Ranua made his way up the hill to his home and noticed that the front door was open.  Miri often did that, opening the front and rear doors of the bungalow in order to catch the tiniest bit of wind coming up or down the hillside. 
        She was home early, then.
        His ears dipped as his footsteps suddenly faltered.
        What can I say to her?
        What can I say that won’t hurt her?
        Can I even manage to tell her?       
        He looked out over the bay as it basked in the hot afternoon sunlight.  A thought came to him, a rebellious moment:  Fire-God take Broome and this foolishness.  I’m not a field officer.  Let him find someone else.
        Another thought gently reminded him that he volunteered for this assignment, and that he knew that something like this very moment would arrive at some point in his career.  No one had held a gun to his head to make him swear that oath the previous December.
        He had chosen this path.
        He bit his lower lip and squared his shoulders as he willed his tail to stop trying to tuck itself between his legs.  He took a few breaths to relax before continuing up the hill to the house.

        Miri looked up and smiled cheerfully as Ranua walked into the bungalow’s small living room.  She had been sitting on the couch reading from one of her nursing textbooks, and now she laid it aside and got to her feet.  “You’re home early, love,” she said as she kissed him lightly.  “I got done with my classes early, so I decided to come home.  Guess what I found on the front porch waiting for me.”
        He smiled, inwardly grateful for the distraction.  “Okay, I’ll bite – “
        “Maybe later,” and he grinned at her arch look.
        “You know what I meant.  What?”
        “It was a package from Miss Baumgartner,” the black and brown-furred canine said, “and when I opened it I found this,” and she pulled an object out of a small brown pasteboard box.
        The item was a shallow bowl, roughly circular with upraised, crimped edges.  It was made of a translucent green and blue glass that had been glazed to give it an iridescent sheen that broke the sunlight into rainbows.  “It’s beautiful,” Ranua said, and Miri passed it to him so that he could examine it more closely.  “What’s it made of?” he asked.
        “She said that it’s called carnival glass,” Miri said.  She walked into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Would you like some iced tea?”
        “Please,” he replied, looking at the shallow bowl again before setting it down gently on the low table beside the couch.  He sat down and set his ball cap aside as Miri walked in with two glasses.  She gave him one and sat down facing him.
        “You know,” she said as she sipped at her tea, “I noticed that Inspector Stagg and Miss Baumgartner are in love with each other.”
        “I saw it too,” he chuckled.
        “So why aren’t they Tailfast or married?” Miri asked.
        Ranua shrugged.  “Well, you know Euros, Miri – sometimes they’re not the brightest furs in the world.”  The two of them laughed.
        “So, what about your father?” Miri teased.
        He laughed.  “Father gets a little odd at times, but then he’s been here a while.”
        Miri took another sip of her drink.     “Are you going to tell me what’s on your mind, Ranua?”
        Her question made him look sharply at her, then he sat back and gazed at his glass of tea.  His ears went down as he said, “Does it show that much, Miri?”
        “Pretty much.  You’re such an open person, Ranua; hiding things is hard for you, especially around me.  Is it about the - ?”
        The terrier nodded.  “I was told that – well, I’m allowed to tell you this much,” he said, setting the drink aside and leaning forward, clasping his paws together.  “In about a week I’m going to be going out on a field assignment.”
        The canine’s ears dipped.  “Oh.  Is it – dangerous?”
        He closed his eyes and braced himself, then replied, “Yes.”
        He heard her get up and cross the floor to him, then she sat down and hugged him.  “As in . . . as in you might . . . “ she whispered, emotion edging her voice as her grip on him tightened.
        Ranua returned her hug, and he felt her breath catch in her throat as he whispered, “Yes.”
        “Oh, gods . . . “ and Miri started to cry as Ranua held her tight.  “Ranua,” she whispered, “I . . . I love you.”
        “I love you, Miri,” and he felt his own tears burning his eyes as he felt her sob.  He fished a pawkerchief from a pocket of his jumpsuit and drew back slightly to dry her tears.  “I . . . I’m sorry . . . but I knew, even as a Guide, that something like this might happen.”
        She nodded and took the pawkerchief from him, wiped at her eyes then blew her nose.  “I – I know,” she muttered.  “Both of us . . ., but . . . Ranua . . . “  She buried her head against his chest and started to cry again as he held her, a paw rubbing her back gently.
        Finally she stopped crying, sniffed loudly and looked up at him.  “When – when do you have to leave?”
        His eyes met hers as he replied, “We leave on the twenty-fifth.  If . . . if everything goes well, I’ll be home about October tenth.” 
        It wasn’t necessary for him to say what might happen if things didn’t go well.
        “Two weeks . . . that’s not so bad,” she said, her voice still a bit choked up.  She ran a paw over his chest and looked up at him.  “Plenty of time.”
        He smiled, she returned the smile, and slowly the two started to laugh.  Ranua kissed her.  “Look,” he said as she stood up and moved to stand by the open front door, “the thing might not even happen.”
        “Oh?” and she gave him a hopeful look before cocking an eyebrow at him.  “You don’t really believe that, do you Ranua?”
        He shrugged.  “I have my orders, so I’m going to hope for the best.”  He walked into the kitchen and closed the back door, then went back to her and hugged her.  “And you shouldn’t worry,” he admonished.  “It’s not good for you.  Besides, look at it this way – I won’t be going alone, and they’re the best we have.”
        “Oh?”  She looked up at him, her eyes brimming.  “Are they Guides?”
        He gave her a lopsided grin.  “Sorry.  They’re the best the Syndicate has.  Now, cheer up a little, love.  Like I said, it’s not good for you or the baby.”       
        “I know,” she said, “but I love you, so I’m going to worry about you, so there,” and she smiled.  Her eyes betrayed her though, as did the edge in her voice.  Ranua smiled as reassuringly as he could.


