Reclamation

Eric looked her straight in the eyes. "When my brother-in-law gets back, I'll help get us all to First City. My parents are not averse to getting themselves a little extra power. They won't mind that their son is heir to the Servant and can prove it. I'll help you find your children again. I'll get to the U-Kenai and get a message to Dorias, and the Unifiers, and the Shessel and Kethran Colony. We're going to need friends, Aria Stone, and they're going to need to know who we are, and who the Vitae are.

"Will that be enough?"

"It'll be a good start." She nodded. "What will you do about yourself?"

"I will learn what I can from you." He took her hand. "I will try to deal with what I am." His hand tightened a little. "With what we are."

She laid her scarred hand over his power-gifted one. "That is an even better start."

After a while they picked themselves up out of the dome's wreckage and, climbing carefully over the debris, made their way out into the daylight.

About the Author

Sarah Anne Zettel was born in Sacramento, California. She began writing stories in the fourth grade and never stopped. Her interest in writing has followed her through ten cities, four states, two countries, and one college, where she earned a BA in Communications.

A professional technical writer, Sarah's short fiction has been nationally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Realms of Fantasy. Her second science fiction novel is scheduled to appear from Warner Aspect in April 1997. When not actually writing, Sarah sings, dances, and plays the hammered dulcimer, although not all at once.