FREE STORIES 2012(50)

Kara knelt down and considered the greenery. There were, as she knew from previous visits, norbears living among the fronds -- one quite old, and the other quite young. She would, she thought, like to have the attention of a norbear at the moment, though it would be rude to wake them, or to disturb their pretty habitat.

She was about to rise again, when the fronds dipped more deeply than could be accounted for by the small breeze, and here came the elder norbear -- rust colored and thin of fur -- marching deliberately forward, through the fronds and out of the garden entirely, climbing familiarly onto Kara's knee.

"Hevelin, good-day to you," she said, stroking his head gently. He burbled and pushed into her fingers, demanding a more vigorous scrubbling.

Kara smiled and settled cross-legged to the floor, careful of the old norbear's balance, and rubbed his head with vigor. His pleased burbling seemed to leach her restlessness, and she sighed, half-closing her eyes.

An image came into her head, lazily, like a dream -- an image she recognized as Pilot yos'Senchul. She recalled him entering the Guild Master's office, and the image faded, to be replaced by the impression of a pointed, pale face dominated by fierce dark eyes, framed by blow-away pale hair that Kara knew to be as soft and warm as feathers.

"No," she murmured. "Theo's not with me, though I have her things. I'm here for a tenday tour, to assist Master Thelly."

A man's round, red-cheeked face faded through Theo's, his eyes blue and sharp, the lines around them made by worry, laughter -- or by both. Master Thelly, perhaps.

She felt herself sinking into a languor; almost, she felt she could have a nap.

Happily for her dignity, the door behind her opened at that moment. The languor fled, leaving behind a feeling of tingling alertness. She opened her eyes to look up, at Orn Ald yos'Senchul, and, further up, at Guild Master Peltzer.

"Hevelin took the edge off, did he?" he said with a nod. "Worth a full night's sleep, one of Hevelin's purr-breaks. If you'll stand up, Pilot, we can get your little matter finished up and send you to the Station Master for registration."

"Thank you," Kara said to Hevelin. "Would you like to go back to the garden?"

It appeared that Hevelin did not. He clambered up her arm to her shoulder and grabbed onto her collar to steady himself.

"I'd say that's plain," said Guild Master Peltzer, moving over to the intake desk. Kara came to her feet, careful of her passenger, and stepped up.

"All right now. Pilot. This'll take a bit to propagate across the databases, so I'll just drop a note to the Station Master and to Master Thelly, letting them know the news." He tapped keys, and Kara, Hevelin humming in her ear, waited with what patience she could muster for someone to tell her the news.

"Right, then. Here you are, Pilot." He held her license out in her general direction, while his other hand and his eyes were still on the computer.

Kara took the card, Hevelin all but deafening her with his purr, and slipped it away into an inner pocket.

"Sir?" she said. "May I –"

He looked up, catching her gaze with his, and inclined his head formally.

"Congratulations, Second Class pilot Kara ven'Arith."

She stiffened. "Your pardon, Guild Master. I am, I believe, Candidate Second Class pilot ven'Arith."

He shook his head, his smile tight.

"That's according to the so-called Pilots Guild of Eylot, which has no standing with the Interstellar Starship Pilots Guild. Eylot Guild can deny our licenses and our regs 'til they're short of air, but at the end of the shift, they're a local independent piloting group. Anybody lifting with an Eylot Guild ticket is just another indie flyer, far as this Guild is concerned."

Hevelin's purring hit an ecstatic crescendo.

Kara looked closely at the Guild Master's grim face. She transferred her gaze to Pilot yos'Senchul, who inclined his head gravely, and murmured, "A signal achievement, Pilot. Well done."

"You brought me here for this, didn't you?" she demanded.

"In part," he allowed, with a slight smile. "I did also think of you first when the tenday tour came into my queue."

Kara took a breath. "Pilot yos'Senchul," she began – and stopped as he held up his hand.

"Please, honor me with the use of my given name, now that we are colleagues – and comrades."

She frowned at him. Colleagues, yes, because they were now both certified by the same guild, though he was Master to her Second Class. Comrade, though...

"Do you have work on-station? But your contract at the Academy --"

"The present administration has placed conditions upon my continued employment which I cannot in conscience accept. Therefore, I have offered myself to Guild Master Peltzer, who believes he may be able to find a use for me."