For the next few days, I was painting, sleeping, eating, trying to find something to do. My new place didn't have a training room as yet, so I spent my evenings after dinner working out with the marine guards in their bunkhouse training room. The treadmill may become the death of me and I can't even last half an hour before I have to get off it and rest. I seem to be doing much better when I'm out walking in my forest or along the lake front.
It was on one of these walks on the beach that I bumped into Ortiz giving Kayton swimming lessons, one afternoon. I sat down on the warm golden sand and watched as Ortiz showed my friend how to slide his hands in front of him through the water in a breaststroke to propel him forward as he swam. Kay looked much more comfortable in the water that he did the first time on Horizon 441, and I could see he'd gained much more confidence while swimming. They transitioned from breaststroke to a basic paddle and back again as the sun sparkled off the water.
"He's been out here every day since you moved in, trying to learn how to swim without freaking out in the water." I turned to Marcy as she parked her butt down next to mine on the sand. "He's determined to never be in a situation where his friends would need his help in water and he doesn't know what to do."
"I really freaked him out that day on Horizon, didn't I?" I asked as I scrunched a handful of sand in my palm.
"You did, but he's better for it. Living here, without knowing how to swim, not a safe plan. Do you know he's never seen so much water up close and personal before? His home sector does not have lakes or large seas like this. Their main planet has a hardened crust of vegetation over a water world. All their water comes up in industrial parks and is delivered to households and the palace where he lived."
"He doesn't talk to me much at all about his life before joining us. Those marks on his back..." I leave my sentence hanging there, hoping Marcy will fill me in.
"His story to tell, not mine." She bumped my shoulder with hers and waited until I turned my gaze from the men in the water and looked at her. "It wouldn't help you to just talk with him, you know."
"I can't." I dug my fingers down into the sand either side of me and pretended that what I'm doing is more interesting than what she wants to tell me.
"You can, you just won't let yourself."
"I'm seventeen, Marcy. My life is crazy insane. I am not ready for what it is he's offering."
"What do you think he's offering, Libby?" She asked quietly and I looked back at a determined man in white and red with deep scars on his back. I could see he'd finally found the balance of momentum and buoyancy and the smile on his face was contagious. Ortiz slapped him on his shoulder then they turned around and slowly swam along the beach the other way.
"Ayms is addicted to his body scent, loves being around him, loves hearing him speak, his words, his accent, the cadence of his speaking. Meanwhile, I'm slowly freaking out about what it could mean for me and any future relationships. I'm not ready for anything serious right now and I think Kayton knows this." I turned to look at Marcy and watched her watching the lake.
"Could we please just leave it be, for now?" I asked quietly. She nodded and I let out my breath slowly. The afternoon grew chilly as we sat at the water front. A couple of Mossie spores glided on by, sharing their enthusiasm and delight with Ayms and I, and apart from the bird life high above the lake, there were no more interruptions. Peaceful. Tranquil. Slightly boring...
"So." I curled up onto my knees and brushed sand off my hands as the guys climbed out of the lake water and dried themselves off. I'm not watching, not too much anyway.
"What's next?" I asked. It was a general question really, to put out there in the universe. Not that I expected the universe to answer back, but you know, stranger things have happened lately.
"Dinner and the gym?" Brondi spoke as he came up beside us. "I've been sent by Carl to let you know Cookie has perfected tonight's cuisine, once again most artfully. His words, not mine." He sat down next to me and tapped his thumb against his knee in a staccato beat.
"Been doing much, today, Brondi?"
"Your dresses all arrived for you to try on. I took receipt of them on behalf of Princess Sakura. I would have let you know about them sooner, but well... You looked all peaceful here on the beach and I didn't want to disturb you."
"Dresses, great!" I pretended enthusiasm. I am probably the only girl I know who hates shopping and trying on expensive pretty things. "Is there a hurry to get them fitted? Anything on our crazy busy schedule that requires ball gowns or evening attire?" I already knew there wasn't and was being factious, but then I remembered the media frenzy from the day before and realised I've probably got chat show interviews and what-not.
"Yes, you do. Mrs R has three interviews lined up for you. Other than that, just getting yourself and Ayms better. How's that coming along, by the way?" He looked down at me, his military haircut getting long around his ears.
"You need a haircut." I just blurted that out.
"Yes, but don't change the subject."
