Suddenly, audio sounded all around them. “Welcome to Volant’s Fabulous Spectacle. Here, you will marvel at the rarest creatures in existence. We start at the human enclosure, where you observe Yara Duncan, busily attempting to solve the puzzle she’s been given. If she manages to complete it in the allotted time, she’ll receive a reward!”

The audience was interested enough to watch Yara twist the object she held as the narrator continued, “Watch how dexterous her clawless digits are. She’s almost got it!”

Before the human female received her prize, Aevi pulled Helix toward the next enclosure. “Bored! I want to see everything and then I want to eat, and if there’s time, let’s go back to the garden. I could run and climb more before we sleep.”

Though Qalu had never reared offspring, sometimes she imagined this must be what it was like. She didn’t recall ever challenging her mothers in this way, though, because she’d always been a calm and introverted child. Wearing a gentle expression, Helix agreed to all Aevi’s requests, and if Qalu hadn’t already adored him, this would have done it.

He cherishes her as I do.

“Do we have time for everything?” she whispered, as the Pherzul led the way to the next marvelous display.

“We may not rest much before our departure, but we do. Our ship leaves early, just into the next sleep cycle.”

Qalu feigned a stern demeanor. “Do you plan to tell me where we’re headed?”

“If you trust me, I think I’d rather surprise you.”

Aevi practically screeched, “Hurry! This one has an annelid that eats itself and then a bunch more are born from the digested material! We can watch it happen.”

That sounded equal measures horrifying and fascinating. She registered Helix’s air of bemusement and rushed after their Pherzul, who was already scampering in circles outside the crystalline cage. Within, the creature was mottled with spots, quite enormous and pulpy looking with a maw that opened and closed as it chewed methodically on its opposite end. The scientist in her admitted to reluctant curiosity as to how any of this worked, how a creature would integrate their digestive and reproductive cycles.

“This is quite a spectacle,” she breathed.

“Unforgettable,” Helix agreed.

His eyes never left Qalu.

[  22  ]

For some, a return to where everything began might seem like homecoming, but for Helix it was a reunion.

He wanted to see Zylar, and he needed to make amends with Beryl Bowman before he would believe that he fully deserved the life that awaited him on Tiralan. At least, he hoped it did. They had left a great many matters unspoken, but once he settled the emotional debt on Barath, then he could move forward. Zylar had cared enough to want him to forge his own path, and Helix wondered how their relationship might evolve, now that he could understand better.