It was unexpected, having Alexander put his arm around her that way, but Liberty found it all too natural to lean in towards him. It was late, she was a little tired, and she liked having him there. She wanted to be close to him, it felt right, and comforting, and familiar in a place where very little else was. She was on guard against her feelings, because she knew that it just wasn't logical to care for him as she did. He was in contract, he loved his wife, and she had to accept it. But this was harmless, wasn't it? This was something a friend might do, after a long day.
Liberty wasn't afraid of Earth any longer. If this was the planet that had oppressed the Ricans before they were Ricans, it wasn't something she had to fear as a visitor, not with Alexander by her side. It was also incredibly vast, something which she had known, intellectually, but hadn't been able to appreciate until she arrived. Ricagambeda was a large enough planet, but only the tiniest fraction of it was habitable. The idea that they couldn't leave France and easily travel to the other Earth cities she had heard of was strange to her.
'I hope we get to visit,' she told him. 'I hope we both do. If his lights were wonderful, imagine what it would it be like to see the real thing!' In Liberty's mind, for Alexander to think so highly of the lights meant that they had to be truly spectacular. Her imagination got away from her as she imagined a sky full of them, twinkling like multi-coloured stars.
'I reviewed the accounts while you were gone,' she told him then, and there was no change in tone, no shift from the social world to the business one, because they both had that same enthusiasm for their work, that same value. 'We're doing even better than we projected! I cannot believe how much they paid for that cinnamon.' She smiled brightly. 'I am so pleased you convinced me to come with you, and that I'm not missing out on all of this.'