Hi, Carlos, she wrote. All we heard about the conference was what was on the news, and who knows how much of that's true. Aquitar says Aura's back, though, so we told your parents to give you until nine before they called the school about your debilitating 24-hour virus.

"Don't forget to tell him about the Psycho Rangers," Ashley added, glancing over her shoulder as she took her dishes back to the Synthetron.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Do you want to do this?" But she bent over her notebook again, scribbling, The Psycho Rangers attacked last night. No Black Ranger, though, so be careful today--don't go anywhere alone, okay?

"Eat something," TJ ordered, taking the pen out of her hand. "Come on; we're going to be late."

She made a face at him. "I'm not hungry!"

"Tough." TJ paused in his writing to point at the bagel he'd put in front of her when she first sat down. "Take it with you."

She sighed dramatically, but she grinned at him when he looked up. It was nice that he cared. She didn't usually bother with breakfast when she was at Ashley's house.

TJ grabbed his own dishes and headed for the Synthetron, and she tore the piece of paper out of her notebook and left it on the table. At the bottom of her note, TJ had written, Don't come to school if you're not up to it. Watch your back, man. --Cassie and TJ

She looked up as her backpack appeared on the table beside her, and she smiled at Saryn's solemn expression. "You're sulking," she chided softly, unzipping her bag and sliding her notebook in.

"I'm worried," he countered. "It is not the same thing." He held her backpack for her as she shrugged into it, but the fact that he had already offered to stay twice told her how little he liked this.

"We'll be all right," she promised. She turned to smile up at him, leaning forward for her goodbye kiss. When he obliged, she added, "They can't attack for another few days anyway. We'll survive without you until then."

"We *think* they can't attack." He gazed back at her, resting one arm on her shoulder and tucking her hair behind her ear. "Do not let your guard down, Cassie."

She put her hand over his and tilted her head, leaning into his caress briefly. "I won't. Now get out of here before I have to tell the principal I was late because I was staring into my husband's beautiful eyes."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "I like hearing you call me that," he whispered.

She touched his cheek briefly with her free hand. Just as she was about to pull away, though, he slid his hand around behind her head and pressed his mouth to hers again. It was no "see you later" peck, but a kiss that reminded her why he stayed on Sunday nights. She closed her eyes as the words *I need you* echoed in her mind.

From somewhere behind them, she heard TJ clear his throat. Saryn released her reluctantly, making another token effort to brush her hair back from her face. "Be *careful*," he murmured, and the look in his eyes left no doubt that he meant it.

"You too," she whispered. She squeezed his hand and drew away, smiling over her shoulder at him as she picked up her bagel and joined TJ and Ashley by the door. She glanced down at her morpher as she punched in her teleportation code, but she could feel Saryn's eyes on her until the world went sparkling pink and the Megaship faded away.

"Wow..." Ashley's voice was the first thing she heard as their old teleportation site reformed around them. "How long has it been since we used this one?"

"I think Carlos still uses it for soccer practice sometimes," TJ offered, as they headed across the playing fields behind the school. "Or he did," he added. "I guess he's not on the Megaship much anymore either."

"I wonder if he and Aura saw each other at the conference," Ashley remarked idly.

"I hope not." Cassie shrugged defensively when they both glanced at her. "I heard she was pretty mad at him, that's all."

"Hey--" TJ gave her another sideways look. "I'm not asking if it's none of my business, but did anyone ever find out what he did?"

Shifting her backpack a little higher one her shoulders, Cassie shook her head. On the other side of TJ, though, Ashley said slowly, "I'm not totally sure Carlos knows. I mean, maybe he does--he wouldn't talk to me at all for a while there--but from what he's said, I don't think he's sure."

For a moment, none of them said anything. Then Ashley added, "I wish we knew why he wasn't back yet. He could have called us or something."

The bell rang, and Cassie glanced at TJ. "First or second?"

"No way it's the first," TJ said with a grimace. "It's probably the late bell." As they hurried across the open courtyard, he added, "Someone from Irini would have let us know if anything had happened, Ash. He'll be back soon."

Her class was on the other side of the building, and Cassie started angling toward the east side doors. "See you later!" she called over her shoulder, picking up her pace a little.

