She was small, maybe 5'5", with long, straight black hair and very nicely rounded body. The white bikini she wore seemed to glow against a tan every bit as deep as Nat's own and the tail of a surfboard was planted near her small bare feet. With a fist on one hip, she looked down at Nat expectantly.
"Morning," he said with a little bob of the head.
"You a big guy," she said with a pleasant, yet odd, accent. Nat didn't place it immediately. "How 'bout you give up some of that territory?"
Not Caribbean ... South Pacific? It clicked. He'd surfed with a Samoan when he'd competed and won that Florida meet. He grinned and arose to his feet. He expected her to back away as he towered over her but she didn't.
"You even bigger standing up," she said with a grin.
Nat laughed. He liked the way she didn't cower at his height and the ease of her smile.
"Actually," he began. "I was just thinking about pulling up stakes."
She gazed out at the ocean through black eyes and sighed.
"First day on a California beach and it's as flat as my board," she shook her head.
Taking a stab he said, "Samoa probably has better waves." This caused the girl to look up at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, but anything's better than this," she replied. "Most people don't recognize a Samoan accent."
"Surfed against Maika Felise last month in Florida," Nat explained. "Great surfer."
"You must be Nat Ryan then," she said offering a hand. "Avéolela Aloese."
"Nice to meet you Avéolela," he replied.
"Call me Avé," she said.
"And I'm Nat," he smiled.
"So, you gonna share the sand?" she said glancing down at the towels.
"Hey, no problem," he replied scooping up his towel. "Like I said, I was just thinking about leaving."
"Is it the waves or the company," she said with a sexy little smirk but she was surprised when the big young man didn't blush and start stammering.
"The waves," he said. "The company's just getting interesting."
"Well why don't we have a seat and talk up some real waves," she suggested, driving her board into the sand.
She flipped out her towel far enough from the second towel to give him room to replace his own.
"Who you saving the spot for?" Avé asked.
"That would be me," said the cool voice of a tall, slim girl with curly black hair wearing a huge man's dress shirt over a black one piece bathing suit. Her face was shaded by a large white flat brimmed hat. She pulled off a pair of Dior Diorissimo sunglasses and regarded the two. Nat's eyes lit up for a second then he saw the façade was back on Wren's face and his brows knitted.
"Nathaniel, don't frown so, it gives you a wrinkle between your eyes," Wren said depositing a small cooler on the sand beside her towel. "Who is our new friend?"
She stepped up to Nat and stood on her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss, a display of affection she rarely gave with an audience. For a moment he forgot everything else and wrapped his arms around her to turn the kiss into something more than a peck on the lips. When they broke she looked up at him with a half smile.
"Perhaps a 'public display of affection' is something I should do more often," she whispered.
"Perhaps," he whispered back.
To Avé there was no doubt just exactly what the 'public display' had been about. She'd obviously stepped between the tall, handsome surfer and the beautiful, slender girl that had just arrived and the girl was wasting no time in claiming her territory. She rose to her feet and offered the girl a hand.
"I'm Avé Aloese," she said. "Nat was gracious enough to offer me a spot in the sand."
For a moment Wren considered the girl who was many things Wren, herself, was not. Short, curvy, tanned and an obvious surfer Wren felt an unaccustomed flash of insecurity.
"Wren Collins," she said coolly, taking the girl's offered hand.
"Nice to meet you," Avé replied.
"Wren," Nat began. "I was just pulling up stakes for the day. The waves look like a bust."
"He was bequeathing me his spot," Avé added.
"You ARE the one that told me 'a day without surfing is a day without sunshine' are you not?" Wren arched an eyebrow.
"I think, barring a sudden storm, I doubt I could even get up," Nat confessed.
Avé half smiled to herself then tilted her head and stared out at the ocean. A swell humped up a hundred meters off the shore, just to the ocean side of the line of surfers patiently sitting on their boards waiting for anything big enough to ride. Instantly the more experience fell over onto their bellies and watched the rising ripple of water over their shoulders. Just before reaching the surfer line, the swell rose to about a meter and a half and almost half the surfers began to paddle, dropping onto the face of the wave to begin their ride. A number kicked out though, realizing the danger of so many trying to catch this one wave but the majority stayed with it. By the time it hit the shore only a few remained on their boards. Avé smiled at the sight then turned her attention back to the two beside her. Both silently regarded her with nearly identical looks of speculation. She blushed like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"What?" she said.
