6. The Chair #8
Time passed, and eventually Reyna ate. When someone who cared about you put food in front of you, you made every effort to eat it.
She and Borran didn't speak, but he stood by her until she finished her food, then cleared her plate away and refilled her drink.
It was his way of telling her to stay as long as she needed, and that he'd be here as long as it took.
Nobody asks for family, Rey. That's the whole point.
Jere's words, his voice, from another kitchen so far away and a night so long ago.
When he put his hand on hers and told her she was stuck with him and Elena.
And even in that moment, when she was startled by the words and comforted at the same time, she had believed him.
She believed it because he said it, and in all her life, believing Jere was the easiest thing she had ever done.
And he had been right.
But now, he was gone. Elena was gone. And the weight of her never seeing her family again hit her so hard she couldn't breathe.
? 1977 / CYCLE 487 | EMBERKIND CV-0417, SECTOR LYRA ?
Almost an entire year later, the Coalition processed Elena's disappearance as officially lost. Reyna was uncomfortable with the particular efficiency of this organization as it reduced her grief to paperwork.
There were forms for a formal transfer of command and assessments for operational continuity to ensure the Emberkind had all positions filled appropriately to resume full missions.
Reyna had an official onboard with Admiral Vondra where she asked three questions.
First was about crew readiness, which Reyna answered with the appropriate data.
The second was about mission bandwidth, where Reyna answered with projections and timelines.
But the third caught Reyna off guard, one she was not prepared to answer in any way.
"And are you prepared to assume permanent command, Captain Solas?"
Captain Solas. This was the first time anyone in an official position had called her that.
Sure, the crew had been calling her Captain for some time now, but out of respect and authority.
Hearing it from Admiral Vondra made it real.
Real in a way that made them settle on her shoulders and feel the weight of the title.
"Yes, Admiral," Reyna said.
Vondra paused, and it was a long one for a Lithyn. Her geode eyes held Reyna's through the viewscreen, and as she studied her, Reyna saw the moment where, whatever she saw, it was enough of what she had been looking for, and she accepted the answer.
"Approved. The Emberkind is yours, Captain."
When the transmission ended, Reyna sat quietly in the office.
She realized it was officially her office now.
She had yet to change anything in it, but the truth was, she did not intend to.
She wanted to keep Elena's star maps on the walls, the datapads of knowledge stacked where she could find them.
She would even keep some of Elena's clutter, strictly for the reason to keep her presence alive, even if she wasn't here.
She looked over to the other side of the desk, seeing Elena's captain's chair still there, still untouched.
Elena had made big decisions in that chair, but small ones, too.
It had lived a life of a captain along side her, absorbing her stress, holding her up when she was weary, or providing a place to find quiet, just for herself.
Reyna stood and walked over to the chair. She looked down on it, almost afraid to touch it for fear of what it could hold for her as she assumed her new role.
Reyna sat down.
Something about it didn't fit. It's shape, it's position, the dents and grooves already set from Elena's eight years living in it.
Even the view from it didn't fit for Reyna.
Everything about this room, from the walls to the clutter to even the chair was built around a woman who was, most likely, never coming back.
Reyna had now been instructed to take her place, to sit in this chair, even if it did not fit, and stay anyway.
I'm not captain material, she had said to them both at Novahall, two people who saw something in her she could never believe existed in herself.
She hadn't believed it then and, truthfully, she wasn't sure she believed it now.
But she was here, now, because someone had to be, and because Elena had built a ship worth commanding, choosing her as the second in line because, well, Reyna was still not sure.
She had second-guessed it in the beginning, but the redeeming thought that made her accept the role without too much strain was realizing that, the likelihood that she'd never be without Elena and would have to captain the Emberkind was so slim that it wasn't worth her worry.
She actually chuckled to herself lightly as the thought flew across her mind now.
She continued to sit in that chair that didn't fit, but didn't leave, because that's not what she did.
She didn't leave the table at Novahall when a stranger put a drink in front of an empty chair, she didn't leave when the Coalition had separated her and Elena from Jere in their first positions, and she wouldn't leave this chair when the universe put a command on her shoulders that she did not wanted but would not refuse.
She stayed.