Michael raises one eyebrow at them. “Will they be all right?”

“They do this,” Orcher says amusedly. “And I can’t blame them. We all need a break from this mess…some more than others.”

“Oh!”

Ellin reels back in shock and covers her mouth, then apologizes for her shriek and starts laughing. She points at the pond outside the restaurant.

“Something jumped out of the water!”

Orcher grins and leans toward her. “That’s what we call a fish, Miss Mistin.”

“How about some dessert?” Captain Blitner says.

He unfolds a small menu and skims over the page while Glacia stretches her arm over me to grab a menu.

“Do they have Lemon Swirl cake?”

“Ooooo,” Victoria coos. “I do love me some Lemon Suh-wirl cake.”

Everyone ignores her.

“You went to Cassandra’s, didn’t you?” Ellin asks, looking between me and Glacia. We both nod. “Thought so. Michael and I ate there Friday. Nice performance, by the way. Cute stuff. We had a window seat with a great view of you guys.”

“What are…”

Glacia trails off and looks at me, eyes wide and face starting to turn red. We both realize what Ellin means. Orcher looks at us, then at Ellin.

“Is there something I should know?” he asks, suspicious.

“Pssssst…Elllllin,” Victoria whispers ineffectively. “I don’t think he knowsssss.”

Glacia turns to Ellin. “Wait—you told her?”

“Somebody had to know,” Ellin says innocently.

Orcher folds his arms. “Do I want to know?”

I shake my head. “It’s not really impor—”

“Army and Glacia were holding hands,” Victoria blurts.

Ellin and Michael both laugh. Glacia keeps her eyes fixed on the menu, but she isn’t reading it. Down the table, Officer Remmit winks at me. Then Captain Blitner—who seems to have ignored the entire conversation—lowers his dessert menu.

“I think I will have a bowl of Vanilla Mint cream.”

Glacia and I meet for a quick breakfast before she heads to the docks and I catch a bus to Stationary Plaza. When I get there, Captain Blitner is already standing out front of the towers.

We ride an elevator to Floor 20 today. A device that looks similar to the StarPad is inside the room we use, but this machine retrieves data gathered from different sample sites around Belvun. There isn’t much to sift through because the excavations began this morning, but there’s still enough for me to train with.