Author's Note:
To all of you who read and review this story, thank you. I appreciate every reader, but especially treasure those of you who do leave me words of review let me know that I really am reaching you. I appreciate that, and it is what keeps me going. Please keep this up. It's the only way I have to see how my writing comes across to you, and I find that vital, both for motivation and for learning to improve as a writer. I really appreciate your comments and questions.

This chapter begins the second phase of Mari'il's life on Arume. I hope you will find her adventures here engaging, and that they remain true to her character and the world.

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Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 9

Starting Out Afresh

Mari'il extended her stay at the Lover's Bay hotel after Ariel and Raphael headed back home. During this time she reviewed the data-chip Loriel sent out with Ariel. She also worked together with her applying for the position she found, and frequently talked with Raphael who helped arrange for Mari'il to rent the apartment next to hers. Raphael was a bit hesitant to ask Loriel for help, but after some reassurance from Mari'il and Ariel, the two ended up working together on the apartment. Loriel was able to give her crucial help with the business portions of the arrangements.

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On returning to town, Mari'il headed straight to her appointment with Loriel in her office. The two had pretty much finished working through the bureaucratic minutiae of Mari'il's records, clearance, and other details for her new job when a hesitant knock on the door interrupted them.

``Her timing's just about right,'' commented Loriel, then she answered, ``Please come in.''

The door opened to reveal a nervous Raphael. ``Excuse me.''

``Come on in, pull up a chair and make yourself at home,'' answered Loriel. She then explained to Mari'il, ``I invited Raphael here so we could take care of the apartment matters as well.'' She turned back to Raphael. ``Thank you for your help with this. Please, relax.'' She smiled at Mari'il, continuing, ``I think Raphael is still a little nervous around high-ranking military, but she'll get over that. You do seem to have a talent for picking good friends.''

Mari'il laughed at this, denying she had any special skill, but admitting that she had made some very good and dear friends since arriving back on Arume.

Raphael brought up the indicated chair and joined the group around Loriel's desk. ``Loriel has helped so much in getting you this apartment,'' she explained. ``I don't think I could have arranged this without her vouching for you. I never thought about it before, but an official word that `Mari'il will be arriving next week, and we can't tell you why' from Fleet opened all the doors. After that, the apartment manager was happy to let me make any necessary the arrangements.'' Both Loriel and Mari'il smiled in gratitude for her initiative and help. ``Unfortunately, I just found out that you won't be able to move into the apartment for several more days. It seems that the previous tenant took longer to move out, so it'll be a little before we can fix it up nicely for you.''

``Oh,'' said Mari'il. ``That's a complication I hadn't expected.''

``I'm sorry—''

``Don't be sorry, Raphael,'' said Loriel, cutting her off. ``You couldn't have predicted that. We just have to figure out what to do now.'' She looked over at Mari'il. ``Given the way Zephrael's been acting since she discovered your nanomachine treatments, I'm not sure you want to go back to staying in your hospital room, even for these couple of days.'' She turned to the wall to her left, ``Oriol, are there any free rooms in temporary officer's quarters?'' When the computer said there were none, she mused, ``Or maybe another hotel...''

``Mari'il, if you'd like...'' Raphael ventured hesitantly. ``If you'd like, you could come stay with me until you're apartment's ready.''

``Would that really be all right?'' asked Mari'il. ``If you're sure, I'd like to. But I don't want to make any more trouble for you, though.''

``Yes, of course you can stay,'' Raphael answered, looking at Mari'il, her tentatively hopeful expression turning happier. ``I'd love to have you.''

A smile grew on Loriel's face as she looked from one to the other. ``If that's agreeable to both of you, it would certainly make things easier.'' When they both agreed, she ordered, ``Oriol, cancel the last query.'' She turned back to them and smiled. ``Well, now that that's settled, let's see if we can handle the rest of the official bother. Then you two can take care of whatever personal arrangements you want.''

ooo OOO ooo

Raphael took Mari'il over to her apartment next. ``We can pick up a couple bags here to help move your things,'' she explained.

``That'd be great,'' Mari'il agreed. ``Also, I'd like to see your place in person. The pictures you showed me made me want to even more. It looked so nice.''

``Oh, Mari'il,'' she replied with a peal of laughter. ``You're such a good flatterer.''

