Epilogue:

21 Earth Years later...

Valerie Jones checked out her reflection in the dresser mirror then checked the inner workings of her child-size flight helmet.

Being the middle of the night she wasn't supposed to be up yet, but she liked to get some flight time in just before school. Advance Chemistry was fun since the teacher like to show off what chemicals could do. Calculus and advanced geometry was a bit dull. It required a lot of her study time just to make decent grades. Her dad was easy going on grades, but her mom wasn't.

Her room light was set to low light levels for sleep, but Valerie had really good night vision thanks to her eyes. Leaning in so she could just see her purple irises staring back at her. Her odd eye color and power were a side effect of the Nereid virus and her body's fast gene regeneration. Sometimes she wished she had gills like a few of the kids she knew. Then she could swim deep into the water whenever she wanted.

Focusing her telepathic power she reached out to her Leather-Wing, Talon. Every since their bonding over a year ago she was able to talk to him over some distance now in her head.

For Valerie animals were somewhat easy to talk too and sometimes it got her into a bit of trouble. Like the time when she was six years old and she accidentally called a Sea Dragon. The Sea Dragon was young and very curious for her kind.

They were intelligent and were known to push drifting boats to shore. She remembered leaning on the rail of the ship and touching the massive head. The Sea Dragon looked at her with one big eye and Valerie recalled that the Nereid people often ask the large creatures for an escort for safe passage when they traveled underwater.

She had been grounded to her cabin room for the rest of the trip after making everyone aboard scared. It was only after her mother explained that not everyone knew that the Sea Dragon wasn't there to hurt anyone. Her dad had been okay with the experience and told her she was very special.

Around people, she only ever got vague emotions. Mostly, what they were feeling at that time rather then what they were thinking.

“Smart girl, We fly? ” A young male voice asked in her thoughts.

“Yes, Talon. Meet me on the balcony. ” Valerie replied back mentally feeling the happiness in return from Talon's thoughts. Talon was still a young Leather-Wing, but big enough to carry her weight with ease.

Double-checking her rider gear. Including her tomahawk then her flight helmet again.

She took a few seconds to admire the Valkyrie warrior that had been laser etched on it. Even her call sign Valkyrie was there on both items. Looking at her tomahawk Valerie smiled when she recalled her dad joked the other end would make a good hammer if he ever needed one.

Thanks to her dad's comment about her Tomahawk she earned top grades in a survival camp. Where the entire class of junior riders were left alone on an island for a week without any adults around. It was later revealed that game trail cameras and drones had been used to watch them. Thankfully, boys and girls were on their own islands at the time. Mother had already explained to Valerie why she was getting funny feelings about boys lately.

Valerie stored her Tomahawk away in its place and tucked the flight helmet under her arm before leaving her room.

Valerie crept out to the living room. Nanny Ada was in her charging station and unaware Valerie was sneaking out again.

A light came on from the low dining table and her mother was there giving her a stern look.

“Valerie Jones. ” Her mother said quietly. Valerie mentally kicked herself for not checking the recessed dining area before walking out. By the look of her mother, she had fallen into a light nap on the cushions with a tablet on her very pregnant stomach.

“Oh, hey mom. ” Valerie said looking every bit like the guilty ten-year-old girl she appeared to be.

“How many times must I tell you, if you're going to sneak out. That you need to check your surroundings first before coming into the opening? ” Her mother said smiling gently.

“Should I tell Talon to leave? ” Valerie asked her head slightly down. Outside the glass doors, a young Leather-Wing was landing. A simple flying rig strapped to the creature's body for a single rider.

“Hmm, Since Talon is already here. I won't send you back to bed this time. If your late to school. I will have Nanny Ada on watch duty every night for a month. ” Her mother said and watched as her daughter raised her head up and smiled.

“I promise, I won't be late. I will even tell Talon to take me home before sunrise. ” Valerie said putting on her flight helmet and placing her hand on the scanner to the double doors to the balcony.

They slid opened with little noise. Tiffany watched with pride and a bit of fear as her daughter climbed onto the young Leather-Wing and secured herself in.

Her heart skipped a beat when they went over the edge together and she relaxed her body when the Leather-Wing came into view once more flying upward as it beat its wings.

'How did my mother ever get over not worrying about me? ' Tiffany asked herself in her mind as she was watching the pair fly away.

“Please have my daughter school things ready just before dawn. ” Tiffany said looking at Ada who opened her eyes.

“You do know this is the third time this week she was sneaking out? ” Ada asked.

“She is getting better. Be sure to let Crystal know that Talon might be late to breakfast again. ” Tiffany said to Ada and watched as the android nodded then went back to low power mode sending the message off via a text.

Tiffany placed the tablet on the table and went to the room that was once the hobby room. The walls were still painted purple. Tiffany smiled at her second child. The toddler named Thomas looked very peaceful in his crib. Like some of Eden's children, he had violet eyes like his older sister. The toddler could be a handful at times, but he had plenty of loving people in his life.

Resting her hand on her stomach she couldn't wait until her next child would finally be born.

Making sure he was dry she went to the bathroom to wash her hands then went to the master bedroom to climb into bed.

“So did you send her back to bed or let her go out? ” Milo Jones asked rolling over to smile at his wife. After having a few kids, Jones put his wife into the hot supermodel mom category.

“She was almost outside the doors before I woke up. She is getting better. ” Tiffany said.

“She needs to watch her steps more and breathing. I heard her walk by, but just barely this time. ” Jones said proudly of his daughter then going on.

