Process, Part 6 (CROSSProcess) by Hildred M. Billings

Author:Hildred M. Billings [Billings, Hildred M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barachou Press
Published: 2023-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

five

Sulim didn’t know what was more torturous: the silence that always fell between them, or the touch of Cairn’s hand as she cut away two and a half-year’s worth of hair growth. I won’t really miss it. She had worn it in a ponytail as soon as it was long enough to be a bother. But as someone who had longer hair until she first came to Cerilyn, getting it cut again had never been a priority. Let alone on a moon where the only ones who knew how to wield some scissors were Kleper and Hunter, although Ari was good with a buzzer…

“Hold still.” Two of the few words Cairn uttered over the next half hour. Sulim was inclined to listen, lest she said farewell to the top of her ear. “It’s the difference between looking half-decent or like it’s your first day here all over again.”

Sulim wanted to reminisce about those first couple of days, when Cairn was tasked with cleaning up the literal hack job the prior chief had given the new recruit. I always liked it. Simple, but even and practical. While Eyne had rushed to grow out her hair again, Sulim was willing to keep going back to Cairn’s salon if it meant more attention from her.

Something she easily understood now that she had spent two years thinking of nothing but the woman standing behind her with a pair of hair clippers.

When Cairn was finished, she didn’t give Sulim a hand mirror or offer to brush the loose hairs off her shoulder. Instead, she cleaned up her clipper and shears and took them back to her bedroom. “There’s a basin over there.” She gestured to the one near the flat television hanging between two tall bookcases. “Didn’t come out half bad.”

Sulim grabbed one of the folded hand towels near the basin and used it to clean off her shirt. When she stepped back and looked at the bookshelves, she realized that she had never heard of most of the titles.

A Foreigner’s Guide to Terra III said one spine. An Introduction to the Julah Language said another.

Geography, science, recent history, and military philosophy made up the bulk of that shelf. Curiously, the one next to it was a meticulously organized collection of julah related texts, from anthologies of the High Priestess’s letters during her mortal life to a study guide for students attempting to enter the lofty Academy. Sulim spotted a special dual-language edition of A Thousand Years of Bliss, complete with translation notes for the native Basic speaker looking to improve their Julah.

Why in the world did Cairn have so many books about the ancient race of humans?

Sulim would have asked, but one last thing caught her eye as Cairn rummaged in her room and threatened to return at any moment. Near the Holy Scripture on the table was a short stack of fashion magazines. While that wasn’t the strangest thing, the fact that the one on top was from over two years ago while the others were more recent made Sulim cock her head.

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