Hemma came out with ice cream.“We are getting more visitors.Litha is coming by in a few to check the maximum height you can reach, Zephyr.She wants to make you some kind of a covering for when you grow.”
“Oh, wow.Why?”
“I think she thinks of it as a challenge.She’s a chemical engineer focusing on textiles.”
A chunk of space appeared in the middle of the yard, and a tall, dark-haired man exited holding a blond woman who gleamed with light.
Hemma smiled.“Hello, Litha.Is this Sergei?”
He smiled and said, “My name is Ser—oh, you got it.That’s rare.”
Zephyr was a few scoops into her bowl, and she set the ice cream down.“I believe you are here for me.”
She was suddenly looking down at Litha and getting quizzed on how her activation worked.
* * * *
Hemma sat back andwatched Zephyr get measured at her base form, and then she grinned when she started stripping.Sergei came over and stole Zephyr’s ice cream.“This is pretty good.”
“It should be.It’s from your sister’s shop’s second outlet at the farmers’ market.”She smiled and ate her peach ice cream.
He nodded.“Figures.It felt so weird that the world moved on without me.”
“Well, Sleeping Beauty is your story, with a wall of the canister and hedges of radiation that kept you from rescue until a daring princess with a radiation affiliation came and set you free.”
“That she did.And then, she kept me from the demons that welled up in me nightly.”
“Whatever you want to call it, dude.”
He looked at her and laughed.He sobered.“You are Uraddan?”
“Yes.Your prison was made from the blood of my family mixed in with the metal.It absorbs radiation.”
Ekbert glanced at her and then at Sergei.“Just tell him, Hemma.”
“Fine.They drained the blood from me to make your prison.I was twelve or fourteen, I think, and they took all they could, waited a few weeks and came back again.I am not precisely sure of the process, but you were in a prison lined with the blood of a child.If it gives any comfort, you weren’t alone in there.”
Sergei paused.“That actually does ease my mind.I was wondering if they had found a mineral that could do it.Are there others?”
“Not as far as I know.Ekbert isn’t a match.”She looked at him with a cocked head.“Do you want to destroy me so that it isn’t an issue again?”
“Uradda has fallen, and I don’t think you are the type to try and kill me.”
“It only worked because you were completely surrounded head to toe.If you need to destroy me, use manual means.You and Litha, I would just absorb the energy.”
“Does your employer know?”
“Yeah, she uses me for radiation exposure when it’s needed.It registers; it just doesn’t damage.”She looked at him.
“You would accept death?”
“After years of humiliation, it doesn’t seem so bad.”Hemma shrugged.“I would still fight on reflex, but I was forced to do terrible things.I should answer for some of them.”
Ekbert stared at her.“Hemma, are you depressed?”
“Probably.It fades a few days after Keska’s heat.”She shrugged.
Sergei paused.“It sounds like you are syncing up.”
