The interior of Talyn was quiet. Rainne was in her bed, napping.
Crais had been up in command, but he could not stay away. He went into the
chamber and sat down to watch Rainne. He never tired of looking at her.
Even the smudges under her eyes from fatigue could not deter from his
pleasure at looking. While he was up in command, Talyn had accessed Moya's
databanks and explained to Crais about the differences in Rainne's
physiology and why she had been so shocked at a normal question regarding
paternity. There would be much to learn.
Talyn hummed and beeped at Crais.
"Yes, Talyn, I made some incorrect judgments. We are in an uncharted territory here, are we not?" Crais gave a small, self-depreciating chuckle.
Rainne's eyelids fluttered open and she found Bialar sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I am sorry I woke you."
"I am not." Rainne responded honestly. He was smiling gently at her, with none of the earlier formality.
"I owe you an apology. There are many things we do not know about one another that are hidden beneath deceptively similar exteriors. I reacted badly."
"I wasn't exactly rational either."
He smiled, and wisely withheld comment.
"Talyn and I have had many conversations in our travels. We have learned much." Crais thought back to the day when he admitted to himself that Rainne was important to him, and being without her was not an option. He claimed racial purity be damned. He also thought back to Talyn asking him if his crossbreed status was unacceptable to Crais. Rainne watched the play of memories on his face.
"C'thha, you are my life. Talyn gave me a bit of wisdom that was beyond any I could improve on, I would like to share it with you." He held her face cradled in both of his hands. The skin was warm and comforting. "He said to me that this child is like himself. It is the possibility and promise of combining the best of two worlds. He or she is our future." Talyn glowed and hummed in the background but gave the two of them their space.
Rainne's eyes filled, but with joy this time. She could not speak. He leaned forward and kissed her with a feather light touch of his mouth on hers. The kiss begged forgiveness and she gave it, happily. He leaned her back on the bed and deepened the kiss. The acceptance and passion ignited Rainne and she pulled him closer. He laughed a deep rich sound at her ardor. Talyn dimmed the chamber lights and left them alone.
Talyn woke them abruptly several arns later.
"Yes Talyn?" Crais sat up, pulling his hair back and winding it quickly with the strap.
"She's here? Now? Alone?" each word becoming a bit more incredulous. Talyn softly whistled a concerned affirmative. Talyn was not close to K'Tahli like he was to his Rainne, but she was family and treated as such.
"Rainne." Crais gently shook her shoulder and spoke her name softly. "Wake up." She slowly opened her eyes. She noted Crais was pulling on his shirt and had secured his hair.
"What's wrong?" Rainne asked, still trying to shake the lassitude of sleep.
"That remains to be seen. " K'Tahli is here on Talyn and is requesting to see you. Talyn seems to believe she is very upset."
Rainne got out of the bed quickly and pulled on her clothing.
Both Rainne and Crais met her at the transport pod bay. She was dressed to travel, black flight pants and a black tank top. Her hair was braided hastily and was glinting a violent shade of indigo one wouldn't have noticed unless they knew to look. She was violently angry, but it was held in check by an iron-banded will. Her eyes, normally a warm, caramel shade of gold, looked flat and an eerie yellow.
"K'Tahli?" Crais asked, carefully. She was unstable and primed for a fight, but the cause was still unknown.
She looked at him, briefly, and then looked at Rainne.
Addressing Rainne, she said, "I need to speak to you before I leave." She had dismissed Crais like he had not even spoken. She kept her eyes locked on Rainne. She could see Crais in her peripheral vision, and noted his confusion and reaction at her dismissal before he steeled his features.
"K'Tahli, what is going on? You have never spoken to Bialar this way, nor looked at us this way. If he has done something to offend, you owe it to decency to tell us both."
It was both the wrong and the right thing to say. Without actually relaxing her stance, some of the rigidity left K'Tahli.
"You are correct. My apologies to you for my rudeness, Captain. I actually need Talyn."
Crais recovered his composure more quickly than Rainne.
