Hannibal, Our Book Confirms, Tried Conquering Italy With Pachyderms

It had been a while since Xuumo-kalashasi had attended. He wondered if the others had kept to the habit, and if, in his absence, they had consolidated their efforts - or whether they had found the changed dynamic intolerable. None of them were comfortable with each other to any great degree, and he feared he may have destroyed the balance between them with his absence. Perhaps they had written the whole thing off. On the second front - and he was carefully considering all angles, because one way or another he'd need to track them down - he knew they took tradition seriously, as he did. They weren't likely to be fickle in their sense of obligation. Yes. He had confidence enough that they would be there. His own poor showing in recent months - and that was his depression, it crept up on you and led to all manner of self-neglect - was no guarantee that the others would have been equally negligent. But would he find them barely on speaking terms - or aligned against him? Had the three become two and one? He took in the run-down buildings surrounding him, the warehouses and the refuse. It was rather pathetic, really. And why should I care either way?. Ah, but that was self-deception and he knew it. It would gnaw at him not to follow through on this.

Xuumo stepped into the usual building, a former warehouse whose low ceiling (very low to an elcor) suggested it had been volus-owned. It was perhaps a few minutes after the appointed time. He saw immediately that he was in luck. A drell waited to greet him, its fathomless eyes pools of ink, demanding answers to unspoken questions, accusatory without inference. There was something about the race that made Xuumo irritable. Irritable and tense. That blackness, it demanded to be filled, and he was not one to give too much away. The drell inclined its head in recognition, and Xuumo rumbled a response, at a frequency he knew the lizard would hear. Its weapons were concealed, but it would have them out in a flash should someone unexpected approach. Xuumo paid it no concern.

The drell led him through to the familiar meeting place. Across the room was painted a crude triangle, a vaguely equilateral shape. White paint, because that had been all they had at paw. It was foolish, perhaps, but they all took ritual seriously. He was in luck indeed, for both of his counterparts were present. Counterparts? The thought gave him pause. So eager he had become for company, for those with the intellect and subtlety to appreciate him. These were not his counterparts. He reassured himself that he would have the real thing soon enough. He was now more sure of that than ever. And his sense of obligation compelled him to share the benefits.

At one point of the triangle stood a hanar, expressionless and cryptic like all its kind, pulsating softly as the overhead lights played shadows across its glistening skin. At a second point was a volus, a ball of self-importance and economic savvy tucked away in a grey pressure suit. Between the hanar's clearly aquatic origins, the volus' high-pressure breathing, and the dimness of the room bathed in flickering light, Xuumo felt as though he were descending into the depths. Submersing.

The volus made a noise, somewhere between a snort and a gasp.

"I wondered - HSSSSSK - when you'd be coming back to us".

"Drily sarcastic: Your breathless anticipation can come to an end, Kuat Nom".

"Is that - HSSSK - a slur?"

He'd forgotten how touchy the man could be. Anything referencing breathing was seen as a potential jab at his alien biology. Xuumo felt the volus to be a pitiful people. Reliant on the strength of others, unable to leave their home environment without hiding themselves away, becoming objects of fun. When an elcor left the homeworld, the quarter-Dekuuna gravity of the Citadel and the other homeworlds gave him tremendous strength and advantage. A volus couldn't even walk unclothed without bursting.

The hanar pulsed its own welcome, its voice slow and melodious. "The expected posturing from these one's volus associate notwithstanding, it has been a while since the other has graced us with its presence. This one must ponder what unexpected swell has driven the other to return to these hallowed banks".

Xuumo had never been able to tell if the hanar was genuine or self-deprecating in his descriptions of their favoured meeting place. Hanar, he noted sourly, were good at granting themselves artificial importance, believing that he who spoke well was inherently superior. For all Xuumo knew, the pink balloon considered their haunt a place of actual significance.

This then, was the business partnership/social club/private moaning circle they had come to call the Council. In reality, a point where three tired and self-serving individuals could meet and air their grievances, or come to an understanding. The hanar, Semoslinthyl, and the volus, Kuat Nom. And the elcor Xuumo-kalashasi. The three of them had come to an understanding some time ago, before Xuumo's unbearable exile, back when the Citadel was merely a useful stop on his rounds. They weren't partners. They weren't friends. They were, however, in sympathy on some key points, and they had no desire to step on each others' toes. Kuat Nom had once described their sad little triumvirate using a volus term that Xuumo hadn't understood, and had little interest in deciphering. A balance of forces that, disparate as they were, shared a common centre of energy. Assets or annoyances, they were his contacts and his advisors, and he felt compelled to address them now.

