“You think that’s a bad thing?”

“No. I always said it would be a mistake to make you all arrogant; it leads to overconfidence. Better you have doubts. That way you will always question what you see.”

“Like she did. I prefer a simpler life. Give me a gun and point me at the enemy.”

“You can cut the humility routine, too. It doesn’t work with me.”

Dellian glanced down at the swans. Without tidbits of bread, they’d lost interest and were sliding away. “Will you tell her I asked about her? Tell her I’ll wait until she’s ready. That I still care. That I always will.”

“Of course.”

“Good.”

They embraced again. Dellian broke away, smiling. “Now I have to go scare the living crap out of those kids again.”

“That’s my boy.”

—

Alexandre had a wistful expression on hir face as sie watched Dellian walk away. After a minute sie turned hir gaze to the nearby clump of tall maples. The grass around them was smothered under a matting of fallen leaves. Yirella walked out from behind the widest trunk. She put her arms around Alexandre and bent down slightly so she could rest her head on hir shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said.

Sie patted her back. “I’m still not convinced this was a good idea.”

“I needed to know how he affects me. Seeing him in the flesh was a good indicator. I’m glad he’s got Xante. He needs someone.”

“I must be firmer with you. I’m too easily manipulated.”

“It’s called integrity, and caring. Without you I’d be sitting in a nice comfy room with lots of happy juice in my veins.”

“So what’s the result?”

“I looked at him and saw the false beauty of nostalgia for something that I’ve idealized. We were friends for eighteen years, then lovers, briefly; nothing will ever again be so important in my life. I’ve managed to self-edit the bad times.”

“I was there for all those eighteen years. There weren’t any bad times.”

Yirella pulled some of her wild hair from her eyes where the breeze from the river kept blowing it. “That’s very sweet.”

“He really does care, you know.”

“I heard.”

“Good. I’m not sure if we shouldn’t be filling him up with happy juice in the room next to you.”

“I’m happy enough without the juice, and that’s mostly down to you.”

“I didn’t want to raise any false hope.”

“He does question things now, doesn’t he? I think I may have infected him.”

“That’s not a bad thing. We don’t want gentens. We want humans.”

“You’re projecting a future you cannot possibly know.”

“And as he would say: That’s why we made all you wonderful binaries.”