Page 38 of Alien Burn

“You can get there from here. Eventually.” He pointed back toward the junction. “The short way's through the arcade. Nobody trusts it the first time because it looks like it's outside, but it's not. It just has a very confident ceiling.”

She looked where he was pointing.

“A confident ceiling.”

“Painted with the sky.” He took a bite of fruit. “Which is strange, because the sky is right there, doing it for free.”

A small laugh escaped her.

He smiled as though that were exactly what he had intended.

Up close, he was taller than she had thought, almost as tall as Dhomhes. Young, though. He seemed to have grown before he had decided what to do with all the extra reach.

“You're one of the Gol-Vett ladies?” he asked.

She could have told him she was part of the program. Or that she was staying with Roemary. Those answers usually sent people in the proper direction.

“I don't know yet.”

He grinned.

“That's a good answer. Everyone else I asked said yes very fast.”

“Perhaps they know.”

“Perhaps.” He considered this, then nodded at her hand. “Is that better?”

She glanced down at the fresh dressing.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He didn't ask what had happened. Didn't look at the scrape on her face and wait for an account of the platform. She had answered his question, and he appeared to believe her.

“Are you going to the fountain?” he asked.

“I was trying to.”

“Left, then down through the arcade. If you reach the clerks, turn around. They make you carry things.”

“Only if you let them.”

“You haven't met these clerks.”

He stepped aside to let her pass, then stopped.

“There's a pool in there. The shallow one is for feet. The other one isn't. Someone should tell you before you have a very unpleasant conversation with the gardener.”

“You sound experienced.”

“I was much younger.”

“How much younger?”

He gave the matter a moment's thought.

“Several days.”