I am extremely sorry for the delay in the completion of this third chapter of my story. After Christmas, I was beset by illness, a death in the family and similar chaos.

So that there is less need to go back and refresh your memories by re-reading two long chapters,

Chapter 1 dealt with our protagonist going to the war in Afghanistan to either prove himself or die in battle, hopefully the latter. It is there that an Alien Thorian accidentally kills him in self defense when he is caught between the cross fire of Taliban fighters and British soldiers. His body is mostly destroyed but rebuilt using Thorian skills and is now much stronger, partially cybernetic, and female also. In the regeneration process, Malok, the Thorian teenager discovered the young soldier’s feminine nature and decides to honor that as partial repayment for killing the young soldier. “She”, now Katia, is put back into the fray and through her, Malok learns much of the human struggle, and hellish conditions in that country.

In Chapter 2, Lt Frank Grace, now Lt Katia Grace, is at home near Worcester, UK recovering from PTSD, and emotional exhaustion brought on by the fighting and her change from male to female. There are some humorous sections in the chapter but it is mostly quiet for Katia.

So, here we are now at the start of Chapter 3. Katia has just spent a month at home in the UK, resting and getting well, now she returns to Afghanistan to resume her mission. Katia has recently been dropped in Afghanistan near the village where she had previously encountered Mamadou Touri; a Muslim Imam (loosely Preacher) Katia has been approaching the village and suddenly encounters men having a conversation. She hides to listen.

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A Taliban operative says, “Mamadou, what is this about the western invaders coming here?”

Mamadou had to be really careful. If these two hard-line Taliban ever suspected his true affiliations, they would kill him. “It is what I heard in Kandahar, and it will be soon.”

“A man said that you were in Kandahar speaking to the western invaders.”

Mamadou could feel his heart quiver at the accusation. “Let that man face me and we will decide who lives together!”

“We will all meet to plan our strategy later this afternoon, after Asr Prayer. We will bring your accuser.” With that, the men split up and Mamadou moved toward one of the houses.

Katia moved around to intercept him. When he got close, Katia stepped out from her concealment.

“Hello Mamadou.”

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"Hello, Salaam Alaykom, it is good to see you once again. So, the village women now call you an Avenging Angel. Is that what you are?”

"I don't know. I don't feel like one. I just want the killing to stop and for the evil men to go away. I want the women not to be beaten and raped every day of their lives,” her eyes began to tear up a little as she finished that last sentence.

"Alhumdilallah, this mission on which you have set yourself is deep in your heart, I can hear it."

"It is, but I am getting tired and I need help. I can't keep being alone."

"It is possible that Allah SWT has sent you, but you are not Muslim."

"No, the folks never attended church." It is obvious that Katia has absolutely no knowledge about Islam, and very little knowledge of any of the Christian faiths.

"So, you are against Allah Subhana Wa Allah Ta Allah?"

“I do not know anything about your Allah at all and if there really was one, then this pain and suffering would not be going on.”

“We do not understand the will of Allah SWT, we are not him.”

They had moved into his home now, and one of the women brought him in Goat Kabsa. (Loosely a highly spiced rice dish with goat meat.) The fragrance of the spices and open fire roasted meat made her all the more hungry.

He saw the roast goat sitting on the floor of the dining area, so he offered Katia some. Katia ate ravenously, she felt so hungry, but Mamadou did get enough for himself. “His men will have to figure it out on their own,” she thought. Katia needed the fuel too much.

"So, why have you come back to my village, little one?" he asked her.

"I don't know. I wanted someone to talk to so I could understand what is going on here. You were gentle with me before. Also, my leader wants you to accompany me up to a place in the North near a village called Taloqan.”

“Your Leader, you work for the Western Invaders do you not?”

“Officially I work for the British Army, but since the change, I now work for someone who you may never meet. He wants to help the people of Afghanistan and suspects that there has been evil interference by a race that does not live in this Dunya (earth)”.

"Perhaps, Allah Subhanahu wa-ta'ala is guiding you?"

"I wish someone would. I'm not 17 yet according to what my memory is telling me. Yet when I came down here I had graduated from College and taken a commission. Something really strange happened out there. Someone had attacked us and suddenly there was this bright flash and then the next thing I know I am like this. You'll never believe this, but I was almost a 14 stone guy before that. Now, I do not know if I weigh much over 7 stone. When I woke up half the mountain in front of me was blown away. We talked briefly about it before, several months ago.”

"Oh yes, I have heard the stories of how that all happened. Many of the Taliban and some innocent were killed that day. Little sister, are you telling me that you were not always a girl?"

"No sir, I wasn't and all the things I can do are just really weird. What am I going to do?" With that she started to wail. She just wept and wept. It was awful. “I wished that I would just die. This is all too much for me. What am I to do?”

When she finished, she was lying in his lap, and like that is so totally not done in Afghanistan with a Muslim man that she was not married to. He was looking at Katia with a strange look on his face.

"This has been so hard on you. I am sorry for your pain, but Inshallah (hopefully, by the will of God), he will guide you to do all things according to his will. May you find the true path? You are a paradox, in that you are at once both extremely strong and brave as a warrior, but inside weak and helpless like a woman.”

Katia was pretty wrung out by then and he helped her get covered up. "Just so you know, I am not for the Burqua. I believe that hair covering is enough, but so you do not attract attention, and make it easier to protect you from the terrorists, I want you to wear this until I get you into a safe place.”

"If anyone starts anything, I'm gonna finish them," she replied grumpily.

He stopped and looked at her for a moment. "You came to ask my help and you do not follow my advice, Wallah!" (Come on!)

"So, OK, I'm like sorry OK?" Katia hung her head, too emotionally tried to argue.

So, with the Burqua pretty much ending her combat readiness, he led her to a place where she could sleep with the women of another family. Katia was greatly surprised to meet Sabeen there, and the two women had a wonderful reunion.

“As Salaam Alaykom sister Katia, I never expected to see you again”.

“Ok Malok, what do I say to her in response?”

This question and his response took .003 seconds.
“Katia, it is a greeting, the correct response is Wa Alaykom Salaam.”

“Wa Alaykom Salaam, sister Sabeen!” Katia gushed. “I am so happy to see you. How have you been? Are you cared for?”