"I'm seriously bored!" I also blurted out. "There's no training, no maintenance, no Ponics, no travelling and visiting new places and no Shards with the Jacks." I feel my face grow hot as I realise I sounded like a spoiled Fleet brat. "It's just that now I'm home and healing, I don't know what to do with myself. I visited the business complex building site next to the house this morning and they kicked me off it three times before Charlie threatened to revoke my lift security pass for that tree house. There's no bridges in place yet so I wouldn't be able to get in." I huffed the last part out and crossed my arms and stared at the Master Sergeant as he turned to see who was speaking about him, literally behind his back.
"How about a walk to the Clan after dinner?" Marcy suggested, and I had to agree with her that it was a lovely idea. I stood up and took one look out over the lake view, the sky, the surrounding trees, and wondered how something so incredible could so easily lose my interest. I turned and found most of my team standing around in the treeline and jumped in fight as I realised that Suffolk was standing immediately right behind me. I'd never heard him move, even on the sand.
"You Mr Panther, need a bell around your neck. No more sneaking up on the hearing impaired, OK?" He nodded with a slight grin on his lips.
"Now what are we supposed to do?" Again, questions to the universe, or at least to ears older and far wiser than I. "What do you think, Marcy?" I asked as we headed back into the forest towards the Lake House.
"What was the whole point in setting up your enterprise here in Tequila?" She asked, moving around a stack of boulders and following the newly broken trail that led home.
"No real reason, just wanted to make sure everything Ayms and I inherited was managed well under an incorporated entity and supported correctly. Every new mossie-human hybrid is awarded so many thousands or millions of credits when they bond. Here, it has become a planetwide in-joke. We have a saying: "Go into medical, make money. Go into politics, make corporations." The only way on Omicron that you can truly get into politics is if a Mossie partners with you.
"Some teens and younger adults spend their whole summers camping out near clans with the hope that a Mossie will take them on. Its a right of passage, a coming of age celebration, and often used as graduation gifts from the more wealthy parents to set up the glamorous camping experiences for their kids. Me – I just wanted to get the hell off this planet as fast as I could. So much for that plan." I couldn't help but laugh a little at myself.
"What about your new paintings? Will you be doing anything special with them?" Brondi asked.
"Fill my new home with memories?" I asked, as if maybe that's not the best plan for them. Then I remembered that this is my place and those were my memories, and I could do with them whatever the hell I wanted to do with them. "Yes, hang them on the walls."
"They are truly incredible, Libby. Will you not showcase them, publicly?" Kayton asked as he moved up to my left with Marcy on my right. Like we're out on location and I still need guarding. We arrived at the house and started moving towards the lift tree trunk.
"They really aren't for public consumption." At the look on his face I realised my joke didn't translate. "I don't think they are good enough for anyone to want to view them, let alone pay for them."
"Why not?"
"Ahh. I'm not sure. I just don't think they are the best quality for any sort of exhibition."
"No, that's a great idea, Libby. You would showcase your work as it pertains to your media press releases, self-promote during your interviews and you'd make a killing in door charges alone. If you want to sell nuplex prints of your canvases, you would make even more." We all stepped out of the lifts by the kitchen and moved towards the dining area.
"Ayms, me and our whole enterprise really does not need any more money. We aren't even spending what we already have."
"That's not true," Carl spoke up, having arrived for dinner from the upper lounge. He'd heard the tail end of the conversation. "You have purchased quite a bit of equity and added to your estate. These sums are not inconsiderable."
"Whose side are you on, Mr Administrator?" He shrugged and turned to the guys around me.
"What is it that you are proposing to our esteemed Ambassador?" We all sat and started serving ourselves from the incredible amount of flavourful food before us.
"She is bored."
"She's getting underfoot next door at the building site."
"She is wasting brain cells sitting on her b... beach." Burns changed what he was going to say at the last minute when he noticed I was glaring at him. Then coughed to hide his laughter.
"She's is generating some magnificent paintings that must be publicised while she waits for a response from Fleet." This from Kayton.
"She is right here, stop talking over me." I huffed and stuffed a forkful of nut noodles and tofu into my mouth.
"We're not talking over you, Libby. We're talking about you while you're in the room." Burns pointed out.
"She is healing and re-cooperating." This from Cookie as he brought from the kitchen a mug of coffee for me and his own meal. He handed me my drink then perched on a stool at the breakfast bar and commanded everyone's attention easily, just by being in the same room as us. "What is our Miss Libby getting herself into now?"
