From the planets’ perspectives, Grace landed on Erid around the same time that the beetles got back to Earth. I thought about Earth racing to launch the taumoeba to Venus at the same time that Erid was racing to save Grace from starvation. Grace was healing his starved body at the same time Earth was healing her desecrated lands. Even if they didn’t know it for so many years afterwards, they were healing together. When Grace was well enough to start truly living on Erid, Sol had already begun to shine again.














