment. But there wasn't, and he found himself laughing at Zhane's thoughtful conclusion. Spontaneous combustion as a result of sexual activity. Sometimes it didn't seem impossible.

"Did you know about this?" Zhane asked abruptly.

"I saw the plans," Andros admitted, letting the curtain fall. "I didn't get a demonstration, no. But I'm pretty sure there's more to it than just our house."

There was. By the time they'd finished eating, gotten dressed, and ventured out, it was almost lunchtime and the neighborhood wasn't quiet. Kerone had picked a day when the kids weren't in school and a majority of their neighbors weren't working, which meant that Wayward was one of the most exciting things around.

Actually, Wayward always seemed to be one of the most exciting things around, at least as far as the rest of the neighborhood was concerned. Today, though, Kerone and Ashley had organized a serious validation of their neighbors' curiosity. Magical fires burned throughout the neighborhood, bonfires and trails of flame and the occasional falling fireball, all culminating in the giant blaze that had engulfed their house.

It had to be a nightmare for the parents, Andros thought critically. Kerone must have gotten permission from everyone to set the entire street on fire. Ashley would have made her... right? The kids were having a blast.

The flames were gently warm, all of them the same temperature whether they were a candle flicker or the towering nest of fire surrounding Wayward, and they were much quieter than a real fire. They crackled and popped, the larger ones a little louder than the smaller, and sometimes the sound was the only thing that drew attention to them. It was surprisingly easy to get used to seeing everything around him set ablaze.

It had to be the lack of smoke, Andros decided, shaking his head when Zhane tried to drag him off to the burning playground across the street. It wasn't disturbing, but it should be. This wasn't funny. It was fire. But it managed somehow to be lifelike and harmless at the same time.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Ashley's voice came from directly behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder in surprise. He'd wondered where she and Kerone had gone.

"It is," he agreed slowly. "I wasn't ready to see it full-scale, but..."

"We faked it up," Ashley said. He frowned, wondering what kind of slang that was, but she looked totally serious. "It's just symbolic fire. It's the right shape and it's a little warm and everything, but it's the wrong color. It doesn't move, either. There's nothing you can do to spread it. The flames don't even blow in the wind."

Andros turned around, studying the house behind him. She was right. There was a light breeze, but the fire didn't respond to it in anyway. And it could have. He'd seen what Kerone could do with holograms.

"The wrong color?" he repeated.

She nudged him, smiling when he glanced at her. "It's too dark. Even the brightest ones don't cast shadows. And if you look at the edges of the flames for a while, you'll see all sorts of colors. Kerone can't do anything without rainbows," she added, her smile widening.

He felt himself relaxing a little. A logical explanation for his failure to register something so dramatic as a threat, then. It was a reassuring thought. "And everyone was okay with this?"

"We made sure," Ashley told him. "I'm not kidding, either; we went to every single person. And then we went into their records. Especially the kids. No traumatic fires, no serious burns in anyone's history. We even did a show for the kids while you guys were camping, so they could see what it would be like."

Andros held up a hand, smiling ruefully. "It's okay, I know, I'm sorry," he interrupted. "I trust you. I wasn't really asking, I was just... surprised."

She put her arm through his, pulling him away from the driveway toward one of the benches along the sidewalk. "Zhane seems to like it," she said, nodding toward the playground where the Silver Ranger was helping a kid climb the wrong way up the slide. The top of the slide was ringed with fire, and Ashley was right--from here, he could see the sparkling pink and green colors around the edges.

"I like it too," he said, shaking his head in amazement. "I really had no idea it would be this involved."

Ashley turned sideways, facing him on the bench as he leaned back and surveyed the neighborhood. Or at least, as much of the neighborhood as he could see. Somehow he doubted that Kerone had restricted her magical fire to this area. Especially if that was really barbecue he was smelling--very funny--and it was providing a free lunch for everyone on the street. Perfect opportunity for more spectacle.

