fourteen
Despite her staying up so damn late—and getting into trouble—Mira was wide awake when her mother shook her in their bed.
“Get up and get ready to go out, my heart.” Joiya stepped away the moment Mira opened her eyes and faced the foggy morning. “We’re going into town today. Soon. Let’s go.”
It wasn’t until her feet were on the floor that Mira felt the tiredness settle in.
“Ugh.” She rubbed her eyes and searched for her day tunic.
Her mother tossed her one of her own blouses, instead.
Your clothes are too small for me! Yet if her mother was adamant that they not wear their Temple clothes that day, then they must be incognito.
All the good it would do them in civilization.
“Can I not today? I’m so… tired.” No matter how much she blinked, she couldn’t free her vision from the clumps of crud that had accumulated on her lashes overnight.
“We’re not walking.” Joiya sat before the dresser, brushing out her hair. Meanwhile, Mira walked around with half her hair sticking up on top of her head. “Orlin and Kema will take us.”
Well, that was new. Part of this supposed penance was having to hoof it on foot wherever they wanted to go.
Having people on hand who could teleport them places almost instantaneously was for emergencies.
Ooh, been a while since I teleported, with or without someone else.
Who knew she could have missed it so much! And not just for the convenience!
“What’s going on?”
“We’re meeting someone.” Joiya looked back at her daughter, who was still wandering the bedroom half-asleep. “And we’re late.”
“Can’t you tell me who it is?”
Joiya shooed her into the bathroom.
Mira wasn’t proud of how long it took her to get dressed and fix her hair—a process that would have been sped up considerably if she could have used passive sorcery to take care of the routine shit.
But with her mother so fussy, she knew it was important.
So when Mira emerged looking “good enough,” Joiya stuck her head out in the hallway and invited Orlin. I had no idea he was lurking out there.
Kema was there in another minute. Joiya wasted no time telling them let’s go now, as if they were fleeing another one of Mira’s crimes.
“Ma, what—” But before Mira could finish her thought, Kema had grabbed her arm and teleported them both to the nearby town.
Harksplit wasn’t a “city” in the traditional Federation sense, which had strict definitions for governance's sake, but it was the biggest town in that region of Arrah and a decent stopover for those taking the planetside route to the capital of Dassil.
There were inns, libraries, cafés, and museums for those just passing through, and a Temple for those who lived in town or nearby.
The Gardiahs were a household name thanks to their legacy and money, but the town itself was run by two friendly families, one of which belonged to the governor of Harksplit and the outlying regions, including the land of Gardiah Estate.
Mira had been here a handful of times, each occasion with her mother, and usually to visit the Temple.
Each time, people had recognized them—and part of that was because word traveled fast on bucolic planets like Arrah, meaning everyone and their pious grandmother knew that Lady Joiya and her daughter were staying with the Gardiahs.
But it wasn’t the Temple Joiya dragged her daughter toward.
She handed Kema a handful of cash and a list of things to gather around town and from the Temple.
Orlin followed mother and daughter down a side street leading away from the central plaza where they landed.
Joiya seemed to know exactly where they were going, as if she had planned all of this.
Ma, I swear…
They arrived at a corner café that boasted nightly events, from games to trivia to singing competitions. That close to lunch, however, it was quiet. Only half of the tables were filled, and most of them with one or two people drinking tea and eating small meals.
Few looked up at them. Orlin shielded the shorter women with his imposing stature and must have projected a ward of indifference, for not even the proprietress heading their way bridged the distance before absentmindedly turning away and cleaning off a dirty table instead.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Mira said, as she and her mother were herded into a back corner booth.
“I can’t,” Orlin replied with a sigh. “But he can.”
Mira had almost missed the man sitting in the booth with a dog at his feet. No way. Already? She grinned, nearly pushing her mother out of the way. The man in plain clothes who suggested he was used to living in a climate like Arrah’s waved at them with a smile on his face.
“Aren’t you two a sight for my sore eyes?”
He kissed Joiya on the cheek, who slid into the other side of the booth so Mira could sit next to her.
“Also, I could teach you how to erect wards of indifference.”
He pointed to Orlin, who went to sit at the nearby bar.
“Could be useful for a man in the YDF, right?”
