Steven Harper - Trickster

Lucia paused and took a deep breath, trying to remain calm while saying difficult words. Her throat threatened to close anyway. "And please, Great Lady, do not withdraw the blessing of Silence from your people. Do not allow your servants to scatter like the wind. The Children of Irfan do great good in the universe, and it would be wrong to let them fade away. I beg you, Kind One, to grant my Silent brethren entry into the Dream once again. I give thanks for your blessings and pray for your wisdom. Your will be in all."

She waited a moment, inhaling sweet smoke and mumming a soft chant. Irfan would not let her children die away. She was good and kind, a force for order and justice. Lucia simply had to have faith everything would work out. There was nothing else she could do. Several long breaths later, Irfan's peace and serenity settled over Lucia like a well-worn blanket. She sighed heavily. Everything would be fine, as long as she kept her faith.

Lucia picked up a small silver snuffer, put out the candles, and doused the incense. A few moments later she was down in the galley rummaging through the cabinets and refrigerator for sandwich fixings. She had already set an enormous pot of coffee on to brew, and the rich smell quickly permeated the room. Lucia's scarred hands laid out new loaves of brioche, thin-sliced ham, hard salami, crunchy water cress, sweet peppers, spicy benyai leaves, cheddar cheese, and an assortment of sauces ranging from milky-mild to tongue-blisteringly sharp. The Children of Irfan might be a monastic order, but the monks didn't practice asceticism in food or in living arrangements. The Pathway Church of Irfan didn't require it, either, and for this Lucia was grateful.

"At it again, I see," came Ben Rymar's gentle voice from the galley door. Lucia turned to face him.

"As Irfan so perfectly put it," she replied with a smile, " 'If I don't, who will?' "

"Definitely not me." Ben leaned casually against the doorframe. "Cooking is the anti-Irfan, as far as I'm concerned."

Lucia shook her head. "It's fun, you heathen."

"I'm glad someone thinks so," Ben said. "Mom didn't cook, either, and sometimes I think Kendi would be happy eating grubs torn from a rotten log. Ever since you joined the crew, we've been eating high off the hog."

"Thank you, kind sir," Lucia said, pretending to simper. "Just send Harenn the finder's fee for bringing me here."

Ben pulled up a chair and sat facing Lucia over the back. Lucia finished slicing bread, then dealt the round pieces out on the counter like cards and began piling generous portions of sandwich fixings on them. She felt comfortable with Ben in the galley, as if one of her brothers were stopping in for a visit.

"You and Harenn are pretty good friends," Ben observed. "How did you two ever hook up, anyway? I never heard."

Lucia picked up a bowl of sauce and a plastic spreader. "You know that I'm a licensed private investigator, right?" When Ben nodded, she went on. "Harenn hired me to look for Bedj-ka because I'm also a pilot and could more easily check out other planets. I wasn't able to find him, obviously, but Harenn and I got along really well. We'd both been jilted by our husbands, so we already had something in common."

"You used to be married?" Ben said. "I didn't know that."

"I was very young and it didn't last long," Lucia said. "One day Jax up and ran off. No reason, no explanation, nothing. Just divorce papers served from a distance. Later I found out Jax had been sleeping with some bimbina even before he and I got engaged." She thwacked an onion in half. "Men are pigs."

"Oink."

Lucia laughed. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget that you're a… I mean… oh, dear."

"Right."

"Anyway," Lucia hurried on, "Harenn and I became friends. Good thing, too-the PI business was getting a little thin even before the Despair came along. These days my one-woman agency exists only on paper. My contract with the Children is the only thing keeping me from having to move back in with my family. I love them, but they're a big and noisy bunch."

Ben nodded and Lucia thought she saw a hint of… envy?… in his eyes. Maybe she was wrong. What could she possibly have that Ben might envy?

"So," Lucia said, briskly slathering sauce over selected slices, "how did you and Father Kendi get together, anyway? If it's not too private to ask, I mean."

"It's not." Ben rested his chin on the back of the chair. "But it's a long story. Short version is that we met because Kendi was my mom's student. We were both teenagers."

"Love at first sight?" Lucia said.

Ben snorted. "Not quite. It took me forever to figure out how I felt about him. Even after I did, things weren't easy between us. We were on-again, off-again for years. Mom smacked me upside the head a few times about that, but I didn't really admit to myself how much Kendi meant-means-to me until the Despair hit. Sometimes I think you have to lose something, or almost lose it, to understand how precious it is." He paused, then said abruptly, "Do you ever worry about the Children of Irfan becoming extinct? I know Kendi does."

Lucia's thoughts instantly rushed back to her prayers. "I sometimes worry. But never for long."

"Why not?"

"Irfan would never allow her Children to die out," Lucia said firmly.

At that moment Father Kendi poked his head into the galley. "Lucia, you don't have to do this every time we have a briefing, you know."

Lucia blinked. "Do you want me not to? Isn't the food any good?"

"It's great, Lucia," Father Kendi said. His presence seemed to fill the entire galley. "But it's a lot of extra work for you. I mean, newest crew does the cooking for regular meals, but this goes above and beyond."

"She says she likes doing it," Ben put in, "if you can believe that."

"I do like it," Lucia said. "Besides," she added, greatly daring, "you're all too thin. Eat!"

Ben and Father Kendi laughed and Lucia calmly went back to her pile of sandwiches.

Gretchen and Harenn, chatting amiably, arrived in the galley a moment later and sat down at the round table just off the cooking area. Ben and Father Kendi joined them. Harenn poured herself some coffee. Lucia set the finished sandwiches on a large platter, brought them to the table, and took a seat next to Harenn. Everyone reached for generous portions and pronounced them excellent. Lucia nodded at the praise, then shot a sidelong glance at Harenn. It still seemed strange to see her without her veil in public. Lucia had, of course, been in Harenn's home any number of times and had seen her unveil there, but never anywhere else. It was a welcome sight, though, and Lucia was glad beyond measure that Bedj-ka's return had allowed it to happen.

"And how's Bedj-ka?" Lucia asked.

Harenn sipped cream-laden coffee with a faintly distracted smile. "He seems happy, as am I. Bedj-ka thinks it exciting to live on a slipship, and I find that it refreshes my own enthusiasm to watch him see things for the first time. He insists on assisting me with the engines and maintenance, and it is touching the way he tries so hard to help."

"Maybe he'll be an engineer like his mother," Lucia said.

"Perhaps." Her smile grew wistful. "He is certainly intelligent enough. He can already run four basic diagnostic programs and-"

"You sound just like my mother when she boasts about my brothers and sisters and me," Lucia interrupted with a chuckle. "Next you'll be whipping holos out of your pocket to show around."

Harenn's brown cheeks darkened. "I have already made several. Would you like to see them?"

Before Lucia could reply, Father Kendi set his data pad on the table and called for order. Lucia instantly gave him her full attention.

"Todd told us where the Collection is housed," he began, "so let's start there." Father Kendi tapped the pad and a hologram of the station sprang into being above the tabletop. "We got lucky. We're docked here-" one part of the station glowed green "-and the Collection is housed here." Another part of the station glowed red. "It's only one section over, so it's not hard to get to from our dock. The first thing we need is a basic recon. Todd gave me some information, but there was a lot he didn't know." More taps, and the view of the station zoomed in tighter, becoming a cutaway of a section of corridor.