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"Exactly. I try to find something about each person's appearance that will remind me of their name. I made a game out of it."

"That's smart," Arezoo said.

"Wasn't my idea. It was Vrog's. He's my mate, you know."

Arezoo's eyes widened. "I didn't know that. He's very nice."

Aliya smiled, which looked kind of strange on her Kra-ell face. They didn't smile much. "I know, right? He's the nicest male. He also gave you a compliment, saying that you were smart and that you should go to college."

"I want to," Arezoo said. "I want to become a teacher for special needs kids."

Remembering her talk with Drova, she wanted to ask Aliya if she was aware of other Kra-ell with learning disabilities, but she didn't feel comfortable asking her a question like that so soon. Maybe later, when they became friends, she could ask her, or better yet, she could ask Vrog the next time he came over to check on her and her sisters' progress with the self-learning program he'd designed for them.

Aliya tilted her head. "Can women get higher education in Iran?"

Arezoo felt her cheeks heat up. "Yes. We are not as backward as some of the other countries in our area."

"I'm sorry if I offended you." Aliya pushed away from the counter and turned around to face the new group of customers heading their way.

Soon, Arezoo was back to the whirlwind pace of taking orders and calling out drink specifications to Wonder, who worked the espresso machine like she had four arms instead of two.

Sometime after ten in the morning, the rush had finally subsided, leaving only a handful of patrons scattered among the café's tables. Arezoo's feet ached, and her cheeks hurt from smiling, but she felt accomplished.

She hadn't messed up any orders, and she'd only fumbled a few words here and there.

"Take a break," Wonder said. "Grab something to eat and drink and sit down."

"Thank you," Arezoo said.

She selected a blueberry muffin from the display case and poured herself a cup of tea before sinking onto a stool behind the counter.

"Have the two of you been working here for long?" she asked to start a conversation.

Wonder laughed, the sound like water over stones. "Not at all. This whole village is quite new."

"What did you do before that?"

"I was a bouncer in a nightclub." Wonder poured herself a coffee and joined Arezoo at the counter.

That was an odd occupation for a woman, but Arezoo didn't want to offend Wonder by saying that.

"Do they have a nightclub in the village?" she asked instead.

"No, but I wish they did. There is a shortage of recreation options in the village. I worked in clubs before I discovered that I wasn't the only immortal in the world. I was very effective thanks to my strength."

Arezoo frowned, remembering what she'd been told about immortals belonging to one of two camps. They were either affiliated with the clan or with the Doomers, and there were no lone wolves out there.

"Forgive me for asking, but how come you were alone?"

Wonder cradled her cup. "I didn't know any immortals other than myself existed. I entered stasis five thousand years ago when an earthquake swallowed my caravan, and I woke up a few years ago when a water pipe burst near the place I was buried in."

Arezoo tilted her head. "Is water what's needed to revive someone from stasis?"

Wonder nodded. "It's that simple. The thing is, I was buried in the desert, where there was no rainfall, so I stayed in stasis for five thousand years. When I woke up, I found myself in a brand-new world, still nineteen, which was the age I was when I entered stasis, and with no memory of who and what I was."

Arezoo couldn't imagine how terrifying that had to have been for Wonder. "What did you do?"

"I dug my way out like a deranged mummy and scared the life out of anyone who saw me. I stole a burka from a clothesline and covered myself until I gained enough muscle and fat not to scare people."