“I am pregnant but have no husband. When the Taliban comes, I hide in my house, but when they leave, the local men are kind to me. We never know when they will show up here.”

“Ah, the young warrior woman of Allah SWT,” said one of the men from the village.

“Salaam Azar, this is Katia. You remember her from before?”

“As Salaam Alaykom, sister Katia, yes I remember that you killed many of the Taliban living in our village. Are you an Angel from Allah SWT?”

“I have no knowledge of your Allah SWT, but I just want to help your people in any way that I can.”

“Alhumdilallah (Praise to God), I welcome your help and may you be shown the good deeds and may you also find the true path.”

The next few days, they all talked about what was going on with their country. Mamadou was pretty discouraged too.

"Most of my relatives were murdered by the Russians. I was 10 years old when they left. My Aunt had taken me to Egypt when I was very young, but I still remember the Russian tanks and helicopters after the Russian murderers left, my people pleaded with the west and other Arab countries to help us to rebuild, but they did not.

“Eventually, the Mujahadeen took over and began to grow Opium, there was much graft and they enslaved our women and children," he said. "I don't like the Taliban and they are swift to murder those who oppose them. They bring enough money into the country to help some. None of those who are not with the Taliban are safe. The Taliban demand that all women are covered, and that has one advantage, because no one can know if a young girl is under there or an old woman. So, in a way, it sometimes protects them," he finished.

Katia found herself attracted to this tall bearded Afghani. He was gentle but did not hesitate to instruct her in the Afghan ways.

"Sister Katia, if we are to work together, you must not kill any more. That must be left up to the men. So much bloodshed is too hard on your gentle soul and I cannot watch that."

This would be a point of disagreement but finally Katia could see that she would have to yield to Mamadou to get him to come with her.

Katia stayed in the village for several days because Mamadou had business to attend to there before he went north. When he had a break from his duties, he walked with Katia as they talked, with Sabeen along so that no one could say that he and Katia were alone and intimate.

“Mamadou, I am not your wife and not subject to Afghan laws and customs. I will not kill unless the situation demands it, I promise.“ Katia was wondering why her body was tingling and butterflies filled her. “If you come north with me, please try to accept that I have my job to do but I will not kill unless it is demanded of me. You must admit that those I exterminated were like vermin.”

She’d tried to be tough but it was such a struggle to have her own way around him. Her whole being just wanted to lay by his side with her head on his chest. “Yalla! (Come on) What am I to do?”

Katia looked at Mamadou long and hard. She felt so attracted to both his spirit and his very masculine body. He was well over 6 feet tall, a foot taller than her. She’d never dreamed that she would fall for one of the enemy. Well, as it turned out, he was not one of the enemies and she would soon find out.

Later that night, “Katia, if you come to love this man, you will have to convert to his religion, Islam,” Malok said.

“Oh Malok, I am so confused. Six months ago, if someone had suggested that this day would come, I would have laughed in their face”.

“So, you have already fallen for him. I had suspected as much.”

“I do not know if I have or not, but he is so kind to me and my body is giving me strange feelings. Can you turn those down so I do not become distracted?”

Malok actually laughed. “Katia, your body is an intricate series of finely tuned mechanisms and one cannot just play with it without regard. I found out as I monitored them during the last months. Being human is much more than one would think.”

“But, you will help me when you can right?”

“Yes, dear Katia, I will help you all that I am able. You have come to mean so much to me, I do not know what I would do if something happened to you.” She could hear emotion in his voice that she had never heard before.

“Malok, what are you saying?”

“Katia, after reviewing the cultures of your planet and some of the most famous literary works here, I have come to realize that I love you very much.”

Katia lay there thinking for a few minutes. ”Malok, are you still listening?”

“I am always listening to you now Katia.”

“Malok, I love you too.” Her heart soared, she had finally faced it.

“Oh, Malok, I wish that you were here so that you could hold me. I really need someone to comfort me right now.”

“My heart aches to do that too, but we know that to do so would cause great disruption in the village.”

“It just feels awful Malok, I love you and I am developing feelings for Mamadou too. You must hate me.” Katia sobbed quietly, in spite of the fact that their conversation was happening silently.

“Dear, what is happening to you is completely normal for my culture. Perhaps in rebuilding your shattered body, some of our genetics got mixed with yours. It is not surprising because I used almost exclusively Thorian flesh to do so. Though it is a surprise to see that it has affected your thinking, if that is what has happened?”

“You boob, did you ever think that perhaps it is you who won my heart?” she replied with some petulance.

“Katia, when the time comes, I will show you my real body, and when you see me for real, and not “through a glass darkly”, you will know why you and I cannot have a physical relationship. So, while our souls can bond, our bodies cannot.”

“I want to see you Malok. I mean really see you and touch you. I insist and I want to do it now.”

“You cannot! Not now anyway. Maybe sometime in the future.”

“Please make it soon, Malok, really soon?”

Malok’s heart was breaking, so he put her to sleep. He could not take more right now, not with all his other worries. One of his probes had discovered traces of passage from one of the hostile alien races, and he knew that if they found him, he would either not live or his Mother would be under great pressure to make concessions to get him back. He did not know which other race, but he suspected the Djinarians. How had he gotten himself in such a dangerous position? One of them could materialise in the skies near him and kill him at any moment. He felt like a fool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, Katia and Mamadou set out for Taloqan. Sabine and Katia said goodbye to each other. “I’ll try to check in on you Sabine, when my business in the north is complete.” As they walked out of the village, Katia once again waved to Sabine.

The next few hours would shock poor Mamadou, but he would prove himself to be brave and ready to face death if necessary.

Katia and Mamadou had walked perhaps 5 miles from the village and had passed into a deep ravine.

“Katia, I will pick both you and Mamadou up soon, you need to warn him so that he is not too alarmed.”

“Mamadou, in just a few minutes, my leader is going to pick us up so we do not have to travel the hundreds of miles and take weeks to get there by foot or car.”

“Katia, we are too close to the village, I will not be seen getting into a Western helicopter!”

“Mamadou, we will not be seen …”

Seconds later, they just disappeared from the ravine, and anyone who may have been watching, well let them wonder.

“Mamadou, this is Malok,” Katia said.

“As Salaam Alaykom, Malok.”

“Wa Alaykom Salaam, Mamadou.”

“So, you are Katia’s leader?”

