“Wait until you see the fun we can really have,” she said to the boy.
“No, don’t hurt our son,” the father said. “I won’t let you.”
“Hurt him? You misunderstand me. You are the Vartiya family, correct?” Soror Valide slipped off the sensors and dropped them at the boy’s feet. She then grabbed the doctor by his shoulders while grabbing a box from her harness. “You, Doctor . . . Would you be a Vartiya if your life depended on it?”
“Uh, yes? I think so?” said Valkoi’ves the older.
“Good. Brother! You have two to bring aboard.”
They teleported away from the convention center and into the stiern-boat. She directed the doctor to sit as Soror Valide approached the brother who sat up front. The sisters and other brother appeared inside the craft as the pilot activated the engines and Soror Valide sat next to him.
Her brother who had teleported aboard said, “Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m doing better than you are, thank you,” she said.
“That man is not our target, and you know it.”
“Sure he is. He’s a doctor of mechanical engineering by the name of Valkoi’ves. He’s exactly the man we need for this, and the one we were entrusted to find.”
“Send him back and pick up the boy.”
“You really think I have it wrong, or that you can order me around, don’t you? Tell you what, check the computer inside that case down there. I have the details of this mission written down so we can solve your little issue.”
“You check it yourself, Soror Valide.”
“I am the higher sister, aren’t I. You are closer to the computer, and we’re leaving the atmosphere now as we argue about this. Either follow my orders and check it, or sit down and shut up.”
The brother growled and huffed before grabbing the case. What he didn’t know was the lie that he was in for. The pad was an older one, broken internally, and it had something taped to the back of it. He noticed the latter in seconds because of its weight.
Soror Valide pressed a series of buttons inside of the bridge compartment while the brother behind her detached the small box—a beacon for matter transference—from the computer. She removed her mask and stared at her brother, who attempted to drop the item as soon as it lit up.
With a final button press it was too late. The brother was teleported outside, into the top of the atmosphere.
“Does anyone else wish to test my judgment?” she asked everyone else on the stiern-boat.
No one protested, and most of her sisters averted their gazes. Their new scientist looked at her with fright and confusion. Then their craft left the colonized moon behind and picked up speed for home.
* * *
Dasos pressed his hand over his face after he read the news from his personal computer. Il’lyse, please tell me you’re really alright.
He set his empty beer mug down and walked to the table on the other side of the pub where his buddies were waiting for the fun to begin. It was game day for them, at the start of the weekend. Everyone could make it this evening, making it a larger group. However, as he drew closer, there was one more person sitting among them who had been chatting with the boys and one girl. This new Ginserei made two.
She smiled at him with the awe of surprise when the two were able to see one another’s face. It was the woman from before.
“Oh,” she said, “don’t tell me you’re the game master of this little group as well.”
“Sometimes I am,” Dasos said.
“You are even more talented than I thought. Would you care if I joined you this afternoon?”
“That depends if you’re up for some Wormholes & Wyverns. We’ve been at this campaign, on and off, for over two revolutions, and are coming close to the end of the second last major arc of the story.”
“Even better. I would be honored if you would have me. I don’t get much of an opportunity to play back at home.”
“If you wish to join, at least for this afternoon, then I will need a character sheet from you in the next ten minutes.”
“Easy enough; I have plenty of unused characters to draw from.”
“And, for game mastery reasons, I will need your given name in case it becomes necessary later.”
“Stars beyond, is that all you need?” She giggled. “It’s Shungdi. Let me check my computer for one of my many characters I never had the chance to play until now.”
“Well then, Shungdi, welcome. I’ll bring you up to speed with the events so far.”
* * *
“Your rehearsal went fine,” Zoey said to Tong-Chang as they came closer to the condo. Her girlfriend was nervous performing in front of people, so she comforted her as best as she could while they walked. They had plans for tonight.
They slowed by Dasos’s window, which had its curtains closed. The sounds of a woman moaning in pleasure managed to reach their ears, and both girls laughed to one another in silence.
Zoey opened the door and said, “Let me set my things down and check for the movie times. Then we can go.”
Tong-Chang said, “You really don’t have to pay for this one, love.”
“Yes I do. Maybe I should have looked this up sooner so we don’t have to listen to them.”
“Who is that?”
“I’m assuming it’s the same Ginserei girl he met a few days ago.” Zoey wasted no time to browse the movie theater’s site on her personal computer. The film that Zoey and Tong-Chang wanted to see started in forty-five minutes, with the theater being in Arcadia.
“Another Ginserei, huh? I always knew he still thought of me,” Tong-Chang said in jest.
