Jim really hadn't expected Sidon to take the bait he'd thrown out earlier, but he wasn't going to complain. He'd never back out of a good fuck; and the Zora having a dominant streak was just a delicious icing on the giant crimson cake.

He grinned all the way down from the bridge to the galley. If I stay up there with Sidon I'm GOING to tease him until he orders me to his cabin again- it was already taking a lot of effort to walk without tripping over his own feet after the bit of fun they had; there was no way he'd be able to walk normally if they went for round two. If he'd even be able to walk at all.

Maybe next time he'll ACTUALLY fuck me… the grin widened.

Silver looked up from what he'd been preparing with a start and turned to stare at him, an eyebrow cocked, "Ye reek of sex-"

"M-hm."

He could feel as the Ursid's eyes tracked him as he slid onto the bench of the table closest to the kitchen space and reached for a purp from the barrel.

"Who with?"

Jim met his gaze now, talking around a bite of the fruit, "We both know I don't need to say it out loud for you to be able to tell."

Silver stared at him. Jim could tell he'd been asking only as confirmation, and Jim's response had worked. His face paled at first, and then his other eyebrow also moved up in surprise. It took him a minute to say anything, "I'll be damned…"

"I've got a question for you-" Jim took another bite. Silver didn't look at him, but he could tell the Ursid was watching by how his hand moved so carefully to slice the vegetables he was preparing. It struck Jim that Brigit wasn't down here helping and he glanced around to look for her instinctively, "Why's everyone so damn surprised?"

The cyborg hesitated. Addressed Jim silently with his eyes. Then he turned back to the food on the stove and Jim's own eyebrows rose. What the hell does that mean? He pushed out of his seat and slid into the kitchen, "That's not an answer."

"I know, Jimbo…" Silver seemed flustered, which was unusual for him.

Jim planted himself right in the middle of the counter, directly in the way, and crossed his arms over his chest, "Spill it."

"Jimbo-"

"Nope. I don't want to hear it. Everyone's been staring at me like I've grown a second head. Sidon's a grown ass adult, if he didn't want to he should have fucking said something-"

"Calm down, lad," Silver let out a breath. "He…yer right. If he didn't want te he should'a said somethin'..."

Jim waited for him to continue, but Silver didn't say anything else and Jim let out a low whine of annoyance. Silver chuckled and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Ye ne'er have been one fer patience, eh lad?"'

"Are Sidon and I married now or something? Is that what it is? Some weird Zora cultural thing that I didn't know about?" He started to throw out whatever came to mind now, trying to piece together why everyone was acting so strangely. Sidon was a good lay, was it that everyone on the ship had been in his bed? Except…Jim couldn't imagine Timetra putting up with Sidon's dominance and Silver…he almost laughed aloud at the idea. He knew Silver wasn't interested in being on the giving or receiving end of a sexual encounter with Sidon or any other man.

Silver's mouth dropped open and he rushed up to Jim and grabbed his shirt to yank the collar over and reveal his left shoulder. Jim froze, startled, and then raised his hands to push away the sudden assault, "Woah! What are you-"

"Heavens, lad," Silver chuffed out a soft laugh and released Jim's shirt. He shook his head and scolded gently, "I though' I'd have te give ye a good talkin' to fer goin' tha' far without even really knowin' each other."

Jim stared at him for a moment, "What?"

"I though' 'e marked ye," the cyborg returned to his cooking after giving a dismissive wave of his hand and Jim gazed with concern at his back. He sat up a little and fixed his shirt, which was still askew.

"You thought he what? "

Silver peered over his shoulder before turning to face him, "D'ye not know wha' 'markin' is?"

"No…"

The Ursid made a drawn-out 'mmm' in his throat and nodded in understanding now, "It's wha' some species o' alien do 'stead o' weddin' rings. It's instinctual, a way te claim their 'mate'. It's basic'ly a nasty bite tha' turns inte a scar."

"Oh…" Jim said after a moment. "I'm guessing Zora do that then…?"

"Aye."

He pursed his lips a little and frowned, "But he didn't do that…so why's everyone looking at me funny?"

Silver's face twisted as if he were weighing his words, "I…don' know t'e whole story, Jimbo. But…Sidon lost 'is mate. It were a'fore I got on the ship, a'fore a lot o' t'e crew did. Demitria knew Raeleth, but most e'eryone jest knows Sidon don'...'e don' take no one te bed or e'en flirt wid no one. I ain't ne'er seen 'im show any interest in anybody."

Oh.

That made more sense now. Why couldn't anyone just spit that out before? Jim had felt as if he'd done something unforgivable. But now that he'd heard this, he was pretty sure Sidon was getting similar looks.

"Who's Demitria?"

"Ship's surgeon."

Jim nodded slowly. He may have met them, he wouldn't know, he could hardly remember the last week. Probably not a good thing to not remember anything…

"And Raeleth was a…?"

Silver's organic ear twitched a little, "From wha' I've 'eard, she were Zora like the cap'n."

So his mate - Raeleth - was a woman…

"Is that why he didn't put it in?" He murmured to himself.

Silver groaned and pulled a face as he looked back over his shoulder at Jim, "I didn' need te know tha', lad…"

"Sorry! Sorry, I forgot you were there," Jim couldn't help but laugh. He slid off the counter and raised a teasing eyebrow, "You mean to tell me you don't want every intimate detail?"

"I'd rather ye keep it te yerself. I c'n a'ready tell more'n I wanna know jest by smellin' ye."