Ashley waved as she and TJ continued on toward the west wing, and TJ called, "See you in Spanish! Eat that bagel!"

She grinned to herself. As she let herself into the building, she was relieved to find a few students still wandering the halls--mostly seniors who were flaunting their imminent independence by dawdling or cutting altogether. She made it to Astronomy without running into anyone with a pressing need to talk to her, and she was lucky enough to find the door still open when she arrived.

Mr. Landish gave her a stern look as she slid into her seat, but he said only, "Since Earth-based observation makes up the majority of our information-gathering ability, Mr. Case, I suggest you adjust your attitude. Can anyone tell me what phase the moon is in right now?"

She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Luckily, the teacher was too busy chewing someone else out to pay much attention to her. Easing her binder and songwriting notebook out of her backpack, she glanced over at the empty seat beside her. Heaven help Carlos if he arrived during first period.

She turned to the most recent handouts in her binder and quietly slid her notebook over top of them. She uncapped her pen and started to doodle, making a few moon drawings first to appease Mr. Landish if he decided to wander her way. She wasn't even remotely in the mood for school--senioritis had hit the twelfth grade hard this year, and the knowledge that she wouldn't even be on Earth come next fall didn't help.

*Two more weeks,* she thought, a little apprehensively. She drew a big "6" in the margin, running over it several times with her pen tip. Six days of classes, four of exams, and then bang. Graduation. Somehow, with that looming so close, she couldn't bring herself to care what phase the moon had been in last night.

Did Elisia have a moon? That seemed a far more relevant question. Saryn had said it had two suns, and had even tried to describe to her what that looked like, but she didn't know anything about its moon. She drew a small circle and put a little sunburst inside it, labeling the stylized planet "Elisia". She made a little dot just above it for the hypothetical moon. The one dot looked kind of lonely, though, so she added another one.

She felt herself smiling, and rested her chin in her hand to hide her expression. *Yeah,* she thought, gazing at her sketch. *Sorry Saryn, but I didn't think your planet had enough moons... I added some; I hope you don't mind.*

"Mr. Vargas." Mr. Landish's sardonic tone broke into her musing. "So nice of you to join us. Will you be gracing us with your presence for the entire class, or is this merely a cameo?"

"Sorry, Mr. Landish." Carlos sounded so genuinely apologetic that his next words caught her off guard. "You just can't plan those alien abductions."

There were a few snickers from the rest of the class, but Mr. Landish only raised his eyebrows. "Thus confirming the theory that aliens only abduct those least likely to be believed, among them southern farmers and tardy teenagers. Take a seat, Mr. Vargas."

Carlos sauntered over to his seat, dropping his bag carelessly next to his desk and sitting down as though he hadn't a worry in the world. He put on a good show, but when Cassie leaned over to whisper to him she could see the shadows under his eyes. "I didn't think you were going to make it," she murmured, as he slumped against the back of his chair.

"Neither did I," he whispered back. "Man, that girl can fly."

She frowned, watching him rub his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept since yesterday, and he made no move to get out his notes. "What girl?" she wanted to know, but a glare from Mr. Landish made her draw back.

Instead, she turned a page in her notebook and wrote, What girl? in large letters. She tipped it in his direction, and he grinned tiredly. He held out his hand for her notebook, not making any attempt to cover up what he was doing.

"Mr. Vargas." Mr. Landish wasn't going to ignore the action. "Do you not have any paper of your own?"

"I take better notes with Cassie's," Carlos drawled, and someone in the class giggled. Carlos gave his best roguish smile, clearly recognizing feminine laughter when he heard it.

"Yes, well, if you take any notes at all I suppose it would be an improvement." Mr. Landish picked up a piece of chalk and continued, "Can anyone tell me why Ms. Johnson's answer is incorrect?"

The only effort Carlos did make was to get out his own pencil, and underneath Cassie's question he started to write out what she hoped was an explanation. She looked up at the board while she waited, watching Mr. Landish draw a month-long cycle of the moon in relation to the sun and Earth. The diagram looked vaguely familiar, but she didn't place it before Carlos handed her notebook back.

