Sorry this took so long to get up, compared to the others. I'll try to update more often
Chapter 10
The next morning, Robin got up at his usual time, and stopped at Starfire's door, wondering if, after yesterday's events, she would rather sleep, than watch the sunrise. 'We're already up here.' Raven's mental voice said in his head, and he made his way to the roof.
Taking their usual positions, Robin sitting, cross legged , on the roof, with Star to his left, and Raven on his right, with both girls about three feet in the air, facing east. They relaxed, and, with no visible signal, all began chanting at exactly the same time. "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos" and they kept up the chant, as they meditated.
About twenty minutes later, again with no signal, they broke off the chant, and stood, watching the brightening horizon beyond the city. They watched the sky shift from the indigo of night through the shades of purple, then to shades of red, through orange, and finally to yellows, as the edge of the sun peeked over the horizon. They stood in silence, lost in their own thoughts, then, Star's and Robin's hands moved together, and they turned to look at each other.
"Robin, look." Raven said, breaking the silence, and the moment between Robin and Star, "What is that?"
Robin and Star turned to look toward the sun, and they could just make out, a black dot moving across the disk of the sun. "Cyborg, you awake yet?" Robin asked into his communicator.
"Yeah, barely." Cyborg replied, through a yawn, "What's up?" he asked, knowing Robin wouldn't have bothered him, if it weren't important.
"Not sure." Robin replied, "Scan to the east." he said, then added, "and go to an orbital sweep if you have to."
"Yeah, there's something out there, alright." Cyborg reported a few moments later. "Big too, seeing as we could see it as it moved across the sun. No idea what, except it isn't from earth." he added.
Just then Starfire's communicator started beeping it's familiar tune. "There is a message coming in, on a Tamaranean frequency." she said, after opening the device. Robin nodded, and started to head for the stairs. "There is a quicker way Robin." Star said, as she took to the air. A short moment later, they entered her room though on open window. Star crossed over to her computer, and typed in a string of characters, that only she and Cyborg knew, that allowed her to tie in to the towers communications mainframe.
There was static on the monitor for a moment, then Gal fore's face came into focus. "Shavota, vidi'an Koriand'r." he said.
It took only a heartbeat, for Robin to realize why Starfire didn't, immediately, reply to Galfore's greeting, and he almost smiled. 'This should be fun.' he thought to himself, then began to doubt that when the old warrior's face scowled, when he saw him. "Shavota, vidok'an Galfore." he said, and saw Galfore arch an eyebrow, at Robin's ability to speak Tamaranean.
"I will speak, and deal with you, when I get to earth, young one." Galfore growled, at Robin, "Right now, I must speak to the princess, about matters pertaining to Tamaran."
"Then here I stay." Robin said, continuing to speak in Tamaranean, "I am Koriand'r's Shalocfa." he informed him, 'That caught him off guard.' he thought, as Galfore looked stunned at the news.
"Truly?" Galfore was finally able to say, "Is this true, Koriand'r? Have you taken him as your Shalocfa?"
Starfire was silent for a few seconds, as was happy to see that Robin kept perfectly still, his face devoid of expression. "Yes, my Emperor, Robin vat ne mathad e genthalas du penefa."
Galfore's expression seemed to soften somewhat, but his voice was still hard as steel, "Does he return these feelings?"
"In more ways than I imagined." Star replied, looking lovingly at Robin, who couldn't help but blush.
Galfore chuckled softly, and allowed himself a small smile, "Very well princess." he said, "Even an old warrior, such as I, could see the attraction between you two, when you were on Tamaran. The Declaration will take place, shortly after the VELANCE'R reaches earth orbit a week from now." he added, then switched subject, his face becoming more serious. "The SOMON'R should be in system, if not in orbit, by now, and Captain Veron'r, will be sending his Tactical Officer, to meet with you and your friends." he told them, "He also has your zorka berry delivery, and I'm sorry to say, it will be the last, for some time." he added, "I can say no more on an open channel, the SOMON'R's tactical officer will explain when he gets there." he told them, then signed off.
Robin and Starfire exchanged worried looks, and Robin pulled out his communicator. "Cyborg, where are you?" he said into it.
"Just finished breakfast, and heading for the T-ship hanger." came the reply.
"Good, I want the T-ship ready to launch on a moment's notice, and kept that way, until further notice."
"Copy that Rob." Cyborg replied, "That ship out there trouble?"
"No." Robin replied, "It's the SOMON'R, a Tamaranean fleet ship of the line." he added, "Her tactical officer will be paying us a visit, to give us some information." he told the titanium Titan, then closed his communicator.
"Robin, I am worried." Starfire said softly, as he returned to her side, "I have never seen Galfore so. . . .serious before." she added, then was thoughtful for a moment, "What is it that has you worried?" she asked, gently tracing the fingers of one hand over the furrows on Robin's brow, then cupping his cheek.
Robin sighed softly, as he pressed his cheek against her hand, wondering at how good the contact felt. "Part of Galfore's seriousness is because he is the Grand Ruler of Tamaran." he told her. "The other part, and what has me worried, is that I believe Tamaran is at war again."
"And that has you worried that I may have to marry, to seal a peace agreement." Star said, then realized, from the look on Robin's face, that she had given him something new to think about.
"Actually that hadn't crossed my mind." Robin admitted, sheepishly, "Just that you may have to go back to Tamaran." he said, "And as I told you, while you were still in the hospital, like that medallion, you and I share, I feel incomplete with out you."
They stood there, quietly, for a moment. "You up to doing some training?" Starfire asked, "I promise to take it easy."
