I hadn’t heard from Venan in three days. I hadn’t seen him either, but that wasn’t so unusual because I’d never seen him in the colony, especially since he’d become an Elder. As he was the Interplanetary Affairs Officer, I saw Zuran around a few times, and I’d felt my heart skip a beat when I saw him because he looked so much like Venan, but I never got a chance to talk to him about his brother. I was starting to get worried.

It was the first time I’d ever felt unsettled by a haircut, and that counted the time back in cosmetology school when I’d forgotten to bleach a brunette before putting on the blonde dye, and she ended up looking like Ronald McDonald.

Finally, since meeting him, I wasn’t obsessing over his interest in me (or potential lack thereof), but I was still just as bothered. It wasn’t the haircut exactly that bothered me so much as Venan’s attitude. He’d seemed so…broken. And angry. He was so angry. What made it harder for me to swallow was that his anger wasn’t explosive and furious. He hadn’t thrown things around, shouted or stomped and stormed. The anger had been from within, deep and boiling and searing, but it had been palpable enough that I’d felt it in my own bones. That kind of rage was scarier than the obvious kind. That was the kind of rage that led to horrible accidents and regretful decisions far worse than a simple haircut.

I wanted to help him. We didn’t know each other that well, necessarily, but I felt like we’d gotten acquainted past the point of friendly strangers and it mattered to me how he was coping with life. I mean, there he was, this A’li-uud in the ultimate position of power, presiding over the kingdom in which he’d grown up, and it was blatantly obvious he felt he didn’t have a single rope to hold onto. Based on what he’d told me about himself, how he’d sacrificed so much to become the best warrior he could be and how he’d made Dhal’at his first priority from the time he was old enough to make his own decisions, I could only imagine just how severely the disapproval from the populace affected him, Much less the outright accusations that he had killed the last Elder just to take the throne.

It was all I could think about during those three days.

When I was at the salon, my clients yammered on about their goings-on and their memories of Earth and the newest relationship developments between them and other colonists, but my mind remained grounded in thoughts of Venan. When I was home at night, I couldn’t even focus on the book I was reading; instead, I stared at the text until it swam before my eyes and wondered what I, a simple human, could to do help the powerful alien Elder overcome his turmoil. It wasn’t my job to “fix” him, but he deserved some relief.

Actually, that wasn’t the only reason. My determination to pull him out of his misery was partly selfish, too. I was thoroughly attracted to the dark and brooding side of Venan, of course, but I was starting to want to see more. What other personalities were inside him? I wanted to see what he was like when he felt playful; I wanted to experience his moods of dream and whimsy; I wanted to know the unencumbered A’li-uud on the other side of the warrior wall. When I’d first met him, it hadn’t even dawned on me that he could’ve been anything more but the man of mystery and serious thoughts. After the haircutting, though, I knew otherwise. If he were just rules and restrictions, he would’ve never done something so symbolically drastic, particularly being the figurehead he was. There was more. And I wanted to see it.

By the time afternoon struck on the third day since I’d gone to the palace with my stylist equipment and lopped off well over a hundred years of Venan’s history, I decided I needed to see him. If he wasn’t going to come to me, I was going to go to him. Unfortunately, I still didn’t have an inkling as to how I would manage to lift his spirits, but I figured the worst thing I could do was try.

“Barb, I’m taking the rest of the day off,” I announced.

Across the salon, the middle-aged woman with the auburn dye-job twisted at the waist to peer at me over her shoulder. She had a strip of her client’s hair pinched between her index and middle fingers with her scissors poised to snip.

“I’m booked up for the rest of the day, Tavi,” she reminded me. “I can’t take your clients.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t make appointments for the afternoon. It was my walk-in day,” I told her, neatly folding the black cover cape and placing it on the seat of the chair in front of me. Thankfully, I didn’t have much to clean up, as my last client had left almost an hour before.

“Are you feeling all right?” Barb asked with concern.

I nodded and turned away from her to gather my combs and stuff them into the cylinder of sterilizing solution. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “There’s just something I need to do.”

The metallic sound of her shears closing together prefaced her knowing response. “You’re going to see that Elder, aren’t you?”

“What?” I spun around, the towel I’d plucked from the back of the chair slapping against my knees. “How do you know about that?”

“One of the nurses came in yesterday after you left. She told me.”

I furrowed my brow. “Edie?” As sociable as she was, I couldn’t imagine Edie coming into the salon to get her hair done by anyone but me. Frankly, the thought stung my ego a little.

“No, a tall one without quite as much energy,” Barb chuckled. She was focused on trimming her client’s hair, but her eyes darted up to me at random intervals to gauge my reaction. “But it was Edie who told her you were seeing the Elder.”

“Awesome,” I muttered grouchily. I crossed the salon to throw the used towel into the laundry basket and inadvertently began planning the tongue-lashing I’d be giving Edie later for blabbing my business to her co-workers. It wasn’t so much that I was bothered by people knowing I was seeing Venan—if a dinner and a haircut could even be called that—but the minute Barb had made it known she knew, which meant others were likely to know as well. I felt a weight of expectation on me regarding my relationship with Venan that I didn’t want or need.

