Raith leaned back in his office chair as he started at his computer in frustration. It had been a very long day; hell, it had been a long, rough month. Between the arrival of the Rigons, the continued drone activity and the aftermath of his encounter with their unknown mystery creature, he was ready to just disappear. He had not been trained for this; hell, he barely had any military training at all before all this was thrust upon him, but he made do and learned as he went. But there was only so much one soul could take. He was stressed and fatigued beyond his breaking point, and even now, he was practically hiding in his office to keep from completely losing his cool with some innocent, unsuspecting citizen.

The Rigons were still a major thorn in his side. Their General Tsa was determined that he was out to wreak havoc on the Rigons despite all Sarsan had done to reassure the belligerent leader that there was nothing to fear. It seemed that Tsa’s past experiences had been too traumatic to overcome and it left Raith wondering just what kind of creatures the Leonians of his home world had been to deserve such hate. All he knew was that he somehow had to find common ground with the general or risk further tension among the city’s residents. It was beyond him how anyone could accomplish such a daunting task.

Raith briefly read over Tsa’s profile. Its completeness still amazed him. Somehow, that Cassarian woman Sarhea had found common ground with him…The fact still irritated him to no end. The general had recently made a comment that Cassarian women were far more trustworthy than any Leonian. That woman had a way of rubbing him wrong even without her direct involvement.

But then images from the earlier power outage came flooding back-images of little Finny clinging so affectionately to Sarhea’s neck. The boy had never taken to anyone so quickly. His older siblings had once tried for weeks to get the boy to go to child care where he could play with others his age, but Finny had refused, had been terrified, had even been scared of the kindly caregiver Kalah, who was one of the most gentle creatures he knew. But in a matter of minutes, that Cassarian woman had captured Finny’s little heart. Raith had checked in on the children after investigating the cause of the outage. Finny had still been excited about his adventure and was rambling about the woman with excitement. He wanted her to come to his future birthday party…

Raith sighed in frustration as he clicked to another screen. This one contained Sarhea’s profile. He’d been meaning to investigate her, and now that he had started, he found he had more questions than before. Her profile was incomplete, and not only that, it had been entered only a week ago. He’d confirmed that Leesha had entered the data and had listened to the explanation of why it was more than four years late in happening. It was not impossible for someone to remain concealed in the shadows; there were issues within the Malkaian community over the very issue. But he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was not completely right about her, and he still was not completely convinced that she was not up to something.

But she had been sincere when it came to Finny. The boy had made as much an impact on her as she did with him. He’d seen the emotion on her face and later in her eyes as she watched the children leave. What she had said to him afterwards had been the first truthful words she had ever spoken to him. There was a story there somewhere that had him wondering about her past, almost intrigued him…

Raith shook his head as he clicked to yet another page. The drones and the unknown creature were another problem. There had been no sightings of the creature or mysteriously downed drones for a week now. Raith still could not figure out what exactly had happened to him that night. He recalled the creature’s glowing blue eyes, remembered seeing it raising its daggers. He’d been about to stun it. Nakyla had tried to warn him, a point she was still sore about, but it had been about to escape into the ravine. He never could have imagined that it was capable of reflecting his shot back at him. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital bed. He’d been so weak and disoriented that he’d not been able to control his limbs for hours and Mouser had to make some adjustments to his shoulder before his right arm would function correctly. His coordination had been off for days and only now did he feel the effects had completely worn off.

He remembered sensing its fear as they worked to capture it, had felt the hesitation just before it had reflected his stun blast back onto him. After it had saved Nakyla, he didn’t feel it was out to hurt them, which was why he’d ignored Nakyla’s warning. He couldn’t fault it for trying to protect itself. Perhaps he should have tried another route…

Raith sighed as he pulled up the results of the two blood samples Mouser believed belonged to the creature. The doctor had tried to explain them, but most of the medical lingo was above his comprehension. What interested him most were the sheer number of species the thing was genetically close to, how incredibly close it was genetically to him.