"Certainly." Crais responded, without hesitation. "We will take you wherever you require."
K'Tahli was shocked by his instant capitulation, no questions, no hesitation. His face was unmasked; his concern for her was blatant, simmering just below the exterior of his command presence. Why couldn't Ashan see this man before her? This man would not refuse her request. Ashan had forbidden her to ask him or Rainne about the graft. She would not break her vow, but Ashan never said anything about Talyn. She knew she was violating the spirit of his order. She was beyond caring about his pride. Her emotions were so raw her shielding was minimal; she probably could have asked Talyn right there in the hall without asking permission. However, unshielded communication with a leviathan as directly as she needed to do, could kill her.
"I need to speak to Talyn, directly. I need Rainne to connect me. I cannot ask you because that would be breaking a vow to Ashan."
Crais had just about had it with the cryptic referenced conversation. Although skilled in clever exchange and truth bending, he preferred direct truth. And the pain that this "vow" was causing K'Tahli was frustrating him. He advanced on K'Tahli and grabbed her shoulders. He wanted to shake her into making sense.
"Listen to me, and listen well," Crais began, "Whatever is between Ashan and myself has no bearing on Rainne and Talyn and You. It can also have no bearing on you and me. I will go confront him about this.Vow.that is making you so unhappy." He nearly snapped the word "vow" like it was a vile, living enemy.
"You can't. Please!" She put her hand up to his face, unable to hold her anger in the face of his kindness. "He is my husband, and despite his most stubborn stand on this issue, I live for him. For his complexities, his passions, even this misguided vow. You would not ask Rainne to defy you for me? Then I can't defy his wish, even for you." Her narrative had exhausted her, and she slumped a bit in the support of the grasp he still held on her shoulders.
Behind them, Rainne watched stoically, her tears streaming down her face unnoticed. She took advantage of the concentration required to converse as they were. She slipped quietly into K'Tahli's mind. She was not surprised to find a myriad of psychic shields in place. Rainne could only discern that Ashan was injured, and K'Tahli was in search of a way to help him. Rainne probed a bit deeper, and K'Tahli felt the intrusion. She looked up at her and shook her head, no. Rainne understood she would not be allowed to find out this way either. She allowed the mental link to dissipate.
"Talyn has agreed to speak to you." Crais announced. "Follow me to the neural cluster."
"I thought I could link through Rainne?"
"Then I could see your thoughts as well. Your only assured privacy is the cluster. If you ask Talyn to hold your secret, he will die with it."
They were a quiet group as they headed for command. K'Tahli slowed as they neared.
"I can't."
"I beg your pardon?" Crais asked.
"K'Tahli, you have been in there before. Your shielding holds. Talyn would never hurt you." Rainne said, reminding K'Tahli of her first day aboard Talyn.
"I know that. But my shielding is now weaker. I could take on too much and accidentally kill myself. Talyn could be horribly damaged."
They seemed to be at a stalemate.
"Crais. Please ask Talyn to call back Denali, the surviving twin." K'Tahli requested.
"Why? Where could he take you that we cannot?"
"To a gammak base or a Sebacean planet to find." She paused and touched her fingertips to her forehead then her own lips. "Forgive me, Ashan." She whispered to herself.
"To find what?" Crais asked.
"To find a compatible donor for Ashan. He has damaged his paraphoral nerve. He will die in the next 2 solar days if I cannot locate a donor. I am not wanted by the Peacekeepers so I can travel freely with Denali."
Rainne looked confused. She looked over at Crais and was even more perplexed by his expression.
Crais' expression was one of deep pain, and he was struggling to mask it.
"You were not supposed to tell me." Crais said to K'Tahli.
"I was not supposed to ask you to be tested, nor consider the graft."
She hung her head, her broken vow to her husband like shards of spun glass inside her.
"He said you had made your choice and he would not hurt you by asking you to do this. It would be forcing you to make an admission that could cause you pain." Her voice finally broke and she sagged against the wall. She began backing away, toward the transport hangar. "I will wait for Denali in the hangar."
