Horizon Seeds (Complete)

Epilogue

One year later.

'Do you like it?' Five stood there beside her in a glasshouse that he'd been secretly working on with Fitz and Carl for a few weeks. She stood with her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. She couldn't speak for the longest time as she gazed around the space in wonder. Every colour of orchid she had ever seen sat in individual pots around a pond of koi fish. Tropical plants sprung up everywhere and a foot bridge arched over the stream that fed into the hot house. A cobble stone pathway wound its way through the space and ended under a large cluster of nikau palm trees on the far side of the pond. Antique looking wing backed chairs in bright floral colours and contrast wood work graced the small patch of shade and a tea setting sat on a small round table with a tiered cake stand with little bite sized cakes. The baking was an obvious sign that these two men did not do this all alone and Val turned to see Angelique, Mari, City and her Aunty Rachel standing behind her with huge smiles on their faces.

'You all did this for me?' She tried to wipe the tears aside but Angelique caught her hand and shoved a tissue into it. She faked a scowl at her tears and then laughed as City flung herself around Val's waist.

'Do you like it? We wanted to surprise you on your birthday.' Her feathered friend had found her having breakfast at the Terrance Centre, put a blind fold on her and proceeded to lead her around the complex towards her surprise birthday gift.

She turned back to him and all she could do was nod and happy cry. Five's face dropped at seeing her tears and stepped forward but Fitz grabbed his arm.

'Its OK, Five, she is crying because she is happy.'

'You are crying but you are happy?' Five's hand faced down before her and she stepped towards him and took it. She nodded again and laughed at his confused reaction. Five checked with the ladies behind her and saw that two of them were also reacting in much the same way as Val. This gave him some measure of relief but he had to confess that human emotions were still very confusing.

'Come, let's sit and have tea.' Val pulled him towards the tea setting and rushed back for the rest of her family. It would have been more complete with her father there but he was off in India brokering a new agreement for the Collective and wouldn't be back for another week. She sat them all down and picked City up and plopped down her on Fitz's lap as there weren't enough chairs. She served them all a cup of tea and a slice of cake and enjoyed listening to the story of how Fitz, Five and City had managed to complete the green house and stock it with the many different variety of plants.

'Where did all of the orchid's comes from?' She asked as she sat herself down in the middle of the long settee. 'They are incredibly beautiful.'

'Nata has been sending me some from each country she has visited in the last three months. It was her idea to fill it with this flower variety when she heard how your own was stolen from your apartment.' Technically it was in Brandon's apartment when it was taken, but she didn't bother him with the little details. Grey area. Meh.

She sat back and took a sip of her coffee drink and moaned in despair.

'What's wrong, Lovey?' Aunty Rachel asked. She had been back living at the community for 6 months at the invitation of her brother, George. He begged her to come home and help with the historical aspects of the archives that were a huge feature of the visitor's centre. They talked all night over the years lost and she moved into a cottage next to Mari's the next week.

'The coffee, it just doesn't taste right. No offence Five, but you Othshali'i just can't seem to get the beans roasted just right.'

'Well, we can't have that, now can we?' He jumped up, caught the shuttle communicator mid air Fitz threw him, and took a hold of Val's hand.

'Where are we going now, we just got here.' She heard the ladies all laughing as she was dragged out the door by Five. Nata appeared by the exit of the glass house and took her other hand and they escorted her onto a waiting shuttle. She laughed as they made her buckle in and settled in for a flight. She was excited and a little nervous about where they were taking her. It wouldn't be the mother ship, she had been on Five's and Loben's ships many times in the last year that it wasn't really anything new to her. It had something to do with the poor tasting coffee she had mentioned, and an idea settled into her mind.

Nata and Five chatted quietly and she caught mention of permits and traffic management being in place. When the shuttle landed a few moments later she found herself in the parking lot of her favourite cafe in Hamilton City and standing before her was a man carrying the largest bag of coffee beans she had ever seen. Traffic was directed away from the venue, but that didn't stop reporters and rubberneckers watching and videoing as the Othshali'i representatives stepped down from the shuttle.

'Oh, Five, this is perfect. Thank you.' She kissed his cheek and ran over to Brandon and flung her arms around him.

'I've missed you my love, my turtle dove.' He said with over dramatic flare, hands raised in the air. He looked from Val to the line of reporters on the edge of the parking lot and back, winking. 'Will you marry me?' He spoke so crazy loud that she knew he was kidding again. She laughed at him as vidbots got too close and were zapped by an Othshali'i personal protection device.

'Four months since your last proposal, that's a new record Brandon.' She laughed and pulled him to his feet and into a hug. She turned as Five, Nata and Gary arrived shaking Brandon's hand in welcome, then they all turned and walked into the Stella Café together.

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This is an ORIGINAL webnovel by author JV Findlay.
Feel free to support her work over on ko-fi.com/jvfindlay ♥

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