Chapter 6: Starry Sky

"Please, not that—" Ryder raised a beseeching hand towards Evfra as he picked up the plant on her desk and without pause hurled it across the room. The spray of soil and pottery made her shield her eyes, but thankfully he hadn't been aiming for her. She glanced at it with a mix of emotion; it had been a gift, a cutting from one of the Initiative's first plants to survive in Andromeda, and a symbol of the new life they had created in this galaxy.

"How do you explain this?" Evfra demanded, snarling, fists clenched at his sides, eyes burning like blue suns. "Your people have done nothing but meddle in everything you find, especially you, and now you bring me back to Aya only to find your weapons pointed at the heart of what's left of our civilization?"

"It's not our…" Ryder began, then stopped and took a deep breath. "They are from us, but I swear to you, it wasn't the Initiative! The angara are our allies we have no reason to attack you! Please, Evfra, trust me," she pleaded.

"You ask me to trust you, but you admit that it is your weapons that rain fire on our planet," Evfra said angrily. "I do not know what other interpretation you can apply to that and not make it your people's fault!"

Ryder was silent for a moment. "Your fighters have taken out most of them already, if not all by now," she said.

"That's not the point," Evfra growled, looking around for another object to throw. Ryder quickly strode to him to glare up at him, drawing his attention before he could further demolish her possessions.

"I know it's not the point, Evfra, but I'm trying to tell you that I'm on your side," she said as forcefully as she could and for a wonder, he seemed to calm down a little, as before. There was a definite pattern here; maybe he preferred forceful women? She wasn't standing too close to him, but her nose filled with his scent and that, combined with the speculation on his preferences, made her feel almost light-headed with giddiness. She tried very hard to ignore it.

"You're on my side," Evfra sneered. "You are on your own side and you will do anything to keep the angara placated for as long as it suits your needs," he accused, looming over her with that storm in his eyes.

"I'm not going to get down on my knees and beg you to believe me," Ryder retorted. "I am on your side, I would even defend you from the Initiative if that's what is needed!" She sincerely hoped she never would have to prove that. "Take it or leave it, I won't try to escape justice if it turns out that it was my people behind it, all I'm asking is that you give them the benefit of the doubt and give me a chance to prove it wasn't us!"

"They're your weapons," Evfra repeated flatly.

"And are you going to pay the price for every person from the Milky Way that a Roekaar kills or injures? They are your weapons," she said hotly, planting her fists on her hips.

"What purpose does getting on your knees serve, anyway?" Evfra asked, ignoring her question. "Is that how humans apologize? Or is it some sort of seduction?"

Ryder really wished he hadn't asked that. It was ridiculous! It didn't help that his anger, putting that burn in his eyes, reminded her of his arms yet again. She simply couldn't fathom why he was suddenly acting like an intoxicant on her every time she came close to him, as if he had flipped a light switch and just forgot to turn it off. Then he trampled everything in sight in a fit of rage, argued technicalities with her and casually spouted insinuations without even realizing it, while she just stood there contemplating his finer attributes. It really was ridiculous.

Get your head on straight, woman! she thought to herself furiously. She glanced away from him, crossing her arms defensively, wondering if she could step back a few paces without it being obvious that she was trying to put more distance between them. There was nowhere to go that wouldn't make it obvious though, so she resumed glaring at him; the man deserved it.

"You're not getting out of the question, are you going to make good on all the blood and tears the Roekaar caused?"

"I expect next you'll want me on my knees," Evfra growled.

"Your legs don't bend that way," she replied coolly.

"They are not our people. But it seems you have a personal grudge against them, is that why you keep trying to convince me that they are behind all this?"

Ryder exhaled in frustration, unwinding an arm and rubbing her temple with her fingertips; the pressure reminded her that she still hadn't had that shower yet. Now that was certainly beginning to grate on her nerves in the worst way. "Are you going to give me a chance or not?" she asked.