“You’re funny. Come on, we can catch the next trolley and make it into our seats by the time the previews are over.”
[ 42]
The lanterns’ lighting outside of his window poked through a slit in his curtains that was no wider than either of his pinky fingers. The light hardly illuminated any part of Dasos’s room, but he didn’t need it.
Shungdi rested on his shoulder, her eyes now closing to catch up with the fact that she had already dozed off. He was unsure if she held up a bed sheet to conceal the strip of hair on her chest or to help stay warm, but her strength failed her, causing her to loosen her grip on the cloth.
Zoey and Tong-Chang came back from wherever it was that they had gone, but both girls were being quiet as they drew close to the condo and entered it. Heil’auin, he remembered, was rarely ever this quiet when coming home, much to the dismay of two of Dasos’ girlfriends at the time of him living here.
Now one of those girls was dating his little sister. The universe was the oddest of pranksters, sometimes.
Dasos waited until he could no longer hear the girls, as silent as they were being, and then poked Shungdi in the nose. He was expecting her to awaken first, if anything, but the Ginserei woman bit his finger while she slept.
Luckily she didn’t bite down too hard, but Dasos was still going to feel her teeth for a few minutes after she let go. If he had used his Aelfen double vision he might have seen the bite coming, for that matter, and avoided the chomp in the last fraction of a second. Instead he lay there musing at the woman and her strange reflex.
“Ack!” She said upon opening her eyes and letting go suddenly. “Sorry, that’s an old habit of mine from my brothers all trying to play pranks on me in my sleep.”
“Those must have been some brothers.”
“Oh, yes. They often laughed at how hard I tried to become better than them at everything. One of their favorite pranks was to try covering my face with honey or bits of fruit, because of the gnats and mosquitoes we’d get in the warmer months. I made a habit of thwarting them by eating the things before they could touch my face.”
“While in your sleep?”
“Yes. Then we were separated for our education, and the one brother who stayed with me was nothing like that. I must have kept this silly reaction of mine ever since I was little. My question is why
did you try touching my face just now?”
“I thought your nose was cute. Surely you had past lovers who thought the same thing?”
“N-no. Not even five revolutions ago during my first tangouchu. I was treated for it then, like other girls where I am from. I wanted so much for a boy to touch me in all of the right ways since back then, but I never had the chance to meet anyone who was willing until I came here. Too many were frightened to try it, you see.”
Dasos cleared his throat as he realized what she meant. Then again, she wasn’t the first girl whose first time had been taken by him. The other one had communicated the fact beforehand, was all it was.
“Should I have told you?” Shungdi said.
“It might have been nice to know,” Dasos said. “What if I had hurt you because you weren’t ready?”
“We would never have gone this far. Don’t go developing serious feelings for me now.” She kissed him. “I like our taboo affair the way it is.”
“You call it taboo. Does that mean you’re in a High House?”
“I see you are familiar with this custom of ours. Sadly, yes. If my people were to learn about what we have been doing, games aside, then it may not bode well for either of us.”
“I also know the history behind the fairy tale, where a Ginserei prince fell for an Aelf who was a thief, and it was their love and their twin children that sparked our alliance.”
“Don’t romanticize them the way that tale does. She was still very much a thief, and the former prince never returned to power.”
“What are you, really?”
“No, don’t ruin this for us; don’t you ever.”
He pulled down the sheet a few centimeters, and used the same finger to retrace the thick line of hair that matched Shungdi’s scalp and wrists. Her hand came to stop his, and they clasped together. Dasos kissed her on the neck.
“I really must go soon,” she said. “Maybe I should go now so I don’t fall asleep here overly long. If my people don’t see me back at the embassy before twenty-four-thirty then we will have another incident.”
She had to climb over him to get out of bed. Once she was on top, the sheet fell off and she shivered. Shungdi lifted the sheet back up and took it with her to her clothes on the floor. The chill in the air reached Dasos, but it barely affected him. He watched his lover move underneath the haphazard tent she had made around herself, while still standing, and put on her clothes.
“It’s getting a little cold in here,” she said.
“That’s Hyettemane weather for you, at least around the bay here,” Dasos said.
“If things weren’t the way they are I might hold you accountable by using you for warmth the whole night. Oh, some part of you likes that idea, I see. Here’s your blanket back.”
She dropped the sheet of linen on top of Dasos, revealing her fully clothed body.
Shungdi said, “I guess I will see you around, if we’re going to be keeping this up. Tomorrow I have business to attend to. W-Why are you getting up?”
