The next day, Lucien finally began bringing people out.
And with that single decision, the territory immediately lost whatever fragile peace it had been pretending to maintain.
Chaos was born almost at once.
Not bad chaos.
But loud chaos.
Kaia, naturally, was at the center of it.
The moment she spotted Seren and the other Liberators she had once traveled with at Earth Two Point Zero, she lit up like a bonfire discovering more fire.
"You're alive!"
She charged forward without waiting for dignity to catch up with her.
The others reacted much the same. Surprise burst into laughter, into greetings, into the rough kind of joy that only came after people had sincerely thought they might never see one another again.
At the same time, another reunion was unfolding nearby.
Starforge had come face to face with the former Verdant Veil.
The two groups stopped, measured, and recognized.
For one quiet moment, the old history between them stood up again.
Lucien saw Eirene move first.
