Aley leaned away, confused. "Um... I... kissing you?" Well that's a new reaction to me kissing a guy.

"That's what kissing is?"

"Yes?"

"Why?"

She pushed her hair back. "I don't... what do you mean, why?"

"Why would you put your mouth over mine?" Xinn asked indignantly. "It blocks my airflow, my speech, not to mention it's dirty from the food."

"I don't know, it's just what we do. Maybe if you wouldn't have pulled back so quickly you would have liked it." She wrinkled her nose at him, half teasing and half embarrassed by his reaction.

He growled, clearly at odds with himself. "Fine. If it makes you happy, you can do it again and I will try to remain still."

"Thank you." She put her arms around his neck and kissed him again, still gentle, but this time for a few extra seconds. Despite his unresponsiveness, she still felt a thrill cut through her stomach. She leaned back to meet his eyes. "Better?"

He was frowning a little. "Still strange." She looked away, a little hurt. "But..." He touched the side of her face, turning it back towards him so she could see his frown shift into a slight smile. "If you like it, I suppose it's tolerable."

Now it was her turn to frown. "It's not supposed to be tolerable. It's supposed to—oh never mind." She huffed, detangling her arms from around him.

He latched his own arms around her waist before she could move away. "Just because we have cultural differences doesn't mean I'm going to give up. I'm sure we have some commonalities. I already happen to know that you like hugs." He drew her in, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"So do you, apparently," she joked, putting her arms back around his neck. "It would be weird dating an alien. I mean, it would be different. I've obviously never done it before. It's just that there are a lot of difference between us, and I've never really had to navigate that sort of thing. Everyone I've dated has been from Hawaii."

"It will be just as strange for me," he said. "It has been a long time since I was interested in a companion." One of his hands caught the end of her hair and fiddled with it absently.

"Well, I'm glad to have reintroduced you to the concept of love," she laughed. "But I'm still hungry." She pushed him back so she could reach for another bite of meat. She ate in silence for a few minutes before glancing back at him. "Do you know what we're going to do now? Since Rocki's rescue mission didn't work out."

Xinn grimaced and shook his head. "The council is still deciding."

"Isn't that more of a you decision? You're the general, so shouldn't you be the one handling any sort of war affairs?"

"The council rules over all. I may be the general who leads the army, but they make all the decisions."

She frowned a little. "Wait, why haven't you been doing anything with the army? You've been here with me most of the time. Don't you have battles to oversee or something?"

"The sariun and valicara are at an impasse right now. We've been fighting for a hundred years—we know how to counter any attacks from them, and they know how to counter any attacks from us." He sighed. "We've been trying attempting to take them by surprise, but nothing works."

"So, if there was no prophecy, no savioresses, this war might never end?" She tipped the bowl back to slide the last chunks of porridge in her mouth.

Xinn shrugged. "There is no way of knowing."

"Have you ever negotiated with the valicara?" she asked. "Set up meetings? Talked?"

He bared his fangs. "Valicara do not wish to talk. They are vicious; we could never trust them to uphold a peace agreement."

"So that's a no." She took a sip of the provided water. "It's been a hundred years of war and nobody has even tried peace talks? What did you even do to get in this war?"

Xinn stared at his wrists. "Long ago, when sariun and valicara were mostly at peace with each other, we began having... skirmishes. Mostly over land—where we could hunt, where they could fly, if we could have mixed towns. Our leaders gathered together to discuss what could be done. The valicara drew up an agreement but they tried to put hidden stipulations in it. The moment we became suspicious of their intentions, they attacked us, launching our kinds into war for the next hundred years."

"That's..." Aley let out a breath. "That's horrible."

He nodded gravely. "Valicara can't be trusted."

"But still," she said. "They must want this war to be over as well, right? Nobody wants to be stuck in endless battles."

"Only if it ends in their favor. Otherwise, I'm sure they would be happy to torment us for all of eternity."

She chewed on her thumbnail for a moment. "Do you think... they would be opposed to letting Rocki and I talk? Surely they want to see the two savioresses together because otherwise this war won't end."

