Chapter 2
TWO
Five Years Later
“Renn! Breakfast is ready!” his grandfather’s scratchy grovel called up the stairs.
But Renn was in no rush on this sunny morning.
His father was coming home today and yet, Aldrenn Anton wasn’t particularly as excited as he used to be when his father returned from a mission.
He hadn’t seen his father in over a year and when the last recorded message the captain transmitted back to Earth, Renn had been preoccupied with a star map console his grandfather had found secondhand.
It had been damaged badly and was in desperate need of an update, so naturally, he had spent hours refurbishing it to be fully functional once more.
To him, mending things made sense—how they worked and what would make them whole again.
But when it came to his father, he never could figure out why things never seemed to work as they should.
He had arrived at the conclusion that while his father looked the part of an influential man who had it all together, somewhere inside, he was broken.
But Renn had no idea how to piece together a person—understand what they were missing—and sadly it was true for the man with whom he shared DNA.
“I’ll be down in a minute!” he shouted back. Renn had done his best to be optimistic about his father’s arrival, if only for his grandparents sake. He knew they worried, but every “welcome home” repeatedly led to the same series of events.
Renn would move into his fathers’s home—a pentahouse in the city—then spend one-on-one time together for a few weeks, but Elias would become restless.
Before Renn could truly settle into living with his father on a daily basis, the captain would be back at the SEA in meetings, before being pulled into conversations of “important intergalactic matters” that eventually led to a new assignment off-world.
Renn should have never unpacked because he would find himself piling everything into a bag once more—moving back to his grandparent’s house as if he never left.
He had simply gone on a vacation from his real life just to glimpse what another version may have been once upon a time.
Nowhere was truly home to Renn. Nowhere gave him the sense that he was where he should be.
In the twelve years of his young life, he was over the constant back and forth.
It had always been this way, though there was a time—a time he didn’t remember—-when it had been different.
His grandparents occasionally reflected on the past when he was a baby living with his father everyday.
He had even seen photos—his father holding him in his arms as a tiny baby in a swaddle, taking his first steps—but the memories were lost to Renn even if there was proof. They might as well have never happened.
It didn’t bother Renn that his father’s career led him so far away from Earth—the work was important and only a select few had the abilities and personality to fill a role as a captain.
And he couldn’t deny that an adventurous spirit lived inside him.
That same spirit that he had clearly inherited from his father.
While those details should have been satisfying, he was still left with a nagging suspicion that his father could have taken more practical assignments, especially for someone with a young child—missions that weren’t years long or as dangerous.
Renn had met other captains’ families throughout the years, and while most didn’t have children, the ones that did usually had months, even weeks-long assignments, rather than years.
He couldn’t prove it to be true, but he had a gut feeling that was undeniable.
It took many days of contemplating if he should ever express his feelings to his grandparents, and once he did, they both reassured him that it wasn’t the case, that his father loved him.
But their father-son relationship wasn’t absent of love, it was simply long distance.
Elias always told Renn “I love you” in every message, had provided for him—given him so many opportunities.
But he’d chosen to do it all from afar. Almost quite literally as far as humanly possible as he travelled in the stars.
But at this early age, Renn had learned that saying empty words was, in some ways, more harmful than not saying them at all. Every “I love you” felt half true.
I love you but not enough to be with you.
It left him hollow. He told his grandparents he believed them that night, but he noticed the quick worried glance they exchanged afterwards, when they thought he wasn’t looking.
He could have pried more, but he didn’t want to sound ungrateful.
He had a comfortable life and he loved his grandparents.
Plus, Renn was never one to complain. No life was perfect, but he was pretty dang close.
Every family has something they don’t want to unpack—avoids at all costs—and for Renn’s, the root of all of this, was his mother.
If she was brought up in conversation it was short-lived.
From what he knew of Kendra, she was lovely and kind, and the pictures of her left none to wonder if that was his mother.
Every conversation ended too soon, but in his grandparent’s faces he could see so much more.
The love—how they missed her. Renn was almost too observant when it came to reading people, so he let the conversations end, wondering if they would ever tell him more. Maybe when he was older? Maybe never.
He stuffed the last of his belongings into a large duffle bag, including a picture of his mother he kept on his bedside table, and swung it over his shoulder, taking a quick survey of his loft bedroom before retreating down the stairs.
“Good morning!” his grandmother exclaimed brightly from where she stood in front of the stove. The aroma of delicious golden pancakes had been floating up to his room, making his mouth water.
“Morning,” Renn replied with much less enthusiasm, sliding into the seat next to his grandfather who was tapping through his tablet, scanning the news of the day.
His grandfather had been retired for some time, but he still made it a habit to be in the know of what was going on, especially with the expansion of worlds beyond their planet.
“A quick breakfast and then we need to head out,” he said, catching Renn’s eye. Renn nodded before reaching across the table for a piece of bacon. “Did you get everything packed?”
“Yes, sir,” Renn replied through his chewing as his grandfather playfully messed up his hair before returning to his reading.
