Page 34

Garnet

“D id you know a mating dance meant like an actual mating dance?”

Goldie lifted her eyes from the mediring console she had been studying so closely and gave Garnet a look like she was being extraordinarily dumb.

“Do you know of some other kind of mating dance?” She asked dully.

“Shut up,” Garnet grumbled, rolling her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t, actually. Can you cough real quick?”

Garnet obliged, her entire body jerking from the movement. Goldie laughed like something awesome happened. Maybe it did. Garnet really didn’t understand all the fancy science going on over at the console that her sister was busy learning.

Using Garnet as a guinea pig.

She was, once again, laid out on the scanner bed. This time, however, Goldie was just learning how to use the machine. There wasn’t a problem with radiation exposure or anything, so she could lay there for hours with no bad effects. It was a bit boring, but it was important for Goldie to learn.

Her sister was trying to learn healing, which was just alien medicine. So, it was all the difficulties of medical school, but she was trying to learn it using online classes and lectures that Alred was bringing her. She was attempting to master the brain imprinting process first. The one that auto-downloaded the Standard language into their heads was, apparently, an automatic sequence most starship mediscanners came equipped with just in case. All Alred had to do was start the program.

But getting actual information transferred to her brain, like how to run a mediscanner or how to be a healer, were specialty information imprints and didn’t come with an auto sequence. So not only was Goldie learning space medicine the old-fashioned way, she was doing it with no help besides Alred who could only search the subnet for answers.

Hence why Garnet was now her anatomy dummy so she could learn how to use the mediring. Boring, but it would pay out in the long run.

“Tanin’s people, the s’skree, they have a mating dance,” she said, getting back to their discussion.

“Wait, really?” Goldie’s smile slowly spread across her face. “That’s awesome. Is it like birds? Does he, like, jump around or something?”

“I don’t know what he does, I haven’t seen it. But that’s not the point. His people do a mating dance. To like actually mate!”

“And your confusion comes from…? What? You don’t have any rhythm?”

“I’m a better dancer than you!”

“Not saying much,” Goldie snickered. “Still don’t understand your question.”

“My question ,” Garnet glared at her, “is that it’s like a real mating dance? Like, it makes a mate bond? That mate bond? The one that’s basically marriage?”

“It’s actually nothing like marriage,” Goldie said calmly. “The mate bond is something that connects all sapient species in the cosmos. It’s a bond that literally reshapes the soul. You can’t divorce your way out of a mate bond. Some species die if their mate bond is broken. I think one dies if they never get their mate bond. It’s something that we as humans can’t really imagine because true mating is so uncommon for our people. But its value to practically every other species can’t really be overstated. It goes beyond sacred. It’s as fundamental of a concept as gravity. Comparing the mate bond to something as inconsistent and fragile as marriage is an insult to the bond.”

“See, that actually just makes me more confused. Because that mate bond is forged by his people through dance?”

Goldie shrugged. “I read about a species that bonds through taste. Like, the taste of the other’s blood. I think Sway’s people do it through song. Vytln’s people got this whole crazy thing going on with like a burrow and some really kinky CNC style-”

“One species bond through drinking each other’s blood?” Garnet made a face, still caught up on that to even pay attention to whatever else Goldie was saying.

Her sister gave her a dull look. “There are stranger things, Horatio.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that yes, Tanin’s people have a mate bond that’s forged through dancing. And some have even weirder things that trigger and cement the bond. Did you know humans bond by sight? Sometimes immediately, sometimes after repeated viewing. That’s how our bonds, rare as they are, trigger and are set. At least dancing involves effort.”

“Goldie,” Garnet gave her a look. “He asked to dance for me.”

Her twin opened her mouth, but whatever retort she had ready caught in her throat. That was clearly not what she expected her to say.

“He asked to dance for you?” She finally managed to say. “Like mating dance for you?”

Garnet nodded her head quickly. “That’s what I’m saying!”

“Damn.” Goldie blinked rapidly before shaking her head. “How good are you in bed? How did you manage that in just a couple days? Did you suck his brains through his dick?”

