Status: Ongoing

Blue Age

Chapter Two: Risk of Rain

Blue was still clinging to Ellis' back on the airscooter when Captain Starlight's Comet appeared in the night sky. They both looked up at the slim dash of light simultaneously, but only Blue sensed a change. The feeling was infinitesimal at first, but it grew quick and hot, and suddenly Blue's entire body seized with the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life.

Ellis knew something was wrong as soon as Blue's grip went slack. He hit the airscooter's brakes and skidded to a halt off the abandoned highway's shoulder just in time to catch Blue's convulsing form before he fell off the vehicle.

"Blue! Blue!" Ellis tried not to panic but he'd never dealt with anyone having a seizure before. He laid Blue flat on the highway asphalt and kept him as still as he could. The younger man bucked and gasped wildly like a fish beating itself against dry land.

After a few terrifying moments, Blue's tremors stopped. He opened his eyes and blinked, then his breathing gradually returned to normal. Ellis helped him sit up. "What the jink happened to you?"

"Why am I on the ground?" Blue's confusion only worried Ellis further.

"You started shakin'. Real bad. Nearly fell off the airscooter. Would've been a clean smear on the road."

Blue took in his surroundings. "I don't remember any of that. I just- ow!" A sharp pain in both hands stopped his words cold. His palms felt like they were on fire.

"Hey." Ellis gently took his arm. "You alright?"

Blue glared at his hands. The intense pain subsided and he once again felt normal, albeit shaken."I'm sorry." Blue finally managed. "I don't know what that was. That's never... I've never felt anything like that."

The concern didn't leave Ellis' face or voice. "Real glad I was pushy enough to offer you a ride, then."

"Yeah." Blue let out a wobbly sigh. "I am too."

Blue couldn't have been more mortified. For the rest of their ride to the lighthouse, Ellis kept pinning him with furtive glances through the airscooter's hand mirror. Blue had never been that vulnerable in front of someone before, let alone someone he'd just met. Not to mention, he could fathom no real explanation for why his body surrendered to such a psychotic fit the moment Captain Starlight's Comet passed over the Earth. Stress? Lack of sleep? It probably wasn't malnutrition, he still had plenty of protein synths in storage. In fact, he wolfed down an extra portion on his way to the geartrade. Blue liked mysteries, sure. But he didn't like mysteries that involved him passing out and waking up with hands that felt like they'd been set on fire.

Ellis said nothing until they arrived at the lighthouse, which stood solemn and silent against the luminous spotlight of the moon. Ellis put the airscooter on standby as Blue quietly hopped off, his insides still twisting with unease.

"Thank you," Blue said. "Really. You saved me quite a hike."

Ellis brought his long legs out of the driver's seat and stood up. His silver eyes bore down on the younger man and scrutinized his face, top to bottom. "You sure you're feelin' decent?"

"I'm decent," Blue tried to say convincingly. "Really, I'm the most decent scavenger in the coast zone."

Ellis grabbed the sack of books from the sidecar and heaved them over his shoulders. He grunted from the strain. "Shoot. I'd be chewin' gravel if this were any heavier."

"You don't have to carry them. I'll get it."

"Hey. You said your hands were hurtin' somethin' fierce. And what if all this weight stresses you out and you have another fit?"

Blue buried his embarrassed face into one of his hands. "Really, that's not necessary. I'm fine. I told you."

"Well I ain't budgin' till you tell me where I can hurl this sack. Just as long as the surface is sturdy enough."

"Ellis..."

"'Cause this thing could drop a coldbacked horse with one swing."

"Ellis!"

"Yeah, darlin'?" Instead of being frustrated, like Blue had quickly become, Ellis had a cocky smile plastered all over his scruffy face. He clearly enjoyed egging Blue on.

With a great sigh, Blue lowered his shoulders and pointed at the lighthouse entrance. "It's just through the door and up a set of stairs. My bedroom is at the top, you can put the books there. The floorboard integrity will, in fact, support it."

