Chapter 4: Sibling Rivalry | page 5

By God, it was hot. Duaal tugged at his collar. Sweat streamed down his face, into his eyes and blurred his vision. He blinked it away. The others were awaiting Tiberius’ verdict. None of them seemed to notice Duaal’s intense discomfort. He didn’t know whether to be annoyed at their inattention or relieved that his salty situation went unseen. Did they care at all? Or was Duaal simply too composed, too stoic? Maybe he had them all fooled.

Tiberius folded his arms over the scratched plastic table and peered at Kessa. The pregnant girl fidgeted in her seat, clearly aware that her fate hung in the balance.

“Never had any children myself,” said Tiberius slowly. “Things were always too busy to settle down with a dove and make some little ones. But it seems to me that if I did, I would want the best for them. I can’t very well fault you for the same, Kessa. We’ll take care of you best we can.”

Gripper grinned in delight and Kessa’s face lit up with hope. Excited, she reached for Maeve to enfold her in a joyful hug, but the thanks died on her lips as the fairy flinched and pulled away. Kessa was crestfallen, but brightened again when Xia took her blue hands in her silvery ones.

“I’d like to give you an examination to see how well you and the baby are doing. It doesn’t have to be now, but soon,” Xia said with a smile. Kessa nodded.

Duaal looked away from the joyous faces. He stared at Maeve instead. This is your doing, he told her silently. Now, instead of paying work, they had a ward.

Tiberius wasn’t done. “Also seems to me that I would want my lady about to help with the baby. Wouldn’t want to take care of a nest all by myself. If you still want this Vyron fellow, we should find him. We can take you two someplace where you can have a little peace from that Sisterhood. The kid will be enough hell for you without some crazy ladies chasing you. Maeve said that your Sisters are on a lot of worlds, but Coldhand seems to know about them. I’ll have a chat with him and see if there is somewhere safe for you to go.”

“Be careful!” Xia said urgently. “That man is dangerous.”

Gripper nodded, agreeing emphatically with the Ixthian. “I don’t call him Freezer for nothing! That guy is like ice!”

“I will accompany you.” Maeve stood and replaced her chair. Tiberius seemed about to object, but only nodded. The pair vanished through the small door leading to the aft of the ship.

Gripper smiled at Kessa and gently took one of her blue hands in his claws. “Come on, you can have my room, Blue,” he told her. “Freezer is staying in the only spare. I never use mine, though. I always stay in the garden with my plants.”

“A garden? On a ship?” Kessa stood and let herself be led away. “A real garden? Can I see it?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s wired up high, so we can keep the cargo floor open for crates and stuff, but you can see it pretty well from the catwalks.”

Though the strictly vegetarian Gripper kept the garden out of necessity, it was probably a welcome reminder of home and he was quite proud of it. He certainly sounded eager to show it off. Gripper led the waddling girl away. Their excited babble faded away into dimly ringing echoes in the corridors. Duaal was alone with Xia. She dropped down into one of the recently vacated chairs. The Ixthian doctor laced her six-fingered hands together and rested her chin on them.