"Would the name Miller mean anything to you?" Nat asked in response. Avé's eyes widened.
"It seems our new friend lacks a poker face," Wren observed.
"You're both ..." Avé began.
"Slaves of Agent Miller's?" Wren replied.
"I wouldn't call it slavery, Wren," Nat said with a grin. "More indentured servitude."
"But how did you know I did it?" Avé asked.
Nat pointed to the ground where a band of wet sand about four inches wide led straight as an arrow from Avé's bare foot to the water line.
"I doubt anyone else would have seen it with all these people milling around," Nat said.
"I suggest we take this back to the cottage," Wren glanced around at the mob of people crowding in on them from all sides. "Besides, I believe that will be the day's only big wave." She gave Avé a significant look that made her nod.
Tucking both boards under one arm, Nat also relieved Wren of the small cooler but couldn't get her to surrender the two towels. Instead she draped them over one arm and tucked her free hand into the crook of Nat's arm.
"Will you please join us," Nat asked politely.
They waited patiently as Avé gathered her towel and board then led her up off the beach onto the boardwalk. After more than a few dirty looks and snide comments about the boards, they turned on to a narrow street with only a few people. A couple of blocks later they stopped in front of a comfortable looking little cottage with a patch of sandy grass for a front yard. Wren preceded them up the narrow cement walkway and opened the door without the use of a key. Holding the screen door wide, she waited for Nat to duck under the lintel with the boards then nodded to Avé to follow him. By the time she stepped inside, the boards had been placed on a rack that cover most of the wall to the left and Nat was behind a breakfast counter rummaging through a refrigerator.
"We have soda, fruit juice and ice water," he said, straightening, one hand holding the necks of a pair of water bottles, the reusable type with the built-in filter.
"Juice would be nice," Avé replied glancing around for a place to put the board.
"Lean it against the wall," Wren suggested gesturing to the corner behind the door.
Free of the board she turned to take in the small interior.
'L' shaped, the room ran the width of the cottage's front with the 'L's leg immediately in front of the door and filled by a kitchen. The living room had a sand colored couch along the inner wall with a pair of dark blue recliners backed up to a bay window. On the remaining wall a TV sat on a table next to a small stereo system.
"Have a seat," Nat suggested, handing a bottle of water to Wren before offering Avé a tall, sweating glass of fruit juice over ice.
Wren dropped onto the couch at the near end and tucked her feet up before taking a sip of the water. Reading it as a sign, Avé took one of the chairs and made herself comfortable. Nat took the opposite end of the couch from Wren.
"How long ago did Miller 'recruit' you?"
Avé could almost hear the quotation marks in Nat's tone.
"Four days ago," she replied.
"He is slowing down in his old age," Wren remarked. "He only gave the rest of us a single day."
"The rest of you?"
"So, he hasn't told you about the rest of us?" Nat asked.
"No," she replied. "I got in yesterday in the afternoon and he had some blonde girl show me to my room on the third floor."
"Team Blue begins," Nat said.
"Excuse me?"
"You will be in Team Blue," Wren explained. "Nat and I are in Team White, on the second floor."
"There are eight in our team, ten in the first team," Nat went on. "We each get our own floor and when the senior team graduates, I guess we all move down a floor."
"Why did you call it indentured servitude?" Avé asked Nat.
"Tell me, how did Miller approach you about this?" He asked in return.
"I dunno," she shrugged. "I mean what exactly do you mean? He just showed up one day in Pago Pago and talked to my parents. They asked me if I wanted to come to the States to go to school and told me the government was offering a college scholarship, full ride. Heck, I jumped at the chance!"
"They tell you that this was a school to train future government supers?" Nat asked.
"Yeah, they said like the military," she replied. "I get an education and in return I get training and serve my country."
"Someone has definitely rewritten Miller's sales patter," Wren commented.
"Nah, we just have a better BS detector," Nat said back.
"Why do you say that? What did he do to you?"
"Blackmail ..." Wren said.
"Bribery ..." Nat said.
"Threats ..." Wren added sourly.
"Needless to say, Agent Miller is not one of our favorite people," Nat admitted.
