10:56 02/06/2587 –(8734/702/24/83)

Gabriel felt good, better than he had in years, as though he had been carrying a great weight and, while it wasn’t gone, it had undoubtedly been reduced. He did not doubt that there was more work to do, but it was an excellent first step, and that was something.

On the other hand, Nish was still reeling from what she had heard. Erilur had hinted at something bad, but that was just awful. Pista, too, had been affected by the tale and had been strangely quiet.

Nish had been slightly concerned about Gabriel when he suggested they spend the day out. His usual response before the revelation would have been to spend the day by himself, “recharging”, as Gabriel put it. She took some comfort in that he had decided to keep it small, so it seemed Gabriel had not changed too much.

Even though it was her day to decide, she had let Gabriel pick. Not that it had been easy, he had been quite insistent that she chose. Eventually, she had worn him down, which was why they were having a picnic in the park.

Kekor’s park, to be exact. A mix between carefully manicured country estate and nature reserve, slap bang in the middle of Reshu city. With an area of ten kilometres and not overly popular with tourists, meaning they were left alone.

Understandably the severe injury of the once seemingly invincible man had been newsworthy, and Nish’s heroic rescue had made her as much a household name as Gabriel had been. At least for the moment, Gabriel was of the opinion that their stars would fade eventually.

Nish had enjoyed the recognition; for a while. She had quickly come to understand the irritation Gabriel had felt. She was beginning to miss just being another face in the crowd.

They had both sent in a statement about what had happened, and an official investigation was being conducted to determine the true cause. Something Gabriel and Nish were keen to discover; from what Gabriel could recall, the railing was not rusted and had seemed perfectly stable.

Pista interrupted Gabriel’s train of thought by offering a round bread-like disc covered in a sweet preserve and asking, “do you want some?”

Gabriel looked at the food, then at Pista before returning his gaze to the not-quite bread. “Very funny, you little peshtook,” Gabriel said, using a word Nish had taught her, which roughly translated to monkey or small mischievous arboreal animal.

Pista trilled at her joke before stuffing the entire thing into her mouth. Regarding food, Gabriel noticed that he was not hungry and would not be until the evening. It seemed his time on Minagerad had taught his body to go long periods without solid food.

Gabriel sighed and mumbled, “I’m gonna get even fatter when I get back home.”

Now that he thought about it, Nish and Pista would be leaving in five days; that trip to the hospital had really eaten into their holiday.

Looking at Nish, he still felt the same way he had days ago. Gabriel shook his head; it was a crush, nothing more. There was no reason to make things awkward, or maybe not, considering that romance was virtually alien to the Tufanda people.

He supposed Nish would just shrug her shoulders and quickly forget about it. Or whatever Tufanda did to show disinterest, he had not quite figured that one out yet. Gabriel was pretty sure it had something to do with the eyelids.

Even more reason to ignore it; he would be sad to see both of them go, but it was for the best. Still, they should probably make the most of their time.

“Just five more days. You should really think about where you want to go,” he said, airing the topic.

“I know, but that's the problem with you. When you tell me we can do just about anything, I can’t think of anything,” Nish replied,

“There has to be something”, stated Gabriel.

Nish rested her head on her cybernetic arm and began to think. She had adapted very quickly and, more often than not, forgot she had lost her original arm at all.

“You think of something too,” Gabriel said to Pista, who was busy laying claim to all the cakes he had brought. “And learn to share,” he added, reclaiming the foodstuffs.

Pista did not need to think, “I want to go to Weno’s zero-g fun land.”

Gabriel paused; he had not heard of that one before. He looked to Nish, who explained, “It’s a place we go to sometimes back on Yursu; she just means going to a zero-g park, any zero-g park.”

That sounded good, Gabriel had been to one before Jariel had been taken from him, and he had never been since.

“Not a bad idea, actually. I need to get used to flying again now that I’ve got this arm,” Nish said, rotating her wrist. “The weight’s going to throw me off,” she added, looking at Gabriel, assuming he did not instinctively understand why it would be a problem. She was right.

“Zero-g park it is,” Gabriel said, looking for a suitable venue.

“What are you gonna do when you finally have all the time to yourself?” Nish asked, inching closer to him and looking at his P.D.A. Not an unprecedented move, she often gave her opinion on the places they visited, her primary area of expertise was where Pista was least likely to make a scene.

Though from what Gabriel had seen of the girl, she was remarkably well behaved, not Jariel well behaved, but he had known worse. If one ignored the act of stubbornness that had led into the Vetoru enclosure, Nish had also noted that she was more careful and reasonable than before.

Nish had a gnawing pit in her stomach that told her the moment Gabriel was gone and they were back on the transport, her personality would shift right back. Then again, perhaps she was not giving her daughter enough credit.