Raith closed the files with a huff of frustration. All this worrying over things beyond his control would do him no good. He desperately needed a break. A flashing red light on a homemade device hidden in a corner caught his attention. Raith sat up and eyed it critically. It flashed again, signally that someone had tripped his planted motion sensor. A calculating smirk spread across his face as he stood and collected his uniform jacket. Perhaps this day was not lost afterall…

---

Sarhea paced aimlessly around her quarters. The day’s events had left her in a frazzled state of mind. After discovering she was the sole survivor of an essentially extinct species, she’d had her heart both touched and broken by a special little boy. Finny had brought such overwhelming peace and joy to her soul in the short amount of time she’d spent with him, and the emptiness she felt when he’d left served only to remind her that she would never be able to attain the one thing her heart had ever truly desired. She still did not know what to think about the encounter with Raith. His uncharacteristic calm and appreciative response had left her with a new hope. Perhaps it was a false hope, but only time would tell. She also still struggled with the disturbing developments with her energy and its confusing connection with her Guardians. She felt as if she were slowly evolving into something she didn’t understand, against her will. Even now, she felt the intense desire to hunt…

She was not ready to return to the dangers of the night. She still didn’t feel fully recovered, and half considered going on a recon mission. She also thought about sneaking in to practice with Nakyla’s daggers as she had not been there in a while. All she knew was that she couldn’t stay here in her room, alone with her thoughts. Sarhea snatched up her new cloak and climbed into the vent shaft. She paused in the massive opening, closed her eyes, and asked for direction.

“You’ve been leading me in strange ways lately. Lead me now…lead me to where you wish me to be,” she whispered quietly as she sought to connect with the energy around her.

It was not long before she felt a strong presence wash over her, felt the strangely comforting heat envelope her. She took a careful breath before opening her eyes. Her guides swirled around her in their usual red and blue manifestations, beckoning her forward. She laid aside all her frustrations as she fell in after them.

She had no perception of time or place as she traversed the vent tunnels in nearly a trance. She could only trust that her guides would lead her somewhere she could reset her thoughts, refresh her mind. When she was stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere, she was frustrated and confused. Her energized gaze departed with her guides, and she was left standing in a dimly lit tunnel with nothing but the evening breeze flowing through her hair.

Sarhea glanced up and down the length of the tunnel as she tried to gain her bearings. It seemed she was somewhere deep in the heart of the city, and from what she could recall, she was over an area that was mainly used for storage. Why had she been brought here?

The quiet sounds of laughter drifted up to her on the breeze. It sounded joyful and without care, a sound she had not heard in a very long time. It brought instant calm to her troubled soul. Sarhea slowly turned and followed the sound until she found the vent it rose most strongly out of. The tunnel leading down passed through several feet of stone before opening to the room below. She would not be able to peer down without exposing herself, so she simply sat and leaned against the tunnel wall. There was nothing more soothing to her than the innocence of children’s joy. Such a sound was a rare thing these days. She smiled as she tried to imagine what was taking place in the room below. There were several different voices belonging to several children.

“Finny!”

Sarhea’s eyes flew open. Had she just heard correctly? Her heart began to race as she sat up. Had the laughter been that of the little Leonian boy? She desperately wanted to find out, even at the risk of exposing herself. She wrapped the cloak tightly around her and crawled over to the narrow shaft. Peering down, she saw nothing but boxes and they appeared to be fairly close to the bottom of the opening. She would have to be careful-there was no telling what lay below the boxes or how stable they were. At least the lighting in the area appeared dim enough to conceal her presence. Sarhea carefully lowered herself down through the narrow opening. She was right about the boxes being close to the opening and she also discovered they were packed tightly upon sturdy shelving. The room was large and full of row after row of such shelves filled with boxes.

The sounds of laughter distracted her from wondering what was contained in the boxes. The children were at the opposite end of the room now and she could hear several sets of feet running amongst the shelves. A strange object flew over one the shelves ahead of her…a ball. She allowed a comical smirk. This was an odd place for children to play.

“Sealee’s it!” came a young male voice.

“No fair Makar! You can’t tag me through the boxes!”

“That’s not a rule and you know it!”

Sarhea instantly recognized the boy’s name; Finny had used it earlier. It had to be the Leonian orphans. They seemed to be playing some sort of game. The sounds of running feet rapidly approached. Sarhea ducked into her cloak and lowered herself as Finny’s brother Bubby ran up the isle past her location and disappeared into the shadows. Makar and Finny’s sister suddenly appeared in the cross isle. The girl was trying in vain to touch him as he danced about, dodging her every move.

“Sealee’s too slow!” he chanted over and over while making crazy faces at her.

So her real name was Sealee. The realization left Sarhea wondering what Bubby’s real name was. Sealee finally gave up trying to touch Makar as she paused near the end of a shelf. Layla came darting by and, as soon as she passed Sealee’s position, the auburn haired girl leapt out and touched her.

“Layla’s it!” she called and darted back down the aisle.

