Chapter 27 – Trust Fall #2
The abaya's hands shot out and caught my own, turning my palms upward. Her distress subvocalization grew sharper and more shrill. "Stars above," she murmured, before patting my hands gently. I was reminded, in a rush, of Silver Sea's gentle hands on the crown of my head, her worried touch.
I guess something about me screamed that I needed to be mothered.
I wheezed out an aborted laugh – look, you'd have to have lived my childhood to understand why that thought struck me as darkly hilarious – and the abaya took me gingerly by the arm.
"If you like, you can come with me, Sashen of Creche Thiel.
I am happy to take you to our ship, and then we might get you cleaned up and fed.
I have seen what you like to eat." The skin around her eyes crinkled in pleasure as she led me carefully toward a door that presumably led to her shuttle.
"It would be my pleasure to make you many dumplings. "
I let myself be shepherded along into the short hallway connecting to the shuttle beyond.
This one was no bigger than Araxis's shuttle, but she set me on a curving bench at the back, buckling me in carefully and finding me some water to drink and a cookie of some sort to chew on.
"Can you tell me your name again?" I asked after gulping down water so fast, it dribbled over my chin.
"I'm sorry. My head feels a bit weird." Embarrassed, I wiped at my mouth, and was pretty sure I'd just smeared more dirt and blood over myself.
She settled into the pilot's seat, clipping herself into place.
"You do not need to be sorry. I am Nilvethre.
" The display in front of her hummed to life in whites and silvers.
A second feed opened up to the side with a floating string of text, and she flicked something at her wrist to send a message in response.
"All the hatchlings call me Nilli. It would bring me pleasure if you did as well: you are not a hatchling but you are very young and sweet.
" She looked at me with her curving, abayan smile and I found myself smiling back, a reflex.
"Okay," I said, after swallowing a bit more water with greater care. Only a little dripped down my chin, so I was clearly on the upswing. "I can do that."
"You can rest, dear one," she said over her shoulder as the shuttle rocked, the docking clamps releasing with a soft mechanical thunk outside.
The shuttle's engines rumbled gently around me, like the purr deep within Araxis's chest when he was curled around me in bed.
"Our creche ship is docked past Thenat-5.
It is not a long journey, but you worked very hard in the arena.
You deserve some rest. What a trial you have had. "
"I'm fine," I said, even as I let my head tip against the cushioned headrest, which cupped the back of my head so that any way I tilted, I was gently held.
I let my eyes fall shut as the shuttle drifted out from beneath the arena where I'd nearly died.
I meant to look out the front as we flew through the jungle, but the rumble of the engines and the bone-deep weariness tugging at me meant that I was asleep before we'd even cleared the shadows of the complex overhead.
I didn't have a frame of reference for the creche ship I walked on to a short while later.
I hadn't been that many places and I certainly hadn't been on many ships.
It was silver on the outside, the inside made up of a complex series of airy rooms and walkways.
Balconies wrapped around the inner space of the ship, which housed not only the water filtration system and the roiling cores for Maelstrom travel, but also, impossibly, trees.
It felt more like I'd stumbled into a particularly nice part of a station, like one on broadcast dramas about good-looking teenage aliens, than a ship of any make.
I came to a stop, staring at the broad space at the heart of the ship, a bubble around which the rest of the structures were built.
Like a pearl in an oyster, something precious and implausible.
I leaned over the curved silver railing, looking down several stories to the ground below.
There were flowers, even. Nilli touched my hand and bustled me along, chattering happily about the ship – Creche Athal had purchased the ship and retrofitted it for purpose a decade before; it housed three branches of the creche and nearly 500 abaya lived on-board.
The atrium – that was the middle bit – had been Zirric's idea.
Zirric, she explained, was the spouse of the head of house, Lauvis; she was certain their medical suite would be equipped to address my injuries, as they'd been sure to prepare in case Zirric was ever injured.
Brin and humans weren't identical, but we were both mammals, and surely there was a great deal of overlap.
Creche Athal had excellent medical staff.
They would take the very best care of me; I didn't need to worry.
I listened, head still throbbing, as we wound our way around the atrium before branching off into a broad and bright hallway.
I recognized, distantly, that there were abaya everywhere, but the longer I was on my feet, the harder it was to concentrate and to pick out individual features among the sea of white and gray or the endless line of black eyes watching me.
"Here you are," Nilli murmured, helping me through a double-door that hissed open as we approached.
Inside was a clean and bright medical suite, a far cry above the clinic I'd had to use on Yellow Fin, which had been cheap because they'd taken a little extra blood every time I stopped in.
I'd never bothered asking why they wanted blood because I was certain the answer wouldn't be nice.
Another few abaya approached, chattering away in their melodic language, and they sat me down on a table and got to work.
Work, in this case, meant shining bright lights in my eyes, poking at all of my cuts, and fluting out sounds of concern.
"Do you think you're able to stand for a steam shower?" asked Nilli, after I jerked my knee up while one of the attendants prodded the puncture in my calf. "Then we could get you out of those filthy clothes and into a robe while the medical staff finish looking you over. How does that sound?"
I nodded and one of the staff, taller and broader than Nilli (admittedly, not hard), took me to an adjoining room where a steam wand gleamed along the wall. "Are you going to be embarrassed if I start taking my clothes off?" I asked the abaya behind me.
