Translation

"What would you like?" Geo asked as he glanced over the menu at me. He noticed I wasn't looking at the menu, and the realization that I couldn't read it hit him. "Oh, Flora, I am so-," he began before I cut him off.

"I'll have whatever you are having," I said quickly with a smile.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Some of these flavors can be very strong. Not every Arcan likes it."

"Too accustomed to our traditional bland foods from before Ilterra," Pallav added, shaking his head with disappointment. Remembering that salt had become much more common after finding Ilterra, my mouth began to salivate.

"Eating something with strong flavor is exactly what I need after days of bland stews," I said with a laugh.

Pallav and Geo smiled and nodded in agreement. Geo order the dishes, but I didn't catch their foreign sounding names. I watched as Pallav took out a jar of some sort of pickled cabbage and poured it onto the cooktop in front of him. The cabbage quickly began to sizzle as he grabbed other ingredients and combined them. Behind my mask I could only imagine the smells as it cooked, and for the first time in a while I was looking forward to meal time back at the lab.

"Did you find what you were looking for today?" Geo suddenly asked as he watched Pallav cook.

I glanced over at Geo. While his tone was casual, there was a certain rigidness in his posture. "Is this part of the deal? My daily report?" I asked with a teasing lilt.

Geo looked at me for a moment and then turned away as if embarrassed. "Yes, it is," he admitted guiltily. "I know Thana will ask about today and will want a report. I thought we could talk briefly while waiting," he said as he gestured to the food sizzling on the cooktop. "And I am genuinely curious," he added with a small smile.

I let out a slow sigh and mentally acknowledged that I am officially doing this. I am becoming an informant. My stomach tensed with nerves as I glanced over my shoulder. "Are you sure this is an appropriate place to talk about this?" I asked quietly.

"The amount of people in here and the sounds of cooking will drown out our conversation, but we could be safer," Geo said as he scooted even closer to me. The proximity made my breath hitch as I looked up at him wide eyed. I checked to see if anyone was watching us and Geo laughed. "It is natural to sit so close here. The small spaces," he explained making me relax a little.

"So," he said with a serious tone, "did you find what you were looking for?"

"I am not entirely sure what I am looking for," I admitted. "I am just trying to gather as much information as possible. Perhaps if I have enough of the pieces, I can start putting them together to get a clearer picture."

Geo nodded in understanding, but I could see a little disappointment in his eyes. "But it seems like what you saw is helpful at least," he said, almost questioningly.

"Yes, it is," I said with a hopeful smile. "Thankfully they are from my time or shortly thereafter so they are in English." A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Geo, are there any devices that translate text from Arcan to my language? I can make out the latin words that are still being used in some of the papers, and I can understand the chemical element symbols, but the rest I cannot figure out."

Geo's emotions were unreadable, but it almost looked as if he was proud of me. "I can get one for you so you can decode the rest." He leaned in a little further and lowered his voice. "There are not many texts available to the public, but you might come across something while at work," he said with a spark of mischief in his eye. "I will gather what I have access to. You can always ask me questions if there is something in the translation that you do not understand."

I smiled warmly at him. "Thank you. I really appreciate your help."

"Of course," he said slowly as we held our gazes.

A loud scraping sound startled us, and we pulled away from each other. Pallav had just finished cooking and was placing the food into containers, a smirk on his lips. I nervously glanced at Geo, but he did not look worried. I didn't know if it was because he didn't think Pallav noticed the chemistry between us or if he knew Pallav was trustworthy.

"Here you are," Pallav said as he handed the food over to Geo.

"Thank you," Geo said as he took it. "I will see you soon," he told Pallav before getting up from his seat and squeezing himself to the side to allow me enough room to rise. I stepped out into the stream of people making their way through this tiny alley and turned to see Pallav one last time. He was watching us leave, a small smile on his face. It was friendly, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. We needed to be more careful.