***

Gabriel had managed to book a spot the same day, and he was currently chasing Pista around the large cylindrical chamber. It was an impressive place to be, stretching two hundred metres into the air and thirty-six metres in diameter.

Launching himself with all his might, Gabriel made a B-line for Pista. It was pointless, however. Despite his physical strength and stamina, Pista easily moved out of the way, trilling all the while.

It made no difference no matter how hard he tried; Pista was too skilled and had far more practice than him.

“Having trouble,” Nish asked, flying around Gabriel with superb grace.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Gabriel replied as Pista darted back and forth just out of reach. “Any advice?” he asked.

“You’ll never catch her by yourself; even I would struggle; kids tended to be much more nimble than adults,” Nish explained.

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“But you have an idea,” Gabriel stated.

“Tears, yes,” Nish replied with a trill of her own.

***

Gabriel and Mummy had been hanging from the wall, talking to one another for some time, and Pista did not like it. Not only because it meant no one was paying attention to her but also because she vaguely recalled something like this happening at Weno’s.

Suddenly Gabriel and Mummy looked at her, and the old memory came flooding back. They were planning to gang up on her just like Mommy, auntie Manbay and Lloveti had done.

Pista turned and attempted to flee, but Gabriel shot off like a rocket at her, far faster than before. Despite the added effort, Pista was still too quick for him, and he went sailing past her into the padded wall.

Gabriel had just been a distraction, and Nish was already on her. Pista's heart began pounding in her chest as she narrowly avoided being snatched by her mother, and she darted upward.

Once again, Gabriel came rocketing past; he had misjudged his leap and overshot Pista. That did not stop her from squeaking and turning on a hairpin towards the opposite wall.

Gabriel braced himself and collided with the wall, grabbing hold of the straps to regain control. He landed next to a pair of Nimuteru, a quadrupedal people with large tusks, though one of the Nimuteru only had tiny nubs. That and their smaller size and mottled brown skin showed they were a child.

“Hey,” Gabriel said, panting slightly from the effort.

“Hello,” the young Nimuteru replied meekly.

Gabriel's focus returned to finding Pista, which was not as difficult as you would expect. Her wings, though far less impressive than Nish’s, were still large enough to make her an obvious target.

Pista once again dodged her mother. She was getting cocky now, making figure-of-eight patterns and telling Nish that they would never catch her. Gabriel lined up as Nish distracted her daughter and then launched himself at her.

Thinking he had finally got her, Gabriel had not put nearly as much effort into his leap, worried that if he hit Pista a full pelt, he might hurt her. While thoughtful, this gave Pista just enough time to realise what Nish was doing, and with one glance behind her, she immediately got out of the way.

Nish did not ignore the opening this left, and with one incredible beat of her wings, she was on Pista, and this time there was no escape; grabbing hold of her daughter then, they began to tumble in the air.

Pista tried to escape, but it was pointless; Nish’s grip was like iron. “Got her,” Nish called. It took a little searching for Nish to spot Gabriel; his suit allowed him to blend in well with the walls.

Eventually, Nish found him and added, “she can’t escape now.”

Gabriel jumped towards the pair, far more leisurely this time, and collided with them, pulling them both in for a hug. Gabriel worried he might be overdoing it, but both Nish and Pista hugged him back.

He felt much better.

17:06 03/06/2587 –(8734/703/54/32)

Gabriel stretched and yawned, “must be getting old,” he said; only five o’clock, and he felt ready for bed.

They were currently sitting in a field, having just taken a hot air balloon ride. Something Nish and Pista had enjoyed immensely, primarily because of how nervous Gabriel had been. The way he swore every time the balloon shook had been the main highlight of the show.

“Sweet terra firma, how I love you,” Gabriel said, gently caressing the soil.

“I didn’t realise you were afraid of heights,” Nish said, trying her best to suppress a trill.

“I’m not; there's just something about being suspended with just a wicker basket between me and a splaty end that I do not find appealing,” Gabriel explained, lying on his back, making a grass angel.

“Oh, I know; tomorrow, why don’t we take a submarine down to the Bavrian Abyss? It’s over a mile beneath the ocean,” Gabriel added with a smile.

“That’s not funny; I don’t know how you could ever be so calm. The water pressure would crush even you,” Nish pointed out.

“I don’t know how you can be so calm; you can’t fly in this gravity,” Gabriel countered.

“I’m sure we’d manage,” Nish replied; true, taking off was near impossible, but she was reasonably sure that if push came to shove, they could land without too much difficulty. Nish had just not been willing to risk it, just to find out if she could. Gabriel began playing with an errant blade of grass, and Nish remembered Gabriel’s job.

“Why did you become a gardener? You never said,” asked Nish.

