Chapter Seventeen:
"Harper you cannot ignore her forever. Talk to her. I bet she didn't mean to leave you like that. At least she won't be trying to kill Tyr every time we turn around." Trance said causing Harper to smile a little.
He went to the mess deck to talk to Aikera. When he walked in, he noticed Luna sitting at s table alone. She was quietly eating when he approached her. He looked around and didn't notice anyone else. That really didn't mean much either. He sat down across from her. She glanced at him and went back to eating.
"What's your name?" He asked. She shrugged. "Do you have a name?" again, he received a shrug. "Do you know Princess Aikera?" this time, he got a positive nod. "Can you talk?" Harper asked now that the shrugs were not being used.
"Of course she can talk." Aikera said quietly as she sat down next to Luna. Luna crawled into her lap she was uncomfortable with Harper. "Luna this is Harper, Harper this is my newly adopted daughter Luna."
"Hi Luna." Harper said. She gave him a small wave.
"Are you full?" Aikera asked Luna, who nodded yes. "Then lets go get you settled into bed, it's past your bedtime." Aikera said standing up. Harper got up and followed them.
"Aikera, why did you leave?" Harper asked once Luna was in Aikera's bed asleep.
"I needed to talk to Tyr, and to think because I wasn't going back to my home planet." Aikera said looking at her feet then met Harper's gaze. "I'm sorry I left you like I did."
"I forgive you. I understand now that you had things to work out." Harper said hugging Aikera.
They sat on the couch talking for several hours before they both got tired. Harper said that he would sleep in his quarters so Luna wouldn't be uncomfortable in the morning. Aikera reluctantly agreed and let Harper leave. Aikera felt like Harper was still upset with her leaving him. She loved him, but she also hurt him bad.
The next morning Aikera and Luna entered mess. Aikera noticed Beka sitting alone at a table. Aikera approached it with Luna walking behind her. Beka looked up at the two.
"May I help you Princess?" Beka asked. Aikera sighed understanding the anger but she was going to fix that now.
"Beka, I didn't intentionally hurt Harper. I know he is family to you. I bet when you heard Tyr left you were also hurt. Are you taking your hurt from Tyr leaving out on me and using Harper's hurt as the excuse? That is not fair to anyone. Harper and I are talking and getting through why I left. Have you even talked to Tyr?" Aikera said sitting down. Luna sat next to Aikera. Beka sighed looking at the table. She was beat.
"How can I approach him now? I thought we had something going and then he took off with you." Beka said as the doors swooshed open. They looked at Dylan as he approached their table.
"What are you two doing?" He asked curious as to why they were talking alone in the mess.
With out missing a beat Aikera piped in, "We're drawing up a plan for total domination, the key element is coffee makers that talk."
"I better let Harper know his new project." Beka said getting up and leaving mess before Dylan could ask her about the coffeemaker thing. Dylan looked at Aikera then at Beka's retreating back.
"Dylan, I was just joking. We were just talking girl talk." Aikera said getting up to get her and Luna some food. He nodded going to get him food.
The doors swooshed open again and neither bothered to look at who entered until Luna screamed. Aikera and Dylan both came running to see why the young girl was screaming. Noticing it was only Rev that entered both adults calmed down and Aikera went to calm Luna down. Rev backed away and Aikera stopped him. He stood there still like a statue. Aikera got Luna calm enough to where the six year old wasn't screaming, but she would not go near Rev.
"Luna, remember when I told you I had different species that were in my family?" Aikera asked. Luna nodded. "That is Rev. I know he is a magog, but he will not harm anyone on this ship."
"But his kind killed my family." Luna said still trying to scoot away from Rev.
"Luna, you may hate those who killed your family, but it is not the Reverend's fault. Don't judge a species of any kind, you may not like certain people of a species or a race but don't hold it against their kind as a whole." Aikera said. Luna slowly got off the chair and approached Rev. When she was about a foot away from him he looked down at her.
"Are you a friend?" Luna asked. Rev then squatted down to her eyelevel. Luna saw all the pain in Rev's eyes. Not just from her own fear. "Something else bothers you Reverend."
"It is nothing my child." Rev answered as Luna put a hand on his fur.
"If you let it eat at you, it will be your weakness and can be used against you." Luna said.
"How do you know this?" Rev asked. Dylan looked at Aikera questioningly she just shrugged her shoulders.
"I can read it in your eyes. You are lonely. No one understands you." Luna said. "But I do. I can't explain it, but I can feel what everyone feels."
"Luna, come eat." Aikera said before anymore could be said. Aikera was beginning to figure out what Luna was. There were her kind on Aikera's planet. Her mom was one of them. That is what had attracted the young girl to Aikera on the drift in the first place. It was familiar vibes.