The winds returned in the night.
Not the screaming kind that ripped dust from the canyon walls and flung it against the domes, but the quieter, whispering winds, the ones that crawled through the air ducts and pressed against the grates like they were listening.
Kael sat on the floor beside his sleeping mat, knees drawn up, chin resting on his arms. He wasn't tired. Not really. His body told him to sleep, but his mind… his mind wandered.
He had spent the day rerouting power coils with Vessa, sealing two cracked pipes, and identifying a faulty load resistor before she even touched her scope. She had smiled at him not with pride, but with something closer to concern.
"You're learning faster," she'd said.
"I'm remembering," he replied.
Vessa hadn't responded to that. She just stood in silence, watching him. As if trying to figure out how far that statement went.
Now, in the stillness of the Virek home, Kael whispered into the dark.
"Where are we?"
He wasn't speaking to anyone. Not really. But Mirena stirred in her sleep.
Kael looked over at her. Then to Arik, sleeping upright in his chair again, arms crossed like a coiled spring.
The question lingered, unanswered.
The next morning, Kael stood in the center of Grey Hollow's southern ridgeway, watching the maintenance skiff roll by in the distance. It was old, barely running, but he could tell it had a new resonance core by the way the engine's pulse echoed off the canyon walls.
He didn't look at the trader driving it.
But the trader looked at him.
A tall man with a silver half-mask over one eye. Dust-stained cloak. Too clean for a local. Too aware. He didn't stop; he passed through, guiding the skiff toward the western exit gates. But as he did, he slowed just enough to glance once at Kael.
And Kael, without understanding why, knew the man had seen too much.
Later, Kael sat on a crate beside Vessa's bench while she patched a coolant flow line in the drone loader.
"Why don't we go past the wall?" he asked suddenly.
Vessa froze. Not entirely, but her shoulders stiffened.
The ridge gate?" she asked.
"Yes. Or the sky port. Or the crawler path.
"Because out there's not built for people like us," she said. "Out there's built for people with more power than sense."
Kael watched her work. "How far does the canyon go?"
"Further than I've walked.
"What's after that?
"Dust. Then more dust. Then, some places stopped being kind a long time ago.
Kael was quiet.
Then: "Have you ever left?"
Vessa set her tool down.
"Once," she said. "Before you were born. Didn't like what I saw."
"Did it feel wrong?
"No. It felt forgotten.
Kael looked down. "I don't want to be forgotten.
Vessa leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"You won't be. Not if I've got anything to say about it.
That night, Kael asked Mirena the same question.
"Where are we?"
She closed the med kit drawer and sat beside him on the floor.
"We're in Grey Hollow," she said.
"But where is that?
"In a canyon. On a planet called Elysian-7.
Kael furrowed his brow. "But where is that?
Mirena sighed. "Far from everything else."
"Why?
She looked at him, then really looked.
"Because sometimes things that are different need space to grow.
Kael thought about that.
"Am I different?"
Mirena didn't lie.
"Yes.
Kael's eyes lowered. "Is that bad?
She wrapped her arms around him gently.
"No. It's just… dangerous in the wrong places.
He leaned into her quietly.
"But it's safe here?
She nodded.
"For now.
****
The next afternoon arrived with still air and silver light. The usual winds took a break, and the dust in the sky settled into a calm haze that muted everything: sound, color, and movement. Even the domes seemed to exhale, quieter than usual.
Kael walked with Mirena through the quarter plaza. It wasn't busy. It never was. But a few traders milled about exchanging parts, and two local boys were chasing a maintenance bot around the cracked stonework of the central square.
Kael didn't run with them.
He walked in perfect rhythm with Mirena, his eyes scanning everything the way the wind caught on the fabric of the market tents, the sound of a failing coolant vent in the overhead tower, the shimmer of power loss in one of the solar panels near the fence line.
He didn't speak.
He rarely did it in public.
They stopped near the grain exchange, where Mirena had a list of weekly rations to submit. Kael stood beside her, gloved hands tucked in his coat pockets, watching the information kiosk cycle through malfunctioning options. It looped three times before he leaned forward and tapped the screen once.
The interface blinked, corrected, and loaded.
Behind them, a voice chuckled.
"Well, that's not normal.
Kael turned.
An older man stood there, mid-fifties, with a sun-scarred face and a blue scarf wrapped loosely around his collar. His name was Renick. A hydroponics tech who rarely came out of the growth domes, but when he did, he always had something to say.
He eyed Kael with mild amusement.
"You fix that, boy?
Kael didn't reply.
Mirena turned, her voice polite. "Good afternoon, Renick.
"Didn't mean anything by it," he said, raising a hand. "Just saying… most kids his age can't even open a kiosk without smacking the panel five times."
Kael stared at him calmly, curiously.
Renick's smile faltered.
"Sharp eyes, that one," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Sees too much.
He moved off toward the bartering stall.
Mirena let out a slow breath and looked down at her son.
Kael was still watching the man walk away.
"Why did he say that?" Kael asked.
Mirena crouched beside him. "Because he noticed you."
Kael blinked. "Is that bad?"
"Not always," she said. "But it means we have to be more careful now."
He nodded once.
Then looked back at the kiosk.
"The panel's heat-synced wrong," he said softly. "That's why it lags."
Mirena took his hand gently and stood.
"Come on, genius. Let's get home."
That night, the wind returned.
They weren't strong, not yet, but they scratched at the dome like old fingers brushing glass. The kind of sound that made people restless without knowing why.
Arik sat at the edge of the workbench, arms crossed, watching the sensor panel cycle through its passive readings. It was mostly a habit. None of the signals had changed in months. Still, he checked them every night.
Across the room, Mirena stirred a pot of ration broth. She hadn't said much since they got back from the plaza.
Kael had gone to bed early, unusually quiet even for him. He hadn't asked for a story or a song. He'd just crawled under the blanket, closed his eyes, and curled in.
"I didn't like the way Renick looked at him," Arik said finally.
Mirena didn't turn. "He wasn't being cruel."
"Doesn't matter." Arik's voice was low. "He saw something."
"He saw a boy fix a broken kiosk."
"No. He saw a child notice the flaw before any adult could. Saw him correct it without hesitation. That's not something people forget."
Mirena sighed and ladled the broth into two tin cups. She brought one over, sat beside him, and handed it over.
Arik didn't drink.
She didn't either.
For a while, the only sound was the hum of the circulator and the thin, steady rasp of wind outside.
"Do you think we made a mistake?" she asked.
He turned to her.
"Bringing him home?"
She shook her head. "Letting him grow up here. In the open. Where people can start… noticing."
Arik didn't answer right away.
He looked toward the hallway, toward the quiet space where Kael was sleeping, a bundle of dark hair and hidden thoughts.
"If we'd hidden him," he said, "we'd be teaching him to be afraid of who he is."
"And now?"
"Now we're teaching him how not to be afraid. But we still must keep him safe."
Mirena ran a hand over her face. "He's four, Arik. Four. And he's already being watched."
Arik clenched his cup tighter. "We need to talk to Vessa. Get her to stop taking him out near the trade zones."
"She'll understand.
"She always does.
They sat together in silence.
Then Mirena spoke again, voice softer now. "He asked me today… If being different was bad."
Arik looked at her sharply.
"What did you say?"
"I said it was only dangerous in the wrong places.
Arik nodded slowly. "We'll make sure this stays in the right place.
"But for how long?
He didn't answer.
Because neither of them knew.