Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Poppy didn’t leave Lunar's side for three days.
She sat cross-legged on the rocky ground beside the makeshift recovery area Eclipse had created for Lunar in the entrance of an old mine shaft. It wasn’t perfect, but it was darker than the ranger cabin and quiet. There was just enough daylight for her to move around without hurting herself.
She watched the star patterns slowly strengthen within Lunar's body. Each tiny point of light was a victory, a sign that he was recovering after his journey through the void. A shadow crossed over the entrance, drawing her attention away from the hypnotic display.
"You should rest," Rowan said, quietly coming inside. "Eclipse says he's stable now. You can’t keep sleeping on this hard ground. Go back to the cabin. I’ll stay with him."
"I'm not leaving him," Poppy replied, her voice hoarse from exhaustion. "Not when he crossed galaxies to come back to me. Not until I know he’s all right."
Rowan didn't argue, just set down a mug of tea. “I’ll come back in an hour to see if you want to wash up and stretch your legs.”
“How’s Dani?” Poppy asked.
“Better,” Rowan answered. “Getting a little stir crazy. We’re going to have to figure something out when everyone is well enough to travel.
This cabin was not meant to hold six people indefinitely.
Pete came by with more supplies. I hope you like canned peaches and warm beer.
He said he had a lead on the next stop on the alien railroad.
I think he meant camping in a literal abandoned train car in the mountains. But that’s tomorrow’s problem.”
Rowan squeezed Poppy's shoulder before leaving the mine.
Poppy's fingers skidded over the dirty ground, feeling the subtle vibration of Lunar’s growing energy.
"I know you can hear me," she whispered, pressing her palm against his chest. "I can feel you getting stronger. Just keep fighting."
The moment Lunar fell through the dimensional bridge was the most terrifying experience of Poppy's life. She sensed him before she saw him, that familiar cool resonance that had haunted her since his departure. She instinctively reached out, but what returned wasn’t entirely Lunar.
It was a fragment of his scattered body, or at least, that’s the only way she could describe it.
She couldn’t help but fear that part of him would forever remain out there, drifting in space for eternity.
"Dani didn’t have much time left. He channeled most of his energy into the beacon to save her," Solar had explained. "And he was already weak. By all calculations, he should not have survived the dimensional transit. The only sense I can make of it is your connection saved him."
A subtle shift in the star patterns caught her attention. Poppy leaned closer, her breath fogging the chamber's surface as she watched a cluster of lights strengthen and multiply within Lunar's essence.
"That's it," she encouraged. "Come back to me."
The light shifted at the entrance, and Eclipse's twilight form flowed into the mine.
"There is improvement," he observed, his essence extending to scan Lunar's condition. "His core patterns have stabilized, and peripheral reconsolidation is progressing at an increased rate."
He kept talking, going into detail about the process. Poppy rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"You know, you all talk like science professors,” Poppy mumbled, too tired to decipher Eclipse's technical assessment. “That was not my best subject in school.”
"He is healing," Eclipse clarified, his twilight essence pulsing with what she'd learned to recognize as gentle encouragement. "The resonance between you appears to be accelerating the process. Your presence helps."
"I'm not going anywhere," she assured him.
Eclipse lingered, his form shifting slightly in what she'd come to recognize as hesitation. "There is a matter of some urgency we must discuss. Regarding Milano."
Poppy glanced up, momentarily distracted from Lunar's recovery. "What now?"
"Solar has been monitoring their communications through equipment Galaxy Brides salvaged from their moon crash. Milano has detected the dimensional bridge activation. They are mobilizing search teams."
A chill ran through Poppy despite the warm day. "How close are they?"
"Not immediate, but concerning," Eclipse answered. "We should prepare contingency plans."
Poppy's gaze returned to Lunar's recovering form. "We can't move him. Not like this. Not while it’s light out.”
"I am aware," Eclipse said.
“We can take him deeper into the mine." Poppy started to stand. “Where it’s darker.”
“I regret the choice of this location, but it was the place that was close enough to hide him,” Eclipse said. “It is as I said before. You cannot go deeper into the mine. It is not safe for your biology.”
“Then what?” Her legs were stiff from sitting for so long.
"Rowan has made contact with her journalist colleague. The evidence package we compiled is being released to multiple news outlets within the hour. It may provide sufficient distraction to delay Milano's search efforts."
"And if it doesn't?"
Eclipse's twilight essence rippled in determination. "Then we defend this position. Solar and I have established perimeter countermeasures using modified Zorveyan technology."
Poppy nodded, grateful for Eclipse's calm competence and touched by the protectiveness all of them showed toward Lunar. "Thank you."
Eclipse hesitated again, then added, "There is one more thing. Bob and Gary sent a transmission from the council."
This caught Poppy's full attention. Milano and now Zorveyan threats? How many more storms were they expected to weather? Why couldn’t everyone just leave them alone?
"What did they say?"
"They have officially classified Lunar as non-functional," Eclipse explained.
"Essentially, exiled from Zorveya. Because of his high rank in the Solarus guard, Solar has been classified as being on a secret mission. They don’t want to admit he chose to leave.
I am on probation since they determined I was unable to return due to my condition.
But there was an additional message, specifically for Lunar. "
"What message?"
"The Shadow Intelligence Division acknowledged the value of his Milano threat assessment. They have agreed to establish a permanent observation post on Earth, with Lunar designated as the official liaison."
