teeth darting in and out of view, turning reassurance into challenge.
While Vesper’s return usually provokes joy in the man, his frown remains, a stain, stubborn, marring his scarred face.
Jem’s answering chuckle is almost triumphant.
‘I’ve only just found out about it myself,’ says Harm in a harder voice than usual, and Jem manages to look briefly guilty. ‘Anyway, I’ve made up her bed but I’ll need your help getting some things out of the storeroom. I tried going in myself but it was hopeless, far too much clutter. You know, if you’d organize things in there, like I asked you to, I’d be able to learn my way around.’
The man raises his hands, apologetic.
‘I’d help,’ adds Jem, ‘but she’ll be hungry when she gets here and there’s lots to prepare.’
‘There was a very specific list apparently,’ adds Harm.
The man looks from Jem to Harm and back again, but gets no further explanation. Grudgingly, he allows himself to be put to work.
Surfaces are cleaned, then cleaned again. Tools are returned to their proper homes. Half-finished projects that have languished randomly, like scuffed ornamentation, are cleared away. And Jem presents a list of things that need fixing: from protruding floorboards, to doors grown stiff with age.
Whenever the man’s frown returns, or he stops to think, Jem finds another thing that needs doing, another deficiency of the house.
Soon, the suns swirl directly overhead, and all three men are sweating from their labours.
In the cloudless sky it is easy to see the black dot approaching from the direction of the Shining City. The man puts down his tools and shields his eyes to watch.
The dot becomes a shape of metal, glinting red and gold in the sunslight, two streamers trailing behind. Closer it gets, until it has resolved itself into a sky-ship, gleaming wings rotating to make engines vertical, allowing a swift descent.
Dust plumes and goats clear the area, shouting at each other as they go. As the sky-ship touches the earth, Harm emerges from the house, one hand brushing the doorway, then reaching out across empty air until it finds the reassuring shape of his companion’s arm. Jem follows, smoothing creases from his top, nervous.
The three wait as the sky-ship’s engines quieten and the frame comes to a shuddering stop. There is a pause and then a pop as the hatch yawns open. After another pause a bright red mop of hair appears, attached to a man in a simple black uniform, the symbol of the Winged Eye flashing bright at his collar. His name is Genner and he is one of the Lenses, a network of spies that watch for the Empire, keeping track of allies and enemies alike.
Genner is joined by a group of four squires who, under his direction, assist Vesper out of the hatch.
The man’s face creases in worry as he watches the squires move with unusual delicacy.
‘What is it?’ asks Harm. ‘I can feel the tension in you.’
The man shrugs, leaning forward to try and get a better view.
Despite her protests, the group bring Vesper down the ramp as if she were made of glass.
The man starts down the hill towards them, pulling Harm along for the ride. Jem has already started moving.
As the two groups come together, details can be discerned. She wears Gamma’s winged sword on her back, but is dressed strangely, her clothes loose and flowing. The man checks Vesper’s face. It is fuller, rounder, flushed but not feverish. There are no signs of fresh injuries, no bandages or dressings visible, but she moves slowly, as if tired.
His visual examination comes to an abrupt stop as he takes in the distinctive curve of her belly.
The man’s mouth falls open.
Jem takes a hesitant step, wanting to move closer but staying away, unwilling to approach the squires. Despite the distance, he and Vesper share a conspiratorial moment.
The man clocks it, and takes a deep, shuddering breath.
Harm squeezes his arm, asking for a second time, ‘What is it?’
Vesper raises a hand and gives a smile, sheepish. ‘Hi.’
‘Hello Vesper,’ replies Harm. ‘Why do I have the impression you’ve got some news?’
‘Can we go inside first, Uncle?’ says Vesper. ‘I’d much rather tell you about it when we’re all sat down.’
*
Genner and the squires remain outside, but they do not leave. Every time Vesper’s father goes to the window and glances out he sees the sky-ship, powered down, waiting.
Vesper has been given Harm’s chair, her swollen ankles propped up. Mutigel cushions are squished behind her back, shaping themselves, supportive, to the contours of her body. A warm drink sits waiting for her on the table, along with the sword which, for the moment, sleeps, its eye shut, content. Despite repeated claims that the fuss is unnecessary, she does reward them all with a grateful smile.
‘Can I get you anything?’ asks Jem. He has taken up a post alongside Vesper, forcing Harm and her father to the other side of the kitchen.
‘Something to eat would be great.’
He quickly returns with a steaming bowl.
Vesper sniffs it. ‘Something else?’ she says before noticing Jem’s face. ‘Sorry.’
‘But it’s what you asked for.’
‘I know, I know. But now it’s here I—’
‘It’s fine,’ he says, cutting her off, and goes to collect a second dish.
The man watches Jem from the window with narrowed eyes as he returns to Vesper’s side with a new offering.
‘This is much better,’ says Vesper, taking the plate. ‘Really.’
Harm waits until he judges she has eaten half of it and had time to enjoy her drink before clearing his throat.
‘Yes,’ mumbles Vesper through a mouthful of food. ‘Well. I’m pregnant. Very pregnant, actually. I’m due in about twelve days.’
‘Congratulations,’ says Harm. ‘Is it a live father?’
‘I’m the father!’ exclaims Jem, unaware of amber eyes boring into the back of his skull.
Vesper reaches up and takes his hand. ‘Jem’s the father,’ she confirms.
‘We’re happy for you,’ says Harm, giving Vesper’s father a nudge. ‘Both of us. And we’re shocked. Why all this secrecy?’
Jem looks away. Vesper watches the steam waft from her cup. ‘I was going to tell you. I was. And I asked Jem to wait so I could be there when you found out. It just never seemed like the right time, and then things at the Shining City needed my attention and before I knew it …’ she looks down at her belly. ‘Boom! And here we are.’
Vesper’s father shakes his head.
‘It’s not all my fault,’ she retorts. ‘If you’d been at the Shining City like you were supposed to be instead of hiding here, you’d have known months ago.’ Anger builds in her voice as she continues, ‘You said you were going to help me. You promised. But when I looked for you, you weren’t there.’
Now it is her father’s turn to look away.
‘I’ve managed to persuade Obeisance that I can have the baby here and believe me that was difficult. It was bad enough explaining that I didn’t want it grown in a tube. But that means I’m going to be out of action longer, and there are things that can’t wait. Things that –’ she clenches a fist ‘– I’d happily deal with myself if my body wasn’t doing –’ the fist opens again to wave, vague and frustrated, ‘– what it’s doing.