Page 36 of Dark Rover’s Luck (The Children Of The Gods #95)

36

AREZOO

A rezoo hadn't expected the café to be buzzing with activity at seven-thirty in the morning, with patrons forming a long line to the counter, and Wonder and Aliya working at a pace that seemed inhuman.

Well, to be fair, neither of them was entirely human. Both were part aliens, and not even from the same species.

Not for the first time, Arezoo wondered if she was dreaming, and this was an elaborate fantasy that her mind had created.

"Don't look so terrified," Wonder said, glancing over at her while simultaneously brewing espresso, steaming milk, and taking an order from a tall, intimidatingly handsome immortal in workout clothes. "The chaos will subside once the morning rush is over."

Arezoo nodded, not really knowing what to do or say. So far, she'd been busy staying out of the way of Wonder and Aliya's well-coordinated dance, hoping someone would tell her what to do.

"Here you go, Henry." Wonder handed the guy a cup. "Extra shot of espresso, just the way you like it."

Henry offered Arezoo a friendly nod. "New recruit?"

"This is Arezoo," Wonder confirmed. "She just started today."

"Welcome to the village." He smiled. "Don't let these two work you too hard."

"I want to work hard," Arezoo said, hoping the translating earpieces were not messing up the communication for her.

She'd learned that literal translations from English to Farsi and the other way around often didn't convey the same meaning.

As Henry walked away, Wonder gestured toward the growing line. "Just watch me for a little while, and once you get the hang of it, I'll let you start taking orders." She offered her a dazzling smile that was nearly blinding.

Wonder was a tall, dark-haired beauty with olive-toned skin just like Arezoo's, but she was so much more beautiful that it was disconcerting to look at her and make the unflattering comparison.

Arezoo secretly hoped that the transition would transform her into a stunning beauty like her new boss, but she knew that, realistically, that wasn't possible. The starting point was too far off.

Aliya was also gorgeous and a little intimidating. She was only half Kra-ell, but the Kra-ell side was definitely winning. Her big, dark eyes could barely pass for human, and she was tall and incredibly thin like the pureblooded Kra-ell.

How were they so strong with those long and lean limbs of theirs?

Nature was indeed wondrous, and conventional wisdom wasn't always right.

"Ready to try the register?" Wonder asked during a brief lull.

Arezoo nodded. "I think so. It looks easy."

No one used cash in the village. The only form of payment was the clan-issued credit card, and people just tapped it against the display after Wonder or Aliya entered the ordered items. The touch screen was intuitive, with pictures of the various drinks and food items making it easy to navigate.

A monkey could have done that after watching them do it for five minutes.

"It is," Wonder said. "I'll handle the coffee while you take orders and Aliya serves the tables. Just call out the orders clearly so I can hear them over the machines."

The register was not a problem. It was the interactions with the customers that were stressful.

Everyone was nice, and they were patient with her, but Arezoo had never worked with customers before.

"You're doing well." Aliya leaned against the counter during a brief pause in the rush. "Getting used to all these new faces isn't easy, and remembering everyone's names is even harder, but you will eventually be able to greet everyone by name." She leaned closer to whisper in Arezoo's earpiece. "Do you know what mnemonics are?"

Arezoo nodded. "Things that help you remember other things."

"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."

"That's incredible," Arezoo murmured. "Did you have a family? Did you try to find them?"

A shadow passed over Wonder's face. "At first, I didn't remember who I was. The Fates helped me find my way to the clan, and I got reunited with my childhood best friend, the Clan Mother. Seeing her revived my memories, and I learned that everyone back home was dead. Later, I discovered that my sister Tula lived."

Arezoo's head was spinning. Wonder was the Clan Mother's best friend? How?

She had so many questions she wanted to ask the woman, but didn't feel comfortable asking yet.

"I'm glad your sister survived. Are you two close?"

That was an innocent enough question that shouldn't be difficult to answer, but the shadow over Wonder's face grew darker.

"We were very close, but it's not possible now. Anyway, I found a new family, and my new home is here with my mate and my best friend."

There was one more question that was just burning in Arezoo's mind, and she couldn't help but ask it. "I guess that you weren't named Wonder at birth. Did you adopt the name because you couldn't remember your own?"

Wonder nodded. "Back in Egypt, a child called me Wonder Woman because I resemble the actress who played the character in the movie, and when it happened again, I decided it was a good name and adopted it."

"What's your real name?"

Wonder grimaced. "I was called Gulan, and I always hated it. It was a name that befitted a servant girl, and I no longer felt like it fit me."

Arezoo nodded, thinking that she would have liked to change her name as well. She wanted something that sounded American, like Judy, Sally, or Nancy.

Her mother would never agree to her actually using a different name, but perhaps when she went to college, she could tell everyone that she preferred to be called something else.

"The name Wonder fits you well," Arezoo finally said. "It gives me food for thought on the kind of name I will adopt one day."

"What's wrong with Arezoo?" Aliya asked. "I think it has a nice sound to it."

"I want a new beginning," Arezoo whispered. "A completely new beginning. And this name ties me to a country and people I don't want to belong to. People who allowed themselves to be conquered by an alien ideology that stripped them of their dignity. The ancient Persians and their proud empire are gone, and they shouldn't have gone down in history that way."

The two women looked at her with twin puzzled expressions, clearly having no clue what she was talking about. The truth was that she'd surprised herself with those words, which could have gotten her hanged in Iran.

"Well, enough about reinventing ourselves," Wonder said. "It's time for the next lesson. Let me show you how to make a proper cappuccino."