"Wait!" Crais called after her. He had grasped Rainne's hand for support in an uncharacteristic show of need in public, but it was K'Tahli that he addressed.
"No!" Her pain was unbearable and she could barely speak. "Please, Bialar, I kept my vow. I did not ask you. I can see Ashan was right, this causes you pain. I am terribly, terribly sorry for that. I see now that I was selfish to come here." she fled toward the hangar. Crais masked his own pain and explained to Rainne about the Sebacean Paraphoral nerve.
On Moya
Ashan sat in the common room, trying, unsuccessfully, to eat. John and Aeryn were trying to keep him company.
"Why can't we hook up Moya to him like we did you?" John asked Aeryn.
"Moya's metabolism would filter out the substances in my system that allows me to heal others. The type of healing that I do is rare; it is as much a function of my being as it is my studies. I would be lost without them, incomplete."
"Yeah, sure, but you'd be alive."
"Barely. "
"So what if you can't single-handedly kick the Mummy?"
"Crichton, what if your life saving measure offered you a chance at life without being able to fly, compute scientific theory, or make jokes?" Ashan countered.
"In that order?" John shot back at him.
Ashan just raised his eyebrows. He had made his point. His healing was much of who he was. Just like John squarely looked life in the eye and made fun of it was part of who he was.
"What about the cryopod we still have that we got from Grunchlk?"
"Does anyone know how to operate it?" Aeryn asked.
"We could try to figure it out. If we could get you into stasis then we'd have more time to find a donor. Or devise a new way to fix this nerve thing. You guys give Achilles a run for his money."
"Was he a healer? Aeryn asked.
"Achilles healer?" John laughed aloud. She had no idea the funny she just made.
At John's great whoop of laughter, Jool huffed and got up from her meal. She left with John still giggling. His laughter was contagious, and soon everyone was smiling. The laughter felt wonderful after the events of the battle.
"Let's go take a look-see at this Cryopod." The trio rose to leave. Ashan, feeling introspective marveled at these newfound friends. The easy camaraderie was unexpected and comforting. He missed K'Tahli though. He understood why she ran off, and Moya had assured him she had run no further than Talyn. He hoped if no solution was found in time to save him, that Crais would at least accept K'Tahli, help her mourn and protect her in his absence.
"Hey, get that look off your face. The 'woe is me' look clashes with your hieroglyphics. You saved my ass from being the colonel's extra crispy, I am not about to let you croak without a fight."
On Talyn
K'Tahli sat cross-legged on the floor of the hangar, trying to sense Denali's arrival. She knew she was directly in the middle of an emotional reaction to run away. She was ill equipped and unprepared to think about her life without Ashan.
She could sense Talyn, through the wall she rested against. She leaned her head back and let the soothing sounds wash over her.
"I know I can't speak to you as directly as Rainne and Crais. I am sorry I felt afraid to directly connect. Please know it is my weakness, not yours. You have been an ally and a friend from the beginning. For a being so young, you have found a deep understanding that belies your years." Talyn's sounds softened, urged her on.
"I can't leave, can I Talyn? I have to go back to Moya, to Ashan. Would you want Crais to flee from you to hide from the pain if you were dying?" K'Tahli laughed. "As that is not a possibility.Crais runs from nothing, right?" Talyn made a noise that was truly quizzical.
"Well, yes, he is running from admitting he has another brother, with all of the joy and the pain that goes with the bond of loving a flawed being. But I am doing the same thing right now." Her breathing hitched and she squeezed her eyes shut tight to lock in the threatening tears.
"Talyn. Please call Moya. The time for tears will be later. I need to be by his side. Thank you so for listening. I think you can understand me, even if I can't fully understand you."
Talyn contacted Moya.
"Ah, but you understand me well, little sister." Talyn said, mostly to himself. He had an idea he needed to pose to Rainne.
On Moya "Looks ok." John was scratching his head, staring at the Cryopod.
"We would have to test it. How can we do that?" Ashan asked.
