Alya couldn’t help but smile again with Bellite’s enthusiasm. “I’m really glad you aren’t going to hit me, thank you. It was just an accident, no hard feelings. Um, also no hard feelings for me falling on you, I hope. I’m sorry about that, too.”

He rubbed the sore spot on his back and couldn’t help but think about how nice the ice sounded. He didn’t promise he wasn’t going to go straight to sleep once he got home because he was pretty sure that wasn’t a promise he could keep. His head felt fine so he wasn’t particularly worried but he wasn’t going to tell her something that might make her worry.

“I’ll be safe if you be safe, all right? And...when I figure out a little more about how homeworlds work, I’ll take you up with me. No tricks though, okay! Just us, and no fighting!”