Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Waking up at Jasmine's
Kat woke slowly to a small chime in the far distance. Her hands caressed the lavender sheets and she squeezed a pillow in front of her.
Confusion and pleasure permeated her first forays into consciousness. Nothing was familiar about waking up in this mess of satin, and what was that chime?
She was at Jasmine's- was the chime Jasmine's?
Startled, she realized she hadn't set an alarm, and had been in bed for god knows how long. How do I figure out what time it is? The room didn't have a clock.
How the hell does this room not have a clock?
But surely Kelsey and Jasmine would have woken her, if she slept in too long, right?
Slipping out of the sheets, Kat put on a satiny pair of shorts and shirt - Jasmine's whole life had a satiny theme- and walked out into the hexagonal corridor. Choosing the living room, she saw Jasmine splayed luxuriously across her couch.
"Morning of the," she yawned, "Abundant sun, Kat. There's a cup of coffee and a bit else for you on the table. I also put a journal out for you if you'd like it. I'm in practice."
Every morning, Jasmine made herself a complicated beverage of twenty herbs, then lay on her patio and stretched, and danced beneath the sun. After singing a few songs along with her lute, she took a plumed pen and wrote in her journal. Sometimes, she'd go down and swim in the ocean instead. After a king's brunch, she'd begin whatever ambitions for the day.
Kelsey had a morning routine where she ran a mile, took an ice bath, went to temple, and walked Niko to school each morning.
Kat could come up with a morning routine of her own, then. Her body felt awkward moving alongside Jasmine's, so she decided to do it in reverse, with no competition.
First, she would drink Jasmine's odd beverage. Then, her mind buzzing, read one of her books for a while.
Jasmine's bookshelves were extensive, but one shelf was clearly intended to take primacy. It was full of titles such as
Design Thinking for the Modern Age
The Political Spectrum Expressed in Architecture
Within and Around: Design for Deep Dreaming
The last one was a beige thing, with gold lettering. It would do.
Kat read as she listened to Jasmine play the lute outside. With curiosity, she eventually stepped out on the patio and stared in wonder at the jungle around her. Red and gold birds sang sweet nothings to her as she stared. A little ecstasy began to creep in, and Kat took a few twirls on the patio. It was lovely. But by the fourth twirl, her terror of her limited time had taken hold again.
She glanced at Jasmine, who was gone, and had probably stepped back towards the kitchen. Kat wandered back in.
She found Jasmine in the kitchen, artfully arranging slices of fruit and fish for breakfast.
Meeting Zed
Meeting Zed
"Morning of the sun. Kelsey is coming over in ten minutes"
"Um, Jasmine- how do you tell time? Do you have a watch?"
Jaz giggled.
"I'm so sorry," she said, putting her head in her hands again. "I just realized how helpless you've been. Most surfaces here are responsive. Anything, with, like, this glint here at the edges, you can wake up a panel interface. And for time, just draw a circle with your hand and the clock will appear."
She pointed to the counter near her stove, "try here".
They had a brief ten-minute lesson on controls and technology before Kelsey walked in, this time not bothering Jasmine to come get her.
"Welcome abundance. I have something special for you," she smiled, "Can I see your hand?"
"Welcoming abundance," replied Kat, offering her hand up nervously.
"I'm going to place a thin film on your forefinger. It might feel a bit weird at first but it will feel more natural over time."
Kat squirmed.
"There we go," Kelsey smiled, mischievously, "now you have the same fingerprint as Niko."
"Clever?" piped Jasmine, raising her eyebrows. "But a little scary, Kels ... "
"What?" laughed Kelsey, "it's perfect, no one is harmed! I'll pay gratitude for anything you get. But, Kat .... keep a low profile, try not to get anything a four-year-old wouldn't get. Like an ice cream, or a train ride. If you want anything, let Jasmine and I get it."
"Of course," nodded Kat, a little confusion.
"I'm sorry about the limitation," emphasized Kelsey, mistaking her confusion for disappointment, "I'll just get it for you, whatever you want" emphasized Kelsey.
It was a marvel. Most of the things they passed, Kat could never have hoped to see or experience in her whole life, and now Kelsey was apologizing that she would have to buy it for her.
Wild.
"Thank you," said Kat. "May the fruit of the earth prevail in our hearts," she added, as she had been taught.
Kelsey smiled proudly. "Great job. You sound great. I felt that."
"You've really thought this through, Kels?" asked Jasmine, "do you want to take a second?"
"We shouldn't take public transit together with Niko. But even if that happens, any analyst would assume a four-year-old pressed twice, and not another person."
"No one would be mad?"
"Who would be mad? And why? No harm, no foul. What other quiet channel could I use to get her transportation for my promise?"
Kat observed the world-class justification, and nodded. Jasmine shrugged. "Well, thanks for coming up with something."
"You showed up at a very lucky time," smiled Kelsey, "I was just about to start on a new waterfront redevelopment project, but I'm still on sabbatical. I just applied for a two-week extension to my team, and luckily it went through, because there was a resource issue-"
"Morning of the sunnnnn, Zed's gonna come over soon!" squealed Jasmine.
