She had tried cookies. She had even tried milk, although she couldn't bring herself to drink it warm. She had tried white noise and then music. She had tried giving up and turning the light back on to read, but she just couldn't make herself care about the words right now.

She was exhausted. She couldn't fall asleep. She hadn't had this problem since high school. The night before an exam, she would be tired and completely studied out, but needing the rest only seemed to make sleep more elusive. Now she had no idea what was keeping her up, but it was certainly effective.

Ashley sighed, rolling over for the dozenth time since lying down. She knew what she would have done last year at this time. "DECA?" she asked, before she could think about it too much. "Is Andros awake?"

"He is," DECA confirmed. Then, without being prompted, she added, "Andros is on deck one with Zhane."

"Oh," Ashley said quietly. Last year, even that might not have stopped her. But she knew things now that she hadn't known then. She wasn't sure things were really that different, and that only made it worse.

DECA's voice interrupted her contemplation, but her tone was gentle. "I believe they would welcome your presence, Ashley."

She looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Neither Andros nor Zhane has been able to sleep, either," the Megaship's computer replied. "They are too troubled to converse and do not seem to be finding the solace they sometimes have in each other."

Solace, Ashley wondered to herself. Is that what it's called now?

That wasn't fair, and she knew it. DECA said what she meant, and if she said "solace" then she didn't mean "sex". That still didn't mean they wanted company... but DECA wouldn't send her somewhere she wasn't welcome, either.

Prove that she's a sentient life form, Ashley thought, rolling her eyes. She trusted DECA more than she trusted her own teammates.

She sighed again, sitting up on a bunk that seemed less comfortable than it once had. "Thanks," she murmured, looking around for her sweatshirt. It wasn't really cold enough for one here on the Megaship, but she'd gotten used to the temperature on KO-35.

Plus, the extra layer was somehow comforting. It made her feel... less vulnerable. And anything that made her feel like that these days--especially when it came to Andros and Zhane--was something she wasn't going to pass up.

DECA didn't answer, but she saw the red light blink soothingly at her. It was funny to be reading the camera's expressions again, instead of DECA's holographic form. But it wasn't any harder than it used to be.

She made her way out into the bright hallway, squinting a little in the light. On KO-35, the last person to bed usually dimmed the hangar lights. She tugged her Astro sweatshirt closer around her shoulders, folding her arms across her chest against some imagined chill. As familiar as the Megaship ought to be, it just felt strange after being away so long.

When Ashley stepped into the lift, it hummed upward without waiting for her instruction. She smiled a little, reassured that DECA was still looking after them. No matter what happened in the rest of the world, they always had DECA to come back to. She wondered if anyone had ever told the AI how important she was to them.

The lift let her out in the maintenance ring that surrounded the observatory, and she hesitated. She really was exhausted. She didn't feel like getting into a fight... and how sad was that, that it was now an effort to talk to her friends? To her boyfriend? There had been a time when she sought him out for comfort, and now she avoided him because it was too hard to be together?

Still not convinced, she knocked softly on the door. Maybe they wouldn't hear her. Maybe they had already fallen asleep. Maybe--

The door slid open, and she knew that DECA had been given permission to open it for her. She stepped inside carefully, gaze immediately drawn to the center of the room. There were Zhane and Andros on top of a tangle of sleeping bags, as she had seen them a hundred times before.

This time, though, Zhane had his head on Andros' lap and made no effort to move when the door opened. He lifted one hand in acknowledgement, and Andros gave her a worried look. "Hey," he called quietly, an uncertain smile on his face.

"Hi," she answered, hugging her arms tighter against her chest. "DECA said you were up... am I--am I interrupting?"

"No!" Andros' eyes widened in dismay, and he waved her over. "I'm glad you're here."

"You're late," Zhane added, tilting his head to look up at her when she joined them beside the sleeping bags they had spread out on the floor. "You said you'd come by this morning."

She blinked, at a loss. "We were... kind of busy this morning. Remember?"

Zhane grumbled something that sounded like, "Excuses."

Andros gave her a commiserating look which she returned, then smiled a little when she realized what they were doing. "It's hard to know someone who's so perfect," she told Zhane dryly. "Maybe someday we'll get lucky and it will rub off on us."

An amused snort from Andros said he didn't think either statement was very likely, but he reached for her hand and pulled her down beside them. Zhane's bright blue gaze followed her movement. Just as she was getting comfortable, he remarked, "Andros and I slept together last night."

