A Wider Sky Ch. 03

I caught myself staring at them instead of answering them as I choked out a cough. "It is very different than the colony."

They both chuckled. Now two humans were laughing at my ignorance of what the world really was like.

"I cannot imagine what the world is like outside the realm. I am happy I am here."

She looked a bit younger than Ben maybe in her late thirties - early forties. She seemed so delicate the way she handled herself, even with the small gesture of drinking tea.

"I'm sorry did you want some tea."

"I would love some," I quickly perked up.

She giggled, "Such sophisticated tastes you have, Kiowa. When I was your age in college, the last thing on my palate was tea.

"What did you like?" I asked.

"Beer, like what twenty-something-year old doesn't like beer and wine. Actually, I loved sweet cocktails." She said as she poured tea from the kettle into a fresh mug.

Ben cracked up, "Maddie you liked beer and wine way before you were in your twenties."

Maddie scrunched her face up like a lemon and rolled her eyes at Ben. "That's true. Mommy and Daddy would allow me to have one glass of wine during the holidays."

I laughed inwardly and smiled by dropping my eyes to my lap, I dare not tell them that for the holidays I was allowed to have a mug of tea.

"Here you go sweetie," she handed the hot mug to me and the offered a sugar bowl which I declined.

"What did you do before Eclipse?"

"I was in college when Eclipse happened?"

Ben smirked his choppers never failed to sparkle. "Tell her who you were before Eclipse."

"Ben," she scolded him playfully and hid behind another long sip of tea.

"She was the President's daughter."

I mouth had to drop because Ben's laughter at my expense meant the disclosure was well worth the kick Maddie gave him under the table.

"It's true I was the President's Daughter but I don't miss hearing 'Hail to The Chief'. Not one bit."

"Wow!"

"Is the President here in town, too?"

The room suddenly fell like gravity with tension. I again had asked the wrong question.

"He is dead, as you know," Maddie's tone sliced through me.

"Oh," I blinked very quickly not knowing what part of my colony education this fact of history fell into categorically.

"I am happy living here in the realm," her mood quickly chippered up, yet her eyes sliced into Ben as if he were the only thing other than losing her father that stood in the way of her true happiness. "Life here is simple, Kiowa. You will soon learn and accept what this new world has to offer that the old one did not and certainly is better than the sort of life you had to have been living in the colony."

With that, Maddie, stood up and placed her mug in the sink before announcing she was retiring for the night.

Ben joined her afterwards and I was left alone in their kitchen to debrief all that I had learned in one short day. I had a feeling that life in the realm was going to include many days of learning curves. Were these aliens so sure that I had scored well on their test?

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for your comments on chapter 1 and chapter 2. I love your feedback. Next up, will Kiowa finally met her first alien?

Cheers and Happy Reading,

~Talyis.