Mari'il blushed. She hadn't intended it as flattery, she merely spoke the truth.

They arrived at Raphael's apartment where the skimmer let them off just down the long porch from her door on the eighth story. Raphael headed toward her door. As they passed another door on the way Raphael pointed out that it soon would be Mari'il's.

``Here we are,'' declared Raphael, stopping at the next door.

Mari'il looked around. ``The inland side here has a nice view too.'' She gestured toward the edge of the long porch. ``On Forime, they would definitely have a railing there to keep people from falling off. I guess that's not so important here where you can float back up if you do slip.''

They both giggled. ``Which is another reason I'm glad you have all that practice your nanomachines,'' added Raphael. She turned back, opened her door and entered another command there. ``Mari'il, if you'd enter your hand-print here, the apartment will then let you enter on you're own.''

``Thank you,'' replied Mari'il, putting her hand on the door pad as instructed. ``I appreciate your trusting me with your place like this.''

``Welcome to my little apartment,'' said Raphael as they entered.

``Not exactly little,'' corrected Mari'il, looking around. ``You should see some of the really small places back on Forime.''

Opposite the entry was a large glass door opening onto a balcony which overlooked the bay next to the Feet harbor where Mari'il first arrived. A sofa and comfortable chair made a nice grouping where you could relax and view the ocean while still indoors. Off to the side was a small table with a couple chairs and easy access to the apartment's kitchen. Mari'il also noticed a very pleasant lack of piping, cables, and machines common in Arume laboratories and hospital rooms.

``I'll bet it's lovely to sit there and watch the sun rise over breakfast,'' commented Mari'il.

Raphael agreed that it indeed was. ``We can do that tomorrow, if you'd like.''

Mari'il happily agreed that she would.

Instead of the standard lockers aboard ship or at Fleet Hospital, Raphael's apartment had a couple closets and some cabinets for storage. Raphael took a couple bags from one of these. ``Do you think these will be big enough to hold all of your things?''

``Sure. You know I don't have that much.''

Raphael invited Mari'il to look around the place while she sent a message to Ariel explaining the change in Mari'il's housing arrangements and telling her they were coming to pick up her things from the Hospital. Mari'il did, observing that Raphael had artistically decorated her place with a few tastefully chosen images and objects which complemented the scene out the window rather than competing with the natural splendor of the bay.

ooo OOO ooo

The two arrived at Mari'il's old room there carrying the bags for her things. ``You know,'' remarked Mari'il. ``I'm going to be happy to be out of here, but I'm also going to miss this room a bit.''

``I can see how that would be. I'm sure this room does hold memories for you: both good and bad.'' She set the bags down on the bed. ``Is there anything I can do to help?''

``If you wouldn't mind,'' said Mari'il, looking up from the locker she was opening and gesturing to another. ``All my clothes are in there, and...''

``Sure!'' Raphael took one of the bags and headed toward the indicated locker. She opened it and looked inside.

``Did you bring all your uniforms with you to Lover's Bay?''

``No, just one uniform. Why?''

``Because I don't see any in this locker.''

Mari'il froze. [[ You don't think that... ]] She immediately turned and opened the locker with Ariel's secure box. ``Raphael, could you come take a look at this?'' She came over. ``Do you think this looks like someone tried to get into this box for my things?''

Raphael took a second, closer look, and answered, ``I certainly think so.'' They looked at each other, a shared understanding growing in their eyes. ``You don't think that she...''

``Unfortunately, that's exactly what I think.''

``Oh Mari'il.'' Raphael moved to give her a reassuring hug.

``Wait,'' Mari'il said, stopping herself as she reached for the box. ``Let's save some images of this before we disturb things.''

They did so and then finished packing up the rest of Mari'il's things checking to see if anything else was missing and making sure that they left nothing behind. In addition to her uniform, they found a few other minor items missing, and also further evidence that someone had rifled through her things. Thankfully, the locks on Ariel's box had defeated any attempts to open it, and Mari'il's precious mementos from Earth were all still safely stored inside.

``It's too bad about your missing uniforms.'' Raphael tried to cheer her up. ``But at least it was only clothing. Now that you've got a job, we can go shopping for some replacements. ...Well, I don't know where to get uniforms, but I'd be happy to take you to find some ordinary clothes.''