Her name's Hish-something-I-can't-pronounce, he'd written, in his nearly illegible handwriting. I think I accidentally insulted her, and she challenged me to a twenty-hit asteroid hop. My zord almost got crunched to pieces trying to keep up with her.

You lost? she mouthed in his direction.

He shook his head "no" and gestured for her notebook again. Before she handed it to him, she added, Was this before or after the conference? Is that why you were late getting back?

She handed it back to him while Mr. Landish was still adding arrows to his diagram. Carlos read the note briefly, then leaned forward to scrawl something else. She put her chin in her hand again, watching him, then glanced down at her Astronomy binder. Idly, she started to recreate her drawing of Elisia.

This time, she decided, it would have three moons. Or maybe four--that way all the phases could be in the sky at once. Mr. Landish would probably appreciate that. She drew the four moons, in their various phases, around the circle she had once again labeled "Elisia". She frowned a little then, realizing that her plan wouldn't quite work... The first and third quarter crescents could never be up simultaneously, any more than the new and full moons could be. Darn.

Well, maybe it was different in a binary system. Of course, if the second sun was as far away as Saryn said it was, probably not... She moved the planet around to the far side of the big sun experimentally, making a little star to represent the farther sun. *Now* she could have a full moon and a new moon at the same time, but only technically. She supposed what she really had were two moons that were both "full" and "new" at the same time.

Carlos set her notebook on the edge of her desk again, and she pulled it around to read what he had written. I wasn't late because of the challenge, it said. I was late because some stupid villain decided that the conference was a nice party to crash, and he brought all his minion crashers with him. Lights out, no more dancing.

There wasn't much room left on the page, so she flipped it over and wrote, You look tired. Did they let you sleep at all? And if you're not late because of the asteroid hopping, then when did that happen?

She didn't miss Carlos' rueful grin as he read her latest note. He started to respond, and she looked back at her Elisia doodle. It seemed more interesting than Mr. Landish did right now, so she added a little stick drawing of a starfighter near the big sun. Underneath, she wrote idly, "Will you come with me?"

The words made her smile, and she looked up as Carlos handed her notebook back. I was late because of the "debugging", he had written. I was later because of the asteroid hop. Yes, they let us sleep, but they weren't really set up for an overnight stay. And no, I didn't lose the challenge, but that was only because I was lucky. What happened with the Psycho Rangers?

"Ms. Chan." Mr. Landish caught her just as she was about to reply to Carlos. "Why don't we have an eclipse every month?"

She lifted her head, meeting his stare with one of her own. "Because the moon's orbit is inclined so it doesn't travel right above the equator. It's only at the right place to cause an eclipse twice a year, during the eclipse seasons."

"That's correct." He didn't sound surprised, but she smiled to herself anyway.

When he turned away she glanced over at Carlos, and he flashed her an admiring look. She went back to her notebook, but not before she saw the girl in front of her give her a covert thumbs-up. She grinned in return. It never hurt to give teachers something to think about.

I guess the Psycho Rangers got tired of waiting for you, she wrote in her notebook. Me and Saryn managed to hold them off--TJ wanted to help, but every punch he threw just made his Psycho Ranger stronger. We're not totally sure why that didn't happen with mine. Or why yours wasn't there...

She was watching Carlos as he read, which was the only reason she heard him softly clear his throat. He shot her an odd look out of the corner of his eye, and she was suddenly extremely curious about what he was scribbling. She passed up any further Elisia doodling to wait for his answer.

He slid the notebook back onto her desk at last, and her eyes widened. Mine wasn't there because Aura killed it. It must have followed me to Irini. As soon as it attacked, she cut it into little bitty pieces.

That probably explained why the remaining four had attacked, then. She wondered what kind of communication they had, to know so soon after Carlos' Psycho Ranger was destroyed. But more importantly... Aura killed it? When did you see her? What happened?

He gave her a dark look as soon as he read that. He made very deliberate strokes on the page before giving it back, and she rolled her eyes when she realized he'd drawn arrows from each of her questions to the appropriate answer. Yes. At the conference. She killed it. That was all he'd written, making it quite clear that Aura was off-limits as a topic of conversation.

