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Cloudy looked up and went, “Fucking hell. Good thing you got a table for six.”
Her mother said, “You aren’t going to dismiss him?”
“Nope. I am way too tired.”
Hazor walked to her side, lifted one hand to his lips, and smiled. “Miss Cloudy, it is such a surprise to see you again so soon.”
“Yeah, colour me shocked. He’s fucking persistent.” She picked up one of the sausage-wrapped eggs. She bit into it and smiled at the familiar flavour. “It’s good. How long until I can ask what kind of eggs?”
“Give it six months.” Bess nodded.
“Oh, that bad. I think I know what it is.” She shrugged and kept eating.
Bess laughed and looked at the guardians. “What do you three want?”
Hazor wisely said, “Do you have a menu?”
“Yes, we do it human-style, printed on a card, and you tell me what you want or ask me about what you need information on.” Bess smiled brightly.
The guardians looked stunned.
Bess sighed. “Or you can activate the plate in the middle of the table if you aren’t up for any guessing.”
Arkon looked at the digital display on the table. Morsek lifted one of the pages and worked to read it.
“This is all food of your world?” Morsek looked at Bess.
Bess grinned. “More or less. Mostly less, but Cloudy taught me to go for flavour, as much as that is occasionally difficult.”
Cloudy went for another egg, and Hazor said, “You know that is—”
Cloudy clamped her hand over his mouth. “I work on the dock. I know what it is.”
His lips smirked beneath her palm.
Bess chuckled and focused on Morsek’s questions.
Arkon placed a few safe orders and sat back, watching Morsek slowly flirting with Bess.
Cloudy removed her hand from Hazor’s mouth.
He reached for one of the eggs and took a bite, raising his brows. “That is interesting. You eat this frequently?”
“Yeah. After a day at the stall, I hate cooking. I usually just get some meat stew and some bread.”
Bess looked up. “And dessert. You are getting several today. Molly said so.”
Cloudy said, “What are Molly’s marks?”
“The dots?”
“Oh, right.” She chuckled and grabbed a handful of chips. The brown ketchup took some getting used to, but it tasted right. That was what mattered now; she had to look beyond appearances.
She laughed as she caught her reflection in one of the mirrored walls. She wasn’t pigmented like she had been on Earth, but the silver and dark green suited her. Bess’s rich brown suited her, and back in the kitchen, Molly’s deep grey suited her, as did the pointy ears. They had all opted for pointy ears.
Arkon asked, “Who is Molly?”
Cloudy said, “My cousin, her twin. Of course, they look a little different now. They opted for pigment changes like I did.”
