12
"Iremember falling asleep, listening to him talk to me about the importance of his weapon, how it was a cultural thing," Janae waved her hand. "And the next thing I knew, I was in my bed." She didn't mention that she dreamed of flying, but that had to be Khalzin carrying her to her bed.
At first, when she woke up, she was disoriented, but who wouldn't be if they woke up in a different place than they fell asleep? Living on the streets, that was a fear, that she'd be taken when she was sleeping or something, so how she was able to fall asleep like that in front of Khalzin, and then not freak out when she woke up...
Well, she did for a moment.
But that had more to do with the disorientation than anything.
"How do you feel?" Adryel asked. "Nothing, well, messed up or anything?"
Janae shook her head. "No, everything is fine. I didn't feel violated if that's what you're asking."
"That's what I was asking, but I didn't want to say that."
"Why? You always speak your mind."
"You never know if the walls are listening."
Janae laughed. "Now you do sound like the paranoids I used to see all the time walking down the street. Talking to the air and certain the buildings were listening to them."
The apartment that Adryel had been placed in was like Khalzin's place. Smaller. The windows faced toward the rising sun. And toward the landing platforms where the explosion happened.
Just looking out at them gave her chills.
"That has to be unnerving," Janae said, gesturing to the windows.
The destruction was apparent even from this distance. Worker drones flew around, attempting to repair and rebuild the platform, while Kantenans worked as well. It was a chaotic scene of machinery and humanoids moving everywhere. She wondered if Khalzin was there or somehow a part of it. He had told her he had a few things to take care of today while she was with her friend.
Maybe he was down there too.
"It's kind of like watching ants rebuild a crushed ant hill," Adryel said. "Only bigger."
"It is a horrible mess." She touched her chest, where the communicator rested that she'd gotten from Graecey. Was it only yesterday that it happened? It already felt like a lifetime ago.
They both sat in silence for a moment, and Janae hated that Graecey was gone. "I'm glad you're here," she finally said. "It is nice to know I can see you any time while we're here."
She nodded. "At least for the time being."
Janae knew what her friend meant. Unless she found a Kantenan to mate with, she would be shipping off with the others as soon as the Kantenans let the Galactic Alliance in to get their people. "It is hard to guess how long that will be," she said. "I don't know what the time will be for the investigation."
"Ha!" Adryel said. "Investigation? It's obvious. Someone doesn't want Kantenans involved in this program and wants all of us off-worlders gone from the system. If you think for a moment after all of this, I'm staying, you're crazy. And I think you need to run for the stars too. Someone will take you out or have you taken out." She gestured out the window. "Hell, throw you out a window would work."
She didn't like her friend's chain of thoughts, but she couldn't fault her for them. It made sense.
Except for that nagging feeling that this was something else besides the apparent situation.
"I made my commitment. I'm not leaving," Janae said.
"Your funeral, then."
"Maybe you just need to meet some Kantenans. See that they're not all bad."
Adryel raised her eyebrow. "This from the female who thought she had no chance at meeting anyone, so she ignored all the lessons?"
"Yet here I am. I don't know how it happened, but it was different. There was this energy between us. I can't explain it beyond that. It doesn't make sense."
"And here you are." Adryel shook her head. "Under the circumstances, you shouldn't have to honor anything made in duress."