Evfra contemplated her for the longest time. His eyes were still on fire, scar pulling at his mouth in a way that radiated disapproval, the muscles in his arms subtly flexing as they unconsciously tightened with an anger that pulsed through him. Ryder waited as patiently as she could. She had to set this right somehow, but whoever had stolen those weapons had made her job very difficult indeed. Evfra was the key, she was sure; if he believed, so would the rest of the angara. The only question was: could she convince him? It was clear that he assigned blame to the Initiative regardless of their involvement and she supposed she couldn't exactly blame him for that, but if he only trusted her a little further, just until she could prove her theory right…

"Very well," Evfra said finally, and Ryder actually smiled. "It would be wrong to mistrust you after bonding. If you betray that trust, however…" he left the threat unsaid, but he didn't really need to say aloud that betraying him was the equivalent to alienating all angara everywhere; not for political reasons, but because it apparently violated a sacred trust.

Ryder's smile froze in place. "Among humans," she replied frostily, "it is customary to not mention such things after it is agreed that nothing more is to happen between them, and since you made it quite clear that I am unwelcome in that capacity, I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep bringing it up." Mostly, though, she felt mortified by how good it felt to hear him say that they had bonded. Mortified, and also frustrated to tears.

Evfra blinked at her and actually looked a little hurt, which made her confused and angry at him all at once. The man looked hurt; she didn't even know he was capable of it! She wanted to slap sense into him, then demand an explanation and – she thought guiltily – kiss him senseless until the look faded from his eyes.

The ship rocked.

"What happened?" Ryder asked, looking around in alarm. "SAM? Kallo?"

"Ryder, I think you'd better come up here," Suvi's voice said over the comms.

Pathfinder, I am detecting angaran ships firing at us, SAM's voice said in her head.

"Wonderful," Ryder muttered, already dashing outside. Evfra followed her out and up onto the bridge, which she wasn't thrilled about, but she was not about to stop and have yet another argument with him about staying in her quarters. Particularly since the obnoxious man would probably point out that she had practically begged him to leave them yesterday. "What's going on?" she asked, striding up to the galaxy map.

"We're being shot at!" Kallo exclaimed, sounding indignant.

"The angara opened fire the moment we approached Aya," Suvi added.

"If they hit the Tempest with their mean little…"

"Kallo," Ryder hissed, risking a glance over her shoulder at Evfra. The Resistance leader was frowning grimly at the ships coming at them, but then, that expression was not unusual for him. He said not a word. "Well? Can you get them to stop firing at us?" she asked after a moment, realizing that he was not going to offer.

"I wonder if I should," he said, his cool gaze sliding over to her.

Ryder gritted her teeth. "Evfra, you would be shot down with us, you realize that, right?"

"I could have you take me back to Voeld, where I could take one of our own ships back."

She scoffed. "You wouldn't lose that much time, not while we're here already."

A long moment passed. "Open the channel," he said finally.

"Open," Kallo said, giving him a sidelong look that spoke volumes.

"This is Evfra de Tershaav. I am aboard the Tempest. Cease fire," he said simply. A long moment of radio silence followed; Ryder breathed a sigh of relief when a response finally crackled through.

"Acknowledged."

"Take us in, Kallo," Ryder said, trying to hide her spiking nerves. She found that somehow the open conflict had suited her better; the planet was going to be much worse. "Here we go," she added under her breath. But I'll be damned if I go down looking like this, she added in her head and strode away, glaring so fiercely at Evfra when he moved to follow that he settled back – and actually quirked a smile. She managed to walk away and through the door with dignity intact, but she was so shocked she almost fell off the ladder when her foot slipped. He never smiled.

After the fastest shower in her life, Ryder finally slipped into welcoming, soft and clean clothes that helped her compose herself at least a little, though she realized that the last time she had really slept had been in Evfra's arms on Voeld. That had been a long time ago and not nearly enough; now that she had relaxed a little, she was beginning to feel her fatigue clamp down on her ruthlessly. She met Evfra in the cargo bay and avoided looking at him, though from the corner of her eye he seemed to be keen on studying her for some reason.

As Ryder descended from the Tempest, the view of Aya expanded from dusty tiles to the deserted docks, a single wreck smoldering to their left suffusing the city with fattening tendrils of smoke. Her mouth tightened with worry, heart breaking for the angara and dreading what other damage – or worse, wounded – they would find deeper in. Evfra strode ahead as if he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but she knew that he was enraged.

Approaching the inner port, other angara suddenly appeared, evidently coming out to meet the Resistance leader. They were firmly at his heels before they even reached the gates, competing to give their news to him; from what she heard most of it was boasting about how easily they had shot the weapons down once they realized they were under attack by the 'Milky Way Initiative'. Some glanced reproachfully over their shoulders at her when mentioning that.