Let us see if I regret it

The drell moved to stand beside the hanar, while Kuat Nom (Xuumo now noticed) was in fact flanked by two of his clanmates, busying themselves with note-taking. Kuat Nom was notorious for his desire to analyse his life in exhaustive detail. He ascribed to a strict religious sect that demanded conscious awareness of one's acquisition or loss of plenix, and he was exacting in his self-evaluations.

"Business-like, undertones of sarcasm: As inspiring as it is to stand amongst you again, I have business to attend to in the coming week, business that stands a good chance of elevating me to a more fitting position".

The others said nothing.

"Explanatory: I have been lax, I admit. My struggles are personal, but they have eaten into my competence and I have neglected things I should not have neglected. But my patience is paying off. I will be leaving the station shortly - temporarily - for Farish Vey".

"The salarians - HSSSK - have something you need, Xuumo?"

"Guardedly: This has nothing to do with salarians at all. Suffice it to say, I have business on that planet, and when concluded I will be in a position of some influence".

The hanar flashed, its luminescence soothing but its tone - translated with exactitude, Xuumo assumed, - entirely scathing. "This one believes the other has succumbed to delusion. It wonders if the other is familiar with the phrase, "this time next cycle, we will be True Yukes"?

"Impatient: I have better things to do than watch old holo-vids".

"Nevertheless - HSSSK - he's right. You expect us to believe your little scheme, whatever it is, is going to pay off and raise you out of here like *that*?" He snapped his fat little fingers.

"Tightly: Your belief, or lack of, is not relevant to me, Kuat Nom. Declarative: I will be finalizing arrangements soon. I will shortly be seeking passage to Farish Vey, once I have cleared things with certain humans who will need their fur soothed".

"Need to - HSSSSSSK - pay off some debts with the furheads?"

Semoslinthyl flashed a response. "The other, Xuumo-kalashasi, has been providing guardianship to a preadult human. This one wonders what the other's ultimate objective is".

"Bluntly: Not your concern".

Semoslinthyl pulsed again. "The other's Compacted human must be cleared for travel, this one supposes".

"Blandly: You suppose accurately enough".

They were being impatient with him, and he supposed he understood why. He hadn't shown himself for some time, and now he was deluging them in confident assertions that things were changing. It wasn't how things were done here. Their three-way partnership was based as much in the unspoken as the spoken. All three held deeply to their traditions and their roots. The Citadel authorities, who ultimately oversaw their trade and their livelihoods, were largely secular; secular and lacking in respect for the deeper realities. Too removed from what business was all about. The nature of reality was more sophisticated, more subtle and more grounded both, than the heads-in-the-clouds bipeds understood. The volus knew the truth, yet were denied a council seat by those same bipeds, who preferred warships and numbers to quieter, more low-key means of acquiring influence. No wonder the humans had been granted a seat, while their three races - quiet, reliable, sensible - had not.

Kuat Nom crossed his stubby arms. "Your contributions to our business here have been less than - HSSSK - impressive, Xuumo. Why should we still place stock in what you have to say to us? Yours appears to be an association of ever-diminishing returns". Behind him, his clansmen rapidly scrawled notes, and entered data into what looked to be some sort of projected mathematical model.

Despite their shared sense, though, it was obvious that neither the pitiful volus or the smugly superior hanar were the equals of elcor. Too concerned still with short-term gain. Decisions, the truly important ones, which ensured that when you put a foot forth it would come down true, on solid ground - such decisions could take years. As ever, the other races displayed a depressing tendency to expect immediate results. And in a bitter irony, they then accused him of rushing to conclusions!

"Proudly: I repay my debts, Kuat Nom. I do not forget those who have provided me assistance during my times alone. Shamed admittance: You know my kind is not equipped for long periods of isolation. When I return, I intend to see that you will reap -" (the volus winced slightly at the word, which had unfortunate connotations these days) "-part of the reward".

"As -HSSSSK - your human will?"

"Wearily: Forget him".

Semoslinthyl wasn't impressed. "When the other returns in triumph" - the sarcasm was thick enough to taste - "will it be resuming its place on the Citadel at all?"