        Later the two of them met Matt and showed him around Casino Island, the Doberman dressed suspiciously like a tourist in a floral-patterned shirt and short trousers.  Ranua guessed that he had borrowed the clothes.
        It had been hard to maintain an air of cheerfulness, but he and Miri managed.


September 24, 1937
0710:

        “If I don’t do something, Ranua, I’m going to start screaming,” Miri said that morning at breakfast.  Her fiancé gave her a startled look as she went on, “You have to leave tomorrow, and I want to  - “  Her voice faltered, and she hung her head.
        “What, Miri?” he asked.
        “I – I want to get married,” she said, her eyes starting to grow moist again.
        He blinked, his ears perking.  “But we agreed that we’d get married on the Winter Solstice – “
        “We may not – “ she couldn’t say it; instead she said, “I don’t want to wait anymore.”
        Ranua sat back and considered, then said, “You’re right.  We should get married now,” and he stood up and walked to the bedroom as Miri watched.  “We’ll head over to Main Island right now and find a Wise One.”
        “Good,” and her eyes gleamed as she got up from the table.  “I’ll have to call the hospital on the way there and tell them I won’t be in today.”  She only had morning classes, finding the schedule more to her taste, but there was a great deal of flexibility. 
        They took a water taxi out to Main Island almost an hour later, with both of them dressed casually and Ranua in civilian clothes.  After that, finding a Wise One was simple.

        “What?” Miri said.  “You won’t marry us?  Why not?”
        The Wise One, a vixen, paused in the act of sweeping her house’s front doorway and leaned on her broom.  They had told her in only the vaguest terms why they wanted the ceremony performed with such haste.  “It is known that you two plan on marrying on the Solstice,” she said in a quiet voice.  “You shouldn’t change your plans.”
        Ranua felt his love’s paw tighten convulsively in his.  “B-But,” she stammered, “something might happen – “
        “You should not try to see too far into the future, young Miri-daughter-Arau,” the priestess said.  “You two will be together – even if it will be a Shadow-Marriage.”  A Shadow-Marriage was a rare custom, little used in times of peace; it allowed a person to marry the shade of a deceased lover.  It dated back to the Gunboat Wars, and was used primarily if children were involved.
        Miri started crying again, and Ranua said, “Please, Wise One, can’t we – “
        That earned him a smack across the muzzle from the vixen.  “Enough talk, Ranua- son- Tama,” she snapped, “because it is you who are the cause of this woman’s sorrow.  Take her home, and love her, and do your best to return.  Leave the rest to the Gods.”  She went back to her cleaning as the two younger furs left.
        At the Main Village water taxi stand Miri stopped and said, “We’ll see a Euro judge on Meeting Island . . . we’ll – “
        “No, we won’t,” Ranua said.  “You heard the Wise One.”  He hailed one of the small boats and helped Miri into it, then gave the driver directions to Casino Island.
        “Why are we going there?” she asked in a miserable tone.
        “You’re going to stay with your parents until I get back,” he said quietly, and as she looked at him he added, “I can’t stand the thought of you in the house all alone while I’m gone.  Your mother and father – “
        “I’ll be all right, Ranua,” she murmured.  “It’s – it’s just hard, that’s all.”
        “I know,” he said.  “It’s hard for me, too.”
        Ranua had to leave a great deal out of his explanation, but Miri’s mother and father finally understood what was going on, and agreed to look in on Miri until Ranua returned.


September 25, 1937
0200:

        Miri blinked awake as the alarm clock started to ring, and as she opened her eyes she saw Ranua shut off the alarm and sit up in bed. 
        She became instantly aware of her surroundings.  “Is it – is it time to go?” she asked.
        He looked back at her as he started to get dressed in a pair of worn trousers and a shirt.  A pair of worn work boots and a gray sweater sat nearby.  “Yes, it’s time,” he said quietly.  As he sat down and laced up his boots she sat behind him and hugged him, arms tight around his waist. 
        He twisted around and kissed her.  He smiled and asked, “Would you look after something for me?”
        “You know I would.”
        “Then, could you take care of this until I get back?” and he slipped a light chain from around his neck.  The chain bore his RINS identity tag and the braided ring of fur that marked him as Tailfast to her.  “We’re not allowed to have anything with us that can identify who we are,” he explained.
        She nodded solemnly and watched as he placed the items in the small carnival glass dish that Rosie had given them.  Disengaging himself from her grasp, he stood and went to the living room.  After a moment she followed, pulling on a light robe.
        At the door he paused and turned, then hugged Miri as she started to weep again.  They kissed, and to her surprise Ranua slowly dropped to his knees.
        Miri held very still as Ranua gently nuzzled the curve of her belly.  She closed her eyes as he murmured a blessing over their child, then he was standing again. 
        “I’ll be back before you know it.”  A final hug and kiss, and he slipped out of the bungalow.
        She watched him go until he was swallowed up in the shadows, then went back into the bedroom.  Switching on the light her breath caught as she stared at the Tailfast ring in the iridescent glass dish, and she started to cry silently.


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