Rene nodded as he finished his soup. Outside the distant rustling of trees gave a few seconds warning before rain drops began to fall onto the clay roof tiles in their soothing tattoo. The sun was already hanging low on the horizon and the rain darkened the sky and mutd the light still further. It might have made more tactical sense to move out tonight after dark but Rene didn’t want to rush Solae’s leg, especially in spite of what Oanh had told him about her possible vulnerabilities. 

“Thank you both for your hospitality,” Rene said, passing his bowl and plate to Oanh who stacked them in a tube of water filmed with some sort of harsh lye based soap. Min Ho nodded companionably and stood up from the table.

“You mentioned that you had some recovery boosters?” Rene asked when they were finished cleaning up the small meal. Lightning flickered outside, booming after several seconds delay. Rene judged that it wouldn’t be as severe as last nights storm, though it could be hard to judge. Min Ho nodded and led Rene down into the cellar. The bearded man opened a cabinet and took out a phial and a gas operated injector.

“You ever used one of these before?” Min Ho asked, fitting the phial into the gray plastic injector housing with a hiss and a snap. Rene nodded. Combat drugs of various kinds were widely used in the marines, mostly stimulants to keep awake and hyperglobins for operation in space where oxygen penetration was a problem. Healing drugs like these were less common. Battlefield medicine was quick and brutal, basic stabilization get a casualty back to an automated medical unit. The usual rule was to spray someone down with sealant and drag them to a medic. If they survived the trip, they were likely to make a full recovery. He took the injector from Min Ho and set it against the vein on the inside of his wrist. With a hiss of compressed air the injector stabbed icy needles into his blood stream, tingin as the mixture of drugs and hormones raced towards his heart from where it would be pumped to his peripheral tissue.

“You might feel a bit strange for a few hours,” Min Ho counseled, entirely too late to affect Rene’s choice.

“They normally give it with a stim but I think rest is probably more important than a little discomfort,” the older man continued, placing the empty phial and the injector back into the cabinet and pushing it shut with a click.

“Do you have family back on Cappella Rene?” Min Ho asked with a nonchalance so complete as to set off its own alarm bells. The marine shook his cuff down, ignoring the small drop of blood already hardening on his wrist. He gave Min Ho a guarded look.

“I don’t have family anywhere,” he said, his tone making it clear that it wasn’t a discussion he was interested in. His host merely nodded impassively as though it had been a subject of little interest and made a gesture towards the stairs. Rene climbed back into the kitchen to discover that Oanh and Solae were out on the porch discussing something. He nodded his thanks as the old man started to put his gear back on. Rene wondered how he would explain the tactical armor to the Gids if they came around. Likely enough he either melted into the bush before they could ask, or they didn’t go around anywhere ever again. It had been a stroke of luck to find them but Rene couldn’t bring himself to fully trust intelligence types. 

The upstairs guest room had an attached shower and Rene stripped off and got under the water. It was cold, or more to he point it wasn’t hot, but the tepid water was still a relief to the impressive heat. He leaned his head gratefully against the plastic tilework and let the water run over him for long minutes trying to find some sort of equilibrium. He needed to plan, to think of what was to come and prepare but his thoughts continued to slip into images of golden hair. Rene was not a spiritual man but right then he could have used some of the meditation practices his mother had forever been trying to interest him in. Thunder boomed close by and he wondered if it were possible to be electrocuted while standing in a shower. Deciding he had enough excitement in his life without a side line in life or death physics experiments he turned off the water and stood for a minute, allowing the last rivulets to run to the drain before toweling himself off. Min Ho had left him a pair of knee length black pants and a shirt of dark grey cotton, common laborers garb for most of New Concordia. He pulled the outfit and tucked his pistol into the canvas belt where he could conceal it with the shirt.

Solae was in the room when he came out of the bathroom, as breathtakingly lovely as ever. He gave her a smile and sat down on the edge of the single large bed. It was nearly full dark now and the room was lit by flashes of purplish lightning as much as by the dim glow of the rapidly receding sun. He wanted to clear the air between them but he had only the cortiers dissembling to reference. Ignoring that chunk of his past he forged ahead.

“Look I’m sorry about what I said at the manor, you certainly don't need me to make your decisions for you. Your smart and you're tough, you must have been to survive what happened yesterday.” That was the Stars truth, he hadn’t been that far from cracking up at points and he was trained for this. He couldn’t imagine how she was keeping it together.

“I won't treat you like a porcelain doll again. I promise.”