“Focus, Goldie! I think I was just proposed to. And I said yes!”

“You said-… Garnet!”

“I didn’t know!”

“Then, why did you say yes?!”

“I didn’t think it was that serious!”

Goldie let out a long groan, dropping her head into her hands. She mumbled something, but the words were muffled through her fingers. Garnet didn’t need the translation, however, to know that she was being judged right now. Probably deservedly so.

Garnet, face flushed, stayed silent until Goldie lifted her head.

“Did he actually dance for you?”

“No,” Garnet let out a long breath. “And I don’t know if I’m relieved or not. Like, it’s not right. He’s our sponsor. What if something goes wrong? What if we’re not actually mates and he dances for me and nothing happens? How are we supposed to get over that?”

“What if you got pregnant because I haven’t figured out how to use the birth control on this thing yet?” Goldie added.

“I just got my shot before we left.”

“Yes. But how long were we in stasis for?”

Garnet opened her mouth, then hesitated. Because she didn’t know. Wasn’t that an argument she made at one point? They didn’t even know if any of their life on Earth had been preserved because they had no idea when they last paid rent. And that logic also applied to the last time she’d received the birth control shot.

“Oh, shit…”

Goldie let out a long breath. “Garnet, you don’t think things through. You’re impulsive. I love you, but you see things you want, and you make a snap decision without completely thinking about all the consequences. But this is something you can’t do that with. Mating is serious business. Imagine he just said he wanted a surgery to fuse you two together at the hip for life. Because that’s basically what’s happening here. You can’t undo this decision. You can’t take it back.”

Garnet lowered her gaze. Ashamed of herself.

Because Goldie was right. Like when she asked to stay in space. She hadn’t considered Goldie’s feelings or future at all in that decision. When she decided to seduce and sleep with Tanin, she hadn’t considered her own future. And when he asked to dance for her, she hadn’t considered that it might mean more than just a fun little performance.

“Can you see if I’m pregnant?” She asked, voice a broken whisper.

Goldie shook her head. “No. You wouldn’t even be pregnant yet. You need at least a few days on this machine. I think. I can’t be sure. I don’t know how to do it. Even if the machine can see it that early, it would take way more skill than I possess to get to that fine of detail.”

Garnet said nothing. Gnawing her bottom lip. Once again, considering the true breadth of the consequences of her actions only after she did the thing.

Goldie let out a sigh, coming around the console. Approaching her side. She took Garnet’s hand and held it gently, giving her a smile.

“Do you want to be with him?”

Garnet hesitated. Only because she wasn’t sure what the right answer was. She knew what she wanted, but making snap decisions clearly wasn’t her strong suit.

“Don’t overthink it,” Goldie chuckled. “Do you want to be with him, yes or no?”

“I… yes…” She admitted on a quiet whisper. “He’s so great, Goldie. Look at all that he’s done. Look how far he’s taken himself! Do you know how bad the place he came from was? And this is where he’s at now. He came from nothing. Less than nothing. And now he has a whole ass spaceship and a crew that he saved and… and us ! He saved us too. Can you imagine what kind of person you have to be to do all that? How strong he is? How incredible?! Who wouldn’t love a guy like that?”

Goldie smiled at her. “Yeah. He is great. All the guys here are. There aren’t many who could do what they did. It’s something to be admired.”

“Right?” Garnet beamed, getting more excited. “And you should see the way he fights! He can take down multiple people at once and not even be out of breath. He’s always that calm! Like, I’ve never met someone so dependable and reliable in my life. I feel like, even if everything is shaking all around me, he’s going to be sturdy and stable and awesome!”

Goldie laughed. “Yeah. I suppose so.”

“He asked me how to run Spot the other day-”

“What’s Spot?”

Garnet giggled. “It’s what I named the cleaning machine I put together.”

“Cleaning machine… Oh! Like spot clean?” Goldie laughed. “That’s great!”

