Chapter Four #3
She scrubbed her hands, went to the ordering window, and said, “So are you here to gawk or are you hungry. Either one is good with me.”
Cloudy looked at the crowd, and her fingers snapped the same question. A hungry patron came forward and placed his order with a grin. She took the order, called it to Sunny, and the machine of the food stall slowly started moving again.
The guardians got in line and defied going ahead of the folks who were waiting.
Sunny’s spatula rang fast, and every meal was fully cooked, no matter how fast he went. They slowly marched through the requests, and when the guardians made it up, she looked at them. “One each?”
They each held up three fingers.
“Three orders of three.”
Morsek asked, “Can we get extra akko?”
“Yes, of course.”
The three guardians grinned.
Hazor asked, “And can we get fruit ice?”
“I will try.” She smiled.
That seemed sufficient.
The guardians were the end of the line, so when the hot food was ready and Arkon had picked them up, she went and got a block of frozen fruit out, loaded it into the shredder, activated it, pulled it down, and held the rotating blades in contact with the frozen fruit, pausing to gather it in a cup.
She did it twice more and covered each one with a honey-and-cream derivative.
She put wooden paddles into each ice and walked them out to the guys who had already finished two out of three meals. She set the fruit ice down.
“There you go. And nobody died.”
Morsek chuckled. “That is a resounding mark of success.”
Emgoth was still there and looked at her in surprise. “You can use the shaver?”
“Yup. After the change, I got a lot stronger. I just hate taking a break in the middle of service to do it, so I put up the sign, and everybody laughs.”
He laughed. “Fair.”
She nodded and said, “Back to cleanup.”
She nodded to the guardians and got back to work... again.
* * * *
Arkon grinned. “So are you going to get used to being dismissed?”
Morsek chuckled. “If she can cook anything else, I am sure he will be willing to put up with the dismissal.”
Hazor smiled. “I am not an overseer, I am not a prefect, I am not a mayor, I am a guardian. If she and I engage in a courtship, she will make her insistence known, and I believe it will involve her residing here. I can do that.”
The guys looked at him. “Really? Will your mother allow it?”
“If she is compatible, there is no reason that I can’t dispatch from Yematic City.”
Arkon looked at him. “But... your mother’s manor.”
“I don’t need it. Housekeeping bots can tidy things, and if I am lucky, Cloudy would make breakfast at five in the morning before work.”
Morsek shrugged. “Or you could fly her to work and get a hot meal here.”
Hazor smiled. “Perhaps. We will see how the testing works out.”
Arkon laughed. “You already know.”
“It has to be official for her to get benefits. My mother will insist on it. If Hazda were here, she could read the frequencies, but she isn’t, so we have to do it with scanners.”
They finished their hot meals and dove into the fruit ice.
Hazor blinked at the first flavour. It was as if summer had been frozen and was delivered to his spoon.
“Do you think she would shove my head in the ice shaver if I asked for another?”
There was a cheerful singsong voice from the stall. “Yeh-ess!”
They laughed, finished, cleared up, and put the containers in the recycler station. Hazor got a notice on his com and walked up to the door at the side of the stall. “Cloudy?”
“Yes, Guardian?”
He smiled. “Do you have time at seven this evening to go to the assessment centre?”
“Uh, I think I can make it.”
“Good. Then, you can get this over with.” He smiled as she blushed, and it darkened her skin to a burnished brown where the green had been added.
She huffed. “Fine. Do you have any details so I know who to ask for?”
“Give me your com code.”
She wrinkled her nose and stuck out her wrist, and he tapped his onto it. Her information bloomed on his wrist, and her eyes widened. “Hey, you have my address on there.”
He grinned. “Of course. I have an enhanced unit. Job requirement.”
“Don’t talk about having an enhanced unit. People will talk,” she muttered.
He laughed and inclined his head. “Thank you, Miss Cloudy Merryweather,” he said carefully.
“Oh, darn.” She sighed. Her com chirped, and she got the information for the assessment centre. She knew where it was. It was where her parents worked.
He looked at her and grinned. “But I can see you know where to go.”
“Uh, yeah. They are on day shift.”
He chuckled. “So when the bow manifested, you could have had yourself assessed.”
She shrugged. “How was I to know it wasn’t a common thing among Vecchin? I mean, I have glowing genes as well.” She covered her mouth.
Hazor grinned. “I really wish my sister were here. She would be able to tell me right away, and then she could tell Mother and Father.”
She felt a change in the air and looked around. “Oh. I think they know.”
He looked around and tensed.
“I am guessing she has a few trackers on you as well.” Cloudy eased away from him, but his arm shot out to hold her. Damn. She had nearly gotten away.