Page 8

DIN

D in pushed the remnants of scrambled eggs around his plate, watching Fenella demolish her third piece of toast with an enthusiasm that made him smile. She ate like someone who'd learned never to take food for granted, or maybe she just had a ravenous appetite.

"I want to go help Kyra and her sisters today," she said between bites, gesturing with a piece of bacon. "They're getting the refrigerators and shelving units delivered, and they could use some immortal muscle."

Din set down his coffee cup. "Today?"

She nodded. "They probably started hours ago." Fenella pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Fates, it's after ten already. You should have woken me up earlier."

It hadn't escaped his notice that she'd started invoking the Fates. It was a small thing, but to him it was another brick in the foundation of the life Fenella was building in the village. She was accepting the clan's beliefs and customs.

"You needed the rest." Usually, she was too exhausted after her nightly performances at the Hobbit to do anything other than shower and fall asleep, but last night she'd summoned energy for some fun times in bed.

She grinned. "Whose fault was that, Professor? You're the one who carried me in your arms all the way to my room with plans to ravish me."

He leaned forward. "But then you decided to first practice your psychometric abilities on various items of my clothing."

"I was trying to see if I could read the history of your shirts," she managed to say without laughing. "I thought it would be an academic exercise. How was I supposed to know that they were all imbued with lustful thoughts about me?"

He chuckled. "It should have been obvious. Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you do your readings? Every night, I sit in that corner and watch you perform, dreaming of the moment I can snatch you away and hoard you all for myself."

"Oh, shucks." Shira waved a hand. "Aren't the two of you cute?"

He'd forgotten she was even there. "Aren't you late for your shift?"

"I am." She shuffled the rest of her eggs into her mouth and pushed to her feet. "I'm out of here. Be good, children. If the cat in the hat comes knocking, don't let him in."

Fenella laughed. "Echoes of story-time corner at the library?"

Shira nodded. "I love that book." She bent to kiss Fenella's cheek and waved at Din. A moment later, the front door closed with a bang, and they were alone.

Fenella pushed back from the table, her expression growing serious. "They need help. Max is on duty, stuck in the dungeon and dealing with Doomers and ugly humans, so that leaves only Ell-rom to help the sisters move heavy equipment. He's strong, but he could use some help."

Din thought of the finals waiting on his laptop, each one a hundred pages of undergraduate attempts at archaeological analysis.

He'd promised himself he'd finish grading them before they left for Egypt, which was only three days away, but this was important to Fenella, and he could finish the grading on the plane or in the hotel.

"The delivery probably hasn't arrived yet," he said.

"Maybe not, but we should go. They might need help with other things."

Din stood and started gathering the breakfast dishes.

"Leave those," Fenella said. "I'll deal with them later."

"Or we could take two minutes and do them now."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a professor. Everything has to be in its proper order."

"And you're such a bartender. Everything can wait until later."

"Exactly."

They compromised by quickly rinsing the dishes and leaving them in the sink, then headed out into the bright morning sun.

"It's strange," Fenella said as they passed an immortal jogging along the path. "Everyone is going about their day like the world didn't almost end."

"Maybe that's the point," Din suggested. "We keep living because that's what defeats evil. Every normal day is a victory."

She slipped her hand into his. "That's very philosophical."

"Occupational hazard. Spend enough time studying dead civilizations, and you start thinking about what makes them fade into nothing but pages in history books."

She cast him a sidelong glance. "And your conclusion is?"

He shrugged. "There is no one answer. Natural disasters, famines, plagues, wars. Weak leadership or power-hungry leadership—both can be disastrous."

She chuckled. "It's like that song about a hundred ways to die. Have you heard it?"

"Can't say that I have."

For the next several minutes, she sang to him the verses she remembered, making him laugh, and then they walked in silence, comforted by the warmth of their conjoined hands.

It felt nice.

Instead of being two, they were now one—an island of strength and unity in a chaotic world.

