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                     - The Ta’ainvel -
                             
                        – By Khan –

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   13.
   
   At  the  end  of his shift the next day he  ran  past  a
startled Ayshala out of the bridge towards his quarters. He
called  up  one  of the agriculturists on his communication
device, one responsible for the smaller flower gardens.  He
wanted the dayroom and bedroom to be filled with flowers of
all  kinds, every shelf and every corner showing  his  care
and love for her.
   The  flowers arrived an hour later in the hands  of  ten
orange-jacketed Ta’ainvel and two Humans.
   Thomas   and  Marie  explained  that  since  they   knew
Charlotte’s taste in flowers they had taken the liberty  of
supervising the arrangements.
   Jante  knew  he hadn’t said anything about  the  flowers
being  for Charlotte when he asked for them but he  guessed
their  relationship was pretty obvious by now,  him  having
spent every available hour in her room.
   Charlotte  would arrive in three hours,  six  p.m.  ship
time,  and  he  made sure that he had everything  ready  by
then.  Marie  took him aside before she left and  explained
that  Charlotte most likely wouldn’t want to be  cared  for
’too  much’.  Pampered  she  explained  when  Jante  looked
questioningly at her.
   She  left  Jante  sitting in one of the  chairs  in  the
middle of the dayroom, contemplating the importance of  not
pampering  Charlotte. He decided it was very important  not
to pamper and left it at that.
   When  she  finally arrived three hours later, Jante  had
been pacing around the dayroom for half an hour. He quickly
suppressed his desire to help her over to one of the chairs
and  merely hugged her, showing her inside the rooms.  Anna
grinned when Jante looked back at her and then returned  to
the hospital to take up her new duties.
   ”Wonderful flowers, Jante. I love them,” Charlotte  said
as she looked around the room.
   ”I’m  glad. How are you feeling? I mean, its  only  been
nine days.”
   ”I’m  just  fine. In fact, I feel positively wonderful,”
she said and kissed him.
   He  lifted  her  up  and carried her  into  the  bedroom
closing the door with an elbow hitting the controls.