Southern Cross by Windstar

Julie raised her glass in salute to her own dead parents and took a sip of the Melantar. It was
indeed a sweet wine, and she found herself enjoying the subtle flavors which seemed to be
wrapped around one another.
Emily smiled and raised her glass in salute as well, before forcing herself to relax.
"How's it feel to be a Guardian now?"
"Better now that I'm out of that dress uniform. You would think that you Tiri would have come
up with something that was at least somewhat comfortable to wear after all this time."
"Hmph, I think that Logistics actually keeps them that way to keep us from falling asleep during
official events."
"Let's just say I won't mind not wearing that again anytime soon. The regular uniforms are
alright, but that thing…ugh."
Julie managed to screw up her face in such a grimace that Emily grinned.
There we go, that's it, just forget about everything else for a while beautiful.
She watched as the First Guardian slowly relaxed and the worry in those blue eyes faded. It
would return, Julie knew that, but she'd do her best to help her friend bear up under the weight
that was bearing down onto her.
"So what is this gray stuff?"
"It's like soup, but thicker. Try it."
"Hmm… not bad, it tastes kind of like carrots."
"Meets with your approval then?"
Julie pretended to consider that as she finished the last spoonful and nodded.
"I suppose so. I guess you Tiri had some pretty good food. I liked the orange thing with the green
stripes through it. Anytime you have more of that, ship it my way, and I'll do away with it."
Emily smiled slowly at that.
"It's called Kira fruit, I'll see what I can do."
Julie studied the taller woman through lowered lashes as she thought. She'd been looking
forwards to a chance to get the First Guardian alone for months now. With studied innocence she
picked at what was left of her Kira fruit, making designs with the thick orange and green skin.