Tried to hide the tears that escaped my eyes by brushing them away. You were not rude. I brought the subject of ancestry into the conversation, hoping to remind my coworkers that we differ, that difference is not a wrongful thing.

You must understand our culture; we are very Isolationist here. People here are distrustful of Otherworlders, because of occasional incidents with them over the twohundred Standard years we have been a colony.

The incident on our second moon, Beautiful, closed most relations with the other two moons as well as half the Region. More communication would solve the problem, but to even speak with an Otherworlder is frowned upon here. It seems odd to call you that, since Ye~ is one of our moons.

Will speaking with me bring consequences on you, Madame Rayaline?

His eager face surprised me! I relaxed. If I am to call you Ryee, please call me Adia. We are friends. Ossy and Citsa will make problems for me whether you are here or not.

Papa would chastise me for using telepathy with you, but people on other worlds use it as we do now? Surely Elshars do, and Zheien?

Ea, all telepathic species. There is much difference in how we use telepathy. If there is love, Elshars require a gift servant to be present to monitor.

We Yeff and all Zheien like us must be careful in courtship and run progs which you call chaperon. If you think your fa worries, I can run one.

I would like that—if it will not tell my family that we are courting! My face burned.

He chuckled. O, a Courtship Petition is an official document! No one is notified when a chaperon runs! A record shown to you alone, there if you need to show your fa.

An icon appeared in my menu, and I ran it. Frowned. I do not see evidence of it.

Purple sand lay around my ship. And on it, the feet of fair Pa’isha! I ran to her. My heart pounded so, he took my breath!

She frowned at me. “Why are you so happy today? Did you meet new maidens on that other world?”

“Pai, I ne spoke to any of them. My thoughts stayed with you. Do we ne court, my love?” My body shuddered, and I saw yellow sparkles on my skin. Reached for her hand.

She gave. “O, I am sorry! Eas, come to us!”

Cold air made us both shudder, and I dropped her hand! “O, did I dishonor us? Eja fae ne!”

Fa took me from my feet. “Bae, I hide us from our people. Pai, come, Sae!”

I heard weeping. “The prog is cruel, to shock him when he is unwell! But I am more cruel, to accuse my love of—”

“Stop this now. Be calm. I bring Kesha for you, Pa’isha. Ean, did you think to call me after eating poison with Mosirans? I must give terrible herbs—”

“Pai thinks I look on other maidens! Did I act inappropriately before I left? I—”

Fa laughed and gave me to Eas. Strength filled me. “Ah, young love is far difficult! Children, ea, once my bae broke the hearts of many maidens, but he learned well of you, Pai. Now I see that your thinking changes to match his. Ne this suffering, but be happy.

“I remember my last encounter with Mosiran food. I shall hold you all this night, Ean. Pai, you may stay. Ge~saech works to modify our prog to detect unwells before he runs. Fear ne, either of you.”

Old Eas frowned, and his fear rumbled on me. “You think a maiden can bear this? Kesha, take Pai to her family—”

“My family are all diplomats, and I can bear. Let me stay, Eas. I am stronger than you think!”

O, I listened for his answer, with all listening in me! Ea, I sat with Fa during this and dreaded my time to come.

Eas shared what he did to save Fa, and she bore. “Ah, you do have strength, much as Queen Sirsi.”

I blinked, and my body felt—foreign! How did you do that?

I shared a memory of my father’s to show you what chaperon progs do. O, I am thoughtless! Did you ne ever share memories in your family?

With my telepathy, I shared the brief kind of memory my family shared.

I sat with Papa, Mama, my sister Maia, and our younger sister Aronna around our dinner table much like these counter tops. Papa cut his bastrips with a knife and took a bite. His blue eyes opened wide. “Oh, this is tender!”

Mama giggled, then took a breath. “I learned a new way to prog the kitchen! We shall have tender meat at every meal!” One hand brushed her short blond hair to the side.

Maia’s green eyes sparkled. “Oh, teach me! Kitchen progs are the most complicated of all, and many people ask for my help. Maybe we could both study, Aronna!”

My little sister shook her head. “I’d rather play with my mining sim!”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Papa frowned at her. “I would, not rudeness. Seven is old enough not to forget, is it?”

Aronna looked at her napkin. “I am sorry, Papa. Uncle Asha said it was all right to use contractions in his home.”

“Uncle Asha was Elshar. They have different rules. We must never use shortened speech, even at home. When you were six, you were still in your adjustment period.

“Now you are seven and must learn new rules. We will help you remember. Come give me a hug. How was your day at school?”

She put her crumpled napkin on the table and skipped around it. I smiled.

Her long blond hair so like Mama’s waved. “I am sad. They told us the only octopus died today. Adia got to hold him when she was little. He was too old, so they put him in stasis. But they took him out to try to heal him and he died. I wish they left him in stasis until they had better healing!”

Papa startled and pulled her into his lap.

