“Well I have to thank him for the directions. I didn’t get lost once, which I appreciate in the Underworld.”
“He’s good at those. A lot better than I am,” Kyanosa replied.
“Yeah, I remember <planet made of lots of other planets>,” Kaye said with a smile. “As much as <pretentious know-it-all> tried to make us forget.”
Kyanosa blinked. “He did?”
Canopus rounded the corner, carrying two plates. “Yes he did. Dirk told you that.” He put one plate and a fork in Kyanosa’s lap.
Kaye laid her head back on the back of the chair, not wanting to disturb the two men’s meal. She looked back up when she felt Kyanosa poking her knee. He pointed to the food. “This is great. What is it?”
“Pasta something or other, I don’t remember exactly,” Kaye said. “I can cook, but my sister’s always been better at it than I.”
Canopus wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Well when she dies, maybe she can give Dirk pointers.” He nearly choked on his next forkful, but that was mostly because of the fwap he got from Kyanosa.
“Well you’ll be dead, and probably buried this time, before my sister gets her first wrinkle. So Dirk’ll just have to keep cooking.”
Canopus muttered something unkind about non-humans under his breath. Kyanosa looked back at Kaye. “So is that were you were this month? With your sister?”
“Yeah. I helped her finish the write-up, and since I came back here, she decided to continue her research without me.”
“Aw, didn’t want to keep you from anything.”
“She was always more interested in it than I. Besides, somehow I think hanging around here will be more enjoyable…” She blushed suddenly, looking away from Kyanosa’s face.
“Of course it will. You won’t be training.” Canopus looked at her, taking the lead in the conversation because Kyanosa was looking around the room as well. “Or will you?”
“I’m not really sure why I’m here. Dirk just asked me to come and told me to pack for a few weeks,” Kaye replied. It was taking a bit of time to be able to look at him and see someone other than Kyanosa. “Maybe he is going to offer to train me. I do want to improve.”
“You got along fine. We did not. We died. We needed the training, whereas you don’t.”
Kyanosa grinned and looked back at her. “Yeah, we like you just fine the way you are.”
“I wasn’t able to protect you,” Kaye said softly. “I don’t see that as not needing training.”
Canopus’ eyes were slowly narrowing. “We shouldn’t have needed protection.”
Kaye looked down at the floor. In the next moment the door to the apartment opened.