As they approached the house that had been designated for the temporary store, Din could hear voices and the distinctive sound of heavy equipment being moved. Inside, two Guardians were maneuvering a commercial refrigerator cart while Ell-rom guided them through the narrow doorway.

"Careful with the door frame," Soraya said, her hands fluttering nervously. "We just had it painted."

"We've got it," one of the Guardians assured her.

Din quickened his pace. "Need another pair of hands?"

Ell-rom's face lit up with relief. "Perfect timing, Din. This is the third one, and there are two more plus all the shelving units."

"Where do you want me?" Din started rolling up his sleeves.

Soraya looked like she might cry with gratitude.

"You are angels, both of you. The refrigerators need to go along the back wall, and the shelving.

.." She gestured vaguely at the empty space.

"Everywhere else, I suppose. We have a plan.

Somewhere." She looked around frantically. "Rana! Where's the floor plan?"

"I have it!" Rana emerged from another room, waving a piece of paper. "But I think we need to make adjustments to it. The refrigerators are bigger than what we planned for."

Din joined the Guardians and Ell-rom, taking a corner of the massive unit. It was awkward to maneuver, even with immortal strength.

"On three," one of the Guardians said. "One, two..."

They lifted in unison.

After days of grading papers and sitting at his laptop, using his muscles felt good, necessary even.

"Through the door," Ell-rom directed. "Watch the?—"

A scraping sound made Soraya gasp.

"It's fine," the Guardian quickly assured her. "It just brushed the frame. No damage."

They got the refrigerator inside and positioned it against the back wall, then returned for the next one.

Fenella joined her cousins in unpacking the shelving units and organizing the parts by function.

"I can't believe this is happening," Parisa said. "Our own store."

The morning fell into a rhythm of lifting, carrying, and arranging. Din enjoyed the physical exertion and the camaraderie of shared labor.

The Guardians were surprisingly good-natured about the constant adjustments Soraya demanded; "—move this refrigerator two inches left, no wait, maybe three inches right—no, to the left. Sorry. My mistake."

After the last unit was in place, the Guardians apologized for having to leave.

Din and Ell-rom were left alone to tackle the shelving units, which came with instructions that seemed to have been translated through several languages before reaching English.

"I think this diagram is upside down," Ell-rom said, turning the paper one way, then another.

Din studied it over his shoulder. "No, I think it's... actually, you might be right."

"Let me see." Fenella abandoned her unpacking to join them. "Oh, for Fates' sake. Look, ignore the diagram. It's obvious how these go together."

"Obvious to you, maybe," Din said. "Some of us like to follow instructions."

"Some of us overthink everything." She grabbed two pieces of the metal frame. "See? Tab A into Slot B. You don't need a doctorate to figure that out."

Jasmine joined their group. "I once tried to assemble a coffee table from IKEA and ended up with a modern art sculpture, but I'm willing to give it a try."

In the end, they somehow managed to figure out the shelving system.

The key, Fenella had said, was to have one person read the instructions aloud while everyone else ignored them and used common sense. Soon, they had a production line going—Din and Ell-rom assembling the frames, and the ladies attaching the shelves and adjusting the heights.

"Are you all packed for Egypt?" Jasmine asked as they worked.

"I haven't even thought about packing," Fenella admitted. "In fact, I don't own any luggage."

Din's hands stilled on the frame he was attaching. He'd been offering to take her shopping for weeks now, but she'd always found excuses—too busy at the bar, too tired, not in the mood. He'd begun to suspect it was less about time and more about her reluctance to venture outside the village again.

"You need luggage," Kyra said. "And clothes for the desert. It's hot during the day but can get cold at night."

"And comfortable shoes," Jasmine added. "Lots of walking on uneven ground if we're visiting archaeological sites."

Fenella sighed. "I guess I need to go shopping."

"I'll take you," Din offered. "Tomorrow? We could make a day of it."

He expected her to deflect again, to find another excuse. Instead, she nodded. "Yeah, okay. Tomorrow."

She didn't sound enthusiastic, but at least she'd said yes.