They trilled, amused. "No," they said. "Bodies do not embarrass me. I would be very embarrassed if I left you on your own and you lost consciousness."
"Yeah, that would be awkward." I tried for a smile even though my face felt stiff and grimy.
"I'm fine – but supervise away. You know," I joked, "I usually charge for this.
" I tugged at the hem of my shirt, hissing as it scraped over the cuts, punctures, and bruises littering my body.
Someone had already eased my boots off when I'd been on the table, so it was easy enough to strip out of everything else, even if it felt like slowly peeling a layer of scabs off my whole body.
When I glanced down, I could see vivid bruises blossoming against my rib cages – maybe where Andiri had landed a few good hits.
My knees were scraped to shit, and while I'd been sure most of the damage from the thorn bushes was on my hands and arms, my legs were a fucking mess.
One particularly nasty puncture wound was near my hip bone, a trickle of blood dribbling down over my skin after the scab was torn off.
"Well, shit," I said, feeling light-headed all of a sudden.
All at once, cool and professional hands settled on me: one on my elbow, another on my shoulder. "You see," intoned the abaya. "I would have been very embarrassed." Once I was steadier on my feet, they reached past me and flicked on the steam wand. "Would you like help?"
"Nope," I gritted out. "I've got it." I gingerly reached up and eased the wand down, swiping it across the mottled and filthy surface of my skin.
Inch by inch, the grime began to ease away, sluicing off in the gentle stream of water trickling down my skin.
I set it in the cradle for a moment, and the waiting abaya supplied a bottle of a liquid soap that smelled astringent, bright and clean.
I dripped some over myself, carefully working it to a lather.
The longer I stood, my skin growing hotter by the moment, the less steady I felt. I planted one hand on the cool tiles, and the abaya was at my side again. "Here," they murmured, nudging me to one side. "There is a bench. You may sit, if you wish."
I slumped down immediately and the abaya slipped out for a moment, returning with Nilli in tow. I rested my elbows on my thighs, dipping my head down for a moment and trying to stop the pounding inside of my skull, the fizzing edges of darkness around my vision.
"What a long day you have had, dear one," said Nilli. I heard her move closer, and the click as she picked up the steam wand. "You stay there and I'll finish getting you cleaned up."
And she did, efficient and gentle. She even had me tip my head back so she could wash my hair, an amused trill leaving her throat as she worked the soap through my waves. I guess human hair still had some baked-in entertainment value.
Finally, clean and semi-lucid, I stood and took an offered towel, cogent enough to at least dry myself off before shrugging into a robe that belted around the waist. Back in the medical suite, the staff examined my cuts, talking among themselves.
Nilli stood at my side, offering a running commentary as she patted one elbow.
"Those bushes had some sort of nasty toxin.
Your body is doing a very good job of getting rid of it, but they will give you something to help.
They are concerned about the amount of blood pooling under your skin. Should it be drained?"
I shook my head, eyes barely open. "No, that's just how we bruise. It's normal. The blood gets absorbed again. As long as I'm not currently bleeding on the inside, I should be fine."
That comment sent a flurry of panicked chatter between the staff.
"They wish to check, and will undo your robe and use a tool to take a look inside of your body," Nilli explained, and then they did just that, poking and prodding and pressing a cold metal device against my stomach.
"You are as well as can be expected, Sashen of Creche Thiel, given the ordeal you have suffered.
They are giving you an injection to help with the toxin, and then I would be happy take you to the dignitary's suite and you can rest while I make you dumplings. How does that sound, dear one?"
That sounded good. Better than good. I nodded, still dizzy, and slid to my feet after the pinprick of the injection had faded, leaving only a blossom of warmth in its wake. Nilli tightened the belt of my robe, which I guess had fallen open again, and led me back to the door.
I paused, looking back at the staff – there were four of them. Five of them? I was having a hard time with numbers. "Thank you," I said, aware that my syllables weren't quite as sharp as I wanted them to be. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better patient. Normally I tell jokes and everything."
The abaya who'd been in the shower with me trilled, sharp and sudden.
"We hope you rest well, Sashen of Creche Thiel.
We are at your disposal if you feel unwell.
" They dipped their head, and the others followed suit, and I trudged out of the medical suite after Nilli, whose short body moved with a speed and efficiency that seemed to me, in my state, superhuman. Superabayan? Fuck, my head was fuzzy.
I wish I could tell you that I marvelled at the dignitary's suite.
I later would admire the series of rooms I'd been given: the generous living space with multiple windows looking out at the depths of space beyond; the plush furniture; the small kitchen and dining area with a low table and a tumble of incredibly soft cushions; the wall tapestries and shelves with fine art pieces from across the abayan empire; the massive hygiene suite that had an actual bath.
But I had eyes only for the bed, which was round and piled with pillows – a nest if ever I'd seen one – and I fell into it and drifted deeply to sleep, telling myself as consciousness slipped away that the moment I woke up, I'd figure out more of what was going on.
I'd figure it all out when I woke up, and then I'd watch Araxis win, and we'd be together. It was while thinking of him, a bright star guiding me home, that I finally drifted off.