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She flashed an image of her apartment, the view of the city, and her office.

He chuckled.“Slightly different view, but yes.You remember that you agreed to be my companion?”

She flashed an image of the bed she used at the Pleasure Centre.

“Yes, Reem, but so much more.I know your face, you see.”

She flashed a bunch of faces across his screen.

He tapped her features out of the crowd.“I do not see faces, but yours, I know.”

She sent a series of dots across his screen.

“Not much longer.Hours.The implant has been minimized.The biological parts of it are grafted to your brain, but you will be able to feel again, laugh again, and enjoy the children running to you again.”

She put an image of her running away from little kids, laughing.

He snorted.“Your cousin says that children always come to you.They always have.”

Reem put an image of herself with radiating lines coming off, and children were touched by them and came to her.

“Your non-human genetics cause that particular effect.I have spoken to my people, and they feel the draw to you as well.”

A picture of herself scowling.

“You seek positions of solitude, but you can’t avoid it.They will come to you, over and over.You help, you guide, you do the job I didn’t want to do.I was very excited when I saw your qualifications.I paid more than I have for any colonist, and now I am glad that I did.People around you are content.It is so relaxing that I am thinking about starting work on another empty world.”

Reem paused.She sent a cartoon Wenvari flying to another world and putting plants down.

“I will not be moving.The initial stages take centuries and are best done from a distance.”

She walked the cartoon Wenvari back to his home.

“Correct.It is my home now, and it is your home.I can hardly wait to see you in something more feminine.”

She showed herself clinging to her office clothing.

“I am afraid not.In addition to your comptroller duties, you will be with me as we open new businesses and eventually deal with international traders.”

She put a thick sweater on her character.

“That won’t do.You will get too hot in the greenhouse.”

He pulled an image over from a different screen.There was a fitted bodice that floated off in delicate panels, and the skirt wrapped from the top of her hip bone to just below her groin and then into more delicate panels.The feet in the drawing were wearing sandals that went up her calf, wrapped with vines.There were wristbands that did the same.

She put her normal clothing on top of the image.

He laughed and put the new, soft image over it.“You will get used to it.Everything is covered according to your social protocols.Harwin says it isdecent,and Kris argued with Essan on how to get an outfit with sides.Sage is content with her clothing, so she was of no help.She has a Daughter of Rath with her.It is another one of your kind.That is unexpected.”

She showed Kris with a shadowed figure next to her.

“Ah, the Daughters of Rath are singular beings from different species who are trained in the violent arts and bringing peace by any means.They are a fascinating group of beings.”

Reem looked up the Daughters of Rath and found the criteria for joining.She shuddered at the mention of absolute loss mixed with world-ending rage.She found the information on the Terran member and found Theodora, betrayed by her husband, who murdered her child in the womb so he could get a fresh start.Theodora had survived; her child had not, and her rage drove her to madness.Now she was a Daughter of Rath and helped others find justice, for a price.

“Did you just hack Rath’s systems?”

She flashed the screen green.