"Too bad Rygel's gone. No spare hynerians in your pocket?" John quipped
They looked at one another, unsure of how to proceed.
"You could test me." Ashan spun around at K'Tahli's voice. He ran the few steps across the corridor and picked her up in a crushing embrace.
"You returned." he sounded as if he could not believe what his own eyes were telling him.
"I was selfish. I needed to run, I needed to escape the pain and I wanted to scream at someone, punch someone. I couldn't scream at you, it's not your fault."
"I know, I know." He was searching her face, scanning her features as if trying to lock them in eternal memory.
"So I went to Talyn."
"Moya told me."
K'Tahli cast her eyes down for a moment, but Ashan put his hand under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his.
"Your vow?" He asked solemnly.
"I went over there with every intention of keeping it. And I did. I did not ask him. But I did tell him you were injured in the paraphoral nerve. "
"You know that is the same as asking him!" Ashan was angry.
"YES!" She shouted back at him, "But you would have done the same if it were me. If it means anything, I am very sorry; I saw what it did to him. You were right about the hurt, I didn't realize."
He wanted to shake her for her defiance, but she was right. He'd break any vow to save her. They had been together since infancy, and their marriage was almost symbiotic.
"You are right, K'Tahli. I would have done the same. Please, no matter what happens, don't leave me again.until."
"Whoa! Remember what I said about that 'woe is me" stuff?" John chimed in. Attitude was key to recovery in humans; he was hoping like crazy that it was the same in Sebaceans. K'Tahli and Ashan both looked at him and smiled.
"I meant what I said, Ashan. Test me." K'Tahli reiterated.
"What if it is not functioning properly?"
"You can still heal me, right?"
A look of hope crossed Aeryn and John's faces.
"I don't know for sure. I have never tried to heal when I was compromised. It's too big a risk."
"What about a plant? Would the cellular damage be similar enough to tell us if it is intact?"
"Perhaps.again the risk outweighs the benefits."
"Maybe we can test Crais?" This from John. All eyes glared at him. "Hey, some habits die hard. He wanted to cash in my warranty card pretty badly not too long ago."
The mention of Crais silenced the group, and had left them alone with their thoughts.
As if the mention had made him appear, pilot's voice came over the comm.
"Captain Crais would like permission to board Moya."
Talyn hummed and beeped at Crais.
"Yes, Talyn, I made some incorrect judgments. We are in an uncharted territory here, are we not?" Crais gave a small, self-depreciating chuckle.
Rainne's eyelids fluttered open and she found Bialar sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I am sorry I woke you."
"I am not." Rainne responded honestly. He was smiling gently at her, with none of the earlier formality.
"I owe you an apology. There are many things we do not know about one another that are hidden beneath deceptively similar exteriors. I reacted badly."
"I wasn't exactly rational either."
He smiled, and wisely withheld comment.
"Talyn and I have had many conversations in our travels. We have learned much." Crais thought back to the day when he admitted to himself that Rainne was important to him, and being without her was not an option. He claimed racial purity be damned. He also thought back to Talyn asking him if his crossbreed status was unacceptable to Crais. Rainne watched the play of memories on his face.
"C'thha, you are my life. Talyn gave me a bit of wisdom that was beyond any I could improve on, I would like to share it with you." He held her face cradled in both of his hands. The skin was warm and comforting. "He said to me that this child is like himself. It is the possibility and promise of combining the best of two worlds. He or she is our future." Talyn glowed and hummed in the background but gave the two of them their space.
Rainne's eyes filled, but with joy this time. She could not speak. He leaned forward and kissed her with a feather light touch of his mouth on hers. The kiss begged forgiveness and she gave it, happily. He leaned her back on the bed and deepened the kiss. The acceptance and passion ignited Rainne and she pulled him closer. He laughed a deep rich sound at her ardor. Talyn dimmed the chamber lights and left them alone.
Talyn woke them abruptly several arns later.
"Yes Talyn?" Crais sat up, pulling his hair back and winding it quickly with the strap.
