For Darkness Shows the Stars

her illegal wheat. They were not in as desperate straits as they’d been the previous year. They could live without her heresy. And yet, it would be a safety measure—a stopgap. Plant this wheat, and they’d have food enough for the year without having to buy from more productive neighbors. Plant it, and they might even have enough to sell.
    Plant it, and admit once and for all that she held no respect for the sacrifices of her Luddite ancestors. Things had progressed far beyond a field of wheat meant to keep her people from starving. Now she was keeping deadly secrets. Now she was unable to stop herself from thinking about a boy who—even now—could be one of the Lost. Every night, she visited the barn and her gaze went, unbidden, to the knothole where they’d left their letters. She sat in the locked room, pretending to work but really reading over and over the words he’d once sent her on paper gliders.
    In every letter, in every line, she saw him. He hadn’t changed—he’d only grown into the man he’d been meant to be. An explorer willing to cross the sea. A mechanic who would someday build himself the best ship on the islands. A rebel who’d always been willing to question the wisdom of the protocols. As different as he looked, Kai was still the same person. It was Elliot who’d grown unrecognizable.
    The old poems said that lovers were made for each other. But that wasn’t true for Kai and Elliot. They hadn’t been made for each other at all—quite the opposite. But they’d grown together, the two of them, until they were like two trees from a single trunk, stronger together than either could have been alone.
    And ever since he’d left, she’d been feeling his loss. He’d thrived without her, but Elliot—she’d just withered.
    No wonder he preferred the company of Olivia, who’d never let him down. Maybe he even thought she was lying about her experiments—actually, he must. He thought she was a Luddite to the core. He’d never expect that she’d engineer a strain of wheat.
    One evening, the Innovations came to dinner on an invitation from her father that Elliot thought was several months late. Nevertheless, she was glad to see them after so many weeks spent solely in the company of her family. From the beginning of the evening, the talk centered on a single topic—the horse race—and Elliot realized why her father had finally deigned to play host to the Posts. If he wanted to get the best performance possible out of his Innovation horses, he must ask the Innovations.
    Admiral Innovation was more than happy to oblige Baron North, and they spent the evening chattering away about how to get the most out of the horses, and who should be the North that rode in the race. The baron had been quite the rider in his day, Tatiana was younger and skilled in the saddle herself, and Benedict possessed a great desire to celebrate his homecoming by representing the family on the course.
    “Symbolically taking the reins,” he said. Baron North laughed. Tatiana tittered. Elliot sipped her tea.
    “You have no desire to throw your hat in the ring, I take it, Elliot?” Felicia asked.
    “Not a bit,” said Elliot. “One ride on an Innovation horse is more than enough for me.”
    “I think I remember that ride more fondly than you do,” she said.
    “I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get a tour of the ship that day,” said Elliot. “You must promise to show it to me before you leave. How has construction been going?” There. It was the closest she’d dared come to asking after Kai.
    Admiral Innovation snorted. “It would be coming along much more quickly if we still had our chief engineer. We lost Wentforth three weeks ago when an order for sun-carts came in. Had to send him down to Channel City to retrieve them.”
    Elliot gripped the handle of her mug. Kai was gone? Had been gone? For weeks? All this time, she thought he’d been tending to Olivia. All this time, she thought he’d been avoiding her, uninterested in hearing about her experiments, uninterested in exploring the fragile truce they’d come to back in Ro’s cottage. But he hadn’t been here at all.
    In spite of the darkness, in spite of the cold, in spite of the hostile ground where she sat, hope bloomed in Elliot’s heart.

Thirty-two
     
    “HOW AGGRAVATING,” BENEDICT WAS saying. “Wasn’t there anyone down in Channel City who could deliver the carts for you?”
    Felicia broke in. “Malakai restores each of