“I know!” Garnet laughed along with her. “And Tanin wanted to learn how to use it. He said he learns every job on this ship because he feels he should be able to step in and do anything if someone else can’t for whatever reason. And he’s taken such good care of us even though we are burdens that just fell in his lap. He hasn’t complained even once. He just does it. He may not have a bunch of pretty, flowery words, but I’ve never met someone so sincere and honest. Like, if I needed something, I know he would get it for me.”

“Do you love him?”

The soft question cut Goldie off mid rant about how great Tanin was. Totally derailed her thoughts completely off track.

Goldie tilted her head before hitting her with another hard question. “Does he love you ?”

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted, deflating again. “We’ve never talked about it.”

“Well, maybe before you make another snap decision, that’s what you should do.”

***

Did Tanin love her?

The question tumbled around Garnet’s brain as she walked down the hall of the Humility, food tray in hand. On it, there was something steaming that she was pretty sure were ribs. They were huge, like beef ribs, but there was still fur on one side, and it looked like they’d been cooked sous vide. The result was meat that was juicy without being crispy, the flesh and fur still intact, the bones pearly white where they stuck out on one side. It was a simple meal, literally just heated meat, but it was about as complex as the synthesizer could get.

While she contemplated the riddle her twin had set her – for such a simple question, the answer seemed to elude her completely – Garnet had thrown herself into her chores. Using simple labor as a way to keep her hands and body busy while her brain puttered along. Hammering at the question like a monkey trying to figure out fire.

She’d already cleaned up the bridge – keeping it tidy required her popping in once every other day or so. She had Spot clean the floors in the halls and ran a chemical wash down in stowage. The blood stains were already gone when she emerged from Tanin’s room. The guys must have done it. Blood, it seemed, was the only thing they cleaned promptly and correctly. Ikvar messaged her again. It had been a little while, and she suspected that he was pretending to have forgotten to see if they’d mess up somehow. She was irritated with him and wanted to demand why Gissrn was still roaming free.

But she didn’t, because she didn’t want to actually talk to that guy. He was on her nerves and, honestly, she agreed with Tanin. As long as Gissrn wasn’t bothering them, she didn’t care what he did or what was happening to him. Responding to the peacekeeper captain was just another chore.

Now, she was bringing Vytln lunch.

The big guy rarely ever left his workroom. Of all the males here, he spent the least amount of time in his private quarters. She never saw him go into or out of the door she knew barred the way to his bedroom. He was always in his workroom, the one that was an antechamber to the engine room. She didn’t even see him go get food that often.

So, she decided to bring him food. Now that her deep clean of the Humility was done, keeping the place tidy was an easy task that didn’t require much time. Needing more time to think, she was reaching for any little chore she could. And, hell, if she could clean up after everyone else, she could also make sure everyone, including Vytln, was fed.

Coming to his door, she pressed the button on the small console beside it that acted as a doorbell, alerting him to the fact that she was there. His workroom wasn’t technically a private room, but because it was so close to the engine, it was hot in there. Like an oven. She had been advised by Alred that it wouldn’t be wise for her to spend much time inside. Or to go in without warning, as Vytln might be doing something that made the room more dangerous.

His people were hardy, Alred explained. He was a lvtl, and his species had two races that were highly polarized. Literally. One race was designed to tolerate extreme cold, while the other race, Vytln’s race, were evolved to handle extreme heat. They were the same species that lived on opposite sides of their planet. Vytln alone was capable of not only living in but thriving in the heat that the engine – with its cheap, inadequate shielding – put off.

With that warning in mind, Garnet patiently waited until Vytln opened the door. It slid back into the wall, revealing the large male with dark, rock-like brown skin. The many fissures crossing over his body. Through those lines, like breaks in the skin, she could see the same glow, like embers in a dying fire, that lit up his eyes. He gave her a look through those burning eyes, confused and suspicious.

Beaming, Garnet lifted up the tray. “Brought you food!”

His frown deepened. Really highlighting the crown of short, but sharp horns emerging from his big head.

“Why?”

“Because you always skip meals, and I thought you’d be hungry.”

