Ray's Burrow, Wildebeest Digger Colony,

African Continent

Ray caressed Selena's spine, lingering in the two dimples above her hips. His fingers skimmed over her shoulder. She murmured at his touch and woke, twisting around to smile at him, her face still soft from sleep. He leaned over her to kiss her neck. Her murmur became a soft moan. She writhed, her legs slipping between his, tangling with the thin blanket they lay under.

Their bedroom was cramped, just wide enough to fit the sagging double bed, the crooked dresser and a single chair where Selena brushed out her hair in the evenings. The only light in the room was switched off, illumination provided solely by the bulb in the passageway outside. Selena lay facing the dark wall, her curves shadowed by Ray's body.

"I missed you," Ray whispered. Selena moved, her body colliding with his. He chuckled, his hand sliding over her stomach to cup her breast. "Guess you missed me, too."

"More than you know," she said.

His fingers slid over her forehead, drawing her hair away from her face so he could kiss her cheek. She turned her head, offering her lips instead. He lost himself in the taste of her.

The blanket twisted between them and Ray ripped it away, allowing unrestricted access between their bodies. Selena's breathing grew ragged as his fingers traced the contour of her hip. She squirmed to avoid his touch reaching her most sensitive realm, twisting closer when he strayed too far.

Ray's teeth grazed her shoulder blade and she shuddered, her hands reaching up to grip the back of his neck. Their lips met again and, having distracted her with his kiss, Ray's fingers finally found their prize. Selena gasped. Her breath mingled with his as their mouths brushed, the frantic motion of their bodies keeping their lips from settling in a kiss.

Someone strode past the doorway, eclipsing the light from the passage. Ray jerked, startled. He swung his head around, staring into the passage, his grip tightening around Selena. She sighed, wriggling until he loosened his hold on her.

"It's just Ace, my love," Selena whispered.

He turned back to her. Her green eyes crinkled at his concern. Ray exhaled, his head dropping forward onto her shoulder.

"It's time to get up anyway," she said. "Breakfast doesn't make itself."

He groaned — his body hungered for more than the brief morsel he'd had of her. Selena clambered over him, her nakedness teasing him as she slipped into her dress. Glancing at him over her shoulder, she flicked her hair back and smiled. The room became dim and cold when she left. Ray tugged on his pants and hunted around for his shirt, slipping it over his head when he found it.

Ace wasn't in the kitchen when he arrived, but a steaming cup of coffee was. He managed to distract his wife for a few minutes with a lingering kiss before she pulled away from him.

"What's up with you?" she asked, her eyes narrowing with mock concern.

"I can't kiss my wife?"

"Best you behave yourself, or you won't get any breakfast." She thwacked him with a wooden spoon. He groaned again and her eyes flared with incredulity. "Ray! You sit yourself down."

"Yes ma'am."

His eyes fixed on Selena's slim body as she moved around the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Morning," Ace said, his voice husky.

Ray took in his son's dishevelled appearance. "You been out drinking the whole night?"

Ace shook his head, yawning. "Not the whole night." He collapsed in the opposite chair, grinning up at his mother as she placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Just glad you're home," she said. Her eyes darted to Ray, and she gave him a meaningful stare.

"Yeah," Ray muttered, turning his gaze to his cup.

He could feel his son's eyes on him. Ace held his cup to his lips, not drinking.

"I've made my decision," Ace said.

Ray tipped his head. "Have you now?"

He'd expected Ace to dodge the question for another few hours, maybe even another day. His son was good at dodging.

"I'll sign up," Ace said.

Selena let out a small sigh.

"Good," Ray said, attempting a casual tone. "I'm glad you finally came to your senses."

It emerged rather strained, mostly due to the surprise at his son's announcement. If anything, he'd expected Ace to choose to leave rather than work for the Leider.

"Yes, well, I didn't have much of a choice, did I?" Ace muttered, but then took a sip of coffee and shook his head. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll do it."

"Well, let's have breakfast then we can start organising—"

"No."

Ray's coffee cup slammed down on the table. He was dimly aware that some of the liquid lapped over the rim and onto his hand. He saw Selena stiffen in his peripheral vision, her hand frozen in the process of slicing bread.

"No?"

"I'll go get everything myself. All fifty tokens of," Ace's hands wriggled in the air, "stuff."

"By yourself?" Ray started laughing.

He couldn't stop, even when Selena spun around and sent one of her incinerating stares his way. Eventually, his laughter tapered out. He finished his coffee as Ace's face shifted to crimson. Judging from the tight grip he had on his cup, Ace was ten seconds away from launching himself over the table at Ray.

"You find it funny?" Ace asked, his voice strained.

