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so very prim. Please. Go ahead.” Yekesh waved her off and he was fiddling with the equipment when she left.
    Jekross and Ralos were still watching vids in the living space and she assumed that Loxin had gone to bed.
    The long skirts were warm and comfortable, but it was odd wearing them without underwear. Her physical trainer had made the comment once that a man would only remember to order underwear if it was needed to keep the female from being arrested. There was no danger of that here, so she was stuck with full concealment.
    Dot headed back to her room and began to explore her territory. She had a desk, a small com unit, the wardrobe, a lav with a sunken bathtub and enough space to do yoga and anything else that took her fancy. The bed was huge, but if it had been Loxin’s, that would follow. His wings probably needed a bit of room.
    She opened the wardrobe doors to see the mirrors and went in search of the releases for her armour. She struck a catch and the hood retracted; another sprang the clamshell around her loose.
    She breathed deeply and smiled. “That is better.”
    Dot lifted the dress off and put it carefully on its stand in the wardrobe. She folded the sheets back and crawled into bed. Sleep was a healer and she was tired. It would take some time to sync her system to the patterns of Nixos.
    It seemed she had no sooner put her head to the pillow than Jekross was shaking her shoulder. She could smell coffee but that was impossible. Dot had gotten the lecture that there was no coffee where she was going.
    She clutched the sheets to her chest and rolled into a sitting position. “Is it morning?”
    Jekross nodded. “I am afraid it is. Here, I had an inclination that you needed this, so I worked with the dispenser to figure out what was involved. It smells great but the taste is a little flat.”
    She chuckled. “You might have gotten it right then.”
    Dot took the cup with a murmur of thanks and gave him a thumbs up. When she finished her first slug of coffee, she grinned. “It is perfect.”
    “Excellent. There is a plant here on Nixos that creates that compound after curing. The dispenser used that as a point of reference.”
    She smiled and sipped happily. “Is it a red berry with a bean inside?”
    “How did you know?”
    “I just had a feeling.” She watched him as he settled on the edge of her bed, completely at ease and ready to wait.
    She finished the coffee and got to her feet, fighting the blush that ran through her. Change room regulations were going to have to take the place of her personal shyness.
    Dot grabbed a reinforced bodysuit and hopped into it, smoothing the closure and looking in the drawers for a hairbrush.
    Jekross reached over her shoulder and pulled open a small drawer. “Would you like help with your hair?”
    She thought about it. “No, but I wouldn’t mind the company.”
    He showed her how to get a dressing table to emerge from the wall with a small seat. Dot perched and made a face at herself in the mirror before pulling her braid free of its clips and its place on her head.
    Unravelling her hair took a while, so she asked, “Does morning always start while darkness rules the land?”
    He laughed. “No. I decided to get you up so that we could see if there was any additional information echoing in your mind.”
    “No.” She pulled her fingers through her hair over and over until she finally reached her scalp. Her hair hung to her waist in even ripples, and she quickly pulled her locks away from her face and clipped it behind her head. “That’s better.”
    Jekross was staring. “I had no idea there was so much of it.”
    “At first, it was a tradition, and then, it became part of me. So, I keep it. It isn’t like there was much else to do where I grew up.”
    “Well, it is a lovely cascade. Would you like to join me for breakfast?”
    Dot got to her feet. “Certainly.”
    As they walked through the halls, the feel of predawn hung in the air. When walking