Falling Stars

Calli liked the Travenian style of dresses a lot more than the heavy brocade and satin she was given back in the capital. Since it was their first night visiting Travenia, the custom was for the guests to have an elaborate dinner with the governors and their families. Calli found that she was only mildly apprehensive about the dinner, since she was so excited about being on Travenia that she almost didn't care at all that she had to sit with a bunch of important strangers.

She stood admiring the dress they had given her in the full-length mirror. It was a light, flowing sort of fabric in a rich turquoise color, one strap looping over her left shoulder. Her hair was braided with matching ribbons, a golden flower tucked behind her ear. Since she had nowhere to hide a traditional weapon, she looped a bracelet around her wrist that could be whipped off and snapped out to create a makeshift blade and hurried off to catch up to Gerald and Julian.

"There she is," Gerald said, beaming when he saw her. "You look absolutely lovely."

Calli blushed. "Thank you."

He and Julian were dressed in lighter clothes too, with loose white shirts. Julian still fidgeted anxiously and tugged at his collar until Gerald shot him a look. Julian sighed and stood up straighter, ceasing his twitching. Gerald offered his arm to Calli and she placed her hand on his elbow as the three of them entered the grand dining hall and took their seats after a lot of hand shaking and curtsying and introductions.

One of the governor's sons sat across from her and kept smiling at her and trying to engage her in conversation. She forced herself to be polite but all she really wanted to do was admire all the colorful, delicious-smelling food on the table. There were all kinds of exotic fruits she had never seen before in all the shades of the rainbow and they were all sweet and juicy. And there was fish and all manner of unusual seafood for her to sample. She had to resist the urge to scarf it all down like a starving dog and try a little bit at a time.

"You're right Julian, they do have amazing fruit here," she said.

"We have the best produce in the galaxy," her newfound peacock said proudly from across the table. Calli hadn't been able to take him vet seriously since he had rather pompously introduced himself as Shane Brickleman IV. She supposed she had to grant him some confidence points for being so proud of that name.

"I'd be happy to show you around while you're here," Shane went on, flashing her yet another gleaming white smile. She wondered if his face hurt from grinning so much.

"Actually, I have plans with Julian all week," Calli said. "We're going to the beach tomorrow."

Shane shot a brief look at Julian, who seemed less than impressed with him. Then he was back to being all smiles.

"Of course. Perhaps I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah, maybe."

The lack of enthusiasm in her tone didn't seem to dissuade him, since he kept jabbering at her all through dinner until Gerald seemed to notice what was happening and pulled Shane into a boring conversation about trill berry yields from the past year. Calli shot him a thankful look when no one was looking and he winked.

Calli dragged Julian away as soon as dinner was over, looking over the screen of the datapad she had brought along and listing all the places on Travenia she wanted to see.

"Why aren't you more excited?" she chided him when he flopped across his bed and yawned.

"I'm tired," he said. "I've been here before, remember? I'm not exactly a tourist anymore."

"Stick in the mud," Calli pouted. "Don't make me explore with Shane."

Julian made a face. "You wouldn't hang out with him."

"I will if I have to," she taunted. "If you want to just sit around here and be tremendously lame, then I won't really have a choice. And I'll have to endure agriculture lessons from a nincompoop instead of having fun with someone who I thought was my friend."

"Okay, okay. I promise I'll hang out with you every day. We'll go see all your tourist traps and stuff ourselves with fruit. Now can I please go to sleep?"

Calli hopped onto the bed and stole one of his pillows. "Tell me more about your mom till you fall asleep," she ordered. Julian sighed as she laid next to him and watched him expectantly. But he did as she asked, and though Calli didn't remember falling asleep herself she woke up as the suns were just beginning to rise and found herself curled against Julian's side. He was still sound asleep, his dark hair messier than normal. Calli smiled softly before slipping back to her own room and sifting through the clothes that had been left there for her. She found a skimpy swimsuit and shimmied into it before throwing a flowing indigo dress over it, tying it behind her neck and leaving her hair loose.

She jogged back to Julian's room and vaulted onto the bed, leaping on top of him and tickling him till he woke up, flailing and cursing.

"Calli!"

"You promised!" she said through her laughter. "Get up, you royal sleepyhead. We're going to the beach!"

Julian groaned and forced himself up, rubbing his eyes tiredly and shuffling around while Calli threw clothes at him.