"Wait 'till you see what happens after lunch," Ashley was saying with a grin. "It's not just on fire because it looks cool, you know."

Andros opened his mouth, then thought better of it. "I hope you don't expect a show like this when I propose," was all he said.

The warning made Ashley laugh. "All I want when you propose is for you to give me a ring and tell me you love me," she told him. "Kerone and Zhane can showboat enough for all of us."

He smiled a little, because Ashley could be just as ostentatious when she put her mind to it. "Speaking of that," he commented. "How are plans for the ceremony going?"

"Great," she said cheerfully. "We want to have it outside, so we're going to wait for it to warm up. We also want it to be kind of semi-private, so if there's anyone you really want to have there, you should tell me. I'm in charge of the guest list."

"You're in charge of the guest list," Andros repeated, "and it's going to be semi-private?"

She slapped his shoulder lightly. "I said, 'semi'!"

He smirked at her. She was already smiling, but he said "sorry" anyway. Better to say it than to have her wonder later--or so he'd been told a hundred times. She didn't seem to notice, though, which he'd learned was a good sign.

Then he realized her attention was elsewhere, and he looked around. People were mostly congregating around the house or the playground, at least from what he could see, but they weren't bothering him so he didn't mind having them wandering past. Zhane was still by the slide across the street, but he was talking to someone, and while that was typical, what she was holding wasn't. The girl he was with had balloons... and Andros supposed he shouldn't be surprised that the balloons were on fire.

"It must be almost time for lunch," Ashley said, but she leaned sideways against the back of the bench instead of getting up. "I'm pretty sure the balloons are Kerone's way of making sure everyone doesn't get there at once."

"Where is she?" Andros wanted to know. He put an arm on the back of the bench behind her shoulders. "Is Kae with her?"

"Yeah. Well, kind of," Ashley added. "Kerone made sure Ty got here early so he could help, and I think he and Aoife are taking turns with Kae today. They're all down at the barbecue now. Kerone's trying to prove that her evil princess skills can be used for good by keeping people from cutting the lunch line."

Aoife lived two houses down, although Kerone and Kae had first met her at the library. Great with kids--good even with Kae, who still warmed up to strange computers faster than strange people--and the owner of a not entirely obnoxious yellow cat. Ashley liked her for the cat alone, he was sure. Kerone liked her because she had a standing offer to baby-sit.

*Lunchtime,* Zhane's voice commented in his head, confirming Ashley's speculation about the balloons. His was now tied around his wrist, and it bobbed when he lifted his hand to wave in Andros' direction. *See you there?*

Andros lifted his hand from the back of the bench to wave in return. *How can you be hungry?* he wanted to know. *You just ate breakfast.*

*I'm open to opportunity,* Zhane answered blithely. *Tell Ash the balloons are great.*

Andros blinked, surprised, then realized that Ashley had sat forward to call out to the balloon girl. Not because Zhane couldn't do it himself, then. Just because he could see, even from all the way over there, that he would be interrupting. Andros sometimes wondered which of them had the abnormal amount of social awareness: did Zhane have too much, or did he have too little?

"You're going to get extra dessert for this, right?" Ashley was asking the balloon girl.

"You bet," the girl declared, disentangling a ribbon from the bundle she held and offering it to Ashley. "They paid me in advance, so if you want some advice? The brownies are even better with ice cream."

The name came back to him when he concentrated on her: Joy. That was right. He'd met her at their first block party. Nice enough, fast talker, distinctive looking in a way he thought he'd seen since, but he couldn't place her. Unlike the rest of them, he didn't spend a lot of time getting to know the neighbors.

"Here you go," Joy was saying, handing him another balloon. "I liked what you said about the haven in that interview with K-Wind," she added.

Normally they didn't talk public policy in their off-duty hours--at least not to the public--but an interview was borderline when it came to "policy" and neighbors were just as borderline when it came to "public." And he did appreciate the reminder of where he'd seen her. So he just smiled and said "thanks," letting Ashley chitchat with her while he tried to figure out what to do with a burning balloon.

