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“Um, no. I pulled myself out of their minds to start with. I don’t want anyone remembering me after I left.” Aya sighed. “I felt like I was running away from home.”
“You did that when I was eleven. You were twelve. You were back in two days.”
“And I brought ice cream.”
“That is true. It was very good. Hey, can I get the recipe? We have some tree sap around here that does a pretty good imitation of cream and isn’t toxic to all species here.”
“Nice. Sure. Get me a tablet, and I will write down all of my sweets knowledge.”
Cloudy grinned. “Excellent. The Vecchin here are short on sweets.”
“What are their flavour profiles?”
“The population? I have a very limited amount that I have licked. A sample of one.” Cloudy laughed.
Aya hugged her. “I have missed you.”
“So have you been licking aliens?”
“A sample of one.” Aya smiled. “He’s very sweet, and I care for him very much. The next time you see me, I will be close to seven feet tall and shades of grey.” She pointed to her forehead. “The mark is going to stay.”
“So he’s a good guy?”
“He’s a good guy and the embodiment of time. He sees it all, forward and back, and he froze time at the station to get me out.”
Cloudy blinked. “Well, you can pick ‘em.”
“Yeah. Not like Nathan back in high school. Devran just calmly gives me what I need and is an excellent body pillow.”
Music spilled toward them, and Cloudy lifted her head as female vocals encouraged folks to gather and dance.
Aya looked around. “Who is that? They have power in the voice.”
Cloudy linked arms with her. “Let’s go see.”
They laughed and walked outside where the party was kicking off. Aya stared at the woman on the bandstand who was singing and entreating those nearby to dance and celebrate survival. They were alive.
Aya kept staring because she saw something that was very wrong with the woman who was singing with joy and triumph. Scars. Her face was covered in scars; one moved around her ear, and she winced when she remembered a client who had the same mark. His ear had been torn off and replaced. The scar was the same.
The woman was wearing a breast band, leggings, boots, and a wide robe that flared as she moved. Scars covered almost every inch of exposed skin.
Aya exhaled. “The courier.”
Cloudy blinked. “The what?”
“The robe. She’s a high-security courier. She’s here to get something from Kazi.”
Cloudy smiled and looked around. “Ohmygod. Is that an ancient?”
Aya glanced over at Kazi and Tiffany. “Yup.”
Cloudy was staring. “I...”
“Don’t do the math. Don’t ever do the math.” Aya grinned. “They were neither built for comfort nor speed.”
Kazi looked at Aya with a grin.
“And they have annoying hearing.”
