"Arienne," I said. Her beautiful eyes were wide with shock.

"Xuan," she breathed. "Where is everyone else?"

"Who?" I asked.

"All of your entourage...your team."

"My trainer, you mean," I said. "He has other fighters in the ring tonight. They just threw me into a shower to make sure I wasn't too smelly, gave me a bag of clothes, and sent me off with a little money."

"I didn't realize that you fought. Is the antique store a hobby?"

I touched her arm. This time, she didn't jump in the air. "Fighting is a hobby," I said softly. "I don't need the cash." Not anymore, at least. “My shop is my only steady source of income. I only fight when I need to blow off some steam. I saw you in your box."

"You did?" she shrieked. Heads turned towards us, so she ducked her head. "I mean, oh..."

"Just for a second," I said. I didn't mention that my sonic shower had been done in the shortest time possible before I'd gotten dressed and run out to catch her. I knew that Arienne wasn't the type of lady who would stick around for all of tonight's fights. I got the feeling that she'd come for one reason and one fight, but talking about it would embarrass both of us. "Why don't I take you on a sky-boat ride?" The leisure vehicles went by many different names like hover-floater, hover-craft, sky-boat, etc. The older Draka just referred to them as ships and air-craft, but there was a massive mix of terms for the same recreational vehicle class. I touched my wallet, which was full of physical credits.

"I don't think I should," she said, looking around us. Her outburst earlier and her outfit were both attracting attention.

"We can eat. It will be fun," I told her, touching her shoulder and turning her back to me. "I can walk you home otherwise."

She struggled with the decision for another moment before nodding. I put an arm around her waist as we went out to the nearest boat dock.

"Another fight tonight, Xuan?" the proprietor asked as he handed me the keys to my normal boat.

"Yes, but I'd like a bigger one. Top of the line. Best you've got."

"You sure you can pay for that? You won, didn't you?"

I held up my fat wallet. "I won."

"Good," he said. "When you win, it's good for business." He handed me the keys. I put down the money.

"I'll be back before dawn," I said.

"See you soon." I could feel his eyes on Arienne, but he didn't say anything. Maybe he thought that she was one of the cage bunnies who always stuck around after fights. The physicality of bare-knuckle sparring always drew them to me, but I wanted to be wanted for more than my ability to fight. Arienne hadn't even known that I fought like this. To be honest, even Phuong didn't know. In there, I wasn't the useless younger brother of the woman heading a resurgence of respect for Yore culture. I was just a fighter like all the rest of them.

She almost walked past the biggest hover floater. I stopped her with my hand on her waist. "We're going in this one."

Her head tilted up. "That's way too big for two people. It looks like it could hold 20 comfortably."

"That's ours for the night." I normally went out for a ride after every fight, but this was the first time that I had company. I'd never been in anything as fancy as this, but the ship's computer navigation system did most of the hard work. I just had to key in a route that I wanted the hover floater to take and it'd take us there.

I chose the most scenic route I could think of. As the hover floater groaned to life, I set it so that the cameras on the underside of the aircraft would be activated. Arienne yelped and jumped on a chair.

"The floor disappeared!"

"No," I laughed. "It's just panels showing what's on the outside through the cameras. I promise that the floor is still there."

Arienne put one foot down before she felt that it was solid. "Oh. I feel stupid now."

"Don't." I shook my head. "I should have warned you."

"Wow!" she said, as curious as a little kid. She was kneeling on the ground now. "I've never been through the mountains in one of these before. Look at all those trees!"

She was sweet. It was nice to watch her gazing around at the scenery beneath us. We hadn't even gotten to the good part yet. We were slowly floating over a forest. I had drawn a path around all the lagoons I knew about and around the highest mountains. For tonight, it'd only be the two of us. I wouldn't be a fourth wheel or a fighter. I was just a man.