CHAPTER 13 #2
“I’m trusting you to make sure he takes it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.” K’kaen’s tail twitched in obvious amusement.
“I’ll be checking back in tomorrow.” Eleri gathered up her supplies and started out the door. “Don’t be a hero S’samph. Take the medication, please. Oh, and no mixing it with alcohol, it’ll amplify the side-effects.”
“I’ll do as you ask,” he responded. Part of him bristled at the idea of taking painkillers when he wasn’t incapacitated by pain, but if it was important to Eleri he would manage somehow.
Not to mention, avoiding K’kaen’s inevitable harassment was an additional incentive.
K’kaen walked her outside, helping her haul the medkit down the path as far as she would let him.
Really, he should be the one helping her, but his own inattention left him too injured to do anything useful for her.
S’samph’s mood soured as he contemplated his own uselessness.
When K’kaen returned, S’samph noticed an unusual happiness about his friend. It irked him to no end that K’kaen had been the one to escort Eleri from his nest. He challenged his body to recover as quickly as possible so that he could be the one to capture all the valuable moments with her.
“You’re in a good mood,” S’samph hissed.
K’kaen’s frill lifted in annoyance at his tone. “I like your mate. She reminds me of K’taya.”
“K’taya huh?” S’samph grunted and K’kaen rewarded him by chucking a vial of painkillers at his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard K’kaen speak his clutch sister’s name aloud.
“You don’t know how lucky you are that your sister survived.”
“If you want S’kasia you can have her. She might disavow me if I don’t manage to win Eleri’s affections.”
“You can start by taking your medications without making me force feed you.” K’kaen gestured to the vial he’d thrown.
S’samph shook the vial of medication per Eleri’s instructions, eyed it dubiously, and then removed the lid to swallow it down.
He tried not to shudder from the overwhelming sweetness of the concoction.
“Let her know I did as she instructed.”
K’kaen’s frill rippled. “Want to add it to your tab of favors? I’m going to need an entire datapad to keep track of them soon.”
“Are you forgetting all the times I got you out of trouble on Latilla?”
“Doesn’t count if the planet doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Hmm.” S’samph wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to that without starting an argument.
K’kaen was several years his junior, just a fresh recruit on his squad when the planet had imploded.
Although he was a male well grown now, he hadn’t much left his egg mother’s nest before spending many of his formative adult years in an IA refugee camp.
“I miss the people we left behind, not the planet itself.” K’kaen’s tail gave a lazy swish by way of explanation. “Not all of us were so dedicated to serving for the honor of Latilla.”
“Losing K’taya must have been difficult.
” The medication was making his tongue loose.
Normally, he would have grunted and moved on with the conversation.
K’kaen likely wouldn’t appreciate him prying into his personal business.
His friend surprised him by sitting on a low outcropping near the entrance to the nest.
“We spent our entire lives together, and we were our egg mother’s only clutch. If you cut my tail off, it would grow back, but I can’t regrow K’taya.”
Despite the growing fog around his mind, S’samph knew he should respond. At least the throbbing in his shoulder had subsided. “There are old holos of her in the memorial database. I’ve seen them.” K’taya had been a popular video presence on the intelewaves before she’d been lost in the cataclysm.
“You think I haven’t? I watch them before I sleep most nights.”
“I’m sorry she wasn’t able to make it to an evacuation shuttle.”
The tip of K’kaen’s tail curled. “It should have been her on that shuttle instead of me. Don’t try to convince me otherwise. She had so much more value as a person than I ever will. I’m grateful for my life, but this life should have been hers.”
S’samph held his tongue. He had little advice to offer. Since his own evacuation from Latilla, there were few days he didn’t wish he could trade his life for those who had been left behind.
K’kaen stood abruptly and stretched. “Well, I’ve had about as many feelings as I can handle this morning. What do you say we go get drunk and try not to reminisce too much about all the enemy cities we stormed?”
S'samph slid down from the ledge where he was perched. “It’s not even sun-high, and you want to get drunk already? Besides, Eleri said this medication shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol.”
“Only if you regale us with stories of how Eleri vomited on your boots when you tried to get her to come back to your nest.” K’kaen’s tail swished with humor. S’samph didn’t feel the same level of amusement. Remembering that night only left him with a bitter aftertaste.
“I’m not drinking.”
“You don’t have to, but I cooked enough food to keep you alive for a week. The least you can do is buy me a glass or two.” K’kaen started for the door, and S’samph followed more out of a desire to not spend the day alone and brooding than any real enthusiasm for the activity.
When they arrived in the town center, S’samph could detect the strong sweat pheromones and overly loud music thumping from inside The Eon while they were still several paces away.
K’kaen entered first, shoving the door open with his usual energy while S’samph trailed behind.
A few of the other patrons acknowledged them as they walked in.
K’kaen sauntered up to the bar, and S’samph took the opportunity to scan the room for a quiet corner table.
Gavor shoved two slightly sticky tankards of a teosian favorite called kvost across the counter, and K’kaen carried them back to their table.