"Nothing!" I protested, taking a drink of the good coffee blend, nearly burning my tongue.
"Oh, well, this will not do at all." He pointed his fork at me. "You, young lady, need an event or mission right now. Something to work towards, to organise, to orchestrate, or you will wither away again, to nothing." His words had a ring of truth in them.
"What do you suggest, Cookie?" I asked.
"Don't ask me, I'm your head chef and bottle washer. You have a brilliant team of executive assistants and subordinates. Ask them! What do you take me for, a chump?" He mumbled as he went back into his kitchen. Huffing and puffing all the way. Slightly embarrassed, I turned to Carl and Kayton and Charlie.
"An art exhibition?" I asked, my voice getting a little squawky.
"No, a charity event. A celebration of your coming out in Omicron society, of your adoption by the Blue Star Clan and a fundraiser for a youth programme that you're setting up to encourage young artists explore their own life events and impacting moments though the arts." Carl paused to view Ortiz's expression and response to the idea. Charlie nodded and pulled out his hand-held.
"I'll get Mrs Robinson on it now. It will have to be soon, to keep the momentum within the media and before the court marshal. Three weeks too soon?" He asked Kayton and Carl, then turned to me. My mouth was hanging open.
"I haven't even finished the paintings yet. How can I get them all done before then?"
"Yes you are correct. You will need more help in organising the event. Carl will pull a team together for it. Kayton will assist you here, and I'll get security working on the venue, along with your media presentations." He finished up what was on his plate and left the table to go get started on it. I turned to Kayton, Marcy, Suffolk the new guy, anyone to help me manage the sudden change of events. Or in this case, sudden new events.
"I can't do this by myself. I won't have even ten paintings completed by that time. That's a ridiculous showcase if you are charging a door fee and raising fundraising. We need more artists involved. Get a few independent youth. A couple of tourist painters – you know the ones who sell at the main resorts and beaches in the cities? Get a few of them. Also, that geneticist who photographs micro bacteria for the medical publications. Ask if he would so something for the show. Better yet, invite him to photograph the Blue Star and blow all his images up, huge, wall-spanning huge. I'll ask the patriarchs tonight for permission." I had to stop to take a breath and noticed both Kayton and Carl smiling as they took notes and began organising everything.
"What about sculpture, Libby?" Ortiz asked as he walked back into the dining area. He had a little quirky expression on his face, like he had someone in mind with the suggestion.
"Who are you thinking? What kind of 3D sculpture art? The printer fabbers who work with the city councils?" Printing and creating using 3D fabricators was all well and good, but there just wasn't any technique in the mass-produced sculptures that the cities contract for their parks and lake fronts. Not my idea of creative expression, but you know. Everyone has their quirks, I guess. Anyone say cheap and nasty?
"An old mate of mine. Works as a mechanic with O-Corp's land fleet. He sculpts in his spare time using recycled metals. If you're interested, I can arrange a viewing."
"That sounds perfect, Charlie. Do you think he'd have enough sculptures for a ten piece allotment?"
"I haven't seen him in years, but I'll make contact and get back to you." He nodded then moved off into the Mossie segment of the tree house, pulling his comm unit out of his jacket.
"What about hor d'oeuvres? Wine and drinks? Snacks? Waiters, catering and cleaning?" Cookie yelled out from the kitchen.
"I'll get a caterer in for that. Leave that with Carl and I."
"So, all I have to do is advertise it while I'm being interviewed and finish my paintings. OK, I can do that." I really didn't believe I could, but when I looked up I found Kayton smiling, encouragingly. Maybe I could.
The walk out to the clan that evening was peaceful, always peaceful. I had the hugest sense of acceptance and love, of belonging with them, being content, like there was nothing at all wrong in the galaxy. Before we left, I only just remembered to ask them if we could have a photographer come and visit with them for an art exhibition. We then had to take an extra half an hour to explain what I was doing and they were delighted to comply.
I also asked them if they would mind if Ayms and I changed our last name to reflect their clan grove. The baby spores got all excited about that, lighting up like fireflies and I couldn't help smiling all the way home.
"Lady Liberty Blue Star. It has a really nice ring to it." I smiled at Ortiz's comment.
"Make it legal, please Mr Head of Security, and I'll be your best friend." I grinned at him.