Memory Bonds

Harmoni went to Udo's shop on Sunday morning, the last day of her work week. She took off her shoes and socks, and rolled up her pant legs for cleaning. Then she and Fleck got the cleaning supplies and set to work on the pools. She worked faster than her first day, and didn't get sore so easily.

When they were done, Fleck went to help with one of the guests, while Harmoni took inventory. They needed more bleach. But when Harmoni got to the front, she stared between the phone and the note in her trembling grasp. Her gaze wobbled.

Ferren brushed past her with a scoff and picked up the phone. (Udo was talking to someone who just wanted to buy soap from him. Again, he was only one of two people who seemed to sell any. So no help from him right now.) But she got her revenge on Harmoni by sending her outside to deal with a wiv nest on the side of the building.

It wasn't the first time. Ferren had had her work on mold growing in the wall the day Harmoni got the Link. Harmoni had worn a cloth across and her face and everything. And she'd had her clean the rider sized bathroom after a dragon mistakenly used it the day she dropped her cleaning bucket on the floor upstairs, causing bleach water to run down like a wasteful waterfall.

The wivs looked a bit like hummingbirds in size and shape. But they were insects. What looked like the iridescent feathers of a hummingbird was actually a hard shell, and their "beaks" had a sting.

But Harmoni had a plan. The shop next door, a candle store, had a dumpster. She was pretty sure the dragon from the store would carry it off when it was full, but that wasn't the point. She hopped inside, the lid open, and flung things from the dumpster at the wiv nest hanging from their building. She was pretty sure she was grabbing things like jars or candle wax, anything with enough weight that she could throw it, and it could dislodge the nest. When she did hit the nest, the thing falling off at an angle, she grabbed the lid of the dumpster, and closed herself in the metal container. Based on how dark it was, there weren't any easy gaps for anything to get in.

That was clever.

Outside there was still the plink of something hitting metal. She waited until that and the buzzing sounds passed, and went back inside.

Fleck was cleaning the claws of a dragon. This one was sort of tan or peach color. Either way, she would blend in well with the sand outside.

She'd actually asked Fleck for a story about "the youth", as she put it. He tried not to scoff. He liked to tell stories after all.

So he was telling her about the time he and his sister, Glow, got lost in their caves. Glow was older, and tried to take on the role of a wise older sibling, who would heroically lead them back to safety. But she was just a middle sibling, who was used to being lazy and getting her way, because she could mostly be ignored. It was actually Fleck who got them out.

Harmoni smiled. She liked listening to Fleck's story too. But she should contribute.

The dragon in the bath looked mostly plain-

Insulted

-but she had what looked like beautiful hairs on her head. It reminded Harmoni of long trailing peacock feathers, but the material was definitely hair.

She grabbed some liquid soap, rarer than the solid stuff in this shop, put it on the hair, and began digging it in.

While they worked, another customer came in. This was a small pink dragon, smaller than Fleck, even though she was an adult.

"Don't worry," Aqua said. "We have something for you too."

As Aqua spoke, Udo went to a closet. He came out with a metal tub, like the type you might do laundry in. He seemed pretty pleased with himself too.

Aqua filled it with water. Udo tossed a cube of soap in, which turned to bubbles inside. And the small dragon slithered happily inside.

When it was time to go, Harmoni put her socks and shoes back on. Fleck clambered onto her shoulders, and they headed for the door.

Udo tugged the back of her shirt as she passed, just the shirt, and lightly, enough to let her know to stop. Harmoni paused, and Udo handed her fifty rells on the way out.

By the time you accounted for her short hours, the room in his house, and the dinners, that was what she made each week. It wasn't much. She wasn't buying anything too complicated for breakfast or lunch. But she could manage. If she was in truly dire straights, she just had to stop buying other things, like that tour.

And Fleck hunted some of his food. He was tempted to go after a wiv.

Harmoni would prefer he not do that, if there were still any in the area.

They went back. Harmoni looked at the calendar. This was the end of their third week with Udo and Aqua.

She and Fleck made some lunch and sat in kitchen to eat, watching the view out the back window. The way the rain had run off the ground the other day, Harmoni didn't think much had been absorbed. But maybe she was wrong. There were more plants out the window now. Mostly small things close to the ground, in shades of green Fleck couldn't see.

'Never going to let that go, are you?' he asked with a shake of his head.

Or there were flowering ones. One had what looked like leaves, but were clearly stiff, like a cactus. Another was a flower that looked so solid it was like it was made out of glass, or gemstone. Those were the stand outs, anyway.

The plants would be gone soon. They came from the rain, and they'd drop again.

Fleck tilted his head, thoughtfully. He knew some riders scavenged the plants they could find. 'If you want to do the same, you should soon.'

They were interrupted by the crackle of the Link. Harmoni jumped, and pulled it out of her pocket.

The Link reminded her of a radio with the sound it made and the basic way it worked. But it was like a phone in that you only talked to one individual person at a time. You could adjust the dial to get the specific person you were looking for. Harmoni only knew how to get Udo so far.

"Yes, hello?" she asked, pressing a button and speaking into the top of it.

"Hello Harmoni," Udo's voice came through the Link. "Listen. I just wanted to tell you I'll be back late tonight. I'm joining a get together with the neighbors. We're talking about roads." There was some false cheer on the end of that sentence. "A deal's a deal, so I'll bring you back some food from our meeting." A pause. Like he was considering. "Or you could join us."

He made the offer, but Harmoni wasn't going, and she suspected he knew that.

The rest of the day was a nice time with just Fleck.

He told her a few more stories, like the time Glow got stuck in a hole in the wall, or the time he accidentally scared one of his friends, because he'd gone and fallen in a pile of poop. He didn't have to speak out-loud for this, but he did anyway. For fun.

'To hear your own voice.'

"You also want to hear my own voice."

'True.'

Harmoni lay on her belly smiling at him as he spoke. She liked hearing him speak. And she liked hearing about his normal life. And she knew he'd like hearing her stories too. If she had any.

When it grew dark out, they went outside to the "backyard." (Could it be called a yard when it just opened up onto untouched desert?) They watched the stars from there. Harmoni wasn't an expert on stars in any sense of the word. She couldn't say she was looking at. But at the edge of the city like this, there were a lot of dots in the sky. They both even got to see a couple stars streak across the sky. And only one moon was out. Harmoni could sort of find the other one if she really looked, a dark rock in the sky, but it wasn't lit right now.

All in all, a nice day. But they should eat some of Udo's leftovers, and go to bed. They had another trip to take the next day.