Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

SHAH

The best way to Prague from Cairo was an airship, which Euri and I were on, making our way to my twin and his mysterious girlfriend, Cyn. Truth be told, Euri and I were beat. We'd not gotten much sleep on our Earth adventures so far, so we were settled into the airship seats, heads nestled together, earbuds in, listening to soft music. Euri was asleep with his head on my shoulder.

My mind drifted out. I missed my brother, Ronnie. For weeks now, he'd had his telepathy mostly closed to me. I couldn't figure out why he hadn't wanted me to know about Cyn? Did he think I would tease him? He'd always been private about personal things like sex and love, but didn't he know I would celebrate him?

Ever since I'd partnered up with Euri, I'd had the growing sense that I didn't know my twin very well, and that bothered me.

Sigh.

Then I felt his warm presence around me and smiled.

Hey. I miss you, Ronnie.

Smugness.

Asshole. You could at least say you miss me too!

Wry eyebrow lift.

Hah! You're having that much fun with Cyn?

Blank expression. No need to answer that question. Fair enough.

You gonna tell me anything about it, brother?

Vague shoulder shrug. Apparently my twin didn't think it was necessary to give me details.

Can you at least give me a plot line for how Rawl can meet his true love?

Genuine laughter. A general sense that it was obvious: Rawl was a telepath. His true love would be a telepath. Easy peasy.

Hey! Not true! Euri and I at least have a meet cute! And it wasn't a telepathic one. OH! RONNIE!

You don't need to shout at me, Shah.

No! Listen! Muller and Slick! You know Slick? Maglen Galaxy?

I felt Ronnie's mind questing, then pure joy shot through him!

Wait, Shah! What happened? Muller's outside of Andromeda.

Tell me about Cyn, and I'll tell you about Muller and Slick, I taunted. Then I slammed down my mental shield so he got no more, a giant grin on my face.

I remembered I was on an airship and laughed to myself. Oh boy, this was gonna be fun. Maybe I'd get my brother to spill the truth while we were in Prague.

EURI

Buzz.

I jerked awake, glad I hadn't been drooling on Shah's shoulder. Rolling my kinked neck, I opened a message from my dad. A video was embedded.

An animated Portia read a letter in a lecturing tone to a cartoon version of me.

"Euridyne Crieve-Madrano, Consider yourself warned. Trade Guild Regulation 246875 states that those who knowingly deceive their contracted payers may be subjected to fines of equal amount to payments received plus an additional 20% interest tax."

Cartoon me sank to the floor.

"Furthermore, a breach of such trust shall be considered permanent damage to the professional relationship of the contracted client."

Cartoon me covered his head with his arms.

"All guilty parties shall be henceforth stricken from the family records and shunned in perpetuity."

Cartoon me curled in a fetal ball, weeping.

"Just kidding, son, we love you. BUSTED!" appeared in a big red speech bubble.

Portia and I laughed and packed up our tech. So, my dads had figured out that Portia was Psy Ling, and that the Rilla and Rawl graphic novels were actually being written and illustrated by my girlfriend and her twin. Took them long enough.

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We packed up our tech and grabbed our backpacks. I was time to see Prague in person.

Prague was something else. We definitely weren't in Egypt anymore. December in Prague: cold. Thankfully the landing platform had shops stocked with winter gear, so Shah and I bought coats and snow boots then headed out into a crisp, cool afternoon.

Buzz.

"Hah!" Portia barked. "Ronnie wants us to go on a ghost tour? Well, we skipped Macabre Morocco, so why not a ghost tour of Prague?!"

I joined her laughing, and we caught a porter to the location of the tour where we met up with Ronnie and Cyn. The tour was a bit lackluster, but probably because it was daylight. It might've been spooky to do it at midnight or something, but maybe that didn't work so well with some of the historical buildings we went through. It was a good way to get an overview of the city, but mostly, it was really nice to be back with Ronnie.

Cyn still had her telepathy completely shut down, so I didn't feel like I was getting to know her at all, except by context. Her face looked happy, so she must've like ghostly tours, and she kept her fingers intertwined with Ronnie's, so she definitely had good taste.

After the tour, we took a porter to a location Cyn input. It was a tiny pub, and once we were inside, it was obvious we were no longer amongst tourists. If there was anyone speaking Universal or English, I didn't hear it. No, it looked like the "I just got off work, and I'm here to sling back a few" crowd. Kinda dingy, kinda dark. Another interesting tidbit about Cyn: she liked dingy, off-the-beaten-track pubs.

We sat at a corner booth and tried to look at the digital menu. Which wasn't in a language I understood. Cyn fiddled with the screen as Ronnie explained, Cyn's gonna order for the table, okay?