He glared at the hanar's non-existent face. "Impatiently caustic: I have obligations here, yes. Building up from a stable foundation is essential. The humans...I am dependent on their goodwill".

Michelle Rondor was all out of goodwill.
She had spent an awful morning. She had been pulled from a shouting match with a colony administrator who refused to give their chance to a bunch of her kids trying to get some honest work (because they were a bunch of thieves according to him) by a disturbance in Laykar's daily classes. Some new kid, a grade A troublemaker, was openly mocking the well-meaning hanar and bullying the other kids who were actually paying attention. With Snow away doing gods know what, she had to handle the little prick herself.
By the time he was out and the class was going again, the colony administrator had hung up.
Now it was time for the meeting she had scheduled with Xuumo.
She had chosen a place not far from his condo, and had make arrangement to have a table with comfortable space around for Xuumo to be without feeling confined.
She got there a little before him, and ordered some hot cocoa to calm her nerves.

Xuumo-kalashasi trundled along to his next encounter. The day was a crowded one in terms of engagements, and this was likely to be the most trying of them. So many delicate meetings in proximity was a splash of ice cold water after weeks of foot-dragging and boredom, and a part of him was enjoying the sense that things were moving forward. After the preparation and the prompting, after all the doubts and frustrations, he had finally pinpointed his destination, and was satisfied that Alonso had what he needed. The careful preparation was almost over, and now it was time to push on through to the goal, with all the steady power of a master trapball player on an amble. Nobody short of a yahg could turn an elcor aside when it strode forth with purpose, and he wasn't expecting a yahg to show up. Although given my luck, Mr. Snow has an adopted yahg half-brother that Rondor wants to shadow me...

After taking Alonso for the latest rounds of that tiresome medical checkup he had taken it upon himself to attend a meeting of the Council, which he'd neglected over the last few months. He believed that his fellows had the right to know if his fortunes looked to be changing, and he intended to repay them for their association, which had, in its way, been a boon to him. They had mocked him of course, small minded insistence that this was another "scheme" that would go nowhere. Guhf them, then. The blunt thought was offset by the knowledge that he'd be back regardless. That herding instinct, and his own sense of honour, wouldn't let him forget them.

Now, he had to meet with Michelle Rondor and arrange his leave. That he should need to ask a human for what amounted to permission to leave the Citadel rankled him greatly, although he knew the real issue was Alonso's going with him. After he met up with her, they could trudge back to the medical ward and she could speak to Alonso. Hopefully the doctors would be finished with him. Xuumo supposed an attentive guardian might have stayed the entire time, but that, he reasoned, would look excessively protective. Humiliating. And few people operated at their best when an elcor was parked in the room. No, he hadn't had any qualms about leaving, excusing himself on the grounds of important business. "Urgent" the human nurse had said, with an understanding smile, and Xuumo had sighed quietly. If it was important, then in human eyes it was "urgent". Nonetheless, he'd affirmed her statement and left to conduct his business. That this business involved talking with an obsessive volus and a smug hanar was rather indicative of how annoying his life could be.

Soon to change. Soon to change.

He was thirsty, he noted. Elcor were good at going long periods between drinks, but took in a lot of water when they did. And he'd need to be refreshed for this encounter. Passing a stand where a bored-looking human was selling drink packages - probably managing the business of an older relative - Xuumo gave in and bought an armful, enough to keep him going. He stopped to carefully deal with his cargo. The packets were fragile, flimsy little things, and he accidentally crushed the first one when grasping it, forgetting his strength and exploding it with a clench of his paw. Better not do that with Rondor's shoulder he thought with dark amusement, his forelimb dripping with liquid. The human was watching him out of the corner of its eye.

"Wry amusement: What is the phrase? 'I meant to do that'."

The human looked away.

With three or four straws in his mouth, each attached to a packet of clear water (mostly, the last seemed to be flavoured, he'd picked up the wrong packet, elcor paws not being the most dextrous of appendages), he continued on his way, pleased with his ingenuity.

Let us hope my words are as impressive.

Michelle noticed the elcor and waved at him to come over. When he finally did, she stood up to greet him.

"Hello Xuumo, how are you?"