By the time they were wandering toward the smell of the barbecue, he had tried to pass the balloon off to Ashley twice. With no success. He finally gave up and wound the ribbon through his fingers, vowing to ask Kerone when he saw her if it was safe to just let them go. They couldn't last forever... could they?

Just the rest of the day, Kerone told him, when he finally caught up with her. She also told him that he'd better not let it go, because she'd only told the street what she was doing, not the entire city. Not everyone would be calm about a flaming balloon drifting by overhead.

Andros waited until she was distracted and handed his balloon to one of the kids.

Unfortunately, being alone tended to make people more likely to approach him rather than less, so he was grateful when Ashley appeared again with her own lunch a few minutes after he'd sat down with his. He wasn't hungry, and if this wasn't so obviously a family day he might have taken the opportunity to head back to the house. Kristet was here with her husband, enjoying her day off, and Andros figured that one of them might as well get some work done.

Instead, he let Ashley entertain him with wedding plans that he didn't completely understand but recognized as humorous whenever Zhane was involved. It was socialization for its own sake, and it wasn't how he would have chosen to spend the day, but the others were having a good time and he was learning when to compromise. And it turned out that hearing about Zhane's blatant manipulation of people's plans was funnier when they were other people's plans.

"We'll need to agree on a last name," Ashley was saying, one story transitioning easily into the next as lunch slowly wound down and they were all gently prodded back up the street. Apparently Kerone's surprise involved the house in some way, which would have made him more nervous if he wasn't so busy appreciating the fact that it had been Ashley talking to him all this time instead of a long succession of neighbors.

"Yeah," he said, only half-listening at this point. Whatever she and Zhane were planning was fine with him.

"Zhane had a cool idea," she went on. "It's a little odd, but I think we should see if we can make it work."

"I don't think there's anything you can't make work," he remarked, giving her an absent smile. Why was everyone gathering across the street from Wayward? Not that he particularly wanted them in his front yard, but could Kerone really be planning anything that required a safe distance?

He winced as he gave that thought more serious consideration. Of course she could. Half the things Kerone did required a "safe distance." She was probably planning to set off another fireworks show. Zhane did love them.

Maybe not in the middle of the afternoon, though.

"What if everyone comes up with one syllable?" Ashley was saying. "A one-syllable word, or just a sound you like. And then we put them all together."

"For..." He trailed off, realizing too late that he should have been paying better attention. He hadn't realized there were going to be questions. "What?"

"Our last name," Ashley said patiently. "Four syllables, one from each of us. Whatever you like the sound of, or sounds appropriate, or whatever."

"Ty," Andros said without thinking. He caught sight of the man just ahead of them at exactly that moment, and he wondered which had come first: subconscious awareness of the other Ranger, or the declaration of his name.

Ashley's expression was unforgettable. "What, for our name?" She looked like she was torn between skepticism and laughter. "Are you serious?"

He shrugged, his attention diverted as he watched Kerone lead Zhane to the front of the crowd. He couldn't tell what they were saying from here, but maybe he wasn't supposed to be able to. "It's a good name."

"It doesn't have to be a name," she pointed out. "It can be any sound you want."

"Ty changed us." Andros wondered if she and Zhane already had something in mind for their family name and she just wasn't telling him. "He made me see Zhane differently. He made you see me differently. And Kae calls him 'Dad'. I think his name should be part of ours."

That gave her pause, and he smiled to himself. The Kae card. Very useful.

"Maybe we should ask him," Ashley said at last. "I mean, if it's all right. I like it, though. It's a nice idea."

Yeah, asking him might be a good idea. Andros didn't really want people randomly naming themselves after him, after all. "Have you already picked a word?"

"Us," she said simply, and he understood her answer to be affirmative and informative at the same time. "Zhane likes 'sea,'" she added. "But he can't decide if he wants it to be like the ocean, or like the sense."

