Page 40 of Return of the Nine

Daphne wanted to be indignant about the offer of a clothing allowance, but she really didn’t have anything appropriate. “When does the position start?”

Apolan smiled grimly. “Tomorrow? We have been given offices at city hall until our building is ready. It should be finished within the month.”

“What time?” She could probably scrounge some proper clothing out of her mother’s things if she had to.

“It is late, so noon? Ask for the temporary Embassy of the Nine, and they will direct you.”

She nodded. “Fine. Yes. I agree. We will discuss duties and such in the morning. For now, I am far too tired.”

Apolan asked, “Do you have a conveyance?”

It took her a moment to figure it out. “Oh. No. I walk home. It is just over that ridge there. Not too far at all.” The skimmer had been the first thing sold after her parents’ death and the bill collectors had come to call.

Her father’s penchant for inventing had never born fruit, but debts seemed to bloom in his wake. His death just made the men more insistent on getting what was theirs.

She had sold everything worth selling, pared down her antique books and taken on any job someone would pay her for.

She shook her head. “Come to think of it, I should get home. There are things to do before I start my new job.”

Apolan rose and helped her pull out her chair. “I will escort you home. This is no place for a lady alone.”

She blinked up at him. “No one has called me a lady in a verylong time.”

“Then, it is overdue.” He offered her his arm, and she took it. “Please direct me to your home. The trees were not very forthcoming.”

She grinned and pointed. “That way. Straight line more or less.”

They walked in the direction she pointed for a few minutes before she asked, “Why were you chosen for the position here on Gaia?”

He grinned, the white of his teeth flashing in the moonlight. “The Forest clan are the least susceptible to pheromones. It was thought that one of our kind would more easily deal with yours. I have been prepared to answer questions, to smooth the paths between our races. It has taken a bit of research, but that is why it was decided that I was to obtain an assistant of Gaian extraction.”

“Extraction is a good word. Was there a reason that Arvina selected me aside from my lack of scent?”

He cocked his head as if deliberating his next words. “I believe it was also your lack of interest in the men of the Nine. Many of the others selected for the event were intrigued by the thought of meeting and mating with a man of the Nine. We do not give our affections lightly, nor do we engage in casual encounters with alien races. It seems your women were not ready to accept that.”

She snickered, “Something different and new is always more attractive than the toy one already plays with. It goes for men as well, and the men of the Nine are very attractive as far as such judgements go.”

“You find us attractive?”

To her amusement, he seemed to grow a little taller at that. “I do, but it is not my opinion that matters but that of your lady wife.”

“I am not married, bonded or attached... yet.” There wasmeaning in his tone, but she ignored it.

She nodded. “Fair enough. So, what will I be doing?”

“Your position will entail taking appointments from a variety of sources, running my calendar and accompanying me to public functions.” His tone was matter of fact.

“Public functions?”

“You will have a clothing allowance and be dressed in the fashions of the Nine. The clothing of the Forest clan will suit you very well, I think. Arvina is sending for the seamstress soon, so you will be kitted out before the grand opening of our embassy.”

They reached the rise that overlooked her tiny house in the centre of a ring of trees. The wildness of the area was the reason that the colonists didn’t bother trying to plough through the ground. Removing the woods was far too much labour and the ground only suited to growing trees.

Apolan’s voice was amused, “You live with trees.”

“I do. My parents owned the house before me, and when they died, it came to me.”

“I am sorry. How did they die?”

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