Spying Rondor, he ambled across to her at a pace that she'd consider reasonable. Everyone knew when the elcor for whom they'd been waiting had arrived, but few had the patience to be completely lacking in frustration as he made his way slowly over. So Xuumo picked up the pace a little, hoping it wouldn't appear odd. It was probably just the inherent discomfort of moving like a risk-fuelled adolescent, but his mind conjured, unbidden, an image of enthusiastic friends racing across a distance to reunite, as in human media. With an elcor involved, that would likely end in a scream and an unpleasant splat...

Focus he reminded himself.

He stopped at a reasonable distance from her. With fellow elcor, he'd move in closer, but humans could be intimdated by an elcor's size. Rondor rose to greet him, something humans viewed as a courtesy, but perhaps also a practical reality in this case.

"With gracious courtesy: Good day, Ms. Rondor. Thank you for meeting with me. I trust your efforts with the other duct rats are going well".

A lone water pack, still dangling from the side of his mouth by the attached straw, fell off and landed with a wet slap. He ignored it.

"Gravely: I have an important matter I need to discuss with you, and I trust you will be understanding".

He lifted a paw and gestured with it, a gracious movement for so large a being.

"Matter-of-factly: Alonso is still being pestered by the doctors. I imagine he's losing patience by now. You know better than most how these former street children resent being coddled and poked.

Wearily: My efforts to install patience in him could be going better.

Wistful: Too much of his father in him.

Politely: We can walk back and discuss the more troubling matters, and then you can "catch up" with him when we arrive".

Hopefully, putting the Big Issue first will encourage her to succumb to that human tendency to rush forward unthinking, and she'll rubber stamp it out of impatience.

"Faint annoyance: Today's first meeting didn't go as well as I had hoped".

Rondor wasn't saying anything, apparently content to let him explain himself on his own time. Perhaps she was simply being accommodating to elcor sensibilities, and refusing to rush him. Ironic if so.

"Resigned: I shall come to the point, Ms. Rondor. In the coming week, I have cause to take a short trip away from the station. Resolute: Short, but out of the cluster.

Weighted observation: Naturally, Alonso would have to come with me".

Indeed Michelle had decided to let Xuumo explain things in his own time. She knew that after the day she had, she would be way too pushy if she let herself be.
Her eyes widened however when he was done talking.

"A week? Xuumo this is not ok! So soon after you adopted the kid such a trip must be announced to the proper authorities long in advance, I'm not even sure they'd give Alonso a passport right now! I'm dumbfounded really I... Where are you going anyway? Please tell me it's in Citadel space."

A human's voice tended to rise in pitch and volume when she was annoyed, or frustrated. Without the complexities of pheromones - humans always smelt bland and lifeless, like holograms - the exact mix of emotion was difficult to judge. It was odd, he supposed, that in their simplicity humans could be as unknowable to him as he was to them. The negativity with which Rondor received the news was undeniable, though. He had no doubt taken her by surprise with the sudden request. There was, when he thought about it, a perverse irony in having an elcor surprise a human with appeals to haste. He warned himself against taking too much joy in that. Annoyance she might be, but this woman had genuinely been of great help in retrieving Alonso, and her actions against the gangers had been brave. She was not a woman to underestimate, her occasional air of foolish distraction aside.

"Firmly reassuring: Of course I have no plans to leave Citadel Space. I have only just succeeded in retrieving Alonso from danger, I have no desire to expose him to further peril in the Traverse or the Terminus.

Blasé: My business will be in the Aethon Cluster. With Sol now positioned as the galactic hub, it will be a straightforward journey. A world named Farish Vey. It's salarian. Rather dull.

Pointedly: Likely safer than here, at present".

He walked on, forcing her into an awkward position, walking alongside the far larger elcor.

"With mournful emphasis: The matter, as it happens, relates to Alonso's father. If you recall, it was my debt to the man which motivated by concern for his son, and it is his legacy that will long define Alonso and I's relationship.

Resolutely: I have made it my business to tie up all loose ends relating to his death. The trip in question will be... therapeutic. Beneficial to easing Alonso's break with the traumas of the past.

Reasonably: It is a tradition of both our people to honour the dead, is it not?"

Michelle suddenly felt uneasy as Xuumo was talking. She always found elcor comforting, but she had for a second a creeping feeling that she had no idea what happened before those inexpressive black eyes in front of her. She shook the feeling away and cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"Yes, yes of course it is... But listen, the normal delay to create passports is a month. I'm starting to know people in the administration however, so I can speed things up so you'll be good to go. I'll be asking them to trust me though, so I'm going to need a few guarantees in return. First, I'd like a one on one chat with Alonso. If he's near an terminal at your place I can call him right now if you want. Second, I'll need to talk to you once every 24 hours. Anything less and the people in the administration won't be reassured.
Is that agreeable?