Teosians drank it like water with little effect, but most other species found the alcoholic nature overwhelming after a few too many glasses.
S’samph found the drink too intense for his preferences and frowned when K’kaen placed a mug in front of him.
“I told you I wasn’t drinking.”
“I’ll let Eleri know you’re a model patient. More for me then, since you’re paying.”
He was about to express his annoyance when a few urtazi males joined their table.
“How’s your arm?” Dynzol asked.
“It has been better.”
“Have you heard about the missing pichari on Ular’s farm?”
“Missing pichari?” K’kaen asked with mock enthusiasm. “Is this really the most interesting thing going on in Laurus at the moment?”
“It’s raviks,” Dynzol insisted. “Iulia, the urtazi girl, said she saw them creeping around the farm at night. You know her useless sire is never around, so it’s not like there was anyone to chase them off.”
“They’re bold lately,” Arz added with a long pull on her drink. “Things have been going missing around town. Datadisks taken, clothing stolen from lines, but it’s mostly food people have noticed gone missing.”
“They came after you, didn’t they?” Dynzol turned the question back to S’samph who was starting to regret not accepting the offered dose of painkiller and spending the night sleeping things off back in his nest.
“I gave them some vela beans after they shot me.” S’samph tapped a single claw tip against the warmth of his still-full tankard. “A binary and then a few klatches; I don’t think they knew what they wanted. Usually, they don’t make much sense unless there’s a singularity around.”
“And to think we thought we’d gotten away from all that f’fret when we left the space station.” K’kaen shook his head, staring down into the dregs of his drink and then seemed to realize S’samph was serious about not drinking, so grabbed the full tankard for himself.
“I thought the same,” S’samph replied. Raviks had been common enough on Latilla, as they hailed from the same galactic quadrant. He’d never expected them to follow him here.
“We should set up a patrol. You and K’kaen are ex-military, aren’t you?” Dynzol asked.
“I’d rather eat an entire sack of vela beans than try to convince this miserable pile of scales to return to a combat role.” K’kaen’s tail swished in amusement while S’samph’s lifted in annoyance.
“It’s a sound idea,” S’samph said.
“You’re on board with this?” K’kaen asked with a sidelong glance in his direction. S’samph kept his body neutral, knowing his friend was trying to prod him into a different answer.
“Don’t sound so surprised. Things haven’t been safe here lately.
” He wasn’t about to admit that most of his concern was because of Eleri.
He disliked how she walked around town unescorted, especially with the looming threat of the raviks of late.
Not to mention Minio, the lurking kyrot menace.
A patrol would put his mind more at ease if he couldn’t walk her to and from her appointments himself.
He suspected she wouldn’t welcome the idea of him as a private bodyguard, and he wasn’t about to push her boundaries further.
It was in the best interest of their courtship that he tried to respect her preferences.
“I’ll ask around to see if we can round up some interested people.” Dynzol exhaled deeply. “It’ll make me feel better knowing we have a patrol around here anyway. I have a mate and a spawnling on the way, and I’ll sleep better at night knowing there aren’t raviks creeping around unchecked.”
“When you have some volunteers, let me know.” S’samph sniffed at the dregs of his weak kvost.
Dynzol was about to respond when an uncomfortable silence fell over The Eon when Myla entered with her coterie of young female kyrot. She approached the makeshift bar and unfurled her wrist toward the surly proprietor. “Three bottles of your finest yra.”
Gavor offered a wary sidelong glance down his long snout. “We’re still waiting on the shipment from Brasnia Prime.”
Myla’s wingtips lifted as she leaned forward against the counter. The two young females behind her shifted uncomfortably out of her way. “What happened to the last shipment?”
“Gone.” Gavor picked up a cloth and began to polish a glass, more sober than S’samph had ever seen him. Gavor reached for something under the counter. “Do you want some seerya instead? It’s also from Brasnia Prime. Pretty good vintage.”
Myla scoffed at the offering. “This sludge isn’t fit for anyone.” She finally seemed to realize the intensity of the silence around her because she turned to glare at the rest of the room. “What are you all staring at? Nothing better to do?”
S’samph glanced away. Whatever drama Myla was intent on causing, he wanted nothing to do with it. His shoulder started to throb again despite the dose of medication he’d taken earlier. K’kaen’s tail twitched once along the ground beneath their table, and S’samph caught his eye.
“Time to leave, I think.”
“I guess I’ve spent enough of your credits for one night,” K’kaen gestured to the interface, where S’samph reluctantly presented his wrist to submit payment.
It was an unwelcome reminder that Eleri didn’t have the credits to do something as simple as purchase a drink with a friend.
As they walked out of The Eon, he glanced over at the clinic, and hoped she was sleeping soundly.
A brief thought of going over to check in on her crossed his mind, but he banished it as quickly as it arose.
Instead, he spent the ride back to his nest mulling over the best way to broach the subject of her limited credits without wounding her pride.