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Muuurgh vanished into the darkness, still carrying his mate. Moments later two loud, triumphantly ecstatic yowls broke the stillness—and then silence reigned.

The crowd murmured their approval of the completion of the rite. Han was nearly knocked over by Togorian relatives of Muuurgh’s slapping his shoulders and assuring him that that had been one of the finest weddings they had ever been privileged to witness.

They feasted into the night. Han and Bria slipped away to take a walk in the park, beneath Togoria’s two tiny moons. The stars blazed overhead. “So,” Han said, “how did today go? Is it getting any easier?”

She nodded slightly. “A little. Sometimes I can go a whole hour without missing it, Han. Sometimes, though, I feel like the minutes are just crawling by, and I’m hanging on to my sanity by my fingernails.”

“Well, tomorrow I’ve got something special planned,” he said, smiling at her. “Get ready to have some fun. I’ve got everything arranged.”

“What?” she asked. “What are we going to do?”

“That’d be telling,” he teased, “Just prepare to get up with the birds, okay?”

“They don’t have birds on Togoria,” she reminded him. “Just teeny flying lizards.”

“That’s true,” he said. “But get up early, okay?”

“Okay.”

When Bria arose the next morning, she could not find Han anywhere in their suite of rooms. But she did find a basket of fruit, a jug of fruit juice, some strips of smoked meat, and a loaf of bread on a tray. On the tray was a strip of flimsy and written on it were the following words: “Dress, eat, and come outside. I’ll be waiting—H.”

Bria read the note, raised her eyebrows, then went off to do as it said. Her curiosity was so strong that it even muted the constant craving for the Exultation. Sometimes the longings came in waves so intense that she felt that she might go mad. But as the days passed, such occurrences were rarer.

Bria prayed to all the true gods of the universe that someday they would cease altogether.

When she reached the courtyard outside the building where they’d been quartered, Bria found Han waiting for her. He was sitting astride a mosgoth, with a pack and a blanket strapped behind the saddle. As she stood there uncertainly, he leaned down and held out a hand. “C’mon! Climb up!”

She stared from him to the mosgoth, to the open reaches of the Togorian sky. “You want me to fly with you on this … creature?” she asked. To fly in a spaceship, or aboard a landskimmer, was one thing. To climb aboard a huge reptile and soar off into the sky seemed quite another.

“Sure!” Han leaned over to pat the neck of his mount. “This is Kaydiss, and she’s a real sweetie, aren’t you, girl?”

The mosgoth arched her sinewy neck and flicked out a long, forked tongue, obviously enjoying the caress.

Bria took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. After all, she thought, the worst that can happen is that we’ll fall out of the sky and get killed. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about the Exultation anymore, would I?

Grasping his hand, she put a foot up onto the beast’s leg, which it obligingly crooked to help her mount. With a pull and a scramble, she was up, sitting before Han. His arms were around her, as secure as a safety harness. Bria gasped, then shut her eyes as he clucked to Kaydiss and twitched the reins.

With two huge leaping strides and a thrust of the mosgoth’s powerful wings, Han and Bria were airborne and climbing steadily. Bria opened her eyes to find herself high above the tops of the buildings. The wind rushed by her face, blowing her hair, bringing tears to her eyes.

“Oh!” she cried. “Han, this is wonderful!”

“Yep,” he said, a pardonable note of smugness in his voice. “And just wait till you see where I’m taking you.”

Bria held the front of the saddle (with the two of them squeezed together, she wasn’t too worried about falling off) and exulted in the feeling of really flying.

Forests and rivers flowed by beneath them. Bria stared down at the fields, the towns, and the lakes,