“In a manner of speaking but really Katia is too strong to be ruled”.

Mamadou smiled, saying, “I know this with a certainty.” Both men looked at Katia, and smiled.

Katia felt her face burn with embarrassment, but she could not help the silly grin on her face.

“Well it is about time you realised that,” she giggled. They chatted amicably for a few minutes, getting to know each other. Mamadou explained about his early childhood in Afghanistan and then being taken to Egypt when the Russians invaded.

Malok explained a little about his presence on Earth, and his sensitive position with his family.

Katia sat there listening to the two men talk, getting to know each other. “I wonder if Mamadou even suspects Malok’s true nature. I would love to meet his mother. I bet she loves him just as much as do I. I remembered some words I had memorised as a child, ‘My heart panteth, my strength faileth me …’ even used out of context, she felt that way about Malok, and was now wondering if it would be the same for Mamadou?

She felt so conflicted. In her British culture, a single man and woman joined, but in Malok’s Alien culture, it took two men and a single woman to procreate. Now she was falling in love with a man who could have many wives, how many, Katia did not know?

As a man, he had longed to be a woman. It burned within him but he loved his Mum and just could not stand up to his Father. Now that she was, the feelings were so overwhelming at times. Katia had to stifle any complaints because had she not asked for such a fate in life? Had she not longed to feel complete?

Katia’s reverie was broken by the sudden lurching of the craft. “We are here Katia,” said Malok.

She’d listened to Malok and Mamadou talk

“Now listen you two.” Malok said. “Katia, I will try to stay close and provide you with remote surveillance but I know that the interferers have passed through recently and if I detect signs of them, I will need to hide. Mamadou, Katia is extremely lethal but the violence wears on her, so let her fight alongside you, but please be supportive of her emotions and weaknesses?”

Mamadou told Malok that he was quite attached to the little Angel of Allah SWT and did not believe that she should fight at all.

“Well, we will have to work that out in the future,” Malok replied.

“Hey, you two, I am here and can speak for myself, you know?”

“Yes, I know little sister, you have the spirit of a warrior, but the mind and body of woman. You should be protected, at home and feeding your babies.”

“Well, I’m not and I have a job to do. Are you going to help me or am I alone?”

“I will help you sister Katia, but I want you out of the fighting as soon as possible.”

Malok dropped them on a high ridge, “Katia, below you there are what appear to be concealed buildings, see them?”

“Yes, I do”.

Malok told them that he thought that perhaps Mamadou could walk in with Katia trailing and get a feel for what the occupant’s intentions were. That way, local custom could give Katia the defensive advantage.

The two quickly materialised on the ridge above the hidden outpost and began making their way down the trail toward it. Katia was carrying most of the weight, but it did not put her at the disadvantage that an observer would think. As they got closer, Mamadou called out “Salaam Alaykom WA Ramatullah WA Baraktulluh (May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you)” loud enough to be heard in much of the settlement.

Many of the men came out of the huts, some bearing AK-47s. There was a tense moment. Katia’s pistol was in one of her hands and her other resting lightly on her sword.

Mamadou said in his least threatening voice, “The avenging angel of Allah SWT is with me, and I come bearing you a message.”

“Wa Alaykom Salaam, so, come and sit with us and we will eat and talk.”

Malok was watching both very closely. “Katia, there are men behind you sneaking up!”

“I hear them coming, the clumsy oxen.”

Katia turned to see raised rifles, so she calmly squeezed off a single shot into the ground between them and her. It impacted with enough power to pelt the men with large rocks; those still standing, dropped their rifles.

She looked over her shoulder to see Mamadou and the villagers all lying on the ground. No one looked threatening there. So she turned around again and advanced on the would be attackers. Six men stood there, but she could hear noise over the ridge. “If you move you die”. Then she ran up and over the hill. There were another dozen who were fleeing and she could plainly see RPG’s and other weapons.

In her loudest voice, she called out,” Stop, or you die, interlopers”. One of them turned and fired at her, so she shot him. As soon as she did, Katia could feel the pain of her offence. Surely she could not be suffering for simply defending herself?

Another man raised his RPG to fire at her, shouting “Allah Akbar!”, but before he could pull the trigger, she shot a round into the ground in front of him, close enough to knock him down but far enough away to simply stun him. His RPG round, arched away harmlessly into a hillside. “In the name of your God, please do not make me kill you. I have come to end the fighting and to punish the evil!” By now, tears were streaming down her face and she wept noisily. Imam Mamadou rushed to her side.

“Brothers, the woman tells the truth. She is an instrument of Allah SWT and does not mean to harm you. She is now under my protection? To harm her is to insult Allah SWT.”

From the distance comes a shouted, “And who are you brother?”

“I am Mamadou Toure ibn (son of: ) Hassan from the south, slave and servant of Allah SWT. We have come here to prevent a great letting of blood that is about to befall this province. Please lower your arms and let us talk about what we should do to please Allah SWT. You have fought long and hard in his name, and now he has sent help.”

A tense exchange of rhetoric went on for several minutes and eventually Katia managed to stop weeping. She hadn’t attempted to say anything because the custom of this land was for woman to stay silent.

Malok said to Katia, “Just for this time, pull a scarf out of your pack and put it around your head according to the custom of the local women. It is not a sign of weakness on your part but to mollify the men and show respect for their position. Hopefully, this will get us through a few meetings.”

Quietly, Katia did as Malok asked, while Mamadou looked on in mute surprise. He thought to himself, “Why would this western woman do such a thing for us?” He could not conceal his surprise, and the men around them took pause at her actions. She even pulled one corner of the scarf across her face to conceal it. She knew that she could kill everyone in sight but felt that killing had not worked in the last 20 years of this war, and in fact, had not worked in the whole of human history, and felt it was time for Malok to be able to help these people and to find the real evidence of Alien interference in human affairs; something he could take home to his parents and they could take the matter before the courts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Katia sat around the same fire as the men, but behind Mamadou as he had finally gotten them to accept. All three, Malok, Katia, and Mamadou, hoped that this concession would be temporary until the villagers understood the facts of the local situation. They’d tried to disarm Katia, but Mamadou defended her, “You dare show disrespect for the warrior of Allah SWT!?! She is graciously restraining herself at my request. Do not trouble her more.” When the men were no longer looking at Katia, she secreted her pistol away in its hidden spot. Her sword, the one her father had given her, with suitable improvements lay hidden in the folds of her clothing. None were aware of its existence.