He raised an eyebrow. "And how do you propose you achieve that? The second the valicara lay eyes on you they'll try to take you away. They wouldn't want to have the two of you discuss things, they would just want to have the both of you. They who have the savioresses have the victory, remember? If they ever get a hold of you, everything ends for us."

"Well, what if we made sure that they couldn't grab me? What if we arranged a place for just Rocki and I to go?"

"We can't trust that the valicara wouldn't just send a battalion to take you both."

"Okay, just because something happened once a hundred years ago doesn't mean that they'll do it again." He scowled at her, so she scowled back. "Can I at least ask the council about it?"

"I don't think—"

"Xinn," she said. He stopped and let her take his hands. "Please."

He sighed. "I will request a meeting."

#

"The valicara cannot be trusted."

Aley tried not to growl at the phrase. They were only ten minutes into the meeting, and she had already heard it more times than she ever wished to. "I know you don't want to trust them, but it's been a hundred years. You can't just assume that they'll do something like that again. The guy who did that probably isn't even alive anymore." Head Yinx tried to say something, but she shook her head. "Do you want this war to end or not?"

"Not if it costs us our entire species," Head Arca said fiercely. "We need to win this war, savioress."

Aley's nails bit into her palm. "I understand. I am going to do my best to make sure that happens. But I need you to give me that chance. Get me a meeting with Rocki and I am positive we'll be able to figure something out."

"The valicara will never agree," said Head Wret.

"Then we'll at least have tried. We have to try every possible option, don't we? Just... at least send the message, and if nothing happens then you guys can do whatever you want." She slowly met each of their eyes. "It doesn't seem to mean much to you, but I am asking you as your savioress to try this."

The council members were silent as they glanced at each other.

"We will let you know," Head Yinx said finally. "Thank you, savioress."

Xinn took her arm and led her out of the room. "You kept your composure this time. I'm impressed." He winked when she glanced at him.

"Haha." She rolled her eyes. "So, back to my cell?"

He nodded. "Is there anything else we can do to make it more comfortable for you?" He had already brought in a real bed so she wouldn't sleep on the ground and said she was able to have a warm meal or take a quick bath whenever she liked.

"It's fine, thanks though." She pushed her hands through the hair at the top of her head and fluffed it. "One of these days I'll be able to stay out of that cell for good." She smirked at him.

"I did apologize for that."

"I know. But it's fun to tease you." She bumped his shoulder with her own.

He shook his head, smiling. "Let's just get you back to your room."

The Protection Site wasn't far from where the council met, so they were back within minutes. Aley smiled at the guard outside her door as Xinn opened it for her. When she stepped inside, she started.

"What the heck?" A group of four sariun were already collected inside, grinning at her. "Who are all of you?"

Xinn stepped in close to her. "These are some of the sariun you met at the fire. I thought you might appreciate a little company since it gets lonely in here with just me and the guards as your visitors."

"Really?" She puckered her lips at him. "That's so sweet. Thank you."

He smiled at her. "Anything for you."

#

The next two days crawled by, despite Xinn's efforts to keep her entertained. Aley did her best to stay patient, she was a little worried that if she blew up at them again, they wouldn't take her idea seriously.

Finally, Xinn came back with news. "The council agreed to write a letter. Head TerrCileBreg was put in charge. He thought you might like to be present as the writing team puts it together."

"Yes. One hundred percent. Lead the way." Aley jumped off her bed and zipped over to the door.

Xinn grinned. "That's what I thought you would say. Come, they'll be starting soon."

He took her to the building beside the one the council met in. It had a bunch of meeting rooms, one of which had three sariun already brainstorming inside. They were assembled around a small round table, one of them taking notes while the other two chattered.

"Head TerrCileBreg," said Xinn. "I've brought the savioress."

He looked up and smiled at them. "Good, good. Please, enter. We had a chair prepared for the savioress already. I'm sure we can fetch another if you plan on remaining as well, general."

"That is kind, but I'll stand." He gently pushed Aley toward the chair.

"Savioress," the other two sariun murmured, showing their necks respectfully.