Ashley stiffened. She couldn't help it. Thinking it was one thing; knowing it was something else entirely. And Zhane's attitude wasn't exactly apologetic.

"Zhane." Andros sounded annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "This new honesty policy of yours? The timing could use some work."

She forced herself to disagree. "I thought the timing was fine," she murmured, shifting a little. "Are you... sure you don't want me to go?"

"No," Andros insisted, giving Zhane a glare that the Silver Ranger paid no attention to. "Don't go! Zhane's just being obnoxious."

"Isn't it more obnoxious not to say anything?" Zhane wanted to know. "I asked if you were. What's the difference?"

He had asked if she and Andros were sleeping together? Didn't he know they weren't?

He didn't know any more than she did, she realized suddenly. Maybe he felt just as left out. It was hard to imagine Zhane feeling as depressed or uncertain as she sometimes felt, but then, maybe he thought the same thing about her. She'd never know if she didn't talk to him.

"No, he's right," she found herself saying. Andros closed his mouth, and she offered Zhane an apologetic smile. "It just surprised me, that's all. Thanks... thanks for telling me."

"It surprised you?" Zhane repeated, not taking his eyes off of her. "Or the fact that I told you surprised you?"

She swallowed. "Maybe both. That you told me more, I guess."

"We wouldn't keep something like that from you, Ash," Andros said quietly.

"No," Zhane agreed with a smirk. "Andros would just wait three years to tell you."

Andros sighed, but to her surprise, he didn't contradict Zhane. "I'm too tired to argue," he offered, catching sight of her expression. "I'm sorry, all right? For whatever part of this is my fault, I'm sorry."

She smiled in sympathetic relief. "I know what you mean," she said fervently. She wasn't up to talking about it right now either. "I'm so tired I don't know how I walked all the way up here, but I couldn't sleep."

Andros nodded his understanding. "Us either," he admitted.

"Tomorrow's going to suck," Zhane commented, as only he could. "What do we tell the PD? 'Sorry we left you to fend for yourselves, we had no idea there was an attack in progress?' 'One of our teammates has been in contact with the forces of evil and led them straight to KO-35?' 'The stupid Frontier Defense once again failed to show up in a crisis?'

"I don't know about you," he added, lifting one hand above his head and fumbling for Andros', "but I can't wait to explain this to the Council."

Andros took his fingers from Zhane's hair and caught the offered hand almost absently. Ashley couldn't help thinking how natural the gesture looked, as though they had done it countless times before. Someday, when she wasn't emotionally drained and exhausted beyond belief, she was going to ask them what it had been like before the Astro Rangers... when it was just the two of them, and they had "meant it" when they kissed.

She wasn't sure she could face the answer right now. But she was going to have to know. And if tonight was any indication, they would tell her.

"I don't know what to say to any of that," Andros said with a sigh. It took her a moment to realize he was answering Zhane's question. "I'm hoping I feel more creative in the morning."

"Look, this isn't just our fault." The words were out before Ashley knew where they were coming from, but she was sick of them taking all the blame. "We don't control the Frontier Defense. They didn't show up. They can explain themselves. And the PD is at least as responsible for KO-35 as we are--we didn't leave them to fend for themselves, we let them do their jobs. We had our own problems!"

Andros was staring at her in surprise, but Zhane had a small smile on his face. Tilting his head to look up at her again, his smile widened. "Good girl," he murmured, with obvious satisfaction. "See, Andros? I knew she was good for you."

"We caused our own problems," Andros pointed out reluctantly. "You're right, the Frontier Defense probably isn't our fault. But Ty?"

"We don't even know what Ty did," Ashley argued. "He's not talking to anyone, and all we really know is that he cooperated with Dark Spectre. Maybe he brought the quantrons here, maybe he didn't. But I think it's a safe bet they would have come eventually, and if we didn't see them coming, no one else did either. This wasn't a regular attack, and I'm not saying we didn't do anything wrong, but we definitely didn't do everything wrong!"

Andros just nodded, capitulating with a tired smile. "Okay," he agreed quietly, surprising her. "You're right. It wasn't all our fault."

Zhane held out his free hand toward her. "You're very good," he said smugly, squeezing her fingers when she took his hand. "Can we keep you?"