“Don’t be sour with her, honey,” Barb urged gently, pausing the trim to place her free hand on her hip and give me a kind look. “She’s probably just excited for you.”

I snorted. “Yeah, Edie’s more excited about it than I am, I think.” Snagging my jacket from the hook next to my station, I added, “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She waved goodbye with the scissors, and I left. As I stepped into the sunshine, I crinkled my nose and wondered why I’d bothered bringing a jacket to work at all. According to the A’li-uud, Dhal’at was entering the cool season, but it was still the desert and uncomfortably warm no matter what time of year it was turning into.

Instead of heading toward home like usual, I took a left at the first colony crossroad I met. I was going straight to the palace before I lost my nerve and retreated, just to let another three days go by. The colony was bustling, and I had to weave between other pedestrians strolling toward their destinations, but I was pleased that, by the time I reached the archway leading into Ka-lik’et, I didn’t encounter anyone I knew.

A'li-uud were everywhere. I didn’t leave the colony often, but, from the few times I had, that seemed to be normal for the middle of the day. The Merchant’s Walk, which was a world-renowned marketplace on the opposite side of the city from the colony, brought a host of A’li-uud from all kingdoms each day on a mission to shop, sell, or investigate the newest items and prices displayed beneath multi-colored silk tents. Dhal’atian A’li-uud had a richly blue complexion and ice-white hair, but Ka-lik’et was crawling with aliens of aqua, teal, azure, and even navy shades during market hours. It was an exciting scene to step into, albeit a little unnerving because there were very few humans intermingling amongst the Albaterran natives.

As I approached the palace, I remembered that I was supposed to have an escort. Humans weren’t allowed into the palace without one, and I doubted very much that my having been asked there before would grant me admittance. Two guards stood on either side of the entrance walk, and I could see four more split into pairs at the grand double doors. My nerves took hold of my belly, and I almost tripped over my own feet as one leg decided to hesitate while the other was determined to keep going.

“Move along on your way, human,” said one of the guards when I drew near enough. He was watching me suspiciously, like he wasn’t sure if I was actually approaching the palace or just getting a closer look as I walked past.

“I’m here to see Elder Venan,” I declared, my tone not sounding nearly as confident as my words.

He didn’t flinch. “Humans are permitted only with an escort and preferably with an invitation,” he instructed.

It was just as I expected. I nodded and said, “I know, but I was hoping you could make an exception. Elder Venan’s asked me here twice already.”

“There are no exceptions,” came his stiff reply.

I opened my mouth to argue, but he moved his hulking figure to block the walk. His comrades closed in around him, each staring me down with the obvious intent to intimidate. It worked. I took a step back and dropped my gaze. Before I gave up entirely, however, I decided to take one last shot.

“You know, he’d probably be glad to know I’m here. Could you at least go tell him and ask if I—?”

My question was interrupted by the sudden opening of one of the double doors. At first glance, it looked like Venan appeared on the threshold, but I blinked and realized I was seeing Zuran. He nodded to the guards nearest him and trotted down the clay stairs to the walk, and he caught sight of me.

“Well!” he called, brushing his hand over his shiny strands and grinning brightly. “Look who ventured out of the colony!”

“Hi, Zuran,” I said a little warily. I liked him quite a bit, but he had a habit of overdoing mischief and sarcasm that left me drained and frustrated.

“Come to see my despairing brother, have you?” he asked, closing the gap between us. The guards blocking my entrance stepped back into their original places to allow Zuran through, though they seemed a little grumpy that I did indeed have some connection to the palace.

I considered brushing him off and persisting in my attempts to persuade the guards, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think I actually had a chance at success on my own. So, I answered, “I’m trying to, but they won’t let me in.”

“No, you need an escort,” Zuran told me. His grin was widening a bit with amusement, and I bristled.

“So I’ve heard.”

“It matters not,” he continued, coming to a halt just a foot before me. He towered above, and his well-toned body seemed even more godlike in such proximity. “He has gone.”

I flicked my eyes to a second-story window. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Zuran, but it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. “He left?”

“The Council called a Forum. You just missed him by a mere minute.” He extended an arm toward me in gallant fashion, and I smiled at his boyish charm. “Would you care to be accompanied back to the colony? I have some business there to which I must attend before our esteemed Elder has my head for shirking my duties.”

“Sure,” I agreed. The guard who’d talked to me was frowning deeply, lines of displeasure forming from his nostrils to his chin. I wasn’t sure what he was so irritated about, but I didn’t really care, either. I was slowly adopting Venan’s disgust for the recent Dhal’atian attitude. Taking Zuran’s arm, we left the guards behind and started to stroll back toward the colony in comfortable silence. I bit my lower lip and mentally wrestled with myself for a few steps before deciding to take my chances and ask, “Do you have to take care of your business right away, or can I have a moment of your time?”