KEREN

Water lapped on the sides of the boats while Urtovan sat at the motor on their foray around the inlet. He swayed with the rocking of the boat while Jesti put things back in the tacklebox with a click and hum.

"Please don't start singing," Urtovan grunted.

Keren examined Ethan's two friends, who were around for as long as he remembered. He tucked his hands deeper into his knees while his lifejacket strangled his sides and neck, loading him with excess weight.

Jesti ignored Urtovan's chilly demeanor with a smile at him. "How'd you enjoy the ride, Keren?"

"Does Ethan hate me?" he blurted out to the two of them, but focused on Jesti, who his older brother appeared to prefer the presence of over Urtovan. He swallowed thick air when the motor hummed to a stop and the two older boys stared at him. "He didn't want to come. I think he's mad at me... for what I did."

Jesti scooted for his spot with a shake of his head. "What did you even do?"

Keren hugged himself to the best of his ability, though the lifejacket got in his way. "I poured his coffee out."

Urtovan whistled. "Brutal — Ethanius really does like his coffee."

"You're not helpful," Jesti said. Keren frowned at Jesti when he waved his hand. "Ethan doesn't hate you, Keren."

"How do you know?"

Urtovan scoffed. "You can... usually tell when Ethan hates somebody."

"Drive the boat," Jesti said with a chilly tone. "We should get back before Mrs. Malakai and Mr. Gurrei come back."

Keren listened to the water slap the boat with its motions while the campgrounds came back into view with the cabin on the lakefront beckoning him into a hazy sense of peace and tranquility. Urtovan drove the boat and floated it for the pier, while Jesti jumped out and dragged him by the collar of the lifejacket onto weaving ground. Keren released himself from his buoyant prison to toss it back into the boat while Urtovan tied the boat.

He rushed off the pier to head where he last left Ethan, but came to a stop.

Ethan sat back in the lounge chair, softly breathing with his book half-open in his lap, dried off from when Keren shoved him into the water. He came closer to his brother, and slipped the book out of his hands to examine it. He rifled past Ethan's bookmarked pages to reach the end.

"Just leave him like that," Urtovan grumbled while he and Jesti headed into the cabin. "I could deal with less nagging."

"Does coffee really do anything?" Keren questioned no one as he held his brother's book, finding where his brother had been. Foresight within the mystery puzzle, he held it closer and sat on the other chair to sort through it and wait for Mom. The mystery on the pages rattled his brain as he tried to wrap his head around all the fancy words, sounding them out under his breath in Tersilian though the words echoed in Galactic Common.

It's hard enough in school... He reads this for no reason?

He snapped off the chair at the sound of crushed gravel under wheels. He bolted to the nearby parking lot, where Chalen opened the door for Mom, who lifted herself out of the passenger seat.

"Mom!" He waved his hands, though kept the book firm in his grip.

Mom knelt down to catch him in her embrace as she nuzzled his cheek. "There's one of my boys," she said with a warm smile as she pinched his nose. "Where's Ethanius?"

Every mention of his brother brought a strange heaviness to Mom's brow. Keren nodded and pointed back at the lounge chairs. "He's asleep." He avoided the fact he went on a boat ride without him, and held onto her arm as Chalen hovered behind them, a silent, consistent presence of protection.

"Go check on Jestirian and Urtovan," Mom instructed, and Chalen slipped into the cabin as they came to Ethan's side.

"I think he's just tired because I woke him up 'too early'." He air-quoted with a huff.

"What's with the towels?" Mom mused with a small smile at him.

"Oh." Lips tucked between his teeth, he tried not to break eye-contact. "He slipped off the pier when Jesti and Urto went to go riding around the inlet." He pointed at the boat, and Mom followed his indication.

Mom's gaze grew heavy, missing the little white lie he told. "That's not like him."

"I don't know." Keren stuck out his tongue.

Definitely not because I pushed him... he didn't even go with us... He scooted the other chair closer to sit on it and observe while Mom sat on the edge of Ethan's, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ethan?" Her eyelids drooped when she returned her attention to him. "Has he been like this since Jesti and Urto came back?"

"Yep," Keren fibbed.

Something dark and intense entered her expression as she nodded. "Okay, then we'll let him sleep," she said, her Tersilian softened as she gently pulled Ethan into her embrace. "I'm just glad you two are safe." Her hands rubbed Ethan's back while his brother remained fast asleep. "Try not to leave the campgrounds, either of you."

"Why?"

Mother frowned as her soothing hand faltered across Ethan's shoulders, supporting him. "You just never know around here. Okay?" Her smile returned, strained, but no less genuine as Ethan stirred with a soft question in Tersilian, a match to Mom as he returned her embrace, though kept his eyes closed. "I just want you two to be safe," she finished her explanation before setting Ethan back against the chair, where he continued to sleep.

You just want us to be safe.

"Lucia?" Chalen rounded the other corner. "The other two are fine."

"Good." Mom straightened herself out and ran a hand through his hair, and he leaned into the warmth. "Keren? Is there anything you need?"

"No, I'm okay."

