Chapter 6 – Private Lessons #3
Araxis shifted his weight, his back still to me, and rotated his wrists. The blades flashed in the light, his grip confident. "Yes," he said, voice still strained, a thin subvocal tone humming under his voice. "Hm."
I turned and scrubbed a hand across my face, quick.
Right, right, I had questions for him. I bent and grabbed my blades and used all of my years of experience with controlling my own arousal to turn down the temperature.
"Why don't we run through that sequence a few times, and we'll see how that feels? "
"Hm." Araxis was still facing away when I looked back, his head tilted down.
I chewed on my lip for a moment, watching him stand there, unmoving.
"Was that, uh… too much?" I asked finally. "Too… virra?"
Araxis turned and shook his head, his black eyes bright. His throat worked as he swallowed. "No, not at all. I am ready."
I positioned him in the first step of the sequence and put myself across from him, and then we moved through the steps together.
The sequences of voltaari sword-dancing were numbered, and designed for pairs, although I always made them look lovely on my own.
It was, in truth, dancing – and Araxis made an excellent partner.
I didn't know whether it was innate athleticism or an exceptional memory, but he seemed to anticipate the correct steps of the sequence.
I offered a few minor corrections, and he needed each one only once.
And I liked moving like this with him, the only sound our breathing, my occasional reminder of the next step, and the tinking of our blades meeting.
His eyes narrowed in focus, his movement fluid, instinctive.
Once I was confident that he could retrace this sequence without my input, I volleyed forth my first attempt at getting a few answers.
"Took you awhile to chart the course this morning," I said, twisting my right blade to catch the lunge he made.
"Hm. Yes." He made the half-step to the right, and ducked down for the lower sweep.
Just beautiful. Clients would have paid handsomely to see him dance.
"Our ship isn't connected to the datasphere, so Evreni and I must always chart the course ourselves.
It is laborious, particularly with the thermoregulator running at sub-par efficiency. "
"The ship can't calculate the best course?" The give and take of the dance meant that he was driving me back several steps. I shifted, whirled, and surged forward in the familiar steps. We picked up speed, and it was easy with Araxis, the movements flowing, comfortable.
I had danced sometimes with other employees at the den, Khrelen especially – but it had never been like this. I didn't need to think about how I was moving or how he was moving. We just fell into rhythm, an interplay between two stellar bodies tugging at each other with waves of gravity.
"Our system is older. Some of its functions are offline, so we chart our courses by hand. Don't fret, Sashen – I've yet to send us into any solar storms."
I grinned, and he smiled back, a soft trill in the air between us. The pace picked up, our blades singing together as we lunged and parried, twisted and turned, ducked and jumped.
"Where's the rest of your creche?" I asked, leaping forward as he twisted to the side and arced one blade around in a gorgeous half-turn. I couldn't make it look that good. "Far away?"
Araxis missed a step. I shifted suddenly, making sure my blade went wide: it wasn't sharp enough to cut, but I didn't particularly want to leave a bruise.
He righted himself quickly, and we continued with hardly a breath missed.
"We are all that remains. We – were a larger creche, but we lost our status within the Hall of Records.
Many creche-mates chose to be absorbed into other houses. "
"But not you," I said, driving forward.
Some of the fluidity of Araxis's earlier movements was gone, and the lines around his mouth tightened.
"No," he said, with a little grunt as he missed a turn and had to add a couple extra steps to make up for it while I waited for the correction.
"We hope to petition to have our house reinstated.
I have made this promise to my creche-mates. To those who remain."
Well, that was interesting. I began slowing the pace of the sequence to give him a bit of breathing room, but Araxis didn't slow; instead, he drove forward harder, faster, and it was all I could do to rush to meet him, whirling now through the familiar movements.
Sweat beaded against my forehead, my heart pounding hard against my chest, and when I grinned again, it was in earnest. This was fun.
I shot forward in the final move of the sequence, our blades meeting in a loud clatter, and then I dropped out of the ready position and stepped backwards, chest heaving.
I tossed the blades to the side, hauling on the hem of my tank top to wipe the sweat from my forehead, my eyes stinging.
"That's a lot of pressure," I panted into my shirt. "It's probably not easy." I let my shirt drop again, looking at Araxis –
And found him staring at me, lips parted, breathing hard with both swords still in his hands.
His eyes seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere around my hips, and I could see the moment he realized he was staring at me as though I were a flask of water and he'd been dying of thirst. He flushed deeper, redder, and turned away, walking toward the edge of the room where he'd first gotten the blades.
"Yes," he said stiffly. "But I am sinnenthi. This is my role."
"And what does that mean?" I asked, grabbing the other set of blades from where I'd tossed them and wandering toward him.
He still couldn't look at me, busying himself with tucking the swords into the storage compartment.
He took the ones I offered without looking, carefully placing them inside.
"A sinnenthi is… a protector. A caretaker.
Loyal. A person who cares for others by taking on the burdens of leadership.
" Slowly, Araxis stood, turning to look at me again.
