Page 113 of Return of the Nine

“Yes, please. I can drop my bag and wash my face and centre myself. It should only take three minutes or so.” She smiled hopefully.

“Of course. This way.” Deniir bowed slightly and gestured for her to accompany him.

They walked through the halls, and several men bowed as they passed. Deniir inclined his head but didn’t stop to talk.

She asked, “You have a rank here?”

“I am a master engineer, second only to my father, Darthuun. You will meet him when we go to the research and development department.”

“I am guessing that you have a rank beyond that.”

He grinned and shrugged. “The ranks of my people do not matter here. That is not how our hierarchy works.”

She registered what he had said. “You work with your father?”

“Yes. It is not always easy, but I enjoy it. He is an excellent engineer.”

She sighed. “You are very lucky.”

They passed a couple, and she blinked. “Is she a tree?”

“One of the Forest Folk, yes. Like the ambassador on Gaia.”

“I haven’t actually met Daphne’s husband. I haven’t seen any of the Nine either. This is all quite interesting, but please, tell me if I am staring.”

“You are doing very well so far.” He chuckled.

A man with fluttering Fairy wings was coming toward them,and as he passed, he drifted in close to Ula.

Deniir moved so swiftly, she only heard the snap of his wings as he flared them, flicking the other man away from her before she could even shift her weight.

“Back off.”

The Fairy held up his hands and stayed back.

Deniir waited, with the man pinned to the wall by his wingtip. When he received some signal that Ula couldn’t see, he released the other man and snapped his wings together behind his back. He didn’t flatten them but left them raised and the arches framed his head on either side.

As they started to move again, she asked, “What was that?”

“There are far more men than women on board. You are a new female and therefore worth trying to claim. The women of Gaia are prized mates here.” He smiled slightly.

“I see. What was his species?”

“The People of the Air. They are generally harmless unless they are in a thwarted bond.”

“How does that work?”

“Well, I will have the instruction manual for dealing with the Nine forwarded to your quarters.” He smiled, “Your planet-mate, Ziggy, is the Potential of Gaia, and she has created a species-by-species information sheet for any of your kind on the mother ship.”

“That was thoughtful of her.”

Of course, Ula had heard of Ziggy and her ensconcement on the mother ship. While she didn’t let her friends visit, she did communicate via com system. She knew who had married what; she simply had no images of the species that her friends were now sleeping with.

“It is. Apparently, our etiquette is a little hard to master.”

Ula snorted. Gaians were fairly tactile, and being told not to make skin-to-skin contact was awkward for them. Havingthe members of the Nine bond to them without contact was even more bizarre, but there was nothing to do about the pheromones. Matches were made on the chemical plane, and there was little that would deter a determined member of the Nine.

“Yes, sure. You could say that.”

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