“Wards were never my strength, much to my grandfather’s consternation,” Orlin said before hailing the man behind the bar. “Because most of my family would agree with you, Master Marlow. Just call me when you need something shot or a body flung across the room without lifting a finger.”
Mira bent down to kiss the man on the forehead before sitting across from him. “You’re here already!” That was all she could say.
Ramaron made room on his bench for his current dog, one he had probably bred himself, since that had become his passion project while the Head of House Marlow.
It was because of this man that young Mira had grown up with canine companions to call her own until she was old enough to live full-time at the Academy.
I also might not exist without him. While her father had put in the physical work behind her creation, it was his oldest companion, Ramaron, who had doted on Joiya while she finally enjoyed the final stage of pregnancy that bore Mira.
“Of course. Your mother insisted that I ‘get here on the morrow,’ so here I am.”
He waved his hand, dropping the ward on the employees nearest them.
The proprietress ran up to take their orders, holding back a desire to gush over the people sitting in the private booth.
Everyone ordered something in Basic while switching back to Julah to speak to one another.
“You know how she is.” Ramaron looked at Joiya when he said that.
“There’s a lot of work to do in this place.” Although Joiya sounded serious when she said that, she couldn’t help but grin when one of her oldest friends looked back at her. “Oh, please, we can catch up later.”
“I’d rather catch up now.”
Mira agreed with their visitor. “Ooh, did you bring the goods?”
Anyone else in their families would have scoffed at the way Ramaron granted her a mischievous look. “Of course I did. Everything I could procure on such short notice.”
“Which is everything, knowing you.”
“What in the world did you ask him to bring?” Joiya asked.
“Everything’s back in my room,” Ramaron explained.
“I got a room in the inn over by the plaza. Although if you think we’re going to be here a while, I’ll rent a proper flat somewhere around here. I only need to pop back home a couple of times a week, so my steward doesn’t have a hernia in my sudden absence.”
“Let me talk to the priest at the Temple. There’s an empty apartment behind there that he will give you for free if I remind him that you are doing work for the Temple.”
“Usually, those orders come from your husband.”
“Do you want to call him? Be my guest. He’ll yell at you for bothering him.”
“Actually, I talked to him last night. I stopped by your apartment while packing for this trip. Thought I’d give him a heads up, because I knew you hadn’t.”
“Hmph. And what did my husband say?”
Mira glanced between them, attempting to read the silent exchange causing their pupils to expand and contract while fingers tapped their faces. Why don’t I have friends like this? Sheesh. “Yeah,” she said. “What did Dad say?”
“He told me to keep you out of trouble.”
“Me?” Joiya squeaked. “Or her?” She pointed to her daughter.
A pot of hot tea was brought to their table. Mira didn’t know what the precut sandwiches in a basket were, but it must have been their lunch. She helped herself to both, now that her stomach was awake. “I’ve got enough people babysitting me, thank you.”
“Oh, he meant you,” Ramaron said to Joiya. “He said, and I quote, ‘Tie her up and put another tattoo on her while you’re at it. She can’t help herself.’”
“Pervert!” Joiya said with an amused gasp.
“Who?”
“Both of you!”
Ramaron rolled his eyes. “You two are a handful enough as it is. Or maybe I mean all three of you. Anyone with the family name Dunsman is a handful.”
Mira was the only one breaking into their lunch.
She was grateful that Ramaron had the foresight to up his ward of indifference on the humans around them, but every so often, someone glanced in their direction with a perplexed look on their humble face.
The moment it started clicking who was sitting in the corner booth, those same people immediately put down their utensils and drinks until the ward kicked in again, and they were once more distracted by books, holographic clipboards, and conversations.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do here,” was what Mira heard her mother say when she rejoined what happened at the table.
“I’ve honestly never seen anything like it in this one family. And when you find out what happened to them…”
Even with the erected ward, Joiya was careful not to talk about sensitive information in public.
Especially when it was about other people.
“The Void led us here for a reason. The rest of the pilgrimage can wait until we finish here.”
Mira cut in after shoving the sandwiches in Ramaron’s direction. “What research is this? Last I heard, you two were studying the Process.”
Both older adults exchanged glances, as if silently attempting to figure out how to explain what was going on to someone not as academically inclined.
It’s not like I don’t care… I just don’t want that life.