Well, two could play that game. Good, she wrote in large letters at the bottom of the page. She had to tap the floor to get his attention when she held it up.

Carlos nodded shortly, leaning back against his chair and draping his arm over the edge of his desk. She went back to her doodling, and after a moment she saw him reach down to rustle around in his backpack. The noise was unmistakable in the quiet classroom, but Mr. Landish only continued to reiterate the similarities between the Earth-moon and the sun-Venus systems.

Tuning the teacher out again, she encircled "Elisia" with the letters n-e-w-s-u-n. She didn't know why, but given the Ranger symbol that she'd put inside the circle, it seemed appropriate. Underneath "Will you come with me?" she added, "Will you watch the sun rise?"

*Will you watch the new sun rise,* she thought absently, correcting her own words. She wished she had switched back to her notebook, but by now the doodles in her binder were much more detailed than the originals had been. She supposed she could just stick the Astronomy handouts in her notebook; she certainly wouldn't need them for class much longer.

She glanced over at Carlos again, wondering if he had actually settled down or just fallen asleep. His head was propped on his hand, but he did seem to be concentrating on something in his binder. For a moment she entertained the somewhat bizarre idea that he might be taking notes, but then she caught a glimpse of the figures he was making in the margins of one of last week's handouts. They were swirling and painstakingly printed, far neater than his usual handwriting, and they definitely weren't English.

She had seen Aquitar's dominant alphabet several times, but being aware that it existed was as far as her knowledge of it went. Aura had told her that humans didn't have the vocal range to reproduce the Aquitian language, and it had seemed silly to learn the alphabet for a language she couldn't speak. That hadn't deterred Carlos, but she was a little surprised to see that he was still practicing it.

She made another idle squiggle on her handout and sighed quietly, glancing up at the clock over the door. Ten days, total... Time could probably pass more slowly than it seemed to be doing now, but she wasn't sure how.

***

"Have fun at lunch!" Ashley called over her shoulder. She slammed her locker shut and headed for Mrs. K's room, well aware that she was already late but equally sure the motherly teacher wouldn't hold it against her. As she turned the corner, she saw someone straighten up and push away from the wall.

"Hey," Andros said, falling into step beside her.

She swallowed her surprise, giving him no more than a passing glance. "Hey," she answered noncommittally.

There was a brief pause, and then he asked, "Would you listen if I said I was sorry?"

She kept her gaze on the floor, but she had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. "Maybe."

"Then can I try?"

"I have class," she reminded him, but her protest was half-hearted and he knew it.

"Please, Ash," he said softly, and she sighed. He didn't have any qualms about using that too-sweet vulnerable tone on her whenever he thought it would work.

Pausing outside Mrs. K's door, she finally turned to look at him. His hands were behind his back, and he wore that devastatingly hopeful expression that had gotten him out of trouble so many times before. "Oh all right," she murmured, trying to suppress a reluctant giggle. "Give me a minute."

She ducked into her classroom without another word, heading for one of the open tables near the back of the Home Ec room. Mrs. K. sitting by one of the sewing machines, demonstrating something for a student hovering nearby. Ashley recognized her--Jen wasn't in this class, but she had fifth period free and often chose to spend it here. Mrs. K. made her classroom open to anyone, anytime.

Ashley pushed her bag under the table and went over to her bin. As she always did, she couldn't help smiling at the masking tape label. She had written her name in red and yellow marker, and added a yellow sun and red flame on either side. She'd been in a terribly corny mood when she did that, but it never failed to cheer her up.

"Hi, Ash." Marusia pulled out her own bin and started rummaging through it, taking a moment to grin up at her classmate. "How are things?"

She shrugged once, glancing back toward the door. "Hopefully about to get better," she admitted. "How are you?"

Marusia gave her an inquisitive look. "I'm fine," she said, in a tone of voice that said that was the last thing on her mind. "'Hopefully about to get better'? What's going on? Spill!"

"Can't," Ashley said, pulling out the jumper she'd been working on. "I have to take an extended bathroom break. I'll be back before the end of class."

Marusia sighed dramatically. "Oh, to have a life of intrigue. Tell me what happens!" she called, as Ashley headed back toward her table.

