FieryKathy

  -On a te september evening in an undisclosed year of the second decade of the 21st Century-

  Em, Ria and I were sitting in an airconditioned taxi van waiting in front of the international airport of Malta. I was sitting next to the taxi driver with my eyes fixed on the airport’s arrival exit.

  “They are running te, aren’t they?” I commented.

  “Yeah.” Em replied. She was ying ft on the seat behind me with her head on Ria’s p. “Half an hour already.”

  “Hmmm.” I grumbled. The first hour of arriving in an unknown country being spent in a taxi that wasn’t driving wasn’t the most interesting start to a holiday, I had to admit. But at least I was gd this taxi had airco. While it wasn’t too terribly hot outside, that 29°C felt a lot warmer on a windstill day like this. Especially when you are waiting on toasty concrete.

  Em sighed and sat up straight so she could look straight out of the window. Squinting for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the bright light hitting the yellow concrete of the airport building. “Wait, is that them?” She pointed towards one of the doors on the right.

  I shifted my gaze over to four people looking around the area. A small girl with pink hair, a taller girl with blonde hair and then two somewhat older women looking clearly out of pce with their military trousers. The tallest of them, with her hair tied back in a ponytail and a metal arm, pointing in the taxi we were in. “That’s definitely them.” I looked back at the seat behind me. Ria had fallen asleep against the door. “Em, could you wake up Ria?”

  Em nodded. “Will do.”

  At the same time I opened my door and waved at the group of women who were walking towards us. “Heyo!” I called out.

  They all waved back at me but it was only the tall dy who called back. “Hey! You are Aurora, right?”

  “Yep!”

  As the group approached the woman nodded happily. “Good, then we have the right taxi.” She extended her hand. “Nice to finally meet you, I’m Lauren.”

  I shook Lauren’s hand. “Nice to meet you. It’s fun to finally put a face to everyone’s names. You are Amicia, Sam and Luna I presume?”

  “We are.” Amicia nodded happily.

  Em had gotten Ria to wake up and both of them had exited the taxi as well. “And these are my girlfriends.”

  “Nice to meet you!” Ria excimed excitedly. “I have read all about you!” She immediately started introducing herself with a kiss on the cheek.

  “So did we.” Luna replied with a gentle smile. Both Sam and Amicia nodded to that.

  Lauren on the other hand looked a bit more guilty as she scratched the back of her head. “Well, I have read everything about you too. But admittedly it was rather st minute. I’m generally not that much of a reader.”

  “I’m not much different, I probably just have more time than you do. Quite a bit more time.” I admitted with a ugh.

  Lauren smiled. “By the way, our apologies for being te. Leave it up to us to be te when having time-traveled, right?”

  “It happens.” I brushed off their apology. “I’m gd you are hear now.”

  “Speaking about here and now. Where is our boss dy?” Sam asked, looking around.

  “Ah, she’s not here but she did leave a letter with the taxi driver. I haven’t read it yet. The driver told me to open it when we were all together.” I fished an envelope out of my backpack and handed it over to Sam as she was offering her hand.

  “Okay for everyone if I read the letter?” She asked.

  Everyone nodded in return.

  Sam opened the envelope, gnced at it and then coughed. “Hello Amicia, Sam, Aurora, Corelia, Emma, Lauren and Luna. I welcome you to the beautiful isnd nation of Malta. First of all, I would like to apologize that I’m not there to meet you all as I’m stuck at work. Besides, I thought I had already plundered Aurora’s bank account for enough money already to fund this trip for you all.”

  “Wait, is that true?” Lauren chuckled as she looked over to me.

  “She asked.” I nodded. “I didn’t mind. I have a rather spiced bank account and it’s not like she could use the future currency you have.”

  Lauren chuckled again. “I suppose that’s true.”

  Sam continued reading the letter. “Don’t let that sour the mood however, I arranged this so you could all have fun together while also getting to know each other at the same time. I’m sure you all will get along swimmingly as each of you represents personality traits that I enjoy. As for the setting I have chosen Malta because it’s a country I have been to recently myself and I really enjoyed all the history that was present on the isnd and the friendly people who live there too. So, enjoy the ride, hang back and rex while I take you and the readers on a short trip.”

  “Hmm.” I giggled at the little fourth wall break there.

  “Wait, she’s not done yet.” Sam replied. “P.S. Thank you all for accompanying me on this journey for the past five years. It is a great pleasure and an honor to know you all.”

  “Was that st part directed at us or at the readers?” Lauren smiled wryly as Sam passed the letter on to her.

  “Maybe she meant both of us?” Luna looked over Lauren’s shoulder.

  “Maybe…” Lauren stared at the letter for a couple more moments before she offered the letter back to me. “Want to have it back.”

  “You can keep it if you want.” I shrugged. “Won’t it be fun to have as a keepsake back on your ship.”

  Lauren hummed happily. “That’s true.”

  “Aurora, do you know what we are going to do next? Are we heading towards the hotel?” Amicia asked while Sam and the others put the bags in the back of the taxi.

  “Yes, that would be the pn. I heard from the taxi driver that the hotel we are going to is very impressive, so definitely look forward to it.” I smiled. Amicia definitely looked like a nice girl as she smiled back sincerely. It’s somewhat weird to think that such a kind girl also had such a dark flipside of her coin. But then again, so do I. In any case, I also hoped that I would be able to see her catgirl features during this holiday at least once.

  The taxi driver closed the back doors of the van and walked everyone back to the side of his taxi. “Is everyone ready?” He asked. “I will bring you to the hotel now.” He beckoned enthusiastically for everyone to enter the vehicle so Amicia, myself and the others followed his suggestion, with me retaking the position next to him.

  Damiano, the taxi driver in question, then took off on the hot asphalt at Malta’s airport and drove us in the direction of Valletta, Malta’s capital city. I needed to adjust just a little bit about the fact that we were driving on the left side of the road for once but after that I could fully admire the sights around me.

  Damiano told us on route that traffic was actually rather low for this time of day which surprised me as to me it still looked really busy. Apparently traffic was a little bit of a problem on the little isnd but Damiano told us not to worry too much about that during our stay as we could easily get around Valletta without getting into a car and even if we had to, it wouldn’t take too terribly long to get anywhere as the isnd wasn’t very big to begin with. Although he did mention that if we wanted to go out of the city, it would still be best to leave early in the morning. I suppose that wasn’t any different for any other big city in Europe.

  Once we entered Valletta propper, things went a lot smoother as basically only taxis and buses were really allowed to freely travel around and within a couple of minutes Damiano stopped in front of a nice looking historical hotel. Situated on top of the enormous ramparts that made up the city.

  “Here you go. Have a nice holiday.” Damiano said as he had unpacked our belongings from the trunk. “If you want to go somewhere by car, just send me a SomethingDown message. We will arrange your trip then.”

  “Alright, thank you very much.” I smiled as I handed over some money to him after which he swiftly left to go to his next client.

  My girlfriends and the others had stepped towards the edge of the sidewalk, looking over the top of the ramparts into Malta’s Grand Harbour.

  “Rora, come look at this!” Ria beckoned me over.

  For a moment I left our luggage behind and joined the group so I could get a clear view of the harbor myself. The sun dancing on the small waves down below. It was truly a magnificent sight to behold. All the natural and historical beauty before me.

  I kissed both of my girlfriends on the cheek after which I happily decred: “This vacation is going to be amazeballs.”

  Em snorted. “It is, definitely.”

  FieryKathy