She tried to stifle a yawn, shaking her head at the same time. "Only if I get to lie down," she said with a sigh, pulling her hand away from his and squirming away to find enough room. "I can't keep sitting up, it's too hard."

"What are you doing way over there?" Zhane was frowning at her. "I make a much better pillow than that. C'mere."

She was too tired to argue. She turned around so she could lay her head on his chest, a little self-conscious but mostly grateful for the closeness. This was what she had been missing in her room earlier. She needed human contact after today, and if it could be with the two people she loved most in the world then so much the better.

"You too," Zhane was telling Andros. "Just lie down already. The worst that happens is we all fall asleep and wake up with stiff necks in the morning, okay?"

"Sit up," Andros grumbled, poking him in the shoulder. "I can't get comfortable with you like that."

Zhane lifted his head obligingly, but he didn't disturb her position by sitting up. Andros lowered himself to the floor reluctantly, clearly flinching at the fleeting discomfort that came with stretching out. Zhane put his head back on Andros' stomach as soon as he relaxed, and Ashley smiled suddenly.

"It's a tickle square," she murmured, transferring her gaze to the ceiling. The iris was closed now, maybe because the Megaship was on the wrong side of the planet or maybe because Andros and Zhane had wanted it that way. There were nights when it wasn't so bad to feel closed in, protected.

"You want to explain that?" Zhane sounded amused. "I don't know what it is, but it sounds like it has potential."

"No one is tickling anyone," Andros said firmly. "I'm too tired to kill either of you right now, so just forget it."

"You don't know what a tickle square is?" Ashley wondered if she would ever learn any of KO-35's silly childhood phrases. They had to have them, right? Maybe Andros and Zhane had just never been children. Given their planet's history, she supposed it was possible.

"It's just this," she said, when neither of them answered. "Except we should have a fourth person to lie between me and Andros: their head on my chest and Andros' on theirs. So that when you laugh, everyone else laughs too. Because it tickles."

It wasn't her most articulate explanation ever, but then, it wasn't one of those things that made sense, either. It was just something you did: with anyone when you were kids, with friends when you got older. She hadn't been in a tickle square for a long time.

"A fourth person, huh?" Andros moved a little and Zhane grunted, presumably from being poked.

"Don't look at me," he grumbled. "I don't know where she is."

Ashley tilted her head to look up at him, and then over at Andros. "Kerone?" she guessed.

"She's probably with Kyril," Zhane muttered, not sounding very happy about it. "All they do lately is disappear together." He mimicked two different voices talking to each other: "'I don't sleep!' 'I don't either!' 'I don't eat!' 'I eat, but only when I want to.' 'Me too!'

"They're driving me crazy," he added, in case that wasn't clear. "We're going to have to adopt him if this keeps up. And wouldn't that be a nightmare."

Startled, Ashley frowned at Andros. He grimaced back, apparently having been on the receiving end of this line of complaints before.

"Oh, stop looking at each other like that," Zhane said crossly. He hadn't so much as lifted his head. "You know I won't say anything to her. I'm glad she has a... friend." The way he said the last word made it clear that he was anything but glad.

It didn't seem like exactly the right time to ask whether they were still together, so Ashley kept her mouth shut. To her surprise, it was Andros who remarked reassuringly, "Kyril hasn't been through what we've been through with her. He's not taking our place, Zhane. He's just giving her some perspective."

"Sure he is," Zhane muttered. "Too bad he can't do it from farther away."

If she hadn't been so tired, she might not have said it out loud. "I never thought I'd see you jealous," Ashley blurted out.

There was absolute silence for a moment. Then Zhane replied dryly, "Don't know where you've been for the last year and a half."

Ashley hesitated, and again it was Andros who came to the rescue. "He's just a friend, Zhane. She loves you, and she knows you love her back. She just needs some space."

Like she's been giving you the last few months, Ashley thought, then immediately felt guilty for it. She wondered if they were all thinking the same thing, though, because Zhane didn't answer.

Her fingers glowed as she pressed them carefully against the table. It was still as solid as before, so she lifted her hand and tried again. Kerone touched her fingers gently to the table, felt it refuse to yield beneath them, drew back and tried again. She had tried making the table change, but that would only work with small things that she knew well. So now she was back to altering herself, which shouldn't be that hard for a shapeshifter.