Spreading her jumper out over the table, Ashley smiled to herself. If she only knew. She could just imagine telling Marusia the truth: *Well, actually, I'm mad at my boyfriend because he didn't ask me to live on his home planet after graduation. And I'm mad at myself for being mad when he's really just doing us a favor. I can't go live on another planet... my parents would freak. And I'd have to say goodbye to all my friends--and what if I didn't like it? I'd never be able to come back, not and do all the things I want to do now, anyway... you understand, don't you, Marusia?*

She shook her head, laying her measuring tape across the jumper and pushing the pins over to one side. She looked around, but Mrs. K. was now involved in a distinctly non-clothing discussion by the scrap bin. She couldn't hear much of what was being said, but she did catch the words "prom", "bonfire", and "limo". She shook her head again, figuring it might be better that she didn't know.

Wandering casually toward the door, she amused herself by stealing one of Amos' ten thimbles as she walked past his table. He was over by the supply cabinet, hamming it up with one of the girls, and he probably wouldn't do anything resembling work until class was at least half over. Only then would he notice that his thimble collection had been reduced to nine.

Andros was still waiting when she finally slipped out of the classroom. Her heart melted at the picture he made, slouched against the wall and playing with a single red rose. He looked up and smiled shyly when he saw her.

"It should be illegal to be that cute," she grumbled good-naturedly, coming over to join him.

He straightened, offering her the rose. "I brought you something," he murmured. His tone was charmingly awkward, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks," she said with a sigh. "Should I just accept that I don't have a chance of staying mad at you now, or do you want me to wait till later to tell you you're forgiven?"

"Wait until I apologize," he said, sliding his arm through hers and guiding her toward the doors. "You can decide then."

She smiled again, shaking her head once as she lifted the rose closer to her face. She inhaled the gentle scent carefully, only looking up when Andros pushed the door open for her. "Thanks," she murmured again, stepping out into the open courtyard with him.

The lawn behind the school was covered with blankets and sunbathers, students talking and eating lunch and playing frisbee too close to the building. For most of them this was probably lunch; others must have it free, and still others were probably "getting a drink" or "doing some library research" during their fifth period class.

Still arm in arm with Andros, she let him lead her toward an open spot on the grass. Andros wasn't exactly anonymous at AGH, though she suspected the rose in her hand was responsible for a few of the looks that got thrown their way. She saw Cassie, eating lunch with TJ and Karen on the other side of the courtyard, but before she could register more than that Andros stopped and her gaze was drawn inexorably back to him.

For a moment, they just looked at each other. It didn't take her long to realize that that wasn't making them any less conspicuous, though, so she sat down carefully on the grass. Andros followed her example, but he didn't take his eyes off of her.

Finally she cleared her throat, looking down at the rose self-consciously. She heard him let out a small sigh, and just like that, the rest of the courtyard disappeared. It might as well have been just the two of them there for all that she was aware of anyone else.

"You didn't have to come," she murmured, for lack of anything better to say.

"Yes, I did." He edged a little closer to her, touching her chin lightly. She looked up at the silent prompt, and his hazel eyes drew her in. "I'm really sorry, Ash," he said quietly, and his gaze was too intent for the apology to be anything but sincere.

She struggled to smile, not sure why she suddenly found herself on the verge of tears. "It's okay," she whispered. "I understand."

He shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "It's not okay--I'm sorry for what I said yesterday, before breakfast. And at breakfast. And I'm sorry for avoiding you for the rest of the day. Most of all I'm sorry that I hurt you, Ash."

She swallowed hard, wondering if this was the same person who had gone three months without a sound even resembling the word "sorry" the year before. "I'm sorry too," she mumbled, looking down at the ground again in a futile effort to hide her expression. "I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding."

"Hey," he said softly, and she felt him touch her shoulder. "Don't cry. It was my fault, not yours."

She tried to giggle, but she felt a tear escape anyway. "It wasn't," she started to say, but she couldn't get the words out. Without another word he pulled her into an embrace, and she put her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder gratefully. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt the tears slip free and she drew in a shuddering breath.

