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the orphanage, don't you get it? We're dropped there as children, to blend in.
The human ones draw the other ones out. He figured that out."
He tightened his grip on the gun. His hands shook.
She was closer now.
"Ev put us together on purpose."
"Convert's Disease."
"A lie. To buy us time. To protect you."
Chris's throat was tight. His voice came out a whisper. "You killed Paladin."
"You never would."
She was squatting next to him now. Slowly, she lowered her rifle. Then she put
a hand on Chris's hand, the one that held the handgun. She lowered his arm.
"It's our land first," she said. "It's always ours. Then the settlers arrive."
Chris nodded, numb to what she was saying. Where do the gods go when they die?
she had asked him.
Nowhere was the answer. They never left.
He dropped the gun to the ground.
"You still gonna be a ranger?" he asked, after a moment. "In Aurora Borealis?"
"You still going to be a pilot?"
They looked at each other. The questions hung in the air, vibrant, full. The
words on the tip of Chris's tongue were just as vibrant, just as potent.
But he could not say them. In his heart, he honestly did not know.
Rae stood up. She slung the rifle over her shoulder. Chris followed suit,
holding the rifle in his good hand, letting his arm hang limply to his side.
"I'll call for help," she said. "Paladin got ambushed. We finished them off."
"We'll need help burning them, too."
She nodded, and went for their equipment.
Chris stood in the clearing, watching the dead. He half expected the injured
native to return. He almost hoped it would. It would not live long without
medical assistance. He could help it, maybe.
He could heal it, maybe.
Chris touched his arm. In his fingers was the spark of something. He could not
put a name to it, but it frightened him more than anything else had that
afternoon.
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