Ellis cocked an eyebrow but remained quiet during his walk up the lighthouse's spiral staircase. Blue followed close behind, his anxiety growing with every ascending step. No one - certainly no man - had ever been in the lighthouse except him. Having a man so present in his own private space made Blue's stomach do back flips.

Ellis, as if reading the younger man's thoughts, turned briefly to address him. "I won't try no funny business, I swear. Just bein' a gentleman. Remember?"

"I remember," Blue repeated, but it did nothing to calm him down.

They walked into his bedroom and Blue saw, for the first time, what it might have looked like through someone else's eyes. Aside from one small, square window, the walls were covered in shelves that contained books of every size, shape, color and genre. Although he had a work table, several gadgets in various states of disrepair were strewn about the floor, a messy and chaotic jumble of metal parts and chipped tools. If it weren't for the twin-sized cot beside the window, it would have been difficult to say it bared any resemblance to a bedroom at all.

Ellis heaved the book sack off his shoulder and found a rare clean spot on the floor to set it. He took a good look around and settled back on Blue, who was on his knees in a frantic attempt to clear the floor of its mechanical clutter.

"I don't, uh, normally have company," Blue muttered. "You know, ever."

"I'm just deliverin' the books, Blue. You don't gotta make it look presentable for me."

Blue began to say something but stopped just short, focusing instead on the mess before him. Ellis walked across the room, his boot spurs clicking with every step, and knelled down next to the boy. "Got somethin' on your mind?"

"I just..." Blue paused and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter. "I'm just scared you'll look at me like how everyone else looks at me."

"Which is how?"

"Like I'm someone they pity. Like some kind of stray animal no one else wants to take in."

"Blue," Ellis replied, a little stunned. "You're talkin' to someone who was born and raised in the worst borough of the dust zone, alright? You think I ran with a refined crowd? You just like to drink upstream from the herd, that's all."

Blue studied Ellis' face and recognized the sincerity he saw in it. A silent understanding developed. Ellis extended a hand and helped Blue stand again.

"Thank you. For everything. No one's ever..." Blue trailed off.

Ellis shrugged, saving him from finishing the thought. "Hey, least I could do for my good luck charm."

Blue let himself smile at this. Ellis may have been a bit of a scoundrel, and more than a bit of a flirt, but he wasn't immune to the disarming effect of a good smile. "You know, you oughta do that more often."

"What, smile?"

Ellis nodded. "Yeah. Kinda suits your face."

"I'll try to remember that."

Ellis cleared his throat and looked at the door. "I should probably get outta your hair. Must be sick of me by now."

Blue hoped his face didn't look as pink as it felt. "I guess you and your bandits have to head back to the dust zone, then?"

"Well," Ellis started. "We hitched a ride on Magister Spark's ship and the ol' lady's being kind enough to hitch us back. But she ain't leavin' for another couple days."

"Oh. I, uh, hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in the coast zone then," Blue said. He wanted to cringe at himself, sounding like one of those hyper-fake greeterbots he'd seen in the frontiers.

"Yeah, about that." Ellis looked a little nervous for once, which took Blue aback a little. "I had this thought rattlin' around in my head. Thought maybe I'd drop by again sometime tomorrow. Y'know, just to check up. Make sure you're not havin' another one of them fits."

Blue felt the pink on his face darken into a deep red.

"Before you say no, let me throw another offer on the table. Sweeten the deal a bit. I still got all these credits from the blackjack win. I think, technically speakin', those credits should really be shared between us."

"I'm not gonna take your credits, Ellis. I'm doing fine for myself."

"Ah, yeah." Ellis tried not to sound judgmental as he took in another view of Blue's ramshackle abode. "I can see that. But that's not what I meant. What do you say the two of us hit the nearest frontier and I'll treat you to dinner?"

