Page 37 of Guiding Reason

“Senlas! Excuse me, Documentarian Sinta. He means we have to go. The rest of our team is waiting. We’re quite sorry, but you are welcome to approach us if you happen to run into us again.”

“Oh, thank you! And no need to apologize. This was fantastic, Guardian and Conduit. Please give your team ChannelPulse’s best wishes and our heartfelt thanks for being in Ferrea when we needed you.”

Senlas barely let Orrey thank the documentarian before dragging him away, and in short order, they found themselves back in the little dumpling restaurant where they’d eaten once before.

“We should bring them all food,” Senlas said.

Orrey looked around the place. The cozy round tables were empty, but the two Guardians behind the long counter where theready-made buns were lined up stood shoulder to shoulder and smiled at them.

“Hello,” Orrey said.

“Conduit,” the left one said. “And Guardian Senlas.”

The other Guardian cleared her throat and indicated the dumplings. “Please choose whatever you like. It will be a pleasure to serve you free of charge.”

Orrey’s mouth fell open. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“It’s the least we can do for you, Conduit,” the Guardian on the right said.

She looked firm, a bit like Maro, and Orrey didn’t think she would budge, so he looked at Senlas.

“We need food for our entire team. We’re happy to take a discount.”

“Everything is free for you and your team,” the Guardian on the left insisted.

“That’s the only acceptable discount we can offer for Ferrea’s saviors,” the one on the right said.

Senlas shrugged. “Fine, but be warned. My team can eat. Kitten, what do you want?”

“Uhh…”

Orrey eyed the dumplings, some of which were so freshly made they were still steaming. TherAI hadn’t prepared him to take advantage of people like that.

“We can always make you something with a filling of your choice, Conduit.”

Orrey shook his head at that and chose four buns total for himself, more than he could eat, but an accident because the servers kept recommending things.

When they walked out of the restaurant, three large bagsFloatedbehind them, and Orrey felt guilty.

The atmosphere in the suite was tense. Vin and Yamara were watching news streams, and Taros was on his screen. He sat at the table, angled just so as to make sure the hallway to the bedrooms was in his line of sight.

“Where are they?” Orrey asked, walking into the suite first.

Vin pointed. “Bedroom. Fucking.”

Orrey’s mouth fell open yet again, and his eyes went wide. “Excuse me? But Col—Col got hurt? That doesn’t seem right.”

Taros snorted. “He wouldn’t let me cut Hyran into little pieces, and he actually asked him to move stuff over to his new room. Like I can’t move stuff. I’m excellent at moving stuff.”

“You would have said or done something to get a rise out of Hyran,” Vin said. “Also, this is some footage, Orrey. You look good getting kissed.”

Taros’s head whipped around to the screen where the footage from ChannelPulse was already streaming. “Nice. This is the kind of thing they like for the Guardian Parade, by the way. Keep practicing.”

There, on the curved screen hanging from the ceiling, Orrey watched himself cupping Senlas’s cheek and inviting that kiss. They were repeating it from a few different angles as Sinta’s voiceover could be heard more or less summarizing the encounter.

“You were very natural,” Senlas said when hePut Downthe bags on the table and kissed the top of Orrey’s head with a brief hug.

“I was—of course I was natural! I had no idea he had more camera bots.”