it. She heard the sound of furniture moving. Lifting the chairs back, probably.
Alexa continued, “Live here long enough and you begin to believe in fate—in the Song. The Marshalls and Circlets and Chevaliers and the Cities all had requirements for the people they wanted to bring to Lladrana. Being able to mesh with the individual group and the culture was the primary one. Since we previous Exotiques have assimilated well with the culture, it’s only logical that we’d be friends.”
Elizabeth wanted to see. She drew away from Bri, straightening in her chair and Bri let her go. Both of them back on an emotional keel.
Alexa cleared her throat loudly, stared at the cooler once more. “Anything perishable in there?”
Bri met Elizabeth’s eyes. The fruit salad. You handle this. You’ve always been better at negotiations, at haggling in the local markets, than me.
“Fruit salad,” Elizabeth said. “Leftovers from our father’s birthday party. Melon, papaya, grapes, kiwi, pineapple…” She waved.
Bri strolled over to the cooler, opened it and took out a big plastic-wrapped bowl. She blinked rapidly. “Mom’s bowl,” she said, placing it on the table and removing the clingwrap.
“Wedgwood,” Marian murmured.
“A special celebration,” Elizabeth said.
“Well, the fruit won’t keep,” Bri said. She dished servings out to everyone.
Alexa sat, took a bite and hummed in pleasure. She scooped a portion of Bastien’s off his plate, swallowed and said, “You really shouldn’t eat this. You might develop a taste for it, then where would we be? Not sure any of this grows here.”
“Grapes do,” he said, and left them on Alexa’s plate as he took more back, and they all dug into the food.
As soon as she took her last bite, Alexa stared at the cooler again, licking her lips. “Two sacks of spuds, white and red. Pretty big cooler. What else is in it?”
Bri wiped her hands on a napkin and went back to the chest. She lifted the plastic-wrapped casserole out and set it aside.
“Oh, man. Oh, man,” Alexa breathed. “Is that what I think it is? Potato casserole?”
“With sour cream and onions and loads of cheese,” Bri returned sweetly.
Alexa’s moan was nearly orgasmic. Bastien’s eyes gleamed. “I know my woman and her tastes. Whatever that is, it is wonderful.”
“That can go pretty bad if not eaten quickly, too. Probably really excellent for breakfast,” Alexa pointed out.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said. She lifted her brows. “There’s no refrigeration available?”
Marrec said, “There is a keep-cold twiddle-spell and we have ice.”
Jaquar said, “We can bespell the cooler free of charge.”
Bri said lightly, “Then we might invite you to eat the casserole with us at a later time. You have to talk to Elizabeth about that. It’s her cooler.” Then Bri lifted out the large dome-covered plate. She smiled, cocked an eyebrow at Elizabeth. “Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.”
The words caused a lengthy silence. All the women’s gazes locked on the plate. The three once-Earth-now-Lladranan women nearly quivered.
“I know this choc-lat.” Marrec rolled the word on his tongue. “It is good.”
“Damn right,” Bri said. “Homemade birthday cake. Now we’ll talk about returning to Denver.”
7
Elizabeth waited for reactions. Marian sighed, shared a glance with the other women. Alexa dabbed at her lips with a napkin, folded it and stood. “We always go through this.” She cleared her throat, looked tentative. “I don’t want to step on toes, I only want to understand.” Her chin lifted. “I didn’t have much to go back to, so I settled here after the initial shock. Lladrana’s been good to me.”
Elizabeth felt her eyes widen. Bri’s mouth fell open. The woman had a long scar on her cheek. She’d said she fought monsters every week.
Bastien snorted, stood and stepped behind Alexa, wrapping his arms around her. His gaze was fierce. “She is beloved. She has a good estate, wealth which she did not have on Exotique Terre. She is,” he glanced at Marian and Calli, “you all are, the crème de la crème.”
“We’ve found our places in life.” Calli went to stand beside Alexa, took her hand. “I hadn’t planned on going back with the Snap, either, not after I bonded with Marrec, and certainly not after we adopted our child, children.” She smiled softly at her man. He lifted a shoulder and moved to hold her like Bastien held Alexa.
Alexa angled her chin at Marian. “That one was the one who kept saying she had to go back.”
“For Andrew, my brother with multiple sclerosis. And I did.”
“But you’re here,” Bri said.
“I brought him back with me. And he’s still here. After a fashion.”
Cold curled inside Elizabeth. She kept her voice mild. “After a fashion?”
Alexa grinned. “Since you’re both medicas you’ll be interested. His mind and, um, soul—” she glanced at Marian, who nodded “—were transferred to a Lladranan body.”
Wow! Bri’s thought echoed Elizabeth’s. Incredible. Bri said, “I’m not a medical doctor. Elizabeth is.”
Marian raised her eyebrows, obviously back to normal. “We saw you save last night.”
“She has a unique gift of healing hands,” Elizabeth murmured.
Blinking at Bri, Marian said, “So I would postulate that you studied alternative medicine. As I studied New Age subjects.” She crossed to the other side of Alexa, and still watching the twins, held out her hand. Alexa took it. Jaquar strolled behind her to stand with the other men, rested his hands on Marian’s hips.
“Choose an end,” Alexa challenged with a smile. “You’re supposed to be here.” Then her humor faded. “Bottom line, we need you. We’re sure the Dark is sending this disease somehow and we need you to find a cure.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “It isn’t that easy.”
“We know it isn’t,” Marrec said, his accent thick. “None of the Exotiques’ tasks were easy. But they prevailed.”
“We’re sorry for your problems, but we have loving parents who will miss us in two weeks,” Bri said, lowering the cake back into the cooler.
At that moment a long lilting strum came from the door. “Sevair Masif here,” said the deep voice of the city man.
Alexa hurried to answer, obviously glad of the interruption. “He’s been very patient, but he’s waiting for you two. The City and Towns were the ones who Summoned you.”
Marian and Jaquar did a little chant and the dishes and cutlery cleaned themselves and were stacked on the table. Elizabeth and Bri watched wide-eyed, then Bri hurried to put the casserole back into the chest and set the top back on it. She smiled. “Plenty of ice.”
“Bri, you can’t go out looking like that!” Jaquar sounded shocked.
All the women looked at him.
Marian said, “I would never have thought you to be a prude.”
He glanced at the other men as if for support. Bastien smiled blandly and replied in simple Lladranan that Elizabeth was beginning to understand, “She looks wonderful.”
Marrec leaned on the sofa and said in accented English, “I was in Co-lo-ra-do. In the summer. I saw bare legs.” He smiled reminiscently.
Calli