"Oh," Blue said quickly. "That's really- you're not- Ellis, you don't have to do all this for me."

"You're right, I don't. But I want to."

Blue leaned against his workstation. "I haven't been to one of the frontiers since I was a kid."

"Ah! Then there'll be a lot for you to see. Passed through Frontier Exeria quite a few times myself. With these credits, we can afford ourselves a real ace-high meal there."

Blue's stomach growled at the thought. His supply of protein synths (which had the flavor of wet cardboard) had nearly made him forget what real food tasted like.

"One dinner." Ellis raised the rim of his hat. "Then you won't ever have to see my handsome face again. Promise."

"No man's ever worked this hard for my attention before."

The cowboy sniffed. "Then you've never met a man worth his salt."

"Is there a lady... or gentleman... of yours back in the dust zone? Someone who wouldn't approve of this? I don't want to step on anyone's toes."

Ellis stood a little closer to him. "I belong to no one, no one belongs to me. Much prefer it that way. Call me crazy if I'm wrong, but I think you're trailin' the same path."

Blue relaxed a little. If their dinner was going to be something casual and relaxed, and with no built-in pressure, then he could see himself enjoying it. Maybe. Possibly.

"Tomorrow," Blue finally said. "Just before sunset. That way we can beat the rush to Frontier Exeria."

"HaHA!" Ellis pumped his arm with eager flourish. He moved toward the staircase. "Aces, pal. I better take my leave now and get some beauty rest. We're gonna be eatin' fancy tomorrow. You be sure to hit the sack, too. Been a pretty excitin' day, after all."

Blue opened his mouth to speak but his palms started to bother him again. It felt like they were buzzing faintly. Like something had crept beneath his skin and took root at the center of both his hands. No. Not again.

"Blue? You hear me?"

The younger man tried to ignore the bizarre sensation. "Loud and clear. So you'll pick me up here, then?"

"You bet I will," Ellis nodded as he started down the lighthouse steps. "Lookin' forward to seein' that face in the light of day."

Blue felt a new grin forming. "Goodnight, Ellis."

"Night night, my good luck charm."

Blue ascended one level up to the lantern room and watched Ellis exit the lighthouse, mount the airscooter, and drive off into the dead forest that surrounded them. Blue could put aside the weird tingling in his hands for a moment, as a feeling just as strange but entirely exhilarating had replaced it.

He was going on a date. His first date.

"Wonder if there's a book that can help with that," Blue pondered out loud. His eyes crept skyward to the empty space where, in its absence, Captain Starlight's Comet had left a glowing trail of light.

***

Sir Duken, the highest ranking knight in Keeper Raina's order of Aeons, fixed the final interlocking piece of armor over his chest and observed himself in his dressing mirror. The new Aeon outfit would take some getting used to, stiff joints and all, but he had to admit he looked rather fearsome. After all, he was wearing gunmetal grey laser-proof armor with intersecting lines of vivid red neon running between sections of unbreakable chainmail.

Yes. Very good, Duken thought as he removed his gauntlets from their wall chargers and fitted them around his wrists. Perhaps this promotion won't be so abominable after all.

When Duken looked back at his reflection, he was surprised to find his sunlit face was marked with a deep frown. A hurried knock on his bedroom door drew his attention away.

"Sir! Some of the squires-in-waiting are growing restless!" a shaking voice shouted from behind the door. Sounded like one of the newer Aeons. That lot had a nervous air about them.

Duken cleared his throat and stamped the heel of his boot against the floor. "Then you tell the squires-in-waiting to, erm, wait. Keeper Raina has requested my presence this morning. We'll start the trials when I return."

The other Aeon mumbled something apologetic and scampered off. Duken returned to his morning grooming and ran a comb through his short, sand-colored hair. If he didn't keep his hair neat it would fall over his intense blue eyes, which were creased with the lines of a hardened warrior who had engaged in too many years of combat. He noticed his beard next, darker than his hair with a spray of ginger on his solid chin.

