11. Skylar

11

Skylar

The day passes, and Tan is distracted when he returns for dinner. But he will not tell me why. Whatever it is, has him kissing me with extra ferocity after dinner and not let me leave, holding me in his bed and burying his head in my hair.

I'm not complaining, except I know something is wrong.

"What's happening?" I ask.

"Nothing."

"You're not a very good liar."

Tan sighs, and I turn to face him as the lights in his room dim, casting an ethereal shimmer over his skin. He says, "It is… a bureaucratic issue."

"What does that mean?"

"Personnel issues. Boring, and we will soon resolve them. I am stressed. That is all. But as soon as this is finished, I will be free to focus on us."

"You're done with your duties for the day, though, right?" I give him what I hope translates as a teasing smile. "Maybe we can focus on us a little now?"

The tension melts from his face, and he pulls me against him, his fingers tangling in my hair. "Nymara. What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"It doesn't seem that hard. You saved my life."

"So far," he whispers, the words harsh.

"You will." I lean in, kissing him, the feel of his scales a caress against my skin. We make love fast and hard, and when we are curled up together in his sleeping furs, he whispers something in Asheraahn that ends with " bokdazi ."

"Bok-dahzi?" I ask, and he kisses my forehead and runs a hand down my back .

"Sleep, my Skylar."

And, because I have no choice, and because he's pressed the spot on my neck that makes me yawn, I do.

When I wake, he's gone, though he's left a tray of still hot food on the table. Tylan comes as I sit down to eat. "I want to see how Asheraah handle navigation. Janu, right?" I say. It's about time I earn my keep if I'm going to stick around. And with Tan, I want to stick around.

Tylan says, "Janu is not a ship's system. It is a talent. You must be born with the sense. The ability to connect with the living spirit of Starshadow. Our ship."

Living spirit? I look up at the stone and steel merged bulkheads, think of the full bath, and the other wonders I've seen traveling through the corridors with Tylan. "The ship is alive?" I ask, glancing around. Is it watching me? What does it think of me and Tan? Well, it hasn't tried to suck me out an airlock, so I guess it's not too pissed off. I hope.

"All Asheraah ships have a spirit. An intelligence. Yours do not? "

I doubted the Titan had possessed much intelligence. And that was for the best, considering its end. "Ours don't work that way," I say. "Can we talk to it?"

"Not with words. This is the area of the Janu."

Tan has mentioned nothing about communing with the spaceship. Then again, I didn't ask. "I need to make myself useful here, somehow," I say. "And I'm trained in navigation, so I was hoping, maybe…" I shrug.

Tylan says, "It cannot hurt to look. And the Janu might like to learn of how other species navigate the stars."

I admit, I'm curious too. I've never met anyone who could talk to a living spaceship. And if this is a living spaceship, I should stop treating it like a machine. Once I load my used dishes into the recycler, I lay a hand on the bulkhead. It's warm, and I feel a slight hum through my skin. "Thank you," I say, my face warming at the idea of talking to a spaceship. Still, it can't hurt to be polite.

As we walk through the corridor, I'm struck again by the many colors of the Asheraah. According to Tan, they dye their scales in colors and patterns to show their department and rank.

Tan is the only deep gold I've seen. Probably because he's the Raiva. Other high-ranking officers are metallic. His second, Ano, is a deep bronze. I've seen him chatting once or twice with Tan. The Masg, their marines, are a mottled navy, brown, and black. Green is medical, blue for sciences, and there are other colors whose roles I don't understand. Maroon may be engineering. The majority are a mix of bland dark gray and brown, though some of these have stripes running along their backs and arms in the standard colors. I'm guessing that's for regular crew or trainees.

And a smattering are bone white. Maybe those are Janu?

I lean to Tylan, not wanting to be rude. "Is that one a Janu?" I ask, pointing to a bone white male passing us in the corridor.

"Huh?" Tylan's ear frills flutter. "Sciences. Communications tech."

"Is Communications white then? "

"White?" Tylan cocks their head, eyes narrowing. "What are you talking about?"

Now I'm confused. "His scales," I whisper. "They're white."

Tylan holds a finger up to their lips and hisses, a mime of the "shhh" gesture I showed them a couple of days ago.

I shut up. Once we're alone in the corridor again, they ask, "Are you still having headaches, Skylar?"

"No."

"Still, it is best we have the healers check your vision. A concussion can have lingering effects."

I laugh, though the stiffness of her tail and her worried expression are making me a little nervous. "I'm not concussed," I say.

Their voice lowers. "Only ghosts wear scales of white," they whisper.

"Wha—?" I start, then shut my mouth. "I don't think that guy was dead," I say.

"No. "

"What color was he to you?"

"Blue, with a stripe of yellow. Communications tech."

Maybe something did go wrong with me when I hit my head. I hold my hand in front of my eyes. Concussions can give you color auras. But my hand looks normal. It's the right color. And Tylan looks normal. As does the next Asheraah, who marches toward us in scales of gray striped with maroon.

