"Come, we shall wait for our food at the bonfire," Mori's daughter, Xari leads us past the doors that exit the temple and I chew my cheeks as I stare after Lucian. 

I am trying my best not to laugh at his expense but it is hilarious to see him all flustered, being whisked away to prepare our meals. I'm certain he has never had to serve anyone his entire life. 

This was going to be priceless. 

"What's for dinner, Xari?" Luna asks as she and Cat fall in step by our sides.

"Father's ordered for quite a feast, you know he's always hungry. We have various kinds of meat, freshly harvested leaves and sea food," Xari waves her stony hand in the air and it's amazing how such sturdy looking arms can look so graceful at the same time. 

She looks at me and smiles. "Don't worry they are all edible. I'm sure they will be the same for humans."

I hope so. I just got back my appetite after what feels like forever and I'm willing to risk indigestion if it means eating something other than that annoying algae. 

"We'll be fine," Cat pats my back, looking just as hungry. I turn to her and her face immediately fills with guilt. "I'm sorry for leaving you back at the rebel base. I should have waited. I had no idea Cetus would.." 

I nod in understanding as she trails off. 

"It's fine. No one saw that coming." 

"We should have. Our every movement and action is at risk, especially yours," Luna frowns at me. "We need to be on high alert regardless of where we are till this war is over." 

"You are always right, PG Luna," Pollux suddenly appears next to us and her eyes widen in surprise. 

"What are you doing here? You should be preparing the meals," Luna admonishes.  

"But..but," Pollux holds on to his computer suddenly as if the piece of machinery can save him from the four hungry girls staring at him. 

"Go!" Luna pushes him in the direction of the rest of the men and his shoulders slump in defeat. He then jogs ahead to join the rest of his squad. 

My heart clenches suddenly as I stare at their backs. I remember Altair shouting at me to stop at the army base on Pluto. We were in the same squad but at that moment we ended up shooting at each other. 

I wonder how they feel about me being here. Pollux seems okay, he's too preoccupied with his newly available crush but Remulus was quite bitter in the beginning and something tells me the rest may feel the same. 

Maybe they all hate me, just like Lucian does. I brush away the thought quickly. I shouldn't think about that stuff anymore. 

We walk along the grass with our bare feet - a custom in the nature homes - and Xari tells us about her citizens suffering because of Lazarus's new trade demands. 

"If it carries on like this, our planet will be broke within a few years and our resources all dried up," She says worriedly.

"Not to mention the men he will be demanding as soldiers for war," Cat adds and Xari's face turns grim. 

"When do you think that will happen?" She wonders out loud. 

"Well the war has technically already started, it could be anytime now," Luna says and her words make Xari falter in her steps. 

"No, I will not let them take my Qip," She says in a pained voice, filled with shock. 

"Qip?" I ask curiously. Is that a pet? Maybe a flying bird. 

"Her betrothed," Luna mouths to me. 

We reach the bon fire which aptly houses a large raging fire in the centre of the clearing. It burns an ethereal yellow gold with long menacing flames that lick the sky. Small tables are scattered all around it, over the grass and there are already women sitting around. 

The men are no where to be seen and an image of Lucian trying to pile up plates with food and cutlery makes me suppress a grin.  

Xari leads us to a table and we take all take a seat. I catch Rachel walking alone and call her over. 

"You know what we need before war, right?" Xari asks with a cheeky grin splayed across her grey face. Her dark green eyes twinkle mischievously under the glare of the fire. 

"Drinks?" Cat asks. 

I almost groan and utter a big 'no'. Drinking did not end well for me last time and I'm in no mood to feel that same crash.

"Umm, no. What we need before we all head to war is," Xari pauses for suspense and all of us stare at her curiously. I almost hold my breath waiting for her to finish. 

"Mind blowing sex," Xari finishes and all of us huff in disappointment. 

"That's the last thing we need," Cat berates. "Men are all trouble." 

"No, think about it. Drinking will give us a bad hangover, binge eating will give us a bad stomach but not good sex. Let's make a pact, we'll all have awesome, mind boggling, planet shattering sex before we head to battle," Xari says hopefully and I can't believe I'm hearing this. 

"That's not going to happen for me. I left Lazarus when I left Pluto," Luna says grimly. 

"Me, neither," Cat says and I catch Rachel nodding in agreement quietly. She blushes when she catches me staring and quickly looks away. 

That damn Remulus. 

"What about you, Aria?" Xari asks me and I freeze like she'd just poured a bucket of ice over my head. 

Luna laughs at my reaction but thankfully doesn't say a word. 

"That sounds very enticing," I say cautiously, not wanting to offend leader Mori's daughter. "But sadly I have to pass as well. I don't have a partner." 

Xari looks at all of us in disappointment and she opens her mouth to speak but thankfully a bell starts ringing somewhere. 

"Dinner is served," A male Spican announces and I turn around to see the men walking towards us in a line. 

Each one is holding a dish and they weave between tables handing them out as they go.

I search for Lucian and it isn't hard to catch him awkwardly handing out a plate of food to an elderly female Spican. 

He smiles at her while his squad hands him another dish and he almost slips when he moves away. I watch the plate shake in his hands, some of its liquid spills and his squad rushes to clean up his mess. 

"PG Lucian, please let us take over. You shouldn't be doing this," Deneb begs and tries to take the dish away from his leader as they walk towards us. 

"Nonsense, even Mori is doing it," Lucian hisses, loud enough for me to hear. His squad fumbles  around him, handing him plates and helping him keep them steady. 

