Chapter 2
SEREYA
“Higher,” Roemary said. “The pin.”
Sereya moved it higher.
“Now it's crooked.”
It had been straight before. Sereya said nothing and adjusted it again, bracing her elbow against the bulkhead as the ship shifted beneath them.
Through the viewport behind Roemary's shoulder, green filled the world.
Trees rose beside buildings, their branches so wide they could have supported entire streets. Perhaps they did. She had studied the information Graecey provided, but she hadn't understood how much space the trees would take, how alive everything would look.
She wanted to press her hand against the viewport. Follow a branch all the way down and see where it met the ground.
“Sereya.”
She brought her attention back to the pin.
“There.” She let go before Roemary could ask for another adjustment. “It will hold.”
Roemary checked her reflection in the polished wall.
“You should have worn something brighter.”
Sereya looked down at her dress. Gray, with a soft drape that had made it comfortable through the waiting. Roemary had helped her choose it.
“It seemed suitable.”
“Well, it will have to do now.” Roemary turned toward the exit. “Come on. They're taking us down.”
Sereya followed, folding her hands loosely in front of her. The dress had pockets. She wanted to put her hands in them, but Roemary disliked the way it spoiled the line.
She would put them in her pockets later.
It was a small thing to look forward to. She looked forward to it anyway.
In the cargo bay, the other women had gathered near the main ramp. Graecey moved among them with her data pad, answering a question here, shifting a bag out of the walkway there. Adryel stood beside Janae, her bright curls escaping whatever arrangement she had attempted that morning.
Janae kept touching her bangs.
Sereya remembered lending her a cloth once when the skin along her brow had cracked. They had sat together for a little while, talking about nothing that mattered. The temperature aboard ship. The noise of the engines.
She had liked that.
Then Roemary had asked where she'd been.
Now Janae glanced in her direction, and Sereya looked away before either of them had to decide whether to smile.
“Now, everyone will be taken down in groups,” Graecey called over the gathering. “I have the selections here. You all will be receiving your group placement through your chips any moment.”
A number appeared on Sereya's wrist. Three.
Roemary held hers toward the light. One.
“Naturally.” She lowered her arm. “Watch what the others do. When you come down, I want to know which of them the males notice.”
“I'll be in a different group.”
“I can see that.”
“I meant I may not be able to—”
“You'll manage.” Roemary's expression softened, and her fingers settled on Sereya's forearm. “You always do. I don't know what I'd do without you.”
Sereya looked at the pale hand against her skin.
Roemary had said something very similar on the ship, in the early days. Back when Sereya had believed her.
“Those of you in group one, I need you to come this way. The rest of you, please gather in your groups for each presentation.”
Graecey beckoned, and Roemary released her. She crossed the bay with her shoulders back, the veil moving beautifully behind her.
The pin would have caught the light at any angle.
Sereya let herself have that thought. Then she went to find the women in group three.
The screens came on after the first group cleared the ramp.
Sereya moved where she could see without standing in front of anyone. Kantenan light flooded the image, brighter than the soft illumination inside the bay. Roemary was easy to find. She had placed herself near the front, turning her head just enough to show the curve of her cheek.
Janae stood farther back. She was looking past the women toward something near the edge of the platform.
A bird, Sereya realized when the camera shifted. A small running creature with a quick, busy stride. Janae watched it and smiled.
Then a male walked into view, and Sereya forgot the bird.
She had known the Kantenans were large. Everyone knew that. There had been diagrams, with comparative measurements that made some of the women laugh and others ask rather pointed questions.
The diagrams had not adequately explained what it would feel like to have one walking toward you.
His horns curved out from his head, branching above a face set in earnest concentration. He was speaking. Khalzin, the scientist. The male whose work had brought them all here.
Sereya listened to the promise of honor and care and tried to imagine believing it from someone she had just met.
On the screen, Roemary smiled at him.
He kept walking.
Sereya's stomach tightened. Roemary shifted, preparing to speak, but his attention had already moved to Janae.
The bay grew quiet.
He had gone past all those waiting faces to the woman at the back who hadn't quite realized he was coming for her. Janae looked up. Sereya couldn't hear what they said at first, but she saw him bend toward her.
Then his voice carried through the speakers.
“I pick you, if you will take me.”
Janae nodded.
