Determine
A teacher of etiquette and contract law with a fetish for Terran coffee meets a superhero who wants to get into her briefs.
Hydrangea has been teaching contract law and other species etiquette in the Nyal Imperium for months. There is nothing to her life but marking, teaching and going for tea with friends. When one of her friends tells her that she knows of a Nyal food that matches coffee on the molecular level, Hydra has to try it out.
The diner where the forty-seven-ingredient soup is prepared is a favourite haunt of the Guardians of Deyfell 4, four super-beings who risk their lives on a daily basis. Hydra doesn’t care, she just wants her coffee doppelganger.
Starburn notices the strange alien who defies his teammate’s efforts to clear the diner. She has an easy smile and a relaxed attitude that he has not experienced since he became a Guardian. To his surprise she doesn’t know who they are and the ability to introduce himself without the weight of his actions as Guardian is so refreshing, he looks forward to speaking to her again.
When the next opportunity proves that she is still as guileless as he thought at first glance, he makes up his mind to keep her and treasure the gentle heart that she shows to one and all. It’s a simple matter to have a teammate bring her to the base, and once she is there, there is no way home.
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Determine
Copyright © 2013 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-77111-487-5
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Determine
By
Viola Grace
H
ydrangea Graham looked around at the wreck of the table and heaved a sigh. “I think it may have been an error to ask the students to come along.”
Liskey laughed. “Well, you gave them a decent meal for the week, possibly the term. I was surprised that you were able to get the instructors to loosen up.”
Hydra laughed. “I had the server spike their drinks. Nothing major, just a little more than they ordered.”
Liskey gasped, “You had them intoxicated against their knowledge?”
Hydra chortled evilly. “No. I just had extra sweetener put in their appetizers. It relaxed their dispositions, just like it does during morning breaks. Mind you, my picking up the tab probably did more for their moods than anything else.”
“That was very generous of you.” Liskey smiled and summoned the server again. “My friend would like the forty-seven-ingredient soup, please.”
The server looked at the wreck of the table and nodded. “Of course. Coming up.”
Hydra laughed. “I think we frightened him. So, are you sure this has all the compounds that I listed?”
Liskey waved away her concerns. “I checked it nine times. It is dead on. The texture may be off, but the taste should be the same.” Hydrangea tented her fingers together as she contemplated that this small, tidy diner on Deyfell 4 in the heart of Nyal space might actually have something that approached a cup of coffee, even if it was disguised as a bowl of soup.
“So, Liskey, you said that this little place had another claim to fame?” She sipped at her water and waited.
Liskey looked around, made sure that they were the last ones in the restaurant and whispered, “The Guardians eat here.”
“
The
Guardians?” The Guardians were the Deyfell system’s answer to the Sector Guard. Each world had their own super-beings that upheld law and order both locally and regarding incursions by other worlds.
“Yes. Those Guardians. When they have a casual meal, they tend to congregate in places like this. Of course, if they were coming, we would have been asked to leave already, so it won’t be today.”
Hydra didn’t care. She just wanted to try the coffee soup.
When the server brought the forty-seven-ingredient soup, she inhaled before tasting. It smelled like coffee. She raised the spoon to her lips and sipped.
Oh yeah, baby.
Her blissful expression must have said it all.
Halfway through the bowl, a strange prickle entered her mind. It was an urgency that she needed to leave and be somewhere else at that moment.
Balls to that
, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Liskey started to fidget, and she said, “Hydra, I think we should be going.”
“No. I am not going anywhere until I am done and I have another cup of tea.”
She was enjoying herself and the bizarre compilation of forty-seven ingredients that ended up with a product that tasted like coffee. It wasn’t great coffee, but it was still better than anything she had tasted in a ration pack to date.
When Liskey tried to get up, Hydra grabbed her wrist and held her to the table until the urge to flee passed. Liskey looked around in confusion and gasped as a chime rang, announcing another customer.
Seeing Liskey’s gobsmacked expression, Hydra desperately wanted to turn and stare at the newcomers, the multiple nature of the entrance obvious as the footsteps behind her had to belong to at least four individuals.
Instead of staring at the group, Hydra continued to calmly eat her soup. The server made a beeline to the table and rushed back to the kitchen with the order with more energy than Hydra thought he could manage.
She chuckled and looked at Liskey. “It seems your earlier statement has been proven incorrect, Instructor.”
Liskey blinked and then grinned. “Precisely. I do enjoy being wrong on occasion. It keeps me centred in the universe.”
When she finished her soup, the group had their order delivered to them, and the server stood next to Hydra to take her bowl.
Determined not to be rousted by local heroes just because they liked to be alone, she remained in her seat until the confused server returned.
