Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Later, after Tyse and I are done messing around in bed, we shower and mess around in there too. But after all that, he gets dressed quickly and leaves, saying he’s got some loose ends to tie up before we go.
I sit at my dressing table, wearing a robe made of silk and looking into the mirror as I brush my hair. I think about this adventure before us. I mean, I understand it’s a deployment, and there’s some kind of terrorist activity happening, or whatever—so it’s a mission. But the fact that I’m an integral part of it makes it all feel very much like a dream story.
When Tyse came back from talking to Delta a few nights ago, he told me about his visit and his orders. At first, my stomach sunk with dread because I thought that meant he would be leaving and I would be staying behind.
But that’s not what it means. Because he and I, we’re partners.
Even Delta knows it.
We work together. We’re a team.
It’s better than marriage, if you ask me. Marriage is about settling down and planting roots. Deployment partners are about getting each other through things. Serious things. Maybe even life or death things.
Which I had never craved in my past life. I never imagined myself a heroine. But now that the opportunity has arisen, I can see it. I can see myself as one of those strong women in books.
And anyway, Tyse and I, we’ve already made this pledge to each other. We did it that very first day I walked into his tower in Tau City. We were in the restaurant, after my health center visit, and he said, “If I have your back, then you must have mine.”
I agreed and that was that.
Partners.
The doorbell pulls me away from my thoughts and I get up, hugging the dressing gown tightly around me and tying the sash, as I go to the door. When I open it, I find a porter. Which is pretty much the same thing as a runner back in Tyse’s Tau City. They deliver things. And this one has his hands so full, he has to peek over them to see me.
“Oh, dear,” I say, opening the door wide. “Come in, please. Put them anywhere.”
And as he does that, I go into the bedroom and fish a copper coin out of the little cup that Tyse has been dropping them into each evening when he takes off his pants.
The money here is different than back in Tau City. The coppers are brilliant and shiny, and have a picture of Delta on the front and a godship on the back.
I stare at it for a moment, then laugh. “That’s where it came from. The money.” I shake my head, amazed at how a tiny detail, like a picture of a godship on the back of a coin, could sprout an entire story inside my head while I was sleeping.
Back in the living room, the porter has arranged all the boxes on the table in front of the couch and is smiling at me with his hands behind his back when I enter. The coppers are the smallest denomination of coin in the city, but they are worth a lot because there are two kinds of money here. The coins, all made of metals like copper, and silver, and gold. And the papers, which are made of some kind of cloth that I’ve never seen before. The coins are the god’s money. So any coin is better than the paper.
The porter accepts my copper with a smile, and a bow, and a heartfelt, “Thank you.” Then he leaves, and I turn to the stack of packages.
They are all wrapped up in brown paper and tied with light blue satin ribbons. I know Tyse thinks that Delta the god, and by extension, Delta City, is too traditional and controlling, but even he has to admit, this city is very charming. Absolutely, unequivocally overflowing with charm.
And these packages are just more proof. The way they’re wrapped reminds me of home. Because we didn’t have glossy shopping bags and nothing was covered in plastic in my original Tau City. We wrapped presents in linens, or silks, or thick, handmade papers.
That’s how things are done here in the Tower District of Delta City as well. I haven’t seen all the other districts, but Tyse says it’s far less traditional on the other side of the tower where the slope of the mountain spills into a lush valley of modern neighborhoods and businesses, instead of the ocean.
But I don’t really have any desire to see that side of the city. I like tradition. Especially when it comes to package wrappings.
I take a seat on the couch and one by one, I pull each package into my lap and read the tags. They are all for me, so I open them.