“Aww, man! I’ll never catch anyone!” Layla pouted and grudgingly took chase.

It was some kind of chase game. It appeared that one was “it” and had to pass the position to another by touching them, which also meant catching them. Sarhea found it a rather one sided game and not fair to the younger girls; the boys were quicker. She suddenly caught a glimpse of Finny. The adorable little boy was bouncing his ball off the shelves and attempting to catch it. Most of the time he missed and had to chase it. His clumsy attempts and the joyous laughter that erupted every time he missed warmed her heart. He was completely adorable and all she wanted to do was go down and scoop him up and cuddle him. He seemed not to care that the others were playing without him.

Finny’s large ears suddenly shot up, his ball rolling off without his noticing. Something out of sight had captured his attention. She saw a huge smile spread across his face and he took off toward the front of the room.

“Bubby’s it!” came Layla’s squeal from somewhere behind her. She’d been so focused on Finny, she’d not seen the girl pass.

“Not for long!” came Bubby’s reply as Layla went squealing in laughter back towards the better lit front areas.

A sudden chorus of little girl shrieks erupted from the front of the room.

“Ahh! Run!” Sealee screeched at the top of her lungs.

The sound of furious footfalls now headed back her direction. Somewhere out of sight, Sarhea heard Layla squealing and shrieking in uncontrollable laughter. She was having a hard time catching her breath and was gasping incoherent phrases between fits of laughter. It sounded as if she were begging someone to stop. Sarhea suddenly realized the girl must have been being tickled. Sealee shot down the aisle past her once again and both boys appeared in the aisle on either side of the one Sealee had run down.

Sarhea scowled down at the scene. Neither Makar nor Bubby was the one instigating the excitement and Sealee had just passed by, so that left Finny. Surely the toddler was not capable of such torment to the older, larger girl. She watched as Bubby and Makar crouched down into pounce positions. They grinned at one another mischievously before preparing to ambush whoever was further down the aisle. Layla’s fits were slowly quieting and now Finny was laughing and squealing. Layla’s tear streaked, exhausted face appeared from the aisle as she wearily passed by to join Sealee. Finny was alone at the front, but his laughing continued; there was someone else in the room.

Finny suddenly burst out into the cross aisle. He turned to face the mystery guest and his clumsy attempts at backing away landed him on his rump with a squeal of laughter.

“No!” he screeched in delight as he tried to turn over and crawl away.

A large shadow rapidly grew and expanded out into the open area as the unseen party drew near. Sarhea scowled as she peered out from her hiding place and tried to get a better view. Her eyes suddenly widened, her jaw dropped open, when Raith’s crazily grinning face appeared in the opening. He slowly crawled forward on all fours toward the struggling little boy before reaching out to grab him around the waist.

“I got you now!” he exclaimed as he pulled Finny back to him.

The boy shrieked in uncontrollable laughter as he was turned onto his back. He tried in vain to kick his way to freedom, but Raith had instantly begun to tickle his little belly and sides.

“Rafe…no!” he squawked between fits of laughter.

From his position to the right, Makar suddenly leapt out and landed square in the middle of Raith’s back. Sarhea heard a surprised “ooof” as the boy’s weight drove him hard into the ground. The surprise was short lived as he released Finny and turned onto his side with a manic grin to deal with Makar.

“Sealee! Save Finnick!” he called out as Raith’s strength overwhelmed him.

Sealee reappeared to grab hold of Finny’s wrists and drag him out of the fray. Raith was trying to pin the flailing Makar.

“Braunt! Now!” he called out.

Bubby, whose name appeared to be Braunt, suddenly launched out from his position, his arms coming around Raith’s neck from behind. The boy let his weight drop, the suddenness of the attack seemingly taking Raith by surprise. He was pulled over backwards on top of the boy.

“Layla! Sealee! Hurry! Now’s our chance!” Makar called.

Both girls reappeared and joined the excitement. Before long, all four were on top of their mischief making tormentor doing their best to hold him down and tickle him in return. And it actually appeared to be working. Raith could not contain his own laughter as he attempted to dodge the children’s prying fingers. He squirmed and writhed about, trying to get up, but every time he gained an advantage, someone would hit a particularly sensitive spot on his side and he would lose his chance.

“Ok! Ok! You got me! Stop!” he finally exclaimed between panting breaths and laughter.

The laughing children slowly began to hesitate until they finally moved off of him. Raith gasped as he slowly turned over onto his stomach. Sealee grinned mischievously as she quickly prodded him one last time in the side. He flinched away from her with a chuckle.

