Galeb sat on the soft seat in the middle of the expensive clothier shop, frowning at the reflection of his new appearance. He looked like a shorter version of Lintai. Before they went out, Lintai had forced a wig, a replica of Lintai's long golden curls, onto his head, and the damn thing itched like a poison ivy. He rubbed the skin at his hairline and he would have dug his fingers beneath the wig, but a cough and the warning in Lintai's eyes forced him to put his hands down in his lap. He busied his fingers by sliding them across the embroidered pattern on the fabric of his overdress.
"What a sweet boy you are." One of the sales employees cooed to him on her way toward Lintai, who stood before the tall mirrors, clothes thrown over her arm. "Your master must be so proud of you."
"I am. I am." Lintai threw his hair over his shoulder and tied it. "He's such a good boy."
The crease between Galeb's eyebrows deepened. And what was with that? Why did Lintai had to introduced him as his pet and talking like they had grown together and making stories of how Galeb was born and raised for him to own? Lintai was weird. And a liar at that.
After Lintai picked out and paid for a dozen overdresses, five tunics and shirts, and eight different pairs of pants for Galeb --and the same for himself, only richer in embroidery-- they took their purchases out onto the street.
"Why did you talk about me like that? And did you have to tell that woman that I wet the bed until I was five?" Galeb caught the rhythm of Lintai's steps and walked beside him.
"I was just having a little fun." Lintai pinched Galeb's cheek. "You are cute when you get annoyed."
Galeb frowned and when Lintai smiled at him, he looked straight ahead, his gaze lost in the gray cement that covered the ground, little islands of greenery here and there, and colorfully dressed people rushing before him. "I don't mind being a player in your little games, but could you at least not surprise me? And with less embarrassing lies, please."
"How nice of you to be so accommodating."
He was mocking him, again. Galeb silently sighed. He would just have to get used to it, like he was apparently going to have to get used to the itch on his scalp. The damn wig. "I have to be. I signed the contract and made you my master."
"And made yourself a obedient little pet." Lintai patted Galeb's head.
Galeb rolled his eyes, shifted his shopping bags into one hand and used the other to rub at his hairline again. Even though he was docile, he wasn't really obedient, he was just cautious for now. "And you still didn't tell me why I have to wear this wig."
"Because I asked you to. And don't forget what I said: You have to wear it and the clothes I gave you in public and when we have company.
"And answer if you call me 'Tashi.' I remember what you said, but you still haven't told me why."
"A good pet doesn't ask questions." Lintai took half the bags from Galeb's hand and accelerated his pace.
"Master?" Galeb rushed after Lintai.
"We should hurry up. I have to pack, and we have to catch the lava-tank and fill up the heating, cooking, and fuel boxes for the DW-device." Lintai grabbed Galeb's hand and wrapped his fingers around it, pulling him with him. "I do hope you know how to drive?"
Lintai's warm and dry hand held Galeb's softly and firmly like a mother would her child. Galeb tightened his grip on Lintai's hand and adjusted the speed of his steps to Lintai's. "I learned how to drive DW and MW-devices and S-units at the academy. And I have a license."
"That's good, but you won't need it; we are going to travel on the ground, not in the air."
Galeb nodded, even though Lintai couldn't see him. Most DWs -- driving wagon devices -- could also fly, but it seemed that Lintai's wasn't one of those. Even if it was, for flying you needed at least seventeen Triniti fuel boxes, and since one Triniti box cost five silver credits, only the rich could afford so many of them. From Lintai's spending Galeb could see that Lintai was well off, very well off, but rich -- that he wasn't sure.
They came back to the brothel, and before they climbed up the stairs to Lintai's apartment, Lintai pulled Galeb into the hallway beside the stairs, down the hallway and through the door at the end, into the brothel's garage. The garage was dark, without windows, and the smell of grease and sulphur dominated the air.
Lintai turned up the light. He led Galeb past three S-units, or single units, a machine with three triangle floating pads and a transparent capsule large enough for two people, toward a three-by two-meter brown wagon. The thing had a couple of long scratches and dents, and under the small round windows, the paint was peeling off, revealing the metal underneath.
As he came closer Galeb noticed hooks at the front of the wagon, just beneath the glass that took up the whole upper front. Hooks for horses? Galeb pushed his fingers under the wig and started to scratch his itching scalp. He would never have expected that Lintai would own the cheapest and the most common model, the model that didn't even need a Triniti box. A normal, double-layered metal box with an eternal ice wall between the layers sufficed as the energy source the wagon needed for floating.
"It doesn't look like much." Lintai opened the narrow door, and with soft clicks, three stairs unfolded to cover the distance between the doorstep and the floor. "But it has served me well for more than four years." He climbed the stairs, his legs in their tight black trousers visible through the slits of his overdress. He beckoned for Galeb to follow him. "It was my aunt's. She gave it to me when I expressed a desire to travel."
Galeb peeked inside with interest and his eyes widened. He had expected worn furniture, scratched and damaged like the exterior of the wagon, not shining mahogany, thick rugs, leather, silk and velvet. He took a step forward. "It looks bigger inside."
"It is bigger." Lintai put the bags on the counter between the door and the comfortable, crimson leather sofa. "It has a Space Enlarger."
