Page 24

Spending her first worry-free day off with her boss was peculiar to say the least.

“Are you sure that you want to spend a whole day with me?”

Daphne bit her lip.

“There is no one else I would rather spend the day with. Besides, you are here to help me integrate into the Gaian culture. The best way to do it is to immerse myself with your assistance. Lead the way, Daphne. I am yours for the day.”

She looked at his casual clothing, the brown leather and woven vest. His skin’s greenish brown colour glowed in the morning light, and he held another basket of food.

“Well, if you are mine, I have just the spot to show you. I think the Stone Folk would like it, but I am not sure about your people.”

“Show me, and I will let you know.”

He gestured for her to join him on the platform.

She snickered as he carefully positioned himself the same way he had for the last three days. “I will have to see the embassy sooner or later. Despite your efforts, I am well aware that my skyline has changed.”

He drew upright in shock. “You know?”

“Since the first disk thudded down onto Gaian soil. I am in tune with my environment. It is key to my survival.”

Daphne smiled.

“Well, since you are aware of it. Are you up for a tour? They are working on the bonding garden today. We can see any area except that one.”

“It sounds like you are taking control of this outing. Good. I didn’t have anything planned.”

He smiled, “We can see your spot later.”

She grinned. “Good. It really is beautiful. A natural garden underground.”

Daphne could tell that she had gotten his curiosity up, but he controlled the platform and took them to the build site half a mile from her home.

She laughed as they approached. She would have had to be blind to miss the five stories of building that spiked into the sky. The building had a surprisingly organic look, as if it had grown from the stone beneath it.

“That is quite something. It matches the surroundings quite well.”

Apolan inclined his head. “We try not to stand out on any world we put an embassy on. Our worlds are far away, but we bring pieces of them with us.”

She blinked. “Thathonic?”

He nodded. “That is the home of my parents, yes. You really have studied the Nine.”

She blushed. “I can’t help it. I have to learn. It is a compulsion.”

“I don’t mind. At least you are taking an interest. It is better for both of us if you understand my society and I yours.”

He smiled and brought the platform down in the centre of a manicured courtyard.

The tour was extensive, and she was ravenous by the time they entered the gardens at the rear of the new facility.

The grass had the standard purplish tinge of Gaia, but the rest of the flowers and trees were carefully potted and contained. Apolan took a small square out of the basket he had been carrying and flicked it out to provide them with a charming picnic area of layered silk.

They ate, chatted and simply enjoyed the bright newness of the area around them.

“How many of these buildings do the Nine have waiting?”

“None. They have a fabrication department that crafted the layers over the last few weeks.”

He packed away the remnants of their meal.

“I have something to show you that was crafted way before last week. Can I pilot the platform?”

Daphne’s tone was bright and eager. For years she had wanted to show someone her find, but since she had no social circle, there was no one to call.

Apolan’s hands covered hers on the controls, his body was pressed against her back, and she was having a hard time focussing on their destination.

“We are approaching your home.”

With his chest pressed against her back, she could feel his speech more than hear it.

“Sort of. A little further north and we are there.”

She shivered against him before she stiffened her back and reduced the contact.

With his help, she set them down neatly in a tiny glade within the ring of trees that surrounded her home. It was at the far north of the forest, a small green glade filled with some of the flowers native to Gaia. Daphne always felt calm when she was here. Serene, clean and right were the feelings that came over her in this place.

“Daphne, where are we?”

She could hear the wonder in his tone.

“The expanse north of my home. This is my place to run and hide when the world grows dark. It relaxes me from the inside out.”

She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him along.

“Where are we going?”

She laughed. Joy was spilling through her as it always did when she was here. “You can’t see it from here. You have to walk to it straight on or the trees won’t let you see it.”

The grasses were soft, the flowers bright sparkling white, stars against their deeply coloured bases. She tugged her bemused employer through the glade as he tried to look at everything.

“This looks just like our . . .”

She stopped and raised her brows, “Just like what?”

“Never mind. What were you going to show me?”

Daphne laughed. “This way.”

She used the small stones in the ground to line herself up, and she hauled him toward the woods one step at a time.

They moved together and the moment that the optical illusion faded, she heard Apolan gasp.

He kept moving forward with her, his footfalls eager.

The crevice in the rock was invisible to anyone who didn’t know how to approach it. Daphne had been to the glade dozens of times before the hidden cavern had called to her.

The crystals that lined the cavern walls lit as they walked between the trees and into what Daphne privately called the heart of Gaia.

“I am guessing that the walls sense the electromagnetic field of living things. They wake when we enter, and they darken when we leave.”

She kept her words quiet. He was too busy exploring the interior of the cave.

The white flowers that marked the clearing above also grew in the darkness of the cavern. The scent here was heady. It woke parts of her that she didn’t know she had.

With Apolan exploring the walls, she walked to the stone that took centre stage and watched him as he caressed the walls, stroked the crystals and murmured to himself.

The large crystal in the middle of the stone tablet drew her attention. Idly, she stroked the flat panel before she delicately drew her fingers down one sharp side.

“Daphne, what do you think this is?”

His loud words in the silence startled her. She drew her fingers back, and the edge of the crystal drew blood. “Ow.”

She put her bleeding fingers to her lips and sighed. “That has never happened before.”

Apolan looked at the stone, and his eyes widened. “Oh, goddess.”

The crystal that had tasted her blood was bright blue with light and power. It hummed.

“Daphne, I believe that you have stumbled upon the original bonding chamber of the Nine.”

Apolan looked at her fingers and the blood that still welled there.

She looked around her in wonder as she realised where she was standing. Generations of the Nine had come to this place and joined together as one.

The joy and warmth spilled through her over and over, and as she turned to imagine the couples that had stood in that place, searing pain ran through her hand.

Apolan looked from her to the stone and back again. “This is coming on much faster than I anticipated, but since you started the ritual, I must complete it or you will suffer.”

Her knees buckled as the pain coursed through her, and it radiated from her fingertips down her arm.

“What do you have to do?”

He smiled and kissed the back of her hand, helping her to her feet. “I have to marry you.”