“Enough already! You win!” he exclaimed and pushed himself to his knees. “Wow, you guys must have been planning that one for a while now. I never saw it coming,” he added and grinned back at all of them.

“I told you we were getting smarter! Wait until we show you our next plan!” Makar beamed proudly.

Raith reached over and ruffled the boy’s blond hair. “I can’t wait, but I’ll have new tricks as well, so you’d better be ready. But now, I really must catch my breath,” he replied and dropped back to all fours.

Raith crawled over to the wall, turned and sat, and leaned his back against the cool stone wall. Finny appeared from out of the darker neighboring aisle and climbed up into his lap. Layla and Sealee scooted up next to him on either side while Braunt and Makar took positions before him. All six panted heavily as they tried to catch their breaths.

“I miss doing this all the time,” Braunt finally said. “We haven’t seen you as much.”

Raith sighed as he looked over at the boy. “I know, and I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy…” he started but hesitated when Braunt scowled at him. “I know, I know. It’s not a good excuse. I promise I’ll start coming to play with you guys more regularly.”

“You better, or I’ll send Finny to tickle you at work!” Sealee laughed and jabbed him in the side.

Finny attempted to tickle his stomach, which caused Raith to pull the boy into a close embrace.

“Did you find out why the lights went out?” Makar asked.

A scowl formed on Raith’s face as he released the giggling Finny. “Someone pushed the wrong button.”

The boys cast a quick sideways glance to one another. “Wrong button?”

“Yeah, the power station has too many buttons and someone pushed the wrong one.”

Sarhea watched a mischievous glance now being shared between the boys.

“Oh no. I know that look. Braunt, Makar, do not go down there. One of these days, when I know you will be safe, I’ll take you myself. But the power station is a very dangerous place. The one who pushed the wrong button was badly injured. Please promise me you will not go down there.”

Both boys scowled before looking away with a huff. “Ok,” Makar grumbled.

“That’s good lads. I have to keep you guys safe. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Braunt’s expression became serious as he glanced at the floor in concentrated thought. Sarhea wondered what was going through his young mind. He finally looked back up at Raith.

“What about you?”

“Huh? What about me?”

“Who keeps you safe? Every time you get in that ship, we worry you will not come back. Who will take care of us if you get hurt?” Braunt replied.

A heaviness settled over the room. Sarhea was as stunned and touched by the heart-felt question as Raith appeared to be. The older children all glanced around at one another with worried faces. Only Finny didn’t understand the implications of Braunt’s question. Raith’s expression softened as he smiled calmly at each one of them.

“You don’t have to worry about me. My team takes good care of me, and in real troublesome times, do you remember Sarsan’s stories about the Guardians?”

The children nodded.

“They are always watching over us,” Finny added almost absently as he examined his little hands.

Raith smiled lovingly down at him. “That’s right. They are always protecting us even when we don’t know we need protecting. So you don’t have to worry so much about me. You will always be taken care of. Now, who’s up for a little game of catch and release!”

His last words were spoken with a twinkle in his eye and a half-crazed grin. The girls lurched away from him with shrieks of laughter before scrambling to their feet. They quickly disappeared back toward the front of the room. Makar and Braunt cautiously scooted back on their rumps until they were a safe enough distance away from Raith so they could join the girls. Raith glanced down at the grinning boy still in his lap.

“Guess it’s you and me, buddy. Let’s go catch us some wild animals!”

“Yeah!” Finny yelled as Raith slung him up and onto his shoulders. “We get them!” he hollered as Raith took off after the older children.

Sarhea’s emotions were nearly overwhelming her again as she cautiously peered out of the shadows of her hiding place. What she’d just witnessed contradicted every preconceived notion she had about Raith. Nakyla had once said Raith only showed what he wanted everyone to see, and she couldn’t have been more correct. On the outside, he was a tough, stern, no nonsense leader who took his job extremely seriously. But here this evening, she’d seen a glimpse of the man Aleena thought had died in the attacks. She had seen a warm, kind, protective role model for the young orphans who played as if he were a big kid himself. They looked to him as a friend, brother, and perhaps even a father figure. What he’d said about Guardians was especially surprising. He talked as if he believed, but if that was true, then how could he not recognize the energy’s evidence all around him? How could he not detect the energy in her?

It was a mystery that she would have to investigate. Sarhea cautiously stood when the coast was clear and pulled herself back into the vent shaft. She could still hear the children’s laughter down below as she slowly continued down the tunnels.