I returned to the shuttle not only with another box of items, but a cutting from one of the many plants that crowded Aggi’s windows. She'd said, “Take one! They’re good for your soul, and cleaning the air.” The box went into my inventory, but I carried the jar carefully back in my hands. I couldn't help but feel it was a bad idea, trusting me with something so fragile. She promised to send me instructions for its care.
Leo and Izzy had moved the crates I usually hid behind when the engineering team was around. They always showed up and left together. Judging from the way they spoke to and about the other, they had known each other a long time. I assumed they were romantically involved.
“There he is!” I heard Izzy hiss excitedly. “Quick, scan him!”
I tensed as they peered over at me from behind one of the landing feet, Leo poking at his viewer. People whispered and stared at me often, and it rarely ended well.
“Look! He’s right!” Leo exclaimed, showing Izzy the viewer. “Only some of his clothes show up! Nothing else, not even his ears!”
“This is a REAL space ship from another world? No cap? ” She gazed up in wonder at the shuttle.
“And THAT is an actual, real elf.”
If only they knew the truth. I had lost count of the number of times elves had told me I was no longer a true elf. I wished it were as simple as my looks.
Izzy began talking excitedly in a language I didn’t know, and patted the leg of the ship affectionately. Then she grinned at me. “We’re gonna get you back home, hun. And with luck, I’ll be the one driving.”
“You’ll get home fast with her at the wheel,” Leo agreed. “Hey, does that mean Aggi’s a real elf, too?”
Those same elves would have condemned her, too, but . . . “She is also from Lyramir, yes.”
“Is that where you went? You two bangin’, or is she up for grabs?” He grinned and winked at me. Izzy scowled and smacked him upside the head. “Hey! I wasn’t asking for me!”
“ . . . We have resolved our quarrel. I would not recommend grabbing her. She is quick tempered and fearless, much like Izzy.”
“Ha! That’s right, keep your secrets, Romeo.” Izzy nodded approvingly.
“My name is Rowan.” Aggi had made it plain that personal names were preferred here. At the very least I wanted them to get it right.
“It might as well be ‘Grandpa’, it’s like talking to one,” Leo muttered. “Hey, Miami!” he yelled. “Send the newbie a link to Urban Dictionary or something!”
“It’s BRYCE!” Bryce yelled from inside the shuttle, but a moment later, my viewer made a soft beeping noise, letting me know I had received yet another damned notecard.
“I want to hang out with her sometime. She sounds fun,” Izzy said. “Does she like cars?”
“Perhaps? She seems to embrace your technology.”
“We should all go out one night, have some fun.”
“Yeah, you gotta get out more,” Leo said. “Meet some people. Pick up the language. Relax. Bryce says you never leave.”
I wanted to refuse, but realized it was a good idea. She would be much better at figuring out everyone’s true motives. “I will ask.”
ImaMess arrived next, in the form of a tiny woodland creature, while I was still trying to figure out how to send a message to Aggi. He promptly got into a loud argument with Perl. Izzy tried to intervene, and soon everyone was shouting. I couldn’t concentrate, and my ears were starting to ring again. Perhaps I should go back and ask in person.
----
The viewer had options for teleporting, and though I thought I selected the correct one for her home, I ended up back at the ice cream parlor.
It took longer for the dizziness from teleporting to dissipate, and my stomach protested the method. I sat back on the bench to wait for it to pass, hoping the discomfort was a result of being in this world, and not the separation from other elves. It was still better than listening to the arguing. I turned my attention back to typing out the message.
“You again!”
“Jessie, don’t -”
I glanced up as the women from the ice cream parlor approached, one radiating aggression. “You better not be looking for Aggi again! I swear, if you don’t stop stalking her -”
I held up my hands, the viewer tumbling to the wooden boards. “I only wanted someplace quiet.”
The second woman crept up behind the first, smiling nervously at me. “Definitely someplace Aggi isn’t, then.”
“Let me handle this, Phoebe,” Jessie snarled, flipping her short hair out of her face so she could glare at me with both eyes. “She doesn’t want to play your games!”
“She said it was ok,” the other woman insisted. “That she was wrong, and he was ok, and needed help.”
“I mean her no harm. She reached out to me, and I agreed because I was concerned about what she might do if I kept refusing.”
“Hmph. I’ll be watching you,” she growled, pointing at her eyes and then at me. Then she vanished.
I eyed the remaining woman warily. She handed my viewer back to me, and then . . . offered me a notecard.
“Someplace quiet,” she said, and also vanished.
Well, at least one person seemed to like me.
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