Shah and I nodded. I felt what my girlfriend was thinking. She was remembering how her whole life her parents had said, "Just be yourself," and she intended to treat Cyn that same way.

"Cyn, it's okay if you don't want to use your telepathy with us. Thanks for ordering dinner."

Cyn's shoulders relaxed, and she smiled a soft smile in reply to Shah. I was reminded of eating pizza with Ronnie and my dads months ago, and I decided to try my skills at communicating with a non-verbal person who didn't want to use her telepathy with me. Could I be as good as my dads?

"Prague is amazing, Cyn. Is this your hometown?"

She shook her head.

Buzz.

I picked up my pad, noting that Cyn hadn't used a pad at all, but there was a message from her on my screen.

"Tucson, Arizona?" I pronounced it, "Tuck-sun."

Cyn laughed.

Buzz.

An audio played the pronunciation: "Two - sonne."

I said it aloud, "Two- sonne? That's your hometown?"

She beamed at me.

"Wow! What an interesting word. Tucson. Is it like Prague there?"

She laughed, delighted, and shook her head. Once again, my pad buzzed, but Cyn hadn't used a pad to send me a message. On my screen I saw pictures.

"Wait?! This is Tucson? It's a desert? You're from the desert?!"

She nodded, delighted!

"Cyn! That's so awesome! Did Ronnie tell you about my home world?"

She rolled her eyes.

I laughed. "Oh for fuck's sake. Don't tell me you're like him. Is it gonna be nonstop eye rolls and shoulder shrugs?"

She snickered and kissed Ronnie's cheek.

The automated delivery cart dropped off pints of beer and baskets of greasy strips of something golden and something breaded. Cyn picked up a bottle of dark brown vinegar and dribbled it all over her basket, so the rest of us followed suit.

"Staaaars! Sands below, this is good, Cyn!" I washed down salty, greasy, fishy goodness with bitter ale.

"You have excellent taste. So, I suppose Ronnie told you about my metal-handed dad? He was augmented and hacked his cybernetic relay years before I was born, so nearly three decades ago."

She nodded, and I started to get a vague, vague sense of her. I kept going, "He's always kept it quiet. Never wanted anyone to find out about the hack. Didn't want that to fall into the wrong hands. 'Can't trust people with power' was always his theory. I can't say that I disagree with him, but, he wasn't in it alone. He had a mystical best friend, and then he and my musical dad got together, so he didn't have to bear his secrets by himself."

Her face softened as she took a swallow of ale. The sense I had of her grew.

"It bothers him, though, keeping it a secret. Because it makes his life so much easier. He can control tech with his brain so quickly that he wouldn't even need the metal hand for most of his job. I never really considered what advantages it would give to someone with a metal leg."

I was guessing with that. She had two human hands, but had been wearing pants both times I'd seen her. Even though it had been a warm day in Greece at our first encounter.

Cyn nodded, glanced around the pub, and a small pad hovered out of the pocket of her jacket and flew over to me. Text quickly scrolled across it, and Portia and I read:

Thank you, Euri and Portia.

It's so nice to meet you, finally. I've heard so much about you. Yes, it's been a long time. We met two years ago, but it wasn't easy to negotiate everything. I was not trustful. I still am not. I worry a lot. I'm not used to connecting to people at all. I don't want people to know my secrets. But I trust Ronnie completely now. And I am learning to trust you both too. Thank you for being patient with me and giving me space.

"You're amazing, Cyn! Amazing! Hey, my dad's a coder. Are you?"

She shook her head and nodded to the pad.

I'm an editor. For all kinds of copy. Journalists. Writers. Screenplays. I have a stream site; only electronic. I do all my work on stream, and my clients are happy with that. It's worked really well.

"Hah! We could so use an editor, especially one who knows English! You know about Known Cosmos Earth Press?"

She smiled.

"Has Ronnie showed you anything?"

I like the graphic novels. Your cartoon is really sexy too.

I glanced up from the text and saw her pinching her mouth in a naughty smile. Shah and I laughed and laughed.

"Stars! Hey, the beer's gone, and the food was good. What're we doing now? Anyone up for a movie night? We haven't even booked a place to stay yet, Shah."

Buzz.

Their hotel was only three blocks away, so we got a room for the night near theirs. We watched ghost movies in English until 3:00AM, then crashed.

"Uuuugh," Portia groaned.

I couldn't say anything because I was puking my guts out in the sink while Shah hugged the toilet. I hated Prague.

Yeah, all four of us. Vomit galore. We paid for another night's stay and hydrated as best we could. Then once the violent stomach heaving stopped, we cleaned the damned hotel room and left a nice tip for the staff. That was it for Prague.

Ronnie, Cyn, Frank, Shah and I headed for the airship station in the city where we caught a flight up to the orbiting Transfer Station.

We were going home.