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Having just overheard Wanderer confide to Sunny that she was going to give Melanie her body back, Ian furiously yanks Wanderer up off of the ground and pulls her roughly out of the hospital by her arm. He knees Kyle in the face when Kyle asks what is wrong with him. (Wanderer says it was almost as if Ian and Kyle had changed places.) On their way out, they run into Jared in the corridor who is outraged at Ian’s treatment of Wanderer. Ian demands to know if Jared knew that Wanderer had plans to give Melanie her body back. When Jared doesn’t answer, Ian punches him and continues quickly down the corridor. When Wanderer makes an involuntary moan of pain from the tightness of Ian’s grip, he immediately stops, scoops her up and carries her while he runs through the caves.
After sprinting through the main plaza, Ian takes Wanderer to the room he shares with Kyle, kicks down the doors, and puts her on the mattress. Before Wanderer has a chance to explain, Ian turns to her and says, “You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me.” When she tries to explain her reasons for needing to leave, Ian crumples onto the mattress with Wanderer, crying and shaking. To Wanderer, this is so much harder to handle than his anger and she too begins crying. They cry in each others’ arms, not speaking, for a long time.
Ian breaks the silence by apologizing for his roughness before, and Wanderer apologizes for keeping her decision from Ian. She tells him that she has had her mind made up about the subject since the separation of the Seeker from Lacey. She tries to explain to Ian that she has to give Melanie back her life and her body because Melanie is in a prison, a ghost. Wanderer doesn’t want Melanie to have to live like that, because she loves her. Ian replies, “But I love you.” She tells him she loves him too, but while she is a part of Melanie’s body she can’t love him completely, because her body doesn’t love him. She tells him that, no matter what, she will always love him:
“I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian. And that will never change, no matter what I might become…. If I were a Dolphin or a Bear or a Flower, it wouldn’t matter. I would always love you, always remember you. You will be my only partner.”
When Wanderer watches Ian tearfully take in what she is telling him, Melanie realizes that Wanderer needs a moment ‘alone’ with Ian so she steps aside to keep from interfering. Wanderer leans into Ian, embraces him and they begin to kiss through their tears. “Good or bad?” Ian asks. When she replies “good,” they deepen the kiss. She feels herself changing, and senses herself becoming emotionally welded to Ian. Wanderer realizes the depth of this kiss has inseparably linked them together.
Ian insists that she does not have to leave Earth, and that even she is not allowed to kick herself out of the cave community. After kissing her again, he asks her to go to the game room and wait for him to bring back other members of Jeb’s cell. Puzzled, Wanderer asks why. Ian informs her that he is calling a tribunal to determine whether Wanderer should leave and that she, like every other member of the community, will have to abide by their decision.