Miles away one of Malok’s probes found traces of Ion disruption, normally caused by the passage of an Alien vehicle. By the chemical composition of the ions left, Malok felt that it was typical of a people who had long been a problem for governments in the local group of galaxies. They were smart and shady, so it was extremely difficult to prove enough about them to really prosecute them.

From his hiding place under a rock fall in a ravine near the cliff side settlement, alarm systems suddenly began to warn of the approach of a cloaked, strange vessel at very low altitude and slow speed. Malok quickly lowered his power settings, cutting off all communication with his probe and with Katia. His passive observations witnessed the passage of a cloaked vessel of the hated Djinari; quadruped creatures with exoskeletons and acid blood. They were extremely warlike, but so intelligent that they had managed to use the laws of the civilized races against them in the galactic council.

Malok quickly programmed and launched a humming bird sized probe to follow that intruder to see if it landed and to observe its activities. While it was gone, Malok also sent a subterranean probe toward the area where Katia and Malok were having their meeting. As it tunneled along, it coated the passage left by it with a tiny population of Nanites that would form a communication path that was virtually undetectable. It was an extremely frightened and tense teenaged Malok who waited to hear from his probe and from Katia once again.

Malok was near the Thorian equivalent of “tears” as he began to regret his reckless activities in the past. This playing on Earth was done purposely to demonstrate that he did not have to obey his mother, and he knew that if she had known what he’d gotten himself into, he’d be grounded without privileges for a long, long time.

At the moment he was not as afraid of the Djinari as he was of Mom. They really could not damage him, because, being heir to the throne, he had a way to get home that would tear him out of their grasp without fail, but it would also do a great deal of damage to the space/time of the local solar system. The problem being that most of the living things on earth and Mars would likely perish. Now that he’d seen the Djinari here, he needed to get home to tell his parents and if he could keep a record of it, they would certainly be in hot water. Malok would just have to bide his time. He’d grown so attached to Katia and her people that he could not bear to do them harm.

He had begun to understand the burden of taking on responsibility for his actions, though he did not understand at the time, his Mother would be proud of him for finally beginning to make the connections of an adult.

A half hour after his first remote probe was sent to monitor the Djinari, it arrived back at his ship, and a second probe left to take its place. From now on, the missions of his tiny probes would overlap to provide a continuous flow of telemetry about the Djinari.

Moments later, Malok started getting telemetry from Katia’s location. The tiny probe had surfaced close enough for her to touch it. Its surfacing expelled only a tiny cloud of vaporized soil and rock and the scent of it quickly dispersed. In this case, smoke from the fire certainly masked it.

“Katia, are you there?”

“Malok, can you hear me? I’ve been calling and calling, what happened?”

“Katia, something that is extremely frightening has happened. I was nearly caught by enemies of my people, but managed to hide just in time. I can talk to you as long as you are close to where you are now, but not if you move off too far.”

“Malok, this is really frightening, are they coming here?”

“Not yet Katia, they have landed several miles from your location, and I don’t know exactly what they are doing, but hopefully I will find out very soon.”

In the next several hours, Mamadou spoke to the men around the fire, and some the heavily shrouded women brought them food to eat. There were no blue Burquas up here, a fact that struck Mamadou as a bit odd.

“The Chinese invaders make us mine a certain rock and then fly away with it. Later their soldiers show up and ask us questions like they know nothing of the real reason the West has invaded us, but it is the Western soldiers who guard their activities. Do they think we are stupid?”

This last bit threw Katia for a loop as she tried to understand who it was that was mining here. She’d known that China had been mining in Badakhstan Province for 10 years, but not in Konduz. As the meeting continued, Katia and Malok began to understand that the mining in Badakhstan was the legitimate mining, but the mining in Konduz was, perhaps in fact being done by the Dinari. The Chinese were providing their own labor, but it seemed as if the Dinari were using forced labor of Afghani villagers, including the women and children. They’d cleverly disguised themselves so that no one would be aware of the ruse. The Dinari were periodically killing villagers when they encountered resistance. Meanwhile, the villagers thought that this was all being done by the Western alliance, and sometimes by the Taliban if the villagers were not cooperating with them. So, in the end, the villagers were caught between two opposing forces as the victims of two sides one of which did not even know of the other.

She’d tell Mamadou of her conclusions when they were alone. Katia really did not want to discuss it in front of the other men, in case there was a spy of some kind.

The afternoon gave way to evening, and as the day wore on, the men all paused at certain times to pray the Islamic way. Katia was no Muslim but as she watched Mamadou pray, her heart was touched by his devotion to his belief system he practiced and that fascinated her. The last prayer came after sunset. The evening meal was served, and Katia even helped the women serve it. The men eyed her suspiciously at first but her apparent knowledge of local custom and her apparent obedience to the Imam eased their minds.

As she knelt with a platter near the cooking pot, one of the sisters filled it with a mixture of rice, vegetables and goat meat, one of them, Tutu asked her a question. “Sister, are you the warrior woman that the tribes speak of? If so, how come you obey that Imam?”

“Sister Tutu, I don’t want to kill every man here. I can easily do it but it is so hard for my heart. It makes me feel so much grief, I cannot.”

“So, what good are you as a warrior?”

“I want to find the guilty troublemakers and deal with them. We suspect that there are very few who want blood. The rest follow them because they must or die. We also suspect that there are those here who are not from this country who are profiting off the trouble and we need to find them.” Katia did not bother to tell Tutu that she suspected they weren’t even from Earth because she did not want to alarm anyone.

As the evening meal finished, Malok moved to take Katia to the room the men had allowed him to use. Fahran, one of the men walked up to Mamadou. “Brother is this woman wife to you?” Mamadou worked hard to conceal his alarm.

“No, she accompanies me on my journey.”

“Then do not defile yourself by sleeping with woman who is not your wife! That is Haram (forbidden).”

Mamadou, knowing he’d been caught out could only respond one way, “What would you suggest brother?”

“We have a couple of widows living with us who no man has claimed yet, let her sleep with them so that you may remain pure before Allah SWT.”

