Chapter Two — Part 3

“Fluff. How’d you do that?”

Fluff, his usual happy self again, sniffed arrogantly, ignoring my question. “You’re awfully human for an angel, losing your temper like that.”

“Whatever.” I said, exasperated, hugging Fluff close in my wings. “Why are you here? Did Mama send you to help me out?”

“The one Tiffany was bought for is mine. They don’t tell me anything, except that the two of them are supposed to save each other, and hopefully the galaxy, as far as I can tell.”

Using my one exceptional talent, I shifted us into Otherspace. I took Fluff’s hand in mine, using my wings to drag him along faster than he could have gone alone. Fluff, being absent of wings, was a little weaker than myself where interstellar travel was concerned. We angels have to pass through Otherspace to get to distant places in the universe, just like star ships.

Space travel is all about finding a war out of space, or so I’m told. Otherspace is outside of normal space, and so it is the perfect jump point for ships and humans alike. Jodiah’s ship materialized in Realspace, near a small lunar world covered in a primordial forest.

I let Fluff go as we entered the atmosphere of that world, and let him fall gracefully to the surface as I glided down behind him. As we neared the surface, Fluff and I heard a proclamation and several profane words.

“Trespassers.” A farmer yelled. The sharpened prongs of his pitchfork were pointed at us.

Rather than get pricked, we vanished, and the man scratched his head, dropping the pitchfork back into toil. Laughing at his apparent confusion, we followed the ship’s ion trail to a house at the edge of the city. This city was special; it had things unique to an intergalactic port of call.

“It’s safe to come out of hiding for awhile. This city is full of alien life, and we shouldn’t stand out too much.”

I took my true form, naked except for my wings, and Fluff took his own, more human form. He wore a black shirt and trousers, the clothes of an unarmed knight. I found it almost comical, especially since he didn’t look a day over twelve. Sometimes I’d fool myself into believing Fluff was as young I was, but then he’d say or do something to remind me just how many thousands of years he’d been an angel.

The ship settled into its metal nest, waited patiently for my girl and her new master to open the hatch. Her face had healed and her feet were covered in felt slippers. Her eyes were sparking violently in the sun. As always, we watched from the shadows, this time from a street corner. A small boy wheeled himself in his chair, his dark face as bitter as Tiffany’s. His body looked healthy, but my angelic senses told me his back was broken.

He’d need extensive physical therapy to regain function in his legs.

“What happened to the boy?”

For the first time in my memory Fluff seemed completely serious. He coughed politely.

“I let him get hurt when I should’ve been watching him. That’s why I was in Transcendence, I needed time to think things through. They forced me back to my guardian post to work with you. I can’t heal him, can you?”

“I’m not exactly designed for healing. Tiffany’s a healer. She has to want to heal him, though, and she hates him.”

“Pity. Perhaps there’s no hope for either of them.”

“You better get them to like each other.” Tester said from behind me. Wisdom was with her, in the form of a beggar. They were standing on a street corner, about thirty feet from us, and they seemed to stand out. He was actually collecting coins from the city dwellers, none of which could see Tester.

“Credits for the poor.” He shook the cup, giggling with glee. “I could get used to this. Listen to them jingle. Like little bells.”

Tester grumbled something indignant. “You’re always playing. Must I be the serious one all the time?”

“Hush now, you don’t want the natives to know our little secret do you?”

“They can’t see or hear me, crazy old man.” Tester said. Her eyes locked with mine. “What are you going to do about Tiffany and Kotian?”

Wisdom turned his attention to Kotian and Tiffany. “If they can’t work together, magnitudes five and seven will be destroyed.” He sounded very matter of fact. If he weren’t jingling his coins playfully, I might have been worried.

I tried to imagine a force able to destroy two entire sentient races. “Okay, we’ll do our best.” I said, but I was speaking to thin air. Tester and Wisdom had vanished.

Fluff looked at me, and I at him. “Let’s give them a few days to adapt. Tiffany is a concubine, she’ll do her job and hopefully she’ll get to like Kotian in the process.”

I brought my attention back to them.

Tiffany sputtered arrogantly at Jodiah. “I can’t believe you bought me for a cripple.”

“I can’t believe you bought me a slut.” Kotian spat back.

“I’m not a slut, I’m a concubine. A job of skill and integrity. A duty of sacrifice, devotion, and service. I’m the best trained concubine on Earth.” Tiffany stuck her nose up, looking away. “My old master knew how to treat a woman.”

“Yeah, with a swat on the ass and a sharp tongue, no doubt.” Kotian laughed bitterly, his face a twist of arrogance that matched Tiffany’s almost perfectly. “She’s no woman, father, she’s younger than I am. But since I own her, might as well put her to good use. Go clean my room. Wash my clothes. When you’re done, bring me dinner. You can find the kitchen on your own.”

“Jodiah paid for me, and only he can order me around.” Tiffany said, looking away.

Tiffany ignored the boy and his father as she was led into the main household by a robot servitor, a hovering cube of metal and glass summoned by some unseen means.

Jodiah dealt with his son as soon as Tiffany was out of sight. “She’ll be your wife, not your slave. Do you have to mistreat her so?”

“You brought me a whore to be my wife, and you wonder why I’m angry.”

Jodiah raised his hand to smack his son down. “If you weren’t my son, I’d beat you senseless.”

He let his hand drop and left the boy to his sulking. Kotian had a forgiving father. I would have bitten him on the nose.

“Don’t worry,” Fluff said, as if reading my thoughts. “I’ll give him a good going over.”

“I’ll take care of my girl.”

Fluff turned visible and stepped up next to Kotian. With a solid thrust, he kicked the wheel chair on its side.

Kotian’s voice was a menacing disgust. “What are you doing here? I told you to go away.”

Fluff wasn’t much nicer. “Would’ve listened, but you’re not my boss, you’re my friend.”

“Some friend you are, kicking me over like this.”

“If you make the girl your friend, she’ll never leave your side. She knows loyalty better than anybody.”

“Her kind of loyalty is prostitution.”

“She’s here against her will, but of course, you wouldn’t take that into consideration.” Fluff said.

Fluff helped Kotian back into his chair, and set him upright. After that, the two were sociable, if not outwardly friendly. Fluff dusted Kotian’s shoulder off and unbent his wheel break. I realized then that Kotian’s family wasn’t a terribly rich one by galactic standards. The two glowered at each other, until finally Fluff turned away.

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