Page 141 of Return of the Nine

It took three minutes until a rack with several long robes was brought out. The shadow lifted one off the rack and settled it on her shoulders. “How is that?”

Vida walked to the mirror and turned from side to side. From the hip down, the robe was sliced to allow for full movement of her legs. She could run in this.

“I like it.” She smiled and the shadow slipped it off her shoulders, producing the next one that included a belt that changed it from robe to coat. It would be fine on Gaia, but it seemed a little silly to wear a coat on the ship.

“Nah. A little too much.”

“Right. How about this?”

They went through twelve robe styles, which amazed Vida. She didn’t realise that there were twelve robe styles.

In the end, she picked three with hoods and two without. She wore one of the hooded robes out of the shop. Ziggy paid for it all with a swipe of her chit and had everything sent to the delivery slot in Vida’s rooms.

Ziggy steered her toward a shop that specialized in footwear when her wristband got a call.

Vida continued looking at boots with the shopkeeper while Ziggy was on the call. The moment she finished, she came over and grabbed Vida by the arm.

“Please excuse us. There is a matter we need to witness. Wewill return as soon as we can.” Ziggy fired the statement over her shoulder as she hauled Vida to the transport pods.

“What is going on?”

“There is a challenge taking place in the atrium, and I am hoping that we haven’t missed it.” Ziggy scowled as their pod whisked them along the rail.

“What kind of a challenge?”

“That is just it. No one has any kind of idea. The Balance don’t normally settle their matters in public, and there haven’t been any face-offs of this nature since the ship left their home worlds.”

The pod slowed to a halt and they got out. Ziggy lifted her skirts and scooted down the steps toward an archway that contained a green space.

The way Ziggy spoke of it, Vida expected a huge crowd, but less than twenty people were standing near the open, grassy meadow in the centre of the park.

Two members of the Balance were facing each other twenty feet apart, and what surprised Vida was that she had met both of them.

She caught up to Ziggy who was next to her husband. Rothaway held his wife’s hand as the strange and silent battle was waged.

Vida slipped to the front of the small crowd and closed her eyes. She had a front-row view of the actual battle that none of the others could truly appreciate.

Dark and light energy were lashing back and forth across the distance between the two men, each was trying to upset the balance in the other. It was strange, but each contact of power was absorbed and intensified by the victim. The two men were lashing each other into a fury of power and light.

It was a stunning display, and finally, Lerinian allowed his power to drain back to normal levels.

S’rin stood motionless and mastered the energy from the fight. He didn’t dispense with it; he wore it and balanced it.

Lerinian bowed low, surrendering the field.

Ziggy came up next to her, “Who won?”

“S’rin. He managed to hold more power and maintain the balance while he did it. I think that was the point.” Vida shrugged. “Do you know what it was about?”

S’rin turned his face toward her, and he approached her slowly as if carrying a wobbly burden. When he was five feet from her, he stopped and bowed.

She bowed slightly in return. It seemed the thing to do. “Congratulations on your success, S’rin.”

“Thank you, Lady Vida. I have won the right to assist you in your investigations and pursue you socially if you are amenable.”

“Pursue me? Am I running away?” She opened her eyes and blinked at the duality of his energy over the calm, dark robes of his daily garb.

She could hear amusement when he said, “No, I don’t think you are the type to run from danger.”

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