Mamadou replied, “Yes, thank you for that. It will ease my mind tonight not being tempted by that woman.” Mamadou knew that he was playing a dangerous game, but he knew that Katia would be OK. He was a little worried about what the men might do to him while he slept. Being an Imam, he was given a room by himself.

Katia thought it strange that they led Mamadou off one direction and her to somewhere else. “Malok, they are splitting us up and leading me to where I don’t know yet.”

“Katia, try not to worry, the probe will follow you. I am not sure what we will do about Mamadou yet. I will send a probe to find him. I wish that I had put a tracker on him.”

As Tutu led Katia along, she turned and used her night vision to follow Mamadou as long as she could. Fortunately, he entered a hut on the other end of the camp and she could see his figure stop through even the stone walls.

“I know that you worry for your man, but we must get inside or risk the wrath of one of the men who is on guard.” Katia decided not to make a fuss in front of Tutu, but vowed to check on the Imam when she slept. It was not that long after they lay down that the woman was deeply asleep. Katia did not know that Malok’s probe had found them and emitted a sniff of gas to make the woman oblivious.

“Katia, get out of that room, I just spread a little gas to keep Tutu sleeping and out of harms’ way.”

“Thanks Malok, I need to find Mamadou and keep him safe tonight.”

“Pick up the probe from the ground right by Tutu and take it with you. When you find Mamadou, put it on the ground and give it a few minutes to go back and attach to its previous tunnel so we can stay in contact.”

Katia did that and was surprised to find that it was only about a foot long and an inch in diameter. She smiled to herself at its resemblance to something she owned, back home in her dresser. She quickly made her way down to the place where she last saw her Imam, and using her sense of smell and astonishingly keen eyes soon located him lying on a mat in one of the back rooms.

“Pst, Mamadou, is that you?”

“Katia, are you OK?”

“I am but I do not like being separated from you, so Malok said I should find you.”

“Everything seems OK for now, but until I know these tribesmen better, I do not trust them.”

“Move over, I am coming through the window. I will not be separated from you.”

“Oh, feisty woman!”

“You bet!”

Katia dropped the probe on the dirt floor of the room, and laid down by Mamadou. “I guess we will have to get married after tonight, huh?”

“Fine, if I marry you, then you must obey me.”

“Only if you give me orders that I like.”

“Woman, you should be beaten for your disobedient attitude,” he gently chided her.

“Would it be fun?” This elicited a groan but no reply from Mamadou.

Katia, laid her head down, and sighed. She stayed awake until the probe resurfaced after having made the connection to the previous tunnel.

“Katia, rest for now, I will awaken you before dawn,” said Malok.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katia did not sleep and instead used her very sensitive hearing to eavesdrop on anyone within her hearing range. The camp was mostly silent aside from the odd groan and some snoring until about an hour before dawn. Then she could hear approaching footsteps. Rising up, she decided that they were coming from the top of the ridge and not from within the camp.

She could hear other footsteps from within the camp and soon they seemed to converge. “Where is the infidel woman?”

“She is in the widow woman’s room. You can blow them both up, one less mouth to feed.”

That just pissed Katia off so much that she was out the window before she even thought to waken Mamadou. “Shit, Malok, can you wake up Mamadou?”

“Sure Katia, but don’t allow your rage to cloud your judgment.”

“Well, you had to have heard what those two bloody asses said, don’t be daft man!”

Katia was busy moving stealthily toward the voices. “Judgment hell, I am gonna kill those two,” she thought.

As she sighted the two, Katia was astonished to see that one of them appeared to be a western soldier.

Fearing that she would get out of range of the underground probe, Katia stopped. “Malok, one of them appears to be a Western soldier! What do I do if he is one of your Djinari?”

“Good insight Katia, but the Djinari are quadruped exoskeleton beings.”

“Well, what if they have done the same thing as you did?”

Malok seemed to think for a while. “It will be too dangerous to engage them with your pistol because the Dinari will detect traces of the explosive I use.”

Thinking quickly, Katia decided that she’d engage them with their own bloody weapons. “Hold on Malok, I’m gonna find an RPG and throw it at them.”

“Katia, they must be fired from the launcher so it will arm them.”

“How about if I throw it really hard?” her voice carried so much menace that it frightened Malok a little.

“I don’t know if that will work?”

Katia ran, tiptoeing down to the now cooling coals of the campfire and found one of the RPG crates. She quickly opened it and ran back up the hill. By now, the noise of her passage had alerted the two killers but it was far too late. Katia threw the round so hard that it broke the sound barrier as it left her hand. It flew the 100 or so feet to the men almost instantly, impacting very destructively at their feet. The impact caused it to explode.

Before anyone could come to see what happened, Katia was again laying at the side of her Imam. What Katia had done was so fast that Malok did not have time to waken Mamadou. After the explosion, there was no need.

“Katia, please tell me that you have not been up to trouble?”

“No Mamadou, I was just cleaning up the garbage.” she giggled softly.

Katia thought that it was strange that she dispatched both of those men and did not feel bad at all. “Now that is how it should feel” she thought to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At dawn, the men of the village gathered for Fajr (The dawn prayer). It was getting light now so they had been talking about the two dead men that had apparently been killed by mishandling an RPG. “How stupid of them to have mishandled it,’ one of them said as they gathered.

It did not seem to matter to the men if the women prayed or not, and after the prayer they expected the women to have cooked the food. Katia and Mamadou were over near the cooking fire when one of the men grabbed Tutu and began to beat her with a stick. Before Mamadou could stop her, Katia was at Tutu’s side. The next time the man’s stick came round, Katia grabbed it and began to grind it to dust with her left hand.

Looking at her assailant, “That’s my weak hand. The other one is gonna be around your neck if I ever hear of you beating another woman.” By now, her rage was getting the better of her, and then she felt Mamadou’s hand on her shoulder.

“Calm little sister. These people know no different.”

Realizing that she was about to blow the whole mission, Katia let go of his stick, which was now useless. Katia suddenly froze. Through the trees, she could see movement, and a moment later she saw something flying.

Katia turned to Mamadou, and whispered, “Get us out of here fast.”

Looking at the village elder. “I am sorry that this woman has interfered in the business of your people. We will leave now. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Ma Salaam a Imam Mamadou, may Allah SWT grant you wisdom in dealing with this woman.” They quickly gathered their gear, and left the village. Katia had never gotten to perform her original mission. But like a good British soldier, she had never really expected the plan to go flawlessly, though she had not thought it would blow up so completely.