"No indeed," Wren said. "Loathing is not quite ..."
"Harsh enough?" Nat asked with a little smile.
"I was told we had to stay at the school, how'd you guys get a house like this off-campus?"
"I have lived in this house all my life and Miller is not going to tell me I can't continue doing so," Nat sounded almost savage.
"And I find the ambiance more appealing than Standard Government Issue," Wren added.
"Plus it irritates Miller to no end," Nat said with a grin.
"There is that added bonus," Wren agreed.
"He doesn't just come down here and order you out?"
"I would very much like to see that," Wren said coolly.
"There are a few things Miller has been forced to accept," Nat said.
"I am actually surprised he hasn't had the place bombed while we are out," Wren's tone was only a little sarcastic.
"He would do that?" Avé's eyes widen.
Nat nodded. "If he thought he could get away with it."
"What about the others?" she asked.
"Most of our team runs in and out of here like they own the place but we are the only ones that actually live here," Nat told her.
"What about the other team?"
"We have very little to do with them so far, I am not even sure they know of the cottage," Wren said.
"Miller and their team 'leader' seem to prefer we not mingle," Nat said.
"I believe Miller thinks we might be contagious," Wren said.
"That and Mark can't stand me, or you," Nat grinned at Wren.
"Mark?"
"Mark Law, Ranger, the Team Red leader ... for now," Nat replied.
"Why doesn't he like you?" Avé asked.
"Nathaniel sealed him in a garbage bin and threw him out to sea," Wren replied with a smirk.
"I told him not to curse at you," Nat said.
"You know I can take care of myself, Nathaniel," Wren gave him a reproachful look that softened into amusement.
"I have no doubt but by my taking things into my own hands, Mark is 'beaten' by another guy, not some skinny ballerina," Nat teased.
Wren's eyebrow shot up. "Skinny?"
"Svelte is my preferred term but Mark doesn't have my vocabulary."
"You guys known each other long?" Avé asked.
"Over a year," Nat said. "Will be two on December 6th."
"A man who remembers an anniversary," Avé said in mock wonder.
"He does seem to have a few good points," Wren agreed.
"How long you been together?" Avé asked.
"Since Mars for me," Nat said.
"It took a hair-raising near-death experience for you to decide?" Wren gave him a cool look.
Nat shook his head slowly. "No, it took that for me to admit it to myself."
"Hair-raising near-death? Mars?"
Both merely shared a little smile and offered no explanation.
"For me," Wren began, "It was three days later."
The legal size envelope flashed in Nat's mind and inevitably the sheaf of 8x10 nude photos of Wren. Anger flashed in his eyes.
"I ... think I began to dare to hope then," Wren said. "The way you reacted ..."
"That's over," Nat said. "That's all behind us."
Wren nodded and slowly unfolded, her feet ending up on Nat's lap. He lifted one to his lips and kissed her big toe. Avé wasn't sure exactly why it seemed more touching then if they'd thrown themselves into each other's arms. These two were definitely a couple. Wren caught her watching them and retracted her legs.
"Where are you from, Avé?" Wren asked.
"Pago Pago, American Samoa," she replied.
"How did Miller find you," Nat asked.
"My house caught on fire and I put it out," she replied with a shrug.
"And someone saw it ..." Wren surmised.
Avé nodded.
"It got in the paper," she said. "It's not like Samoa is over-flowing with metas so I guess I was news-worthy."
"So water powers," Nat said.
"Yeah, you?"
"Gravity," Wren said.
"I throw things," Nat said.
"To Mexico," Wren added with a half smile.
"Orbit, with Wren's help," Nat added.
"Are you serious?"
"Actually, we've never tried but I am pretty sure I could get something to orbit," Nat said.
"Besides surfing and throwing things, what do you guys do?"
"Wren is a rising star," Nat began.
"I just joined a few days ago," Wren said.
"Joined what?"
"The California Ballet Company," Nat said proudly.
"So when he said ballerina," Avé began.
"I was being literal," Nat finished. "But definitely not the 'skinny' part."
"So now I am fat?"
"Wren," Nat said softly. "You are the most perfect woman on the planet."
Avé expected a snort of derision but Wren just unfolded her long legs back into Nat's lap.
