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.”There was a pause, then jags of static rolled across the screen.“Yes?” Mao’s voice preceded her face filling the virtual window to Planet 1043.“Jav!” she cried, beaming.10,689.230Jav stood before the jump deck, next to the lone attendant.To all appearances he was composed and patient, but his stomach was knotted with anxiety.He still wondered if this was really all right.He’d casually suggested to Mao in the course of their conversation that she come out to the new Palace, and she’d leapt at the idea.He then approached Minister of Affairs Witchlan with the request and had been surprised by the ease with which the Minister had given his approval.He’d even seemed to be smiling, if Witchlan could be said to smile.Jav and Mao both had been surprised by how fast transport could be arranged.Jump ship travel was still a ways off, but rerouting an internal personnel jump deck and manually managing the relays could effect transport of a small amount of mass, a petite young woman for example, for the time being.Witchlan had said that the method would be a good temporary measure until more relays could be established.He even thanked Jav for the idea as a way to potentially raise morale.This way, vacations anywhere in the Empire could be arranged for the battle-weary Shades, or as in Jav’s case, people or items of interest could be brought to the Palace straight away without any unnecessary or overly lengthy wait.“Both sides are ready, sir,” the attendant said.Jav nodded.He looked nervously between the attendant’s hands at the controls and the deck itself, but in an instant, Mao Pardine was standing close enough to reach out and touch.She was as petite and slim as ever.She wore a pastel blue sweater that looked several sizes too big for her—but which somehow couldn’t hide her lithe figure—and beige pants that came halfway down her well-developed calves.Her face was fresh and intelligent, framed by lazy black curls that hung to just above her shoulders.Jav found her exceedingly attractive now that she was standing right before him, more so than he ever remembered.To him she looked exactly like Mai.His heart had stopped.Dreams were dreams, but when reality rivaled, or even exceeded, the bar set by the imagination, what could anyone do except acquiesce to fate? No.That’s not why she was here.Well, he would continue to tell himself that, anyway, so long as any sense of decency, however tenuous or even false, remained in him.He stood there, unable to move, but it didn’t matter.She was already clinging to him, having leapt from the deck as soon as she was able.She raised her head from his chest, looked up at him, and he had to actively fight an urge to kiss her mouth—Mai’s mouth.Instead, he returned her embrace, effortlessly carried her pressed against him with one arm, bent to take her luggage with his free hand, thanked the attendant, and left with her.• • •Jav took Mao straight to her accommodations.They fell to talking immediately, and before they knew it, several hours had passed.“I can’t believe Ren is dead,” Mao said.“I remember hearing about Gast, Kimbal Furst, and the rest, but your trip to this planet sounds like it was a nightmare.”Jav nodded somberly.“A lot of people died.”“Too bad Laedra Hol wasn’t among them.” She rummaged through the remains of the food they’d had delivered, stacking some slices of meat and cheese together, and popping the result into her mouth.Jav snorted.“You may not want to hear this, but we would have lost a lot more if not for her.She had one of the highest kill rates with the Gun Golems.”Mao shrugged, unimpressed.“I’m not surprised.” She grinned then and leaned closer to Jav across the too-small table at which they sat, a few of her stray curls tickling his cheek briefly.“I bet yours was right up there with hers, though.”She hovered there for an instant before resuming her position in her chair, but in that instant, Jav felt his stomach tighten, adding to an ache further down.Her perfect skin, the music of her voice, the bright, playful smile she wore, the bounce of her short, wavy hair—he couldn’t remember ever smelling anything quite so intoxicating: all of it assaulted him at point blank range.And it was still only her first day here at the Palace.The first of potentially many.She’d learned all that Chun Chekkai could teach her—and innovated a number of her own techniques, incorporating Approaching Infinity principles into the Eight Elbows style—but despite her superior skill, she was not eligible to take over the school when Chekkai retired, so she was essentially free.Her tentative plan was to stay at the Palace for a month, but Jav didn’t think he had the strength to endure a week—or even the night, if he wasn’t careful.He breathed out a broken laugh and shook his head, uncharacteristically flustered.Soon they would part.He would go embrace a dream while the reality lay within easy reach on the bed in this very room, not two steps away.“Are you all right?” she asked.“Yeah.Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, searching for an excuse.“Everything’s been so strange lately, though.The trouble Raus and I had up north, almost dying and being saved by the Ritual Mask again.” He suddenly thought of Anis Lausden and was ashamed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]