a light pink.
“It’s guava,” Fisher said. “The crop ripened a few days ago. It’s always all ready at the same time, and eventually all you can do is juice or freeze it.”
“I like it,” Pendt said.
“You like everything,” Ned pointed out.
“I haven’t tried everything yet,” Pendt said. “We’ll probably run into something I don’t like eventually.”
“Yes,” Ned agreed philosophically, “and then you’ll tell us that that calorie ratio is just too efficient to pass up and make yourself eat it anyway.”
Pendt laughed. She was learning to be selfish, and Ned was always ready to call her on it. He looked at her with a smile on his face, and Pendt felt a bubble of warmth in her stomach. It was nice to be liked.
They chatted amicably over breakfast, mostly explaining how operations ran when neither Brannick was present. Ned carried an alarm, in case a message was received that the Net was required, but aside from that, it was more or less the same. The schedule was light today. Most of the ships expected had arrived late last night, and nothing was supposed to show up until later in the evening. Still, sometimes there were unscheduled trips, and Ned had to be ready.
“Hopefully the universe has a sense of decorum,” Ned said, “and we can at least get through the wedding without being interrupted.”
The wedding they had planned was made up of two parts. First, there was the public handfasting. This was the traditional way two people joined their lives together, with no legal hold on the other. It had to be a mutual agreement, and either could leave at any time. Some people had arrangements involving property and offspring, but that wasn’t a matter for public consumption. The second part, the marriage, would be done privately to ensure as few people as possible had access to the documents.
They finished their breakfast and Fisher took care of the dishes. He paused when he was done, and then went to the refrigeration unit.
“We made something for you,” he said.
When he turned to face her, he was holding a circle of woven plants in his hand. Pendt recognized the flowers from the greenhouse. They were a riot of colours, but somehow the arrangement was pleasing to the eye.
“It’s for your head,” Ned explained.
Pendt took out her ponytail and used her fingers to comb her hair neatly down her back. She took the flower circle from Fisher and put it on her head. It smelled amazing.
“Thank you,” she said. She had never felt this decorated. This intentionally impractical. With her hair down and the scent of the flowers wafting around her, she felt soft. And for the first time in her life, that didn’t feel dangerous. “It’s fantastic.”
“The flowers have grown a lot since you got here,” Fisher said. “We thought it was a nice way to show that you were already, you know, part of the family. Even without everything else.”
Pendt smiled.
“Are you ready?” Ned asked. “People have already started to gather on the colonnade.”
“I am,” Pendt said. “Let’s do this.”
He offered her his arm and she took it. Together, they walked out of the apartment with Fisher behind.
* * *
• • •
The handfasting ceremony was short. Pendt hadn’t met the person who did it, but they had a moment to chat before everything started.
“I’m a friend of Catrin Brannick, name of Dulcie Channing,” the woman said. “I helped teach Fisher and Ned operations when they were little, and then after, well, after Ned and Catrin were gone. I guess I am sort of the foreman.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Pendt said. “I’m learning that family here means something different than it meant where I come from, and I’m glad that the boys had you when their parents were taken.”
The crowd had grown quite large by then, and so Ned decided it was best to get things started.
Ned and Pendt held hands while Dulcie wrapped a long white ribbon around them. She spoke of commitment and cooperation, of work and play, of good times and poor ones. At the end of her speech, she asked both of them if they were ready.
“I am,” Ned said.
“I am,” Pendt repeated.
“Then before these witnesses, I declare you partners,” Dulcie said. “May you bring one another peace.”
Peace. Freedom. Fruit juice. Pendt couldn’t help smiling up at Ned, and he smiled back at her. The onlookers cheered. They didn’t know all the details, but they knew that the Brannick was working to secure their future, and they