Chapter 181: Paparazzi

Josinia pulled back from Kalon and looked at Thea properly, pink eyes bright.

"I didn’t think I’d see both of you here together this soon," she said. "Come in. Please."

They went inside.

The next stretch of time stayed simple on purpose. Josinia made drinks and put out small plates of local food. The three of them sat together in the front room while Thea asked questions and Josinia answered most of them with open patience. Kalon filled in the gaps when the conversation turned to the empire, the resistance, or how he had first gotten involved.

Later they went back out into the city together.

Josinia walked them through a quieter upper lane near the training district, then down toward a public terrace that overlooked part of the resistance compound. Thea watched sparring groups in the distance and kept comparing small details to Earth.

The way the buildings were cut. The way people greeted Kalon.

The way nobody treated a human-alien group as though it was anything strange.

They ate again before evening properly settled, this time at a seated stall Josinia recommended.

Thea tried two more local dishes and finished both.

Josinia laughed at how quickly she adapted to the food. Kalon mostly listened and let the two of them talk.

Thea also spoke to the vendor, which was a great experience for her.

By the time they returned to Josinia’s home, Thea’s excitement had climbed past first-travel nerves completely. She stood near the table with her hands on her hips, blue eyes still full with energy.

"Kalon, can we travel again today?" She asked like a kid in a candy store.

Kalon shook his head.

"Not tonight, but I promise we will another day."

Thea pouted her lip at first, but then nodded her head.

"It’s okay, I’m grateful for you taking me here in the first place... This is unlike any experience I’ve had before."

Kalon smiled at her and roughed up her hair a little bit.

After that, it was time for her to return to earth for the night.

Kalon stepped close, set the return transfer, and sent her back alone. The system completed it cleanly. When the light of the travel faded, only he and Josinia remained in the room.

Josinia watched the empty space for a second.

"She’s strong-minded."

"She is," Kalon said. "I hope you didn’t mind me bringing her to you?"

"Of course not, I loved it!"

...

He stayed long enough to leave Josinia with a proper goodbye, then left Venduros himself.

Back on Earth, the rooftop was quiet. Kalon checked the daily allowance. He still had jumps left, and one planet had sat untouched for too long.

Cryos.

He selected it and transferred.

[Initiating Travel Sequence...]

[Adapting body to suit conditions...]

[...]

[You have arrived!]

[Welcome to Cryos!]

Cold air hit him immediately.

He stood on a clean white pathway outside Sifa’s Ice Mansion.

The building looked even larger than the last time he had seen it. New crystal fixtures lined the outer wall. A polished gate crest caught the pale light. Whatever prize money and status the tournament had given her, she had clearly put it into the place.

Kalon walked up the path.

He did not need to announce himself for long. One of the outer attendants recognised him, stiffened, and hurried inside. Less than a minute later the main doors opened hard.

Sifa came through them at speed.

Her ice-blue form looked sharper than before, dressed in a pale high-status coat that still left the line of her large, nipple-less breasts obvious beneath the cut. The moment she saw him properly, the composed celebrity posture broke.

"Kalon!"

She crossed the last stretch quickly and caught his arm with both hands, cold fingers tight against him.

"You’re here. You’re actually here."

"It’s been a while," Kalon said.

"Too long." Sifa’s eyes moved over his face like she was checking he was real. Then she exhaled and gave a smaller, more controlled smile. "But I understand. I’ve been buried in appearances, academy fallout, summons requests, and city attention. You’ve been busy too. I can tell."

"I have," Kalon said. "Doesn’t mean I forgot to come back. I just... had some other things I had to focus on as well."

Knowing him to be a space hopper, Sifa understood.

She pulled him through into the mansion grounds rather than the formal front hall, clearly wanting him away from staff eyes.

The side garden was private, walled in pale crystal and packed snow, with a clear view only from the elevated outer road if someone was specifically watching.

Sifa kept hold of his hand the entire way.

"Kalon, how do you manage to look stronger and more handsome everytime I see you?"

Kalon gave her a slight smile and ignored her question.

"you look as beautiful as ever yourself."

This time it was Sifa’s turn to smile. Her cheeks only became slightly damp as the ice melted from shyness.

...

Outside the mansion walls, on the elevated service road used by media carriages, a small cluster of Cryon paparazzi had been parked for hours on the chance Sifa would appear.

It was routine coverage. Celebrity summons winner. Tournament heroine. Local rise-to-fame story.

The media always went crazy about her, especially after the modelling shoots she had recently been taking part in.

One of them lifted a long-lens crystal recorder toward the garden and stopped talking mid-sentence.

"Wait," he said. "That’s not a staff member."

The woman beside him, a sharp-eyed news reporter with pale ice hair and a formal broadcast coat, leaned in over the lens feed.

In the garden below, Sifa was standing very close to a man. Then the man turned slightly, and the reporter’s eyes widened.

"That’s him," she said. "The summon from the Annual Tournament. Sifa’s summon. The one who wiped the field."

The whole cluster shifted at once. For weeks their coverage had stayed locked on Sifa’s clothes, public appearances, mansion purchases, and academy controversy. Now every lens refocused on the man with her.

In the garden, Kalon pulled Sifa in by the waist.

She leaned in willingly. Their mouths met as they embraced eachother in a deep kiss.

Sifa’s coat shifted as his hand slid lower and gripped her ass through the fabric, firm enough that her body pressed flush against him. She made a soft sound into the kiss and held on tighter as her ass was fondled with.

On the service road, the reporter forgot to give her cameraman the next instruction.

She just watched.

The human’s hand stayed on Sifa’s ass, massaging into the soft icy flesh.

Sifa, the cold and composed tournament winner of Cryos, melted into it without resistance.

The reporter’s fingers tightened around her idle recording slate. A heat she did not expect moved through her lower stomach as she kept staring, unable to reframe the moment as ordinary celebrity coverage.

"Get the shot," someone muttered beside her.

"I am," the reporter answered, too quickly.

What she didn’t mention was the thing line of meltwater running down her inner thighs from the sight that she was seeing.

It aroused her deeply.