Mom smiled, softer, warmer before returning her attention to Ethan, where her shadow embraced him, held him, but she never held him again. Keren pressed the tips of his fingers together. "Is something wrong, Mom?"

Mom gazed down at Ethan, then shook her head. "No. If you need anything, you can call me." Her finger poked his cheek as she walked with Chalen back to the car.

Why... does she always look at Ethan like that? Keren grabbed the book of mysteries and pressed it against his chest when the lights blazed in the dark, and rolled down the gravel pathway to another part of the campgrounds. He returned to Ethan's side, and sat down while Urto and Jesti played cards on the other side of the glass.

"Ethan."

He slept.

Keren gave up and walked back into the cabin, and walked over to the kitchen to grab his model ship Ethan promised to help build, ignoring Urtovan and Jesti's game of Chain Winch to sit on Ethan's bed. He waited. He waited. Waited some more. Starlight trickled along the cloudy sky through the piercing moon when Urtovan and Jesti headed to bed, and Ethan came back.

"Here I was worried I'd have to go swimming," his brother's Tersilian came out calm, collecting a wave of warmth.

"You fell asleep," Keren accused and slapped his model ship box on top of his bed.

He leaned back when Ethan sat beside him with a soft scoff, pushing the box to the side to grab his neck and hold him in a chokehold. "Maybe next time don't pour out all my coffee," he hissed through a toothy smile, and Keren fought to get out of his brother's death grip. "Well, I'm awake now."

"Aren't you going to tell me it's bedtime?" Keren asked.

Ethan blinked. "I made a promise."

I promised.

Keren read the instructions and the details of the ship while Ethan sorted through the painted parts. Every detail on the new ship to add to his collection soaked into his mind while he imagined it in flight, coasting on the stars while he built it from the ground to its wings of freedom. Ethan observed while Keren showed him all the interesting facts on the back of the box, of these ships in the sky who went across vast distances — and saw the universe.

"I want to fly someday," Keren mumbled with the almost finished product, slipping the wings into place. "Can I fly someday?"

"Why are you asking me?"

Keren shrugged and the wings clicked into place, ready to coast onto the trails of starry adventure. He held it in his hand, whisking it downwards without letting it leave his fingers. He smiled down at it as Ethan stretched, and the night grew colder. "I just... want to know what it's like." He held it close to his heart, and looked at his brother for the wings of freedom.

"Maybe someday." Ethan patted the top of his head, and he almost slipped into the dozing warmth when exhaustion filled his limbs. "I think it's time you go to bed now."

"Not fair," he complained. "You're going to stay up because you already slept."

Ethan pinched his cheek. "I'm also older than you and can set my own bedtime... and I'm responsible for you so go to bed. Keep that ship safe."

"It's a scout," Keren corrected when Ethan pulled him off his bed with a gentle touch, guiding him to his room in the cabin. "Sanctum scouts are Cardinal class — but are they as fast as Tersilian Kestral scouts?"

"No idea."

Keren weaved the newly built scout through the air as Ethan nudged him to his bed.

"Don't wake me up too early," Ethan lectured.

Keren glared at him as he climbed into bed and set his scout on the bedstand, and frowned when Ethan turned his back to leave. "Mom was here, Ethan."

Ethan stopped, then eyed him. "What? When?"

"A little earlier... do you not remember?"

"No." Ethan let go of the door to head to him. "What happened?"

"I didn't tell her anything," Keren whispered, and Ethan's eyes widened. "I know... I know you don't like it when she's worried... but I wanted you to go." He dug his fingers into his blankets. "I thought this was supposed to be for fun, but everyone just looks... scared. Urto kept looking over his shoulder while we were out on the boat." He flinched when Ethan sat next to him. "I'm sorry if I made you mad." Tears swelled in his eyes while he tried to push out the shouts, arguments and sobs from Mom in the dark while the wings of starlit freedom never came to rescue her. He reached out to Ethan, for his warmth and consistent support while it became sand between his fingers. "I just wanted you to have fun with me."

Ethan sighed. "I'm not mad, Keren. It's just coffee."

Plates shattered. People argued. He clung deeper onto Ethan while boots stomped on the bottom floor of their house. "Do you hate me?"

"No."

"Are you sure."

"Yes. Go to sleep. You're tired." Ethan lowered his arm, but Keren clung on tighter. "Keren."

"Don't leave."

Each one, a faceless shape never seen again in the tangled mystery of their house of old and new arrivals. Father's friends in suits or other fancy clothes, but they never smiled with the warmth of friends. Cold.

Mom hides when they're around.

Ethan's hand settled on his shoulder. "I'm right outside."

Ethan peeks a little down the stairs, listening... but I don't want to hear them. I want to fly.

Keren curled into bed when Ethan nudged him in the back, and lifted himself out of the bed to head for the open door, and through the crack light glimmered. His giant, protective shadow stopped at the edge as he turned back. "Goodnight, Keren."

"Goodnight, Ethan."

For a moment, Ethan looked like Mom in the battled dominion of the shadow and the light.

He closed the door, and left him in the starry dark.