Jim wasn't sure what the extent of what Silver could smell and it made him feel a little…vulnerable…and exposed…and highly embarrassed. He cleared his throat, suddenly self-conscious, and took a step back, "Remind me to change my clothes afterward…"

Silver grinned a little, "Don' do much good te hide wha' ye did if'n I'm t'e one yer tryin' te hide it from an' I'm the one remindin' ye-" his eyes went to Jim's face quickly "- are the two o' ye together?"

"I dunno, he didn't say one way or the other. I was just saying that as a general rule for the future," Jim watched the way Silver studied him. It was as if the man were seeing him in a new light. The last time they'd spent any real amount of time together he had been a child and had absolutely zero experience with anything even remotely sexual in nature, so it wasn't hard to imagine that Silver still viewed him as naive and innocent. It probably was a bit of a shock and a revelation to him that Jim had his fair share of past partners and that he wasn't shy about expressing he fully expected to have future partners.

"Ye gonna try te pursue 'im?"

It had been a long time since Jim had purposefully gone after anyone. Not since…

He lowered his gaze and knew that his expression became solemn, "No."

Silver paused, "An' why no'?"

"I've got other priorities right now," Jim gave him a half-hearted grin. It was true. Mostly. He had ashes to deliver to a certain constellation. And he'd learned that love wasn't worth the eventual heartbreak.

"Don' le' somethin' good pass ye by, Jimbo. Heaven knows tha' e'erythin' good in life's worth t'e figh'."

I don't know how much more fight I've got in me, Silver.

But he didn't want to talk about it. Not yet. Not ever. Six years and it still hurt as much as if it had just happened…Jim just smiled and gave Silver a soft look that he reserved only for him and whispered, "Alright."

Thirteen health elixirs mixed. All her supplies reorganized and inventoried so she was prepared to send someone with a list to restock her shelves when they stopped in port again. Each of the four beds was dressed in new sheets and all the dirty ones were in the basin soaking.

It was turning into a productive afternoon.

Demitria leaned over her desk to work on writing her report instead of sitting in her chair. She was on a roll and it had her jittery. A tingle raced down her spine and she paused, lifting her pen off the paper, "I didn't hear you come in. How long have you been back there?"

There was no answer, so she turned around to look at Sidon. He crouched with his against the wall on the far side of the room, elbows on his thighs, head in his hands.

It had been a while since she'd seen him like this. Demitria studied his posture as she tried to determine what could have triggered this reaction for him. He didn't move at all except to let out a deep sigh. She set her pen down and devoted her full attention to him as she walked toward him.

"Sidon, what's wrong?"

She caught another scent on him and paused. She's only caught small wafts of it over the past week, always faint as if she'd missed whoever it belonged to by a couple hours. Demitria tried to pinpoint who it could belong to.

Her eyes widened, "Oh! Is that…did you…with that human?"

Sidon groaned.

Dear Hylia. Demitria sat on the edge of the bed closest to him. This is new. The longer she thought about it, the more shocked she was.

"How long has it been since you've…been with anyone?" She rocked back a little as she tipped her chin up. Sidon groaned again, more distraught sounding this time. She knew the answer to that question. It had been just under thirty four years since Raeleth had passed away and Sidon hadn't taken another lover since. At least…not until now.

"I didn't know you were interested in men-"

"I didn't know either!" He finally spoke, raising his head from his palms and looking at her with a distressed expression. They gazed at each other for a moment.

Demitria frowned a little, "How do you feel about it?"

"I don't know!" Sidon sounded both confused and exasperated. He fell back into his hands. Demitria waited before saying anything. She could almost perfectly time how each of their interactions like this went by now. They used to be a lot more frequent, especially right after Raeleth had passed away, but Sidon had seemingly been able to control his emotions for the past several years.

"I just…I'm not upset that it was with a man…just that…it happened at all with anyone …" He started to talk just as she had expected him to.

"Why?" Demitria pried gently. She knew he held a lot of guilt for Raeleth's death, even though she hadn't died by any fault of his.

"I…I'm being unfaithful to her…"

Demitria stood from her seat and caught his face in her hands so she could meet his gaze, "You know that is the farthest thing from the truth. We were both her friends before the two of you were mates, and we both know that she would want you to find happiness again. You don't need to mourn forever to prove that you still love her."

Sidon's gaze darted back and forth between her eyes. His posture relaxed a little.

"So…why the human, huh? I don't think I've actually even met him yet."

He deflated a little, "I don't know…something about…I…I don't know! It was just how he…ugh! I don't know! He's obnoxious and smug and cocky!"

Demitria couldn't help but laugh, "So he's perfect for you!"

Sidon scowled, "Very funny."

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" She pinched his cheeks teasingly. He batted her hands away, as she tried to pinch him again, "So you're not going to be courting him, I take it?"

"No! I'm not even going to sleep with him again!"

Demitria laughed again, "Mm-hm, sure. So when are you telling him that?"

"I was…just going to not talk to him again…" He turned his head away and avoided her gaze. He looked like a child with his bottom lip stuck out like that.

"That's…surprisingly cowardly of you," Demitria mused. He flinched as she continued, "But it might work…if you weren't the captain and didn't have to talk to him. Just be straightforward, you big baby."

Sidon pouted more and whined.

"Stop that, you're a one hundred something year old, ten foot tall prince , don't act like a child! Just talk to him. What could he possibly do? He's just a human."

"Ok! I get it! I'll talk to him!" Sidon finally stood from his crouch and waved her away. He left the clinic, grumbling the whole time, and Demitria shook her head. He said that, but she knew him better than anyone. He was going to put off the task as long as he possibly could.

She made her way back toward her desk before stopping again and dropping her shoulders in annoyance at herself with a small laugh, "Dammit, I should have asked when Sidon's bringing his new boyfriend home for dinner!"