'This's the last thing I needed, rot it, I was so close --'
Close enough to reach out and touch Alouette's tawny-pink hull. Close enough to get away from the Ring and the circling bulk of Sublime Communion's pale domes.
But no.
Instead a velvet voice murmured across her own private wave, cajoling.
::I'm almost there, Wayfarer Ilry. Please, consider.::
Ilry glanced back; spotted the ivory of a Communion uniform ... and the glint of pale frost on dark hair.
Oh no.