“Er, the captain is usually on the upper bridge…”

“Yes, but he doesn’t skip meals. You do. So, here. I asked Alred what you liked, and he said you get this pretty frequently.”

Somehow, there was still room for Vytln to scowl deeper. But he accepted the tray, balancing it on one hand before slowly turning and stepping back. Like he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. But he left the door open, which prompted Garnet to come inside.

Shamelessly, she looked around as he walked the tray to what was clearly his workbench on the same wall as the door. There were a bunch of tools and half-finished projects strewn about all over it. The opposite wall had bigger machines and projects in various stages of disrepair spilling their mechanical guts all over the floor. Halfway across the room, there were two walls jutting out that created a divide between his workroom and something big that was rumbling and putting out a lot of heat. Alred wasn’t lying. It was unbearably hot in here. There was already sweat beading on Garnet’s forehead.

But Vytln looked completely at ease. He walked with a stoop in his shoulders, like his muscular arms were so heavy, they were weighing him down. He set the tray in a free spot on the bench and stared at it like the very concept of food confused him.

Or maybe just the fact that she brought it to him.

“You’re one of Tanin’s guys,” Garnet said, smiling. Trying to get him to understand. “You help him. You work for him. So, I want to help you. Take care of you. And make sure you eat enough. You’re a big guy. You need to eat more. It’s not healthy to keep skipping meals.”

Vytln didn’t respond or turn. He just continued to stare at the food. Garnet went back to turning her eyes around the workroom.

The engine room, behind the angled, jutting walls, was the first thing that grabbed her attention. But when she looked away from it, on the opposite side of the room, there was another big, weird thing. It definitely wasn’t an engine. But it was certainly a… thing.

The outside was like a huge mass of metal objects that had all been melted and fused together into one big ball of scrap. Spiky and hard on the outside, there was something like a funnel effect in the center, leading to a small hole in which she could barely see something shining.

What was that? Would it be rude to ask? Would it be ruder not to ask?

Vytln suddenly stepped into her vision, making her jump. She smiled a bit too bright, laughing sheepishly. He was still scowling.

“Sorry. I wasn’t going to touch or anything. I was just curious.”

“That’s not for you,” he said.

“I know. I was only looking.”

“You’re the captain’s.”

If Garnet wasn’t already flushed from the heat, her face would have burned from the way he said that – so simply and definitively. Like it was just an established fact. Even the guys on the crew were already thinking about it like it was a done deal. And Vytln wasn’t even around that often!

“I’ll, er,” she hesitated, taking a step back. “I’ll bring you dinner later.”

“Thanks,” he grunted as she backed out through the door. He was scowling, still apparently confused by her actions.

But she was glad she did it. Just like Sway needed his space cleaned, Vytln needed to be fed. And she considered it her job to take care of the guys.

She stepped through the door, already thinking about the next thing she could do-

-only to come up short. Tanin was standing there, leaning against the hallway wall, hands in his pocket, resting his knuckle claws right against the edge. He was already looking at her, his expression strange. There was heat in his gaze, but she couldn’t tell what was causing it.

Garnet quickly smiled, unsure why she suddenly felt guilty. Like he might have caught her doing something wrong. “I brought Vytln food.”

“You did.”

“He skips meals.”

“He does.”

She bit her lip. Shifting her weight. “Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because I brought another guy food?”

Tanin pushed himself off the wall and walked towards her. He took her by the chin and pulled up, making her lift her head and drop her hands.

“You take care of my ship,” he said. “You take care of my crew. Sway’s feathers are healthier since you started cleaning the bridge. The twins are coming out and talking more. Rok is laughing freely. Now, you’re making sure Vytln doesn’t go hungry. Why would I be anything but proud?”

Warmth rushed through her, and Garnet couldn’t help but smile. It was good to be needed. To be appreciated, even for just the little things she did. Chores had always fallen more on her than Goldie growing up, just by sheer force of their parents’ favoritism. Then, when they moved out, she took care of everything because Goldie needed to focus on studying. Now, at this point, it was just something she did. It was part of her. Something she was good at. Sure, it could be considered a normal part of being an adult, being able to clean and help others if necessary.

