Sometimes, you really can't go home again. I wrote this chapter after rearranging the season a bit, and decided to make this a two-parter. I also made a call in placing the Heart of Gold whorehouse on Silverhold, a planet which otherwise ain't got much description goin' for it.

Also, we get to see a slice of Jacob's freewheelin' past, a bit of Nandi's history back to her founding the brothel as it stands, and some relations between Sylvia and her remaining family. Also... MEXICAN STANDOFF!

The Heart of Gold belongs to Joss. It's just the planet and the rest of the folk on it which belong to me.

Feedback is a goodness. Excellent....

In the Dust of the Day, Part 1

The world was silent.

Of course, it had been that way for a very long time, he reflected. He had gone deaf so slowly that he hadn't even realized it, and by the time he figured out that he couldn't hear what others was sayin' to him, it was far too late to fix. His hard eyes stared along the horizon, quickly counting and recounting his herd. All there, just like they always was. His hands were out and about, makin' sure nothing strayed. Not that they ever did. This batch was the last one she raised by her only, before she took off.

It wasn't the first time a woman in his life left him. His first wife had walked out inside two months, realizin' ranchin' wasn't what those city slickers from the bigger Border worlds said it was. His second wife, though, stuck around as long as she could. She gave him a son, a wonderful son, and stuck with him, even as the damplung took her. How long ago was it that she died? Twenty five years, now? He hadn't ever got over her, not all the way. Never did look for another wife after that, neither. Occassional companionship for a night, sure, but nothing lasting. Somehow, that felt too much like betrayal.

The last woman to leave him was his own daughter. He'd raised her as right as he could, but she wasn't built for the ranch. Born a couple years after Chery died, she was always ghosting his hands. Never