He just held her, stroking her hair gently, until she managed to regain some semblance of composure. Swallowing, she lifted her head to rest her chin on his shoulder and she hugged him harder. She could feel the rose's thorns digging into her palm, but she ignored them. Lifting her free hand from his back to wipe her eyes, she whispered, "I don't want you to go."

There was a brief silence, and then she heard him murmur, "I don't want to leave you."

The fact that that wasn't exactly the same thing didn't escape her notice, and she closed her eyes. He didn't let her go until she took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes again as she started to pull away. "Ash," he said softly.

She shook her head, trying to smile for him. "I'll never stop loving you," she whispered. "No matter what."

"Hey," he said, looking alarmed. "What's this 'no matter what' stuff? I thought I was forgiven."

"You are," she promised, leaning forward to kiss him tenderly. She rested her forehead against his for a second before drawing back. "But I can't compete with an entire planet, Andros. You're going back to KO-35, and I'm staying here. It's not going to be the same. And we can't expect it to be."

He stared at her, apparently at a loss for words. Finally, he managed to ask, "You're not... are you--are you breaking up with me?"

She looked down, twirling the rose between two fingers. "No," she said softly. Her throat ached with the effort it took to keep from crying. "Of course not."

"You are." Even the utter shock in his voice couldn't make her meet his gaze. She didn't want to see the expression on his face, and she certainly didn't want him to see hers. "Ash... I *love* you."

"I love you too," she whispered. She squeezed the rose's stem until her fingers hurt, feeling the tears pricking her eyelids again. "There's nothing I want more than to be with you, Andros. But that's not enough, is it."

"Yes, it is," he said fiercely. "It has to be!"

She just shook her head, turning her unseeing stare toward the brick walls of the school. She wanted it to be enough, too, but she didn't think she could take this for the next four years. Seeing him only on weekends, never knowing when the next trip might not be worth it, constantly wondering what his life was like when he wasn't with her--it wasn't fair to him, and it would drive her insane.

For a conversation that she had hoped would turn her day around, she reflected bitterly, this one had definitely not lived up to her expectations.

"Ashley." He surprised her by not using her nickname; he hadn't called her anything but "Ash" for some time now. "Look at me."

He sounded as though he was steeling himself for something, and her gaze reverted to his involuntarily. He was giving her that rapt look that he did so well, the one that, time and again, had convinced her that there was nothing more important to him in the universe than her.

"Did you mean what you just said?" he asked quietly. "That you want us to be together more than anything?"

She closed her eyes, unable to swallow. "Yes," she murmured miserably.

"Then--" His hesitation was audible. "Then come with me," he said, so softly that she almost didn't hear him.

Her breath caught in her throat, and she opened her eyes to find him studying her intently. "What?"

"Come with me," he repeated. No sooner had she met his gaze than he looked away, picking at the grass between them. "When the Psycho Rangers are gone, I have to take the Megaship back where she belongs. But... *I* belong with you, and--it would be my dream if you could come with me."

She just stared at him. When she didn't answer, he glanced up at her briefly before letting his gaze slide away again. "Sorry," he muttered. "I know that was a terrible thing to ask. Forget I said anything."

"Is--" She managed to swallow this time, surprised past tears. "Is that really--your dream?"

He only shrugged, snapping off a blade of grass and breaking it into little pieces before tossing it aside.

"Andros..." She reached out and caught his hand. "Is that really your dream?"

He finally lifted his head, catching her eye with a guilty look that almost made her smile. "Yes," he admitted quietly. "I'm sorry, Ash; it's just... I can't stay here forever. I wish I could, I really do... but I can't. The things I care about--I mean, after you--are things I'd be totally cut off from here. My people, my home, the Megaship... Most of Earth doesn't even know they exist."

"The League," she added softly. "Zhane. Kerone. They wouldn't stay here either, would they."

He shook his head unhappily.

"It's okay," she said, squeezing his hand. "You don't have to apologize for that, you know." She smiled, a little wistfully. "I knew I couldn't ask you to stay. I just didn't want you to think that I didn't *want* you to."

His lips quirked at that, and the acknowledgement made her feel better. She bit her lip, hesitating, and wondered how long she had before he said something to take this chance away from her. As he took a deep breath, though, she knew her time was running out.