Unfortunately, "shouldn't" and "weren't" were two different things. Besides, her shapeshifting was as much illusion as physical alteration. The magnitude of the change depended on the magical flux in her body, and after today her magic was too low to manage anything more than the superficial. She could make her fingers glow and that seemed to be it.

She was hungry again. Turning away from the table, she came up short when she saw a figure in the doorway. Could he sneak up on Saryn, too? She would have to ask.

"Hello," she said after a moment.

"Greetings," Kyril said with a smile. "What are you doing?"

Kerone shrugged, heading for the Synthetron. "Trying to learn to walk through walls."

He was silent, maybe considering that. "I'd help if I could," he said at last. "But I don't know how I do it, so that makes it harder to teach other people."

Why wait to ask Saryn, she wondered belatedly? Kyril was right here. "Can you sneak up on Saryn?" she inquired, punching a request into the Synthetron.

"Yes." He didn't seem to think it an odd question. "I don't know why; I feel things as much as the next person. He should be able to sense me as easily as anyone else.

"Did I startle you?" he added, sounding a bit apologetic. "It takes me a while, in a new place, to figure out how to get people's attention without scaring them."

"You didn't scare me." She turned to look at him again, taking a bite of her apple as she did so. "If you can touch things, how come you can't make sound?"

"I can make sound," he pointed out. "I can talk. I can whistle. And I knock on things a lot."

"You can whistle?" she repeated, diverted by the whimsical idea.

For answer, he pursed his lips and whistled a phrase she thought sounded familiar. It took her a moment to place it. "That's Ashley's song!"

"Is it?" He shrugged. "Cassie sings it too."

That was when her brain caught up with her and she frowned. "If you can knock on things, why don't you make noise when you walk?"

"Because I have to concentrate to knock," he answered. "Footsteps are harder, and I'd just as soon not go to the trouble."

She nodded slowly.

"Are you eating because you want to?" he asked suddenly.

Kerone glanced at her apple. "No," she admitted. "I'm hungry. I get hungry when I use my magic too much."

"What's too much?" he wanted to know.

She had to think about it. "I don't know," she said at last. "It seems to take more every time."

"Like the more you use it the stronger you get?"

"No." That she had been told. "It doesn't have anything to do with whether I use it, just how much time has passed. It's growing all on its own. Someday it will stop and that will be as strong as I get."

"Do you know when?" Kyril asked curiously.

She shook her head. "I'll know when it happens."

"You don't morph."

She shook her head again. "My magic interferes with the Power."

"But you went on the quest with the others anyway?"

"I didn't know it would interfere with the Power until I had it," she replied. Then, giving him an odd look, she inquired, "How did you know?"

He smiled. "That you don't morph? I was just guessing. You didn't do it this morning, during the battle, and you still didn't do it when we were hopping from station to station. Most Rangers would have."

"You didn't," she pointed out.

"My abilities don't have anything to do with the Power, same as yours. Morphing is as much an annoyance as anything else."

She looked at him in surprise. "You--but you're a Ranger!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "So are you."

"You don't have the Power, or you just don't use the Power?" she insisted.

"You have to be alive to hold the Elisian Power," he told her. "I died a long time ago."

She stared at him in surprise. "You're dead?"

"That is the traditional meaning of 'ghost'," he said dryly. "You didn't know?"

"I didn't think about it," she said slowly. She looked at him for a long moment, wondering if she should have realized before now. "How did you end up being a Ranger?"

"Kind of a long story." The words were easy, but when he didn't elaborate she got the message. He was as frank with her as Saryn tried to be, and she returned the favor by not pushing for what he didn't offer.

She munched on her apple thoughtfully, wondering whether he had stopped specifically to engage her in conversation. Maybe he had just been wandering and had only paused for a moment. She headed for the tactical board, giving him the opportunity to take his leave if he wanted to.

Instead, he crossed the bay to join her in front of the transparent surface. "Do you work while your teammates sleep?" he asked, considering the board.

"Not usually," she said honestly. "Most of these things I can't take care of without them anyway, and the rest I wouldn't volunteer to do myself. Tonight I'm just bored."

Was she? The words surprised her the moment they slipped out. Coming as they did at the end of a long and eventful day, it was hard for her to believe that she could actually be bored. And yet...

"Me too," Kyril said unexpectedly. "What do you do for fun around here?"

She thought about it for a moment, then felt a smile slip across her face. "Glide?"

"Glide?" he repeated. "In the air?"