“Hard to believe our little girl is really twenty years old already. Of course, she looks like a ten-year-old girl. I'm more worried about her hanging out with boys. She is not interested in Louis, is she? ” Jones asked wondering if he would have to start worrying about boys more.

“Louis is a good boy. Being parents have changed Dallas and Missy. Besides their son is more interested in aircraft designs then flying. Their youngest Georgia bless her little heart loves Leather-Wings. I can tell already she will be a rider one day. ” Tiffany said recalling some of the students in her class.

“So how is our newest little hell-raiser doing? ” Jones said moving his hand to Tiffany's stomach.

“Kicking pretty good. She will be a wild one for sure. ” Tiffany smirked.

“She? ” Jones asked with his eyebrow raised.

“Oops. I forgot to say spoiler alert. I got the medical scanner results today. There is something else. She is going to be a swimmer. ” Tiffany answered then looked to be in near tears. Worried her husband might be upset that his newest daughter would be so different from them.

“Well, that would be perfect. Our youngest daughter will be our little mermaid. We can get her stuff with mermaids on it. You know that means there is a very low chance she will have any psionic power. Thomas tossed his favorite stuff bear at me when I said no more cookies. ” Jones said wondering what his next child was going to be like.

Thinking on it Thomas was proving to be a bit of a wild child at times. His telekinetic power was small for now, but like his sister, he would get stronger the older he got.

“I'm so happy that your willing to accept her the way she is. Toddlers throw things. Our son just so happens to do it with his mind. Yesterday, he made his milk bottle slide to him. ” Tiffany said proudly.

“Ada, told me you had to move the bottle within three feet of him. Have you finished that revised trade agreement with the Nereid people. ” Jones said knowing his wife like to go on about her little babies at times.

“Yeah. They are coming around to sharing more of their technology with us. Thomas might travel in space one day or even other parallel worlds. ” Tiffany said happy to be doing something while she was grounded from flying with Blood-Wing.

“Let's get some sleep before one of our children wake us up. ” Jones said and embrace his wife has he drifted back to sleep.

On the other side of the mountain complex relaxing on a balcony. Edward Knight now known as Elder Knight sat in a comfortable chair. He was only newly retired and spent his spare time running his side businesses.

Julie Knight who didn't look much older then forty came out just as a Leather-Wing flew past the moon's face. The couple looked up to see the young rider, but it was too far off to clearly make out him or her.

“One of the young ones having a bit of fun. Like, we don't know they sneak out. ” Edward said amused and it was understood by most that this was part of their training even if the children didn't know it. It was good early practice for stealth and evasion classes. A very useful skill to have in the jungle beyond.

“That's our little Valkyrie. I'm sure of it. ” Julie said a bit concern, but remember if Tiffany made it to adulthood so would her granddaughter.

Julie recalled when her granddaughter proudly announced she could talk to creatures inside her head. No one took the small little girl seriously at first until nearly every pet she met was friendly to her. What convinced her parents was the fact she knew the name of the pets before anyone said it. Then there was the Sea Dragon incident, which ruffled a lot of feathers. Thankfully the sea captain and crew saw it as a sign of good luck unlike most of the other passengers.

Julie even took her granddaughter near Rippers which Valerie said they were bad and wanted only to eat. Valerie was even allowed near the only captured Drac-Ko they still held in captivity in a room far below them. The Drac-Ko locked away behind many security doors and watched every moment of its life.

Valerie declared the captured Drac-ko to be very bad and liked to kill things for fun. No one in the family missed the fact after that day Valerie wanted the adults in her life to teach her how to fight. It was how she earned her little family nickname; Valkyrie.

“A chip off the old block then. I swear Tiffany wanted to fly with Blood-Wing every night when she was around that age. ” Edward commented as his wife took a seat next to him. Edward looked out to the sea and there in the far distance a faint glow could be seen. It was from a floating city far out on the water.

“The Nereid people have changed. You worked out the final peace treaty just before you retired. Tiffany has got a meeting with Eve on equal rights for androids. She is also currently working on the final trade agreement for the rest of the Nereid tech. ” Julie said seeing the frown on her husband's face.

“They did try to change us to be like them. Well, that evolution virus did backfire on them. They were unaware of our own regeneration treatment at the time. Now future generations of our children will have psionic powers. If I understand right its a rare thing for them to have. Thankfully, the mutation to breathe underwater will pass on only to a small percent of all future unborn children. Who would think we have psionic classes in the schools and only a few kids born with gills every year. To use the slang term. A swimmer. ” Edward Knight smirking a little.

“Tiffany messaged me today. Our newest grandchild will be a girl and the doctor confirmed she will be a swimmer. ” Julie said to her husband then reached out to hold his hand. Julie was waiting for his reaction.

Edward Knight pictured a newborn baby girl with four thin gill slits on each side of her neck that would open and close. He could just picture her little webbed hands curled up into tiny little fists.

“So, that's what been bugging you all day. You know, I bet I could make better stuff that could work underwater then the Nereid people have exported to us. Now, we have a granddaughter who will need them. ” Edward Knight said as he decided maybe another side business was in order.

Retirement wasn't suiting Edward Knight. Creating something that his granddaughter would use one day would give him another purpose to keep going. Since the Nereid people were more peaceful. His wife, Julie now had decades of more research to conduct on the creatures that lived in the sea.

“So much has changed over the decades. ” Julie said watching as the rider and Leather-Wing flew off now barely within sight thanks to the full moon.

“I think, we are leaving the future in good hands. ” Edward Knight said wondering to himself what was in store for the people of Eden. The couple sat in silence until the sun rose on a brand new day.