rdmLorn and Finder watched the new stars - "Starships" Lorn called them, as if they were kin to the barges that travelled the river.
Her kin.
One of them broke ranks, and vanished over the horizon. Half an hour later there was a distant sound of thunder. "Sonic boom".
Not long after the arrow-head shaped craft came into view. An eighth of the size of the raider's craft - the smallest possible. Identical to the one that brought Lorn to the Mother-of-All. And to Finder.
"Come on, let's see who has come to visit!" Lorn excitedly said.
"You do not know?" was Finder's much more subdued reply.
"Nope. I don't recognise that artwork. She's active duty, though. Those markings on the nose are the deployment group."
"Lorn, these are your people, not mine. Will they..."
"My heart, they will have thought me dead these last three years at least. And if I choose to settle here, they cannot change that."
"But?"
"They will want to talk to me. And to you. And the elders, and the copper diggers, and everyone else."
"And then?"
"They'll leave. They might leave me a fresh beacon and other gear, but they won't stay. This is our home, not theirs."
"We have old stories about ships like that."
"So do we. We eventually learn."
Tugging on Finder's hand, Lorn started towards the ship.
Finder let her mind go ahead of her, and was surprised to feel a mix of excitement, curiosity, and hope. It seemed that these new arrivals did know Lorn after all.
Finder smiled behind Lorn's back. Let this be a surprise for her.