Chapter 13

After Gaitha had been fully examined by the ship's doctor, she was ordered to bed rest and needed to be monitored for the next twenty-four hours. This didn't sit well with Gaitha who didn't think she would be able to endure being cooped up for the next twenty-four hours. Jupiter talked her into it by telling her that if she still felt the same in the morning they would talk with the doctor. Caine knew better and had told Jupiter that after they left she would fall asleep again and probably sleep for close to twenty-four hours. She was young but still needed some time to recharge and heal.

"Caine I want to stay here with Gaitha until we get to Kalique's alcazar." Jupiter wasn't about to let Gaitha out of her sight for the next twenty-four hours.

"Jupiter she's going to be fine," Caine insisted.

"I know but I can't bear it if she wakes up from a nightmare and I'm not there. She could have a nightmare from all that's happened today. I need to do this for me too, I can't explain it..." she trailed off.

"Hey boss," called Stinger, "why don't you let me buy you a beer?" There was a small bar in the Gaitha as it had been equipped for the travel as Jupiter and Caine liked to do.

"I don't think so Stinger..."

Jupiter nudged him, "Go ahead, go have a drink with Stinger and we will be here when you get back. Kalique and I will end up taking turns sitting with her and then talking. We won't sleep well until she is safe under lock and key at Kalique's alcazar anyway. She can be in her own room at Kalique's to recuperate."

There was an adjoining room to Gaitha's and Jupiter told Caine they would likely take turns, her and Kalique until they reached the alcazar but she knew that she and Kalique wouldn't be able to go to sleep for awhile. Jupiter knew they would end up processing this and talking about everything all night. She also knew that Dragar would remain in front of Gaitha's door for those twenty-four hours that Gaitha would be in her room.

At the NITE OWL Stinger and Caine were processing the events of the day but differently than the women did. The women would go over every part of what they saw and all the dangers that could have been. Caine and Stinger would go over every move Gaitha had made that showed the training time they had with her and how it had paid big dividends. The arm was the least of the injuries Gaitha could have received and was quickly healed with the help of Regenex 2. The one thing they all agreed on though, was how damn proud they were of her.

Caine was right. While Gaitha did not sleep the whole twenty-four hours as predicted, she did sleep a good eighteen. Jupiter, Caine, Kalique, Stinger, and Dragar were all gathered in Gaitha's room. Kalique and Jupiter were planning when to re-do Gaitha's eighteenth birthday party. Caine and Stinger were planning a new training routine that took into account the experiences Gaitha had the day before while Dragar simply watched them all. They all spoke low enough from across the room so that they would not wake Gaitha. They were all surprised when they heard her voice.

"What's for breakfast?"

"I will tell the chef to make you whatever you want after the doctor sees you," replied Jupiter as she, Kalique, and the others walked over to Gaitha's bedside.

Gaitha's next question floored them all.

"Okay, so when do you think my jumper will be cleaned and repaired?" She then went on to all of them about all the wonderful things she had already found that her aunt had put into the jumper and that she was sure she hadn't found everything. She then told them all she couldn't wait to bring her friends on an excursion. She told them what they already knew such as the portaling capability that Night had installed. She rambled on as all those present looked at one another in shock and amazement.

The events of the last twenty-four hours had done little to slow Gaitha down.

THE END