A chorus of coastal birds unlike any sound she had ever heard accompanied Flavia to the entrance of the dome. She had seen it grow larger as they approached. The colors animating its surface seemed as intangible and delicate as those of a soap bubble.

From the path, they entered the exotic garden that surrounded it. After a few steps up a very gentle slope, Flavia found herself in front of a shiny and transparent surface with no doors or holes or other entrances indicating a specific entry point. Clyella smiled at her, and together they passed through the bubble.

From the inside, Flavia could no longer distinguish the surface of the dome. The only indication that she had entered a confined space was the dimming of the intensity of light and external sounds. The white sand of the beach shone less brightly under daylight, the sound of the waves and birds became more distant, and the sparkle of the silver water dimmed. Even though more delicate, the distant slopes covered in flowers still sparkled. They were a rainbow of diamonds, where the entire visible spectrum danced in a river of liquid colors.

Behind her, Flavia saw the Coral City dominating the horizon like a pink and silver mountain with countless carved spires. Above the unnaturally deep blue ocean lay an equally rich blue sky, and even higher, a dark disk on the surface of the dome blocked Flavia's view of the sun. She moved to step out of the shadow, but the disk moved with her perspective. She noticed the shadow was consistent throughout the dome.

«Anisotropic opacity...» she commented with amusement.

The Assembly members were gathered in the innermost part of the basin, a sort of amphitheater that could accommodate a crowd at least five times larger. Flavia estimated it to be about thirty meters in diameter.

«What are they discussing?» she whispered to Clyella as they approached the others.

«First, we discuss you.»

Flavia frowned.

«Don't worry,» Clyella smiled at her, «you have no idea how many times we've already done this in the past six hundred years.»

Kidhe interrupted what he was saying and stood up in the middle of the group of Executives. Next to him, in the exact center of the dome, a small cylindrical marble podium was clearly visible, and on its surface, Flavia saw a crystal the size of a fist spinning in mid-air.

«Please, make yourself comfortable,» the president greeted her. «And excuse us if we don't directly involve you.»

«Thank you, it's no problem.»

«Your presence in this session wasn't initially planned,» Kidhe explained, «but Clyella was quite... shall we say... insistent about having you here during the discussion.»

«I understand.»

«No, you don't,» Wilol interrupted. To Flavia, he seemed genuinely concerned. «You can't imagine what Clyella is like when she sets her mind on something.»

«To recap,» Kidhe resumed addressing the Assembly, «we took responsibility for Flavio's life and brought him back to life on our planet, but we don't have a role to assign him.»

Next to the outermost members of the Assembly, Flavia took her seat with Clyella, who had stopped to stay beside her.

«Is it serious?» Flavia whispered to her.

«Here, everyone must have a purpose. I don't think you'd like having absolutely nothing to do...» Clyella replied as Kidhe continued with his summary.

«There aren't many alternatives. If we decide to let him stay here to live by our rules, he'll either need to join the army, integrate into the community of creatives, or find a role in the Assembly. Regarding the army, we already know he lacks the experience, and even more so, the vocation. If we were to take him on as an artist...»

«Oh, please, no!» Wilol commented. «It's not in his nature at all!»

«Have you seen his commitment over the last seven years though?» countered Sleeld, «He's learned to play four musical instruments and has developed excellent dancing skills. And all in his free time!»

Wilol shook his head and snorted. «Pff!» Then, he began to wave his arms and shake his rear, mocking an Earth ballerina.

Flavia raised her eyebrows.

«I said "if,"» Kidhe interrupted. «Again, if we were to take him on as an artist, we would break all the selection rules we've always demanded to be respected. All the candidates who have been preparing for centuries and applying from about thirty planets would be bypassed. Finally, to assign him a position working with the Assembly would mean granting him the power to decide the fate of entire civilizations—that is, one of the greatest responsibilities in the universe.»

Whispering in Clyella's ear, Flavia voiced her concern. «Shouldn't I have a say in this?»

«Trust us,» Clyella reassured her. «We know what's best for you.»

«If we choose not to let him stay here,» Kidhe continued, «we'll need to swiftly arrange the timing and means to find him a place of exile.»

«Or eliminate him. Again,» clarified Cronquit.

Flavia's eyes widened.

Clyella placed a hand on her shoulder.

«Don't worry. They're just listing all possible alternatives.»

She looked at Kidhe, who was nodding at Cronquit as if to confirm the obvious, and then quickly managed a reassuring smile for Flavia.

«Excuse me, I'll leave you for a moment to ensure they don't screw things up.»

Clyella rose and swiftly moved to the center, close to the other Executives. Various members of the Assembly spoke, advocating divided positions. Some supported Flavia's stay on the planet, highlighting the exceptional qualities that the Assembly itself had crafted when designing Flavio's nature.

Others pointed out that Flavio's merits were not fully attributable to his virtues, but had only manifested because the environment in which he had lived on Earth had been shaped to suit him. Some even stated that Flavia was far too young and inexperienced by the Assembly's standards, or recollected with displeasure how on more than one occasion she had given in to violent impulses.

Flavia, embarrassed, thought back to when she had defended her alter ego at the exit of the Reflections, to when she had daydreamed about knocking Franco down, and to when she had actually laid him out with a hook. And to when, a few minutes later, she had repeated the experience with the other fist.

Witnessing over one hundred and forty extraterrestrials discussing her, she was overcome by a sense of alienation. They belonged to a world light years away from where Flavia had always lived, to a reality whose existence she would never have imagined. Yet, that group of people with immense powers knew every detail, every secret of her existence.