"That's putting it mildly. I mean, you don't even know what a goddamn fig tree looks like, never mind which ones are ripe, and which aren't. You'll be walking around for kilometers without finding anything. The recruiting will be over before you've even filled one of your pockets with loot."

Ace waited him out and shrugged when he was done speaking. "I won't be walking."

Ray's brow creased. Silence stretched between them. Ace lifted his eyebrows expectantly. Realisation finally arrived and with it, utter incredulity. Ray fell forward on the table, his fist slamming down as he bellowed with laughter. Selena turned and crossed her arms over her chest, wooden spoon clutched in her hand like a sceptre. Ray managed to contain himself, wiping genteelly at his eyes as a final shudder of mirth escaped him.

"You don't want me to come with you, and you want my bakkie? I should've known what you were up to from the start."

"What are you talking—" Ace began.

Ray's humour withered. "You think I'm an idiot? I know what you're up to. You want to run away like the yellow-bellied—"

"Ray Flock-Dalton!" Selena cried, and Ray jerked.

They both turned to her, Ray's eyes falling on the spoon, now held in a white-knuckled fist at her side.

"Don't you dare talk to our son like that," she said. Her voice could have kept meat fresh for months.

"Selena—"

The spoon lifted, cutting him off. "You hear what Ace's got to say before coming to conclusions."

Ace turned to him, a smug smile tugging at his mouth. Ray had to force himself to stay seated in his chair. He looked away from Selena's scorching eyes and into his empty coffee cup.

"Why do you need the bakkie, Ace?" he asked politely, when he could trust himself to speak.

"That way I can get a bigger haul."

"But son." His eyes darted to Selena to see if she noticed the amount of sarcasm attached to his words. "Even when I take the bakkie, there's barely enough to fill the cab. You don't need the bakkie."

"But I'm going to go really far—"

"Aha!" Ray exclaimed

Selena threw the spoon at him. He ducked and it grazed his shoulder. Selena scowled, her skirts snapping around her legs as she stormed out the kitchen.

Ace turned back to him, his eyes widening. "Pa, this is really—"

"Start packing your things," Ray growled.

"One minute you tell me to help you bring in loot, the next you're telling me I can't do it." Ace shook his head, his chin jutting out.

"Because I know the only place you're going with that bakkie is as far away from here as you can get before it runs out of petrol." Ace's mouth opened for a protest, but anger had Ray by the scruff of the neck, and he spoke over his son's objections.

"And then? Then you'll starve to death trying to 'live off the land'," Ray's fingers hooked at the air, "because you've got absolutely no fucking idea how to live off anything. Except me!"

Ray carefully sat down on the chair again. When had he risen to his feet? And when had he dented the coffee cup? He opened his hand, dropping the concave mug to the kitchen table with a thunk. Ace leaned back, eyes narrowed from his furious tirade. He blinked a few times, his hands sliding over his chest, each gripping the opposite arm.

"Once, pa," Ace began. "It happened once—"

"Once was all it took," Ray spat. "And now she's gone, because of you."

Ace flinched and looked away.

"Because you wanted to see what wonders the outside world held. Because you couldn't listen to your father. Because you had the fucking genius idea that you could just run away into the veld and live happily ever after."

His son's neck muscles corded. "I didn't know she was following me!" Ace shouted, shooting out of his chair.

"That changes nothing!" Ray yelled. "Heidi's gone because of your idiotic ideas of what society's supposed to be like. And what amazes me is that you still think the same way you did back then."

Ace shook his head, his eyes shifting away again as his hands bunched into fists.

"You've grown older, but you sure as hell haven't grown up. The world doesn't work like you think it should. You should have realised that a long fucking time ago, right around when that man snatched your sister."

His son's face turned back to him, the play of light in the kitchen making his green eyes glow. For once, they didn't remind him of Selena. At least, he'd never seen Selena ever look as angry.

"When will you stop blaming me?" Ace hissed.

"The day you bring my Heidi back to me," Ray blinked when he heard his own words.

Ace stared at him, silence stretched to breaking point between them. Eventually, his son shook his head, his mouth compressing.

"I can't bring back the dead." Unsteady lips formed each short, sharp word. "And I can't change the past." Moisture glittered in Ace's eyes.

"Then I guess I'll never stop blaming you," Ray said. His stomach clenched and he leaned forward, masking the strange pain by resting his fists on the table. "You'd best be gone by tomorrow or I'll drag you out into the Pit myself."

Ace swung around and stalked out of the kitchen, his hand lifting to swipe at his face. Was he... crying? Ray suppressed the urge to call him back. He sank into his chair and attempted to force the mug into a usable shape again. Heidi came to him them. Her large, green eyes. Her straw coloured hair.

Ray stared sightlessly at the mug as his fingers collapsed it.

. . .