Mari'il was cheered as much by her trying as by the actual suggestion and agreed to go shopping with her again someday. ``Well,'' Mari'il concluded when they'd finished packing her things, ``this makes one more reason I won't be sad to leave here.''

``Then shall we?'' asked Raphael, picking up a bag and gesturing toward the door.

``Sure.''

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Mari'il and Raphael headed out of the room carrying her bags. They were stopped at the end of the corridor by Zephrael accompanied by two of her assistants.

``Where do you think you're going, Forime?'' demanded Zephrael. ``I haven't authorized your departure.''

Mari'il's blood ran cold. She felt Raphael draw close to her, though she couldn't say whether this was to give or get reassurance.

``And why would we even need your approval?'' asked Mari'il in return. Courage flowed up from somewhere and her voice rang once more with the authority of a starship commander. Maybe Ekaril was defending Mari; maybe Mari was defending Ekaril; or maybe they were both defending their friend Raphael.

Zephrael's eyes narrowed, while her assistants' eyes grew wide: they had never imagined anyone would stand up to their boss, much less speak to her in that tone of voice. ``You do know a patient has to be released from the hospital by her doctor,'' she explained, as if to a simpleton.

``And...'' Mari'il prompted, in the tone of a commander prompting a slow subordinate to complete an insufficient and dubious explanation.

``...And she has that permission.''

Shock flashed across Zephrael's features and she turned to face this new speaker. Her expression hardened when she found herself facing Ariel.

``And why might you say that?'' she asked.

``Because, if you'd bothered to check,'' answered Ariel, ``she already has that permission. It's on file. Here, I brought it along to refresh your memory.'' She held out a recorder to Zephrael and activated it, displaying the permission form in question, fully filled out and in proper order.

Zephrael looked over this and realized there was nothing she could do against it. ``Come,'' she ordered her assistants, turned and stalked off down the corridor. Mari'il was sure she used her gravity-control to heighten the impact of her footsteps. Floating simply couldn't produce such an emotionally satisfying and expressive sound as stomping off.

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``Thank you,'' said Mari'il, turning to Ariel. ``I really appreciate your assistance there. Once again, you've saved me.''

``You're welcome. But I'm not sure you really needed it. You seemed to be holding your own pretty well when I came up.''

``You knew to plan ahead and bring the right weapon to the battle,'' countered Mari'il. Her confident expression dissolved. ``And I was scared.''

Ariel laid a gentle hand on her arm in comfort. That did bring a wan smile of gratitude back to Mari'il's face. The two looked at each other for a moment, their glance finishing the communication.

``She'll never forget this, you know,'' commented Raphael. ``And she won't forgive us either—not that she was ever inclined to do so.''

``Probably,'' answered Ariel. ``But let's not borrow tomorrow's trouble today. And Raphael, thank you for telling me you were coming here to pick up Mari'il's things. I came over to help, but I was expecting that would be packing or carrying or the like.'' She laughed at the form her help had turned into.

``Why don't we go ahead and leave,'' suggested Mari'il. ``I'd hate to find that Zephrael figured out some other way to keep me here.'' She laughed nervously. ``But I'd also like to keep talking. Are you two doing anything for dinner?''

None of them had other plans, so they agreed to meet at Sabrael's in an hour. Mari'il and Raphael continued their journey back to her apartment first, while Ariel stopped back by her office to finish a last couple things before leaving for the day.

ooo OOO ooo

Raphael took Mari'il back to her apartment after their impromptu dinner with Ariel celebrating Mari'il's escape from Zephrael and departure from the Hospital. When they got there, Raphael insisted that Mari'il take her big bed—she would be fine sleeping on the sofa. Mari'il countered that she should sleep on the sofa and Raphael should sleep in her own bed.

``After all, this is your apartment and your bed. And anyway, I'm used to sleeping on small cots that size.''

``But you're the guest here, so...''

Eventually the combination of Mari's stubbornness and Ekaril's command experience won out, and they agreed she would use the sofa. The two were able to share a laugh after this, and there were no hard feelings left over.

Mari'il unpacked enough to take care of her that night, and they were soon ready for bed. Raphael stuck her head out to bid Mari'il ``good night'' before shutting the door. Mari'il tucked herself in on the sofa, turned out the light and dropped off to sleep herself.