"Forgot to shave. That's splendid." Duken had been sporting a beard since, well, that day. His fellow Aeons had assumed he'd grown it for fashion and many of them attempted to follow suit (though a handful could only manage whiskers patchier than a dying garden). His beard was, if anything, a signifier of his own neglect.

A few minutes later Duken exited the compound where the Aeons lived together and stepped into the bustling streets of Frontier Exeria. Duken had visited many frontiers in his 32 years of life - Exeria was by far the largest. And, strangely, the happiest. As he walked through the city toward the Keeper's Tower, citizens crossing his path stood a little taller and smiled a little brighter. His presence had a way of reassuring people and commanding their respect all at once.

"Well who wouldn't love the company of a tall, strapping knight like yourself?" his grandmother used to say to him. "So heroic. So gallant."

Duken approached the foot of the Keeper's Tower, a pre-Crisis War structure located in the center of the city. The two Aeons standing guard acknowledged him with deep bows and led him to the exterior elevator. Duken spent the quick ride up practicing his breathing and clearing himself of any nerves. Standing at a massive 6 feet and 7 inches, Duken may have been the tallest and most physically fit Aeon in service, but Keeper Raina was a strange little woman, eccentric and often unpredictable. She kept him on his toes. He preferred his feet to stay on the ground.

"Madame," Duken said in his most formal voice as he stepped off the elevator and into her chambers. "Sir Duken reporting for duty. I understand you've requested my..." He trailed off upon realizing he'd been speaking to an empty room.

"I smell rain," a thin, reedy voice announced. Duken turned to the open balcony doors and saw her standing against the sunlight. Keeper Raina's frail figure was hidden beneath a billowing caftan, though she kept her magnificent crown perched on the bushels of purple hair pinned just so atop her head.

Duken joined her on the balcony. "Rain, madame?"

Keeper Raina lifted a finger full of mismatched rings to the sky. "The smell never lies. The air is ripe with it! Oh, Sir Duken, how I enjoy a good downpour." She turned to look at him and let her mouth drop. "Good gobblesticks, look at that carpet on your face."

"Er, yes." Duken lightly raked his fingers through his beard. "Apologies, madame."

Keeper Raina flitted her hand dismissively. "No, no. I rather like it. A stalwart look for a stalwart man. It hides a smile and a frown. Gives you an air of mystery."

Duken cleared his throat as the Keeper left the balcony and doddered over to her jade green desk and throne. He helped her sit down. "Madame, I believe you requested an audience with me this morning?"

Keeper Raina shifted in her seat and grimaced. "Joints," she said abruptly. "That's another telltale sign of rain. My joints get stiffer than a rusted cog!" The Keeper slapped her lap and let out an epic bark of laughter. Duken smiled in a way that was more patient than amused. "Yes, well," she wiped a bit of moisture from her right eye. "I've summoned you to report. Tell me, has anyone stepped forward as the Disciple?"

Duken had worried this would be the subject of their meeting. He'd been worried about it since Captain Starlight's Comet streaked across the atmosphere last night. "I regret to inform you that there has been no news of the Disciple. Not from Frontier Exeria or any of our neighboring frontiers."

Keeper Raina hit her fist against her throne's armrest. "Poppywaggle! Not one soul? Has no one even bothered to lie about being the Disciple? For the rush of instant fame, at the very least?"

Duken shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"I simply don't understand! The oracles said-"

Oh, here we go, Duken's inner voice sighed.

"-that Captain Starlight's Comet would brand a Disciple who will lead us to the last surviving superhero. They said this would usher in a new age. A new Age of Power!"

As peculiar as Keeper Raina seemed at times, she was never out of tune with the energy of those around her. Duken remembered this a moment too late, as the Keeper had pinned his skeptical face with a curious stare.

