Energized, Part 3

Ellen Lindow

The valley remained a special place to the family and no visit to Loki was complete without a trip to the home of the rainbows.  Many Alphans spent six months or more on Loki during the spring and fall seasons, but the Koenig family had too many obligations off planet to stay longer than a month at a time.  The children grew and learned, taking for granted that they were members of a space-faring race while enjoying their planet-side visits.  Helena and John made sure their three offspring, Alex, Emma, and Richard had a healthy respect for Loki's environment and along with the other children of Alpha cherished their privilege of spending part of their time on the planet.

Fall, spring and fall passed.  A modified Eagle, Alpha designed and built on the asteroid mining and manufacturing base landed neatly in the familiar spot.  A young woman in a yellow-sleeved pilot's uniform bounded out.  Her black curly hair was held back with a yellow headband to match her uniform.  Helena followed her daughter into the sunlight.  She smiled at the eighteen-year-old pilot.

"Nice landing."

"Thank you.  She handles like a dream."

"And faster too.  We got here in half the time."

Emma gave a dramatic bow and smiled proudly at the sleek little ship.  "We're not expected at the beach until tomorrow."  She turned mischievously sparkling green eyes on her mother.  "I didn't think you would mind the detour."

"Of course not.  You know I love it here."  Helena and Emma set off down the path together.  Helena had the feeling that Emma had something she wanted to talk about, but she knew better than to try to rush her daughter.  The valley was exquisitely beautiful as ever.  Helena settled in her favorite spot.  She watched the water rush past her and watched her daughter roam around the rocks restlessly.  She thought fondly how much Emma's boundless energy was like her father's.

Emma finally settled on the rock next to her mother, holding a handful of pebbles.  She tossed one off the ledge and watched the splash in the pool below.  She waited a while before tossing another pebble.  Then she asked, "When did you first know you were in love with Daddy?"

Helena smiled, remembering the time just before and after Breakaway.  Emma watched her mother out of the corner of her eye, recognizing the expression as the one her mother wore when thinking about her father.   They were so obviously in love, even after all this time.

Helena had suspected that something was troubling Emma.  Now she had a good idea what is was.  Alex would be marrying Dinah Fraser soon.  The two had been inseparable for years already, but had agreed not to marry until Dinah turned eighteen, which would happen next month.  Emma had turned eighteen two months ago.  Unlike her brother, she had always enjoyed a pack of friends, the group pairing off temporarily, then rearranging their relationships, always friends, never serious.  "We were in quite a different situation from you, Emma.  I fell in love with your father the first time I saw him, but I didn't admit it to myself for weeks, or to him for months."

Emma frowned, not understanding.  "Why not?"

Her mother sighed, "A number of reasons.  There wasn't a lot of free time for one thing.  We were struggling just to stay alive then.  And we were much older than you are now.  We'd both been married before," she stopped.  Emma was so young, and not yet hurt by life.  How do you explain that you could be afraid of being hurt by falling in love?  "I was reluctant to fall in love again."

"You and Daddy seem so perfect for each other."

She smiled, "Yes, we realized that eventually."

"What if the person you're interested in doesn't seem interested in you?"

Helena glanced at her daughter.  If Emma was interested in someone she had hidden it well.  Helena hadn't noticed her singling out any particular boy.  "Well, sometimes you have to let them know.  And with some boys you have to be pretty specific.  If he's the right one, he'll understand."

Emma nodded thoughtfully and tossed another pebble off the ledge.  "He's just not thinking about me in a romantic way."  She loosed the handful of pebbles, tossing them out and up.

Surprised, Helena tried not to show it as she watched her daughter carefully.  Whoever she was interested in, Emma was keeping it a closely guarded secret.

"Perhaps you should just tell him."

Emma considered that, then slid off the rock and paced.  Again she reminded Helena of John's endless energy.  Like him, Emma was a person of action.  She thought deeply, but couldn't abide being idle.  She had to do something.  "You're right," she said once she had thought things through.  I've got to just tell him how I feel."  Then she smiled impishly at her mother.  "Daddy will go orbital."

That really surprised her mother.  She couldn't think of any of the Alphan children that John would not approve of.  "Who is it, Emma?"

"Well, it's Alan, of course," she answered with a laugh.  "I've always been in love with him!"

Everything fell into place suddenly, rather like a brick landing on her head.  Emma had determinedly chosen piloting and engineering as her fields of study as a teen.  She had a gift for it.  Both John and Alan Carter had helped and encouraged her, recognizing her talent.  For the past two years she had been concentrating her efforts on the design and building of the new Eagle.  She had worked closely with Alan, more collaborator than assistant, despite her youth.  For a brief moment Helena thought this might be a simple schoolgirl crush, but then she looked at Emma in a different light.  She recognized the gleam in her eye and the determination in her expression as that of a young woman in love.

"And you haven't talked to Alan about this yet?"

Emma shook her head.  "I've wanted to, but lately, with the project almost finished, we've been so focused.  It wouldn't have been the right time."

"And now-"

"Now, we've both already decided to take a vacation.  I would have flown down with him, but I wanted to talk to you first and when Daddy was delayed and suggested I fly you down to Loki first, it seemed like the perfect chance to come here and talk to you."  Emma's words came out in a rush, and she finally ground to a halt, no longer sure she knew what to say to her mother, but trusting that her mother would consider everything carefully and make a thoughtful reply.  Her father would have reacted immediately, and would most certainly be shouting, forbidding, ordering by now.  It was his nature, and Emma understood that.

Helena sighed.  "Well, you're right about your father's reaction.  Have you considered that Alan may react similarly?  That he may not return your feelings?"  She watched her daughter's expressive face as it ran through a gamut of emotions:  stubbornness, dismay, self-doubt.

"I think that's one of the other reasons I haven't talked to him," she looked at her mother with panicked wounded eyes.  "What'll I do if he doesn't feel the same way about me?"

Before Helena could respond, Emma's resilient spirit had surfaced once again.  "No, that's not going to happen," Emma told herself firmly.  "He's never found anyone else, and we've been together so much lately, we understand each other.  I'm sure he loves me."

"Emma," Helena said as gently as she could.  "I'm sure he cares about you a great deal, but he's old enough to be your-" she was going to say father, but realized that grandfather was just as realistic.  It surprised her.  She and Alan were almost the same age.  When had they grown old?

Before she could finish the sentence, her daughter rushed over and took her hands.  "Oh, Mama, I know he's older, but does that really matter?  I know it'll matter to Daddy--at first--and it may matter to Alan, until he realizes how right this is.  Mama, if we love each other and are happy together, how much does it really matter?"

Helena looked at her daughter.  Although she more closely resembled her father, Helena recognized the uplifted chin and the defiant toss of the head as her own.  Helena had a feeling that both John Koenig and Alan Carter had met their match.  Emma would get her way.   Helena found herself intrigued, as she had no real objections to Emma's plan.  This would be fun to watch.