"Andros," she began quickly. "If I said that... maybe I do want to go with you... would you let me think about it? I mean, the Psychos aren't gone yet, and graduation is only two weeks away... could you wait that long?"

He looked at her without speaking for so long that she wondered if she had somehow misunderstood what he had said. But how many different things could "come with me" mean? What could he be thinking?

"Andros?" she asked at last, unable to stand the silence any longer.

"Yeah?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "Can I think about it?"

He laughed, startling her with the sound. "Can you think about it?" he repeated incredulously, a wide grin on his face. "Can you *think* about it? I can't believe you just asked that!"

Already uncertain, she was even more surprised when he threw his arms around her and pulled her into a ferocious hug. "Can you think about making me the happiest person in the entire universe?" he murmured in her ear. "Yeah, Ash. You can think about that until the stars go out."

Torn between delight at his reaction and the sinking fear that he would hate her if she said "no" now, she whispered, "I didn't say I'd do it, Andros. It's... it's more of a 'maybe'."

"I know," he assured her, hugging her tighter. She felt him chuckle again. "I'm just glad you're not breaking up with me, to tell the truth."

She managed to smile as he let her go. She didn't dare agree with him, because that would make the words "breaking up" all too real. But she didn't know what else to say, and as she looked down her gaze fell on the red petals. "Thanks for the rose," she murmured, lifting it so that she could smell it again.

"Thanks for thinking about it," he replied, still serious. "That means a lot to me, Ash; no matter what you decide."

She raised her eyes to his, and this time her smile was genuine. "No matter what I decide, you *asking* me means a lot to me."

He smiled back. "Does that mean you're going to cut the rest of class so we can talk?"

She bit her lip in an effort to stifle a giggle as she played with her rose. "Only if we can talk about important things. If Mrs. K. catches on, she's more likely to let me off detention if she knows I was discussing my future with the love of my life."

He took the rose from her, touching it to her lips gently. "We can talk about anything you want," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her.

She let her eyes slide closed, and she smiled again when he pulled away. "Tell me about KO-35," she said. She opened her eyes and found him watching her. "Tell me what you and Zhane are doing on the Border. Tell me what it's like there. Tell me what it's going to be like..."

***

The jeminai stars were high overhead as she rolled off of her cot, hitting the floor on silent feet and padding toward the door. It was late and she was tired, but she wouldn't be doing any more sleeping for a while. She didn't need another dream like that last one.

The hall was quiet as she pushed her door open, but as soon as she stepped through she saw the glimmer of a reading light. Tevi was lying on her stomach under the skylight, her chin resting on her hands as the little diode flicker danced back and forth in front of her. Her idle presence in the hall late at night was not unusual.

Stepping carefully around the other girl, she whispered a greeting and Tevi raised one hand in unspoken acknowledgement. She headed for the main door, lifting the single latch with one finger and pushing outward. It swung open easily, and the night lay spread out before her.

She closed the door quietly and folded her arms over her chest, warding off the chill of a gentle breeze. The smooth stones were cool beneath her bare feet as she wandered over to the waist-high wall that surrounded the gardens. She climbed up on top of it, pulling her knees up to her chest and gazing out over the hills.

One of the shadows by the gate moved, and she tensed involuntarily.

"I was debating whether to wake you or leave a message," a familiar voice said. "It seems you've saved me the trouble."

Since he knew she was aware of his presence, she turned her head quickly. Pale violet curls tumbled across her shoulders, and she narrowed her eyes in his direction. The volunteer shorts and crop top wouldn't fool him, so she didn't bother trying. "How did you find me?"

His moonlit silhouette seemed to shrug. "I admit that asking after 'Kerone' proved to be an exercise in futility. However, 'Astrea' was listed on the agri reclamation roster. From there, it was only a matter of connecting with the appropriate people."

"I'm sure," she murmured, letting her gaze slide away. He had made a career of "connecting with the appropriate people", but she couldn't help being pleased that he had gone to the trouble. "You recognized me quickly."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lift a hand to tap his temple. As she had expected, then. She stared out at the faint cloudshadows moving up the hillside toward them, their blurry outlines sliding across field and forest to encroach upon her garden. She lifted her head toward the sky as the clouds danced across the moon, frowning at them until they freed the light once more.

