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Interlude – Eire

Eire watched his family farm through the binoculars. He checked every day to see if things had changed. He saw his wife unlock the gate and send everyone off. Muirne came out, face gaunt and eyes haunted. He ground his teeth. It was his fault she looked that way. His actions led to the loss of her child and her husband.

He looked again. There was Keoni, practicing walking with his wife Thea at his side. Here came Phelix. He swallowed against the bile that rose when he saw the scarring on his son’s face. If that sniper had been even a millimeter higher, he’d have lost his son.

“She’s still not home,” he muttered. Eire lowered the binoculars and leaned back against the rock outcropping. Scuttlebutt had it she’d been on Junna, which meant she was probably a POW. Yet if they’d captured a Rezouac the CAF would be parading her up and down the cosmos to show that the Rezouac family wasn’t untouchable.

All because of him.

“Damn you, Michi. Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone?” he growled.

Eire knew he couldn’t stay here. One of the children would eventually notice him and he doubted Alena would be willing to welcome him home, not with the truth about the Lusitania now common knowledge. If he found out who talked he’d skin them alive.

Eire slithered back down from his lookout and then climbed down the cliff. A body made powerful by playing kericopac with his twin sister and kept strong by years of farming meant the climb was nothing to him. He dropped down the last meter and headed to where he’d hidden his supplies. No Colonist could have a skimmer now unless it was on official business, such as delivering supplies for the Core, so he’d had to give his up after the Accords were signed.

“I’ll drop that one at yer door too, Michi. You have a lot t’answer fer.”

How in the names of the twin stars did that woman continue to get away with her murderous plots to this day? There was a reason he’d broken off their engagement, and it wasn’t because he didn’t love her. He’d loved Michi Nakano with all his heart.

He touched the cherry blossoms tattooed on his left arm. “What happened t’you, Michi? Secondary school you were just another pretty girl. Once we got t’university it was like somethin’ snapped in yer brain and I never knew what.”

Eire sighed. He loved Alena, his children, and his life on Sorus. But sometimes he wondered what it would have been like to remain Leonidas Vasiliou and marry Michi Nakano as he’d planned. A very bad idea, and you’d probably be dead now, a little voice whispered in the back of his head.

Eire slung his pack over his shoulders, covered his head and face, and set off for the nearest town. He needed more supplies and there were some who still thought the Silver Fox of Sorus was in the right, even after all of this. He’d grab fresh gear and retreat into the badlands.

“Come home soon, Fury. Yer da misses you somethin’ fierce, phoenix girl.”