Dasos turned his body, flipping his legs over the side of the body, and pushed himself up. He wasted no time wrapping the same sheet around his waist.
“Let me escort you to the door,” he said.
“For a moment there I thought you were going to start an incident in the middle of your own bedroom,” Shungdi teased.
“Maybe later, when our people aren’t arguing with one another.”
“Stars beyond, you’re serious. My business here may be over by then, so I’d have to come back to see you try it.”
“Would you?”
Shungdi kissed him on the cheek and practically glided out of the front door, which Dasos then realized he was already holding. She slipped out of view before long, never once giving him an answer.
* * *
“She’s become a loose cannon,” Lord Tunderek said in the next room. “If the man she found wasn’t reliable for this task I’d end her myself.”
Soror Valide leaned against the other side of the wall, by the door. The voices on the other side were faint, but she did her best to make them out without making a noise. She kept an eye out for any brothers or sisters who might wander through this late.
Lady Tunderek said, “Ho-ho! After all of the work that we put into her?”
“It wasn’t the same as many of her brothers and sisters. She was a special case,” said Lord Tunderek.
“A special case like this one has its uses. There is one more I see for her. If you are still displeased with the girl when it is over then you can eliminate her. I understand things are lining up perfectly now. Before the end of the month we shall see.”
Soror Valide pushed her body away from the wall. Her feet stood close to the middle of the carpeted corridor that her prints did not set anywhere suspicious, as there was plenty of traffic along the middle of the carpet but not along the walls.
She turned and fled silently toward the basement where the two scientists slept and worked. Neither one was awake now, nor did she intend to return to her brothers and sisters upstairs. Soror Valide lay down on the two-seater sofa where it was far less comfortable than any bed in the house. Her sleep was restless and brief.
* * *
Bon’sinne walked into the bakery while Zoey was restocking the plates. Zoey welcomed her, more surprised that this was the first time she had seen her mom come here. She wondered what the occasion was.
“Zoey, dear,” Bon’sinne said, “it’s good to see you.”
“Likewise, Mom,” said Zoey.
“I haven’t been in here in a good, long while. Do you still have raspberry muffins available?”
“No, we don’t, since they’re out of season on this side of the planet.” Zoey raised a finger and walked to a white board. She picked up a marker and drew a line under the column made for raspberries; it was the third line. “But, since you’re a new person to ask, we’re keeping tally. Once enough demand comes for raspberries the boss will be more than happy to order synthesis be done on them, and then we can make more. I’ll be glad to let you know if or when that happens. The muffins will be available for a week then, or else we’d have to wait a couple months for shipment from far up north, or buy from the store when they’re nowhere as good.”
Synthesis, while available and fantastic for replicating foods, was expensive due to material reservation and priority given to medical supplies first, and restaurants or cafes second if they could afford it. Zoey twice asked around about the process and got an answer she didn’t understand about atoms and molecules being pieced together in a safe manner.
The idea of atoms coming together through manmade means reminded Zoey of what she had learned in history classes on Earth, and the devastation that such devices wrought. She wasn’t ready to think about how this society might handle their atoms or molecules with care to make something as simple as saline solutions.
“Well then,” said Bon’sinne, “have you figured out your carrot cake recipe yet?”
Zoey said, “Not yet. My studies and class assignments come first.”
“Drat.” Bon’sinne ought to have known that, and maybe she did more than Zoey could read.
For the past few weeks her mom and Sensei Su-Jin had her working on speed and endurance more than additional technique, saying that learning more moves would come after midterms were over. For now, the class was mostly exercise, and one rather tempted Zoey wanted to look up more techniques for martial arts on her own if she wasn’t already busy with other obligations.
At that moment, Brach’geros walked out of the kitchen with a fresh batch of pear muffins. It was one of two batches being baked. The one with pecans was still inside the oven. They were restocking in time for lunch when more people were bound to come.
Learning about Brach’geros’ namesake had been a fascinating tale for Zoey. There was a cliff on Elysium Prime that overlooked the crossroads between three nations that were bitter rivals, often violent, over who had the better artists or agricultu
re. For many centuries the cliff had watched over the Aelfs like a reliable old man pointing them home, no matter how many wars had passed. So he was named for that cliff, not having seen it nor knowing if it still stood to this day.
He said, “Oh, hello, Captain Thalassas.”
Bon’sinne placed both knuckles on her hips. She said, “Retired. It has been an age, Brach’geros.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She turned to Zoey again. “He is a little older than Dasos or Il’lyse, but they went to public school together when we moved here sixteen years ago. I remember seeing him around our neighborhood when they, and Tonny, were up to their shenanigans.”
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