Chapter Ten

Hope gaped at Krogan in shock.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" He glowered. "Where have you been?"

"Where have I been? Where I have been? " Her voice shook with anger and hurt at the unexpected, unfair attack. "I've been vapping all over this damn planet trying to get to the effing officiant's office."

Overwhelmed by the harrowing afternoon, she burst into tears. "I've n-n-never used your tech-technology, and your instructions were worthless. I got lost, and I had n-n-no way to get back or contact anybody."

Stupid, mean jerk. How dare he yell at me? This is all his fault. She turned her back, her body shaking with her sobs.

Warm hands settled on her shoulders. She tried to wrench away, but he turned her around and enfolded her in his arms. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I am such an idiot." He sounded so remorseful, a little of her anger drained away .

But she couldn't stop crying. It wasn't just the terrible afternoon—it was…her life. Her stepmother colluding with Gleezer and then kicking her out. Having no options. Going to a strange planet to marry an alien. The fear that maybe Gleezer would never give up. Getting lost was only the straw that broke the camel's back. She couldn't take any more.

If she hadn't run into Larth—the only person willing to help her—she had no idea what she would have done. She would have been wandering the walkways of Caradonia forever like the man lost beneath the streets of Boston in the old Earth song . I would have been the woman who never returned.

"It's all my fault. All my fault." He rocked her.

Yes, it is. He bore no responsibility for her troubles before she came to Caradonia, but he should have been more helpful. He shouldn't have left me to fend for myself. I'm his wife!

Well, not yet. She'd missed the wedding.

With a shuddering sigh, she relaxed against him. Despite everything, it felt good to be held. Other than a quick hug by Prudence, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been held by another human being. Her lips quirked. She still wasn't being hugged by a human. But his arms felt good all the same, and they tightened around her.

"I got worried when you didn't show up. What happened?"

"The vaporator didn't work for m-me." Her tears had stopped, but now she had the hiccups. "Either my thoughts drifted at the wrong time, or my mental p-pronunciation was off, but I kept ending up at the wrong location. I went to the spaceport then the office of efficiency, some other places." Maybe the office of efficiency ought to start working on the vaporator. "I realized the officiant's office would be closed, so I tried to return to the apartment, but I ended up on the surface."

"You were on the surface!"

Her chin bumped against his chest as she nodded. He was still holding her. She should pull away, but it felt surprisingly comforting and safe to be in his arms. "I ended up near an open-air market underneath a cloudtopper."

"A cozi." He nodded.

"Yeah! That's what Larth called it. Why is it called a cozi?"

"It stands for Caradonia Opportunity Zone Incubator. It's a business assistance start-up program to enable small commercial enterprises to grow and prosper. People can start a business with very little overhead. When the company takes hold and turns a decent sustainable profit, they can move out on their own. There are three cozis so far. I had plans for more when the pandemic hit, and the project got put on hold."

"There was a huge flower stall in the front of the market. I assume that's how I ended up there. I was thinking about the flowers in the lobby as I boarded the vaporator."

"It sent you to the closest place with flowers." He hugged her tighter and then said, "Come. Let's sit down." He drew her into the seating area and settled next to her on the sofa, retaining a hold on her hand.

Don Juan strolled out.

"Are you hungry? Would you care for a meal?" Krogan asked, rubbing her palm, causing it to tingle.

"Actually yes. I could eat a horse," she said. Now that she was safe and sound, she discovered she was starving.

"We don't have horse ," he said.

She giggled. "It's an archaic expression. It means I'm famished. "

"Dinner for two, Don One," he said, and rattled off some incomprehensible words she presumed were foods.

The android returned to the kitchen.

"Continue. Tell me more," he urged, stroking her fingers.

"Well, I wandered through the market for a while." After the lack of concrete assistance from everyone else, she'd doubted anyone there would help her, but she looked around for a friendly face.

"Larth had a bakery stall. I stopped to ask him where he got his ingredients. He was so nice, I started telling him about my problem." He closed up his booth and accompanied me to the vaporator. He took me first to the officiant's—in case you were still waiting for me—then he vapped me back here. I knew as soon as I saw the flowers in the lobby I was in the right place, but he insisted on walking me to the door."

"Thank goodness you encountered him."

"Yeah." She paused. "He and his wife started the bakery together. But she's afflicted with the nano-virus. She's in a stasis pod. Now he's doing the baking and running the booth all on his own, hoping to build up the business so it will be bigger and better when she recovers. "

Larth had spoken of his wife's recovery as a when rather than an if . He had great faith in Krogan, that his medical scientists would find a cure and save his wife.

"I shall have to thank him for getting you home safe and sound."

"He would appreciate that." Larth would be thrilled. He'd raved about Krogan, like he was his hero. Once he learned her identity, her husband was all the baker had talked about. Probably that was part of the reason he'd so readily helped her.

"I judge a leader by his actions, not his words," Larth had said. "Our previous rulers said what they thought we wanted to hear. They'd throw a few handouts our way to keep us quiet and dependent while they lined their pockets. Krogan is the first leader to genuinely care about us. The cozis don't benefit him—they benefit us. He gave me and my wife an opportunity to better ourselves and our lives. Because of him, we have this booth. And someday, we'll have a bakery at the pinnacle of a cloudtopper! We owe it all to Governor-General Krogan."

She'd considered Krogan to be aloof and cold. Seeing him through Larth's eyes had shown her a different side. But then she'd come home, and he'd yelled at her .

Because he'd been worried. He must have thought I'd jilted him when I didn't show up for the wedding.

She studied their clasped hands. It felt natural and right to hold hands with him. The awkwardness that had infused their previous conversations and time together had vanished.

Maybe this will work out after all. For the first time, she didn't regret coming to Caradonia.