Harvest of Travel - Chapter 3 - A'mara Books

3

(Fenjaday, cont.)

Hailu, X’lea – Buccaneer Casino

.
Clad in a glittering, sequined costume that covered less than the average bikini, Celna Dellan stood gingerly at the top of the dancer tower as the strains of the song wound down to its conclusion. She looked over to the matching tower and her identically-clad cousin Seri Dellan and counted mentally with her. As the final note sounded, both teens leapt high into a somersault, landing within a foot of each other, bodies arched in triumph as the crowd applauded noisily.

She met her cousin with a kiss for each cheek to the whoops and hollers of all the men in the audience. They couldn’t get enough of Celna and Seri’s twin act.

Arm-in-arm, they left the stage, heaving to catch their breath from the physically-demanding routine.

Outside the stage entrance, Celna rolled her eyes, seeing the familiar man waiting for her. “Get out of here Tilo, you’re not supposed to even be on the premises, you know that!”

He pushed her against the wall, forcibly kissing her.

Celna brought up her knee into his groin and pushed him away. “Get lost! I was dumb enough to date you once, I’m not stupid enough to do it again!”

He feigned hurt feelings as he cupped his groin.

“Get!” Seri echoed.

“But you’re meant to be mine,” Tilo said, trying again.

“In what universe?” Celna quipped.

“In the one where my brother and I seduce the two of you!”

“Dream on!” Seri joined in.

“That can be arranged,” Tilo said silkily.

A moment later, Celna’s brother, Yurit arrived. “Stay out of this building, Tilo! Stay away from my sister and our cousin!”

Celna saw another man looking to see what the commotion was as Yurit performed one of his tasks as bouncer and escorted Tilo from the casino.

The other man, seemingly satisfied that his services weren’t needed, left as well, going back into the showroom.

“Yurit is such a great brother!” Celna said.

“And good looking! There are times I wish he wasn’t my double cousin,” Seri replied.

“You should see Julleon! I can’t work out why he’s still single.”

“Next time he’s here, we need to set him up with some ladies. He needs to be settled down,” Seri schemed.

“Good idea,” Celna said. “Then there’s Yurit.” She noticed her brother returning.

“I’ve put him in the holding cell and alerted his step-father,” Yurit informed. “But Celna! Don’t forget to use your leya training. No man should be able to touch you without your consent – and you have the power to stop them.”

Celna nodded.

“You can practice with us tomorrow afternoon, if you like,” Yurit offered.

“Are there any good looking men there?” Seri asked.

“Maybe,” Yurit replied with a grin. “Maybe you will be the only girls there… or maybe my sisters will give you competition.”

“Like you’d get Adette there!” Celna quipped.

“If you don’t try, you’ll never find out!” Yurit said. “Now, get yourselves changed and home so you can check out the handsome men tomorrow afternoon!”

Celna giggled as she and Seri went into their dressing room. She sat at her table and saw the flyppaper note on the dresser in front of her. “You will be mine,” the note read. “We were meant to be.” She dropped it like it was on fire.

“What’s that?” Seri asked, picking it up.

“He’s obsessed!” Celna said with a shudder.

“I think we could both do with practicing our skills tomorrow afternoon. With creeps like that hanging around, we need to be able to defend ourselves better.”

“I think you’re right – even though I hate fighting and all that stuff!”

“But we’ve got to be able to defend ourselves against men who think that because we wear these costumes, we’re somehow ‘asking for it.’”

Celna nodded as she put on some normal clothing and put her costume out for the cleaners. Seeing her cousin back in normal clothes, they left their dressing rooms, securing the magna-seal on the door to keep out intruders.

They hurried down the hall to the magna-sealed ziplift. They rose to the top floor and went into their shared two-bedroom apartment. Celna took a soothing bath.

♥

Yavin returned to the table where Iyva and Zilan sat, watching the next group of dancers.

“And?” Zilan asked, clearly interested in what Yavin had discovered.

