The Florian stood on a knoll in the middle of the room, the floor upraised and covered with bracken. It was surrounded with a pool of water, but a small one, so the effect was more like a meter-wide moat that wound around the hill three times. They wore a gown made of golden feathers, which dripped down along their slender form, and no jewelry other than the golden bracelet.

From where she stood, gulping the swampy air as though she had been racing, Niko said, “It’s been a long time, Pet.”

“Very long,” Petalia said in a languid tone.

“I gather you hate me now.”

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?”

“Despite what Last has led you to believe, I have been working all this time—”

“No.” Petalia cut Niko off. “I don’t care. All I care about is that you promised you would come back, that I would no longer endure this, and instead I have spent decades here.”

“What would you have had me do? Rouse some reckless attempt and die in the try, so quickly that you would never know what had happened? I needed resources, a crew and ship. And then I fell into the hands of the Hive Mind and they gave me no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.” Petalia stirred a hand through the flowers of their hair, and petals fell away even though their touch was gentle. Dark streaks still showed along the slender forearm.

Niko swallowed. “Had I chosen to die—and believe me, Pet, that was the only other choice that I was offered—then how would I have served to rescue you?”

“I don’t know,” the Florian said.

Niko’s head drooped. “It saddens me that the universe has brought us to this pass, but I do not see how it could have come about in any other way.”

“Would that it had!” Petalia spat the words out. “Would that the pattern had brought me to some other place where every day I am twisted further and further away from what I am intended to be! Because that is what Tubal Last does, Niko. He tries to make his unique belongings even more unique. He marks them his and then makes sure they are the only one of their kind in the universe.”

Niko’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”