It wasn't the last time she would ever see the world of her birth. Travel between Earth and Sagussa, though still rare, was doable, and she'd be able to return to visit her great and great-great grandchildren and check up on how Yehisril was faring. She wasn't leaving forever, wasn't abandoning her home. It just felt like she was. She felt arms wrap around her from behind, and sighed. She wasn't abandoning everything, of course. The most important part of her life was coming with her. Her lover whispered softly in her ear. "I know I've asked before, but are you sure about this?" Shinobu sighed. It wasn't as if she hadn't asked herself the same question over the past year or two. She'd spent almost 200 years now living a proud, happy life. It had its sad and depressing times, but on the whole it was happy. She'd given birth to eight wonderful children, and watched as they grew up, got married and had children of their own. Her descendants were scattered on Earth, Yehisril, Vos, and several other worlds. Perhaps that was the reason. She had passed the care of this world on. To her children, and others. It was their future now. Now, she had another future to go to. One that had been waiting for her almost her entire life. She smiled. "Yes, I'm sure. I've lived a long, happy life here, and now it's time to move on to the next phase." There was a noise up ahead. A ship, slowly descending from the sky to land on the front lawn of the Miyaki residence. With a pang in her heart, Shinobu realised it was the Kiboo'cha. *My God, I was expecting maybe a rover or something,* Shinobu thought with amazement. She felt herself start to smile. "They're really rolling out the red carpet," Junba noted, echoing Shinobu's thoughts. The doors opened, and out stepped a face Shinobu hadn't seen in years. Probably the closest friend she had on Sagussa, after Ataru and Lum, Sylia Aruka was the first of that mysterious race to petition for Shinobu to join them. In fact, she'd asked Shinobu twice to join Pathfinder Troop Six, the squadron she commanded. Both times Shinobu had said no. The first had been back when the Sagussans had first arrived, and Shinobu was feeling insecure and threatened. She had regarded the Sagussans as a threat to her normal life, and told Sylia politely but firmly to leave. The second time was more involved. It was after the funeral for her twin sons, the one that almost cost her her sanity. Her twin sons had both died on a crusade that Noa and Lum had asked them to join. They both went willingly, and died as heroes, but Shinobu still felt their deaths were pointless. And at the funeral, looking at Lum and Noa crying over the bodies, she could feel her rage building. Then Ataru arrived. He had said earlier that he wouldn't be able to make it, that there was too much mopping up to do. But here he was, walking up to the bodies of her beautiful twins, not seeming to show any reaction...then he turned to her, and she could see the tears running down his face. And he walked up to her, and wrapeed his arms around her, and her anger and rage just melted out of her. "I thought...you had said..." she tried to speak, but she was still crying. "I know," he responded, and it was hard for him to speak as well. "But I suddenly realised what I was doing." And then he pulled back, and looked her in the eye. "Shinobu, if I ever try and pull something like that, you have my permission to kill me." She sobbed and hugged him again. Lum and Noa had walked up, and joined him in comforting Shinobu. She could now see the true grief in their eyes, and wondered how she had ever mistaken it. Several people had come with Ataru, including all of Pathfinder Troop Six. Sylia had come to her a couple of days later and once again put forth the offer to come to Sagussa and join them. This time Shinobu had turned her down for a different reason. It was too soon after her sons' deaths. She wasn't thinking clearly. When she made the decision, she wanted it to be considered and thought out, something that she was totally sure of. Sylia had understood, as she did the first time. She and Yedris had stayed for the night, helping Junba and Shinobu to recover. And now she was here again, this time at Shinobu's request. She stepped off of the landing ramp, but held back, as if unsure of herself. Shinobu realised that she had to take the next step. She hefted the small bag she'd packed and walked towards the ship, her other hand in Junba's. She stood in front of Sylia, looking up into her eyes, and said the words she'd carefully prepared beforehand. "Almost 200 years ago you asked if I would join you, and I said no. 150 years ago, you did so again, and again I refused. I am older and wiser now, however, and have given the matter much thought. If you were to ever make such an offer again, I would gladly accept." Sylia had a tear in her eye at the end, as did Junba. Shinobu, however, continued to smile, until it broke into a grin. Then Sylia straightened. "Shinobu Miyaki, I once again extend the offer I made to you before. If you like, we would be pleased to welcome you to our ranks, both in the Pathfinder Troop and on Sagussa. There is one thing, though." Shinobu's smiled froze. She looked up, surprised. "What?" Sylia continued. The Pathfinder team works in twos. It's a long- standing tradition. If you are to join us, we have to find someone else to team with you, someone comfortable to your habits and ways." She then turned to face Junba. "Junba Miyaki, you have shown yourself to be one of the most skilled hunters we have ever seen, and would make an ideal addition to our Troop. Will you accompany your partner?" To her credit, Junba's jaw dropped open for only a second or two. Then she grinned almost as wide as Shinobu, and bowed her head. "I would be honored." Sylia then broke the formality of the moment by hugging Shinobu close to her. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." "Believe me, I do," was Shinobu's response. Suddenly Sylia's grin turned mischievous. "Well, we can go now, if you like. We just have to wait for the others." Shinobu blinked. "Others? You mean someone else came?" Then they heard the sound. Over the course of the past two hundred years, the sight of spaceships on Earth, especially over Tomobiki, had become commonplace. This, however, was totally unexperienced. Ships, not by the dozen, but by the hundred. The sky was almost blotted out with their presence. It was what appeared to be the entire Sagussan Fleet, led by their flagship. Shinobu knew who would be sitting in the captain's chair in that flagship. For a moment, she thought she might have a heart attack. The fact that so many ships had made their way from Sagussa to come here for *her*...the idea absolutely amazed her. She turned to Sylia, her mouth open. Sylia seemed to know what she wanted to say. "Shinobu, we wanted to do this for you. You're a legend on Sagussa. A living example of overcoming adversity. I don't know of anyone else who has suffered as much as you have, except maybe Ataru. In fact, Ataru insists you've had to endure far more than him. Yet through it all, you've continued on. We need you on Sagussa. To be our teacher, and our friend." Shinobu looked up at the fleet in the sky above her. For a moment the wind picked up, and her hair whipped around her face. Then she turned back towards her lover, and headed for the ship, Sylia taking her bag so that she could grasp her other hand. There was one other person she had to speak with, though. And she didn't even need to wait until they arrived at the flagship. <> The answer was immediate. <> <> She could hear his gentle laugh inside her head. <> And with that thought going straight from her head to her heart, Shinobu Miyaki rose up from the Earth and prepared to meet her new destiny.