Date: June 8, 2440 Time: 5:45 AM
“I would have made coffee, but don’t know how,” L’tani said when she saw Angelina looking at her from the mudroom entryway. “I am as useless as I was presumptuous with, Matthew.”
“You look like shit,” she said, hanging up her raincoat and stepping out of her boots and into slippers. “Are you sleeping, or are you choosing to stay awake as a means of self-flagellation?”
“Why didn’t you throw me out?”
“This is Matt’s house,” Angelina said, realizing this was just going to be one of those days where wine rather than coffee might have been a better way to start her day.
“If you told him to send me away, he would have.”
“Most likely, but that doesn’t matter. You haven’t done anything wrong. That is also not how things work on the homestead.”
“You were unhappy with me the other night.”
“No, I wasn’t. That was me taking charge. You also stank like a rank skunk,” she said, putting her hand up to let her continue. “I talked with your mother on this. Human women have evolved away from pheromonal challenges, probably so we could live peacefully with each other while we took care of the children and kept the hearth fires burning. That doesn’t mean we can’t smell them or need to assert dominance when faced with a challenge or crisis.”
“That makes genetic sense,” L’tani said contemplatively. “I am sorry if I challenged you in your own home.”
“I told you this is Matt’s home,” she said, grabbing the things she needed. “Come here. These are the beans for this pot. This is the grinder for them. I usually keep a few days ground. Never put the flavored coffee beans in this grinder or the main pot. Matt hates the stuff. You and I, however, are going to have hazelnut lattes this morning because he isn’t here to bitch and moan about them. We will also start over. By the way, if you had challenged me in my house, I would have knocked you on your very tall ass. Matt does not believe in hitting others. I have no such objections.”
“I am still sorry.”
“I have already told you that you don’t need to be. I am not angry with you. Do you know how long it has been since Matt had sex? At least several months before Amy died. The doctor advised her against it as she had already miscarried two babies. He needed what you gave him. It is what has let him move on. It is what I hope has let him tire himself out with your sister, whom he has fallen in love with.”
“Will he want me to move out then?”
“I think he will leave that up to your sister. It should be her decision, not his. I have kept the spirit of Amy alive in this home for nine years, four months, and three days. I am tired and need to give this over to its new queen and mistress.”
“I don’t know how she will react. She and I have never been close. She is six and a half years older than me and was mostly raised by W’ren, and I was mostly raised by K’rem. We lived in the same building on the planet and then on ship together, but she was always my much older sister, and then she started her apprenticeship, and I barely saw her for four years. I followed our mother into medicine and then had even less time with her. Part of me wished she had asked me to be her M’yani. Had she done so, I would have followed in her footsteps.”
“M’yani?” Angelina asked, taking the steaming pitcher out of the lower drink fridge.
“A M’yani is the apprentice’s student. The apprentice learns a skill, and to master the concept and move on, they must teach it to their M’yani to ground them in the principle. I lost my M’yani in the battle, and she lost hers as well. I watched both of them die as the medical bay we were in was hit. I watched through the window as it happened, the looks on their faces as it decompressed and they were sucked into space. I was responsible for them, and…” she said, finding herself being wrapped in the powerful arms of the short woman who had only moments before assured her she could knock her on her ass.
“You’re not allowed to say sorry again for the rest of the day,” Angelina said, finally shoving the very tall woman back into her chair so she wouldn’t have to crane her neck.
“I’m invoking House Rule 83,” Angelina sighed, pulling a laminated sheet from the drawer and reading aloud:
“People apologizing for things they have no real reason to be sorry for may, at the behest of the senior party in the kitchen, be forbidden from saying the word sorry for a period of 24 hours. Added by Matilda Marmaduke 1/24/2094.”
“Yes, ma’am,” L’tani said with a grin and chuckle as she scanned the back side of the sheet.
“Learn them all if you want to stay in the house. Now lattes.”
Angelina was thankful that she had long ago mastered the AI Therapy app. Too many people showed up at the Freehold needing it. Too many young girls trafficked up the river to Memphis. Too many others escaped the religious cults of the upper Midwest and headed for Ames. Eventually, the ones that survived ended up here, or at least she did her best to make sure the drivers knew to bring all they could find. She would set this girl up with therapy, too, but caffeine first.