As they walked toward the ridge from whence they came, Katia could see a tiny object tracking them. It was larger than the probes that Malok used and suddenly shot at Katia. Her reflexes were so fast that she dodged the first shot and blew it out of the air with a short burst.

“Malok, can you still hear me?”

“Barely Katia.”

“We’ve just been shot at by a probe, and it does not look like one of yours.”

“Alright, get to the place where I dropped you as fast as you can. Do you think you can do it in two or three minutes?”

“I’ll have to carry Mamadou, will my body stand the strain?”

“Oh certainly, this is really important Katia. Once I move, the Dinari are going to become aware of my presence and we will have to flee for our lives. We must get as far from Earth as we can or my drive will kill billions of your people.”

In just seconds, their mission had changed from one of intelligence gathering to fight and flight. There really was not much danger to Malok or his craft. The Djinari would not dare harm a member of his race, but they would not hesitate to harm humans in the least.

Katia quickly turned and hoisted Mamadou in her arms.

“Katia, what are you doing?” he shouted in alarm.

“Please sit still darling, we are fleeing for our lives. Today you get to ride in a real space ship.”

In spite of the strain, Katia managed to ascend the ridge at an astonishing rate of speed until a stone she stepped on slipped. Katia was down in an instant and was barely able to save Mamadou from the impact. Mamadou thought that she hit her head, and that knocked her completely unconscious. In actuality, another Dinari probe had shot at her and clipped her skull hard enough to jar her auxiliaries severely. Her own brain, being of soft tissue, absorbed the shock and would only have caused her momentary disorientation. Her auxiliaries had to reboot, using redundant circuits.

Mamadou recovered fast and picked her up and started to run down the hillside at an astonishing rate for an un-augmented human. At the beginning of a particularly steep section, the Imam paused to catch his breath. “Malok, if you can hear me, Katia has fallen and is not conscious. Please get here as fast as you can.”

He ran on, careening perilously down the hill to the bottom of the ravine. He was quickly running out of energy. He was a big man for an Afghani but even he was soon at the end of his strength. At the bottom, he had to stop to avoid running into the side of a vehicle that was not Malok’s. The door opened and one of the Djinarians stepped through, while pointing a dangerous looking weapon at them.

“Ah says the spider to the fly, come dine with me,” the frightening looking Djinarian said.

Katia had only just started to come round and she dazedly looked at the apparition in the door way. “No thanks asshole, we’ve already eaten.”

Her right arm did not seem to work very well so she swung her sword at him. Astonishingly, the augmented sword threw out a beam as she swung it and a gaping wound opened up from his neck to his hip. He looked at Katia in astonishment, and said, “Pity” before falling to the ground in front of the door.

Malok’s ship zipped past, the vessel’s tractor beam quickly scooping them up as it passed. “Oh my God Malok, that was far too close!”

“Katia, I worship the same God that you do and I am so hoping for his help right now, a lot of it! Mom is gonna be so pissed at me.”

“Geeze Malok, you act like we’ve just had a scrape with the neighbourhood bully!”

“We can talk about this later dear Katia. Right now I am really, really busy.”

As they departed the area, Katia felt the craft shake ominously a couple of times.

“What is wrong Malok?”

“Those criminals are shooting at us.” He sounded a little shaken.

“What are we gonna do?”

“Huh? Well I am going to shoot back! Gosh when Mom finds out I have a real weapon in my ship, she is so going to go off on me!”

A bright flash in back of the ship let her know that the Djinarian probably would not be shooting at them anymore.

She sat down and looked out the window, noticing that they were already closing on the moon at an astonishing rate of speed. As they passed around it, Katia noticed a really huge uncloaked space ship in hot pursuit.

“Malok, they are chasing us, what are we going to do?”

“If I can get us into my own ship, I have enough weapons to really hurt them badly.”

They zipped around to the back side of the moon so fast that Katia and Mamadou could hardly track it with their eyes. Thankfully the gravitational systems in Malok’s ship did not fail, or they all would have been as thick as a layer of paint.

They passed down a passage that no mapping satellite had recorded yet, and into Malok’s ship.

“Geeze Malok, I thought that the ship we’d been in was big, how big is the ship we’re in now?”

“Lady, I’d give you a tour but right now I’m pretty busy.” He said that using his best impersonation the adventure movie actor, John Fox.

“Mom, this is your son Malok. I am so sorry but I ran into some Djinarians and they are trying to bully me around, like they always do. Please let me explain before you ground me. Um … like I am so totally sorry but I had to break a few laws and I know that you are really gonna come down on me and I just want you to know that I know I have it coming. I love you, see you soon. “

On the surface of the moon his monitoring equipment detected a clear exit for his diplomatic distress buoy and he launched it. Since it was such a small mass, it could travel in the solar system at much greater acceleration than his ship and the tear in space would be spectacularly visible from Earth, but would do little real harm. Power would likely be out on the side of the Earth facing the moon, but that was only North America, Malok tried to rationalise. In a few hours linemen could have most of it restored.

All this of course violated so many laws and regulations that he was going to be in so much trouble, Malok quivered when he thought of it. Of course if he could prove interference on a Galactic scale by the Dinarians, then maybe his Mom would go a little easy on him? Gosh he sure hoped so. His flanges began to quiver as he thought about his impending doom when he got home. Maybe his mom would go easier in front of the company he was bringing home. Oh, yeah, he was not supposed to bring non-registered sentient races home with him. Ooh, man, what a mess!

Malok was doing all this agonizing with his primary brains, having set six of his auxiliaries on the task of plotting a non-destructive emergency evasive exit from this system. His sensors had detected an accusatory distress call from the Djenarian freighter, saying that a diplomatic vessel had inflicted grievous damage to them as they were making an unauthorized escape from an uninhabited system.

Malok was backed into the corner now. He knew that if he did not think fast, the Dinarians would destroy earth just to hide the evidence of their interference.

So, while his main propulsion system spooled up to maximum power, he eased his ship out of his hiding place in the moon. “Look here assholes, I have all the sentient life on Earth fully recorded and catalogued so don’t you harm a single one of them. I also have records of their present genetic configuration so don’t you creeps even think about doing anything to erase what you have been doing by like um dummying them down. I also have several specimens of their present configuration on board with me as I speak!”

