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mind about her being
his type.
    Tikaya held the paper out for him. “I don’t
recognize it. I can’t help you. You should try at the
Polytechnic.”
    He stared at her, face unreadable. Cicadas
began droning, and a bead of sweat slithered down her spine. Then
he took the paper, returned it to his pouch, and walked away.
     
    * * * * *
     
    A pair of whale-oil lamps burned on either
side of double doors marking the front of a large grassy mound. The
earthen-walled structure held her family’s distillery and
processing equipment, and the clank-thunk of machinery echoed from
within. Tikaya paused to prop her bow against the door frame as she
entered the chamber. Cool, dry air offered a reprieve from the
muggy evening heat, and her steaming body welcomed it after the run
from the fields.
    She almost tripped over a passel of
laughing, sandy-haired toddlers throwing wads of bagasse at each
other. Running into her nephews and nieces usually made her smile,
but now she froze, mid-step, thinking of the marine. His presence
represented a threat not only to her, but to her whole family, a
family big enough that they joked how it was impossible to be
lonely any place on the plantation. That was why she had returned
this past year. The flat she shared with Parkonis near the
Polytechnic had been too empty after his death, but now she feared
she had endangered them all.
    “ Tikaya,” her brother,
Kytaer, called. He stood before a press, feeding sugar cane into
the rollers. The long stalks cracked and flattened, and juice
flowed into a collection bin below. “Glad you stopped by so I could
warn you.”
    She tore her gaze from the tussling
children. Warn her? Had the Turgonian already been here?
    “ Professor Meilika is in
the house,” Ky said. “She’s joining us for dinner. She and Mother
have been conspiring all afternoon. About you. How to get you back
deciphering runes on broken tablets and potsherds and all
that.”
    Tikaya exhaled slowly. Nothing new. Good.
That meant the marine had not been by. She still had time to warn
everyone and figure out what to do. No, she knew what she had to
do. She had to pack. She could not stay here. If any of her family
came to harm because of the role she accepted during the war, the
guilt would torment her forever.
    One of her nephews bumped into her leg and
fell on his bottom. She picked him up before he could decide if the
tumble was a big enough calamity to cry over. She swiped bagasse
off his dusty trousers and directed him back into the game with a
playful swat on the backside. A lump sprang into her throat at the
idea of leaving them indefinitely. But for fate, she might have had
little ones of her own by now.
    “ Children, time to wash up
for dinner!” That was Ky’s wife, calling from the path, somewhere
between the house and the processing plant.
    The youngsters trundled out, voicing mutters
of “aw” and “do we have to?”
    “ You’re looking
particularly glum and thoughtful,” Ky said when he and Tikaya were
alone. “Did Mother and Father already talk to you?”
    Tikaya had seen neither of her parents since
early morning, so she arched her eyebrows and joined him at the
press. Like their father, Ky shared her uncommon height. For him,
though, it had always been an advantage, making him a boyhood star
at swimming and running. For her... Well, at least she could reach
the high book shelves in the library without a ladder.
    “ I heard them talking,” Ky
explained. “You’re getting the wasting-the-talent-Akahe-gave-you
lecture again soon. I know Father appreciates an extra hand during
the harvest, but he’s worried you’ve been here moping too long. And
Mother...wants you living in town again where you can find a ‘nice
young man to make babies with.’”
    Tikaya winced at the familiar words. Ky
patted her on the shoulder.
    “ Sorry,” he said. “Are you
all right? You look preoccupied. If you were puzzling over some
ancient runes, I’d know why, but I can’t