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table with her fingernail. It was ridiculous and infuriating, but Duaal and Xia were probably right. Her all-too-winged presence had made plenty of past deals more difficult, or ruined them entirely.
    "I will remain on the Blue Phoenix while we are on Tynerion," she agreed.
    "We'll find something to do, Smoke." Gripper gave her a friendly elbow that almost knocked the fairy out of her chair. "You can help me with my garden."
    "Lucky you," Duaal said with a thin smile.
    Maeve sighed.
    ________
     
    With only a few stomach-churning bumps, Duaal set the Blue Phoenix down on Tynerion. As Xia predicted, there was no trouble landing at Vostra Nor University. Traffic was well-regulated and much lighter than the constant congestion of Axis.
    When the ship was on the ground and powered down, Duaal jumped up from his seat and grinned at Tiberius. "Not bad!" he congratulated himself.
    "It looks good. We'll make a pilot out of you yet," Tiberius said as he unbuckled his harness. "Now, let's go get the job. I want to settle the deal and get underway as soon as possible. This rock makes me nervous."
    "Yes, sir."
    They met Xia at the airlock. Maeve perched like an oversized bird on the edge of one of Gripper's vegetable planters. The Arboran hung nearby, instructing her on the care of his garden. Maeve watched Xia, Tiberius and Duaal leave. She did not look happy. Duaal shrugged to himself. Maeve never looked happy. He ducked through the airlock and followed Xia outside.
    It was autumn on this part of Tynerion. The trees that lined the perimeter of the landing field swayed in a crisp breeze. Red, gold and orange leaves covered the black blastphalt and filled the briskly swirling air with a dusty-sweet scent. Duaal took a deep breath and stretched his arms up over his head. It felt good to be out in the open.
    "Do you know where we're going?" Tiberius asked Xia.
    "Yes. It's not far. Vostra Nor is one of the smaller schools."
    The Ixthian smiled. Her steps were bouncy and quick as she led the humans out across the landing field, through an open gate and onto the campus.
    Tynerion was one of the first worlds colonized, venaformed and settled by humans from Axis even before the creation of the Central World Alliance. In those days, it was all so new. There were other stars, other planets and plants, even new species of sentient life. From their new colony, humans studied it all. Research centers, observatories and laboratories sprang up all over Tynerion, then libraries and schools. When the Alliance was founded, new students flocked from all across the galactic core to study on Tynerion. Before long, the universities were overcrowded and more schools had to be built. Within a few generations, Tynerion became the center of academia in the galaxy.
    If Vostra Nor University was a small school, Duaal had no idea what one of the big ones might be like. White concrete paths wound through lawns and circular rose gardens that separated buildings of myriad sizes and shapes. There were long lines of classrooms and lecture halls like rows of corn. A shiny observatory dome perched high on top of a blue-and-black trimmed building and heliographed blindingly in the light of the white binary suns. In the distance, a slim pyramid of glass and steel rose sharply from a forest-like arboretum. Xia caught Duaal staring.
    "That's the botany department. It's pretty much right in the center of campus. There's a monument out front to the original Tynerion explorers," she explained, then laughed surprisingly girlishly. "Every year, someone gets drunk, climbs up the statue and falls off."
    "Sounds like fun."
    It actually did. Duaal had never given college a thought, but it suddenly seemed like a pity that he would probably never get to go. Tiberius would be his only teacher.
    And Gavriel.
    A pair of girls bobbed past on a silently NI-propelled board, chattering and giggling at one another. Xia took Duaal and Tiberius through an aromatic herb garden and then past a white