(I guarantee this happened at least once before the epilogue of Wrighton.) Also don’t read this if you don’t want Wrightonspoilers! ~~~~~

Atif had never liked the winter very much.

He'd never questioned it for most of his life. His father handled the cold just fine, but always complained when it got rainy, and his grandfather couldn't abide the spring. Preferences in weather were perfectly normal, at least in his family, and he never had cause to question it. Even when he discovered the artifact, and found that his new form suffered the cold even worse than his normal one did, he didn't wonder about it too much. Mina never liked the winter, either, so it became a non-issue. They would simply bundle up together, a mug of warm tea in each of their hands, and wait out the coldest weather of the year.

But then things had changed, for him and for everybody else in Wrighton, and for the first time, Atif understood. Or at least he thought he did. Certainly his- Tarso's- oldest memories placed them on an arid planet that ranged from warm to boiling in its hottest season. Atif might not have even considered that, except that he had always been somewhat unusually comfortable in the summer; when the others at the hospital were turning on their air conditioners, Atif was usually opening the window and enjoying the sunshine. He'd never questioned that, either, always attributing it to his ancestors likely having come from a warmer climate. Now that he knew who exactly his ancestors were, he couldn't exactly say he was wrong.

Learning the truth didn't change anything, really. He was still happier in warm weather and needed extra layers when it got cold outside. But it was kind of nice, being able to reach back through the centuries and across the stars and find something more in common with the being he had once been. And it was nice, too, to consider that it was something else he shared with Mina, and that though the two had not known each other all those lifetimes ago, they might have found it a piece of common ground if they had.

When Mina first saw the cats, she didn’t think too much of it.

She was out shopping with Velia, and at first when she saw three cats running past, she barely noticed it. It wasn’t like cats were a rarity in Wrighton, after all, and she was occupied helping her friend choose new materials for her artwork. On their way out of the shop, they saw another pair of cats, running off in the same direction.

“It’s almost like just after the dome appeared,” Velia quipped.

“Oh, sure,” Mina said seriously. “Check your pocket, maybe you can get the jump on Scip this time.”  

Velia laughed, and stuck her gloved hands in her pockets. When she withdrew them, she held only spare change and a couple of roots. “Guess not,” she said, giving an exaggerated shrug. Mina laughed. Neither of them noticed the three more cats that wandered past them.

By the time Mina got home, though, her and Velia’s joking about the cats had become less funny and more unnerving. She had passed several more, including one that looked a lot like Ani’s cat Squip, and had already lost count of how many she’d seen. They had all been heading in the same direction- away from the RETON, which made it even more puzzling. When she discovered that her family’s kitten had gone missing, too, her anxiety got the better of her. She dashed off a text to Atif, and hoped that wherever he was for his conference had good enough signal to answer her.

His response was somehow both reassuring and not. If Captain Ayo didn’t know why the cats were acting strange— and Mina knew they were in town currently— she had even less of an idea what was going on. When she saw another cat trotting out of the Glenns’ yard and across her own, Mina decided that she had no choice but to follow it, and see where it went. She grabbed her phone and a handful of grapes, and hurried out the door.

Fortunately, the cat she was following seemed to be in no hurry, and neither did it mind being followed. Mina talked to it occasionally, and it meowed in response once or twice. But mostly, it focused on its destination, and Mina kept pace.

After perhaps twenty minutes of walking, it became evident where they were headed. There was a strong fishy smell hanging in the air, and a building Mina hadn’t noticed before in the western side of town was surrounded by cats. She noticed Squip, sitting on a window box, and little Elmia trying to worm her way closer through the throng of larger cats. The one Mina had been following scampered off to try to get closer to the building.

A few other people stood nearby, as well. Mina saw Ani and Claire, the latter laughing as her friend tried to reach Squip on the windowbox. Dr. Carter was there, looking extremely dismayed. And a few other people whose faces Mina couldn’t see clearly, scanning the crowd for their cats.

A window in the building opened.

“Are they still here?” A man who looked vaguely familiar to Mina groaned, leaning out the window. “I already told you, this is not a cat food shop- Leo! How can one town have so many cats?” He caught sight of Dr. Carter, and his face fell in relief.

Dr. Carter gave him a sympathetic smile. “Wrighton’s known for them, I’m afraid.”

