Page 52 of Eat My Moon Dust
“Ambassador! Fancy meeting you. Again,” I hawed, laughing lightly. I wishedso badlyI could punch him hard enough in the mouth that his stupid dental ridges chipped.
Ezraji stepped in. “Congratulations on your coil, Tinsley. I’ve never seen a man recover from wasting disease quite like Hunar. I feel like I should thank you.”
I blushed, face going hot. Reha looked up at me as I stumbled over my words. It was much harder to act like we were in love with the chief engineer’s daughter standing next to me. “Oh, i-it’s no problem. Goes to show you how powerful human love can be, right?”
“Indeed.”
“It really is remarkable. Wasting disease is a nasty thing,” Zufi added. “It should have taken him months to bounce back, but look at him. As spry as the day he left academy, I’d bet. If only we could bottle that magic.”
I swallowed down my acidic tone and set my expression with a strained smile, thinking about the vials of pheromones Hunar and Bajora had talked about when I’d eavesdropped before all this began. “Yeah, if only,” I lamented with a dry tone.
Ezraji gave me a knowing look, tucking his hands behind his back. “Right. We’ll see you tomorrow, Jurek. Tinsley. Reha.”
The medical researcher disappeared back into the clinic and the lobby doors closed. Lucky bastard. Zufi glanced at my levicart and the lights with approval.
“Your Winter Festival is a smash hit, Miss Adams.”
“Tinsley.”
“Ah, right. Are preparations going well?”
“Yep!”
Reha programmed a string of lights around the long, narrow windows of the clinic, then Zufi gestured for us to walk with him. We shared an internal groan, but sauntered down the road as he inspected the decorations.
“What is this creature?” he asked, tapping a reindeer on the nose. “So cute and inviting.”
“A reindeer from hell,” I said with a straight face. “It delivers coal instead of gifts to bad people, marking them for death.” Zufi raised a brow, and I squinted my eyes cheerfully. “You know, like cheaters and bullies–”
Reha butted in, clamping my hand in hers with a warning squeeze.“Na’maanhas been letting me help a lot. TheKrismislegends are cool. And I like the music.”
Zufi glanced down, a clever smirk on his face.
“I take it that you like your father’s newpriya?”
“Totally,” she said, mimicking my slang. She was lying through her tendrils for me, but I felt warm and fuzzy on the inside as I squeezed her hand back.
As we approached the home towers, Zufi slowed to a stop at a fork in the road. He leaned his upper palms on his knees and met Reha eye to eye. “What do you think then… Is it too soon to invite the family for dinner? I’ve been getting to know all my delegates’ spouses this week. But you’d know best, since you’re thebahaput.”He winked at me. “No offense.”
Reha shrugged with more chill in her second thumbs than I had in my whole body just then. What had he just called her? Did I need to roll up my proverbial sleeves? “We could do dinner.”
“Excellent. I have business with the security team for the next several days. Would the weekend work?”
It didn’t matter if it worked or not if the way Zufi held my stare was any indication. This would be a test, and Hunar needed to pass it. “Sounds good.”
“Wonderful! Good luck with decorating, and I look forward to hearing how it goes. I’m sure we’ll run into each other often since I’ll be at the hangar most of this week.” He waved like a human, his hand slightly too stiff, then walked away.
“Bye,” I trailed off, my smile turning sour as he rounded the short red palms up the hill. As soon as he was gone, I rolled my eyes. “Prick–”Oops.“-ly jerk. C’mon Reha, let’s T.P. the playfield. You did awesome, by the way! What doesBaha Bootmean though?”
“Hey, Tinsley?” Reha hadn’t been listening, staring towards the hangar as if she could see it through the jungle.
“Hmm?”
Reha fell in step beside me, a thoughtful look on her face. “How did you encoil my baan? He told us that you’re playing pretend, but it seems real… Was he really wasting because of our maan?”
My clothes suddenly felt too tight. I adjusted my antlers and pulled on the neck of my shirt. “It’s not really my place to talk about that. But, um, he-he was really sick. And no, we aren’t together.” I thought about why Hunar had told his kids about our plan and added, “You guys are his top priority, and I’m just trying to keep him healthy so he can be a good dad.”
“But you aren’t staying in our unit?”