She smiled. "Hello. How is it going?"

"We've only just begun," said Head Breg. "But it will take time. This is an important matter, so we want to do it properly to ensure no one can ever say that the sariun do not know how to negotiate peacefully."

Aley nodded. She kept quiet as they discussed the best course of action and how to word their letter. She certainly didn't know anything about war or politics, nor writing letters, so this was a job she was happy to let them handle.

It took nearly two hours, but they finally had a proper letter together to send to the valicara. They planned to have one of their soldiers intercept the scouts that had recently been crawling around their villages and pass the letter on to them. There was always the chance the scout would tear it up or simply not deliver it, but they couldn't take the risk of trying to send someone to the compound.

Head Breg read the letter out loud once more, then signed it. Before he could fold it up, Aley stopped him.

"Wait. Can... can I write something on there? I'm kinda hoping they'll show it to Rocki. I just want her to know that I'm okay and we're going to try to end this."

He hesitated. "I'm not so certain that they'll allow the other savioress to see the letter. I don't know what you know about the valicara, but they are ruthless. They don't feel empathy like other species do."

"I know. I've heard. But... just in case?" She held her hand out.

Breg glanced at Xinn, then sighed and handed her his weird writing instrument before sliding the note over.

Aley stared at it for a moment, then took in a slow breath. I hope this gets to her. She tried to keep the note lighthearted but couldn't help adding in a couple of lines of worry. By the time she finished, the writing was nearly illegible because the substance they used as ink was super thick and she struggled making individual letters with it, but hopefully Rocki would be able to figure it out. Please find your way to her.

#

"Can we go now? Why aren't we going?" Aley looked over Xinn's shoulder to study the controls on the hoverbike-thing they were sitting on, wondering if she would be able to reach over him and hit the gas.

"Because it's not time yet," he said. "Be patient."

She growled, leaning back to cross her arms. That's what he said to her when the found out the valicara agreed to meet. It took days to work out when they would meet, who they would go with, what the rules were. She was finally about to see Rocki again and he was telling her to "be patient" as if she hadn't already been as patient as she could.

She smirked a little thinking about how excited she was to hear about the valicara's agreement. She barreled into Xinn so hard for a hug that he fell over, taking her down with him. Of course she was cross after that because he told her it would take a while to set it up, but she had still be excited.

"We've been here for like twenty minutes. It has to be time now," she grumped.

They had taken a hoverbike to the edge of the forest in preparation to head to the meeting spot. Xinn didn't want to be out in the open any longer than they had to be, so he timed it down to the exact second they would need to be at the desert location.

"The time will come soon e—"

Aley spotted a flying figure in the distant sky and shrieked. "There! That must be her! Go, go!" Her wings flared wide in excitement as she first stood to see better, then quickly sat back down and wrapped her arms around Xinn.

"We're not leaving until the appointed time," said Xinn firmly.

She eyed the two figures that she could barely see, watching them land on a sand dune, then scowled at Xinn. "If you don't leave right now I am going to start running to them."

He sighed loudly but started up the engine. She held on tightly as they took off through the sand, leaving the cool shade of the forest behind. The wind blowing in her face was gritty with sand, so she kept her head hidden behind Xinn's shoulder, wings tucked in tightly so they didn't flap along behind her.

The moment she felt the bike slow, her head popped up, eyes landing on a tall, blond man that she could only assume was the escort. Then she saw the woman beside him, dressed in unfamiliar clothes with reddish-brown wings slightly opened behind her. She might have looked different, but it was definitely Rocki.

Eyes swarmed with tears, Aley jumped from the bike, stumbling in the sand as she raced towards her sister. She vaguely heard Xinn shout at her, but could only think of having Rocki again.

"Aley!" Rocki cried, only able to take a few steps forward before Aley slammed into her. They almost fell, but Rocki planted her feet and held them up, gripped her tightly. "Oh my gosh, Aley."

Aley couldn't say anything, only sobbed into Rocki's shoulder as she hugged her as hard as she could. Rocki. I've got Rocki. Everything is okay now.