"It'll be fine," he said quietly. "We'll go to an upscale mall where there is zero chance of encountering Doomers or Revolutionary Guard terrorists."

She winced. "That's not a guarantee of safety. One of their targets was a large shopping mall. Remember?"

She was right about that.

"What about a Walmart or a Target?" Jasmine suggested. "It's not glamorous, and the merchandise is basic, but maybe that's better for a place like Egypt. The last thing we need is to look like rich tourists."

Fenella snorted. "Most of us can blend in, but Jacki, with her blond hair and translucent skin, is going to stick out like a sore thumb."

Jasmine shrugged. "She has bodyguards, and Kalugal can shroud her appearance to make her look like an ugly shrew. So, how about Walmart? Do you want to go?"

"Sure. I don't need anything fancy. Shoes, though, I'd rather buy something good."

"REI," Jasmine said with conviction. "Perhaps we should go there first. They have everything we need. Pricy, but then with the clan covering the expenses, we don't need to worry about that, right?"

"If you say so." Fenella sighed. "I don't care where we shop as long as it's out of the way." She shook her head. "I still can't wrap my head around how close this city came to a horrific bloodbath. That scumbag recognizing Soraya and Rana was like divine intervention."

"The Fates work in mysterious ways," Ell-rom said. "What seemed like misfortune became the key to saving many thousands of lives."

"Right." Fenella attached another shelf with more force than necessary, bending the metal. "Sorry about that." She straightened it back. "But I'd prefer if the Fates could work their mysteries to prevent crap like that from happening in the first place."

Din reached over and put his hand over hers. "We don't have to go if you're not ready. We can order from a catalog and pay for express delivery."

She seemed to consider that for a moment, but then shook her head. "I want to try on what I'm buying." She attempted a smile. "Besides, what are the odds of running into another terrorist? Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place, right?"

"Right," Din agreed, though privately he wondered if the odds held any significance when it came to Fenella. She seemed to attract trouble like a magnet.

As they continued working, the shelving units began to take shape around them, and the empty house was transforming into something that actually resembled a small store.

"What kind of luggage should I get?" Fenella asked. "I always just threw things in a backpack or duffel bag."

"Something with wheels," Jasmine said. "Trust me, your back will thank you."

"These are the last two units," Ell-rom announced, dragging over another flat-pack box.

"Good." Rana flexed her hands. "My fingers are starting to cramp from all these tiny screws."

"Almost done," Soraya said, though she looked ready to collapse.

It was easy to forget that the women were still human and didn't have the same strength and stamina as the immortals.

"You should take a break," Din suggested. "Walk over to the café, get something to drink, and rest. We can finish here."

Soraya shook her head. "We are almost done for today. I'd rather finish here and go to the café to celebrate when it's done."

Her tone brooked no argument, and Din figured that it was better just to let it go.

He and Ell-rom made quick work of the final units while the women began discussing product placement. Where should the spices go? Would the tea selection be better near the front or the back? Should they organize by cuisine type or product category?

"I'm still amazed that you're doing this," Fenella said to Soraya. "Opening a store in a new country, in a language you're still learning. You're so brave."

Soraya shook her head. "We're not brave. We're desperate. There's a difference."

"You are brave," Kyra said. "Desperation might have been the catalyst, but what you're doing now, building something this community needs, that takes courage."

"Besides," Parisa added with a smile, "we're not doing it alone. Look at all of you, giving up your morning to help us."

"That's what family does," Fenella said.

Din saw the emotion that flashed across the sisters' faces at that statement.

Family.

Such a loaded word for women who'd been betrayed by those who should have protected them.

"Well," he said, setting down his tools, "I for one think that we've earned a lunch break."

"I'll stay here." Soraya put her hands on her hips. "I should start cleaning the shelves."

"I'll stay too." Yasmin walked up to her.

"Nonsense," Fenella said. "We'll bring lunch back for everyone. Din's buying."

"I am?"

"Yes, love. You are."