"In space," she corrected. "We have Galaxy Gliders. Want to see?"

So she found herself out in the middle of the night, surrounded by cold and distant stars, with KO-35 looking very far away as they zipped out from under the shadow of the Megaship. Kyril had his hands on her shoulders, fingers digging into her collarbone as they dove. "Do you get motion sick?" she called.

"I'll let you know," he answered. He sounded more amused than worried, but it wasn't exactly a resounding "no." She made the Glider level out, cruising toward the curve of the planet below.

His grip didn't loosen, and she reached up to pry his hands away from her shoulders. "Hold on to me before you leave bruises," she told him. She wrapped his arms around her waist before he could protest, and suddenly she remembered the night she had done this same thing with Zhane.

"I'll be here for you as long as you want me," he'd said that night.

Especially if the person you really want doesn't suddenly realize it and decide he wants you back, you mean. The bitter thought flashed through her mind before she could stop it. She bit her lip, trying not to think about it. She had meant what she said to Ashley: Zhane loving Andros didn't mean he loved her any less.

Zhane spending all his time with Andros meant that he wasn't exactly fawning over her, however. She certainly didn't begrudge him his happiness with Andros, or at least his... whatever it was, if not happiness. Semi-happiness. Occasional satisfaction. Deliberate misery. She didn't know, since he was barely talking to her anymore.

"Do you have to concentrate?" Kyril asked in her ear.

She blinked, finally noticing the atmospheric drag and pulling the Glider up. "Maybe a little more than I was," she admitted, idly trying to identify land masses through the clouds below. "Why?"

"Just wondering if I should talk to you or not. You seemed kind of far away there for a minute."

"I was just--" She swallowed, then shrugged. Respect for privacy worked both ways. "I was," she said simply.

"This is amazing." He seemed perfectly willing to change the subject. "To be out in space without anything between you and the stars... do you have to breathe?"

It took her a moment to realize he was asking a question. "What?"

"Do you have to breathe?" he repeated. "Your Glider has an amazing atmospheric capability, but do you need it?"

"Sometimes. When my magic is low. Do you?"

"No." He sounded positively cheerful about it. "And I've always wanted to try floating in space."

If she could have craned her neck around far enough to see him, she would have. "Are you crazy? It's a vacuum! There's no pressure; your blood would boil! And then you'd freeze!"

"I don't have blood," he pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure I can't freeze."

"How sure?" she demanded. "That's insane!"

She could hear the grin in his voice when he answered. "Sounds fun though, doesn't it?"

"In a suicidal way," she muttered, shaking her head. "Yes, I have to breathe tonight. And no, I don't have a death wish!"

"Death isn't so bad," he said.

She felt a flicker of guilt, but instead of giving in to it she retorted, "Not for you!"

"What would it take to kill you?" he asked suddenly. "I mean, not that I would try, obviously, but... can you be killed? When your magic is high?"

"Anything can be destroyed," she said quietly. Maybe she shouldn't ask, but he had started it, after all. "You?"

He hesitated for a moment, then echoed, "Anything can be destroyed."

She smiled to herself. "No, huh?"

She heard an answering smile in his voice. "Not in the traditional sense, no."

"Me neither." She thought about it for a moment, then asked, "Were you serious about wanting to float in space?"

"No." Then he corrected himself. "Well, yes. In an abstract, romantic way, I think it sounds great. But would I ever try it? Probably not."

She was still smiling. He said things just to say them, then. Just like Zhane. It was an odd comparison, given how little she knew about him. But then, how much did she know about Zhane after all this time? She would never have thought he would let Andros wrap him up to the extent that he had.

"Disappointed?" Kyril asked, his voice a little closer to her ear than it had been before.

"Maybe," she teased. Of course she wasn't. But now that he had put the idea in her head...

"Thanks for letting me hold you," he said abruptly.

She blinked. That wasn't quite what she had expected, and she twisted around as much as she could without throwing them both off-balance. She couldn't actually see him, but at least he knew she was trying. "What do you mean?"

"Just this." His tone was light, reassuring. No hidden meaning here, it seemed to say. "I don't get to touch people a lot, you know? It's nice."

She pulled the Glider a little higher, thinking about that. They were cruising along the terminator line now, the sun just barely visible over the limb of the planet to their right. The farther they got from the surface, the less she had to pay attention, and finally she edged forward to loosen his grip and turned all the way around.

