“Okay now, you folks ready?” he asked, looking over his shoulder. “We’ll start slow and you tell me if you want me to put Sahsha through her paces.”
“Ready,” Valen said firmly. He looked at Selena, who nodded and took a firmer grip on the reins.
“Let’s go!” she said.
The glave rider grinned broadly.
“All right then—here we go!”
He tugged on the reins, which set the huge glave in motion. It skimmed silently through the water, its enormous tale spinning like a kind of corkscrew propeller to push them forward. A brisk breeze pushed their hair back and the shore slid past on their right at a rapid pace, but Selena had the feeling that for the glave, this was barely moving.
“Wow, this is amazing!” she murmured, looking up at Valen. For the first time since she’d met him, she thought he looked truly happy. He was smiling instead of frowning, for one thing, and the smile definitely reached his blue eyes.
“I have always wanted to do this,” he said, looking down at her.
“Why didn’t you?” she asked. “I mean, you’ve been working here on Ma’shorka Centra for a while, right?”
“Ten cycles,” he murmured, nodding. He looked thoughtful. “I suppose I didn’t want to come alone. This kind of experience ought to be shared.”
“I agree.” Selena nodded. “It’s like going on a roller coaster at an amusement park—it’s more fun if you’re with someone.”
Someone you care about—someone you might even start to love, if you’re not careful, whispered a little voice in her head.
Selena pushed it away. There was no point in losing her heart to the big Kindred. He was just being nice—showing her the sights of Ma’shorka Centra— that was all. After the gala, he was going to take her back to the spaceport and put her on a shuttle that would take her home. And then they would never see each other again.
But she didn’t want to think sad thoughts.
Live in the moment, she told herself. Stay in the present and let the future worry about itself.
It had been one of her Grann’s sayings, and it had always served Selena well. She was good at concentrating on what she was doing in the present, anyway—she had to concentrate fiercely while she was playing. It didn’t do to let your mind wander in the middle of a difficult adagio.
“Hey, are you two ready for some real action?” the glave rider called back to them. “Should I put Sahsha through her paces?”
Valen glanced at her. “Do you want to?”
“Yes!” Selena could hardly contain her eagerness. She loved roller coasters and water rides—the glave promised to provide a mixture of both.
“All right—go!” Valen called to the rider. “Fast!”
“You got it, Master Kindred—fast as we can!”
The rider did something to the reins and suddenly they were flying along, much faster than before. Selena had to brace her heels on the glave’s rough back and hang on tight to the circular second rein to keep from being swept off her feet. She realized after a moment that she was whooping and laughing like a crazy woman—but she couldn’t seem to stop it. She loved the rush of adrenaline the sudden speed gave her. Riding the glave was like balancing on the hood of a speed boat as it was racing forward, as fast as it could.
“Now we do a dive!” the rider called back to them. “Hold on tight!”
Suddenly, the glave dived downward. Selena gasped, her stomach falling down as her feet rose up. The huge animal displaced an enormous amount of water as it dove, which came up as a wave that lifted them all high into the air. For a moment, it seemed she was fifty feet above the sea, then the wave crashed downward and Sahsha swooped upwards again until Selena could feel the massive creature’s pebbled back beneath her feet again.
“Whoo! That was a good one! Go, Sahsha, go!” the glave rider whooped, whipping his reins madly up and down.
“Oh, again?” Selena gasped. The ride was exhilarating, but the giant wave and the rise and fall had been a little bit frightening—she had almost lost hold of the reins!
“Selena, grab my hand!” Valen called to her. He was standing to her left and he let go of the reigns with his right hand and held it out to her.
Selena let go with her left and felt his big, warm hand close over hers just as the glave dived again. This time she felt much safer, because Valen was holding onto her as they rose high in the air on the massive wave, and then swooped downward again. Their floaty vests kept them aloft as Sahsha dived and rose, dived and rose again, all the while speeding through the clear blue-green water at a tremendous speed.
At last the ride was over and they came back to the pier. Selena was soaked and a little hoarse from screaming happily. After the glave ride, she thought no roller coaster on Earth would ever thrill her again.