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YASMINE
Yasmine floated through her day.
Though Ruler Kreed’s words had lightened her heavy heart, she was finding herself drawn to stay anyway.
He isn’t interested in you like that…
Surely his explosion after she wore his wife’s headpiece was enough for her to know that much.
But it had been fun to run and talk with him. And seeing him drop his cares for a moment and actually laugh was kind of incredible.
Knowing he was the leader of Ulfgard, and she had helped him start his day with a smile made her feel important in a way she had never felt before. Was it so bad to want to be his friend?
Was it so bad to have a job with kids she adored?
She and Pia finished their afternoon in what felt like a heartbeat and left to retrieve Jax from school.
By the time they returned, the camera crew was setting up on the lawn. The kids got changed into some workout-appropriate clothes, and then watched in awe. A woman programming hover drones with specialized lighting had them practically mesmerized.
Yasmine had her eye on the interviewer, a middle aged Vystian woman in a lavender dress suit with a float bustle. She looked friendly enough. Yasmine knew her future was in the palm of the woman’s beautifully manicured hands. She hoped the woman was feeling merciful.
But there was no use worrying about it now.
She turned her attention back to the kids.
“Okay, guys, let’s start our sun stretches,” she said.
“We do them twice because Ulfgard has two suns,” Pia said proudly. “Romulon and Remon.”
“That’s exactly right,” Yasmine told her.
The buzz of work around them seemed to fade as she led the kids in their salutes to the suns. Her tension melted away, replaced by the bliss of the stretching and contracting of her muscles.
“Are you warming up?” Mrs. Slaite’s voice cut through her euphoria. “When will you start the attacks? I want to have the cameras ready.”
“Keep going, kids,” Yasmine said softly, before turning to Mrs. Slaite. “This is Tai Chi. There are no attacks.”
“This is an ancient Terran martial art?” Mrs. Slaite asked, sounding horrified.
“In the time when Tai Chi was practiced, weapons were forbidden,” Yasmine explained. “Farmers and common people did this gentle exercise for fitness and in preparation to learn defensive hand to hand combat. Most modern Terrans study Tai Chi to gain relaxation, strength, and focus. It is an internal martial art, focused on using the mind to accentuate power, rather than an external martial art focused on muscle power.”
“An internal martial art?” Slaite echoed as she marched away looking disgusted. “Of all the spaced-out nonsense…”
Yasmine turned back to the kids, hoping they hadn’t heard Mrs. Slaite denigrate their new activity.
Happily, they were still doing their stretches, showing great progress in their flexibility and balance since yesterday, and looking serenely content.
“Miss Hall, are you ready?” the interviewer asked politely.
“Yes, thank you,” Yasmine said, walking over to the chair the lady indicated.
“I’m Graace Wynda,” the lady said. “Have you watched my show before?”
“I’m so sorry,” Yasmine said. “Our family didn’t have a holo-screen back on Terra-17.”
“That was adorable,” Graace said to one of her cameramen. “Did you get it?”
The man grunted in the affirmative and Graace gave him a little wave.