Galeb's mouth formed an O as his gaze traveled over the space. Before the sofa was a small table and two low seats that looked like a large, thick pillow. Beside the sofa stood a chest of drawers and then two benches with a dining table between them. On the opposite side was a row of low cabinets; some of them had buttons and numbers at their upper edge. At the end of the wagon, from ceiling to floor, hung a long curtain - silver threads forming a dragonfly over a lake on red velvet. He looked in the other direction. There were cabinets on both sides and then a half-open sliding door, and past the door, two big seats were placed before the glass, each a cross between a bench and a living room armchair. Galeb followed Lintai's example and put his bags on the counter. "Those are very expensive. Wouldn't be cheaper to buy a newer, better model?"
"It already had Space Enlarger when I got it. And you disappoint me, as a trained assassin you should know well the advantages of blending in." Lintai said.
"Is that a cleaning machine?" Galeb pointed at the cabinet beside the door. He knew that he shouldn't be surprised, but he was.
"I like comfort, and I love gadgets that make it possible." Lintai said. "You will find that this wagon is full of them."
Galeb nodded and sat down on the sofa. He pulled the wig off, dropped it beside the couch and started to scratch at his scalp.
"Poor darling." Lintai stepped in front of Galeb. His fingers touched Galeb's head. "Your skin is all red. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I said it itches." Galeb put his hands in his lap and fixed his eyes on the floor.
"Yes, you said that." Lintai bent over Galeb; he opened the drawer and shuffled through it. "But you didn't tell me how bad it was." He pulled out a blue, peach-shaped bottle. He opened it, poured a small amount of the liquid on his palm, set the bottle on the cabinet and rubbed the liquid between his fingers before slowly massaging it into Galeb's scalp with his fingertips.
Galeb closed his eyes and leaned into the caress. Lintai's fingers were cool and soothing and so gentle. He heard a moan and realized it was him. He opened his eyes and lifted his head.
"It feels good, doesn't it?" Lintai rubbed the skin behind Galeb's ears, then with a circling motion moved his fingers toward Galeb's nape. He leaned closer and the fabric of his long sleeves embraced Galeb's shoulders.
Galeb gave Lintai a small nod; because of Lintai's touch the pain hidden under the itch despaired. He stared into Lintai's eyes.. They were beautiful, those eyes, hypnotic emeralds. And they were nearing. Was his master going to kiss him? He wetted his suddenly dry lips.
"You have sensitive skin." Lintai's thumb slid down Galeb's neck, then up again. His lips touched Galeb's forehead and slid down to the bridge of Galeb's nose. "And it's soft, like a baby's."
Galeb's eyelids fluttered close. "Does that… does that mean that I won't have to wear the wig?"
"No, that means that I will have to do something so your skin won't get inflamed." Lintai gave a last caress to Galeb's scalp before he moved away. "Like massaging your scalp before you put your wig on."
"I can do that myself." Galeb opened his eyes and reached for the blue bottle.
"I know." Lintai snatched the bottle, closed it, and put it in the pocket of his azure overdress.
Galeb frowned, again. What would Lintai get from massaging his scalp? He shook his head. It didn't really matter. If his master wanted to do something and if that something felt good, who was he to say no? Would a no even be considered? "What now, master?"
"You can call me Lintai or Lin, if you want, when we are alone." Lintai took the wig.
Galeb nodded.
"We need to buy food for our journey and refill some of the boxes." Lintai's fingers caressed the inside of the wig and green threads veneered it. He gave it back to Galeb. "This will help, for now."
Galeb put the wig on and combed the blonde hair away from his face. He waited for the itch to reappear and when it didn't a relieved sigh escaped him.
Lintai pulled Galeb up. He took a black ribbon from his pocket and tied the blonde curls, so they didn't fall on Galeb's face anymore, then gave Galeb's cheek a quick caress of his fingers. "Who would have thought that an assassin could make such a wonderful pet?"
Galeb bit the inside of his cheek. He could tell Lintai that he had never wanted to be an assassin, but had become one because it was the only profession he could get a scholarship for. It was either that or stay an uneducated farm-boy. And he might have learned how to kill a man, but he had also taken every additional class that he could. So, besides how to become a shadow and how to slit somebody's throat in sixty-eight different ways, he also knew everything about contemporary art, history, how to make twelve-course meal, and five different languages. Things that could, after he worked his obligatory seven years, help him find a more convenient job. But he stayed silent, and watched Lintai open the surface of the two cabinets opposite the table and pull out two cubes, each about thirty centimeters long, one red and one yellow. After Lintai entrusted them to him, he followed Lintai out of the wagon.
Lintai moved to the front of the wagon and pressed something under the glass. The buttons with numbers appeared at the edge, where the glass began. He pressed a sequence of numbers and a drawer popped from underneath the wagon.
Galeb found himself staring at thirty bluish cubes. Thirty Triniti boxes! Lintai was rich. Filthy rich. "I don't understand. Why…?"
"Why what?" Lintai pulled out two of the eight boxes that weren't glowing then closed the drawer.
If Lintai was rich, why was he staying in a brothel and selling himself? "Why not fill all eight of the boxes?"
"What would happen if we were to appear with all eight boxes?"
"Ermm… People would probably want to know where you got them."
"People would get interested in me, they would either want to know who I am or want to rob me." Lintai looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "It seems that 'inconspicuous' wasn't something that was taught at your school."
Galeb opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. There was no point in arguing. He put the cubes into the large fabric bag that Lintai also pulled from the wagon-drawer. Then they left the garage and went through the brothel into the street again. They had to catch the Lava-tank and fill the boxes before the tank went to the next city, and also they had to buy food.