Page 22 of Return of the Nine

Tiera laughed at the perky tone of Ziggy’s voice. “Yes. I am. Now, what do you have against Tonos?”

Ziggy sighed and Tiera followed her gaze into the other room.

“Can they hear us?”

Ziggy grimaced. “Without a doubt. The Wilder have excellent hearing, and from what I know, the People of the Air do as well. It was in their base species before the Nine split. I can’t believe that our folklore has them on record, and no one ever figured out that someone somewhere had seen aliens.”

Tiera laughed. “It figures that you figured it out, Zig.”

“It’s what I do.”

They sat holding hands while Tiera’s world spun and finally settled inside her.

“Better?”

She laughed, “Better.”

“Then, I will introduce you to my husband.”

“Wait. What is your problem with Tonos?”

“He is way too flirty for one of the Nine. And those wings of his are so...”

“Creepy.” The masculine voice from the doorway was amused.

Tiera smiled. “I don’t think they are creepy.”

His wings flicked in response to her words. “I thank you, Miss Tiera. I will take my leave of you now, but know that I enjoyed our time together very much.”

“Thank you for the tour.”

He bowed and left the room.

Ziggy’s man came forward and occupied the doorway. “I am pleased to meet you, Tiera MacKenzie. Signy has been quite agitated that you come, so she would not be the only Gaian on board.”

His blunt honesty made her laugh. “I am pleased to meet you, Rothaway. Ziggy has told me nothing about you, so I am dying to learn more.”

She and Ziggy got to their feet. Ziggy paused her husband with one hand. “Let me just explain the workings of the lav to her, and we will join you in the outer room.”

Tiera nodded. “Good call.”

It took a few minutes to get everything just right, but when they left the lav, Tiera was fairly confident about her grasp of the procedure.

The next thing to learn was how to summon a hot beverage, but that lesson was taught with an interested Rothaway looking on.

Sipping at a cup of tea, Tiera asked him, “How many of the Nine have learned Gaian?”

He shrugged. “Everyone on the mother ship.”

That surprised her. “But, I had an aquatic pilot, and he had a problem with speaking. He got the words right, but his mouthmoved funny.”

Rothaway smiled, “You caught that? His species does not speak in their home environment. Learning any spoken language is difficult for them.”

Since this was her home for the interim, she took a seat at the table, and Ziggy and Rothaway soon joined her. “So, how does one go about learning an alien language in an effective manner, and how could the entire ship have done it with Gaian?”

He grinned and showed some very sharp teeth. “We do it via subliminal training. It helps to keep our minds on our duties during the day. A few of the races have representatives with a talent for language, and they were the first ones to speak with your people.”

Tiera sat back and just came out with it. “How is it possible that you meet an alien woman and decide within hours that she is the one for you?”

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