"Stay here."

"But..."

"Please, Willow..."

****

There had been a brewing argument between the hunters and the Outsiders on the matter of the infiltrator, one that the chief and the elders had to try calm, though old angst meant that many of the elders abandoned any neutrality to agree with the hunters anyway. It was the opinion of the Lead Hunter that his men should simply cut down all Outsiders that were in their realm, forget that these, who now stood before them had come to warn them prior to the infiltrator being spotted. They could deal with the lone man by themselves.

The Outsider sergeant had argued that there was no guarantee that the man was working by himself and even if he were, it was likely that he had ample protection upon his person that could deal with the attack of their favoured weapons. The Hunter had returned, how did they know that the soldiers were not working with this man? They might be here to shut them up!

A certain elder had thumped the Lead Hunter on the head with his walking stick and said "Fool, if he wanted us dead, we'd already be so." Slate had his a smirk behind his hand as his grandfather decided to take control of the situation. "You!" The old man said as he pointed at the sergeant. "What do you intend to do about the trespasser?"

"Take him back to out outpost, where he will be arrested and sent on a one way trip back to the stars," he replied, curtly.

"Good," The old man replied. "See to it then, the sooner you lot are out of our village, the happier everyone will be."

"Wait," Basalt said suddenly. "To get to the mining site, we need to pass through the southern caves. That area is tricky. It would be best if a few of us guide them."

Slate felt a sight heat upon the skin of his chest and secretly glanced at the large pendant's dim glow.

*Mission; Ensure you join the team heading to capture the trespasser.*

"I'll go," he volunteered.

Basalt frowned slightly and nodded before saying; "As will I."

"No!" The Chief suddenly moved to stop them. "You two are too important to this village to put yourself in danger."

"Important?" Slate questioned. "I can understand what you are stating when referring to Basalt, but I'm just a Hunter. I am expendable if it's for the sake of the village."

The Chief had no argument against Slate leaving and could only inwardly apologise to his precious daughter. "Still I..."

"Do you wish for some sort of assurance?" The sergeant asked, he knew his people required guides in this foreign landscape and believed he could trust the two cave people not to stab his own in the back due to old hatreds, unlike the other Hunters who were glaring at them still. "I will stay back with a couple of my men, while the rest are guided by your people. Then if mine fail to protect them, my life will be in your hands." The Chief's skin seemed to pale to an ashen shade. Even if anything were to happen, he could not imagine himself ordering the death of another in recompense.

The elder laughed. "I like you," grandfather claimed. "Let them go, Chief." With that settled, the sergeant put Song Jian in charge of the expedition. Han Huan and the female soldier were chosen to remain behind, though the former argued with his shipmate about the choice.

"It was my mistake," Xu Lin insisted on being the one to rectify it.

"Grandfather," Slate said, quickly, pulling the old man aside. "Will you take care of Willow for me?"

Willow grasped Slate's arm. What did he mean that he would be left behind? The Elder looked at their clasped hands and had a sudden epiphany. His eyes widened and his bushy brows almost disappeared into his silvery white hair, but he slowly nodded.

"Stay here."

"But..."

"Please Willow..."

*****

Slate's grandfather took him to a small house that happened to close to where the village ended, close to the large cavern which would lead to the surface, to the cave by the lake and to the southern caves.  Willow could only watch as his best friend disappeared into the distance.  He sighed, he was finally in Slate's world, but he had to watch him walk away.  Still, the oppressiveness of the stone ceiling was easier to deal with in the stone house as he could almost pretend that it was located beneath the night sky instead.

The old man indicated that the boy should sit at the table and offered him some precious fruit he had received in trade, knowing that was all he could give the boy.  Willow's stomach rumbles in response and he gladly accepted.  The elder glanced over him.  "Ah, I don't suppose you remember me, boy," he said, awkwardly.

"I do, you were taller then," Willow stated, earning him a cuff about the head which he narrowly avoided with a grin.

"Cheeky brat, it was you who were shorter!" The old man bellowed.  He paused in thought then asked; "Have you and Slate really kept in contact since then?"

Willow nodded.  "Almost every dawn and every dusk," he replied, "though there was a time when we were both training when we didn't see each other so much."

"Why?" The old man was curious to know. Willow knew that he was not asking why their time had dwindled during their apprenticeships.

Willow had to think about his answer for a moment, but shook his head.  It was a momentary whim that had become a habit that he hadn't wanted to break.  He simply needed to meet Slate.  But now faced with the questioned, he couldn't help but wonder about it himself.  Why?

Just as he felt he might be able to answer, a tremor shivered over the ground, causing the plates in the nook to clatter and the iron cauldron above the fire to swing.  Dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.  Willow felt his breath catch, he whimpered in fear. The Elder reassuringly patted his hand.  "Wait here a moment," he said, before sticking his head out of the door.  Willow pushed the half eaten fruit to one side, his appetite lost.  Something didn't feel right.

It took close to an hour for someone to inform them what had happened.  There had been a cave in near the heart of the southern caves.  Two people were trapped.  One of them was Slate.

****

The explosions had caught him by surprise, he had thought he had cleared enough of the devices to prevent a cave in, but it seems he had been wrong. Didn't that mean he had failed two missions this time? Was this world so against him succeeding? At least he had prevented Xu Lin and Basalt from becoming the ones trapped in here. He hadn't noticed the mission until he had completed it, had just acted on instinct.

The dust had long since settled and it didn't feel as if more of the rock would crumble above their heads so for the moment, they were safe. But just as death would not come by being crushed, did not mean it would not come by suffocation. Especially when the idiot next to him talked so much.

"So you have interesting tastes," he was saying, "male and green. What are the odds of you two making it?"

"Should you not be asking yourself that question?" Slate asked.

"Huh? What do you mean? There's no one I like at the moment."

"Oh?" Slate mused. "I thought you had something with that large, silent Outsider."

Zhang Min reddened slightly. "That's just benefiting from mutual release."

Slate tilted his head. So Willow wasn't the only oblivious one. He sighed, blame the tops for failing to declare their true feelings. When he saw Willow again... if he saw Willow again, he would make it clear to him. Surely, despite the barriers between them this time, they could still make it work, right? They had overcome both social and economic barriers before... their difference in species wouldn't break them...

Sound was beginning to leak through the rubble beside them and Slate pressed his ear to the cracks in the rock. It wasn't more collapsing rock, he sighed with relief, people were trying to clear a pathway to them.  He pressed his forehead against the rubble willing them on, when a glint of something on the floor nearly buried, caught his eye.

*Mission; gift this wrist device to Han Huan*

.....?

The miners were very careful, they had coped with such things before. They were cautious to remind the villagers and outsiders not to become too hopeful, cave in's were fatal more often than not. They propped up the emerging tunnel with metal and lengths of precious wood and slowly dug. When they were finally able to announce that the two men had survived, all of the villagers and the outsiders rejoiced together, all enmities forgotten.

Slate's fellow hunters crowded around him, patting him on the back. The Chief shook his hand as his daughter gave him a hug, which he lightly returned until he saw the slender, jade youth lingering beside his grandfather at which point the girl was forgotten. The boy leapt into his arms weeping openly and Slate buried his face into Willow's shoulder, so thankful that he could still remain with him here.

"Willow, I'm sorry," he whispered into his ear. "I should have told you before. I love you. Please be mine."

"I'm special to you?" Willow asked, quietly.

"The most," Slate advised him.

The Outsiders grinned as they attempted to welcome Zhang Min back, but Song Jian scooped the smaller man up and refused to let him go. Xu Lin's mind had a moment of clarity. She was definitely better off finding herself a decent Spacer to share her life with...