Epilogue
Eighteen months later…
Leonie waited on the dock, gazing out to sea with one hand over her eyes to shield them from the glare.
She could make out the incoming boat, bringing Derius back to her from a day of diving and inspecting the new tamori hatcheries.
She was still in her work clothes, having had back-to-back meetings since first thing in the morning.
Her boutique management consulting firm was thriving, even without bidding directly on projects Derius was involved in.
True to her husband’s prediction, the king had insisted on giving her a contract with the royal house for personal services and she’d been working closely with Crown Prince Treylon on a number of initiatives.
Ardanna had been new territory for the kinds of process improvements she was trained to facilitate and the market had been huge.
Of course the royal connection hadn’t hurt but Leonie’s expertise was the selling point and critical success factor.
She’d assembled a young, enthusiastic staff, trained them in her methodology and set them loose to bring business to the company.
She still took a few consulting projects for old clients in the Sectors but kept travel to a minimum. Most of her tasks could be done via interstellar coms and holo conferences these days.
Derius was making progress on his goals for the King’s fisheries, as well as the family businesses he oversaw.
Today was their wedding anniversary and they had a date for dinner at their favorite restaurant, after which Derius had booked them a suite at the most luxurious hotel in the city for a night of private celebration.
Checking on the incoming boat’s progress, Leonie smiled as she thought back to the wedding.
It had been huge, even though she had no family of her own.
Prince Treylon and his wife had attended—Leonie and the princess bonded immediately when the former arrived on Ardanna Prime and attended her first state dinner with Derius.
Leonie was on the princess’s committee now, helping with the logistics of the Ardanna/IDA program and ensuring the new brides and husbands were smoothly integrated into Ardannan life.
Generational billionaire Josh Benfield and his charming wife Micki had also attended the wedding.
Benfield Corporation had been one of her major clients and Josh insisted on retaining her new company to work with him on key initiatives.
Leonie certainly wasn’t going to say no to a generational billionaire and his generous terms, besides which she genuinely enjoyed Josh and Micki as people.
The couple had met on a trideo reality dancing competition aboard an interstellar cruise liner, which they won, and at the reception they’d laughingly agreed to calls from the other guests to show off a modified version of one of their routines.
Josh and Prince Treylon had fallen into a deep conversation later and as a result Ardanna was now partnering with Benfield Corporation on several high potential deals.
This development made the Ardannan king happy for various reasons, including the fact the opportunities came about as a result of the dating project which had its detractors.
Leonie was delighted because she had her fingers in the pie as it were.
The future was looking exceptionally bright.
She’d finally seen Derius transform into his tarakhan at the gigantic Tate family reunion, her first summer on Ardanna Prime.
He and the others in his family who had the ability to shift gathered at the beach on the second day of the reunion and became a pod of the magnificent creatures.
Leonie had been awestruck by the whole process.
Derius had stroked her cheek with the tip of one tentacle before he and the others propelled themselves out of the inlet and out to the deep waters where they spent the day diving and frolicking and probably scaring the local fauna out of their minds.
The boat docked smoothly and a few moments later Derius was striding down the planks toward her, his Tajikkan hound Reverr at his side.
Although Derius’s PTSD episodes had become much more rare, he still endured them from time to time.
As a first anniversary present Leonie had used her connections to obtain Reverr from him, as Tajikkan hounds were highly prized service dogs, known the Sectors over for their abilities to help their owners cope with a variety of challenges.
Reverr even comforted her when she had the occasional nightmare of being trapped in the life capsule, sinking into the dark depths of the seas.
Leonie enjoyed the irony that she’d been saved by what many would regard as a monster if they didn’t know the story of how her lover could shift into another form.
Reverr enjoyed going to sea as much as he enjoyed romps on dry land and on at least one occasion had leaped overboard to try to swim with the marine mammals of this planet as they paced the ship and leapt into the air.
He’d paddled around happily until Derius could fish him out of the waves, at which point of course the dog had shaken water all over his master and the bystanders.
Derius regarded Reverr as the perfect pet.
“Much as I love going out on the ocean for the day,” Derius said as he pulled Leonie in for a hug and a kiss, “Coming home to you is the best part.”
“Missed you,” she said. “How are the hatching grounds doing?”
“Vastly improved. We think we’ll see the best population numbers this year that we’ve experienced in the last decade.
Not back to the old normal yet by any means but on the upward trend, thanks to you and your team.
The improvements the team recommended, like relocating the processing plant and building a new reef have paid off tenfold over the cost.”
“Your people did the work of finding the problems and reengineering the processes,” she said in a mild protest. “We only facilitate.”
“Maybe next year you’ll be able to taste the fruits of your labors,” Derius said as they walked toward the parking lot. “We hope to authorize limited fishing next year.”
“We have something else exciting coming up next year,” she told him as they reached their groundcar.
Brow wrinkled, he opened the door for Reverr to jump into his place in the backseat. “What’s that? Do you have a new contract with Benfield?”
Smiling, she slid into her seat and closed the door. When he was in the driver’s seat she said, “We’re going to find out if those ancient DNA gifts of yours can be passed on to a half human actually.”
He stared at her for a minute and then his eyes lit up and he touched her stomach. “Really? We’re going to have a baby?”
“In about eight months. I confirmed the pregnancy today with not one but three tests. I wanted to be sure before getting your hopes up.”
Derius gave her a resounding kiss that went on so long Reverr barked at them. When they drew apart, he said, “Best news I ever heard, Lady.”
“I thought you’d like it, Soldier. Of course I know we won’t have the answer about the DNA thing until the baby grows up, finds a fated mate and then unfortunately has to go in danger’s way to rescue them.
” Leonie broke off and shook her head. “It certainly is complicated, isn’t it?
How were we so lucky to work it all out? ”
“The gods and fate and the ancestors were all with us,” he said, initiating the groundcar engine and pulling out smoothly into the road. “They’ll be with our son or daughter too, I’m sure. We certainly do have a lot to celebrate tonight.”
“And we’ll wake up in the morning together.” She took his free hand in hers.
“Always.” His vow was straight from the heart and Leonie sat back in her seat and placed her other hand on her flat stomach.
The three of them would be a happy family, maybe with more children to come later.
The future was full of boundless possibilities and she intended to enjoy every moment.
Sure there’d be challenges because life was a series of ups and downs but as long as she and Derius were together, nothing could darken her mood.
They’d come a long way from the original night on Ballenger Two and even farther from her first horrified reaction to the identity of the date IDA had matched her with but now she was only grateful for the corporate algorithm that had brought them back together against near impossible odds.
Maybe she’d send Geoff Delain a thank you note inside the birth announcement when the time came.
Thank you for reading DERIUS. I hope you enjoyed the adventure (and, of course, I’d love a review if you have time and the inclination to write one. Even a few sentences would be much appreciated. Or a rating! Authors relish reader feedback).