Robin thought for a moment, then nodded his head, and a short time later he had returned to his room, and they had changed into the white martial arts uniforms they wore to practice in, only this time Starfire was surprised to see Robin was wearing his utility belt, instead of the black one he normally wore.
"Now for starters we'll do some stretches." Robin said, moving over to a weight lifting bench, and putting one of his feet up on it, Starfire doing the same, opposite him. "Nice and easy, don't rush, and don't bounce." he instructed as he straightened his leg, and bent forward until his forehead touched his kneecap. Feeling his hamstring relaxing, he straightened up, and changed feet.
As he started to, slowly, lean forward, he saw that Star was moving to fast and was bouncing at the end of the stretch. "Star, not so fast, and don't bounce, or you'll cramp up." he warned her, and got a nasty look in return. 'Don't blame me for the Charlie horse you're going to get.' he thought to himself, then lowered his forehead to his knee.
A moment later he heard Starfire cry out in pain, and when he looked up, he saw that she was laying on the floor, both hands grabbing her right thigh. Going around the bench, he knelt at her side. "I warned you." he said softly, "Here, move your hands, and let me see." he added as he gently ran his fingers over her leg. Even through the cloth, he could feel the knot of muscle, telling him that Star had the mother of all Charlie horses.
"Shoka du costafu!" Star gasped as the muscle cramped even tighter.
Robin chuckled softly as he started to massage her leg, working the tension out of the muscle. "Star, swearing at it isn't going to help." he chided gently.
Star's intention, was to smack Robin's upper arm, with the back of her hand, but a sudden muscle spasm ruined her aim, and she ended up hitting him on his sore ribs.
With a painful gasp, Robin fell onto his back, hugging his injured ribcage. "X'Hal shotopah!" he managed to gasp out, then glared at Starfire, as she giggled.
"Remember Robin, swearing at it does not help." she said sweetly. The two lay there for a moment, Robin hugging his ribs, glaring at Star, and Star holding her thigh, and giving Robin a smug smile, then both burst out laughing.
What a pair of superheroes we are." Robin finally said, after getting his laughing under control, so his ribs would stop hurting, "You can't move with a leg cramp, and I've got these ribs." He managed to get back to his knees, near Star's leg, "Let's try this again." he said, as he started, again, to massage where the cramp was.
Star gave a soft grunt of pain, then a sigh of relief as she felt the muscle start to relax. "In my eyes you are a special superhero." she said softly. "Of the five of us, you are the only one that does not have special powers. You face Cinderblock, Brother Blood, Slade, and the others with only your knowledge of martial arts, tactics, and your weapons, and in my eyes that makes you special." she explained, then was silent for a moment. "Speaking of my eyes." she said, "What times did you see love there for you?"
"Huh?" Robin asked, confused for a moment, then the light dawned. "The poem." he said, drawing a nod from Star. "well, let's see," he began, as he got to his feet, and offered his hand to Star. "There were the countless times in the living room when you thought I wasn't looking, and I saw you looking at me with those gorgeous green eyes of yours." he was silent for a moment, pretending to think, as he pulled Star to her feet. "Then there was the time, when I was Slade's apprentice, when you told me that you would rather I destroy you, than live in a world where we had to fight." he said softly, cupping her cheek in his hand, and gazing into her eyes. "and I'm not even going to start about that time we were stranded on that planet. I was so stupid!"
"So what shall we train with that is not to strenuous?" Star asked, then watched as Robin went over to a locker, and took a odd looking belt out of it, and handed it to her. She looked at the belt, which was green, and had to pouches on it, and when she buckled it around her waist she found that the pouches were on each side of her hips.
"Now take you hand, and press up on the bottom of one of the pouches." Robin told her, then he smiled, as Star gasped in astonishment at what she found in her hand.
"A birdarang!" she cried, holding the red weapon up, and examining it.
"Well I saw how good you are with a sword, and a bow and arrow, so I got curious as to how well you would handle throwing weapons." he explained, as they walked to the target range section of the training wing of the tower. "Now watch the wings as they are razor sharp." he warned her as he took a birdarang from his own belt, and showed her how to hold it. "Then you flick your wrist like this." he said, letting the weapon fly, hitting and sticking dead center of the target thirty feet away.
Star looked at her hand, then at the target, and with a flip of her wrist the birdarang flew through the air, and with a dull clang bounced off the bottom of the target.
"Try again." Robin said, and Star got another weapon from the other pouch. Finding that she could get it into the proper throwing position as it dropped from the pouch, she let fly again, the wings springing out in mid-air, and sticking into the target just to the right of Robin's. "Very good, now two at a time, same target." he said, then demonstrated, scoring two bulls eyes, almost to fast for Star's eyes to follow.
This time Star hit the second ring from the center of both targets on the first try, and she smiled at Robins admiring smile. For the next two hours, Robin ran her through various targeting combinations.
"You know gentha'fa, this makes what you do even more special in my eyes, because you make it look so easy, and it is not." Star said, wiping the sweat from her brow, as they walked to the targets again to retrieve the birdarangs.
What ever Robin was going to say was cut off, by Raven's voice on the intercom system. "Robin, Starfire, there's a ship from the SOMON'R on it's way, and it should be here in about an hour.
Robin walked over to the wall, and pushed a button on a panel. "Right, thanks Raven, we'll be ready." he told her, and switched the intercom off. "So how long do you think this supply of zorka berries will last you this time?" he asked as they left the training room, and headed to their rooms to shower and change.
"As long as they have to." Star replied, "If not your fear will be correct and I will have to return to Tamaran."
Robin nodded silently, knowing that the zorka berry wasn't just Star's favorite food from her home planet, it also provided nutrients she could not get on earth. Without then she would get sick and die.