[ Gil doesn't know what exactly happened to Rau on Mendel during the war. Rau was already such a distant figure then, consumed by fighting and rarely in touch... It was a time when Gil felt like Rau was slipping out of his hands, when he no longer felt certain what Rau was thinking...

Very unlike now, when the tension is perfectly obvious and Rau's body is an open book. ]

The situation is interesting enough already. We can spare that bit of excitement.

[ Gil's tone is perfectly even, not betraying any concern.

To Gilbert Durandal, Mendel had simply been a workplace. A colony he'd lived and researched on for a few years. Nothing about it disgusts him viscerally, even as he'd walked to work past fetuses in formaldehyde.

But Rey had nightmares about it, when he was little and just came to live with Gil. Gil remembered sitting at his bedside until he fell back asleep.
And Rau hates it with every fiber of his being, the birthplace of all his misery.

No, Mendel may not disgust Gil in the same way, but he holds no love for a place that causes his precious people so much anguish. They don't need to return, not even in their minds.

Gil runs his hand up Rau's spine, coming to rest on his shoulders. ]

The only thing left to expect of that place is its complete collapse anyway.