and tossed off the rest.
Ari didn’t recognize the other person, but something about this big, tall, curvaceous warrior with brown skin and long black hair was beyond familiar. Ari thought she looked like… but no, that was impossible.
Gwen threw her arms around Jordan.
Ari hugged both of them. “I have never been so relieved to see you. And Error.”
“Thank the gods you’re alive,” Gwen cried, kissing Jordan’s cheeks.
“Alive and in a very real hurry,” Jordan said, beckoning them in. “Where are the others?”
Val and Ari exchanged looks. Gwen spoke solemnly. “Lam stayed behind. Merlin is… taking care of the baby in a safe place… for now.”
Jordan nodded once, but Ari saw the sudden bright sadness of Jordan’s eyes. She closed the door, and Ari chased her toward the cockpit.
“We can’t leave Big Mama. The city is on fire.”
“She’ll be fine in the desert,” the newcomer said, right behind her. “We’ve been monitoring her since Mercer arrived. You don’t even want to know how many associates she’s eaten.”
“I’d love to know.” Val was looking from the new person to Ari and back again in a way that made Ari want to elbow him.
Jordan rushed Error into the sky, and then through the atmosphere to space.
Ari scanned the view for a black or white Mercer ship, her old habits sliding into place like muscle memory. “Where are they?” she muttered.
“Gone,” Jordan said. “They made their point. You’re lucky you arrived when you did. Had you been here earlier, you would have returned during the worst of it. The planet was overtaken by them.”
“How did you know how to find us?”
“This is the spot where I came through the portal weeks ago. We’ve been scanning the dunes for days. I knew you’d come back when your people most needed you.” She glanced at Gwen before adding, “I won’t make the situation sound better than it is—”
“Have you ever?”
Jordan ignored Val, throttling faster as Error charged through space. “Mercer took most of the Lionelians. And your parents, Ari. They were trying to evacuate everyone and got caught. We barely evaded the nets.”
“Of course,” Ari said, head spinning. This was how she’d die so fast. She’d run straight at Mercer for burning her planet, capturing her parents, and claiming all of Gwen’s people.
And Mercer would win.
So there really was no hope.
She found herself tripping out of the cockpit, moving through the home flavor of Error’s recycled air. The place had been distinctly Jordan-ized, with piles of weapons and armor where there had once been stockpiles of Kay’s favorite snacks. Ari made it to the back window of the cargo bay, looking out at the orange and red stripes of Ketch. Even bombed and burning, the planet was a damn beauty. Ketch might yet become a new home, a place of life and laughter, of stinging spices and soft, vibrant cloth. Of clashing Lionelian swords and herds of roaming, wild taneens. But she wouldn’t live long enough to see it.
“Good-bye,” she whispered.
“Oh, we’re coming back. Of course we’re coming back,” someone said, messing up her rather important farewell. The newcomer was definitely the warrior-type, with knives strapped down both of their long legs. “You don’t recognize me. I get it. It’s been a long time.”
Ari turned toward them, annoyed that this person was interrupting her last view of Ketch. “Look, I just need a minute to…” Her voice dwindled as she let her mind cross the gap that had been a stone wall moments before. “Yasmeen?”
The girl’s face split with a smile, wrinkling her nose and showing off handsomely spaced front teeth. “Hey, Ara.”
They hugged hard while Ari sputtered words that wouldn’t add up. “How are you… Where did you… What’s going on? Did we change the time line? Are the Ketchans alive?”
Yasmeen took her shoulders. “That’s like a hundred questions with a thousand answers.” Gwen and Val came toward them, and Gwen took in the way Ari and Yasmeen gripped each other’s arms.
“Umm, introductions?” Val asked.
“Val, Gwen, this is Yasmeen,” Ari managed.
“Mostly Yaz these days. She/her. I’m a good ol’ lesbian.”
“And I’m oh so delighted.” Val held out a hand and they shook. Gwen looked at Ari in a way that demanded further explanation.
Ari stumbled on the words. “She’s my… cousin.”
“Just cousin?” Yaz draped a long arm around Ari’s neck, pulling her into a sibling-styled headlock. “What? I am, like, fake dead for a few years and I lose my best cousin status?”
“Fake dead?” Ari and Gwen said at the same time.
Yaz seemed impressed by their