“Yes, you told me, but I didn’t think they’d flock here,” the man said, half-laughing. He caught sight of the other people watching him, Mina included, and waved. “Ah. Hello, you’re all looking at the future home of Pearl of the Aegean, finest fresh seafood in town. Grand opening’s tomorrow… assuming there’s any room, with all the cats here.” That time he did laugh, and Mina caught it.

“Don’t worry,” Dr. Carter told him. “We’ll get it sorted.” Ani nodded, and there were several sounds of agreement among the people trying to collect their cats. Grinning, Mina dashed off a text to her husband.

On Mina and Atif’s first anniversary as a couple, the two of them go to the city for dinner. It’s a nice restaurant, a seafood place, with soft music in the background and low lighting. It’s the first really fancy place they’ve gone since the first month of their relationship, and Mina’s a bit overwhelmed. Atif is, too- partially for the same reason, and partially for another reason. But he puts that aside, for a while, because for a change the anxiety that’s been getting louder and louder in his mind feels just a bit quieter. He thinks it’s probably because of her.

So they joke about the fancy restaurant, and enjoy the food, and Mina laughs at a story he tells. He smiles at the way she arranges her clamshells on her plate. And he reflects on how, against his better judgment, he’s fallen so hard.

The biggest lie several characters ever told (I’m restricting it to the ones with actual interesting answers):

There was a general rule, aboard the RETON, that most obviously-unearthly things were supposed to be left onboard when the ship was parked in Wrighton. Before they took off for the first time, after everyone regained their memories, they had all agreed it was the best way to keep from disrupting the home they had all grown to love. It was a soft rule, and nobody worried terribly much about it- after all, when presented with a giant dome appearing over a town the local news had not bothered to do much but continue debating cheese tax- but everyone more or less tried to keep to it.

That didn’t mean that everyone always did.

The first time Mina Khouri broke the rule, It was an accident. The ship was docked for the summer, and Mina had been going in twice a week to keep the plants watered and cared for. Scip had told her he could do it easily on his own, but Mina liked doing it, and sometimes Velia tagged along. Not that morning, however; Mina had gone alone, and spent a little over an hour checking in on all the plants and talking a bit with Scip. One plant in particular, a lily bulb Mina had picked up during a brief detour, was positively thriving in the RETON’s greenhouse, and Mina spent extra time pruning its leaves and admiring it.

When she was in her shop later that afternoon, she found a bud on the floor next to a vase she’d been arranging, and as she usually did, she set it aside in a little water with some other cuttings to see if it would open. By the time she’d reopened the store the next morning, not only had the bud opened- revealing too late just where it had come from- but something in it must have reacted to the other plants. One of them, a carnation that had broken off the day before, had turned a brilliant shade of indigo, from flower to stem. Another clipping had wilted rapidly. Yet another had grown four inches overnight. The lily itself had opened delicately, and was floating atop the water as though nothing was unusual at all.

A man creeps down a hallway.

It is a long, curved corridor, with dark walls and floor, lit by soft bar lights set in the ceiling. The man is almost difficult to see as he moves, his thick coat nearly the same shade of deep gray as the walls and his skin and hair dark enough to blend in as well. Nonetheless, he moves slowly, quietly. In his left hand he carries a brown bag, and with every step he glances at it nervously.

He reaches the end of the corridor, where a small window is set next to a door. He glances down the way he’d come, sets down the bag, and reaches inside. Silently, carefully, he withdraws a tiny, round mirror, holds it up to the window, and peers inside. With a tiny nod of satisfaction, he puts the mirror back, and picks the bag up again.

He reaches for the door, turns the handle silently, and-

“Atif Khouri, just what do you think you’re doing?”

Mina scowls at him, even as he slowly turns to face her.

“J-just taking a walk,” he says. “Habibi, I thought you were gone to the store!”

She raises an eyebrow. “Scip caught you before I left.”

His entire body slumps. “I had hoped he would be busy with Squip… I suppose he found the-“

“…You bribed Ani’s cat so you could sneak off to work?” Mina asked. “My love, isn’t that a lot of effort just to get out of a little bed rest?”

“It’s a simple cold!” Atif protested. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of things…”

“Not if you give it to someone,” Mina said. “And it wouldn’t have worked, anyway, you know. Scip told Dr. Carter not to let you in the office. Now come on, back to bed.”

Atif sighed. “Scip, I’m sure you’re listening, so… Well played, I suppose.” He gave in, and began walking back along the corridor with his wife.