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he had no messages or urgent matters to deal with, and he still had twenty minutes to go before he was due to start his rounds. There was time enough to make a call.
    He tapped a code into his wrist unit and smiled in greeting when Alayna’s face appeared on the monitor. “Hi, Alayna.”
    “Doc? Everything okay with Ciara?” she asked, concerned.
    “She’s fine. Bored, but healing nicely. When I last saw her, she was going back to sleep for a few hours.”
    Alayna sighed. “She didn’t overdo it, did she?”
    “I don’t think so, no. I suspected you were part of her transformation. She sure didn’t get those pajamas on the base.”
    “Guilty as charged. I lent her a few of my things until she’s strong enough to be released and we can go shopping.”
    “Do you have anything you can lend her to keep her distracted? A wrist unit or even a book? She said she didn’t want you buying her things, so I know there’s a challenge there. But now she’s sleeping less, she’s going to get bored.”
    Alayna looked thoughtful. “I’ll find something. I’m glad to hear she’s getting better. How much longer will she be at the medical center?”
    “If she keeps resting, then I think she’ll be out early next week. She’s going to need to take it easy for a week or so after that, which is the other reason I was calling. Before I let her walk out of here, I wanted to know if she’d be staying with you. I don’t want her trying to rebuild her clinic before she’s fully healed.”
    “I’d be happy to have her stay with us, but I don’t think she’d agree.”
    Vance was surprised. He assumed Ciara would be staying with her friend, and the question was more of a formality than anything else. “Why wouldn’t she?”
    “My father is coming to visit me. Regent Clifton Travers. He’ll be arriving early next week and is going to stay a whole week this time. He’s agreed to come out to the badlands with me and see what I’ve been talking about.”
    Vance knew that Alayna had been the sole survivor of a shuttle crash that had killed her mother and one of her fathers. She’d been a baby at the time, rescued and raised by a rebel named Sam Dixon. When Alayna had returned to Alliance life as an adult, father and daughter had finally been reunited.
    However, his visit would explain why Ciara wouldn’t want to stay with her friend. If Travers was staying with Alayna and her bonded, he’d arrive with the aides, assistants, and security detail assigned to every regent. Alayna’s house was going to be full of Alliance personnel. There was no way Ciara would want to put her friends out any further. And it wouldn’t be a good place for her to get much rest.
    “I don’t suppose you have any thoughts on where else she could stay? Does she have any other friends in town?”
    “No one I can think of. Could she stay at the visitor’s center, maybe?”
    Vance knew that was a reasonable suggestion, but he didn’t like it much. “I’d rather she had someone with her. I don’t like the idea of her being alone.”
    “Really?” Alayna grinned a little. “Is that a personal or professional preference?”
    Vance thought about it for a moment. “A little of both.”
    “Why, Dr. Sterling. Are you crushing on my friend? My friend, the rebel? Well, she’s more a rebel by association, really.”
    “I think Ciara is a lovely person, and as my patient, I want what’s best for her. She’s still got a few more days at the med-center, and if she has nowhere to go, I may suggest she stay there until she’s ready to be on her own.”
    “Well, she won’t be going back to Black Springs. I haven’t told her yet, but the others aren’t rebuilding. They’ve all agreed to start over again here in Fort Saken. No one wants to go back there, too many ghosts.”
    “She’s really got nowhere to go, then.” Vance scrubbed a hand over his jaw as he pondered possibilities.
    “Maybe we can get her temporary housing somewhere while she