I thought about that day. About Aronna’s age, and I laughed as he wrapped his arms around mine and turned deep red from white. His keeper had difficulty convincing him to let go! ‘Oh, he likes you!’

Aronna cheered up.

Papa hugged her. “Hard to lose animals our ancestors brought with us. But, in Kleideu, they bring new ones. Maybe someday, they will find something like an octopus.”

I compared that memory—just a glimpse of our chipped dining room table, the beige furniture, beige walls, beige carpet. Had not remembered what anyone wore. Even Elshars share more of themselves.

But the memory Ryee shared! The heat of the sands on my feet, the vivid purple of it, lavender sky, buildings in diff colors that gleamed like jewels!

Details of each person’s clothing. Most people wore simple tunics and pants or long tunics, yet each brilliant color caught my eye.

How weak Ryee’s father felt, and how much better he felt when Eas carried him! Emotion also had a physical feeling to it. I liked that way of sharing memories much better than our drab summaries!

“O, I wish I could hold an animal like that! I saw many species on my travels, and at times, permitted to bring them home. All who travel do, and we trade them to people on worlds with more life.” He sighed.

“More life?” Then I remembered the purple sand. No plants. No flowers.

“We must grow plants in containments, and we do so underground where we control light. Someday we hope to terraform Ye~ such that plants grow in our light, but is very difficult. Ye~ is the most barren of all three moons.

“We could have animals in containments, but felt it unfair to them. Our sands nourish us. They irritate the skin of Elshars, and most animals we have, come from Elshar worlds with more moisture.

“Dorna have unwells if they stay long where sands lay. They long to run outside and become restless in a building, even a large one. They can injure themselves, because to confine them injures their minds.”

“Dorna?”

He shared a memory of riding one. Four legs like a horse but a wide face with huge blue eyes! They turned light as he jumped over a fence. Zheien with bright yellow skin greeted him. Not orange?

All had blue eyes that turned light as he smiled. These are Elshar Zheien, and they live on Elshar Mashai in their Barrens. Dorna are the most common riding animal in the Seven. Elshars breed them on every world they colonize.

So much I do not know!

I am happy to share.

I looked on my menu and saw that it was afternoon first hour. Oh, my prog finished! How quickly the new interface works!

With my mind I ordered cylinders. Vonn added routines for irradiation arrays so I could concentrate my efforts on mixing. How thoughtful!

I took up the first two cylinders.

“What would your father think, sharing memories with an Otherworlder, like a married lady?”

I dropped them, and Ryee caught them without jostling them.

He frowned at her. “Miss Wilnes, do you think before speaking? If I missed these, we all had injury at your hand.”

“You are the one dishonoring my friend! I should tell her father about this.”

Vonn leaned in her face. “And, should I tell your distinguished father what you share with Koch? Your telepathy leaks, Miss Wilnes.

“Adia and Ryee act with all modesty. You think Derees and I miss when your dress is up on your knee and you enjoy Koch’s stares? Adjust your clothing former!”

“Since when does a section head tell people how to dress?” Ossy scoffed. “Links, you do not know what power is or how to use it.”

Gray eyes fixed on him. “I will tell you what true power is. It is the loyalty of those who work for a man who cares about their welfare. We work in danger and your carelessness increases it. Already, you disabled my checking progs. I noticed this and sent another report to Safety.” He waved up Ossy’s record and added a yellow mark with his thumb. Then, put one on Citsa’s.

“My progs are running!” She pointed to a blinking icon.

“See this holo. EDs record, do they?” The time on the holo, which showed her running it, was during Vonn’s talk with Ossy just now. “Dishonesty can kill, Miss Wilnes.” Another yellow mark appeared on her record.

Her chest heaved as she turned to her mixing. Ossy ordered many cylinders.

Vonn stopped at my counter. Adia, for Zheien, sharing memories is routine. Like you, I am single, but I use telepathy with Madame Tanda because it is efficient.

Her husband knows and is amused. He works in the Council. If there were any concerns of dishonor, he would ask me to stop. Kol said all members of the Council use telepathy freely.

Even the Council in Kleideu does this. Your papa worries, but if they cause trouble, I will tell him what I know. Zheien show their emotions. If you were to do anything improper, I would feel it before I saw it.

Feel it?

He asked Ryee to think of a very happy memory, but not to share it. I felt tingles on my skin and Citsa snapped her head up. Vonn laughed. Her face turned very red.

Then he asked him to think of something very sad, just briefly. His golden eyes filled. Felt rumbles that shook my chair.

Ossy stared at the floor as if it were alive! “What was that?”

“We are conducting an experiment.” Vonn and Ryee shared a smile. You think to experiment on me? My body is a poor fuel. ANW is angry enough to be useful.

I stifled a giggle, imagining angry ANW bursting its cylinders like some wild animal. But, I stopped worries about whether our memorysharing was improper.

A symbol blinked on my holodisplay. Ryee’s analysis finished.

Progs for checking data integrity of the furnishings and walls showed it was all there. Much had to be reconstructed, but backups were on the Hub.