"With understanding: I'm aware that this puts you in an awkward position. With casual helplessness: There is a limited time available to us. Were there not, I would have waited, which - as I'm sure you understand given my heritage - would be preferable.

With encouragement to shared annoyance: Salarians have no patience.

Relieved: As ever, I am thankful for your willingness to accommodate my requests, which must appear unusual. Many would not understand".

This human could still surprise him, he reflected. He had long supposed that she tended to rubberstamp things for him, and to rush through matters relating to Alonso. He'd further assumed that she did this simply because - strange circumstances aside - here was one Duct Rat off of her paws and into care, with a genuine claim to have been aided by the charity. Something that could be filed under "completed", something she had succeeded in. But sometimes, in her efforts to accommodate him, he wondered if she were not in fact genuinely committed to helping him for reasons that had nothing to do with the charity's image. She might not understand what he was doing or why, but perhaps her investment went beyond the professional. Was she willing to bend the rules because she wished to see him happy?

He hadn't made any friends on the station - or had he?

He had decided some time ago that a generous donation might keep the charity quiet and off his back once he had what he wanted. Now he began to ponder if Rondor might not deserve a little more personally. In thanks.

He would think it over.

"Conversationally: You wanted to speak with Alonso. Happily: He's waiting back at the clinic. You can speak to him in a few minutes.

Self-deprecating: I will strive to pick up the pace a bit".

"HereToHelp", she styled herself. Perhaps she really was. It wasn't as if he'd had any other assistance on this sun-forsaken two-year journey through the wringer.

Michelle was very pleasantly surprised by Xuumo's acceptance of her terms. She didn't show it though, since she wasn't sure how much the elcor could read her.
"That's very fine Xuumo. Can we go right now? I'm done with my meal actually."

When the two of them arrived back at the med-ward, the doctors had indeed mostly finished. Alonso rolled his eyes as Xuumo entered; his way, apparently, of announcing what he thought of the check-up. Xuumo instinctively made an answering sound in his throat, a low rumble that he belatedly remembered humans couldn't hear.

"Faux-cheerfully: Are they done?"

The boy shot him a disgusted look. "They've been doing all these weird tests and giving me injections". He shot a wary glance to the nurse, who seemed to take it entirely in stride.

"I've told him the tests are standard, and the injections are the latest round of immunizations he missed out on. Crawling around the Citadel, in conditions like that, and with so many various species, he's lucky he's in such good health".

"My friends took care of me". Alonso could still be very defensive about his little gang.

"Firmly: The people here have been doing the same".

"I don't like injections".

"Wryly: Wait until you see how elcor take injections. This hide is tough.

Pointed criticism: I, however, do not spend my time trying to make it appear tougher than it actually is when there is no need to do so. Firmly: You are not living in the ducts any more, Alonso. You can tone down the surliness".

"Yeah. I know. Patience and stoicism and subtlety and all that". His face lit up. "Do elcor have to take injections with tranquilizer rifles, like in those old films?".

"Bemused sarcasm: Yes. We have to be taken down at 100 paces, lest we rage and rampage for a good ten minutes before we fall".

Behind him, Rondor cleared her throat, just loudly enough to make her point without being rude.

"Matter-of-factly: There are quite a few people besides these fine doctors and nurses who want to ensure you're in continued good health. Politely: Here's one of them. I'm sure you remember Ms. Rondor".

Alonso waved his hand in a casual "hi" gesture.

"With undertones of severity: You may recall that she literally acted to save your life, Alonso, and protect your friends as well. I think you can do better than that."

The boy had the grace to look genuinely embarrassed. He got to his feet and greeted Rondor properly.

Michelle answered to Alonso's more polite attempt at greeting with an exagerated version of his previous casual "hi", which made the kid snort.
"Thank you Xuumo, I'll just have a chat with Alonso in here and we'll be right back!"

She lead Alonso to an empty waiting room after asking a nurse, and as she started pouring two cups of water, opened with a first question.

"So Alonso, what's up with those injections? There weren't painful were they?"

Most injectors were using tiny mass effect field to inject the medicine while causing punctures so minuscule the person barely felt it. Of course cheaper injectors using needles still existed, but they were very rare, mostly used by military in last resort. She didn't like the idea that they would be used right here in the Citadel, especially on kids.

