Reptile led Kaida back to the banquet hall; most of the tables were occupied by different space marine teams. Soft and beautiful music played by plucked strings wafted through the air, adding a serene atmosphere to the occasion. Kaida felt more at ease here than she had done in any of the other rooms during her stay.

The table the two of them were sitting at beforehand was occupied by ten marines; Kaida had no doubt that these were the marines Kaida was fighting in the battle. There were two empty seats at the table, one at the head, presumably for Reptile; the other empty seat was between two other marines.

"This is my squad," said Reptile. He led Kaida by the hand to the seat between two of them and moved the chair out for her, only to push her up to the table when she was seated; there was an empty plate set on the table in front of her with a knife and fork laid either side of it. "This is Narcius," reptile indicated by placing a hand on the shoulder of the marine to her left, "and this is brother Rubex," the marine on Kaida's right. "They are good company; do not be worried about talking with them." Reptile left her and went to sit at the head of the table.

Kaida kept to herself at first, she didn't want to disturb the marines, they looked like they were already in conversations with their brothers; both Narcius and Rubex faced away from her. They must think very little of a small tau warrior like herself.

She overheard the conversation Rubex was having. "I loved what you were playing on the battlefield," said the other marine. "Is there any chance of having a private rendition?"

Rubex took a sip of wine from his goblet and said "I play my music for me, I don't play my music to entertain people. I play my music because I am my music."

"I loved what I heard, brother," said the other Marine, "and I would love to hear more of it."

"I play my music for me, I can do what I do by myself."

The other marine looked disappointed, "then perhaps you will accompany me to my chamber, you can give me your verdict on my own composition."

"Show it to me," said Rubex.

Without hesitation Rubex and the other marine pushed their chairs away from the table and left the hall. Kaida then turned to listen in on the conversation Narcius was having with the marine beside him.

"Squad Esskrimar are talking about that time we had together with the eldar," said the other marine.

"Good memories, brother," was the metallic sounding response from Narcius. His voice sounded familiar, she remembered the harsh metallic tones from after the battle, but she thought the distortion came from his helmet. Kaida wondered why he sounded like that, she could however only see him from the back and hadn't saught sight of his face.

Kaida's curiosity got the better of her, "You fought with the eldar?"

Narcius turned around to face Kaida his appearance nearly made Kaida move back in repulsion, his mouth, nose and much of his lower face were gone and replaced by a black and silver speaker. He said to her, "We've fought against eldar."

The other marine looked over Narcius' shoulder to catch sight of the tau before saying, "We don't really get on with the eldar. For some reason they don't like Slaanesh." He sounded sarcastic.

"Why don't they like Slaanesh?" asked Kaida no knowing the history of Slaanesh and the eldar. The marines would probably consider this common knowledge.

"That is a history lesson for another time, young tau," said Narcius before turning back to his friend to continue his conversation.

Kaida felt as though it was her task to talk to someone, so she made the statement, "We fought beside eldar once." This got Narcius' attention; he turned to face her again. "They helped our cadre fight the orks," she finished.

"You know there are eldar that do not live in craftworlds?" asked Narcius.

"There are some that have settled on planets, I know that," she said.

"I don't mean them; I mean the webway eldar."

"What's a webway Eldar?"

"I don't care to get into details; but behind every eldar in the galaxy is a dark, blood crazed psychopath who thinks nothing more of its victims than tools to use; and they have nothing but hate for our kind."

"They hate astartes?" she asked.

"They hate the followers of Slaanesh."

Narcius turned back to his friend; he had no interest in talking to Kaida and as there was no one on the other side of her she looked around the hall to see all the different space marine squads. Not many of them had what she would consider a normal human face; most of them had altered their appearance in some way; some of them were covered in elaborate tattoos, some had horns, and some had parts of their head replaced by some kind of bionic implant. She spotted Turo in the company of another space marine squad; he couldn't talk to them but he had more attention on him than Kaida did. Most of the marines were still in their armour, and she realised something, every set of armour was different for every marine; they had personalised it with patterns painted onto it or crafted gold reliefs seamlessly blended into the construction.

This was in stark contrast to the tau army; every member of the Fire Caste wore a strict uniform. There was no individuality at all; indeed it was quite hard to tell who was who once full battle gear was equipped.

She noticed the slave playing the music, it was a woman, she slowly swayed her head from side to side to keep perfect rhythm with the music; she was a masterful player of the harp, every string that was plucked was done so with such delicacy and poise, that it looked as though her hands were merely floating across the strings.

She spotted the food for the banquet being brought by slaves, followed by more slaves carrying jugs for the accompanying wine.

The slaves came to her table and placed different dishes of extravagantly prepared food along its middle. The food looked beautiful, it was clear that someone had spent a lot of time preparing it. Even the prepared animals looked like a delight; Kaida had never eaten much meat in her life time, but she could feel her mouth salivating at the thought of tucking into what lay before her. She didn't want to get any unwanted attention from the marines, so she didn't reach to put anything on her plate until one of them did so first. The slaves poured the jugs of what looked like wine into the goblets that accompanied each plate.

Reptile walked round to Rubex's empty seat. "I see that you're having trouble making conversation." He then pulled the seat out and sat beside her. "This is better than your usual rations, I assume."

"I don't know where to start," she said.

