Page 47 of Measure of the Stars

“But you barely even questioned us,” Wes said.

Ulysse set the papers down on the tiny tea table between them.“Starians.They’re always like this.I’m just here to determine if you have the interest required to attend one of our universities.When you get there, if you can’t handle the course work, you’ll go to one of our intermediary schools, or maybe one-on-one instruction.There are plenty of alternative schools, but we don’t need to go into that.What you’re talking about here is the kind of nonsense Monroe has been babbling about for decades, and if I don’t send you his way, he’ll accuse me of trying to sabotage scientific inquiry.I donotwant that man on my doorstep.”

“Gerakian schools do reject people, though,” Delauney said.“Don’t they?”

“If a school doesn’t fit you, it’s our job to find one that does,” Ulysse said.“There’s a school for everyone in Gerakia.It’s simply a matter of finding the one that works for you.You were lucky enough to know the name of the one you’ll probably need, so that makes my task easier.”

Delauney fell silent as Ulysse started talking about introductory letters and course seasons, staring at one of the tapestries behind Ulysse’s left shoulder.Gerakian universitiesdidreject students, because Delauney had been rejected in no uncertain terms.The letter he’d received from the Aviary had said nothing about intermediary schools or alternative education.It had been a flat rejection, one that had devastated Delauney badly enough that becoming a navy officer had seemed like a suitable distraction.He could still remember the way the paper had felt in his hands as he’d wept over it, finally certain that no one would ever let him truly study the stars.

“Make sure you go to Monroe first,” Ulysse was saying, as Delauney finally clawed through the haze of his mind to return to the world.“If you go through the admissions office, they’ll lump you in with all the other first-time students, and you won’t see Monroe for another two years.He’ll be so glad to have proper apprentices who care about his bullshit telescopes that he’ll probably send me flowers.”Ulysse’s face darkened.“Or crystals.Shit, he’d better not send me fucking crystals.”

“And you’re certain?”Delauney asked.

Wes grabbed Delauney’s hand.“Thank you for the recommendation, Doctor Berger.”

Ulysse rolled his eyes.“Already talking like a student.Good.If you want to get on Monroe’s good side, give him a shiny rock, one of the rainbow ones.He loves that shit.”

“Do you mean a prism?”Delauney asked, as Wes tried to drag him off the couch.

“Gods,” Ulysse said.“Prisms.”

“This was very enlightening and we thank you for your time,” Wes said quickly, hauling Delauney onto his feet.Delauney only managed a half-hearted wave goodbye before Wes bustled him out the door with both hands on his shoulders.

“Don’tquestionhim,” Wes said, letting out a ragged sigh as soon as the door closed.“What adick.”

“I think he just doesn’t have any social graces,” Delauney said.

“Don’t defend him, either.He nearly stopped my fucking heart when he said all that about our research.How hard would it have been to say,I’m writing you a recommendation?That’s all he had to tell us!”

“Wait, do we need to go back for that?”Delauney asked, eyeing the door to Ulysse’s house warily.He wasn’t certain that he could bring himself to go in there a second time.

Wes waved a paper.“He already wrote it.You really were in shock, weren’t you?”

“I thought I’d ruined it all,” Delauney said.“Then there was the matter of how the university accepts people in the first place.I don’t understand what he meant, Wes.Iwasrejected by the Aviary when I was young.They’d said nothing about sending me to an alternative school.”

“Maybe that’s a new practice,” Wes said.He tucked the letter in his vest.“The important thing is, we now have a recommendation, and the next season of study is three months from now.I’ll still have another four months of my contract with the navy after that.”

“Well, I’m not going without you,” Delauney said.“So I suppose we’ll just have to wait.”He hesitated as he realized what he’d just said.“Because we’re going to the Aviary.”

“Nowit hits you,” Wes said, smiling.

Delauney grabbed Wes by the arms.Elation bubbled up in his chest, bright and hot.“We’re going to theAviary!”

“That’s right!”Wes said.

“We’re going to study the stars!”Delauney cried.He kissed Wes hard.“Spirits, but I do love you.”

Wes’ expression shifted from bemusement to a soft, quiet fondness that Delauney was only just starting to recognize.He kissed Delauney back, cradling his cheek in one hand.

“I love you, too,” he said, and Delauney felt so light that he could float up into the darkness of space all on his own.

A window squeaked open, revealing Ulysse’s irritated scowl and bushy brows.“I thought I was done with you!Get out of my garden!”

Delauney kissed Wes one more time, just to savor it, then grabbed his hand and fled into the street.

They didn’t get particularly far.Delauney stopped Wes a few streets away to press him against the wall of a printing press and trail fervent kisses down his neck.

“That was so terribly stressful,” Delauney said, speaking into Wes’ shoulder as he slid a hand down his trousers.He took Wes’ length in hand, a small thrill rising through him as Wes made a soft sound and tensed against the wall.“I never want to go through it again.”