Chapter 9 #2
“That's her name?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I forgot to ask.” Tivek considered him. “Do you like her?”
“I met her properly this afternoon.”
“That wasn't the question.”
Ruthak made a quiet sound into his cup. It might have been a cough, if his father had ever coughed at such a useful moment in his life.
Dhomhes looked around the table. Sheira had abandoned any pretense of interest in her food.
“Yes,” he said. “I like her. We're in Courtship.”
Tivek's mouth opened. Sheira put down the bread. Dhomhes waited through a silence considerably more interested than the question had prepared him for.
“Good. So do I. You should bring her here.”
“Perhaps I should speak to her again before arranging visits.”
“All right. Speak to her again. Then bring her here.”
“An admirably simple plan.”
“You're welcome.”
Sheira offered Dhomhes the bread. He took it because doing so gave him something to look at besides the pleasure on her face.
The inspection unit's departure notice arrived as they cleared the table.
Dhomhes checked the names against the crew allocation, then sent Hawn a short update himself. Equipment moving. Fresh survey being coordinated. Still no news of Fiviel.
When he lowered his comm, Ruthak was beside the kitchen door.
“Tivek did well today,” his father said.
“He told us.”
“He wanted to tell you.”
Dhomhes glanced toward the room where his brother was now arguing cheerfully with Sheira about whether training clothes could be considered clean if they had only been worn indoors.
“He knows he can call.”
“He likes you here.”
His father looked tired. Ore dust still marked one sleeve. Dhomhes had come with a problem and eaten his food and added a search operation to an already crowded day.
“I'll come more often,” he said.
Ruthak nodded, then took the dishcloth from the counter and went to help Sheira.
Dhomhes stood there a moment before remembering the stars.
He sent Sereya a message.
Are you free?
While he waited, he went out to the rear terrace.
The air was cool enough to feel through his jacket. Lights marked the paths between the buildings. Beyond them, the dark rose toward a sky crowded with stars.
Her reply arrived before he reached the railing.
Yes.
He called.
The little screen brightened with her face. Her hair was loose, and she had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. There was a wall behind her, the edge of a narrow bed.
“You remembered,” she said.
“You asked.”
He regretted how easily that could sound. A polished answer. Then she smiled, and he decided he would have opportunities to mean it again.
“Did you have dinner?” she asked.
“Twice, I think. Sheira believes the light side is starving me.”
“Is it?”
“Not successfully.”
“I was hoping you hadn't meant to call while flying back.”
“Why?”
“I didn't want to hear you tell your driver you'd lost another turning.”
He laughed. “That is going to follow me, isn't it?”
“For a while.”
She looked comfortable enough to tease him. He wished she were sitting beside him on the low terrace wall, close enough that he could hear the laugh without the comm flattening it.
“Shall I show you?” he asked.
He turned the view toward the sky.
For a moment she said nothing.
“Sereya?”
“I'm here.” Her voice was softer. “There are so many.”
“The lights interfere this close to the house.”
“Don't move. This is lovely.”
He rested his forearms on the railing and held the comm steady.
Inside, a door closed. Tivek said something too muffled to make out, and Sheira laughed. Sereya heard it; he could see the small change in her expression.
“Is that your brother?”
“Yes. He tells me you've met.”
Her eyes widened.
“The boy in the corridor?”
“Tivek.”
“He never told me his name.”
“Apparently neither did you. A serious failure on both sides.”
“He was busy telling me about the ceiling.”
“I heard.”
She covered her mouth. “He told you that?”
“With considerable approval.”
“I liked him.”
Dhomhes looked toward the lit doorway.
“He liked you too.”
“I'm glad.”
She said it without calculation, simply pleased. His fingers tightened on the comm. He could bring her into view with a turn of his wrist, hear her voice, watch her smile. The ache beneath his ribs only grew. He needed her within reach.
He turned the view back toward himself.
Sereya was still smiling. She stopped when she caught him looking.
“You've done it again,” she said.
“I have.”
“Is it the smile?”
“Among other things.”
Her fingers tightened around the blanket.
“You are very different when you aren't being a Gol-Vett.”
“I'm afraid I remain one, even on my father's terrace.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” He shifted against the rail. “Do you prefer this?”
“Yes.”
The answer came promptly enough to please him. Then she glanced down, as though she had only just realized how plainly she had said it.
“So do I,” he told her.
She looked back at him.
He could have made a joke. Given them both somewhere to retreat. He stayed quiet, and after a moment she loosened her grip on the blanket.
“Would you show me one day?” she asked. “The sky from there. In person.”
“I'd like that.”
“I don't need a grand tour.”
“Good. The crushers become less interesting after the third hour.”
She laughed.
“Just the stars,” she said. “And perhaps somewhere to sit.”
“I can manage both.”
He heard movement on her side of the call. Sereya looked toward her door. Her smile did not vanish, but he saw the effort it took to keep it.
“I should go.”
“All right.”
She hesitated.
He waited.
“Thank you for calling me.”
“Thank you for asking.”
Another small sound reached him, too faint to identify. Sereya turned her head again, then faced the screen.
“I'd like to talk tomorrow,” she said quickly.
“Then we will.”
“If you have time.”
“I'll ask when you're free.”
She nodded. For a moment he thought she might say something else.
Instead, she lifted her uninjured hand, palm toward him. A little farewell, shy enough to make his chest ache.
He raised his own.
“Good night, Sereya.”
“Good night, Dhomhes.”
The screen went dark.
He remained against the railing with his hand lifted for another foolish moment. Then he lowered it and looked up at the sky she had wanted to see.
The door opened behind him.
“You'll be cold,” Sheira said.
“In a minute.”
She came to stand beside him anyway. For once she asked no questions.
Dhomhes moved over to give her room, and they watched the stars until his transport was ready.