"She's here? Now? Alone?" each word becoming a bit more incredulous. Talyn softly whistled a concerned affirmative. Talyn was not close to K'Tahli like he was to his Rainne, but she was family and treated as such.
"Rainne." Crais gently shook her shoulder and spoke her name softly. "Wake up." She slowly opened her eyes. She noted Crais was pulling on his shirt and had secured his hair.
"What's wrong?" Rainne asked, still trying to shake the lassitude of sleep.
"That remains to be seen. " K'Tahli is here on Talyn and is requesting to see you. Talyn seems to believe she is very upset."
Rainne got out of the bed quickly and pulled on her clothing.
Both Rainne and Crais met her at the transport pod bay. She was dressed to travel, black flight pants and a black tank top. Her hair was braided hastily and was glinting a violent shade of indigo one wouldn't have noticed unless they knew to look. She was violently angry, but it was held in check by an iron-banded will. Her eyes, normally a warm, caramel shade of gold, looked flat and an eerie yellow.
"K'Tahli?" Crais asked, carefully. She was unstable and primed for a fight, but the cause was still unknown.
She looked at him, briefly, and then looked at Rainne.
Addressing Rainne, she said, "I need to speak to you before I leave." She had dismissed Crais like he had not even spoken. She kept her eyes locked on Rainne. She could see Crais in her peripheral vision, and noted his confusion and reaction at her dismissal before he steeled his features.
"K'Tahli, what is going on? You have never spoken to Bialar this way, nor looked at us this way. If he has done something to offend, you owe it to decency to tell us both."
It was both the wrong and the right thing to say. Without actually relaxing her stance, some of the rigidity left K'Tahli.
"You are correct. My apologies to you for my rudeness, Captain. I actually need Talyn."
Crais recovered his composure more quickly than Rainne.
"Certainly." Crais responded, without hesitation. "We will take you wherever you require."
K'Tahli was shocked by his instant capitulation, no questions, no hesitation. His face was unmasked; his concern for her was blatant, simmering just below the exterior of his command presence. Why couldn't Ashan see this man before her? This man would not refuse her request. Ashan had forbidden her to ask him or Rainne about the graft. She would not break her vow, but Ashan never said anything about Talyn. She knew she was violating the spirit of his order. She was beyond caring about his pride. Her emotions were so raw her shielding was minimal; she probably could have asked Talyn right there in the hall without asking permission. However, unshielded communication with a leviathan as directly as she needed to do, could kill her.
"I need to speak to Talyn, directly. I need Rainne to connect me. I cannot ask you because that would be breaking a vow to Ashan."
Crais had just about had it with the cryptic referenced conversation. Although skilled in clever exchange and truth bending, he preferred direct truth. And the pain that this "vow" was causing K'Tahli was frustrating him. He advanced on K'Tahli and grabbed her shoulders. He wanted to shake her into making sense.
"Listen to me, and listen well," Crais began, "Whatever is between Ashan and myself has no bearing on Rainne and Talyn and You. It can also have no bearing on you and me. I will go confront him about this.Vow.that is making you so unhappy." He nearly snapped the word "vow" like it was a vile, living enemy.
"You can't. Please!" She put her hand up to his face, unable to hold her anger in the face of his kindness. "He is my husband, and despite his most stubborn stand on this issue, I live for him. For his complexities, his passions, even this misguided vow. You would not ask Rainne to defy you for me? Then I can't defy his wish, even for you." Her narrative had exhausted her, and she slumped a bit in the support of the grasp he still held on her shoulders.
Behind them, Rainne watched stoically, her tears streaming down her face unnoticed. She took advantage of the concentration required to converse as they were. She slipped quietly into K'Tahli's mind. She was not surprised to find a myriad of psychic shields in place. Rainne could only discern that Ashan was injured, and K'Tahli was in search of a way to help him. Rainne probed a bit deeper, and K'Tahli felt the intrusion. She looked up at her and shook her head, no. Rainne understood she would not be allowed to find out this way either. She allowed the mental link to dissipate.
