30
(Silnaday, cont.)
South Joton, Kri’enden
.
“Damn it! I have the worst hangover!” Joneel said, as he rolled over on the bed. “Kailey? Do you have breakfast ready?” he hollered towards the door.
“Last time I play Wolff with you!” Ninn complained. “My head! I need you to look to make sure I don’t need stitching up. You didn’t tell me she was leya sensitive!”
“I had no idea,” Joneel said. “Let me look at your head. Kailey?! I don’t know where she’s got to!”
Ninn got up, moaning as he did. “I’m going to be sick!” he barely reached a garbage can in time.
Joneel looked at the back of his head then. There was a good sized gash. “Yes, I think we could get you in for stitches. I’ll call for an ambulance to take you there. Maybe they’ll take me too and save me the walk today!”
“You still owe me one, you know. A hooker would do, but it was your wife you promised me! Don’t suppose she’s still here.”
Joneel stood and looked around. Kailey’s bag was gone. He walked into the girls’ room. The girls weren’t in there, not unusual as it was already mid-morning. But the diaper bag was gone – and Marcey’s cuddly caballus. That never left the room.
“They’re gone!” Joneel reported to Ninn.
“I think she took offense to me having my way with her,” Ninn said laughing.
“She will die,” Joneel said.
“You don’t have to over-react, mate. I’ll have her yet – before I play another round of Wolff with you – you promised.”
“She made a fool out of me. She will die.”
♥
Joton Neví Housing Project
.
Jessten sat with Minna on her lap as she leafed through the folder of applications. She mused briefly about how leaving paper behind hadn’t changed much – it just meant they spent more money on digital flyppaper that would still be held hostage in binders for the requisite number of years before they were erased. Maybe they would be able to be reused, but from what she had seen so far, the material would likely have degraded too much.
She had been on Irola when the draconian measures had been passed, making single-use paper illegal – amongst other things. Some of it made sense, she supposed, especially on crowded Irola. But she had to wonder if a lot of the measures had been pushed through by people who stood to benefit financially.
She sighed and tried to concentrate on matching up residents with some of the new proposed Neví programs intended to get these women into work and becoming self-supporting.
It was mid-morning when a woman came in.
“Do you need an application?” Jessten offered courteously.
“I’m here to see about housing, say, twenty of your young women,” the woman replied. “We have renovated the apartment block across from the Shaze Academy.”
“I had heard about the work going on there,” Jessten replied. “I wasn’t aware that it was ready – or that you would make it available to some of our disadvantaged women. It’s nice to hear about another project. Wasn’t that block scheduled to be demolished to make way for the new casino?”
“We decided that we could save a lot of money by renovating it and making it available for some of our future staff,” the woman replied.
“Sounds like a good project then. May I take your name?” she asked.
“Uana Sistru with the Freebooter Apartments. May I look through your applications and do some interviews this morning?”
“Of course. I’m Jessten Sipper. This is my colleague, Sheena N’handu.” Jessten handed the woman the binder she was just looking at. “I think we have about forty residents now. The Neví have training courses for the ladies, their results are included on their forms for you to see.”
“That will do very nicely,” Uana replied. “I could use an assistant if you can spare anyone.”
“I could work with her,” Sheena volunteered.
“That sounds great!” Jessten said, happy the quiet woman volunteered to do something. “There’s always that other interview room you could use.”
“Thank you, Jessten,” Uana said, going with Sheena.
Jessten sat in the reception area and played with Marcey and Minna, who was grabbing whatever she could reach as she sat. Jessten discovered quickly that when Minna got excited, she forgot how to sit and fell over backwards, so she kept a leg behind the baby as they played.
“I’m hungry,” Marcey complained after a bit.
“Me too. I’m sure your mother won’t be long now,” Jessten said trying to send a <hurry!> message to Laisen. She had no idea whether he would even hear her – he didn’t want to be a part of her, after all.
Jessten put a toy on her head and Minna laughed, trying to grab it from her. She laughed back, enjoying the play as much as the girls were. She smiled, feeling lighter than she had for ages.
She felt him again. She turned and looked, her eyes locking with Laisen’s a moment. She blushed, thinking about how he’d seen her playing with the children.
“We’re going to take them back to the Complex,” he said to her without using her name. “I think they’re still in danger here.”
“Sheena is meeting with a housing person right now – they’re going to house maybe twenty of our women!” Jessten informed him.
Uana and Sheena came out then.
“May I take her upstairs to interview potential candidates?” Sheena asked. “I think we can get a bunch of them housed today – won’t Rami be impressed?”
“Of course. Good thinking,” Jessten replied.
Laisen had reached the door with Kailey. “Sounds like you’re needed here still. Come back when you’re done. I’m going to need your help getting these guys settled in.”
“Okay,” she replied, thinking about how she needed to go train with Frey and Mathis.
“You can train first, of course. As long as you can work with them before night,” he said.
Jessten nodded.
“Do you have a hoverbil?” Kailey asked.
“Even we aren’t allowed to use them much,” Laisen replied regretfully.
“Marcey can’t walk that far – she did ever so well this morning.”
“I will carry her,” Laisen offered. He knelt so that Marcey could sit on his shoulders.
Jessten couldn’t help smiling as he stood with the delighted child.
“Mind her head!” Kailey shrieked as Laisen got too close to the door.
He crouched low to go safely through the doors.
Jessten released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She knew the man would make an excellent abári one day, not just a stand in while Rami was away.
The tears returned to her. She loved him. She loved him so much that it hurt. And he wouldn’t love her.
♥♥♥
If you have enjoyed this book, I would be grateful if you could put your thoughts as a review on [Goodreads](coming soon) for me.
Buy at: (coming soon to Books2Read, Scribl, LBRY and Lulu - paperback.)
Other Chapters of this set
Birth of the Neví - Chapter 1 on Whaleshares
Name of the Neví - Chapter 1
Mind of the Neví - Chapter 1
Game of the Neví - Chapter 1
Maps and Guides
- Kri'enden & Joton - 830 TCE (New/imprived map coming soon)
- Character Guide and Image Credits
- Calendar and Glossary - for Name of the Neví but these two parts are true throughout.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2019 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.
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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
verified author on Goodreads
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blogging on: Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu, Hyperspace
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