Poppy's heart skipped. "They're letting him stay? Officially?"
"It would appear so," Eclipse confirmed. "Though I suspect it is their way of saving face after failing to prevent him from leaving."
A soft laugh escaped her, the first genuine moment of joy since Lunar's arrival. "He outsmarted them even before he left. He knew they'd have to acknowledge his value eventually."
Eclipse's form brightened slightly. "Indeed.”
"What about Solar?" Poppy asked, thinking of Dani. “Will they try to make him go back?”
"He’s posted here with a similar arrangement through the light-dweller administration. It seems our connections with Earth have created an unexpected diplomatic channel."
After Eclipse departed, Poppy returned her attention to Lunar, a new hope warming her exhausted body. "Did you hear that? You have permission to stay. Not that you needed it, but still. No one will be hunting you from Zorveya."
Inside the chamber, the star patterns within Lunar's essence pulsed slightly brighter, as if responding to her words.
Encouraged, Poppy continued speaking, telling him everything that had happened since he left—how she'd built the array, how Eclipse had taught her about Zorveyan energy patterns, how she'd felt him across the stars even when communication seemed impossible.
"I never stopped believing you'd come back," she whispered. "Even when everyone thought I was crazy for trying to reach you."
The star patterns shifted again, more dramatically this time. Poppy sat up straight, watching as Lunar's essence began to coalesce more rapidly, the scattered fragments of his shadow form drawing together into a more defined shape.
"Eclipse," she called, not taking her eyes off him. "Something's happening!"
Eclipse appeared immediately, his twilight essence flowing into the mine. Solar followed, his golden light dimmed to avoid disrupting the delicate balance of Lunar’s recovery.
"His essence is reconsolidating at an accelerated rate," Eclipse confirmed. "The critical threshold has been reached."
"What does that mean?" Poppy demanded.
"It means," Solar explained, his tone carrying unusual warmth, "your love saved him.”
The simple statement was strange coming from them.
The mine began to hum with increasing energy as Lunar's essence continued to strengthen.
Star patterns multiplied and brightened, swirling together into the familiar constellations Poppy had memorized during their time together.
His form became more defined, edges solidifying from vapor into the humanoid shape she remembered.
“Step back,” Eclipse ordered.
Poppy instantly stood and gave Lunar space.
Solar and Eclipse both began to glow, sending swirls of their energy toward their friend.
“Should I do something?” Her hands reached toward Lunar in hesitation.
"Not yet," Eclipse cautioned. "The process must complete naturally."
They watched as Lunar's essence continued its remarkable recovery.
The star patterns within his darkness pulsed and swirled with increasing vigor, his form becoming more solid with each passing minute.
Poppy never took her eyes off him, afraid that if she looked away even for a moment, he might fade again.
The subtle thrum of energy faded as the carefully maintained environment dissipated. For one terrifying moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, Lunar's fully reconsolidated form drifted up from the ground.
"Poppy," he said, her name carrying all the emotion his shadow essence could express.
"Lunar," she whispered, tears filling her eyes as she reached for him.
His darkness enveloped her instantly, cool and familiar and perfect.
The star patterns within his essence swirled rapidly where they touched her skin, creating those beautiful ripples of sensation she'd missed so desperately.
The resonance between them, once stretched across impossible distances, now hummed with immediate connection.
Eclipse and Solar quietly withdrew, leaving them alone in their reunion.
"You came back." Poppy’s hands passed through his darkness to find the more solid core beneath.
"I promised," Lunar replied, his form solidifying further at her touch. "Though the probability of success was significantly below optimal parameters."
Poppy laughed through her tears, the familiar clinical phrasing so perfectly Lunar that it made her heart ache with joy. "Just say it was nearly impossible and you did it anyway."
"Nearly impossible," he agreed, his essence rippling with what she recognized as his version of amusement. "Yet here I am."
"Here you are," she echoed, still not quite believing it despite the solid evidence of his essence wrapped around her.
"Permanently," Lunar answered without hesitation.
“Forever,” she agreed.
Lunar's essence shifted, forming a more solid manifestation of his humanoid shape. The star patterns within his darkness aligned into a configuration she'd never seen before, creating a symbol that glowed.
"On Zorveya, shadow-dwellers do not speak of emotional attachments," he said, his voice taking on a formal quality. "We communicate through energy patterns. This is the pattern of permanent connection, of chosen resonance."
Poppy traced the glowing symbol with her fingertips, feeling the energy respond to her touch. "It's beautiful. What does it mean, exactly?"
"In Earth terms," Lunar said, wrapping more tightly around her, "it means I love you, Poppy Jensen.
Not as a tactical advantage or a statistical anomaly, but simply, completely, as one being to another.
I love your perception, your courage, your warmth.
I love how you move through darkness without fear, how you reached for my shadows when others would have recoiled. "
The words she'd been waiting to hear, expressed with a poetry she hadn't known he possessed, brought fresh tears to her eyes. "I love you too. So much that I felt you across the stars. So much that I never stopped believing you'd find your way back."
Their energies merged in the perfect harmony they'd discovered in the desert nights so long ago, shadow and warmth creating something greater than either alone.
This time, there was no fear of separation, no countdown to extraction, no Milano forces pursuing them. Just the promise of a future together.
"What happens now?" Poppy asked when they finally separated enough to speak again.
"Now," Lunar replied, "we adapt to new parameters. Together."