“Way to go, Janae!”
Adryel's delighted shout made Sereya smile before she could help herself. Someone beside her began clapping. She nearly joined in. Her hands lifted before she remembered herself.
Roemary was on the screen too.
Her expression stopped Sereya's hands halfway together.
Of course she was angry. She had spent the voyage being certain of this moment, and Khalzin hadn't even lingered in front of her. Tomorrow, Sereya would hear every detail of the insult. Tonight too, probably.
But Janae was smiling.
For once, Sereya wished Roemary would simply let her.
The argument on the platform grew loud enough to hear. Roemary accused Graecey of rigging the selection. Graecey caught her arm, and Roemary turned her anger on the Kantenans.
Khalzin's reply reached Sereya clearly.
“Your ego and conceit ruin your opportunities. You speak to my mate like that again, and I will see you punished for your disrespect.”
“You cannot! My father—”
“Your father can do nothing on this world. As soon as you stepped onto this land, your laws no longer apply, and mine do. You have no basis for your objections.”
Graecey steered Roemary out of the group.
Sereya knew how much strength that apparently gentle guidance required. She had done it herself, often enough.
But she was on the ship now. Roemary couldn't look over her shoulder and find her waiting.
Across the bay, Adryel was still grinning.
Sereya started toward her before she could change her mind.
Adryel saw her coming. The grin vanished.
“I don't want to hear it.”
Sereya stopped. “Not even an apology?”
“Now you apologize? When your queen isn't picked?”
She deserved that. She had expected it, and it still stung.
“I came on this mission so I could be a part of something important. I am here because I wanted to be a part of history. What we're doing? This is the beginning for many humanoids, a life that will change their worlds forever. I wanted to be a part of that.”
The explanation sounded rehearsed. It was rehearsed. She had offered versions of it whenever anyone asked why she had joined.
But she wanted it to be true. She wanted something good to come of being here.
“You sure didn't act like you were here for history.”
“I know.”
“You should apologize to her. And to Graecey. And every other female here that you and Roemary made feel bad about themselves.”
Sereya nodded. She glanced toward the ramp and back.
“Did you ever want to be a part of something so much, that you would do anything to stay in it?”
Adryel's face changed, though Sereya couldn't tell whether the question had reached her or merely annoyed her more.
“Nothing is ever worth that much desire. That kind of desire will get you killed.”
“If I die, then I die being a part of something I loved. I don't see a fault in that.”
She wished she could take the words back. They were too large for this conversation, and Adryel was looking at her as though she had just made herself even harder to understand.
“Ladies,” Graecey's voice carried through the bay. “Group two, I'm ready for you to come down. Group one is remaining on the platform. Groups three and four? Get yourselves together, and get down on the ramp, ready to go.”
Sereya reached into her pocket. The spare hair clip was warm against her palm. Plain, sturdy, one of the few useful things she had thought to keep with her.
She held it out.
“For your hair. It's windy down there. Even Roemary's hair was blowing around, I noticed. Yours might need some restraint.”
Adryel looked at the clip.
“A peace offering?”
“Whether you believe me or not, I am sorry.”
Raised voices approached from the ramp. Roemary's, clear above the others, saying they had no right to treat her this way.
Sereya's hand tightened around the clip before she remembered she was giving it away.
She put it in Adryel's hand.
“Do yourself a favor, though,” Sereya said quietly. “Stay away from her.”
“Not planning on inviting her to dinner or anything.”
Sereya touched her arm. “No. Seriously. Stay away from her. I don't know what it is, but she hates you. Like hates you.”
“The red hair. It brings it out of people.”
Adryel turned to join her group, and Sereya let her go. There wasn't time to make her understand. She wasn't sure she could have explained it if there had been.
Roemary insulted plenty of people. She enjoyed an audience for it.
When Adryel left a room, sometimes Roemary kept watching the door.
On the voyage, Roemary had wanted to know which bunk Adryel used, who sat with her, whether she ever spoke to the staff alone.
Sereya had mistaken the questions for another grievance she was expected to help nurse.
Now, with Adryel walking away, she wished she had asked why any of those answers mattered.
Sereya waited near the upper end of the ramp with group three. Below them, the second group crossed into open air. Adryel's hair lifted in the wind, bright enough to pick out among all the heads.