Needless to say, I've finally found something that he isn't good at. 

"This is gold," Luna teases when she sees them approaching us. 

"Ladies," Remulus says when he sees us. "Looking fine as usual." He winks at Rachel, Xari and Cat and Rachel looks away in embarrassment.

Lucian hands us our food silently, avoiding all eye contact and his cheeks turn red when we thank him in unison. I smile widely despite myself and my face warms up at his reaction. He's so adorable when he's shy.

He looks up for a brief second, catching my stare and I quickly look at my food, pretending to study what is on the plate.

"Thank you for participating in our culture. This is the first time the Plutonians have served the Spicans," Mori says once he approaches our table. He smiles at Lucian and hands him a plate as well. "Please enjoy your dinner. We will send in refreshments soon." 

"There's room for more. Please sit with us," Xari says. We grab a few chairs and the guys sit down and begin piling up their plates with the various dishes on the table. 

I can't eat without saying anything to my squad. I look up and make eye contact with Altair who is staring at me at well. 

"I'm sorry," I blurt out at the same time as he does. 

I frown in confusion at his apology. 

"I'm sorry I shot at you and your human companion at the base," Altair says. 

"I'm sorry for betraying you guys," I say earnestly and I look at Altair, Deneb, Sirius and then Remulus and Pollux. 

"It's it in the past. We're on the same side now, right?" Altair checks just to be sure and I smile, picturing a very defeated looking Lazarus. 

"Yes," I answer truthfully. 

We all fall into a comfortable silence as we devour the food on our plates quietly. The food is so good, every leaf, every piece of meat has a different flavour. I chew in happiness, the food, the company, the garden. Everything feels so comfortable.

Once we are done, a few Spicans take our plates and clear our table. They then hand us a few drinks each which Remulus checks before hand without Xari noticing. He gives us the all clear just as she turns back to us.

"You are supposed to drink these in order. One is to cleanse the palate and ease the digestion," Xari instructs and the Plutonians drink the glass of yellow liquid like they've done it many times before. 

I drink mine slowly at first but it tastes so good that I end up gulping it down. 

We then take a green drink meant for calming the nerves which leaves us with a long glass of pink liquid. 

"This is meant to cleanse the soul and to give us happiness," Xari holds up her glass. 

I eye the one in my hands. Can my soul ever be cleansed with the amount of death I've caused. I gulp it down desperately and Xari shouts at me to stop. 

"You're supposed to sip this one or it will make you light headed," She says. 

My eyebrows raise in concern. "You mean I'm going to be drunk?"

She stares at me hopelessly and Cat laughs. Great, not again. 

"Don't worry. You'll be fine," Lucian says and then he snatches my drink from me. "Can't you wait for instructions?"

I scowl at him and he shakes his head making me feel like a small girl. 

Needless to say, my head is kind of swimming as the night progresses but in a good way. I don't feel depressed like I did at the rebel base and the others look just as happy.

We are all talking about our childhood memories - I don't know how that started - and it's now my turn. 

The wheels in my head turn as I search for a happy memory from those days and then I jump up in my seat excitedly. 

I tell them about the grumpy neighbour next door who used to complain about how noisy my brother and I were. As revenge, we would sneak into his backyard and move around the wooden gnomes in his garden just to spook him out. One day he screamed in fear when he saw a gnome staring at him from his door step. 

My eyes are teary as I laugh at the memory.

"Always knew you were a devious one, minion," Remulus says looking proud. 

"Your turn," I say to Lucian who is smiling after my story. 

"We used to mess up the walls in the soldier's quarters, remember?" He asks Luna and she laughs. 

"Yes, good times. Your drawings were pretty good. They shouldn't have painted over them," She says. 

"The soldier's quarters? Your parents must have been livid," Xari chuckles. 

"My mother was," Lucian's eyes shine as he smiles. "Luna's parents never got mad at their little princess." 

"Don't be jealous," She replies waving him off. 

"What about your father?" I ask him mindlessly and his smile immediately vanishes. 

He stares at me, his gaze boring into mine, pulling me closer without doing so physically. "He was only around for my training. Did your parents ever discipline you?" 

I ponder his question. I don't remember any beatings, maybe a scolding or two. "Sometimes they would tell me when I did something wrong." 

"That's nice," He says. "You must have many more fond memories of them." 

"Yes, I do," I say, feeling weirdly happy that we are able to talk about this freely like this. 

The circle of stories continue and now it's Remulus's turn. I can already see him checking out a busty Spican girl who is eyeing him too. Is there no bounds to his flirting?

"As you can tell, the girls used to fight over me when I was a child as well. What can I say? Everyone wants a piece of The Remulus," He says proudly and I roll my eyes while Cat pretends to throw up. 

"It's disturbing that you refer to yourself in third person," Pollux says, looking disgusted.  

I glance at Rachel, hoping she wouldn't be hurt but she seems fine. 

Once we are done with dinner, Xari heads back with her father and brother and we are all escorted to our rooms. I share one with Luna this time because she insists on watching over me and I am about to clean up when we hear a knock on our door. 

Luna casts a wary look my way and we peek out the small panel to see Lucian standing outside. 

We open the door and he immediately looks at me. 

"Aria, come with me. There's a place I want you to see," He says, shocking the both of us.

Ahh is love brewing in the air? Or friendship? Hope you guys enjoyed and thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments so far. You guys are the best!!