Many thanks to the wonderful Polaryan of Polaryan.net for the generous amounts of time, creativity and love she gave and still gives during our friendship, and for allowing our countless roleplaying sessions to develop into this. It is my wish that I will be able to continue this into completion, but if it be not so, I will look fondly upon it and remember only the pleasure I took in it. I hope you find as much joy reading as I did writing it.
"Why of course you can stay with me, silly! You're always welcome in my home." Polaryan said enthusiastically, a bright smile on her face. The vid-phone went a little fuzzy for a moment, and a few of Pole's words were lost to me in the turmoil. I felt the impatience growing as interference from a million different vid-phones around the universe fizzled and cracked across the screen, but I reminded myself that the conversation was actually going well for one taking place between Kentookii, which was near the eastern side of the galaxy, and Caliphora, which was on the west. Crushing down my impatience, I waited for the static to fade, then continued.
"Thank you, Po, that's such a relief. What with all this flooding here in my sector and the evacuation, I didn't know what I was going to do. Unlike all of the other students at the Academy, I don't have any family to go home to." I replied, forcing a smile despite the sadness that washed over me. Though it had been over a year since my father died, the pain was still there, just beneath the surface. He was the only family I had ever had, and I loved him so much. Now that he wasn't there, if felt as if a part of me had been torn violently away.
"Flooding must be unusual for your sector, for such a large-scale evacuation to be taking place," Pole remarked casually, and I nodded. I could tell by the expression on her face that she knew exactly what I had been thinking, my heart dwelling still on my father. But then her look turned to one of enthusiasm, and her genuine smile returned. "But nonetheless, Khamier and I are more than happy to take you in! This is going to be a blast! I can't wait to tell Khammy,"
"Are you certain that he won't mind? I mean, it could be months before we're allowed back in the sector. I don't want to be a nuisance . . ."
"Oh hush!" Pole interrupted. "Khammy will be happier than I am, if I know him as well as I think. And you are not a nuisance. It'll just be like the ultimate sleep-over!"
"Sleep-over? You talking to your nieces, hon?" I heard a deep voice in the background, then the familiar red and black face was suddenly thrust into one half of my vid-screen. "Oh, Aimee!"
"Hi, Khamier, you're looking Sithly as ever," I said, and grinned. Khamier smiled in that sexy way of his, and his yellow and red eyes flamed. Beside him, Po laughed and pushed him playfully out of the picture, and told him to go tell someone about me. I wasn't sure, it could've been static disruption, but I could have sworn Po had told him to tell his son. Nah, it couldn't be. They didn't have children. I think I would have remembered that little detail in my best friend's life.
"Hey Polie, what was that you told Khammy?" I asked, something about what I thought I had heard still troubling me, though I didn't know why. I was certain that there were no children between them, not unless you counted the dogs, the cat, snow leopard and lemiac.
A strange expression came over Polie's face, then she smiled. "Oh nothing, Aimee. I think you'll be surprised when you get here, though " she replied, still smiling slyly, until a call was heard deep into the background. Static began to hiss fitfully across the screen, so Pole leaned forward into the vid-phone mic, and continued hurriedly. "Listen, Aimee, I've got to go, but we'll be expecting you! Gimme a call from the space port when you get here, and we'll come pick you up. Bye!"
The connection was severed, and I withdrew my cred disk from the vid-phone, wincing at the amount that had been deducted from my credit allowance. Long distance calls today, they were a killer. I departed from the vid-phone booth, and made my way slowly to my dorm room to pack. I passed the two storey windows in the lobby of the Academy, and grimaced at the water rising already over the blockade walls, trickling into the wide, paved courtyard to mingle with the huge puddles of collecting rainwater. Precipitation seemed to be cascading from the blackened sky. It troubled me; this sector of Kentookii was usually much dryer at this time of year, but soon I would have no cause to worry, for I would be far away from my drowning city.