Cally's War

Epilogue

The base seemed empty with so few Indowy in it. Aelool’s clan was quite small by Indowy standards, and he hadn’t been able to afford to bring enough inside to replace the losses. Clan Beilil had sided with Aelool’s clan, their debt to the O’Neal clan was vast beyond measure, but the absence of the rest of the Indowy Bane Sidhe was palpable.

It made Cally appreciate even more that Aelool had made time to come down to talk to her. It had taken some doing to arrange this. The owner of the Irish Bar at Titan Base’s shuttleport had no doubt wondered why someone had wanted an order of the bar’s promotional T-shirts and shot glasses shipped all the way to Earth, but her FedCreds spent just as well as anyone else’s. That the shipment really was T-shirts and shot glasses would never occur to anyone who might check up on her later.

“For what it’s worth, Miss O’Neal, I think you’re doing the right thing in taking a sabbatical to have children. I’m sure we all understand that in the circumstances of your loss you would prefer not to add a mate to the mix. Besides, Clan O’Neal, though small, is more than capable of providing you all the social support human children need to thrive.” He paused delicately. “Have you selected a donor?”

Cally stuck a hand in her purse and came up with a handful of field issue biosample cubes.

“I had learned to cache anything I might need someday by the time I was eight.” Her smile was bittersweet. If he mistook the reason, that was just perfect for their purposes.

“Oh.” He looked nonplussed for a moment, before recovering. “I’m sure that will be a great comfort to you.”