The role of spectator made her feel like a ghost, unable to materialize in the real world. A sense of nostalgia hit her at the thought of her friends on Earth. She understood the importance of what Clyella had told her earlier: "we all must have a purpose." If a plan allowing her to manifest her unique being didn't result from that discussion, she feared her identity would become so diluted that she might risk madness.

Suddenly, Flavia realized everything she had ever needed: the ability to project her existence, an environment that would reflect her identity, and a perspective that allowed her to express what she truly was.

The conflicting positions seemed to keep the Assembly in decisional chaos, when Clyella spoke up. She vehemently argued that Flavio was too precious not to be welcomed into their community, that his unique experience alone made him worthy of collaborating with the Assembly. She argued that no one else present could claim a period of their life as crucial in facing such a profound change in role and gender. Whether or not he was favored by circumstances, his qualities were a masterpiece conceived by the Assembly itself, his virtues so high that they had made him accept extreme sacrifice when he still had everything to demand from life.

In the silence that followed, the Assembly's attention lingered on Clyella. As she stood, Wilol took her hand to sit her down. Kidhe was the first to break the tension, commenting on Clyella's assessment as among the most grounded, given the time she had spent on Earth.

«However,» he added, casting a doubtful glance toward Flavia, «you might not be impartial enough. We all know that your feelings toward her are... particularly strong.»

Flavia met Clyella's eyes. The Executive's face had flushed, and her tight lips seemed to be forcefully holding back a cry of responses too emotional to be uttered. Clyella said nothing. Nobody said anything. Kidhe then declared the voting open.

Wilol stood up and, with uncharacteristic discretion, went to sit next to Flavia. «Worried?»

«No, why?» Flavia didn't even try to hide the nervousness in her voice. «I've already been killed a couple of times in less than thirty years. I'm getting used to it.»

Wilol smiled. The voting was taking a long time.

«I want to show you something, perhaps it will ease your anxiety a bit.» He spread his hands in front of Flavia. «Computer, display. What odds do you assign to a vote in favor of Flavio's stay on our planet?»

In the area swept by Wilol's hands, a three-dimensional image of charts and diagrams on the Assembly's composition appeared.

«A negligible chance,» the computer replied to the two.

Flavia's expression became anything but calmer.

«Computer,» Wilol continued. «In your opinion, what is the Assembly's most likely decision?»

A histogram on the display enlarged and became more prominent. The computer's voice sounded again in their ears.

«The most likely decision is Flavia's elimination, at one percent.»

«What does that mean?» Flavia murmured.

Wilol dismissed the display with a hand gesture. «It means the computer has no idea.»

Flavia looked perplexedly at the one who had mocked her artistic talents just a few minutes earlier. Wilol replied with a warm expression that, to Flavia, seemed reassuring in some way.

«In other words,» Wilol then explained, «no computer without consciousness can probe the free will of people. Human reactions are easy to predict, as long as they are, precisely, reactions. Conscious decisions made by conscious minds, on the other hand, are not measurable by any abacus. Not even by this one, which, I've been told, is the most sophisticated within several hundred parsecs. The 99% it failed to account for is the margin of the human free will of this Assembly. Now, you'll get to witness a manifestation of the divine essence of human nature, the reason no computer could ever make decisions on our behalf any better.»

Wilol put an arm around Flavia's shoulders and gestured for her to pay attention to the Assembly. Flavia noticed the general agitation of a murmur muted by the acoustics of the dome. All of a sudden, the agitation ceased and the voting result was promptly announced.

«Flavio is granted permission to reside on the planet with a collaborative role in the Interdimensional Assembly. 8 out of the 9 present Executive Council members and the 132 Assembly Members supported the decision. One of the Executives abstained.»

Clyella jumped to her feet and thundered towards the top of the dome. «Who the hell abstained?»

The androgynous and impersonal voice of the computer responded with its unchanging composure. «Executive Wilol, Executive Madam.»

Wilol chuckled under his breath. «Oops...» he whispered, «I got so caught up talking with you that I forgot to vote.» His indifference was such that it was clear to Flavia he wasn't serious. «Congratulations,» he said, his lip movement not matching his speech, «Interdimensional Assembly Member.» Wilol renewed his smile and began to applaud on his own.

«I thought you didn't think I was even capable of helping artists.»

«Your talents,» Wilol clarified as others joined in the applause, «would be wasted on anything other than the Assembly.»

Soon, all the Executives and Assembly Members were standing, facing Flavia, applauding her. Disoriented, she also stood up and felt overwhelmed by the ovation she was being dedicated. Clyella crossed the amphitheater and embraced Flavia.

«I had promised you'd be fine,» she reminded her.

«How could you? Just a moment ago, it seemed like Cronquit and Kidhe wanted me gone.»

«Of course not!» Wilol interjected. «It was just a bit of rhetoric to nudge the vote along. You see, by sending you elsewhere, we could never have ensured your safety as we can by keeping you here. Cronquit just meant to point out that, if you were to leave, we might as well lose you entirely. We've already gone through that twice, right? I assure you, it wasn't pleasant for anyone.»

The applause continued for a while as Flavia felt an eternal warmth envelop her. She saw the admiring glances and faces brimming with satisfaction. These were the people who had worked for centuries to give her life and had even fought for her existence after her death. They were her true forebears, more so than the parents she had never known.

Realizing she was back in the place of her origin, among those who knew her for who she truly was, for the first time in her entire life, in that alien world... she felt at home.