Page 39 of Alien Burn

She laughed again, and he went off looking pleased with himself.

At the arcade, Sereya tilted her head back. Blue sky had been painted between the arches. A flock of birds crossed it in a pattern too even to belong to anything living.

Very confident.

She followed the passage down to the courtyard and found the shallow pool. A pair of empty chairs stood beside it.

Roemary had not asked her to come straight back.

Sereya sat down.

For a while she kept her shoes on. Then she took them off and put her feet into the cool water.

Roemary was waiting when she returned.

“Where have you been?”

“The medical room.”

“For all this time?”

Sereya closed the suite door behind her.

“I went to the courtyard afterward.”

Roemary sat at the communications panel. The screen had gone dark, but an unfinished cup stood beside it. She had been tapping one fingernail against the rim. Now her hand was still.

“With whom?”

“No one.”

“Was Dhomhes there?”

“No.”

“Did you look?”

Sereya stared at her.

Roemary rose from the communications panel. “This morning should have been easy. You spoke to him outside the hall yesterday. What did you say?”

“He said a medic was coming.”

“And?”

“That was all.”

“You must have said something.”

Sereya could picture his face more easily than her own words. Another female had been bleeding beside her. “I don't remember.”

Roemary waited.

“Tell me what you want me to do,” Sereya said. Usually, that helped.

Roemary came closer.

“I want you to understand that we do not have unlimited mornings to waste. I am the one accountable for how this goes, to people you should be grateful you'll never meet.”