I push the chair across from me back with my foot. Janie sits and watches me take another bite of the croissant.

“I bake those every morning,” she says, eyeing it up. “I even stir the jelly.”

I nod in approval. “Nice job.”

She smiles, pleased with herself. “So what city are you from?”

“I’m not from Belvun.”

Her eyes grow wide. “You’re serious?”

“Yup, Undil.”

“Oh this is awesome. This is so awesome. I’m talking to an alien.”

“Ha. Technically I’m not re—”

“Dude, you’re an alien. Deal with it.” She grabs her holotab and taps a message to someone, then looks back at me. “What’s your name?”

“Arman.”

“My name’s Ja—wait. Duh.” She laughs and pats her nametag. “Forgot about that. What’s Undil like?”

I puff my cheeks and glance at the picture of the pioneer displayed on the far wall. “Nothing like this. It’s just a big desert. There’s an ocean, but I’ve never seen it.”

“Woah. It sounds awesome.”

I shake my head. “It’s really not. Belvun’s way better.”

Janie shrugs and pats the sides of her fists on the table. “You should’ve seen Belvun before the desert started spreading. I was…ten when that happened. But life was easy. Didn’t have a care in the world. Then out of nowhere, that happened.” She waves one hand in the air. “We all thought Subari would be overrun by now, but it’s managed to stick around.”

I mumble a response even though I’m not really paying attention. I keep seeing Glacia in my head. Her bright hazel eyes, the way her hair falls over her shoulders, and her free, genuine smile. My stomach flips just thinking about what I’m going to say to her. She doesn’t finish her training until later this evening. I still have to catch a flight back to the Embassy and figure out when she finishes tonight.

“What time is it?” I ask Janie, unintentionally cutting off whatever she was saying about a gas leak in another city.

“Uh, seventeen forty-two.”

I do the math: if it’s almost one o’clock here, that means it’s almost six o’clock in the Embassy. Leaving now will get me back shortly after dinner—if there’s a flight soon.

“You need to be somewhere?” Janie asks when I start gathering up my trash.

“The Embassy.”

“Why’s that?”

She’s watching me intently, elbows propped on the table.

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

Janie looks around the empty café. “I think I’ve got time.”

I shake my head and stand up. “Thanks for the directions.”