"Come on, Julian," she said impatiently, tugging him out the door before he'd even gotten his pants all the way on. She ran down the hill toward the beach, her hair streaming behind her like a battle flag and her sandals making slapping noises against the grass. She hit the sand before Julian did, standing there for a few moments to let the warm water splash over her toes and watching the sunrise light up the cerulean waves.

Julian caught up to her. "So. You really dragged me out of bed at this hour just for this?"

"You are incredibly unromantic," Calli said, nudging him. He smiled but then quickly looked away, his ears turning red as she wriggled free of her dress and went darting into the ocean. When it got deep enough she dove under, swimming lazily through the clear water and scattering schools of odd little fish. She surfaced and gestured to Julian.

"Come on," she called. "Don't be a wuss, get in the water."

She was floating on her back when Julian swam up to her, shoving wet hair out of his face.

"This is amazing," Calli said dreamily. "I could just stay like this forever."

"Then you'd miss out on the caves full of glowing starfish," Julian said and Calli snapped to attention.

"Show me," she said eagerly, splashing him. Julian took a deep breath and submerged himself, Calli quickly following suit and swimming after him. They came to the entrance of an underwater cave, and surfaced for more air before diving underwater again and swimming inside. Before long the water around her began to glow and Calli thrust her head up above the water to find herself inside a small cavern, the walls covered in starfish that emitted a soft glow. They looked like real stars filling the cave.

Calli laughed delightedly. "This is incredible!"

She spun in the water, taking her eyes over the cave walls. She ducked below the water again, getting closer to the little glowing fish on the cave floor. Julian's face appeared in front of her and she smiled as her hair floated out around her.

"You look like a sea fairy or something," Julian remarked as they swam back out of the cave.

"A wicked sea fairy maybe." Calli grinned. When they made it back to the beach, the sun was high in the sky and there were a lot more people out. She spotted some of them doing the cliff diving Julian had said his brothers liked to do.

"I'm going to try it," she declared, scrambling out of the water before Julian could protest and tearing up to the top of the cliff. She pushed past several guys who were waiting their turn but no one seemed offended. It was higher than she'd realized, but that didn't faze her. She leaped, somersaulting twice before slicing the water. A few people cheered when she stuck her head above water and she waved before swimming back to Julian, who was shaking his head.

"You're insane," he said. Calli stumbled up out of the water, tripping in the sand and falling against him. He caught her as she laughed, trying to cling to his shoulders as a large wave nearly took her legs out. She tilted her head up to find Julian smiling at her, the setting sun softening the lines of his face. Calli felt a rush of lightheadedness and clumsily drew back as her cheeks turned pink.

"I'm starving," she said, a little breathless. "Maybe we should head back now."

She found her discarded dress on the rock where she had left it and tugged it on over her swimsuit. Is he and Julian ransacked the small refrigerators that had been placed in their guest rooms, then Calli went to dry herself off. She came back and sat next to him on the bed, towel-drying her hair. Feeling an odd surge of emotion, she grabbed Julian and kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked, looking bewildered. Calli shrugged.

"Thank you, for taking me today," she said.

"What are friends for?"

The rest of the week went by in a colorful blur. Calli made Julian take her all over Travenia, feeling like a wonder struck little kid as she took in all the amazing sights and sounds and smells. In the evenings they would find their refrigerators restocked with fruit juices and snacks and Calli would usually spend the night sitting on Julian's bed and reading about Travenia on her datapad while Julian sketched. She usually fell asleep in his room.

She was sad to see the week come to an end and she dragged her feet a bit as they made their way back to their shuttle.

"Come on," Julian said, trying to tug her along. She went limp, nearly crumpling to the ground and taking him with her.

"You're such a baby," he teased, pulling her upright. She slumped against his chest.

"Legs...failing...can't....go on," she said dramatically, pretending to swoon. She was giggling as Julian tried to physically drag her up the path to the launch bay, but her laughter died as she spotted a figure on the roof of a building across from them. They were hunkered down, half their face covered in a makeshift mask. They were aiming something toward where Gerald and his small troop of personal guards were walking. The hair on the back of her neck prickled.

"Gerald!" she shouted, moving to run forward and snatch one of the guard's guns from its holster. Her hand had just closed around the grip when a blast rent the air and shook the ground. Calli twisted as she was knocked back, aiming the gun at the figure on the roof. Another blast rocked the earth as she fired. Then she hit the ground hard and her ears were ringing, the sounds of shouting and pounding feet muffled from the explosion.

She had to find Julian.