“Casina, please snap out of this!” Jenny pleaded. She turned away, exasperated, having tried everything to pull Casina from her lethargic state. At her friend’s lack of response, Jenny sighed and moved across the room to check on Arian, who lay resting peacefully in the middle of Kaanig Altair’s large bunk. “Oh, Arian,” she groaned as she tucked a blanket about him. “What are we going to do without your daddy now?” She blinked away a tear, but it fell unbidden to the baby’s cheek. Stirring at the contact, the child whimpered in his sleep as though aware of the calamity that had befallen them.

At the plaintive sound, Casina...