“I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me commanding a base.”
“Then I’ll tell you I know that base and the people on it will be in good hands.”
“That means a lot. I’ve missed you, Fallon.” He put a hand on hers, and she felt it, saw it in his eyes.
What he’d felt for her as a boy, what he’d felt with that first kiss, still beat inside him. She wished she could give it back to him, feel it for him, want him as he wanted her.
Because she couldn’t, she turned her hand under his, gave his a strong squeeze. Of friendship. “I’ve missed you.”
And though she knew it hurt him, turned to walk back toward the house, and spoke—as a friend—of their childhood adventures.
After they’d left, after she’d walked Mallick through the barracks, she sat with her parents, ate the cold pasta salad her mother put in front of her.
“I thought everything went very well.”
Fallon eyed her mother between forkfuls. “You didn’t say much.”
“I had nothing to add. You knew what to say and how to say it. You knew what to show them when they needed to be shown.” As she spoke, sitting at the outdoor table in the summer heat, Lana snapped beans she’d make for dinner. “I’ve seen what you showed them, and worse, in visions of my own.”
“You never said.”
“I want you to know I understand what’s at stake. I don’t go into battle like you do—”
“You battle every day.”
“Not like you do, not in a long time. But I know how to defend myself and others. That’s why I’m going to Arlington. Wait,” she said before Fallon could object. “Your father and I already went a few rounds on this, and I won.”
“I’m calling it a TKO,” Simon added.
“A win’s a win. Rachel, Hannah, and I will set up the mobile medical stations. We know how to fight if the fight comes to us, but more, there are going to be a lot of casualties on both sides. You need us.”
She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand it. Her mother was snapping beans she’d steam for dinner, and talking about going to war.
“I’m taking your husband, two of your sons. I’m sending two of Katie’s children into the fight already. Jonah and Rachel have three kids, still young. One of them should stay in New Hope.”
“We’re needed. Jonah and Rachel have made arrangements for their boys if anything should happen to them. So have Poe and Kim for their kids. It took considerable arguing to convince Fred and Arlys to stay behind—and the children helped tip that scale.
“We were the first wave,” she added. “You won’t leave us out of this.”
“Hannah’s not a warrior.”
“She’s a medic. Medics go to war because soldiers go to war. My power doesn’t reach yours, Fallon, but it’s not inconsiderable. Trust it, and me.”
“You won’t budge her,” Simon warned. “Let’s talk about what you left out of the meeting. You didn’t say who you’ve got in mind to command Arlington.”
“We need a team of leaders there, considering its size and its location. My first choice would have been you.” She took her mother’s hand when the knuckles went white. “But you’re needed here. So I’ve asked Mallick if he would go, and, since Duncan’s staying in Utah, who he’d put in charge of that base. He surprised me by naming John Little. So … I’m going to trust him on that. He’ll go to Arlington, along with—if they agree—Aaron and Bryar. We’ll need instructors, teachers. There’s an elf, Jojo, the best scavenger and scout I’ve ever seen. Thomas will ask her. And … I want to ask Colin.”
She heard her mother’s sigh—resignation, not surprise—as Simon reached for Lana’s hand. “We expected it.”
“I want to say he’s too young to lead,” Lana began, “but he’s not. So, once again, I send one of my children to Mallick.”
“Everything you both taught him, everything he learned since coming here, he’ll take with him. If you ask me to pick someone else, I will.”
“He’d want this,” Lana said. “He’ll want it. I asked you to trust me. I trust you. Go talk to him.”
“I will.” She rose to take her plate to the sink. “Then I’ll go talk to Aaron and Bryar before I stop by the clinic and talk to Rachel and Hannah about the mobile medical.”
She saddled Grace for the trip to town, then rode first to the barracks.