"You have something to say, Duken. I encourage you to direct your train of thought toward me." Upon seeing his hesitation, the Keeper softened her tone. "I value your opinion, I always have. Face carpet or no face carpet."

Encouraged by this, Duken took a slow breath and looked straight at her. "Madame, with all fairness, not one so-called prophetic statement from any oracle has come to pass. Let's not forget 'The Rise of the Talking Animals'..."

"Oh," Keeper Raina's eyes filled with sad nostalgia, "That was a tough one to let go."

"Or 'The Coming of the Red Plague'..."

"But that was a pretty good year for our strawberry harvest."

"Or 'The Great Earth-Swallowing Demon's Revenge'..."

"I'll give you that one. I think Oracle Nova just wanted attention."

"My point," Duken continued, "Is that the oracles peddle far-fetched thought puzzles as if they were hard truths. The likelihood of a superhero surviving the hundred years it's been since the Crisis War to, somehow, guide a comet across the galaxy that would then imprint a random person with a guide on how to save the world from an unspecified threat that doesn't exist is pardon me, absolutely zero. As Aeons, my men and I should be concentrating on present, worldly, real threats. Like the growing criminal element among the outliers. Or the possible return of the steam pirates."

Keeper Raina blew through her lips, making a wet, dismissive noise. "The steam pirates. Honestly! Did you know Captain Blight purposely blinded his left eye just so he could wear that patch? Plus that airship of theirs is only one solid kick away from falling out of the sky."

Duken sighed again. "Madame..."

"Sir Duken, you take me too seriously sometimes." She rose with some effort from her throne. Duken rushed to her side and offered his arm as she walked the three steps back onto the floor. She met his fierce eyes with a soft smile. "I suppose that I agree with you. Your leadership, after all, is the reason why Frontier Exeria has long been the safest frontier of the coast zone. Of any zone! And perhaps I do enjoy my fairy tales a little more than the realities of our world..."

"I never meant to judge, madame."

"Of course not. But in the off chance that there is some truth to what the oracles say, will you be on the lookout? For the Disciple, I mean? I know it sounds ridiculous, but he or she will have the brand of Captain Starlight somewhere visible on them. I don't mean for this to be your active mission but rather, something to keep in the back of your mind." Her smile grew a bit more sly. "Just as favor to an old kook like me."

"I would never say no to your word, madame."

Keeper Raina's barking laugh returned. "I knew there was a reason I liked you! Now tell me, Duken, what is the order of your day?"

"Most of my men are on street patrol," Duken explained, "I'm quietly surveying a few for promotion. I think it's time. And, erm- oh, I am in the process of choosing a new squire."

The Keeper clapped her hands together. The jangle of her various bracelets and rings echoed through the air. "How wonderful! I'm sure there's no young man in the frontier who isn't clamoring to be at your side today."

Duken suddenly felt very rigid. "Yes. Well. If you have nothing more to request, I should be returning to my duties."

"Pfft, baldswash, this old woman has gobbled up enough of your morning."

Duken bowed at her. "Very well, madame."

The Keeper studied his face. "Before you go... I must say, I'm quite relieved you're back on duty. Many of the other Aeons chattered while you were gone. There wasn't much confidence that you'd return."

Duken's hands, hidden away in those bulky gauntlets, erupted in a cold sweat. "The oath I took as an Aeon - I believe in every word. I was born to protect Frontier Exeria, no matter what may have... obstructed my path."

Keeper Raina said nothing. She eventually nodded. Duken nodded back and returned to the elevator, where he waited until the doors slid shut before he exhaled the troubled groan he'd trapped in his throat. Still, even with the doors closed, he kept it quiet.

"Duty above all else," Duken whispered, reciting the well-memorized first passage of the Aeon Oath. "In Captain Starlight's path, we rise from the ashes of the old world. To protect the new world. To defend those who cannot defend themselves. This say we, the new knights of the frontiers. The Aeons."