"She is not to be harmed," Evfra instructed after listening for a while, noticing their glances.

Ryder was grateful, but trepidation kept her from feeling too confident in Evfra's promise to give her a chance; whatever traditions the angara had, her experience as a human did not allow her to fully believe in the concept of… bonding, as he seemed to understand it. Not to mention that she was confused beyond reason about how Evfra could possibly take that seriously and reject her at the same time. It's not a rejection if I didn't want it either, she thought, reminding herself that she did not intend nor desire any of this to happen in the first place. Now that it had, though…

Once they were inside, relief swelled in Ryder; the damage wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, she only saw one smoldering piece of rubble that they walked around. Angara teamed around it, putting out the fires with what looked like practiced ease; Evfra's eyes lingered on the rubble as they passed it, then he meaningfully raised that stony gaze to Ryder, not saying a word. She breathed out sharply in frustration. When they finally entered Resistance headquarters, she noticed that after a few paces guards flanked her. She looked a question at Evfra stonily, forcing herself to stay relaxed, but her heartbeat raced as she slowed to a halt.

Evfra noticed and stopped, turning to her. "You're not leaving headquarters," he said, but all the same he grimaced at the guards and waved them back irritably.

"Am I a prisoner?" she asked, a little more doubtfully than she would have if he hadn't done that; still, not being able to leave couldn't really be interpreted any other way. "I came to find out what happened, I can hardly do that sitting around here," she added. Even the thought of having to sit still and wait for some miracle clue to fall in their laps made her itch inside.

"If it is the Initiative attacking us, I want my options open," he replied simply.

Tactically smart, she thought, but it hurt anyway. "So where am I going to be held?" she asked, crossing her arms. Slowly; she didn't want to antagonize anyone, after all. Except maybe Evfra.

"You are welcome to stay in there," he gestured at a doorway in the opposite direction from his office and without another word, turned on his heels, gathered everyone up with a look and proceeded into his domain.

Ryder closed her eyes for a moment, gritting her teeth before heading for the door, feeling like a compliant slipper. Not that any other behavior would have gotten her anywhere at the moment, it was the diplomatic choice. None of the angara around her appeared ready to force her inside, but she couldn't exactly say she wasn't being guarded; the two that had stepped up behind her were standing together a few paces away, not threatening, but very obviously lingering close to her just in case.

When she stepped into the room, however, she bit her lip uncertainly when her eyes found the small cot in the back of the room. The lights were clearly dimmed for sleeping, too. She felt like laughing and crying all at once at how exasperatingly confusing Evfra was to her in that moment, but more importantly, just the sight of a bed made her knees want to buckle with fatigue. Thinking that since she apparently didn't have anything better to do she might as well catch up on her sleep, she went to the bed and gratefully curled up on it. Drowsily she thought how nice it was to feel like herself again, not quite registering that Evfra's increasingly familiar scent clung to the bed.

She was asleep in seconds.

Hours later, Ryder opened her eyes and felt oddly drawn and refreshed at the same time, the sweet, musky scent in her nose making her open her eyes to hastily look around, wondering if she had somehow… when she didn't see Evfra, she felt confused for a moment before she began to consciously register her surroundings. It had been a long time since she had been so exhausted that she would wake to such disorientation, but at least it seemed to have been exactly what she needed, because already she felt like a loose coil had been realigned in her mind.

Climbing to her feet a little unsteadily, she ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it, grateful at finding that a small antechamber was connected to the room with a space for ablutions and a tidy collection of salves. She was fascinated, but she was also starting to feel a little irritated that no one had bothered to wake her or check on her at all. Though, the feeling was a far less sharp than it would have been had she not slept; she seemed to have regained a serenity that had eluded her since first coming to Evfra with her findings.

Feeling like a complete person again, she went to the door and opened it, peering out. No guards were posted, though she supposed they were hardly necessary in a place literally filled with armed fighters. She didn't see as many as she would have thought to find wandering the corridors, however, considering what had happened that day. Heading for Evfra's office, no one stopped her, which she chose to interpret as a good sign. Once she reached it she hesitated at his door for a moment, but didn't let herself dwell on her doubts before opening it.

Evfra looked up as she stepped inside, recognized her, then returned his gaze to his table. "You're just in time," he said. His office was eerily quiet, almost peaceful with a stunning panorama of the sky behind him, stars glittering like a myriad of precious gems. He gestured her closer. "This just came in, I thought you would like to see it first," he handed her a datapad that had been lying at the side of the table.

