His eyes widened a little. “Do you have her language file here?”
The merchant La-rehn referred to as Xid blinked at him with large eyes. “Depends. But I don’t know what she is. Which language does she speak?”
La-rehn’s brows dived toward her nose. “Hees not speekin da troot. Hee nohz mee. Ai was heer wit Geblit.”
He wished he could understand what she was saying but he recognized Geblit’s name.
“What language are you speaking?” he asked.
“Een-glish,” La-rehn offered.
“Een-glish?” Xid blinked. “Never heard of it. Can’t help you then.” The long neck began retreating behind the stall and Riv reached his hand in his pocket to retrieve a teruva coin.
They were untraceable but valuable and rare. He always travelled with a few.
Setting the coin on the stall’s counter immediately stopped the neck from retreating.
“Scan for it,” Riv said.
“Ah, yes, I can scan for it.” Xid eyed the coin. “Will take a while, though.”
La-rehn let out another exasperated breath, her frown etched deeper into her skin.
He supposed he understood what was making her upset.
Xid already had her language file. How else would she know the merchant?
Sliding another coin forward, he eyed the merchant.
Xid tilted his head. “Might go a little faster.”
Riv slid another coin.
Xid snatched all three with a skinny hand. “Okay. I can do it for you now.”
Riv made a sound of annoyance in his throat.
The merchant retrieved a language transmitter. “Een-glish. Planet Earth. Ready for upload.” Xid glanced at Riv. “There are other languages from that planet in the database. Would you like them uploaded too?”
“No.” He lifted his hand and realized then that La-rhen was still holding on to him. Forcing his gaze away, he used his free hand to release his messhi from around his face. “I only need to speak to her. I’m not interested in speaking to others of her kind.”
It took only a second for Xid to administer the download to his translator implant behind his ear and Riv gritted his teeth as the chip updated.
It produced a weird sort of feedback that lasted for a few seconds as the update went through.
“Is it painful?” La-rhen asked, and he stared at her.
Her voice.
He knew her voice was entrancing but now, being able to understand her added a level to it that he hadn’t been prepared for.
“Is there anything else you need?” Xid asked.
“So you can swindle more credits? No, thank you.” He fastened the messhi around his face once more. “Let’s go,” he said to La-rhen and she slipped her hood over her head but not before he caught her searching gaze.
She was anxious about the language upload.
She wanted to speak to him.
For someone who hadn’t wanted to speak with her before this day, why did that terrify him so much?
“Where are we going now?” Lah-rehn’s voiced reached his ear and he glanced down at her.
He was thankful she couldn’t see his face because he didn’t know what to think right about now. There were too many conflicting emotions created by just the sound of her words.
Riv paused for a second, looking down at her.
“What happened back there at the Isclit merchant’s stall?” he asked instead.
He wanted to know.
Her reaction had been too…alarming.
“Isclit?” She looked up at him. “Wait, can you understand me now?”
He didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
He couldn’t help but stare at her, watching her lips move as she spoke.
“Guess you can’t yet.” Her shoulders fell and what looked like sadness passed through her eyes as she averted her gaze to the ground.
“I can.”
Her head snapped up then, her eyes widening as if that’s the best news she heard in a while.
It made something within him develop a strange, unwanted ache.
“What happened at the Isclit merchant’s stall?” he tried again, zoning in on her as he ignored the steady stream of beings passing by them.
“Nothing happened. I don’t know what you mean.”
Was she going to start trying to deceive him with her lips now that he could understand her?
Something had clearly happened at the stall.
“Nothing happened? It sure seemed like something was happening. I couldn’t purchase the cloak fast enough. You looked as if you were ready to flee.” The anger and irritation that’d been missing from his tone was coming back.
“Oh.”
Her shoulders suddenly stiffened again and she seemed to sink farther into the cloak.
Releasing her hand, he crossed his arms over his chest.
He could still feel the imprint of her hand against his palm, almost as if her touch had left a lasting mark.
“Explain.”
She shifted, glancing around them.
“Can we talk about this later?” Her gaze head-hopped again. “Not here. Not now.”
The talkative human didn’t want to talk.
He could sense that whatever she was hiding, it was deeply serious.
Nodding, he glanced around them too.
They stood in the middle of the throng with beings moving around them, and he spotted where they needed to go.
He couldn’t believe he was about to do this but he started moving before he changed his mind.
“Where are we going now?”
“Home.”
They were having a conversation.
Before, her nonsensical nattering had been easy to ignore. But now he could understand her and ignoring her wasn’t so easy.
“So…” She paused.” Will I be staying there, then?”
Riv swallowed and forced himself not to look at her.
He didn’t need to see hope in her eyes.
It would only make things harder.
Nothing had changed between them. She was still leaving. Maybe not today but maybe tomorrow or the next day.
She couldn’t stay.
“Until I can get rid of you, yes.”
She glanced around. His words must have affected her for she was silent for the next few moments as they walked.
“This is the way to your hovercar?”
No, it wasn’t.
As they turned a corner and headed down another side of the market, it didn’t take her long to see where he was taking her.
This side of the market had garments and living things.
“Choose what you need. Enough for a few days.”
La-rehn stopped and froze on the spot, and it wasn’t until he’d taken a few steps ahead that he realized she’d stopped walking.
What now?
When he moved back to her