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A scream woke Mari'il. It didn't take long for her to recall why she was asleep on Raphael's sofa, nor to figure out that the scream was not her own. She got up and padded over to Raphael's bedroom door. Listening there, she heard no further screams, but thought she could hear a quiet sobbing.

She knocked lightly. ``Raphael, are you all right?''

Raphael gulped once and ordered the door open, inviting Mari'il in.

She was curled up in a tight ball on her bed, hugging the blankets, shaking.

Mari'il came over, sat down on the edge of the bed, gently put her hand on Raphael's shoulder, and asked, ``Are you all right, Raphael?''

Mari'il continued rubbing Raphael's shoulder and murmuring comforting words to her. Eventually Raphael stopped shaking, uncurled a little and looked up at Mari'il, fear still etched on her face.

``I... I...'' Raphael swallowed and tried again. ``I was having a nightmare.''

``Would telling me about it help? Is there anything else I can do?''

``I... I think... maybe.'' Raphael uncurled a little more and scooted over closer to Mari'il.

``Take your time. I'm here for you.'' Mari'il reassured her. ``It'll be all right.''

Raphael pulled her blankets with her and leaned up against Mari'il, who put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and began, ``It was about this afternoon, about Zephrael.'' She went on to explain that Zephrael was threatening both her and Mari'il in the dream: threatening to do all sorts of unspeakable experiments on them, and that this was all because they tried to escape.

Mari'il tightened her arm around Raphael. ``I understand.'' She looked down at her with a smile. ``I've had nightmares about Zephrael too.''

Raphael sniffed. ``Really?''

``Yes, really. They were terrible dreams, but they were still only dreams. Look, we've got Loriel and Ariel on our side, and they'll protect us. See how much they've done already? Zephrael can't hurt you.''

``But... but they were protecting you, not me. Now Zephrael's going to be after me since I helped you.''

``And both Ariel and Grand Admiral Loriel will now protect you as well.''

``You're sure?''

``I'm sure. You can trust them. You can trust me.''

``Thank you.'' Raphael reached up and grasped Mari'il's hand that was holding her. ``I'm sorry I woke you up.''

``That's all right,'' said Mari'il. She daubed at Raphael's tears with a fold of her blanket. ``This is what friends are for.''

They sat there, holding each other in quiet reassurance for a while.

Mari'il recalled some of her nightmares, and realized what a help Mari and Ekaril had been to each other in them. [[ Ekaril, dear, do you think it would help if... but I don't want to make you jealous... ]]

[[ Yes I think it might help. ]] Ekaril immediately understood the direction of Mari's thoughts. [[ And no, I won't be jealous of Raphael ...See. ]] And she let Mari see what she was thinking and how she wouldn't be.

Having settled this within herself, Mari'il looked back at Raphael and tenderly wiped another tear off her cheek, this time with her finger. ``Raphael, would you sleep better if I stayed here with you?''

Raphael looked up. Her expression of hope and relief and need answered Mari'il's question before her brief nod confirmed her answer.

Mari'il smiled. ``That way, you'll know you're not alone. You'll know in here,'' she put her fingers on Raphael's heart, ``that you have friends who will protect you.''

``Thank you,'' said Raphael, and she pulled Mari'il into a hug and buried her face in her neck.

Mari'il returned her hug, and they just held each other like this for a while. ``Raphael,'' Mari'il finally said, ``maybe we should straighten out the covers and try to go to sleep again.''

``Uh huh,'' Raphael mumbled into her neck, nodding.

They straightened out the blankets once more and lay down under them.

``Um... Mari'il, could you... would you mind... could you keep on holding me?'' asked Raphael, hesitantly, ``You really do make me feel safe and protected.''

``Of course,'' answered Mari'il, putting her arms around Raphael who snuggled close for comfort. ``This is what friends are for,'' she whispered into her ear.

The lights dimmed, and Raphael soon relaxed in this warm, protective, embrace.

[[ Thank you, ]] said Mari, silently. [[ I'm glad we can help her. ]]

[[ So am I, ]] answered Ekaril. [[ and it feels really good to be able to help her like this. Thank you. ]]

And with that, they drifted off into a sleep, none of them troubled by dreams of fear or dread any longer.