The boy shook his head. "They were just annoying".

He took a seat. "I told them I'm not diseased or anything. But they just said that was what the injections and the rest of it were for; to stop me getting ill. Something about high-risk populations and stuff like that". He shrugged, as though the doctors' motives were an eternal mystery beyond mortal comprehension, one which it was pointless to spend time thinking about. Duct rats learnt early on that people in positions of power moved in their own circles, by their own rules, and that their world wasn't yours.

He looked Michelle in the eyes, a surprisingly mature blend of hopefulness, challenge and caution in his own. Or perhaps not so surprising, given his lengthy ordeal. "I haven't spoken to the others for a week. Are they okay? Have you found them all places to stay yet?"


*

In the other room, Xuumo stood and waited, feeling awkward. As cavernous as space on the Citadel could be, rooms such as this were still confining and undersized by elcor standards, and to his irritation the sense of being "pressed in" was as much a physical discomfort as a reference to his state of mind. He felt uneasy, trapped even, being left out here while the humans compared notes, and the cramped surroundings weren't helping. He told himself he had nothing to worry about. He had let Alonso know, of course, that he was planning on having the two of them take a trip. "Business", he had called it, with enough significance to clue the boy in on its potentially borderline-legal nature. Between his father's instruction and two years living rough, Alonso could easily pick up on matters left unspoken, and Xuumo trusted - so far as he trusted a human (and one so young at that) with anything - that the boy would be careful in what he said.

The whole affair was strange. Here were two humans whom he'd found he needed to mislead, and yet both seemed almost eager to render his manoeuvrings unnecessary, such was their general cooperativeness. They would go out of their way to work around the obstacles other humans placed in their path for his sake, seemingly truly wanting to further his interests. He had no illusions about his "acting"; they simply trusted in his better nature.

A less dignified elcor might have sneered at the bipeds' naivety; a better elcor than Xuumo might have felt ashamed. As it was, the toll of living away from the herd, unable to heed the ka-cor, left him grimly thankful, and - on reflection - slightly envious of them. They were finding something in him that he - surely? - could not truly find in them.

Perhaps he should *just* be thankful, and leave it at that.

Michelle chuckled at Alonso's simple answer.

"I bet they were... The thing is, it's not about whether you're deceased now, I'm sure you're very healthy, it's about making sure you won't catch those deceases later. That's the point of vaccination. Plus they're mandatory if you want to travel and stuff, so better get them out of the way now. I know it's annoying, but believe me it's worth it. Those shots save lives."
She took a second to think.
"Do you think I should ask Laykalar -you know? that hanar that work with us, he teaches classes to the other kids- to prepare a class about why vaccinations are useful? The other kids also have a hard time seeing the point of them.
Speaking of them, well no Alonso they haven't. Not a lot of families are willing or able to take in kids, you were pretty lucky in that regards. Your friends are doing fine though, the LTE has backed off somewhat so they can stay at the shelter and get classes with us. You'll be happy to lean that Tarao, one of the older batarian, has just finished a first training in masonry and we have found a batarian on Benning willing to take him under his wing.
You know you can visit them anytime right? Just give me a ring I can tell you wether they're in classes or at the refuge. I guess you need to check in with Xuumo first, but he's from a very social people, so he'd understand."

"It's okay". This was presumably in response to the idea of a class, given the barely-suppressed sarcasm in the boy's voice.

When she answered his query about his friends, though, he had more to think about. "Pretty lucky? Yeah, I guess. It's sort of hard, since I only got a place because Xuumo knew my dad, and he's big on this idea of debts and all".

He shrugged again, a movement that served to eat up time more than anything else, while he considered his feelings. "That's good about Tarao".

He looked up. "Xuumo really wants us to go on this trip. He thinks it will be good to get some closure, and that I should be with him on this. I get what he means. But I need to know they're okay. I didn't want to go anywhere if they were still in trouble. I'm not abandoning them".

Michelle smiled.
"You're not, and you never should. You and them have a special bond, something people like me can't understand. You should cherish what life brings you, like what Xuumo brings, and not feel guilty for it ever. But never let life grow you apart from your friends either.
Come on, let's go."

Satisfied that Alonso was ready for this trip, Michelle walked with him, and wished both members of the awkward but touching makeshift family a safe journey.

Fin