"Well? Have the survivors been destroyed?"

"Yes, my lord. The geomancer is good at his work."

"Good. They will bother us no more."

"My lord, the prisoners?"

"Ah. Make sure he's fed, but not too fast. My prey will notice."

"Yes, lord."

"Now, get out of here. I have planning to do."

XIII

Krystal lay on the couch in the lounge. She had finished the pre-warp-dropout checks with the others, and was lounging now, headache gone.

She stared up at the ceiling, tired in mind and body. What's happened? she thought. Fox, seduced by whatever that thing was… And the worst part, he was seduced by my form, my body… She shut her eyes. The others seem a bit confused… I'm not sure I even know what's going on… She tried to hold back tears. Fox almost got killed, and it's my fault… Krystal started to sob, tears leaking out of her eyes.

At that moment, Fox walked in, and Krystal swung her body around and sat up while trying to keep tears from her eyes. "Krystal, what's wrong?" Fox asked as he approached her cautiously.

She sniffed, and wiped away tears that refused to stop. "It's, it's nothing…" she said feebly, and Fox sat down next to her.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at her stooped head. Her resolve broke, and tear streamed down her face.

"No!" she wailed, and put her palms to her eyes. "I almost got you killed, that thing looked like me, to hurt you, and it's all my fault! I, I…" At this point, she couldn't speak through her sobs. Fox, cautious at first, put his arm around her.

"Krystal…" he said softly, and gently turned her head to have her look him straight in the eyes. The skin and short, white fur around her eyes was wet, and she locked eye contact with him for a moment. Then, they embraced,Krystal clingingto Fox, herstill sobbing head clutched to his chest.

"It's alright, Krystal. It's not your fault. You can't help being beautiful," he said, strong as ever. She just leaned on him, still crying softly. After a few minutes, she tugged away from him. Her eyes were a bit red, but she wasn't crying any more.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and she kissed him on the cheek softly, and hugged him again, this time her head over his shoulder. "Thank you," she said again, and got up.

She sniffled once, and said with some emotion, "I think I'll be fine now, Fox," and they locked eye again. Then, she said, "I'd best get to my room… night rotation, you know. He nodded, and got up. They both walked to their separate quarters, with their own thoughts of each other…

"My lord, there is a slight problem…"

"Yes? Speak quickly."

"Well, the geomancer, he's reported that, though he did cripple the survivors, they are still alive, though they can go nowhere…"

"No matter. Have him kill them."

"That's the problem, my lord. They're out of our range…"

"Ah. No matter. They have no food or drink, they will die in days."

That's the end of chapter XIII. I'm going to make the stuff in bold print be a regular part of the story, and try and put more detail into them. The stuff in this chapter and chapters before was just to let you know that there's something at work here.

Black Swordsman342