It was eerie to be flying backwards, sailing along faster than most satellites and still not needing to control their flight. But it was even stranger to be standing face to face with someone who still had his arms around her, albeit loosely, as though he might let go at any moment. She didn't think he wanted to.

"I'm glad," she said at last. "I guess I didn't really think about it."

He shrugged, and she thought he relaxed the slightest bit. "I have to work to be able to touch people," he offered. "So people don't... they don't really reach out to me, you know?

"Not that I'm complaining," he said hastily. "I know I'm lucky, and it's just a different lifestyle and all of that--"

"You sound like you're reciting something," she interrupted.

He stopped, considering her. "Maybe I am."

Dead support groups, she wondered? "Do you miss..." She hesitated, but there was no other way to say it. "Being alive?"

His mouth quirked. "On Elisia," he said, not as though he minded, "it would be rude to ask someone that."

"I'm sorry." She didn't think he was particularly upset. "I didn't know."

He shrugged. "I don't think it's rude. Besides, I do. Sometimes more than others, but I do miss it."

"Not just the touching," she guessed.

This time, he definitely smiled. "No..." Lifting one hand to her cheek, he brushed her hair away from her face gently. "But that's a big one."

She lifted her hand to his automatically, then hesitated, not sure whether to pull it away or let it stay where it was. "I didn't--" Why was she telling him this? "I didn't get to touch many people on the Dark Fortress, either."

His smile didn't fade. "No," he agreed. "I wouldn't guess you did." He slid his thumb across her cheek, stroking her hair idly.

She touched his face, fingers acting almost of their own accord as they traced the line of his jaw. It felt nice, to be the center of someone else's world. For however brief a time. Standing so close, she could see his intent even before he moved.

"There's someone else," she blurted, just as he bent his head toward hers. He hesitated, but he didn't draw back.

"Would the someone else mind?" he asked quietly.

She thought about that for a moment. "No," she admitted. "I guess he wouldn't."

And Kyril kissed her. It was just a gentle brush of his lips against hers, more soothing than arousing, and it made her feel more wanted than anything had for days. She smiled up at him, feeling his breath against her skin as their eyes met. "That was nice," she murmured.

He nodded wordlessly, his fingers still playing with her hair.

She couldn't help sighing. "Why is it so hard to have relationships with normal people?" she asked rhetorically.

His face lit up at that, and in his eyes she read only comprehension. "Tell me about it," he agreed with a grin. She lifted her face to his as their mouths met again, sharing another kiss to keep the loneliness at bay.

The evening sun had just disappeared behind the compound, making the lengthening shadows creep up over the windowsill and shroud the room in dimness. She closed her eyes against the change, wondering if maybe she should just stay where she was. How much of the night could she sleep through if she didn't get up now?

Not much, unfortunately. She knew it, but that didn't make dragging herself up out of bed any easier. It was only the prospect of a boring and sleepless night that made her do it. Although, as she wormed her way out of the nest of sheer day blankets, she had to admit that being back on Elisia made the whole getting up process a lot easier. There was a lot to be said for small planets and their fractionally lower gravity when one's own mass was significantly increased.

There was a rose lying on the table by the bed. Next to the glass of water that had taken up permanent residence just within reach, the flower rested on top of a note written on actual paper. Cassie picked up the rose, studied the note, and smiled to herself as she went in search of her husband.

He was sitting on the windowseat in the corner, one bare foot folded underneath him as he frowned down at an electronic datapad. He glanced up as she emerged from the bedroom. His gaze flickered to the rose in her hand and she saw him smile before he bent studiously over the datapad again.

She flopped into the chair beside him, letting her hand swing over the side to dangle the rose near his face. He still didn't look up, and she tickled his ear with it gently. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too," she teased, resting her head against the back of the chair as she watched him.

Finally he glanced over at her again, and the self-satisfied smile on his face made her laugh. "Your mother is very helpful when it comes to keeping track of Earth holidays," he informed her modestly.

"I don't believe for a second that she had anything to do with this," Cassie countered, bringing the rose close enough to smell. She took a contented sniff and closed her eyes, still smiling. He had adopted Ashley's mother as her own without explanation, but she wasn't about to protest.

"Very well," he agreed readily. "I am more than willing to take the credit. I believe on this day I am required to proclaim my everlasting love?"

"This day and every other," she murmured, not opening her eyes.

