"Brother?" Sarah asked as she brushed her hair the first night aboard the tempest, "have I been sleeping long?"
"Six hundred years" Scott replied, knowing that wasn't what she meant.
"Longer than you." she clarified, "how much longer than you?"
Scott hesitated, looked down at his shirt that he was folding to put back in the closet.
"Many months, Sarah. You slept for many months more than me."
"Were you very lonely?"
"No, I had my friends."
"Drack and Liam and Lexi?"
"That's right. And the rest of the crew."
Sarah put the brush down, thinking it over.
"Did anyone love you?" She finally asked.
"What sort of love are you asking about, Sarah?"
"The kind that holds you at night. The kind I will have with Jaal."
"I…" Scott wasn't sure how to answer that. Two faces flashed before his inner eye. Two very different men.
"Did they?" Sarah insisted.
"Yes" Scott finally said, quietly. "Two people. You met the first one today. My engineer. Gil."
"So he is your sweetheart?"
Scott laughed softly, remembering his mother trying to explain to a very confused Sarah what romance was. It had ended with his mother's embarrassment and Sarah's frustration leading to an explosion of epic proportions. Father had put a firm end to the whole thing when he'd told Sarah she was not to worry about it, that she'd probably never be anyone's sweetheart.
It still stung to remember how she had cried that night.
"Sco-eee" she twisted and drew out his name in a way she only did when she thought he was being incomprehensible. "Is Gil your sweetheart?"
"I suppose he is."
Sarah looked puzzled.
"I don't understand."
Scott sighed, and sat down on his bed, looking at her where she sat on the spare bunk they'd put in his quarters.
"It's complicated" he finally ventured.
"Then explain it to me" Sarah insisted, looking at him with expectant eyes. "Or is this one of those things sisters aren't supposed to ask about?"
Their mother had used that explanation many times when they were younger - that it was something sisters (or daughters) weren't supposed to ask about. It made Sarah stop asking, but it didn't stop her wondering.
And besides, he'd missed her particular brand of honesty.
"I'm his sweetheart" he said, using words she was familiar with. "He… he isn't mine."
Sarah frowned as she mulled it over.
"And the other one?" she wanted to know.
"That was… well, he wasn't my sweetheart either. And I wasn't his. Maybe we could be, someday."
Sarah curled up under the thin blanket that had been all he could find which he was confident she would accept. Textures were One Of Those Things.
"Is there anyone who is your sweetheart, brother?"
Scott had been expecting the question, but he still flinched when he heard it. He thought of the one person he was no longer allowed to think of like that. The first man in years that had made his heart beat faster with something other than desire. The man who was waiting for his sister.
Then he turned his face away from his sister, and lied.
"No, there isn't anyone."
He waited until she had fallen asleep before he left his quarters; he needed someone to hold him at night.
He headed towards engineering.
Sarah looked curiously at Avela, the angaran female that had been chosen to help Sarah prepare for her married life. Avela looked back, just as curious. Avela was about the same size as Sarah, the soft folds of her skin was a gentle purple and her eyes large and dark, and she wondered if Sarah with her pink skin and dark… hair, was that the word?, was considered beautiful by her species.
To be honest, Avela wasn't quite sure what to make of Sarah: she knew the human woman was autistic, whatever that meant. Amongst Avela's people, a female like Sarah would simply be considered as a much beloved sister and daughter who was not quite the rest of them. But Avela had come to understand that the people from the Milky Way liked to put labels on things. So far she had learnt that Sarah was female, human, autistic, young, twin, and pathfinder's sister.
"I am Avela" Avela finally said, when Sarah did not seem to want to begin the conversation. "I am here to help you prepare for your marriage, and to teach you about angaran culture." That cause a rather surprising reaction; Sarah looked up, her face bright and hopeful.
"Teach? You will answer my questions?" she asked in a voice that was very pleasant to Avela's ears, soft and sweet like ripe paripo, freshly picked. She had very pretty dark eyes and softly golden skin, and Avela thought that she would give Jaal very handsome kits.
"Yes" she said as a reply to the human woman's question. "I will teach you and answer all your questions."
Sarah beamed at her as she pulled a datapad from her pocket.
"I love to learn! Do I need to take notes?" She asked, eager like a new student wanting to impress.
"Perhaps" Avela said, amused. "Now, we will begin with basic interaction. Please, sit." She gestured to the only available chair, opposite the one she was sitting in. "When you first meet Jaal, you will want to greet him like this…"
It was about 11.57 ship time when Sarah looked up from her datapad, biting her lip in hesitation.
"Avela?" she asked shyly and looked mortified at having spoken up. Avela smiled affectionately at the woman. So young, this Sarah, in so many ways. As gentle as a bird.
"Yes, Sarah?" Avela liked Sarah; she had proven to be a diligent student, taking copious notes and asking many questions. She had also been willing to practice the gestures Avela had explained to her, even though the pathfinder had warned Avela not to touch his sister unnecessarily.
"I have lunch at twelve" the human woman whispered, worrying her lower lip with her teeth.
"Then we shall go prepare our meal" Avela said and rose from her chair. The pathfinder had told her explicitly that routine was important to someone who was autistic, and if lunch was usually taken at twelve it was best to have it then. She had not yet seen Sarah truly anxious, but pathfinder Ryder had been very thorough when explaining how to make this journey easy for Sarah. Well, as easy as possible. So far, the woman had not seemed particularly worried about her entire life being about to change. Perhaps that would come later, Avela figured as she opened a cupboard in the tiny kitchen.
"What do you usually eat, Sarah?"
"I…" the woman hesitated. "What do you eat for lunch on... Aya?"
Avela nodded in approval. It was good if she learned as quickly as possible.
"On Aya it is very hot during the day, so lunch is a light repose usually composed of fruit. You drink fruit juice or water."
"Then... " Sarah looked worried for a moment, then it was as if she came to a decision as she squared her shoulders. "Then I eat ayan fruit and drink water, please."
That said, Avela prepared two plates of paripo and nutrition paste; more fruit and less paste for her student.
"What is this?" Sarah asked, worried, as she looked at her plate. "It does not look like fruit."
"It is a nutrition paste, made from vitamins and vegetables. Angarans eat it daily, since it is easy to prepare and not relying on certain ingredients. Try putting some on your paripo; the sweetness of the fruit will accompany it nicely."
Sarah took her knife and spread a little of the paste on a slice of the bright red fruit. Then, she looked up at Avela again, seeking confirmation. Avela gave her another approving nod. Sarah flashed a quick, shy smile and looked back down at her plate. She still did not eat, only looking at the piece of fruit.
Avela looked at her for a moment, puzzled, then she understood.
"You do not need to use the cutlery, Sarah. You can eat the paripo with your fingers."
"Oh. Thank you." Sarah raised the food to her mouth and took a cautious bite. A strange look came over her face.
"It… tastes not like it smells" she finally ventured.
"Do you not like it?" Avela asked, concerned. The paste was a dish that angarans ate daily - if Sarah would not, she might get malnourished. Sarah's eyebrows were still furrowed as she chewed, then she swallowed and licked her lips, chasing the sticky juice from the paripo.
"I will learn to like it" she said decisively. "And you will teach me how to make it for my husband."
Avela smiled.
"Very good, Sarah."