By the end of it, he was calm again. Duken pressed the ground floor button and waited for the elevator to complete its descent.

***

Blue peeked over Ellis' shoulder and watched Frontier Exeria's majestic skyline slowly reveal itself over the purple-red horizon.

Ellis had been a man of his word. He picked up Blue at the lighthouse right before sunset, just as he said. Blue hadn't given much thought to his epileptic episode from the other night, he was simply too nervous to dwell on it. He spent most of the day scouring his book collection for classic courtship rituals, which yielded nothing, and then bathed and groomed himself as vigorously as he could, which felt queer to do for anything other than a geartrade.

But hey. I'm game, Blue thought. And I'll get a free meal out of it, at least.

They'd been riding in the airscooter for a good twenty minutes through dead farmlands and fire-blackened forests before they arrived at Exeria. Border check-in wasn't as difficult as Blue anticipated. They were each given a frontier pass that expired in 24 hours and then told to enjoy their stay. No special branding, no marks to indicate their status as outliers.

Exeria was a little posh for Blue but there was a certain energy about it he enjoyed. Everyone seemed either too busy or too disinterested to notice how odd of a pair he and Ellis were - this tall, rugged cowboy and this quiet, aloof scavenger - but either way it was fine with him. Blue just wanted a nice meal with his... friend? escort? gentleman caller?... without any trouble.

Ellis himself had cleaned up rather nicely. He wasn't wearing his Stetson tonight and it afforded Blue a full view of the man's hair - luscious and dark, and it fell to his neck in waves, with most of it tucked behind his ears. The cowboy's face had been scrubbed clean, too, putting the spotlight on his devilish grey eyes. Ellis hadn't shaved and Blue wondered if that was his doing. He rather liked the way the dark stubble looked.

Blue and Ellis' first stop was Exeria's central market, an energetic hub of buyers and sellers that reminded Blue of a more civilized version of a geartrade. Instead of ratty machine parts and useless baubles, Blue saw tables full of artisan breads, organic crops, finely manufactured clothing, bots with their original auxiliary batteries, and countless other signals of frontier sophistication.

They milled through the eclectic offerings for a few moments when Ellis noticed the messenger bag slung over Blue's shoulder. Ellis stopped him. "What do you got there?"

"Oh!" Blue immediately felt stupid. "Sorry, I forgot I brought this. Force of habit, I guess. It's just a couple of books."

"A couple of what?" Ellis' right eyebrow shot to the sky when Blue opened the bag and revealed a couple of old paperbacks. "I can't believe you brought books to a date. Am I that hard to be around?"

Blue laughed. "It was an honest mistake!. I take a book with me whenever I leave the lighthouse. I'm not used to having an excuse to leave it at home." Ellis shot him a look that was both skeptical and comically hurt, which made Blue laugh even more. "I'm not reading anything tonight except a menu, okay?"

"Stay here," Ellis said with a wink. "I got an eye on somethin' I think you need."

"Oh come on, I don't need-" Blue turned around but Ellis had already disappeared, "-anything." Blue searched the faces in the crowd, trying to identify that cocky smile and long, brown duster, until he blindly walked into the chest of another man. A chest that was so bulky and solid it left a red mark on Blue's forehead.

"Er- young man, mind your step."

Blue rubbed the mark as he looked up into a pair of startling cobalt-colored eyes. They belonged to a handsome, chiseled face - a kingly face, really - topped with a full head of short golden hair. Somewhere under the man's reddish-brown beard and mustache, Blue could see he was frowning. But most troubling of all, the man wore a full, dark suit of armor that glowed a sinister red from its neon accent lines.

He's an Aeon. I bumped into a jink-damned Aeon!

"S-sorry," Blue finally said.

The Aeon's frown deepened. "Are you lost, lad?"