With that, Malok began edging his ship in his most dignified but terrorized way of departure. In short, he was running for home as fast as his little ship would carry him and his guests.

At first, it looked like the Dinarians were going to let him go home without interference, and they had gotten nearly to Saturn’s orbit before they gave serious chase.

The Dinarians must not have realised at first that they were trying to intimidate one of the Royals, but as soon as they got close to Malok’s vessel, he disabled it with two shots to their primary flux condensers. The freighter would take several days to repair but of course their previously lodged distress call had already alerted both the Djinarian Navy, and the Greater Galactic Patrol. It was only a question of who would intercept them, the wolf or the lioness.

Malok knew that there was very little chance that he would set his ship down on the palace planet without the disgrace of drive restraints. He’d only been arrested once before, and his Mom was nice enough to let him off gently. Now he knew “his Knarlies were comfumled”. Gosh ! The very idea made his flanges begin to moisten. It was such embarrassment to drip in front of those who idolized him.

“Malok, did you just shoot that other ship? What were you thinking?”

“Don’t worry Katia, I had to or they would have really hurt me and probably killed you.” He dissembled, hoping to deflect any blame so that Katia would not truly understand the depth of his discomfiture.

“So you came blundering onto my planet making mud pies and throwing them at cars for your own amusement, and now you are afraid of being in trouble with mummy?”

“Katia, it’s not like that at all, tell her Mamadou?”

“Malok, don’t you try to get Mamadou on your side to mollify me, you twit!”

While Malok tried to convince Katia of his relative innocence, one of the critical transition points crept up on their ship, and suddenly, without warning, at about the orbit of Pluto, his ship began breaking every traffic regulation in the entire universe; producing a visible charge in the fabric of space/time that would be visible for thousands of Earth years, and for hundreds of standard galactic units in every direction. It would manifest itself as a perfectly straight line that would lead from Earth’s solar system right to the Thorian palace planet. That meant by the time they got home, every sentient race in the neighbourhood would be wanting to know why such a blatant violation was committed and every one would also know exactly who did it!

After it was plain that all hope was lost, Malok’s attempts at proving his innocence lost all momentum and he was left to quietly sob.

Katia, while she was really angry with him, still loved him very much and his emotional state moved her to sympathy. “Honey, it is going to be OK. I love you so much and I am ever so grateful for all that you have done for me. Thank you so much.” She leaned in to kiss his Avatar tenderly.

“Katia, I love you too, and do hope that Mother will allow us to be together, perhaps even on your planet. I hope that she understands that I did not intend to interfere in the affairs of Earth, but I am afraid of what her punishment will be since I have humiliated her and the whole of my people before the rest of the known universe.”

“Don’t worry baby, it will be OK and no matter what happens, I will be on your side.”

“Um Malok?”

“Yes Katia.”

“Do you remember the promise that you made to me?”

“What promise dear, I certainly never forget my promises.”

“Do you remember that you promised that I could see your real body when this was over?”

“But Katia, now is not a really good time.”

“Malok, you promised and none of us know what is going to happen when we get home.”

Malok really tried to avoid the issue but in the end, he finally gave in to Katia’s wishes.

Katia waited in anticipation as Malok’s avatar stands and walked over to a door in the back wall of the bridge of his cruiser. The Avatar pressed a concealed button and it slid back. Reclining in a very comfortable looking chair was a being who is twice as large as a human, very hairy, and as Katia would later find out, 11’ 6” tall.

Katia stands there breathless for a moment and then begins to slowly approach the reclining figure. Off to her side, the Avatar has sat down in a similar recliner and appeared to have gone to sleep.

Katia, now quite close to the seemingly sleeping Thorian, slowly reached out to touch his face. As her finger tips softly stroked the fine fur on the Alien’s face, his eyes slowly opened. They were huge, the size of goose eggs and the prettiest blue that she had ever seen.

“Malok, is that you?” Katia held her breath.

“Oh my God, they are Sasquatches!” she thought to herself. Then, everything went black.

“Katia, Katia wake up sweetie! Katia?” The sound of Mamadou’s desperate voice filtered I through the fog. Katia just laid there with her eyes closed even after she was fully awake. “God, how could this be? How could this giant Snowman be Malok, the man she loved so much?”

Her heart ached. She began to cry softly. “He tried to warn you stupid, but would you listen? No, you couldn’t be bothered with it could you?”

A soft voice in her mind spoke. “Katia, I tried to warn you that we were very different. I am so sorry to have shocked you so much. I should have revealed myself a long time ago, but I had already fallen in love with you and I was afraid … afraid of exactly this. I’m so sorry.” Katia didn’t even try to acknowledge what Malok had said. Presently, she slept.

Later, she slowly wakened again. It was quiet, and someone had moved her to a soft bed that was far too large for her. She was still dressed, and felt greatly refreshed. Then she remembered. Her heart really ached. The man she loved was a giant hairy, um GIANT! She just did not know how to handle that. She slept again.

Katia realised that she was dreaming. She was running as fast as she could but did not know if she was running from something or to something. She was not frightened, but decided that she must be hunting for something and that she felt incredibly distressed and heartbroken. Everything around her was black, but yet she could see a little ways, well enough to run. Her heart was breaking; she wanted something, no someone. Who was it? For some reason she could not form the words in her mind or speak them. Suddenly she tripped on something and fell flat on the ground, hitting her head really hard. She cried out, “Malok, help me! Malok, I can’t find you! Malok, where are you. I need you so badly, please Malok, come to me, I need you. Malok, please, please, please I need you so much!”

She screamed in pain, screamed as loud as she could, screamed so loud that it woke her up!

Katia was suddenly awake and sitting up. She thought that she could hear the dying echoes of her own screams. Where is Malok! “Malok, I need you, where are you?” Then she remembered. Did it matter? Did it matter that he was a Sasquatch?

Suddenly, Katia decided that it did not matter to her, NOT AT ALL! She must have him. She could not live without the emotional attachment to him.

She was suddenly on her feet, and running through unfamiliar corridors. Was she still on the ship? She must be. “Malok, where are you? Malok, I need you!”

Finally Katia found the bridge where they had all been gathered. The door where Malok sat was closed. She ran to it quickly and tried to open it but it would not budge, then she remembered his reaching for a secret button. Katia searched for it and found it.

