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“Yes, you’re correct,” Narmuna said. “You’re capable of judging what’s appropriate to consume.”

The sudden change of attitude startled me into silence as Narmuna bought three containers of the drink. He handed me one then tucked the others into the pouch on his belt. I opened the miesua and drank half the container in one long swallow. It was sweet, tart, cold, and refreshing.

“Thanks, that’s perfect,” I said with a satisfied sigh.

Both Talins purred quietly at my words.

“I hate to hurry you, but I’d feel better if we were finished before the end of the work cycle so we have time to get everything to your ship,” Tulm said.

“Yes, of course,” Narmuna said and we set off again.

The next shop was a familiar sight. Every station I’d ever worked on had one. It was the place everyone went when they needed to buy necessities like food. This one was much larger and better stocked than the one on Bright Star Station but had all the same familiar foods.

“What do you like?” Tolly asked.

“What?”

“We’re here to get you food,” he explained. “We have plenty of stores for ourselves, but limited items that you can digest. You’ve been living on a Massoc station so you know what you can eat.”

I didn’t plan to be with them long, but ordering some extra food wouldn’t do them any harm. I listed off all my favorite packets as my eyes wandered around the space. The store's floors were the basic metal plating, so getting set down was going to be a fight.

“Tolly,” I said, pressing my palms to the sides of his face. I felt his oil warm the skin of my hands, and the scent of sage filled my nose.

I’d smelled it consistently whenever I was around Tolly, but never this strong. It gave me flashbacks to our night together, and I had a sudden and intense need to be touched by him again.

“Opal?” Narmuna said, pulling me back to reality. I’d been so caught up in my flashback I forgot we were in a public place.

I shifted my eyes to Narmuna. “What?”

Why was my voice so breathless?

“You were going to ask Tolreum for something,” Narmuna said. “You had on your request expression, but then your face changed. Your new expression wasn’t clear to me.”

I felt my face go hot. “N-nothing,” I stuttered. Then I remembered why I’d put my hands on Tolly’s face to begin with.

“I’d like to walk around,” I said. “A little time on some metal floor won’t hurt me.”

When Tolly hesitated, Narmuna spoke up. “She’s right. Tolreum, we need to respect her wishes when it’s not a dangerous situation.”

He put a lot of emphasis on the words respect her wishes. This treatment by Narmuna was new and made me curious. Of course the caveat about danger was familiar.

“Be mindful of any gaps between plates that might have sharp edges,” Tolly said.

I didn’t bother responding with snark because two of the store clerks came rushing over. They each had two cargo bots following close behind. They engaged the Talins in some pleasantries then assured them they could have everything transferred to their ship in time.

I moved off and found a few high-value items that could easily be resold. While everyone was distracted, I took them to the back table where they packed up purchases. There was a row of cargo bots, and I dumped everything into one of them. It was easy to program the bots to take them to the rug seller. I was also able to include a short message to the rug merchant to send these items to my station.

With that done, I hit deliver and the bot headed out the short door designed for the cargo bots. No one noticed.

I felt a little guilty because I’d technically stolen the items, but I was sure the clerks were going to overcharge the Talins anyway, so it would all work out.

“Opal, please join us.”

I looked over at Tolly’s words and made my way back to them. Gather bots were rushing around the store, grabbing and bringing items to the cargo bots gathered around them. The Talins and two clerks had moved to a large display mounted on the end of a shelf. When I got there, they had lists of food packets scrolling slowly across the display.

“We got a box of every food packet you can safely consume,” Tolly explained. “We wanted to know if you have any favorites you’d like us to get extra of.”

“We should get several cases of miesua,” Narmuna said.