I thought having Leonis arrested would soothe the anger still simmering in my chest. It doesn’t. Maybe nothing will. Even if I find personal peace, the loss of my people will always remain with me. My throat is still tight with rage after facing her, my lungs hot. Even now, Leonis believes her choices were justifiable.

But when I look up and see my brother coming down the ramp with a Gaian officer at his side, it douses the fire inside me.

Pol’s skin is pale and clammy, his muscles wasted away to the point where he leans on metal crutches for support. He looks like his former self was split in two, and the smaller half remained—as if he’s been wasting away for years rather than gone for a matter of weeks. Whether it’s a result of the sickness or the cryosleep or whatever cure the Gaians gave him, I’m not sure, but the combination has taken a substantial toll on his body.

Still, when he looks up and sees me, his gap-toothed smile is familiar and heartbreaking all at once. I pause, uncertain despite my eagerness to see him. The Gaian officer respectfully retreats to give us our privacy, but still the words stick in my throat. Before I can find the right thing to say, Pol lets his crutches fall and throws his arms around my neck in a hug. I wrap an arm around him. Relief and guilt flood me in equal measure.

“It’s good to have you back.” I finally force some words out. They aren’t enough—what could be?—but at least it’s a start. Pol squeezes me tighter. Once, an embrace like this from him would have been chest-crushingly painful. Now, his arms are so thin, shaking while they grip me. More words stick in my throat before tumbling free. “I… I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what happened back on Titan, how I never got a chance to apologize. I’m sorry that I hurt you. I’ll never do it again.”

Pol pulls back, and I grab his arm to steady him. His eyebrows draw together, his eyes distant.

“What happened on Titan…” he says, and stops.

“Yes. When you and I—” I pause at the blank look on his face. “You don’t remember?”

During all of this, I almost forgot the side effects that cryosleep often has. No one wakes up quite the same, in the event they wake up at all. I told Daniil as much back on Titan, and yet somehow it never crossed my mind.

“I… I don’t…” A shadow passes over Pol’s face, and he licks his lips uncertainly, his expression strained. “Titan—”