Reptile proceeded to tell her all the parts of the feast that would go together the best, and used his far greater reach to get her all that was on offer; he then filled his own plate. Kaida looked at what was in front of her now; there was no way she could eat it all, and she really didn't want to leave anything on the plate, in case someone took it as an insult. She started eating and it was incredible; everything was cooked to perfection. Being a member of the fire caste, fine dining was not something she was used to; and how to cook such extravagant food was as much a mystery to her as the warp itself.

"Do you like it?" asked Reptile.

"It's perfect," said Kaida as a juicy bit of meat melted into flavour in her mouth.

"This is what we eat when there is cause to celebrate," he explained, "and we achieved a fine victory over the Tau Empire. Your people fight well and we lost some of our dearest battle brothers."

Reptile looked around and saw that Rubex and his friend were coming back to the table. He approached and said, "You are in my seat, Reptile."

"You can take mine," Reptile replied.

"I do not want to sit in your seat, brother, I wish to sit with Kasadus."

"Very well, I will move," and reptile got up and whispered in Kaida's ear, "eat up, there is one more thing that I need to show you." He then went back to the head of the table.

Kaida continued eating; none of the marines were talking to her and she felt more and more like she wasn't wanted. An idea started growing in her head as to why none of the marines were interested in her, so she had to investigate. "Whose seat am I in?" she asked to anyone who would be willing to answer.

A marine sitting opposite her gave a reply, "That seat once belonged to Eligos." The marine spoke with bitterness.

"Was he a great warrior?" asked Kaida hoping to seem as respectful as she could.

"He was an artist on the field of battle and he had left a four thousand year tapestry of exquisite devotion to the Prince of Pleasure. And now you sit where he once did, as if you are our equal."

"Your squad leader put me here," said Kaida, trying to defend herself.

"He did," said the marine, "Reptile is as fine a champion any of us could ask for, but he is young. Just because we will follow him into battle, does not mean we need to like everything he does."

Rubex turned to Kaida and said to her, "You are a beautiful little being, tau, but Eligos was a testament to the beauty Slaanesh bestows on his most devoted followers."

Kaida didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Rubex looked away for a moment, and then looked back at Kaida with a smile on his face, long black hair whipping round as he turned. "Have you enjoyed your stay on our ship?" He didn't leave time for Kaida to think about an answer, "you have spent your time with Reptile have you not? And you have shared things?" Rubex's smile grew wider, "All the time you have spent together, have you ever considered why he is called 'Reptile'?"

Kaida never thought about it before, she guessed 'Reptile' was a normal Gothic name.

"It's a rather strange name for an astartes, don't you think? Shall I tell you the reason behind it?"

Kaida nodded.

"Then allow me to illuminate you," said Rubex, "We were fighting webway eldar; all had been killed or routed, except for the archon and his bodyguards."

"I remember it well," said the pale marine beside Rubex, "Doped up on drugs, believing themselves invulnerable; they marched into a massacre."

"Yes," said Rubex. "They had been defeated except for the archon and his sslyth bodyguards. The sslyth had decided that the pitiful tactical direction of the archon had not been to their satisfaction; so they killed him right there on the battlefield. Knowing that they would not win the fight against us, they surrendered. Reptile, who was then..."

"That's enough," interrupted Reptile from across the table, "that tale is not yours to share."

"Apologies, brother," commented Rubex, "I did not realise you did not want it told."

"It does not need to be told," said Reptile.

Rubex let out a dejected sigh and turned from Kaida. She then looked around to Narcius who had removed his speaker and was putting food through the gap and into a maw of vertically aligned teeth. She turned back to Rubex, being the only marine to show real interest in talking to her, "So is Reptile not the oldest marine in the unit?" she asked, "In the fire caste, the veterans are always the ones to lead the teams."

"No," replied Rubex, "Some of us are thousands of years old, but Reptile has had plenty of battle experience. You could say that we are all qualified to lead the team; we just decided that he was better suited to the task."

The pale marine beside Rubex spoke, "I have eaten too much beforehand, my love; I will be back soon to continue the feast." Rubex turned and gave the pale marine a kiss before letting him leave the banquet hall.

She continued eating and drinking with Rubex, they talked about the tau, their customs and how they differ from what she had seen on the ship. She then heard a familiar whisper in her ear, "It's time for you and I to leave the banquet," she looked round to see Reptile standing behind her.

Rubex turned round to speak to him "Brother Reptile, may I apologise for my earlier insistence that I sit here. Your tau friend is a delight; I can see why you would want to be with her."

"No offence taken," said Reptile. "I know how close you are to Kasadus."

"And I'm sorry for sharing the story of you and the sslyth. It wasn't my place."

"Let it be off your conscience, brother, no harm has come of it."

"Then may I request something from you, if it is not too much trouble."

"What is it?" asked Reptile, puzzled.

"A kiss," said Rubex. "Not from you of course, I've felt the warmth of an astartes too much in my life time. I ask for a kiss from your gorgeous tau friend."

Reptile looked at the tau and said, "It's up to you, Kaida."

"Kaida," said Rubex softly, while looking into her eyes, "Just a small token of appreciation, a leaving gift, for me to remember your company by."

Rubex had given her his time in the form of conversation when the marines around her had dismissed her. In the end, he had made her feel welcome. She got up to her knees to reach the cheek of the astartes and simply pecked it with her lips pursed. His skin was rough, dry, and cold.

As she moved away, he gave her a warm smile "I hope this is only the start of a wonderful relationship."
She quickly showed an awkward smile of her own before climbing out of her chair and leaving the hall hand in hand with Reptile; Rubex's eyes following until they were gone.