"You have my everlasting love," he replied. His tone was as light as hers, and yet she believed every word. "On this day and every other... although I suspect that may be a redundant statement, given the definition of 'everlasting'."

"Well, if you're going to go to all that trouble," she said with a sigh. Opening her eyes and turning her head toward him, she offered, "I guess you can have mine, too."

"I'm flattered by your generosity," he said gravely.

She brought the rose to her face again to hide her smile. "What are you reading?" she asked, in lieu of getting up and leaning over his shoulder.

The way his expression sobered told her it was important. "Reports from the Defense," he said carefully. "Their... official commentary on the events of the day."

She frowned a little, rolling the stem of the rose between her fingers. "I hope there's something in there about why they left KO-35 to fend for itself against what was practically an invasion force."

"'The attack was well within the scope of the Planetary Defense,'" he replied, his tone making it clear that he was quoting the words. "'It was an isolated threat that in no way involved the rest of the Border worlds."

She let the rose fall, staring at him in disbelief. "But KO-35 is a member world! We have a mutual defense treaty with them!"

"Technically, that is untrue." Saryn sounded reluctant but resigned, as though it didn't really surprise him. "Although membership in the Frontier Defense does involve a mutual defense pact, the treaty with KO-35 remains unsigned pending construction of a Defense base in the Kerovan system."

"You're kidding." She tried to remember if she'd heard anything about bases in the Kerovan system. "So the Defense is just going to ignore this?"

"That would seem to be the case," he agreed quietly.

There was a knock on the door, and Mirine stuck her head in without waiting for an invitation. "Nen's not speaking to you," she informed them. Only then did she seem to notice their silence. "Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No, of course not." Saryn gestured for her to come in. "We were just discussing the Defense response to the attack on KO-35."

Mirine grimaced. "No wonder you look so serious. They must know they're not making any friends with this 'isolated threat' policy."

Cassie hesitated. Why did she always have to be the devil's advocate? "I hate to say this, but... it's true that they don't have a base in the Kerovan system. Could they have gotten someone there in time to do any good?"

"Calijyt wanted to go even after the Defense made its decision," Mirine told her. "And we already had people there! It wouldn't have been that hard to scramble a squadron."

"They can not defend KO-35."

Saryn's words produced only silence. Cassie realized belatedly that she and Mirine were staring at each other, and that the older woman didn't look quite as shocked as she felt. "I really didn't want to hear you say that," Cassie murmured.

"It's true though, isn't it." Mirine looked as though she was only know considering something she had known for some time. "The Defense doesn't want to commit resources to an area as tactically insignificant as the Kerovan system."

"More than that," Saryn suggested. "The Defense doesn't have the resources to commit to the Kerovan system. It's too distant to defend and too populous to evacuate."

"Someone probably said that about Elisia once, too," Cassie snapped, dismayed to hear KO-35 being discussed so clinically. "People live there! How can the Defense just abandon them?"

"The Defense is run by its member worlds," Saryn said quietly. "If majority rule had chosen to support KO-35, the Kerovan system would have had its reinforcements today."

Cassie stared at him. "Have they forgotten what it's like? I thought the Frontier Defense was formed so that planets no one else would protect could protect each other! Since when do they turn their backs on someone just because they don't have the resources?"

Saryn sighed. "It is a valid point. But it is not my decision to make, and Elisia has its own history to consider. I am certain that was a factor when it came time to vote."

Cassie was aghast. "Elisia voted against helping KO-35?" She looked to Mirine for confirmation, and the Pink Ranger held up her hands as if to waive all responsibility. "That's crazy... especially given our history! This planet would be dead if it hadn't been for outside reinforcements!"

"This planet was dead," Mirine interjected, her expression betraying nothing. "Try telling the government that it needs to send fighters to KO-35 when it can't even protect its own people. Try telling a planet that lost its entire Ranger team that it needs to support a planet whose Rangers gave up their powers. They're not as receptive as you'd expect."

"Or perhaps they are exactly as receptive as you'd expect," Saryn said evenly. "No matter one's altruism, self-preservation must come first or there is no one left to be altruistic."

Stung, Cassie demanded, "Are you saying we should let them live or die on their own? That we should just let Dark Spectre invade KO-35--again--because it's not worth risking our own safety?"