"You're letting me read it first?" Ryder asked quizzically.

Evfra frowned at her. "You want to prove yourself, well now is the chance." He crossed his arms and stared at her expectantly. He still seemed convinced that whatever was on the datapad would prove her wrong; she very much wanted to deny him that satisfaction, but at the same time it took an effort to lower her eyes to it. After all, she could be dead wrong, too, and at the moment she didn't think she would survive that.

The suspected angara was found on Voeld with a dagger in his back, the markings indicated that it was a Roekaar blade, SAM translated.

Ryder let out a long breath, not realizing she had been holding it. "He was killed by a Roekaar blade," she said, looking up at Evfra.

"It seems so," he said stiffly, frowning, but his eyes were troubled.

"You did read it before me, didn't you," Ryder asked shrewdly.

Evfra nodded. "I had to see your face as you read it," he said. For an instant she thought he meant that more ways than one, but his expression immediately walled off her scrutiny when he realized she was considering him in turn.

"So, where do we go from here?" she asked. I keep asking that question. She hoped she would like his answer better this time.

"It still doesn't prove anything conclusively," he turned away and walked to the windows, leaning palms against the pane. "But it does cast enough doubt that I cannot ignore it. We will follow your theory and see where it goes."

Ryder stepped up beside him, trying not to smile. "I promise, you won't regret it."

"We'll see," he replied skeptically.

She watched him again, now that he wasn't focused on her. He seemed composed, at home in familiar surroundings, but the way his eyes studied Aya's landscape seemed to be a little haunted. She still wasn't sure if their intimacy had taught her how to read those feelings or if he simply had unintentionally opened towards her in a way he hadn't with others; either way, she was glad she had at least a few hints to understand him better. Her eyes went to the sweep of stars and drank them in, feeling as though a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders and she took a deep breath, relishing the cool evening air.

Evfra, on the other hand, must have still felt as though he had somehow let his people down for being gone from Aya when the attack happened. On Voeld, the Resistance's greatest strength in its structure was a hindrance to him in fighting against the enemies who had been bold enough to attack his headquarters; she was beyond feeling guilty about her part in that, after all she had been played as much as he had. Regardless, he had enough burdens without feelings of guilt or powerlessness, especially so soon after their discovery on his homeworld.

Strained though their relationship towards one another was, she felt a need to show her support, so with a skipping heartbeat she lightly put a comforting hand over his. It was meant to be a gesture of solidarity and sympathy, but she had pricked herself on that needle before with him and she was ready to draw back instantly. To her surprise, however, he gripped her hand in return and turned to her slightly, staring down at her with eyes like silvery moons.

Looking up at him, Ryder felt sure in an instant that he would kiss her again, her heart raced in anticipation, but instead he let go of her hand and said, "I do not want your pity, nor do I require it." His frown wasn't very convincing.

"I wasn't offering pity," she said, crossing her arms as if to hold herself in. She changed the subject. "Do we have any leads to follow?"

"My people are analyzing the debris, but I believe both the Initiative and the Roekaar would try for Havarl next, if the intent is to weaken us and our resolve."

"It would certainly dampen spirits," Ryder agreed. She was irritated that he still included the Initiative on his list of suspects, but she supposed she couldn't have everything. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," he replied immediately.

"So, do we lie in wait? Stay in orbit?" While suffering through another disagreement about Evfra refusing to stay anywhere but her quarters, no doubt. She already regretted not sleeping more on that cot, just to store up the hours she was sure she would lose.

"Neither," Evfra said. "We will go to one of the Roekaar camps to find information about the man we met."

"And leaving Aya?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Aya is as safe as it can be for the moment and it is unlikely that another attack would be a success. The element of surprise has been lost."

Ryder nodded. Evfra glanced out the window, again that hint of uncertainty flashing across his eyes. It seemed that agreeing with him was even better than shouting at him; she thought this had been the smoothest conversation they had had in an eternity. Maybe she could tell him that…

The door opened, and to her disappointment Evfra's expression closed again, his focus going immediately to the newcomer. Perhaps it was for the best, considering how new this unspoken understanding was between them, but at the very least now she was fairly certain that he wasn't exactly through with her, either.