Page 98 of Tethered

There’s a possibility that we might have crossed paths at some point and never even known it. Imagine that.

“Why is that so shocking?”

“You. Live on a boat?”

“Yes. Why is that—”

“You’re such a hermit. Of course, when you’re not flying ships across the galaxy, you’re holed up alone on ahouseboat.”

“I’m not sure I like this.” Tanisira narrows her eyes. “I can’t figure out if you’re insulting me or not. It’s good for fishing.”

“You fish? With a rod and everything?” I plop my chin into my hand and stare up at her, amazed. I can’t believe Tanisira does things forfun. “What else should I know about you? Do you have pets?”

She shifts then, almost like she’s uncomfortable. “Two.”

“Twopets?” I cry. “Oh, my. Tell me.”

She sighs. “You’re definitely insulting me. I have two toads.”

“They were rescues,” she says in a hurry when my eyes pop open.

“How do you rescue a toad? And what are they called? And where are they right now? Captain, are you hiding toads on this ship?”

She huffs and gently pushes my elbows off the counter so she can reach the salad I wrapped. For a moment, she doesn’t reply, just gets on with packing our lunch away.

“They’re called Thing 1 and Thing 2, after characters from a Tellurian book my sister used to like. I don’t know why; the author is horribly racist. Anyway, they’re staying with a friend right now and—” she raises her volume as I open my mouth. “If you make a comment about me having friends, I will lock you in here and enjoy lunch with Vee.”

My teeth make a noise as they snap together, and I laugh into my hands. That’s exactly what I was going to do.

Longing

The beauty of the greenhouse never ceases to take my breath away. We duck under low branches and set up beside the waterfall. Vee hasn’t replied yet, so I turn to Tanisira, planning to grill her some more. She beats me to it.

“Do you want to talk about what happened with that man yesterday?”

My heart skitters.

“I hadn’t—I don’t—” With a deep breath, I steady myself. “No.”

“Okay.”

I should; I know it’ll help if I make myself do it. I can’t bring myself to replay what happened on Novus right now. It’s notthe first time I’ve been accosted by a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer, but I don’t want to relive any of it.

I should feel bad that something horrible might have happened to him when those goons dragged him away, but I don’t. Maybe a younger me would have; a Marlowe who hadn’t been sexualised as soon as her body began to round out, who hadn’t been fetishised by older, primarily white men. Maybe a younger me.

Thinking about last night brings me back to the moment a gun was held to my head and the metal was cold and hard and I could smell the gunpowder, and I cannot—

My hands feel clammy, and I swipe them over my thighs and clear my throat.

“Won’t Ryker come after us?”

Tanisira doesn’t look worried at all, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of man who lets things go.

“He won’t appreciate how, but the transaction was complete. I left payment when I could have taken both it and the medicine. He may be a snake, but he’s also a businessman; he’s not stupid enough to bother. It’d be different if we lived on Novus.”

I stare, incredulous at how blasé she sounds.

Tanisira shrugs. “Ryker doesn’t scare me. When he had you in that room, I was terrified, but he doesn’t know who you are. You’re safe.”