A KIND WORD
by Arianwen P.F. Everett
Pacing. Back and forth along the cargo section of the Eureka Maru. It was almost driving Tyr Annasazi mad, but for once, he held his tongue. It was a painfull frustration he understood all too well, so he let her pace.
Rejection. When that little man had approached him, and asked him to return the tiny box to his crewmate, Beka Valentine, Tyr'd opened it, wondering what would be so urgent that the man couldn't deliver it himself. When he saw the diamond engagement ring, he'd understood.
He'd felt the unfamiliar feeling of regret as he had handed over the box to Captain Valentine. She'd curtly thanked him, then entered the rear of her ship and began the pacing.
When he could stand it no longer, Tyr set the Maru on autopilot and made his way to the cargo hold.
"Could you please stop that infernal pacing!" Tyr demanded of his crewmate.
Remarkably she stopped, not up to fighting back. The silence became akward, as again Tyr felt regret that day.
"You know Tyr, you could at least try to show a little understanding! I just got unengaged!" Beka Valentine replied, not caring who knew.
"You'll be better off without him. He was not a good breeding specimen at all," Tyr stated, surely someone as intelligent as Beka Valentine could see that. Why she had even considered that scrawney, unintellibible man as a potential mate, Tyr had no idea. Perhaps he had money.
Beka smirked, then chuckled. "Why Tyr, I didn't know you cared."
"I don't. I was only stating the obvious. That man's genes must be a cesspool. His reproducing would be a crime against the universe," Tyr responded.
"Jackson isn't that bad! He was the son my Father wished Rafe was. He was a warf rat; must have completely overhauled the Maru a dozen times. And it was my Father's last wish that we marry, his last lucid wish anyway. That's how he got my Great-Grandmother's ring. At least he had the decency to return it," Beka Valentine explained. She didn't know why she was being so open with Tyr, but she suspected she was just looking for someone to be brutally honest. Nietzcheians, as a rule, only did brutally honest.
"Tell me. Would you have chosen him of your own free will?" Tyr asked directly.
"What..."
"I mean, if your Father had never interceded, would you have asked this man to be your mate?" Tyr again cut Beka to the quick.
"No... I don't know... I....No..." Beka stuttered, surprised at being asked such intimate questions by such a cold man.
"There's your answer," was all the Nietzcheian said, turning and making his way back to the piloting chair.
Beka Valentine stood dumbfounded and speachless, yet with a deep feeling of self-realization. Jackson was a kind man; most would have sold such a valuable ring or given it to the woman he had said he now intended to marry, but he wasn't for her. She'd been so in a rush to fulfill her Father's last wish and maybe even to find 'someone', that she was willing to go through with a sham marriage. Being single really sucked, and to realize she'd been Jackson's dumpee chafed her ego. Her earlier funk hadn't been about the heartbreak of growing apart from an old friend, as she'd convinced herself, but was basic self-pity. Well that was definitely not Beka Valentine!
And what was with Tyr? He obviously wasn't your run of the mill Nietzcheian.
He might actually have a soul, somewhere under all that muscle! Maybe
she ought to warn Dillion!