The Portal on Shakespeare [a week later]

[momslilassassin]

A mattress had been bought for guests, the house had been scrubbed from top to bottom and then bottom to top, and Ben, even though he knew that Luke wouldn't care in the slightest, had stressed out about what they'd have for dinner for the last three days.

Now he was a half-hour early for the time his father had sent him for the portal, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

He was excited and terrified in almost equal measure.

Sounds like a fun vacation, huh?

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben would have made a crack about shirtless Ender not being a hardship either, but not in front of his dad. "I'll have to check my schedule," he teased. "We'll be back to Miranda in an hour or so."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"Take your time," Luke said. "It's nice to sit still. My route here went through six different dimensions."

[endsthegame]

"Nothing with shrimp, I hope," Ender said, settling in.

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke looked momentarily puzzled. "No, but there was a waiting area of nothing but sentient towels."

[momslilassassin]

"...towels?" Ben repeated.

[endsthegame]

"Towels?" Ender echoed.

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"Towels," Luke confirmed. "I didn't really speak their language, but they were apparently what happens when you don't do laundry."

[endsthegame]

"Okay," Ender said, blinking. "Every time I think the multiverse can't surprise me any more..."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"It gives you towels that can think," Luke replied with a small laugh. "So tell me about your planet, Ender."

[endsthegame]

"The original settlement, Miranda, was built by our veterans, as I've said," Ender said. "Most of those veterans are now very old, and it's the second generation and their children that were running the place when we arrived. Our ship's arrival about tripled the amount of people here, so we've been constructing three new settlements to accommodate that, as well as the new colonists that will be arriving in a year and a half."

He shot Luke an amused glance. "And a good portion of it is temperate," he promised, "The sand and rocks won't go on forever, I promise."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled back. "I grew up on Tatooine. I have a much higher tolerance for sand than the average person. So how large a population are we talking about here? A hundred thousand or so? More?"

[endsthegame]

"Five thousand, actually," Ender said wryly.

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"So I overshot a little," Luke replied, laughing.

[endsthegame]

"It's a young colony," Ender said, smiling. "They didn't start from an especially huge population, and it will take years before enough colonists make it here to fill a city, let alone a country. But that's okay. It means we get to make the choices that will shape our community's foundation."

[momslilassassin]

"Ender's a pretty astral governor," Ben said proudly. "No major hiccups so far, and it's not for lack of people having opinions to share."

[endsthegame]

"It probably helps that I'm driving us to independence and I intend to step down permanently at the end of my term," Ender said. "But Ben's right - it's been going pretty smoothly."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke's eyes flicked between them, looking slightly amused. "Well, I'm glad you're both doing well," he said, and that as least was baldly true.

[endsthegame]

Ender chuckled softly. "So how about you?" he said. "How are you faring?" His eyes flicked briefly to Ben. "Watch the road."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"I'm eager to understand this 'vacation' idea that Ben's telling me about," Luke said. "Politics are exhausting. It's why I've tried to leave them to Leia."

[endsthegame]

"Well, we're about two days away from filling up the pool in the backyard," Ender said, "There's a gym in town and the weather's good this time of year." He offered Luke another smile. "I think your vacation will work out all right."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"There's going to be a pool?" Luke smiled. "I think I can stick around for a few days."

[endsthegame]

"Ben's been digging it for a while," Ender said. "In bits and pieces."

He kept getting distracted for some reason...

[momslilassassin]

Ben's cheeks went slightly pink. For some reason.

"It'll be ready," he said, smiling. "You'll be able to see Miranda soon."

[endsthegame]

"It's just a few more kilometers," Ender agreed.

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"I'm looking forward to see your home," Luke said quietly, shooting them both a smile.