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“You really don’t know a thing about intergalactic history, do you?” he said, shaking his head and then giving her the short version. “The Invicta destroyed a population in error, long ago. This is our attempt to begin to make it right. The babies your agency is helping us adopt out were all grown in pods using Imberian DNA. When they are grown, they will inherit their planet.”
“I knew that part about Imber, and the pods,” she said, her jaw clenched in fury at him for laughing at her lack of education. “I just didn’t know it was the Invicta who had destroyed the people of Imber.”
“Well, now you know,” he said gruffly. “That’s why I’m here.”
There was a knock at the door, and he turned to answer it, one hand on the sword he wore at his side.
“Yes,” he shouted.
“Dinner is served, sir,” a droid told him from the other side of the door.
Jhon stepped back and opened the door, looking around like a spy in a holo-film before gesturing for Ella to step into the hallway.
She found herself stepping out cautiously, as if his wild suspicion had rubbed off on her.
“You weren’t that cautious when we got here,” she whispered to him.
“When we first arrived, word hadn’t gotten around yet,” he told her. “Now, every idiot with something to prove could be waiting in ambush.”
“But… you’re Invicta,” she said, unable to believe he could really be afraid of a hotel guest.
“Sure,” he said. “But I still don’t want the hassle, or to pay for damages to a place like this after a tussle. Besides, every once in a while, there’s another kind of threat.”
She thought that was nonsense, but she kept her opinion to herself. Whatever was for supper, it smelled amazing, and she didn’t want any more delays getting to it.
She tried to remind herself that she was far from home, and that what smelled good might look unfamiliar or intimidating on the plate. It might even disgust her.
I won’t care, she reassured herself.
The agency had given them a light breakfast before the flight, but that was almost a day ago now, and she was ravenous.
A butler droid rolled along ahead of them once they reached the lobby, leading them back to a dining room with a long wooden table, where several other guests were already seated.
The table itself was practically groaning under the weight of a spread of food like nothing Ella had ever seen before. Her mouth began watering immediately, and it was all she could do to move gracefully toward the nearest chair.
The others at the table made friendly noises. There was a man with soft tentacles on his head, a big furry being whose gender she couldn’t identify, and a man who was mostly Terran-shaped, but had green skin and horns.
Jhon placed his hand on the back of her chair as she pulled it out.
Back home, that would have meant he was staking some sort of claim, but maybe here it didn’t mean that.
Her cheeks heated anyway, and she sat quickly.
The furry being handed her a plate, and she scooped up the ladle from the closest dish, a tureen of what looked like some kind of stew, and filled her plate.
The chunks of meat looked tender, and there were cubes of things that reminded her of the starchy root vegetables they could only grow in the dry season back home. But most of all, it smelled heavenly.
The man with the tentacles passed a coil of warm rolls and she took one before handing it off to Jhon.
Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she thanked the gods for this bounty and wished that the rest of her family could be sitting at this table.
6
JHON
Jhon watched over the girl as she closed her eyes.
It was hard to tell if she was praying, or just inhaling the scent of the simple soup appetizer. She had served herself enough for a battalion, and he doubted she’d even have room for the main course.