“There’s no great mystery, really. Jariel liked plants, we would often go walking in the woods, and we would often take seeds and things in the woods and then take care of them, so I had some practice,” Gabriel explained.

“Plus, it’s very hard to get overly attached to plants, and after what happened to her, it seemed like the best option,” he added, sitting back up and leaving his pseudo-grass leaf alone.

“You have friends at work though, right?” asked Nish.

“Friends is a strong word. Colleagues, I feel is more appropriate. You, Pista, Erilur and Risoti are the only friends I’ve had in over a decade,” Gabriel explained.

Pista had been ignoring the conversation; for the most part, any talk about Gabriel’s sister made her sad. Her mood improved quickly upon Gabriel saying clearly and unambiguously that she was his friend.

She immediately hugged him, her antennae danced over his face, and Gabriel said, “ok, I love you too.”

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s generic statement only worsened the situation, and Pista clamped down even harder.

***

Gabriel wondered if Nish and Pista should start bringing an umbrella with them everywhere they went as they sat in a café watching the water patter against the windows. Pista was currently colouring in some pictures with the crayons the establishment had provided while Gabriel and Nish sipped on drinks.

“How frequently does it rain in Tusreshin?” asked Gabriel making idle conversation.

“About once or twice a month,” Nish replied as she contemptuously watched everyone else move through the rain without issue. “It’s very fine, nothing as heavy as this,” she added, pointing out the window. One passerby noticed this and thought Nish had been gesturing to them. There was a brief moment of embarrassment for the two of them when they realised it had just been a mistake.

“So, where does all your water come from?” asked Gabriel.

“Artificial Underground aquifers, we stopped using the real ones when the sinkholes became a real problem,” Nish explained.

Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck and spent a few moments working up his courage before stating, “you know, I would quite like to visit Yursu one of these days, I’ve seen a few pictures, and I’ve never seen cities like it.”

“You could stay with us. I’m sure Pista would like it,” Nish replied. She liked the idea of showing Gabriel around her home. She also liked the idea of bringing Gabriel along on one of her digs. Nish found herself imagining, unintentionally, Gabriel shifting logs with nothing but muscle strength. It gave her feelings.

“Is Gabriel coming home with us?” Pista asked, leaving a big streak across her picture. Gabriel could not help but think Pista saw him as some giant puppy; she was desperate to bring home.

“No, he’s got… nine months of his holiday left, but he might come visit us one of these days,” Nish corrected her daughter.

Pista was simultaneously disappointed and excited. She knew that she would have to say goodbye soon, but the possibility that it would not be forever was something.

“So, what’s your address?” Gabriel asked, taking out his P.D.A.

“4 Dodagami Drive, Atlroen Way, Level Nagacrgua, Tusreshin, Ralosth Penninsula, 165OPS UY23J,” Nish answered. “Type that into any Satnav on Yursu, and you can’t go wrong,” she added.

“Will I even be able to get around a Tufanda city?” Gabriel questioned as he imagined a place designed for those that could fly would have few paths or ladders.

“Of course, you can; not all Tufanda can fly, the old, the sick and the disabled. Not to mention we’re not long-distance flyers. The record is something like fifteen minutes; there are tonnes of walkways and ramps,” Nish explained.

That was good to know, and yes, it made perfect sense now that Nish had said it aloud.

***

Gabriel sat alone in his penthouse, idly staring at the recommendation he received after finishing his last video. The sun had set, and the only thing illuminating his face was the glow from his screen as Illohu was currently hidden behind the clouds. He had been doing so for the past fifteen minutes. On top of that, it was well past his bedtime, not that he noticed.

At present, Gabriel had only one thing on his mind, though he was not sure exactly why he was thinking about it. He had assumed his little crush would have faded by now; that being said, he had never had one before, and he wasn’t sure how long they lasted.

His current train of thought was whether he should say anything. The most significant portion just kept telling him his feelings were just infatuation, Nish just so happened to be a woman who gave him the most attention in fifteen years, and that was all there was to it.

On the other hand, he really did not know how relationships worked other than familial ones, naturally. For all he knew, they did start with superficial infatuation before becoming something with real significance.

“Maybe I should have paid more attention to my schoolmates,” Gabriel said aloud; he imagined they would have found the whole situation, if not easy, then at least more navigable. All Gabriel had to go on were romantic dramas and comedies.

The one thing he was certain of was that he needed to tell her if he wanted something more concrete. But did he?

Gabriel closed his laptop, moved it out of the way, and slammed his head against the table. Something he regretted quickly as tougher bones and reinforced muscle did not mean dulled pain receptors.

Rubbing his head, Gabriel wondered what his life would be like if he were not so indecisive. Not that any of this soul-searching mattered; deep down, Gabriel knew what he would do; it was just in his nature.