“I got out there in time to see one of the girls give this guy a good kick… where it counted, you know,” he said with a grin. “He appeared to be threatening them somehow.

“Another man came, clearly related to both of them. He bounced the guy out. The guy was bad news for sure, bent on revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

“Something in family history is all I could gather,” Yavin replied. “Anyway, the ladies use a magna-sealed dressing room and the zip-lift they used is also magna-sealed. I’m guessing they live upstairs somewhere.”

“I think that was the point of this casino,” Zilan informed. “I studied it in school before I became a chola. They wanted to be able to house any staff who wished to live on the premises. It reduced their need for security, reduced the number of absent employees and made for a better sense of community. It was a good idea.”

“Any idea who the ladies are?” Iyva asked.

“Not sure of any names, but they’re clearly gifted to be able to jump as we saw,” Yavin said.

“And nearly identical… like twins, but not..,” Zilan speculated.

“One of them mentioned someone being a double-cousin. I don’t know what that means,” Yavin continued.

“It’s when siblings from one family marry siblings of another family,” Iyva informed. “They’re cousins – twice. I knew some going to school. They were almost like identical twins.”

“Like these ladies,” Zilan replied. “So, what next? You’re clearly taken to them.” He looked at Yavin with a hint of amusement.

“They are beautiful, gifted, talented,” Yavin tried to excuse. “What’s not to like?”

Iyva giggled. “I hope our carriage is big enough!” she said.

“Maybe we’ll have to pick up another – like a traveling circus,” Zilan suggested.

Iyva giggled some more.

Yavin watched Zilan pulled his young wife onto his lap. “Shhh,” he reminded her. For some reason, her giggles increased. All Yavin could do was imagine having one of those two dancers on his lap similarly.

Iyva looked at him. “He does have it bad,” she observed.

“He’s jealous of us,” Zilan said into her ear – almost so quietly that Yavin wouldn’t hear. But he did. Was it so obvious? He had lived for weeks within the presence of two couples who obviously loved each other very much. Yes, it had worn on him a bit, but enough to throw precaution to the wind and lose all sensibility?

“I think we need to find out more about them anyway,” Yavin said. “The way they jumped!”

“It reminds me of what we were doing with Kauri and Derick, but these jumps are huge!” Iyva agreed.

“Leya-enhanced, for sure,” Zilan added. “It would be good to talk to them.”

“They need training,” Yavin said.

“Not everyone who is gifted wants training,” Zilan reminded the young man. “Especially in X’lea.”

“Yet, these ladies are afraid of the man who was bounced out,” Yavin shared.

“You are looking for an excuse to get to meet them,” Zilan jabbed with a grin.

“I also picked up that they practice tomorrow afternoon. I’m not sure what or where, but it didn’t sound like dancing.”

“Well, we’ll be there, whatever, wherever it is,” Zilan committed. “And in order to do that, we need to get some sleep. Did you place a dropper?”

“I will on our way out. I will have it ping my PCS when they come out of the zip-lift,” Yavin replied.

“Good job. Now, we will bid you good night,” Zilan said, putting his arm around Iyva’s waist and guiding her towards the exit along with most of the crowd.

“Good night,” Yavin replied, also heading for the exit, but he pulled the leya tightly around him, then crept silently (and unnoticed) towards the zip-lift where he had observed the cousins earlier. He stuck a dropper on the back of the garbage can, then headed for the front door again, knowing that he would be alerted the next time the ladies left the zip-lift.

Across the road again, Yavin approached his room at Ray’s Inn. He knew D’zani and Elíaz were probably asleep, but Iyva and Zilan were probably busy with each other. He had mostly got over the fact of the very physical relationships around him – until tonight, when a simple casino dancer had made him wish for someone to hold when he turned out the lights.

He stood at the window a moment, looking at the lights in the upper floors of the casino. He wondered which ones belonged to the cousins and whether tomorrow he would get to meet them at training.