Epilogue
Adam was staring out the window barely noticing the stars passing by and thought about how he just wanted to go home. Xanxaa nuzzled her head into his neck drowsily with her eyes closed, and he realized as long as he was with her, he was home.
The past six hours flew by so fast that he barely remembered leaving the penthouse, thankfully before they were discovered, or Xanxaa calling the code given to her by Fannoth to the pilot that would carry them away from Hryulla. Before going to the meeting place the pilot instructed, however, they took a risk and went back to the hotel room where Adam was captured, but Xerea was gone and so were all his coins. Under the mattress however, they found two sets of Hryullian rings and a communication code on a small piece of paper and the words "after you leave."
The pilot, a self-described courier of "exotic exports" which was a more extravagant way of calling himself a smuggler, was unhappy when the two of them appeared as he was going through his last flight checks. He had hoped to be able to take off before they were able to arrive, since the last thing he needed were a couple of unnecessary "problems" to walk onto his ship, but he obligingly let them on as he agreed. He showed them an empty cargo bay they could stay in and that there were to stay out of sight if the ship stopped for any reason. He had a modicum of food for them and he let them know there was a news item saved in the ship database that they should watch.
When he left, they waited until the ship had left orbit and Hryulla was a distant dot before they allowed themselves to breathe normally. As they ate their dried fruit and nuts, Adam interfaced his rings with the star cruiser and found the news item put there by the pilot. Acting Prime Arbiter Xygg was delivering the grim news that Xroqx and his associate were both found dead at his penthouse office. He said all evidence pointed to Adam as the culprit of the heinous crime along with his accomplice, Xanxaa. Xygg vowed that he, with the support of the entire planetary law enforcement, would not rest until both of them were brought back to pay for their crimes.
Of course, they both knew this was exactly what was going to happen. But for some odd reason that neither could articulate, seeing the actual reality of the event still felt like an emotional blindside. Xanxaa turned the report off before it had finished, and Adam gave her a hug from behind. In the end, none of it really mattered anymore and they had something far more important to do.
He gave her yet another coat of healing oil on the large bruise on her cheek and eye, as well as the cuts that covered her body, that had all faded substantially in the past few hours but were still clearly visible. She applied some oil on his cuts and bruises as well to continue healing his wounds. Afterwards, eyeing each other nervously, Adam put the communication code into his rings. When they saw Xerea's holographic image appear, all three of them had tears streaming down their cheeks in an outpouring of relief.
Xerea had eventually woken up alone in the hotel room with no idea where anyone was or what to do. She decided to use some of the coins to buy a new set of unregistered rings for all of them, left two sets in the room along with her contact information, and then she went back to their parents' home to wait for something to happen.
Now that Xerea knew both Adam and Xanxaa were safe, she was getting on the first trans-planetary spacecraft to go back to Joxtaio where they could all get together. Xerea pointed out that there was no extradition agreement between Hryulla and Joxtaio so they would be outside of Hryullian's legal reach and would not have to hide anywhere. Her employer had readily agreed to host the two of them while they figured out what they wanted to do next.