Blue held his breath for a moment and reminded himself to stay calm. Aeons, at least the ones Blue had the misfortune of crossing, didn't like outliers. It just seemed to be a rule of nature, something ingrained in them from birth. If you didn't live in a frontier, you represented everything the Aeons opposed - unmanageable trouble, an insidious threat to their cities.

Blue worried the strap of his messenger bag. "I'm just waiting for my friend."

The Aeon leaned down, shortening their significant difference in height, and began heavily scrutinizing Blue's face. "Why have I never seen you in Exeria before?"

"Well, um..."

"Every young man your age was in the Aeon compound this morning undergoing trials to become my squire. Every young man except yourself, it seems."

Well, look who's severely over-estimating their appeal to 'young men my age', Blue wanted very badly to say out loud, but he knew he'd regret it. And while the thought was intentionally rude, he didn't exactly believe it. The man that stood before him was remarkably attractive... albeit in a somber, serious way.

"I don't live in Exeria, sir," Blue explained. He handed his frontier pass to the Aeon, who read it over with those fearsomely direct eyes. He tapped a button on his gauntlet and aimed a red light along the paper. The gauntlet beeped and the pass was handed back.

"That looks to be in order," the man said curtly.

Blue noticed the red light had left imprinted text on his pass, which he read aloud. "Verified by Sir Duken, Aeon First Captain."

The man, Duken, confirmed this with a nod. "Frontier Exeria welcomes you," he said with no warmth or sentiment. "Our fleet of Aeon knights are on patrol 24/7 should you require assistance, direction, or come into contact with..."

Ellis appeared from the crowd at that moment and walked up to them, chest puffed out and chin raised high. "Blue? Who in high hell are you talking to?"

"...any disreputable characters," Duken finished. The glare he and Ellis exchanged was charged with an immediate, primal tension.

"Uh, Ellis, this is Sir Duken, an Aeon captain." Blue made sure to emphasize each word carefully.

Duken sized up the new man in front of him. It was then that Blue realized just how tall the Aeon stood. Ellis was already a head taller than Blue, and Duken was a head taller than Ellis. He was clearly caught in the middle of two charging giants.

"Frontier pass, please," Duken said firmly.

"Gee, partner, nice to meet you too."

"Ellis..." Blue warned.

"Tell me, is everyone in Exeria as sweet as you? I could roast a chicken with all the warmth you're givin' off, bud."

Blue held his breath. Aeons weren't known for their accommodating senses of humor and Duken didn't seem like he was about to break the stereotype.

"Frontier pass," Duken repeated.

Ellis rolled his eyes and handed the pass over. As before, Duken read it carefully and zapped it with the verifying red light before returning it.

"I trust your brief stopover will be a pleasant one," Duken said off an obviously memorized script. "Good eve." With that, Duken walked away.

"Let's not antagonize the men with swords," Blue said, his voice light with relief. "Because they have a tendency to use them." Ellis only responded with a mischievous smirk. "You were really close to being arrested, I hope you know that. Would've really dampened our date."

"Sorry, darlin'," Ellis said. "But I got somethin' to make it up to you."

Blue realized for the first time that the cowboy was hiding something behind his back. Before he could ask, Ellis revealed his hand, which extended a single, perfectly wrapped bellflower.

"Oh. Ellis, wow."

"It's uh, not much to look at, but it was the only blue flower they had. And I woulda got a bouquet, but then I wouldn't have enough credits for our dinner."

Blue took the bellflower from him and admired it wordlessly. Ellis' roguish demeanor slipped for a moment, worrying what Blue's silence meant.

"It's beautiful," Blue said after a moment. He was still taken aback by the gesture. "You didn't have to do this. I would've just been happy with dinner."

"Well now you got somethin' to be extra happy about." Ellis looked up and saw Duken patrolling the other side of the market. "Shame that dunce in the metal suit almost ruined the moment. You wanna get outta here? I'm starvin'."

"Yeah. Good idea."