“Good man.” Charlie was a perfect example of a hard-working family man.
Thanks to his example, Renn learned everything from handy work around the house to his role as a loving caring husband.
It was hard for Renn to even think, let alone admit to anyone, but the man he wanted to be was someone like his grandfather.
and while being a captain was a goal, he didn’t want to be like his father in any other way.
He would probably keep that to himself for as long as he lived, though, or at least try to.
“Anything exciting?” Renn asked as his grandmother slid a couple cakes onto his plate.
“Not particularly—nothing of note from the outer colonies. It’s honestly hard to keep track of them all,” he replied before taking a bite of his own pile of pancakes now sitting in front of him.
Renn could have sworn there was a flicker of his father’s face on the screen, but his grandfather had swiped it away too quickly.
The discovery of human-inhabited and Earth-like planets seemed to double every year, and star maps needed reconfiguring every other month to keep up.
“But in good news, it sounds like your father’s mission was a success,” he added, trying to causally look to Renn for his reaction.
Renn stuffed a pancake into his mouth to give him time to think about how to best respond.
“That’s . . . nice,” Renn said, his voice strained, and his grandfather chuckled.
“Goodness. Don’t hold your amazement back, Renn.” He smirked.
“Whatever,” Renn muttered, before sticking a fork into another pancake.
Normally, his grandfather would have commented on the grouchy attitude, but as Renn was new to teenhood, he knew the boy couldn’t help it to a certain extent.
He had to admit, he didn’t miss the teenage years when his daughter was that age.
There were countless eye rolls and sassy comebacks to last a lifetime, but his daughter’s strong-willed personality was something he always loved about her.
She was always herself, and those qualities had passed down to her son.
He only wished he could have seen how his daughter would have managed a teenager.
Not that he was worried about Renn—he had never been difficult to parent.
He had always been mild-tempered and collected, so a little sass was nothing they couldn't handle.
In fact, it made him love his grandson that much more.
“So, have my test results come back yet?” Renn mumbled, his mouth half full.
His grandfather opened his mouth to speak, but Camille beat him to it.
“Not yet, sweetheart. I’m sure they’ll be here anyday.
” She smiled until he looked back at his plate.
Then her smile turned into a frown as she turned back to the stove.
A couple months ago, Renn’s father had suggested he take a practice entry exam for The Academy.
He was simply “curious,” from what he had written in his message, but Renn could hear his father clearly, as if he were there.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” One of the many words of wisdom he seemingly threw into every conversation he had with his son.
If Elias was trying to casually give him advice on what made a good captain, he was doing a poor job of it.
At first, Camille and Charlie didn’t see any harm in it.
Renn had turned thirteen since taking the practice exams, still giving him a couple years before he would be accepted to The Academy.
If anything, the practice could offer some comfort in what to expect—would make it less intimidating when the time came.
However, when several test proctors arrived at their home and then spent the majority of the day giving Renn one examination after another, she knew this was much more serious.
She asked Renn if he wanted to stop, but he reassured her he was fine to continue.
There was a pit in her stomach that they might be finding out the real reason for the early testing soon, and she wasn’t ready for it.
“We better get going so we don’t miss the landing,” Camille said, clearing the plates from the table a few moments later.
“Renn, can you go load your things into the car? We will be out there in a minute.” She gave him a little pat on cheek.
Renn may be a teenager, but he would never deny his grandmother’s loving touch.
He smiled. “Sure. Thank you for breakfast, Gran.”
She kissed him on the cheek before he picked up his bag from the foot of the stairs and left them alone in the kitchen.
“How do you think he is?” she asked her husband once Renn was out of the room.
“He’s Renn. I’m not worried about him,” he replied, but the pointed look Camille gave him was enough to convey she wanted more. Thirty-plus years of marriage will do that to a couple. A look can speak a thousand words.
“He’s indifferent. Maybe because he’s equal parts frustrated and overwhelmed. It’s easier to not make it a big deal,” he said, touching his wife’s shoulder.
“Or at least pretend to,” she added, her lips in a frown.
She knew her grandson better than anyone.
Aldrenn didn’t like them to worry and rarely asked for help.
“I only wish his father would . . . I don't know . . . have an honest conversation with him. He owes it to him, now that he can fully understand.” Her husband wrapped her into an embrace. His wife wasn’t wrong that Renn and Elias’s conversations thus far were rudimentary at best.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with him being mature enough. Elias needs to do it on his own fruition. It wouldn’t seem genuine if we attempted to urge him to do or say anything.”
She sighed into his chest. “I know you’re right, but he’s not a little boy anymore.” Camille couldn’t help the quiver in her voice. Time had gone so fast. Had it really been thirteen years without her daughter?
“It’s all going to work out, my love. He’ll be fine.
Everything will be fine,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
She held onto him a little bit longer before letting go, hoping Renn would be better than “fine” when everything was said and done, because he deserved the world and his story—his life—was merely just beginning.