Page 40

“Damn,” Sonja murmured. “Wiped them out completely?”

“As far as I can tell. Fairly recently, too, if I’m reading this correctly. Maybe within the past fifty to one hundred years?”

“I thought you were a botanist of some kind.”

“Crop scientist,” Mia corrected promptly. “This is background. The way people move and act and do affects their environment. And not to be rude, but you still haven’t told me why you stopped by. Unless you’re really just dying to know the tediously boring details of my day.”

Sonja laughed, unoffended. “Trust me, I understand. My days used to be filled with exactly that kind of tedium. That’s why I’m here, in a way. We’re going back to Earth.”

Mia’s heart jumped. Very carefully, she said, “We?”

“My mate and I. We’re the official liaisons between humans and Xeruvians.”

“Oh.”

“Is that disappointment I see?”

Mia shook her head. “No. I’m committed to my mate.”

Sonja’s eyes widened. “You’ve bonded with him?”

“Not yet, I don’t think. Well, sort of.” Mia pointed to the mating mark, which she’d finally gotten up the nerve to study the night before. It was a definite bite mark. She hadn’t had the courage to see if the mark she’d bitten into Zoran was still visible. “We made a good start.”

“But you haven’t followed through.”

“No.”

Sonja hesitated for a moment, her expression concerned. “Aklan, my mate, told me that warriors can be dangerous when the instinct rouses, until they’re fully mated. Yours is treating you ok, isn’t he?”

“He’s fine. A bit grumpy. We haven’t done the deed yet.”

“I see.”

“So,” Mia said brightly, ignoring her own blush. “You’re here about details?”

“Sorry. We do keep getting sidetracked.” Sonja waved a hand at the wall. “Do you have any specific requests for aid? Besides an administrative assistant. We’re going to try to recruit more women to join us here.”

“Oh. That sounds…awesome, actually. But I don’t have the foggiest clue what gaps we have here. I don’t even know what the Xeruvians’ specialties are.”

“When you figure it out, let me know. We’ll prioritize those fields. Whatever you need.”

“Well, just off the top of my head, I think we’re going to need a teacher. Someone who can write a textbook or pull together formal courses on Xeruvian history and their sciences at the very least.”

Sonja pulled a tablet out of her robe. “That would take an entire department.”

“Or more. Undoubtedly, we’ll do some of that work here. Some of it can probably be fielded directly from Earth, too. I imagine any number of people would jump at the opportunity to study another culture from the inside out, even if they can’t travel to Zephyria.”

“You’d imagine right. We have to jump the hurdle of letting the entire populace know first. When we left, Xeruvians were on a highly restricted need to know status.”

Mia acknowledged that with a thoughtful hum and finally decided she already had enough monkeys in her circus to worry about. “You should talk to the other women, see if they have any ideas.”

“I will.” Sonja slipped the tablet back into her robe, then tapped a fingertip to the paper. “Would you like to send a message home?”

Mia nearly flung her arms around the other woman’s neck. “Yes! Absolutely. I left a long-term research project hanging, and my parents are probably worried sick.”

“Don’t worry. Tracking down family is at the top of our list.”

“I think I love you.”