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Epilogue

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Boy waved at Lyon and Page until he could no longer see them. Only then did he join Liberty at the helm. “I’m going to miss Mender’s parents. He’s nothing like them, is he?”

Liberty grinned. “He certainly isn’t.” She helped him finish climbing into the captain’s chair.

“Where are we headed to now?” Boy wriggled back so he wouldn’t fall the first time Airus was rocked by any strong winds.

She adjusted her goggles and tucked her unruly curls beneath her hat. “We’re meeting Mender and Justice at Polly’s. They’ve never helped collect honey before. I think it will be fun watching them.”

Liberty’s face glowed with happiness. Boy suspected it might have something to do with seeing Mender again, that he might have to work on getting used to the idea of sharing her with yet another person, but he was beginning to think that maybe that wasn’t such an awful thing after all.

His first day on Airus, he had worried no one would ever love him again, but it now looked as if every day held yet another person he could love, and who could love him back. His world was changing and expanding a little more every day. Was this what Father had built him for – not just to be Liberty’s brother but to be a friend to all?

“It will be good to see Robbie again too.”

Liberty smiled. “Poor Robbie. I’m always so worried he’s going to topple over.”

Boy blinked. “I think that’s what he likes best about himself.”

“Why would you say that?” The wind caught her hat and almost blew it away but she caught it in time.

“He says he knows Mender will always catch him.” Boy tapped the arm of the chair. “I didn’t understand at first, but now I think I do.”

Liberty leaned closer, as though afraid to miss a single word.

“It’s how Robbie knows Mender loves him.” He lifted his eyes to meet Liberty’s intense stare. “Because isn’t that what love is, not words but actions?”

Boy slipped out of the captain’s chair and led Liberty over to the port railing where he said, “My father started building me because his wife, Mary, had always wanted children but never could. Unfortunately, she died before he finished building me.”

He stood on tiptoes so he could look over the railing at the pure white clouds. He never grew tired of seeing them. Each was different and interesting. “Father might have left me in pieces on his worktable if your father hadn’t asked him to finish me. Father didn’t want to at first, because it only reminded him of what he had failed to give Mary. It wasn’t until your father told mine that he was dying and couldn’t bear thinking of you not having anyone after his death that Father finally agreed.”

A soft intake of breath made Boy turn and look at Liberty. “He worried about your safety and happiness. He must have been a wonderful man.”

She shook her head and bit her lip. Liberty’s eyes filled with tears but she blinked them away. “Father was so sick. I couldn’t understand why he insisted on stopping. At first I thought he wanted to stop so your father could help heal him, but then we left and your father hadn’t done anything of the sort.”

Boy reached over, took her hand in his and squeezed her fingers. “The man who taught you never to love, loved you with all his heart. Why else would he care if you were alone or not?”

A tear ran down Liberty’s face but went unheeded. “Do you know what I think?”

“What?” He held her hand and waited.

“Father told me he built Airus so he would always be safe, but that’s not what he did with the airship. He traveled to the Forbidden Land and gathered things other people needed and then carried it all from place to place, making certain everyone had enough to eat.”

She chuckled. “He gave the few survivors on earth friendship and hope. The man who taught me never to love did so himself, without even knowing it.”

Liberty knelt in front of Boy and hugged him. “Our fathers were really good men.”

“We were lucky to have them.” He stepped back and placed a hand on her shoulder. “And we’re lucky to have each other. I think the best way we can honor our fathers is to carry on with what they started. It’s what they would have wanted us to do.”

She smiled and touched his cheek. “We’re a ragtag lot but for some reason I think that makes us perfect for the task.”

Boy nodded. “I think we’re perfect too, even if all we are is flesh and blood, and bolts and metal.”

The End