Free Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series by Evangeline Anderson Page B

some kind of custom to greet newcomers
even if you don’t know them? A handful more of the vendors and
a few shoppers were waving at her now and she felt she had to wave
back in order to be polite. She held her sheet firmly in place for
modesty’s sake and waved until her arm was sore. She started to
wonder how long the welcome ritual lasted.
    “Okay, people,” she said under her breath
when her stomach started growling and her arm felt like it was
going to fall off. “I don’t mean to be rude but I have to get going
and find something to eat before I fall over.” Nodding and smiling,
she backed away from the window and went to find something to
wear.
    There was a long, low box in one corner of
the room that could double as a bench if you had really short legs.
Kat opened it up and found a green shirt with a blue and pink
pattern depicted in short, shiny feathers. “Very fancy ,” she
murmured, picking it up. It was obviously made for a very large
man—probably it was some kind of Twin Kindred dress clothing. She
looked around but didn’t see any pants to match it or any other
clothing options. Looks like it’s this or the sheet. Shrugging, Kat put on the shirt, which fell almost to her knees.
Well, at least she was decent, unless the Twin Moons inhabitants
frowned on women showing their bare legs. In which case, too bad.
She was hungry.
    Rolling up the sleeves, she made her way out
of the bedroom and down a long hallway with the same green wooden
floor. There was a spiral staircase on the far end of the corridor
which led directly down into a sunny food prep area. All the
standard Kindred appliances were there—the glass-front refrigerator
and the Kindred stove called a wave. Liv had showed her how to use
it, but Kat was still afraid she might burn some fingers off if she
messed around with the alien appliance. Then she noticed the
kitchen was occupied.
    A tall, slender woman with light brown hair
was standing in front of the sink. She was wearing a pink
toga-looking garment and washing some juicy blue-green fruit about
the size of large grapes. Kat had eaten those before—they were twin
fruit. You couldn’t eat the outside though—it was bitter and sour.
You pealed the succulent looking outer flesh off and ate the nut
inside which tasted kind of like peaches and pecans mixed together.
The woman appeared to be engrossed in her task and hadn’t heard Kat
come down the stairs.
    Kat cleared her throat, trying not to
startle her. “Um…hi,” she said hesitantly.
    The woman looked up at once and smiled at
her. “Veelash abra boolash,” she responded pleasantly.
    “Oh dear.” Kat frowned. “Uh, I don’t suppose
you speak any English like Deep and Lock, do you?”
    “Deep vun Lock crabash le taber.” The woman
made a walking gesture with two fingers and pointed at the door
which appeared to lead out to a garden.
    Kat assumed that she meant the brothers were
out doing…whatever it was they did while they were home. She
wondered if the tall, slender woman was in any way related to Deep
and Lock. She looked a little too young to be their mother but not
quite old enough to be an older sister. Maybe she was just a
maid?
    “Um, okay,” she said hesitantly, wishing
she’d gotten an injection of translation bacteria the way Sophie
had before she visited Tranq Prime. “I guess I’ll just—” To her
mortification, her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her
hesitant speech. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Thoroughly embarrassed,
she put a hand over her tummy, only to have it growl again.
    The woman threw back her head and laughed.
“Cheela! Noosh. Noosh ,” she said, taking Kat by the arm. She
pointed at the sink where Kat could now see there were several
fruits or vegetables—she couldn’t tell which—laid out. The woman
pointed at them and then looked at Kat and raised her eyebrows. It
was clear she was asking which one Kat wanted.
    “Uh…” Kat looked over the variety
uncertainly. Aside from