But the heat in Tanin’s gaze was more than just gratitude for the things she did. That look she couldn’t identify at first wasn’t just him being happy that these things were being done. That was pride. He was proud for something that was so normal and simple.

Releasing her chin, Tanin took her hand instead and began walking with her through the ship. She followed without question, holding his hand happily, as he guided her up to the bridge, past the hard-working Sway, and to the upper bridge. Once there, he shut the hatch and, only once it sealed, separating them from the main bridge, did he release her.

Garnet took her time walking around. Though she had been here before, this was still Tanin’s space, and she liked to see it.

Unlike the main bridge, it was always clean in here. With the hatch closed, it was quiet. Aloof. Separated from the others. It even smelled like him.

This was the brains of the ship. From his consoles, he could see everything. Control everything. Keep track of everyone. Though it was dim and gray and seemingly lacking in personality at first glance, there was a lot here if you knew what to look for.

The windows were all black. They were still in subspace and, as a protective measure, the windows had all been darkened. Alred explained to her once that subspace was strange for their eyes to behold and looking too long could cause eye strain and headaches and, in some people, even seizures. Better to just not look.

After her little walk around, she turned back to find Tanin in his seat. His elbows were resting on the arms, ribbon loosely wrapped around his wrist. He watched her without a word. Content to just let her meander around his world.

With a smile, she came back to him. He sat back, expression unchanging but crimson eyes blazing as she straddled his legs, resting her hands on his shoulders.

His hands came around, cupping her ass like he owned it. Keeping her perched on him, his gaze briefly roamed down, taking in the entirety of her body, before returning to her eyes.

She frowned, looking down at herself as well. “Sorry. I was sweating. Vytln’s workroom was really hot. It’s like an oven. Or a volcano.”

Tanin’s arm swept up her back, pressing her against his chest. “I don’t care. Just don’t wander around in there. It’s dangerous.”

“Yeah. The engine was right there .”

“His trap is also in there.”

“His trap?”

Tanin grunted, running his hands over her waist, her hips. Seemingly more interested in exploring her body than what he was saying. “Lvtl males build traps to catch their mates. Once a female goes in, she can’t get out until he lets her.”

“A trap…?”

Oh, was that what that weird metal thing was against the wall of his workroom? It had definitely been big enough to hold a person comfortably, with plenty of room to spare. But…

“Why did he make it in his workroom?” She frowned. “I mean, what’s the likelihood that anyone is going to go wandering by that to get trapped in it?”

“He doesn’t actually expect to catch anyone.”

“Then, why built it at all?”

“He can’t help himself. It’s an instinct. Regardless of where he ended up or what else he’s doing, he would start building that trap. I was relieved when he started. Lvtl males will only forgo building a trap if they don’t feel their home is safe for a female. The fact that he’s doing it means he is comfortable here. That he feels this is his home. It means I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.”

Garnet tilted her head. Distracted from that interesting fact of Vytln’s species to focus instead on that last part. “What were you setting out to do?”

The question came to her lips before Garnet really even thought about the full implication of it. But now that it was out, she found she really wanted to know. Tanin rarely talked about his past, and he never talked about it in detail. She understood that it wasn’t a good one, so she didn’t push him.

But this wasn’t about his time on Rik-Vane. Not really. She wanted to know how he ended up here, with these guys, on this ship.

Tanin didn’t answer immediately, but his hands did come to a halt. He held on tight as he focused on her eyes. She cocked her head, watching him curiously.

“Were these guys your friends or something?” She asked. “Is that why you all escaped together?”

“No. We didn’t really know each other before. We knew of each other, but I don’t think any of us had ever met before.”

“Then…?”

Once again, he remained silent for a long moment before answering. “I wanted out. It’s just that simple. I didn’t want to die there. Just another body to be tossed in the flames. If I was lucky. There’s really nothing more complicated to it than that.”

“Will you tell me more?” She shifted her weight. “I know it’s tough, but I’d like to hear about it. If you’re willing to, I mean.”