For my mom, who flew off to another world in 2020.

Flash could not believe his luck. Or should I say his Luuuk. Here he was, sitting in the sun with his grandson, looking at trees that towered over gigantic jewels that protruded from the forest floor. He had connected with himself in a way he never thought possible. He felt as if the past had never happened. He had never been hurt. Never been lied to or taken advantage of. At the same time, he had experienced it all. He could see his life the way he had seen the holograms in the castle apartment. He recognized the wear and tear of life, but saw it through the lens of his own childlike wonder and innocence.

He didn’t care what happened next.

This was not apathy or denial, but acceptance. He had no plan. The mothership was secure in Olo’s gravitational pull. His friends had their own free will, and only love bound them to each other.

Outcomes were not his to decide. He looked to the child for guidance, and only asked that he not mess this up.

Flash recalled how his child self reached out and took his hand, and believed that he could learn to trust again.

In that moment, Flash came to a realization. About himself, about Olo, about the people he had seen on the plain, and about something he had read in the book. He hadn’t thought much about it at the time. He had read that the population of the planet had arisen from the ground, and others had come from elsewhere. The ground he walked on was the outermost layer of HIM. The grievances surfaced from deep within him. It was all here. Everything he longed for was here, and he could access it. Everything he feared could be faced. Outside influences could still enrich him. He had found, at long last, the home he had desired. All his feelings of disarray fell into place in that instant. Everything was intact. Nothing was lost. What he thought was broken suddenly fit together like the crystal edifices, and he saw that it was beautiful. Like before, he trusted his grandson to guide him. It was purely out of curiosity when he asked “where are we going?”

“To my mom’s house,” Luuu said. “The rest of the family is there.”

Flash remembered the joyful duo that burst from the mountain cave, and his daughter’s discovery of more family among the reeflike peaks.

Luuu continued, “Your mom is especially excited to see you.”