"Your world is beautiful," he observed, breaking into the quiet once more.

Though she agreed, she found herself analyzing the statement. "It's interesting to hear you say that," she said at last.

"Oh?" She was aware of his motion toward the garden wall, though he made no more noise than she did. "Why is that?"

"Because yours is so different." She knew how deeply his world was ingrained in his identity, yet he could look at a place as foreign as KO-35 and see beauty in it. "I wonder if I'd think your world is beautiful."

He settled against the wall beside her, not sitting, but not really standing anymore either. "You may find out for yourself at any time. You will always be welcome on Elisia."

"Thank you," she said simply. She continued to watch the play of light over the hills, wondering at the lack of aurorae tonight. The sun had been particularly active these last few days, yet the sky remained dark.

They remained that way for some time; she lost in her observation and he content to wait. He probably didn't know what he was waiting for, but then, neither did she. She didn't know why she had sent that last, traceable message... but she was glad to see him anyway.

Something streaked by overhead, and Saryn stirred. "Make a wish," he murmured.

She glanced over at him, surprised. "What?"

"It's something Cassie says." He didn't sound the least bit self-conscious, she noted. "Whenever a meteor appears, she believes it is necessary to make a wish. She calls them 'shooting stars'," he added fondly.

She smiled a little, warmed by the obvious affection in his voice. She missed them... she missed all the Rangers. It had been a long time since she had spoken to any of them in person like this.

"I wish I knew how everyone on the Megaship is," she whispered impulsively.

He shifted a little, taking a seat on the stone wall beside her. "They are as well as can be expected," he said, an odd note in his voice. "They labor under the threat of a new villain as well as the normal stresses of everyday life.

"Andros is feeling the pressure of two worlds' demands being placed upon him," he elaborated, when she didn't interrupt. "I'm afraid his relationship with Ashley is suffering for it. Carlos is trying to cover the fact that he is heartsick over the loss of Aura by being short with the rest of the team. Cassie still has not seen the planet that is to become her home in less than a month, and I believe TJ is trying to adjust to the idea of a future without the Rangers.

"All in all," he added, with some amount of humor, "life continues. I can not say with any certainty whether things are more or less tumultuous than they were before your departure."

She smiled to herself, but he had managed to skip the one name she most wanted to hear. "What about Zhane?"

"Regrettably, I can give you little news of Zhane." He actually did sound apologetic, which amused her. She knew he and Zhane had never been close. "I know he continues to work out of Eltare, and I hear from Tobin that he's leading the fight to have KO-35 accepted into the Frontier Defense. That is the extent of my information on his activities, and I suspect you knew that much from your communications with Andros."

"Yes," she admitted quietly. She couldn't expect the same easy emotional analysis Saryn had given of the others for someone he hadn't even seen recently, but she had needed to ask.

They gazed across the moonlit vista in silence a while longer, until again, he was the one to interrupt her reverie. "We could use your help," he told her, still staring toward the horizon.

It was not quite the last thing she would have expected him to say. "On the Border?"

"On Earth." He crossed his ankles in a perfunctory manner, not appearing to give the conversation any serious concern. "The new villain I mentioned comes in the form of four dark Rangers that are feeding off the team's Power. Cassie and I are currently the only ones with any ability to fight them."

She frowned, digesting that. "Because you can both use the Elisian Power," she said at last.

He nodded once. "The situation is not likely to remain viable for much longer."

He still sounded as though he was discussing something as insignificant as the weather. Although, the non sequitur popped into her head, considering where he was from it was possible that weather wasn't such a trivial matter to him.

"You want me to come with you, back to the Megaship." She didn't bother to make it a question.

"My personal preference is not relevant," he said calmly. "I only suggest it as a possibility for you to consider when making plans for your immediate future."

She shook her head, not deceived by the wordplay. He certainly knew how to make it sound like it was up to her. She hoped the Elisian government compensated him well.

"Tell me about these 'dark Rangers'," she said at last, turning toward him.