Blue slipped the stem of the bellflower into his messenger bag as the twosome navigated through the crowd to the market exit. Blue took one last glance behind and was surprised to find Duken staring back at him. Not angrily or suspiciously, but with an enigmatic expression Blue couldn't quite describe. There was a quality in Duken's eyes that Blue recognized, an opaque feeling that hadn't formed yet, the beginning of, of... something. Fascination? Or desire? No, that would be ridiculous. Wouldn't it? Blue couldn't place the look he saw on Duken, but by the time he and Ellis found their way out of the market, his insides fluttered with the thrill of discovering something strange and new.

***

Ellis chose the restaurant, Terra's, which was the fanciest establishment in Frontier Exeria's downtown strip. Blue had never seen something this opulent, with pressed napkins and romantic candlelight glowing from every pristine table. Terra's was full but also rather quiet. Beautiful couples occupied most of the tables, speaking to each other in hushed, loving tones. The full staff of waiters and waiterbots ran themselves ragged as they delicately balancing endless trays of gourmet food sourced straight from the garden zone. A musicbot at the front of the restaurant played a harp - and rather beautifully, too.

As they sat at their reserved table, Blue tried to remember the last time he used utensils to eat. He couldn't.

Ellis took off his duster and rolled up the sleeves of his clean plaid shirt, revealing his tanned, muscular forearms. Blue tried not to stare (though he very much liked Ellis' arms) and instead distracted himself with the menu.

"What do you think, Blue?"

"Everything is so beautiful. I don't even know what to order, it all looks amazing."

Ellis' smile faltered a little. Blue shot him a quizzical look. "Is everything okay?"

"Mm-hm," Ellis hummed. "Just glad we're finally here." He, too, busied himself with the menu.

Blue thought Ellis seemed a little preoccupied ever since they left the market. He figured their encounter with Duken had finally ruffled the previously unruffable cowboy. Better leave that subject off the table...

"Has anything caught your eye?" Blue asked, motioning to Ellis' menu.

"Not yet." Ellis' foot tapped the floor repeatedly. The spur on his boot jangled with it. Tap, tap, tap, tap.

"Ah. Alright." Blue went back to his menu but now something definitely felt off. Where did the effortlessly charming rogue go? What was Ellis so nervous about?

A split second before Blue had the chance to ask what was wrong, they heard a commotion at the restaurant entrance. Four familiar looking men were hassling the front staff, spewing profanities. They looked like...

"The cowboys?" Blue hadn't expected to see Ellis' blackjack-loving cowboy buddies at Terra's, of all places.

"They're early," Ellis said neutrally.

Blue tried to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing, but couldn't. "Early for what? Did you ask them to come?"

Ellis stood very calmly and locked eyes with his gang, who took a break from roughing up the staff to return his silent acknowledgment. The old cowboy, the ginger one, the mustached one, even the carddealer. The foursome tipped their Stetsons at Ellis, who nodded back.

"Blue," Ellis said in a controlled voice that was entirely empty of emotion. "Get under the table."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Get under the table. Now."

"Why?" Blue's heart thundered against his tight chest.

Ellis reached into the duster he had hung on the back of his chair and withdrew his twin guns. "So you don't get hurt." The rugged cowboy raised his right gun and fired a bullet into the ceiling. Blue dropped to the floor and several people screamed. The four other cowboys drew their own guns and pointed them into the frightened crowd of wealthy diners.

"Listen up you piggin' apple jacks," Ellis announced to the room. Any trace of the flirtatious man that Blue met last night had vanished entirely. "This is a stick up. Ya hear? Plan's real simple, just empty your pockets and give me and my buds here all your credits. Now, we ain't plannin' on usin' any of you sorry quirleys as target practice, but that's up to you."

Ellis randomly chose a patron from another table and aimed his gun at the terrified man's face. "If you don't play nice..."

No, no, no! Blue tried to scream.

"...then you pay the price." Ellis clicked back the hammer of his pistol and fired.