Strife woke up in excruciating pain. Her head was pounding, her eye sockets were burning and her hands felt like they were being put through a meat grinder. She rolled over onto her back, but couldn't even cry out because the pain was so bad. She started kicking her feet around in hopes to get Drok'ti's attention. She felt his hand on her forehead.
All she could do was whine pitifully and keep kicking her feet around. Drok'ti's hand disappeared from her forehead and she felt him lift up her shirt to expose her stomach. She felt a sudden jab of pain. It was nothing compared to what she was feeling at the moment, just a slight discomfort. Seconds later the pain started to ebb and she could think more clearly.
"I'm afraid."
"It's ok. You're safe. I'm here."
She felt the strange texture of the back of his knuckles caressing her cheek. She smiled and reached her hand out. She felt his hand around her forearm. She was grateful for his contact with her. Drok'ti gently rolled her over. He wrapped his arms around her and she relaxed. She decided the best thing to do would be to sleep as much as she could. She let herself drift off again.
The next time she woke up Drok'ti wasn't next to her anymore. She turned her head to the side and reached her arms out. She heard him walk over next to the bed and then felt his arms around her. She was lifted up. She smiled and turned her head towards where she thought Drok'ti's would be.
"You left me."
"Only for a moment."
He sat down with her on his lap. She laid her head on his chest and wondered what the strange whirring noise was.
"What's that noise?"
"What noise?"
"The whirring?"
"We're on my ship."
"Like a space ship?"
"Yes."
"Wow. I didn't know that. I was too preoccupied with other things. So where are we going?"
"We're still in earths orbit."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want to take you too far from it."
"Why?"
"I didn't think you wanted to leave."
Strife tilted her head up at him and then put her arms up to judge where his face was. She used her forearms to yank his head down towards hers. She felt his breath on her face and realized he wasn't wearing his mask. Of course he wouldn't be. He's on his ship.
"Drok'ti, I hate earth, I hate people. Why do you think I wanted to go with you in the first place? There is nothing for me there."
"Your parents. . ."
"My parents leave me alone any chance they get, and that's all the time. They want nothing to do with me."
She rested her forehead on his chin. She felt his body tense up, but didn't pay much attention to it. She was already formulating her next set of words.
"I have nothing on earth except a few papers that tell me I'm insane and a whole city of people who remind me of it every time they see me. That isn't a very nice thing to live with."
Drok'ti rubbed her back for a moment.
"Then I wont make you go back there."
Strife smiled.
"Good! We can go play Clue at your house!"
Drok'ti snorted.
"Oh yeah, you don't like Clue."
"I don't know what 'Clue' is, but I don't think taking you back to my planet would be a good idea."
"Why not? Would your girlfriend get mad at you for bringing me?"
"I don't have a mate."
"Ok, then why?"
"The clan leader wouldn't be happy."
"So?"
"He might order you and me both to be executed."
"He doesn't sound very nice."
"He just wouldn't understand."
Strife sighed and wondered what his home planet was like. She probably would never know. That didn't matter much to her though since she was with Drok'ti. As long as she was with him she didn't care if she was blind, deaf, mute and didn't have any of her limbs.
Drok'ti stood up and put her down on the cot. She frowned and looked in the direction she heard him go.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to take us somewhere else."
"Ooh, goody. I love new places! What's it like?"
"I think we would be ok to stop on Delos for a while. There isn't much there except the trees and a few life forms."
"Intelligent or instinctual?"
"Both."
"Sounds mysterious."
She listened as Drok'ti snorted. He does that a lot. She wondered if it was just because of her or if it was sort of like a nervous twitch. She had those sometimes and would often send her book flying across the room. Maybe instead of twitching Drok'ti snorted. She started giggling at her own thoughts.
"What's so funny?"
"It's really nothing. Just thinking to myself."
"Oh."
Strife went back to her thoughts careful not to laugh out loud. She didn't want to insult Drok'ti and make him roar at her again. She still remembered that very clearly. The primal, frightening way he was standing. It wasn't like him at all, then she realized she didn't know him very well. Maybe that's the way he is. She suddenly became afraid of him. What if she did something wrong and instead of just roaring at her he killed her? She didn't want him to kill her. She wanted to believe that he was her best friend, her bud and that she would be safe around him.
She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She sat there quietly in hopes to keep on Drok'ti's good side. Silence would be her friend for the next while and in it maybe she could manage to keep Drok'ti's friendship.