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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Happy Anniversary to the LNH, and many more!<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">* * * * *</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Pardon me? Dorothy?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Teranike?
”
The two women looked up, seeing a round-faced, amber-haired
girl dressed all in
white. “I’m Spindrift. I will be Joe’s new girlfriend.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m supposed to meet him
here, except he will
not be here until after I had left,” she said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Hello,” Dorothy managed. “Joe’s girlfriend?<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He forgot to tell us! Let
alone tell us that
you were coming!” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Great to see you again,” Teranike said. “Have a seat.
You ordered?”
Spindrift nodded. “After all, you did shovel the parking lot
for me, the
geniuses with their plows not having arrived. Indeed, I should
be paying for
your breakfast.” Spindrift grinned and shook her head.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“You? Shovel? The parking lot?” Dorothy asked.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“You must be exhausted.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Kang is hiring people
your age?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Hire? I will not have been hired.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>It was a favor. And afterward I climbed the Arborday
Tower to watch the
sun rise,” Spindrift announced.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Teranike’s brows wrinkled for an instant.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“How could Joe not tell us he had a girlfriend?”
Dorothy asked.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“At
least he invited you to breakfast, your
parents I assume permitting? Especially a girlfriend who knows
Atlanticean…You
can read the runes you are wearing, can’t you?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">I am who they
say I am,” </i>Spindrift
answered in Atlanticean. “<i
style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Time’s Dagger.</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">And I am Joe’s friend
who is a girl,
until the end of days.</i>”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Dorothy wished Joe were here, now, to translate for
sure what his
girlfriend had just said. She was reasonably sure she
understood what Spindrift
meant, but Joe’s Atlanticean was flawless. <span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She would do her best for
Teranike, who was
from a world where there had never been a Gaea Atlanticea.
“Teranike, Spindrift
said the sigils on her vest say who she is, and that she will
be Joe’s
girlfriend forever.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Spindrift,” Teranike said, “that’s wonderful, but I
hope I am not
sounding too, ummh, motherly, if I say that forever is a long
time, especially
at your age.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Dorothy suddenly remembered a turn of phrase. <span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In Atlanticean ‘…end of
days…’ meant ‘…the end
of your days..’, and was only used if your end was on the
horizon and swift
approaching. Teranike’s advice was good, if it didn’t hurt
Spindrift’s
feelings.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Surely for
both of them it had
to be first girlfriend and first boyfriend? “I think my
translation wasn’t that
good,” Dorothy said quickly, “I didn’t mean to say you might
have, ummh,
unrealistic ideas.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">She approaches
on swift and
silent wings.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">No
offense will be
intended or taken,” </i>Spindrift said.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>“Sage advice, well meant.” <span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Dorothy wished she did not
remember what in
Atlanticea approached on swift, silent wings. The Crone
Incarnate came with
terrifying images. ‘The sun was a copper penny. Ashes fell
from the heavens.
Waves rose higher and higher. The winds blasted from the
mountain tops, tearing
the trees from their roots. The screaming of the accursed
souls trapped above
the sky drowned out all other sound.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Whatever words Spindrift might have said next were
interrupted by Wang
delivering milk, orange juice, three butterscotch cookies, a
plate of hash, and
a mug of hot caramel milk. “Master Kang saw you in the parking
lot,” he
announced.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“You must
be hungry. He
cannot pay you, but your breakfast tomorrow is free.”<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
</p>
<p><br>
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