He looked around. StarGrace had left an hour earlier saying that she needed to return to her sky patrol before Qeteb and the other Demons reappeared, but StarLaughter was curled up in a thick woollen cloak against a far wall.
DragonStar walked over, and gently shook her shoulder.
StarLaughter opened one eye and peered irritably at him. "Yes?"
"We need to talk," DragonStar said. "Now."
"Then talk," she murmured, closing her eye.
"Alone!" DragonStar said, and shook her harder.
Now StarLaughter opened both her eyes, and she grinned lasciviously. "So! I thought you would never ask!"
"Don't play games with me\" DragonStar snapped, and grasped her arm tightly, hauling her upwards.
"You're hurting!" StarLaughter said, and tried to wrench herself free.
But DragonStar was too strong. He pulled until she was on her feet, then gave her a none-too-gentle shove towards the door. "Outside."
"Not all the way outside, I do hope," StarLaughter muttered, but DragonStar did not speak, contenting himself with an impatient shove in the small of her back.
As they left the room, Faraday opened her eyes and stared at the empty door.
"Whatever my companions think," DragonStar said as he pulled StarLaughter to a halt in a deserted part of the corridor several twists and turns away from the chamber, "I admit harbouring some doubts about the sincerity of your turnabout. Frankly, I find it astonishing."
StarLaughter's eyes darted about the corridor. It was deserted. The Strike Force were either at ground level to watch the sky, or were patrolling what was left of the complex, either to find if there was anything left that could prove serviceable to DragonStar or to search for any traps and surprises that StarLaughter and StarGrace may have planted.
She sighed theatrically. "You have discovered my secret."
"Oh, for the Stars' sakes, woman! Stop performing these dramatic roles! What is it you really want here? You were lying back in that chamber, although StarGrace was not. What is going on?"
StarLaughter stared down the corridor, her eyes unfocused, silent for the time being.
DragonStar was content enough to let her think, although he still wondered if she was assuming a facade she believed would aid her cause.
"The Demons tricked me," StarLaughter said eventually, quietly, still staring into infinity down the corridor, "and then they tired of me. They said they were going to restore my son to me, but all they did was make use of his —" her voice broke a little, "— dead flesh to create a haven for Qeteb's warmth and breath and movement and soul. Having tricked me, they then tired of me."
DragonStar hesitated, then placed a hand on her shoulder.
StarLaughter did not react. "I escaped, but only barely."
"And?" DragonStar prompted as StarLaughter hesitated.
"And I began to think," she said, "about myself and Wolf Star."
StarLaughter shifted slightly, bringing herself closer to DragonStar's body.
"When we were husband and wife I loved him desperately, completely, with my entire being and purpose," she said after a moment's silence.
"And yet you plotted against him."
She half-smiled, lost in her deluded memories. "We were so mutually ambitious, DragonStar. We could not help ourselves. We became cold and hard and calculating, and somewhere along the way the love was lost. I planned his murder; he accomplished mine instead. WolfStar was ever quick on his feet."
"And now?" DragonStar said very softly. "And now?"
"And now I want him back," StarLaughter said, "as he must want me."
DragonStar drew back from her in complete shock. "You what? He wants what?"
"I want him back!" StarLaughter turned to DragonStar, her face alive with passion and purpose. "As he must want me! Who else can WolfStar ever love? Who else can /? We have made our mistakes, true, but —"
DragonStar laughed hollowly. "You're mad, StarLaughter. Mad! WolfStar will never —"
"Yes! Yes! He must!"
"Wait... have you told Star Grace this?"
"No. She would not understand. All she wants is his death."
"And the other Hawkchilds? They want the same?"
StarLaughter nodded.
"So let me see if I understand this completely," DragonStar said. "You have decided that, against all odds and expectations, your purpose in life is to love WolfStar again —"
"And he me!" she said. "We were born for each other, and we have spent the past several thousand years moving back towards each other!"
Gods, DragonStar thought. The woman is completely insane!