The door slid open, revealing a sleeping Malok and his sleeping Avatar. She tried to waken him, shaking him as hard as she could.

“Malok, please wake up I need to talk to you.”

“He is sleeping my dear”.

Katia turned and saw an aged woman in a white Shalwar Kameez standing there. She had the look of a Nurse, but also much more.

“OOH, you surprised me, I did not hear you walk up,”

Katia gasped, rapidly regaining her composure. “Why can’t I waken him. I love him and we have a lot to talk about.”

“Katia dear, we are talking in the dream state. We thought it best to talk to you this way so your body functions could be kept within limits so you did not harm yourself. With your partial Thorian flesh, you are quite capable of harming yourself and others.”

“Oh, but ma’am, I would never hurt him or anyone else. It is not in me.”

“Katia, from the records in the probe that my son so wisely sent ahead, you killed hundreds of what you viewed as the enemy in the conflict you are involved in.” Katia did not want to hear that part, but looking at the woman, she could see kindness and wisdom.

Katia gasped and sat down on the floor, the truth of it coming home. “But Ma’am, I did it to defend others and I could never hurt others … wait did you say he is your son?”

Katia sat stunned for a moment as the truth began to sink in. Mercifully, the woman in white remained silent, a kind smile creeping onto her face.

Katia scrambled to her feet, and then fell to her knees. “Oh my gosh, your um Majesty, I am sorry. I don’t know what to do! Please I mean no disrespect …”

The woman laughed gently, “Katia dear, please be at ease, you are doing fine. I admire your kind heart and gentle disposition. It must have been so hard for you to be a warrior.”

Katia began to weep in the presence of the woman, grateful for her understanding. She felt the woman pull her to her feet, and gather her into her arms as Katia wept softly. Presently, calmness covered her like a warm blanket, making her feel secure and loved while the woman stood patiently and held her softly.

Katia said to her companion, “thank you Ma’am, you are so kind. What should I call you, I mean how should I respectfully address you?”

“Katia dear, my name is not pronounceable to you, but you may call me Mayall if that pleases you.”

“Thank you so much Queen Mayall.” Katia stepped back away from the queen wiping her eyes on a soggy sleeve. “OMG! I do not know how to conduct myself … wait you are Malok’s Mom! OMG, I am so happy to meet you.” Katia was jumping up and down, squealing with joy!

“Calm down child, we have much to talk about.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katia was now awake and standing at a balcony looking out at what she could only describe as a Garden Planet, from what she had seen. Queen Mayall, and she had talked for what seemed like hours, but later she found out that it only seemed that way in her dream state. In actuality, it was only minutes.

She found out that a great deal of Thorian business was carried out in this “Dream State” as a lot of things that would seem like a crisis in the waking state were slowed down so they could be dealt with more intelligently.

First, young Malok was in a lot of trouble from Mom for interfering on Earth, but his uncovering the interference of the Djinarians was a great surprise to everyone, so Mom pretty much forgave him for that. Several of her aides were out gathering favorable opinions so she could credibly avoid punishing her son regarding the interference with primitive cultures’ laws.

Unknown to Katia, this conversation had been going on as Malok’s ship approached Kronos, and he was not told of it. Even with the advanced state of his ship, it really was not much more than what people of Earth would call an old Jalopy. A Military vessel could have made the same trip in 1/10th the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they reached the palace planet of Kronos, Malok was considerably subdued. One can only remain hysterical for so long until they run out of energy to address the fear. Mom was gonna kill him, or worse.

Katia had been pretty pissed off at him but since she loved him, she had decided that she would stand by him what ever happened. She’d wakened knowing that she’d dreamed, but could not remember much except she’d dreamt about his Mom.

“You dreamt about my Mom? Oh brother am I in trouble!” He suspected what Mom had done but did not know the details. What with the records in the probe he’d sent ahead, and having talked to Katia, as he suspected, he felt that he was pretty much toast.

Mamadou was so fascinated with what was going on and by the fact that Malok’s people called their God Allah SWT, that he was in intellectual Jannah (Arabic for Heaven). He’d spent most of his waking hours poring over the history of known civilisation. According to his reading, Earth was not even listed as an inhabited planet, having been overlooked as other more interesting areas of what Earth folk call Milky Way Galaxy were found closer to the Galactic core.

His ship drifted to the veranda of the palace where his Mom lived, but now it was encased in a restraining field. As he had feared, he could not out run or evade the police, though he did elude the ever more disgraceful fate of being captured by the Djinarians.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katia had finally come to terms that one of the men she loved was nearly three times her height and fuzzy too. In spite of his appearance, she knew that she loved him, and had a sort of peace about it all. If his Mom was anything like Malok said she was, everything was going to work out.

That left Mamadou and her to work on their relationship. Katia was feeling really loving and solicitous toward both Mamadou and Malok. A matter that Mamadou was more accepting of than Katia would have suspected, but in his studies of the voluminous information contained in the Thorian data banks on the matter of Gods and of Allah SWT, he seemed to have come to a peace about it all that combined the science of the best minds and the spirituality that he’d been so accustomed to.

As he related it to Katia, according to Thorian belief, God was an intelligence that inhabited the entire Universe and had no need of a physical body, though could make one if needed. The Thorians felt that they were the obedient of God along with several other peoples in other parts of the Galaxies. They seemed to think that the Djinari were the origin of all chaos. It would be really interesting to see what the future would hold for Mamadou, Islam and the other belief systems on Earth. Even Atheists would be accommodated according to him, if they could maintain that belief, if they did nothing harmful to other life.

“Katia, are you there?”

“Malok, are you there? OMG, I have been so worried about you!” Suddenly, she could remember talking to the Queen and she felt that whatever she did would be fair and loving to Malok.

“Malok, can you come to me? I need you so much!!!!”

“Yes, I can. Should I send my Avatar?”

“NO, you boob! I want to see you, and hold you and kiss you and have you hold me. I need you!” Tears of joy streamed down her face.

“I will be there in just a little bit.”

Katia had just turned to run out into the room, and gotten a couple steps when she ran right into him. He swept her off her feet into his arms. They kissed each other until it was time to breathe or pass out.

“I missed you so much!”

To be completed in Chapter 4.