1952 A.D.
"So, how was everyone?" Druig asked, Aakashi's head resting on his chest as he stroked her hair. He asked it uncaringly, but she could feel his chest tighten.
"Well, Ajak lives just outside of Winnipeg, and she's going to be there for three more years. Then she's planning to go to Alaska." She thought about what they'd done for the two weeks she was there. "We went into the city, and skiing, and we walked up and down the rivers. It was lovely, although I missed the warmth terribly."
"Of course you did." He laughed. He was so glad he'd found this place for them to both have their perfect weather. Warm for her, rainy for him.
"So then it was Spain. They live in the North West, near Portugal. They live in this tiny town with, like, five hundred people in it. Really small. But it's a great area, and we went on walks most days. Sprite's pretending to do home school at the moment, so she's got lots of free time. And Sersi's teaching history."
"Of course she is."
"She says she really enjoys it, though." She paused for a moment. "Phastos has been really secluded since the war. He lives up in the mountains, a few miles from the nearest town." She frowned, wishing she'd been to see him during that time. "We mostly stayed in." Druig nodded knowingly. "Makkari's collection has grown tenfold since last time."
"Anything interesting?"
"Well... The Rosetta Stone? She found some guy to make a replica to replace it in the museum." He scoffed in reply. "The Domo seems so weird with no one in it. I don't know how she can live there, all alone."
"She wouldn't like to live in a city, though."
"I suppose that's true." She smiled as she thought about Kingo, and his recent endeavours. "Kingo's landed another job. He's in a film about this couple who can't be together because they live on other sides of the world, so they spend twenty years trying to find each other after meeting one time. I got to spend two weeks on set with him." She gushed, and Druig smiled at the thought of her watching Kingo dance.
"When's it coming out?"
"May. He said he'd send me a copy when he could, so I guess I'll have to go to the city to get it." She'd bought a house in Belem, in the North East of Brazil, to rent out and have somewhere for her mail to go.
"Sure, sure."
"And lastly, Australia." She finished dramatically. "It was really lovely. I missed Gil's cooking so much." Druig shrugged, and Aakashi poked his bare chest gently. "I know you missed it too. Anyway. Thena hasn't attacked him in four months, which is a new record. She seems like she's very happy there, they both do. It's sort of perfect for them."
"That's good."
Silence fell over them for a minute, until Aakashi decided to tell him. "Phastos agrees with you."
"What?"
"What you said. In Technotitlan, about his inventions, and how our mission might be wrong?" Druig nodded, remembering the night clearly. They all did. "Well, he says you were right." Druig just smiled, slightly sadly.