We were standing close enough that, if I let myself, I could lean forward and trap him against the wall.
I could tip his head back and capture his mouth.
I could pin him right there and find out what he tasted like.
And, as my heart pounded still in my ears, my skin hot, sweat slick on my skin, I considered it because I wanted to.
Something must have shown on my face. He looked over at the other wall and took a step away, reaching to run one hand over his crest to assure all of his quills were firmly in place. They were, of course, immaculate.
"Right," I ground out, watching him move. He crouched down and pulled a water ration from the bundle he'd brought down with him, tipping it back and taking a long drink. "I can see that."
Araxis finished drinking and offered the bottle to me.
I took it, pretending not to feel an embarrassing thrill at the idea of putting my mouth where his had just been, as though I were all of fifteen again.
But something he'd said tugged at the edges of my thoughts.
"So what you said last night about what Creche Thiel believes about being skoshas…
is that why you the Concord took your status away? "
"It was not as simple as that, but it is… close." The skin around his eyes tightened.
I took a deep swallow, handing the water back.
"Was someone in your creche skoshas or something?
Or – is it just different values, and so the Concord was upset because you wouldn't fall in line?
" At his startled look, I added, "I know a thing or two about what it's like to try and disagree with people in power.
And about having to go on the run. You can't imagine that I ended up in a marn den after attending a career fair.
" I played it off like a joke, but Araxis's face took on a serious cast.
"Did you not want to be a dancer?" he asked then, frowning.
Want hadn't ever really factored into it.
I shrugged, reaching out for the water again, which he handed to me thoughtlessly.
"I smuggled myself onto Alet Trident's shuttle.
I knew she had a den. I mean, I didn't know what that really meant – but honestly, it's been good work. She's been good to work for."
"Hm." He studied me for a moment while I drank down more water.
"You are right: the Concord cannot abide dissent.
But things have changed since we were exiled when Vivith and I were children.
Creche Athal is a powerful house and they have successfully challenged some of the legislation the Concord pushed through.
Their leader, Lauvis, is partnered with a skoshas brin, and he has insisted his spouse be admitted into the halls.
There is unrest but… I believe there is room now for Creche Thiel.
It is why we will make our petition soon. "
Everything was starting to make more sense: Araxis was the head of a dying house, tasked with restoring it to greatness.
No doubt their funds were dwindling and, if they were exiled, were they even allowed in abayan territory?
Judging from what Talvi had said, the answer was no.
They must have really pissed off some important people, and evidently they didn't want to run into any of those people.
What would have happened if that ship had spotted us?
What would have happened it they saw the Creche Thiel vessel and tried to board?
Just how precarious was Creche Thiel's position?
It felt nice to think about someone else's problems instead of grappling with my own.
"Well, look," I said conspiratorially, "if you ever need anyone to go eavesdrop on secrets so you can blackmail some Concord blowhards, you let me know. It's one of my very special skills."
He trilled, amused. "Hm, I think you will find that other abaya are not quite so worldly as I am, Sashen Solar. Although if you did want to dance for them, they might pass out from shock. We could take the Hall by force."
I laughed, shaking my head. "You keep my contact information on hand, and when this new job is over, I'm all yours.
" Of course, I knew that wouldn't happen – I wasn't going to make it out of the Tournament alive – but the thought still made my chest get all tight and hot.
The only way I knew how to deal with that kind of bone-deep ache was to pretend it wasn't there, to chase something brighter instead, so I reached out without thinking and slung my arm around his shoulders, pulling him in tight as I said, "But I'm going to make you buy me the sluttiest outfits so I can really bowl them over with being, you know, whatever it was you said.
Super virra. Extra virra. Legendary, maybe. "
Araxis had gone very still against me, so I let him go. Whoops, that had been a bit too far.
"Sorry," I said belatedly with an awkward laugh, taking a half-step back and scooping up my own swords. "I'm being gross and sweaty all over you."
"I do not mind," Araxis said slowly, although he wasn't quite looking in my direction; his hands twisted around his water ration. "As you've said, your species is exceptional at regulating your internal temperature. It's impressive."
"Well, I've been told that it can be really off-putting if you aren't human. The kids were asking why I was wet the other night. I guess it is pretty weird if you aren't used to it."
He trilled a laugh, and some of the awkwardness I felt dropped away as Araxis gathered the last of his things and we headed toward the door. "I will say then what I said then: I do not find you weird. I… find you interesting. All of you."
I shot him a lopsided smile as we trailed out of the training room. "Interesting," I asked mildly, "or alluring."
The moment the blush was back, I cackled and headed off to make use of Araxis's shower while he made himself scarce.
I didn't seem to notice that he'd been not just a natural with the swords, but skilled.
Experienced. Probably better than me. I was too distracted by our conversation, and the way his body felt against mine, and how, when he spoke with me, all the universe seemed to narrow down to the space between us and the way he looked at me like I mattered.
So I didn't notice anything that could have helped me, until it was much too late.