"I would risk my safety and my life for the freedom of KO-35," Saryn told her. "But I do not expect others to do so, nor would I ask it of them. Every individual decides for themselves where their priorities lie."

"Then why do we have governments?" Cassie challenged. "You said yourself that individuals priorities govern an anarchy, not a planet. So who decides that KO-35 isn't worth it? Who decided that we were?"

"The Frontier Defense is self-governing." Mirine sounded as though she was repeating something for a child, and it irked Cassie no end. "Sometimes the needs of the many--"

"Don't say it!" she warned. She wasn't going to have her own planet's sayings quoted back to her by an alien. "I don't even believe that! There's no 'many', Mirine! There's just lots of 'one's!"

She pushed herself to her feet and made her way toward the door, ignoring Saryn when he tried to call her back. She hated it when they ganged up on her like that. She hated it when she found herself on the defensive, knowing that they liked to argue just for the sake of argument and she shouldn't take it personally.

The cool air of evening felt good on her skin, bringing with it only the smallest reminder of the day's heat and the promise of more tolerable temperatures to come. The garden lights were starting to come on now, their glow stretching out of the shadowed side of the courtyard toward the walls last abandoned by the sun. The fountain drew her, with its sound and strangeness here on the edge of the desert.

She wondered if the other Rangers agreed with Saryn and Mirine. Staring into the water, she wondered if they even agreed with themselves. She couldn't believe Saryn really thought they should ignore KO-35. And Kyril clearly didn't, since he had stayed behind when they returned.

Or was that more of Saryn's "individual priorities"? Kyril obviously thought Kerone was the most interesting thing since hyperrush, and Andros' sister hadn't exactly discouraged him. Maybe it wasn't KO-35 he cared about at all.

"It's turning into a beautiful evening," Raine's voice said from behind her.

Cassie turned quickly, surprised but not upset by the Green Ranger's presence. "It is," she agreed with a smile. "It was still too hot when we got back, but I took a nap and it must have cooled off while I was sleeping."

"That's the way to do it," Raine said, eyes light behind her pretending-to-be-serious expression. "How was KO-35?"

"Other than the huge velocifighter invasion, you mean?" She hadn't meant to sound so sharp, but Raine didn't seem to take offense.

With a nod, the other woman smiled a little and agreed. "Other than that. Or including that, whichever you prefer."

Cassie sighed. "I'm sorry," she offered. "Saryn and Mirine are inside, having some argument over whether the Frontier Defense should get involved, and I couldn't take it anymore. I probably got a little more... upset than they deserved."

"They'll understand," Raine said soothingly. "You have any number of reasons to be upset. I'm not too thrilled with the government right now myself."

"Why not?" Cassie asked in spite of herself. She knew she should let it go, but she couldn't. She wanted to know that someone else was on her side, that she wasn't just some naive human who thought everyone in space should help everyone else.

"Because they're letting politics get in the way of cooperation," Raine answered. "Because they're too scared to do what's right. Because there's nothing I can do and I don't know whether I'm relieved or angry," she finished ruefully.

"Relieved?" Cassie repeated, hoping that didn't sound as disappointed as she thought it did.

"Yes," Raine said gently. "Relieved because I have a family, and I don't want to see them hurt any more than I want the people of KO-35 to be hurt. And angry for the same reason... the people on KO-35 have families, too."

Cassie scuffed her toes against the ground, putting a hand over her stomach protectively. "You don't make it sound as straightforward as it should be," she muttered.

"Nothing is," Raine said with a sigh. She reached out to put her hand over Cassie's, squeezing her fingers comfortingly. "We're all of us just people, trying to do the best we can."

Cassie smiled sadly. "What if our best isn't good enough?"

The other woman patted her hand again before letting go. "Then we try again. Don't tell me you believe in giving up, Cassie; that went out of fashion a long time ago."

"Someone should have told the government," she responded without thinking.

"The government is just people, too," Raine pointed out. "People with families, people who have been hurt--or are afraid they will be. Maybe they have newborn babies too, or children in the fighter wings. No one believes we shouldn't help other planets at all. It's just that some people believe we shouldn't help them at the expense of our own."

"Do you believe that?" Cassie found herself asking.

Raine hesitated. "Intellectually?" she asked. "No. I know we're stronger together than alone."

She looked away then, and her voice was quiet as she added, "But in my heart? I don't want my baby to grow up without her parents, Cassie."

Cassie couldn't think of anything to say to that.