Pip fell asleep in my lap between one breath and the next, the way she always did, like a lamp switching off. Her little chest rose and fell. I put my hand on her back and felt the warmth of her, and I looked at the man across the room who had broken regulations to carry her out of the rubble and across multiple star systems.
It’s just proximity, I thought, one more time, because I was a coward and the truth was inconvenient.
The rain pounded harder on the window in disagreement.
Chapter 9
Andrek
“Dani,”Icalled.“Wouldyou like to leave the house for a bit and take in more of the colony?”
She walked into the office holding Pip. “Leave?”
“It occurs to me the only time you left the house since your arrival was to the medical facility.” I ran a hand through my dark hair. “If you’d like, we can go to the market. Perhaps you’d like some new clothing or to try new foods. Plus, it would be good to practice with Pip in public.”
“I’d love to!” Dani’s smile filled her face. She turned to Pip. “What do you say about heading out and seeing new things?”
Pip bounced in her arms.
“Let’s go.”
The market ran along the lower spine of the colony’s central hub, three levels of open-air stalls and covered corridors that smelled of roasting grain, engine oil and something sweet. Iknew every vendor by name, every shortcut between the stalls, and which sections Pip was and was not permitted to enter unsupervised when she became a juvenile. Until today, I found the market unremarkable.
I was finding it difficult to see it that way now.
“Is that…” Danielle stopped walking in the middle of the main corridor. A Gelhari family moved around her without comment, accustomed to newcomers freezing in that spot, and she turned in a slow circle with her head tilted back, taking in the upper levels. “Andrek. That stall isfloating.”
“The Merenni prefer elevated displays,” I said. “It signals premium goods. Watch your step, Pip.”
Pip had spotted the roasting station.
I caught her by the harness strap before she made it three paces, which earned me a look of profound moral condemnation from a creature who had, earlier that morning, attempted to eat a data cable. She went limp in protest, a technique she developed because I couldn’t drag her when she went limp without attracting the attention I preferred not to attract.
“I’ll carry her,” Danielle said, crouching. Pip climbed into Danielle’s arms with an air of vindicated dignity and turned her face toward the roasting station with longing.
“She’s not having any,” I said. “The spice content would make her ill.”
“I know.” Danielle shifted Pip to her hip. “I’m just acknowledging her feelings.”
Hmmm.
“Andrek!” Rethis called my name from across three stalls.
He was a large man even by Torzi standards, built like a defensive structure, with the deep-banded coloring of the northern territory and had a way of moving through a crowd that spoke of military habit regardless of how many years you were out of it. He reached us in eight paces and clapped both hands onmy shoulders, which was a greeting style I endured rather than enjoyed.
“Andrek.” He stepped back and looked at me, then looked at Danielle, then looked at Pip, and his face broke into a wide smile. “Long time, no see.”
“Supply run,” I said.
He tilted his head. “We all need them.” He looked at me and winked. I knew him well enough to know he was going to say something I would find inconvenient. “You must be Danielle. He’s mentioned you.”
This was not true. I had not mentioned her. I had, on two occasions in the past month, answered direct questions from Rethis about whether I had anyone staying in my home, and I had answered those questions with the truth, but never once had I mentioned her name.
Danielle smiled. “It shouldn’t shock me. He hasn't mentioned you,” she said.
Rethis laughed. It was so loud several nearby vendors looked over. “No, he wouldn’t have.” He turned back to me. “She navigates the market well for a newcomer.”
“It’s incredible,” Danielle said. She shifted Pip to her other hip, drinking in the market. I watched as she tilted her head, as she always did when something interested her. “On Earth, the sectors are so rigid. You don’t move between them. Everything is sorted.” She gestured at a nearby stall where a Drakaar, Torzi and a Merenni conducted a three-way negotiation over a crate of parts. “This is just… wow. Everyone. All at once.”
