Until Again Read Online Free PDF Page B

her travels, she could appreciate how they probably only reminded Camara of her isolated youth.
    They headed off on foot since the town center was only ten minutes from where they were currently standing on campus. Dyson and Camara had both called others to meet them there, and a couple of friends caught up as they walked, considerably enlarging their entourage. Of course two of Miea’s “friends” were Sinica and Hensis, Miea’s immediate bodyguards. They were fairly good about observing from a distance when Miea was in class or hanging around with others, but when she was on the move, they followed closely. This had led to some awkward moments on her dates with Dyson and their only real fight.
    “It’s just you and me tomorrow night, right?” Dyson said quietly as they walked.
    Miea smiled warmly at him. “Just you and me ... if you don’t look around too carefully.”
    Dyson grinned and pecked her on the cheek. He’d been remarkably good-natured about the limits her being a princess had put on their privacy, that one argument notwithstanding. He’d been the first person she’d dated for more than a couple of weeks. The others had been smitten with her royalty – maybe even smitten with her – but they’d quickly tired of the surveillance.
    Miea was so glad Dyson had the perseverance the others had lacked. What she felt for him so completely surpassed anything she’d felt for a man before. It wasn’t just that they shared an intense passion for botany. It wasn’t just that he loved music and good food and lengthy political discussions – all of which she also loved. It wasn’t just that he was tall, angular, fit, and had hypnotic eyes. It was all of those things, and something far more important: with Dyson, she felt like Miea, not Princess Miea. Her father liked to tease her about her reluctance to bring Dyson to the palace, but she had to admit that there was something real to that reluctance. When she was at the palace, she was always a princess; she wanted to avoid being that in Dyson’s presence as long as possible. She wanted their romance to roam free indefinitely. She knew she’d have to let her father have his “intimate” dinner with forty of fifty others in attendance at some point, but to the degree that she could forestall this, she would.
    Putumayo was stuffed with patrons and was as loud as Miea had ever experienced. Of course a table was available for her party. Hensis had called ahead to make sure that was the case.
    Okay, Miea thought, as the host seated them, I don’t mind throwing my weight around a little.
    The table was in a corner to the right side of the stage with a clear view of the enormity of musical equipment on it. The stage was so full of paraphernalia Miea wasn’t sure how the performers were going to fit onstage, let alone play their instruments. She hadn’t heard of the act they’d come to watch. Were the musicians very small, maybe even invisible?
    A waiter came and Camara and several of the others ordered a variety of intoxicants. Miea ordered a barritts, her favorite soft drink. She had intoxicants on occasion but never in public (and they were very much in public; Miea had never taught herself to ignore the many heads that turned in her direction whenever she entered a place).
    Dyson, in a show of support, ordered a barritts as well, as did Sinica. Miea was a little surprised that Sinica was sitting with her at the table. Usually, both he and Hensis positioned themselves elsewhere when she was out. She glanced around and found Hensis on the other side of the room.
    Not long after their drinks arrived, the lights went down, and the band – all normal-sized people – walked onstage, stepping gingerly around the mass of equipment. Without saying a word to the audience, the musicians swung into their first song. As was typical of tzadik, the beat, performed by three percussionists, was propulsive. The wash, however, performed by three string players, was tender,