“Aren’t you done?”
Liskey was getting uncomfortable, but Hydra was having fun. “A cup of tea, please, and a pay unit.”
He looked at her. “You want a cup of tea?”
“Please. I have an evening of tests to mark. I need to stay awake.”
He disappeared into the back and reappeared with the pay unit.
Sighing in surrender, she paid the bill and got to her feet.
Liskey leapt up with relief.
The server grabbed the unit and was on his way back to the kitchen when a voice said, “Excuse me, please.”
Immediately, the server changed direction and headed to the table behind Hydra’s back.
Soft words were spoken and the server rushed back to the kitchen, returning to her side with a pot of tea. “I apologize. I forgot about your tea, miss.”
Liskey had a hot blush on her chalky cheeks, her red eyes were wide as someone approached from behind Hydra.
She heard the scraping of chairs behind her, and the four Guardians were suddenly standing next to their table. Three men and one woman smiled behind the masks that concealed most of their features. One male with dark mocha skin stood next to her. “May we join you?” Liskey squeaked in surprise.
“What my friend means is please, join us. We are just recovering from a staff lunch.” Hydra smiled and tried to meet their eyes, but power was flickering behind each gaze, and she couldn’t maintain the contact.
“This is Instructor Liskey Aldu, I am Instructor Hydrangea Graham.” She inclined her head politely.
“I am Starburn, this is Breaker, Warp and Tangle.” He inclined his head in response, his snow-white hair sliding forward over one shoulder.
“Pleased to meet you.” They all took seats, and Hydra had to ask, “So, it was Breaker that tried to get us to leave earlier?”
The woman smiled, her dark hair shifted in a loose wave that denoted wind even though they were indoors. “We usually prefer to eat alone. Your presence here was a bit of a surprise.”
“I do apologize, but my companion here got me across the city from the Academy with the promise of something that matched a beverage from my home world. I wasn’t leaving until I tried it.”
Starburn smiled, “The soup? We smelled it when we came in.”
Hydra grinned. “Yes. The compound tastes remarkably similar to something that I have been craving, but after eating an entire bowl of it, I think I am good for a while.”
Warp chuckled. “You are braver than I am. It smells amazing, but I doubt that the taste matches up.”
Hydra wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t, but neither does coffee. It smells much better than it tastes, so the similarities carry over.” The conversation turned to food from home and the reasons that adults sought it out. Tangle tried to get Liskey involved in the discussion, but she merely sat and kept up her violent blush.
Starburn asked, “What do you teach, Instructor Graham?”
“Hydra, please. I teach interspecies contract law and etiquette. If you could believe it, Liskey teaches public speaking.”
The table laughed, and Hydra winced as Liskey kicked her under the table. “Apparently, subversive combat should have been on her roster as well.”
“Shut up, Hydra.” Liskey hissed.
“Yes, miss.” Hydra checked the chronometer on the wall and winced. “I am sorry to have intruded on your private time, but Liskey and I have to get back to the Academy. Thank you for the company.”
The men got to their feet, and Starburn helped Hydra on with her wrap. That small contact sent a flush through her cheeks, and she smacked herself mentally for losing her cool. “Thank you.” She ducked her head and waved farewell, hauling Liskey with her.
The moment they were out the door, they grinned at each other, and as they were sure that they were out of earshot, they started laughing like naughty children.
* * * *
“Well, Breaker?” Starburn crossed his arms and scowled at their telepath.
She chuckled. “Don’t worry, Starburn. She likes you, a lot. Liskey was just stunned by getting to sit with Guardians.”
Warp blinked, “She didn’t find any of us attractive?”
“She thinks you and Tangle are lovely. Starburn is a little dark for her taste, but I am just right.” Breaker laughed and preened.
Starburn closed his eyes and remembered the creamy skin, the black and silver hair in a riot of curls and the devilish look in her eyes when she teased her friend. Instructor Hydrangea Graham was an interesting woman, and he wanted to cross her path again.
H
ydra couldn’t stop the soft smile that came over her features every time she thought of that day at the diner. Two weeks later, she and Liskey managed to make it back for another round of forty-seven-ingredient soup, just for comparison, and they felt that familiar prickle in their minds. Other customers collected their orders and left the diner in a few moments.
This time, the prickle rapidly turned to welcoming warmth. Hydra grinned at Liskey.
“Did you feel that?”
Liskey was primping like a madwoman so that was answer enough.
Chuckling, Hydra quickly ordered a pot of tea and a glass of water. It arrived on her table a moment before the Guardians arrived a little the worse for wear.
The group staggered over to their table and pulled chairs in. Their armoured uniforms were covered with soot and grime.