"Do you really think it's wise to have anyone over now?" asked Kelsey.
"It's Zed"
"Fair. Valid."
Jasmine's proclivity towards guests had been shut down that week for Kat's presence. Her massive balcony neatly transformed into an entertainment space at night.
When Kat saw the furniture gently arranging itself per Jasmine's current needs, she laughed at all the times she drank beer sitting in the hallway or a stoop, the only place she and her friends could go. She would have loved to see a dinner party here.
But Jasmine and Kelsey both agreed that Kat would do terribly in such a high-context environment. Kat resented that, even thought it was true. Her simple presence in Jasmine's home would arouse all sorts of questions about why she was such an honored guest. And so far, they had already screwed up whose cousin Kat was, at least twice.
Emboldened by their energy, Kat continued to express her desire to learn more about their friends and their parties.
"I'm moved by how passionately you want to connect with the culture here," Kelsey would say, gently placing a hand on her shoulder- and ending the conversation entirely.
It honestly would have been fair of them to lock her in a closet for a week. But that wasn't in alignment with the culture. So the deal was that they could go out, if they encountered people, they would chat briefly, frame her as a cousin, and find a way to leave the conversation.
Kelsey's cousin, they reminded themselves. A few chosen friends, they could spend more time with.
"I mean, yeah, a dinner party here would be the worst, but we can take you somewhere .... ," said Jasmine, "like the big dance on Saturday. You wouldn't need to talk much".
"Well she would need to be able to dance," interrupted Kelsey.
"I can dance!" exclaimed Kat.
"I thought you said that public dances were rare in Krall?" questioned Kelsey.
"They are. Someone taught me to dance. On the down low".
"Well," said Jasmine, "I'm sure your capacity for dance is infinite and beautiful, Kat, but I think you'll need time to gather the exact patterns to fit in here".
"But I guess we can give it a go, can't we?" said Kelsey, who seemed perpetually drunk on an invisible stream of hope.
And that's how Kat ended up with daily dance lessons, for one hour a day every single day.
No lessons, no dance.
"I think if you learn the four dominant patterns, that will be enough", said Kelsey, who turned out to be a particularly good teacher. Jasmine would be the one who said abstract things that were hard to put into any practice-
"Feel into your hips, loosen your spine and align your vertebrae as you twirl!"
"Stay aware of your own center, and of Kelsey's center!"
"Stretch into opposing forces, that's really going to awaken your practice."
"Also, bend your knees!", she added- actually saying something helpful for a change.
"We need a male partner for Kat, or it's going to be a weird time for her first dance" concluded Jasmine, after their first lesson.
"Zed can be our male dance partner, he's gonna be here anyway" proposed Kelsey.
"He's an .... okay dancer" said Jasmine, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe one of his friends?"
"Now that's a lot of people that we are pulling into this, don't you think?"
There was a chime that rang through the house. Jasmine went to the door.
Zed turned out to be a dark haired man of medium muscular build, sporting a bemused expression. He came into the room and hugged Jasmine and Kelsey warmly, before turning his attention to Kat.
"How is it that we haven't met yet?" he exclaimed.
"My family is Verdant min." said Kat, as they had rehearsed, "They weren't excited for me to come into the city too often"
"What a shame, what a shame. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Zed fell onto one of the couches in Jasmine's place, as Jasmine pressed a button and a little table came over, the glass of which fell away to reveal four glasses and a pink, sparkling liquid.
" I get to have gotten my teeth cleaned just now," Zed said, dripping with sarcasm "How lucky am I to be in a world that can clean them so thoroughly? Afterwards, the dentist said 'It's an honor to serve you' and I said 'It's an honor to open my mouth for your service', and they didn't seem to like that at all."
Jasmine giggled.
"How does it feel to be in the city?" asked Zed, politely, turning to Kat.
Kat was thrilled because this was something she could be real about, "I love it! I think I might swear my loyalties to Ashe. And I'm really excited about the dance on Saturday"
"What was the longest you'd come in before?"
"Just every few months for a weekend or so starting in high school" began Kelsey.
"Let her speak for herself, Kels!"
"Zed, there's something I need your help with" interrupted Jasmine, curling up next to him before the conversation got out of hand. "Kat hasn't had a lot of experience dancing in the city, and you know verdant quarters have their own style-"
"I'm actually quite a fan, I think it's a little less pompous"
"Anyway," continued Jasmine, "will you be her first foray into city men?"
"Just for the dance?" winked Zed .
"She's my cousin," added Kelsey, though since Kat wasn't really, she didn't understand why Kelsey had taken such a biting tone there.
"Well, at your service," Zed said to Kat, with a small bow of his head, then raised his eyebrows
"You guys have been busy lately," he said to Kelsey and Jasmine, "Is this what you've been up to? Entertaining Kat"
"Yeah, more or less," said Jasmine.