Chapter 288: Home
"All right," said Da’kea, coming up beside me. I was lying down on the couch in front of the fireplace, just staring at the fake flames like they held all the answers to the universe in them.
And maybe they did.
Maybe the answer to everything was to burn it all down and start again.
Scooping me up, he walked us over to the other end of the living room, where there was the smaller, round table with six chairs. Each one of my guys was sitting in one, the only empty chair being Da’kea’s. I wondered how out of it I had to be not to realize that they were here.
"Here is the list of planets that are suitable for habitation," continued Da’kea as he settled me in his arms and passed me a tablet.
"I don’t know why they did that," grumbled Jun Li over the speakers. "I had found you the perfect place to live," he continued. I stiffened. I hadn’t quite forgiven Jun Li yet, even though there was nothing to forgive. The ship was a physical representation of him; if he didn’t want me in it, then that was his choice.
"We want to give her options," grunted GA, not looking up from where he was scrolling through his list.
"Is there anything that is a necessity? Or even something that you wanted to have?" asked Ye’tab, looking at me, his face full of concern.
I thought about what he had said.
This was going to be my forever home. I wanted it to be absolutely perfect.
"I want seasons," I said without thinking. But on Earth, there was nothing I enjoyed more than the changing of the seasons. Especially fall into winter. It wouldn’t be home without seeing all of the leaves changing color.
"What else," asked Midnight as he typed something into the tablet he was working on.
"Waterfalls and forests," I continued, getting more and more into this. I wanted to be able to walk out of my home and see a waterfall. It was one of those fantasies I had always had. Honestly, I had never even seen a waterfall outside of pictures or commercials. And who didn’t want to go for a walk and get lost in the woods?
"Nothing too hot or too cold," I smiled as the guys nodded. "Things for you guys to hunt so that you will be happy there, up, preferably a prebuilt home; I don’t want to have to wait to move in... but no place where there are a lot of people either."
I was getting so into my list that I didn’t even notice the guys stopping what they were doing to look at me. "What?" I asked, cocking my head to the side when I could feel their penetrating gazes.
"You want a planet we could hunt on?" asked Da’kea like it hadn’t even been a possibility.
"Of course. I know that we will still have a bunch of ships. But I don’t want you to be long for long periods of time." I dropped my head and studied my hands. Was that too needy for me to say? Would they be upset if I didn’t let them go off-world to hunt?
"Never mind," I said, quickly shaking my head. "We’ll have to find a new ship for you if Sha Shou decides to take off and leave you stranded, but you can go hunting on whatever planet you want."
Da’kea nodded his head but didn’t say anything. He and GA shared a look before both of them went back to studying the list in front of them.
"I don’t want it to be too dangerous," I started before realizing that that might seem stupid. I was pretty sure that I was going to be bringing my own nightmare and Istar bunny with me, so dangerous was a relative term. "I just want it to be safe for the kids to go off and explore on their own without having to worry," I explained.
"Makes perfect sense to me," grunted Raguk. "And if the planet is big enough, and if you are okay with it, I can settle my horde on the other side of it so they would have a place to call home."
"My crew wouldn’t mind taking a part of the planet, too, if there is enough room," added Midnight. "I know that they would be happy never to see the inside of a ship again if they could."
"We might even be able to find a place to home Princess if that is what she wants," pointed out Ye’tab.
I studied the males my DNA called to in a way I had never done before.
It just hit me. I was creating my own world. Was this the way my ancestors did it? By finding a planet and letting those who need a home settle down with them? There was actually something calming about the whole thing.
"Then take off any planets that currently have a population. We will find a place that is just for us and those we accept," I said as the rightness of it settled into me.
All six men looked at me before dropping their heads down to look at their tablets.
No one said another word for a long time.
"I think I have found it," said Tha’juen slowly, studying his table. "It is at the very outer edge of the known universe, but it has everything we want. There even appears to be four structures in four different points on the planet."
He handed me his tablet with the planet pulled up, and I looked through it. It looked almost like Earth, but the water was a light purple color instead of blue. The forests varied depending on where you were, and there were even mountains and waterfalls in the pictures.
It was perfect.
But if that was the case, why had no one settled there before?
"Jun Li," I called out, "Can you take us to this place?" I asked, holding up the picture of the planet to the lens so that the AI could see it.
"I can," agreed Jun Li.
"Let’s go home then," I said with the first genuine smile on my face in a while. I had a home.