"Talyn has agreed to speak to you." Crais announced. "Follow me to the neural cluster."
"I thought I could link through Rainne?"
"Then I could see your thoughts as well. Your only assured privacy is the cluster. If you ask Talyn to hold your secret, he will die with it."
They were a quiet group as they headed for command. K'Tahli slowed as they neared.
"I can't."
"I beg your pardon?" Crais asked.
"K'Tahli, you have been in there before. Your shielding holds. Talyn would never hurt you." Rainne said, reminding K'Tahli of her first day aboard Talyn.
"I know that. But my shielding is now weaker. I could take on too much and accidentally kill myself. Talyn could be horribly damaged."
They seemed to be at a stalemate.
"Crais. Please ask Talyn to call back Denali, the surviving twin." K'Tahli requested.
"Why? Where could he take you that we cannot?"
"To a gammak base or a Sebacean planet to find." She paused and touched her fingertips to her forehead then her own lips. "Forgive me, Ashan." She whispered to herself.
"To find what?" Crais asked.
"To find a compatible donor for Ashan. He has damaged his paraphoral nerve. He will die in the next 2 solar days if I cannot locate a donor. I am not wanted by the Peacekeepers so I can travel freely with Denali."
Rainne looked confused. She looked over at Crais and was even more perplexed by his expression.
Crais' expression was one of deep pain, and he was struggling to mask it.
"You were not supposed to tell me." Crais said to K'Tahli.
"I was not supposed to ask you to be tested, nor consider the graft."
She hung her head, her broken vow to her husband like shards of spun glass inside her.
"He said you had made your choice and he would not hurt you by asking you to do this. It would be forcing you to make an admission that could cause you pain." Her voice finally broke and she sagged against the wall. She began backing away, toward the transport hangar. "I will wait for Denali in the hangar."
"Wait!" Crais called after her. He had grasped Rainne's hand for support in an uncharacteristic show of need in public, but it was K'Tahli that he addressed.
"No!" Her pain was unbearable and she could barely speak. "Please, Bialar, I kept my vow. I did not ask you. I can see Ashan was right, this causes you pain. I am terribly, terribly sorry for that. I see now that I was selfish to come here." she fled toward the hangar. Crais masked his own pain and explained to Rainne about the Sebacean Paraphoral nerve.
On Moya
Ashan sat in the common room, trying, unsuccessfully, to eat. John and Aeryn were trying to keep him company.
"Why can't we hook up Moya to him like we did you?" John asked Aeryn.
"Moya's metabolism would filter out the substances in my system that allows me to heal others. The type of healing that I do is rare; it is as much a function of my being as it is my studies. I would be lost without them, incomplete."
"Yeah, sure, but you'd be alive."
"Barely. "
"So what if you can't single-handedly kick the Mummy?"
"Crichton, what if your life saving measure offered you a chance at life without being able to fly, compute scientific theory, or make jokes?" Ashan countered.
"In that order?" John shot back at him.
Ashan just raised his eyebrows. He had made his point. His healing was much of who he was. Just like John squarely looked life in the eye and made fun of it was part of who he was.
"What about the cryopod we still have that we got from Grunchlk?"
"Does anyone know how to operate it?" Aeryn asked.
"We could try to figure it out. If we could get you into stasis then we'd have more time to find a donor. Or devise a new way to fix this nerve thing. You guys give Achilles a run for his money."
"Was he a healer? Aeryn asked.
"Achilles healer?" John laughed aloud. She had no idea the funny she just made.
At John's great whoop of laughter, Jool huffed and got up from her meal. She left with John still giggling. His laughter was contagious, and soon everyone was smiling. The laughter felt wonderful after the events of the battle.
"Let's go take a look-see at this Cryopod." The trio rose to leave. Ashan, feeling introspective marveled at these newfound friends. The easy camaraderie was unexpected and comforting. He missed K'Tahli though. He understood why she ran off, and Moya had assured him she had run no further than Talyn. He hoped if no solution was found in time to save him, that Crais would at least accept K'Tahli, help her mourn and protect her in his absence.
