Daion Echoes Through Transglass

Epilogue

Trevor crouched to adjust her son's jacket, making sure the brilliant green of the collar trimming complimented Lott's eyes as well as she believed it should. She also checked that his shirt was staying tucked. The full-faced frown he directed at her was achingly similar to the expression his father wore every time she'd fussed about his appearance and she smiled to see the resemblance. This little boy in front of her was growing out of everything again and she hadn't had time to shop for a new shirt after realizing this one was too small only an hour before they'd had to leave the house. If she'd known yesterday...

        She never thought she'd one cycle live landside, but here she was, counting hours and days. Here we are, she corrected the thought and hugged her boy.

        "Why do we have to do this right now?" Lott complained, making her smile as she released him and stood.

        "Because this is the right day and time for coming to Dockland's Memorial for the annual service," Charlotte answered, frowning at the nephew who'd been named after him.

        "Get that look off your face. My grandson is not the only Shandlie man in this family who complains about dressing up formally for services," Dennis said, chastising her son. Charlotte quickly stopped fidgeting with his own collar. "I'm almost there. See you in a minute or two," Dennis added. Charlotte disconnected the vid he was having with her before she could add anything else. Trevor shared an understanding smile with her brother before she looked down to once again to confirm her son was staying as dressed as he was supposed to be for the ceremony today.

        "Mom! Look! I found Dad's name!"

        Trevor lifted her gaze to where their two daughters were standing with Leo. Their youngest girl, Tia, was pointing at the wall excitedly as the older one, Livy, attempted to dig the toe of her shoe into the stone and steel walkway around the tribute area of this memorial park.

        "I would've found it first if your big head hadn't been in the way," Livy muttered.

        "Neither of you would have found it if I hadn't pointed out which panel to look at," Leo said with a laugh and started herding both girls back toward the rest of the family.

        "I'm surprised you even remembered where to look after all these solar years missing the annual service," Lissa accused from where he was sitting on the nearby bench. His voice was pitched to sound condescending but the smile on his wrinkled face proved he was joking.

        "I only missed the last one and you vidded me the whole thing," Leo said.

        "Need to make sure you remember how everything goes," Lissa teased.

        "I do recall all of it. I remember that Dockland entered atmosphere there and started breaking up" –he pointed up in one direction– "and then our lifeboat was safely and automatically ejected per my atmospheric entry requirements in that direction" –he arced his arm overhead– "meaning we landed –"

        "Crashed," Lissa interrupted with his usual correction to the story.

        "Crashed way over there," Leo finished, pointing toward the horizon in what was a horizontal, ninety degree angle from the elongated damage left behind from both Dockland and Shiner.

        "Was it a scary crash, Dad?" Tia asked. Livy had been the one to ask in previous years, but she had the story memorized now and didn't see the need.

        "Terrifying. I was just lucky Granddad L was with me or I probably would have passed out from how scared I was."

        "Ha! Liar," Lissa said. "Your dad was so excited to eject the control room out of that antique ship. I don't think he even noticed the rest of Dockland and all of Shiner falling in flaming shrapnel and rubble around us."