The simple, grey portal stood open in front of them, a quiet doorway that led from the silent, perfect peace of their new home back out into the infinite, chaotic cosmos. Rhys stood before it, his family at his side.
Sera, in her child form, held his hand tightly, her pitch-black eyes wide with a mixture of excitement and a little sadness at leaving their new garden so soon.
Emma stood on his other side, her face hidden behind her veil, but her posture was calm and her green eyes were full of a quiet, scholarly curiosity.
Yuki leaned against the crystal railing of the platform, her arms crossed, her expression a familiar, unreadable mask of boredom and amusement.
"So," Yuki said, her voice the first to break the peaceful silence. "The garden is planted. The old weeds have been pulled. Are we finally going somewhere interesting?"
"That's the plan," Rhys said with a small smile. He looked out at the vast, swirling vista of the cosmos visible through the portal. "But where?"
