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But it's Thursday and she's not here.
A sick feeling unfurls in my gut. Something's happened to her. Space pirates? Equipment malfunction? Haina's always joking about how her ship is a piece of junk and woefully out of date. Maybe she's stranded even now, drifting somewhere in space. Does her ship even have a distress beacon? I don't know the answer, and it's making me anxious.
I don't want to overreact, though. She did mention schedule changes. And she mentioned she was having to take on additional routes. She's probably just running behind.
So I sit at the window of my house, with its perfect view of the spaceport, and I wait to see a red and pink-striped freighter lower itself towards Port.
And I wait.
And wait.
When it's close to sunset and there's no Haina, my mind is full of catastrophes that have somehow befallen her. She's been held up on her route. Robbed. Vandalized. Stranded. Something awful. I just know Haina would be here for our Thursday dates if she could.
Especially after last week and what we shared. It was…magical. Perfect. I wanted that day to go on forever. I wanted to spend another night—or twenty, or two hundred—waking up in Haina's arms.
No, after last week, she wouldn't blow me off. She said it was special. She wouldn't lie.
Something must have happened, then. That's the only explanation. I need to tell someone, though I'm not certain who. Do I send a message to Lord va'Rin? Would he even care if one of his vendors showed up missing? Maybe I need to talk to the shopkeeper at the General Store.
Biting my lip, I pull on my shoes and race out to my air-sled. I drive it into Port at top speed, keeping an eye on the spaceport at all times in case Haina's ship arrives in the middle of my panic-fest. The skies remain empty, though, and I'm full of worry when I park directly in front of the shop and leap out, racing past the alien man standing near the doors. He can wait a moment. Nothing's more important than telling someone about Haina's disappearance.
I skid across the floor of the shop, nearly crashing into the counter at the front and the avian behind it. He gives me a disgusted look, moving a tray of wrapped snacks out of the way so I don't breathe on them.
"Haina," I gasp. "Not here. Didn't…come by today."
He narrows his eyes at me, his feathers fluffing just a bit. "Excuse me, colonist?"
The door chimes open behind me and I quickly turn, but it's a praxiian man and not Haina. I turn back to the avian behind the counter, the shopkeeper whose name I can never remember. "Haina—the mesakkah vendor that brings noodles on Thursday? She didn't come in today." I try to keep my voice from trembling. "Something's happened."
"Oh. That." He waves a wingtip dismissively. "Yes. That route was canceled."
"Canceled?"
"Canceled," he agrees. "The company went under. Didn't even give anyone a chance to buy off their goods. Just sold them off to another company that's going to charge higher prices. I hope you're ready to pay double for those candles you like so much." He sniffs haughtily. "Is there something else I can help you with?"
"I-I don't understand," I say quickly. "Haina's not coming?"
"The company is no longer running," the avian says, trilling each word to emphasize them. "There is no route for her to take. She has no noodles to deliver. Do you understand now, human? Is your translation chip malfunctioning?"
"No, it's fine." I touch the spot behind my ear absently. He sounds rude, but I've watched enough interactions between the avian shopkeepers and Haina to know that they're just a stuffy sort of people overall.
"Then are you going to buy something?"
I hesitate. "You're certain it went under? The company?"
He makes a squawk-like noise that might be a derisive sound. "Everyone's known that for a while, colonist. It's no big secret."
Oh.
Everyone apparently knew it but me.
I'm suddenly re-thinking every conversation I've had with Haina. How she never tells me she loves me. How she's been mentioning that her schedule is changing and she doesn't know when she'll be around. That she can't spend the night. Is she…toying with me?
Am I just a convenient side-piece to her?
I'm starting to feel used and very, very foolish. Maybe it was too much to hope that someone as vibrant and wonderful as Haina would be interested in a shy mouse like me. I'm such an idiot.
Blinking back tears, I pick up one of the candles and sniff it, trying to hide that I came here specifically to meet Haina. If I buy a few things, I can play this off, and then maybe I won't feel quite so foolish.
"We meet again, human," a voice purrs in my ear.
Ugh. It's the praxiian, the one that got so damned mad when he crashed his sled into mine. "Go away," I tell him, my voice wavering. "Today is not the day."
