Page 130 of Alien Burn

During the flight, Sereya saw Adryel lift a hand toward her ribs, then lower it. She almost asked, but remembered Janae's question about the next scene and stayed quiet.

Dhomhes was forward with Stron. Before going, he had looked back at her.

For years she had thought the safest kind of affection would make no demands and attract no notice. A private thing, if she ever found it. Something she could hide from people who knew how to spoil it.

But his hand had been there in front of everyone.

She wanted it there again.

The light beyond the viewport faded as they crossed away from the green country. For a time she watched bare rock and long channels below. Then the refineries came into view, spreading farther than she had imagined.

Dhomhes's home.

She had pictured stars when they spoke of it. She had not pictured quite so many pipes.

The thought nearly made her smile again. She saved it to tell him, because she was beginning to like making him laugh.

The transport shuddered on landing.

Everyone moved at once.

Sereya waited for space to bend and retrieve her bag. By the time she straightened, Adryel had joined the passengers moving down the aisle.

The ramp opened on noise.

Even after the flight, the refinery startled her. Machinery worked somewhere beyond the landing area with a deep, steady force she could feel through the soles of her shoes. Cold air slipped beneath her collar. She pulled the wrap around herself and followed the line.

Guards directed people toward an entrance. Workers stood farther back, watching the unexpected visitors. Their horns and shoulders made dark shapes against the lamps.

Adryel's hair flashed ahead of her near the foot of the ramp.

A pair of passengers stepped into Sereya's view, one helping the other with a bag. She shifted to give them room.

When they moved on, she couldn't see the red hair.

She looked toward the entrance.

Then back at the transport.

“Keep moving, please,” someone said behind her.

Sereya took two steps, scanning the faces. There were too many people she didn't know. Too many places Adryel could have gone in a few seconds.

She found Stron instead.

He stood beside Dhomhes, watching the thinning line of passengers. Something in his expression made Sereya's stomach turn over. He spoke. Dhomhes looked at him, then brought his communicator up.

Stron started to move. Dhomhes caught his arm briefly and pressed something into his hand.

Then Stron was gone, moving fast toward the complex.

Sereya reached the guard directing her group.

“Adryel,” she said. “The female with red hair. She was ahead of me. I can't see where she went.”

He looked toward Dhomhes and touched his own comm.

“Where did you last see her?”