Hey Everyone!!
Here's another little snippet to help you start your weekend off right. Enjoy! :-)
Excerpt from Rainbow Dreams:
The captain's cabin was sparsely furnished, which Petri guessed was consistent with what she knew about him. However, the things he did have were of the best quality and meticulously maintained. On the far side of the room, next to a porthole window, were a low bookcase, a chair, and a small table. They all appeared to have been made from wood. When she moved closer, she discovered the staining on them was uneven, and she thought she could see faint tool marks on them. Had they actually been hand carved? How would one even find handmade furniture?The only other furnishings in the room were the wide bed in the center of the room, and another small, wooden table next to it. The bed was low to the ground and looked firm, but it had no frame. She wondered if Daji preferred not to be restrained or if there was another means for doing so that she didn't see.
Shrugging the question away as one that would be answered soon enough, she turned her attention to the top of the room. Along the ceiling, planters had been hung at intervals and various types of plants dangled from them. Above the window, real flowers created a colorful display. When the ship was in space, they would frame a field of stars.
Petri wondered at the simplistic luxury in the room. Most of the people she knew who had money liked to flaunt it. Those who rose within the houses wore flashy clothes and jewelry. The personal tech they used was always decorated to make it stand out. When she had been invited into homes or rooms owned by such people, she had found them stuffed close to the bursting point with ostentatious, automated furniture and entertainment devices.
The Upworld citizens who slummed with underworlders gloried in showing off their wealth and importance. She had never known any of them to not take every opportunity to display their advantages. Their clothes were always custom-fitted; their mobile com units always close by, and any calls or messages they received were conspicuously attended to.
Even the aliens she had serviced had spun tales for her about the exotic, exciting worlds they had visited, the ships they had traveled on, and the opulence they had experienced. If she had believed half of what they told her, Petri would have been desperate to leave Upworld long before the exposure of her Arcanum heritage made it necessary.
Then there was Daji. Ever since she met him, he had calmly and competently dealt with every situation that had been thrown at him. There had been no display from him, no looking over his shoulder to make sure she was watching and appreciating his magnificence. He had just done what needed to be done and kept going.
He had readily embraced responsibility for Sadaka and respected the fact that Petri was determined to protect the child. Petri's revelations about her genetics and her needs hadn't given him pause. And now that Chessie was being held hostage, which jeopardized his best hope of freeing his ship, he still kept his cool and analyzed the situation logically. He had recovered from the shock of her friend's capture before she did and had looked out not just for his own interests, but for hers as well. Now, he was willing to make himself vulnerable to her and trust her not to abuse that vulnerability, so that she might be more comfortable.
In seeing his private room, she realized it was a lot like him—deceptively simple but high-class and of the best possible quality. Looking at him, she realized she felt something for him and tried to figure out what it was. She wasn't naive enough to think she was in love with Daji. Petri wasn't even sure she believed in that kind of love. As she thought about it, she finally figured out that what she was feeling was respect. She respected the man, both as a person and as someone who knew how to protect himself and others.
The respect she felt for Daji also translated into a measure of trust, which was a startling realization for Petri. The only person she had ever known in her whole life who she could trust was Chessie. Now, after just a few hours of knowing him, she found that she trusted the captain as well…at least to a point. Even that was enough to make her wonder if she was going soft or crazy.
Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts away. Letting herself care for the Paka would lead to nowhere good, and she didn't have time for it, anyway. Their relationship was a business arrangement. She and Chessie would help him get his ship free, and he would get them off the planet. And that's where it needed to end. Everything else was just details.
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