"He looks normal," I whisper to Tylan. "Gray and maroon."

Tylan breathes out a hissing sigh. "Good. We should visit the healers."

"I want to see the Janu," I say.

"But—"

"It was probably just a trick of the light," I add, a weak excuse and one I don't believe. But I will not spend the rest of the day cycle getting poked, prodded, and scanned by alien doctors over mistaking the color of some Asheraah's scales. Especially since this isn't even the first all white one I've seen.

Unless I am seeing dead people. Well, dead Asheraah.

No. It's probably just something different about human eyes. Some of their scale dyes might just be out of our visual range. Or interpreted differently by our eyeballs. That's a good excuse, and one that doesn't involve ghosts or a brain bleed or something else horrible.

Tylan doesn't look happy, and I add, "If I see anything else weird, I'll let you know, okay?"

"And then we will see the healer?"

"Yeah."

The Janu seem to have their own wing of the ship. As we cross the threshold into this area, I swear, I hear a low sigh, and a cool wind brushes past my cheek and ruffles my hair, almost playfully. Vines and moss and what look like flowering berry bushes cover the walls and ceiling. This area has a lot more organic material than the rest of the ship. In fact, when we pass a bulkhead, I swear I hear a soft whisper of a groan.

Asheraah—I assume they're Asheraah— in long robes of deep purple are tending the plants. The robes split into four strips, with room for the wings to fit through. The air is cool, and I can smell flowers and the sweetness of a honey-like nectar.

One approaches. The Janu is probably female, judging by her silhouette. Like humans, Asheraah female hips are wider than the males I've seen, and I see the curve of breasts in her chest area. Her scales are a deeper purple, almost black, and she wears a crest of red feathers.

"Ehan Janu Yar'thxrliz," Tylan says, bowing. I bow too.

"Visitors are rare," the Janu says, her voice a deep, husky rumble. "You must be very special."

"Yes," Tylan says. "Skylar is—"

"A navigator," I blurt. "I mean, not like you. No… uhh… special sense like that. But I did navigation on human ships."

"Hmm…" the Janu studies me.

"I was just curious. I hope I'm not imposing."

Her nostrils flare, and she flicks her tongue out toward me, her eyes falling half-shut. "No sense? Are you certain?"

"I—?" I shrug. "Our ships aren't smart like that."

"Ah, so that is how it is. Interesting! You may call me Janu Yar." She waves a clawed hand. "Come, we will have tea, and you will tell me how your kind find their way between the stars, hmm?" As we walk, her robes sweep behind her. Her feet are bare, her claws tapping the ground in a rhythmic pattern.

We enter a small alcove framed with vines. There is a table with a tray of steaming liquid. We sit, and I am surrounded by plants with tall stalks and green, leafy fronds. The chair has padding and is not nearly as uncomfortable as it looks.

Tylan sits beside me, Janu Yar opposite us.

Tylan pours the tea.

Janu Yar takes the first cup, holds it to her mouth, and breathes before taking a sip. When it is poured, I do the same with mine. The scent is floral with a hint of smoke, and the taste is both bitter and sweet. It reminds me of a stout beer and, for a few seconds, I'm on the stardock with my sister, sneaking a bottle she bought from, as she put it, an "adult store." I'd been fourteen. I blink the memory away.

Janu Yar asks, "You read gravity and star charts, yes?"

"Uhh… yeah." I glance at Tylan, who is wide-eyed and staring, their tail tapping at the floor. I turn back to the Janu. "But I'm more interested in how you do it. You can speak to the ship?"

"Oh yes," the Janu says, her crest rising and falling as she gives the Asheraahn equivalent of a nod, which has a little bit of a back-and-forth head tilt. "Our Starshadow likes you," she adds, and I feel something like a hum through the soles of my borrowed boots. It's pleasant.

I smile. "I'm glad to hear that." And relieved.

And then the Janu asks me detailed navigation questions, worse than the proctor of my verbal exam, and by the time our tea is finished, my eyes are crossing, and my head is spinning. Finally, she sits back, her crest fanning, then lowering. Her wings shift as she smiles. "You are a navigator," she says.

"So I passed your test?"

"Indeed. We have some of the older equipment. Relics of before the Janu bond was common. Perhaps you would like to come back and try your hand at it?"

"I would love that!" I grin. "Thank you!" I may not be a Janu navigator, but I could become a backup navigator. Or at least keep my skills up while I figure out what else I can do to make a place for myself on Tan's ship.

"Of course. I have never met one of your species. This has been enlightening. You are most welcome here."

"Thank you."

I glance at Tylan. Their tail swishes, and their wings are partially extended. Asheraah aren't normally this animated, so the reaction seems strange.

"Good," the Janu says, standing. "I will have one of my disciples take you and your sistan to the older equipment at second shift, tomorrow, when it is unpacked."

Knowing a dismissal when I hear one, I stand, bow like Tylan did before, and we take our leave.