"Hey, get that look off your face. The 'woe is me' look clashes with your hieroglyphics. You saved my ass from being the colonel's extra crispy, I am not about to let you croak without a fight."
On Talyn
K'Tahli sat cross-legged on the floor of the hangar, trying to sense Denali's arrival. She knew she was directly in the middle of an emotional reaction to run away. She was ill equipped and unprepared to think about her life without Ashan.
She could sense Talyn, through the wall she rested against. She leaned her head back and let the soothing sounds wash over her.
"I know I can't speak to you as directly as Rainne and Crais. I am sorry I felt afraid to directly connect. Please know it is my weakness, not yours. You have been an ally and a friend from the beginning. For a being so young, you have found a deep understanding that belies your years." Talyn's sounds softened, urged her on.
"I can't leave, can I Talyn? I have to go back to Moya, to Ashan. Would you want Crais to flee from you to hide from the pain if you were dying?" K'Tahli laughed. "As that is not a possibility.Crais runs from nothing, right?" Talyn made a noise that was truly quizzical.
"Well, yes, he is running from admitting he has another brother, with all of the joy and the pain that goes with the bond of loving a flawed being. But I am doing the same thing right now." Her breathing hitched and she squeezed her eyes shut tight to lock in the threatening tears.
"Talyn. Please call Moya. The time for tears will be later. I need to be by his side. Thank you so for listening. I think you can understand me, even if I can't fully understand you."
Talyn contacted Moya.
"Ah, but you understand me well, little sister." Talyn said, mostly to himself. He had an idea he needed to pose to Rainne.
On Moya "Looks ok." John was scratching his head, staring at the Cryopod.
"We would have to test it. How can we do that?" Ashan asked.
"Too bad Rygel's gone. No spare hynerians in your pocket?" John quipped
They looked at one another, unsure of how to proceed.
"You could test me." Ashan spun around at K'Tahli's voice. He ran the few steps across the corridor and picked her up in a crushing embrace.
"You returned." he sounded as if he could not believe what his own eyes were telling him.
"I was selfish. I needed to run, I needed to escape the pain and I wanted to scream at someone, punch someone. I couldn't scream at you, it's not your fault."
"I know, I know." He was searching her face, scanning her features as if trying to lock them in eternal memory.
"So I went to Talyn."
"Moya told me."
K'Tahli cast her eyes down for a moment, but Ashan put his hand under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his.
"Your vow?" He asked solemnly.
"I went over there with every intention of keeping it. And I did. I did not ask him. But I did tell him you were injured in the paraphoral nerve. "
"You know that is the same as asking him!" Ashan was angry.
"YES!" She shouted back at him, "But you would have done the same if it were me. If it means anything, I am very sorry; I saw what it did to him. You were right about the hurt, I didn't realize."
He wanted to shake her for her defiance, but she was right. He'd break any vow to save her. They had been together since infancy, and their marriage was almost symbiotic.
"You are right, K'Tahli. I would have done the same. Please, no matter what happens, don't leave me again.until."
"Whoa! Remember what I said about that 'woe is me" stuff?" John chimed in. Attitude was key to recovery in humans; he was hoping like crazy that it was the same in Sebaceans. K'Tahli and Ashan both looked at him and smiled.
"I meant what I said, Ashan. Test me." K'Tahli reiterated.
"What if it is not functioning properly?"
"You can still heal me, right?"
A look of hope crossed Aeryn and John's faces.
"I don't know for sure. I have never tried to heal when I was compromised. It's too big a risk."
"What about a plant? Would the cellular damage be similar enough to tell us if it is intact?"
"Perhaps.again the risk outweighs the benefits."
"Maybe we can test Crais?" This from John. All eyes glared at him. "Hey, some habits die hard. He wanted to cash in my warranty card pretty badly not too long ago."
The mention of Crais silenced the group, and had left them alone with their thoughts.
As if the mention had made him appear, pilot's voice came over the comm.
"Captain Crais would like permission to board Moya."