Andros would have replied, but Kerone was gathering a little circle in the middle of the street and Zhane had turned around to look for him and Ashley. "I think they want us up there," he murmured, and Ashley smiled in agreement.

So they made their way to the front of the crowd, where Kerone had positioned Zhane for what was apparently the best view. Ty had waved Aoife up front with him and Kae, and Joreth was standing beside Kristet. Andros and Ashley took a place on Kerone's other side. They could all hear their neighbors quieting behind them, clearly recognizing that something was about to happen.

It began slowly, gradually enough that Andros wasn't sure he was actually seeing the flames around the house rise, reshaping themselves as they grew. A murmur from beside him made him glance down the street, and he could see the flames from other parts of the neighborhood finally starting to move, some with, some against the breeze. All of them licking harmlessly across the ground, leaving nothing out of the ordinary behind them as they began to converge on the house.

As the magical fires came together, a shape began to form out of the flames, and it took several long moments for it to become recognizable. An indistinct but slowly sharpening bird shape began to emerge from the fire, now more visibly laced with rainbows as other colors subsumed the orange glow. Soon the shape was clear enough to make out a beak, and eyes, and still-folded wings, movement easily discernible as it carefully lifted its massive head above the roof.

"Oh," he heard Ashley whisper. He wasn't the only one unprepared for the scope of this project, it seemed. This wasn't just a lightshow. This was a work of art.

The bird now encompassed the entire building, its wings beginning to extend as the last traces of fire raced up the sidewalk, leaping the stairs and merging with the single fiery shape that protected their house. Colors swirled and shifted across its body, becoming individual feathers as he watched the wings spread and stretch into the sky. It was about to take off... and in that one brief moment, the bird became the most familiar thing he'd ever seen.

Zhane's phoenix. Head lifted, wings outstretched, this was the same shape that Andros had given to Zhane years ago, when he had come back from his first Power quest with a morpher and no silver clothes to ease the transition. The same phoenix Zhane had given to Kerone when she left them to find herself, the one she now wore as a tiny charm in her hair.

The desire to give Ashley the ring he had chosen for her was almost overpowering. She was a part of this mythology, whether she knew it or not, whether she had seen it begin and whether anyone but Kerone would be around to see it end. The moment was alive, perfect... magical.

This moment belonged to his sister.

So he put his arm around Ashley instead, felt her head rest on his shoulder, and they watched the magnificent creature lift off, leaving a storm of rainbows and a musical cry in its wake. Only later did Andros take her out to dinner and go down on one knee beside her chair, with candles on the table and most of the restaurant watching. He held her ring in one hand and a rose in the other, and he knew the significance wasn't lost on her.

"Kerone told you," she whispered, beaming down at him with tears in her eyes.

"Families stick together," he reminded her, just as softly. "Ashley Hammond--" And she wouldn't even be Ashley Hammond for much longer, if they all had anything to say about it. "Will you marry us?"

Without hesitation, she leaned down to kiss him. It was so clearly more important than anything else that he didn't bother to get up. He just let her, and when he heard her murmur, "You know I will," he drew back enough to give her the rose. It freed up his hands to take hers and slide the ring onto her finger.

"You're the only one who hasn't worn it," Andros said quietly, watching for her reaction, hoping she understood. "I think it's time to change that."

She stared down at the ring, eyes widening as she realized what it was, and this time he pulled her to her feet with him before she could put her arms around him. There was no way to ignore the clapping from the rest of the room, but her voice was even louder than the applause when she whispered in his ear, "I love you."

"I love you too," he breathed, hugging her back and holding on tight. "I always have."

"And I always will," she murmured. Her embrace was as warm and safe and undeniable as the ring that sparkled on her left hand.

The thin gold circle she now wore had been worked into the shape of a phoenix, delicate feathers wrapping close around her finger. The yellow stone set between its long, spectacular tail and its proud head was either the fire from which it had come or the sun for which it was headed. Coming or going, restless or content, the shadow of the silver phoenix that had graced Andros' life for as long as he could remember no longer flew alone.