(COMPLETED) The Lunar Chronicles - Winter's Summer

Part 21

Kai was the fourth person in the assembly line. He helped everyone load the supplies into the belly of the spaceship. Thorne had, as he had said, stocked the galley, but it was entirely full of toaster waffles and raw eggplant, which only he could stomach.

They loaded pantry food from the house, and clothes and blankets. Even though they were only going to Paris, they were preparing for anything, which entailed preparing for a week long journey and, apparently, a sudden snowstorm.

"Uh," Kai said, lifting up a pair of skis from the pile that was to be brought to the ship, "What are these and why are we bringing them?"

Cinder laughed. "Thorne saw them in Wolf's closet. He said that they would bring him luck. Wolf said they would slow us down, but Thorne argued that he always flew better when he had a pair of ski's on board. I guess he won?"

Kai handed the skis to Cinder, who passed them to Cress, and so on. They continued on like that, loading the ship, Kai not really daring to talk to Cinder about what was on his mind.

He worked up the courage after a few minutes, swallowing down his fear. "Cinder?"

"Mmm?"

"I was just wondering..."

"Yeah?"

He stared down at his hands, trying not to meet her gaze. He saw her hands, both metal and flesh, as he handed her various things, but he couldn't meet her warm brown eyes.

"I was just thinking about us... being here, doing this... and I thought... that maybe, it would be best... if you stayed behind," he said, his words coming out in a rush.

Cinder paused mid hand-off, looking at Kai with a mixture of confusion and wariness. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that, with you being an ambassador of Luna, it might be best if you stayed behind. There's too big a chance you'll get hurt with these wolves. I don't want you to get hurt. You know. For official reasons."

"Oh, okay. You want me to stay behind, not because of your undying love for me, but because I'm one of many ambassadors for Luna, and you want to go, even though you are a genuine monarch with no heir who has the same amount of risk associated with finding our friend? Am I getting that right?"

Kai winced. It sounded really bad when it came out of her mouth. "No no no, I just don't want you to get hurt, because I love you, I really do, but also because the Lunar government system is more frail, and they might need you. It might be best for you to stay behind and eliminate the possibility of your death."

Cinder sighed, then walked towards Kai, wrapping him up in a hug. "Kai, I'm not staying behind. I'm going to help find our friend, and I'm going to get through it without a scratch, because I have you and all of our other friends helping me watch my back. And for the government thing," she said, waving her hand dismissively, "it actually doesn't make sense for me to stay behind, but I think you know that."

She pulled back, then leaned forward again to give Kai a kiss. "We're going to find Scarlet, and go home. We'll return and announce our wedding to the public, and it will go down in history as the best day of my life." Her eyes had a mischievous gleam to them.

"Hey lovebirds! Come on, ship's all loaded! Get on board!"

Kai and Cinder broke apart, noticing that everyone else had already boarded and the junk they were hauling onto the ship had been loaded. They walked over, hand in hand, and upon entering, settled down at the galley table with Cress, Winter, Iko, and Thorne. Jacin was flying the ship.

Kai had had the idea to take the time on the Rampion and use it productively, making a half-hearted attempt to plan his and Cinder's wedding. They had tried to plan the week before, but they had run into the obstacle of having to deal with the tension of Wolf and Scarlet caught in an on-going fight.