7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ari

“She’s getting bigger every day,” Daniella said, shifting little six-month-old Allie from one knee to the other. The baby burbled with laughter and kicked her legs, as if making the jump herself. “She might end up taller than me or Christos!”

Sitting on a puff opposite Daniella, Ari watched Allie and wondered what was wrong with her that she wasn’t affected at all by the adorableness of the baby.

“Ari?” Christos said, finally making her look up from little Allie. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Sure,” Ari said and plastered a smile on her face. “But I need a little baby time!”

When she held out her arms, Daniella passed Allie to her. The baby made several sounds that were close to words but not quite there.

“Hello, sweetheart!” Ari cooed at the baby, setting her on her knee and bouncing her a little. “You’re growing so fast! Pretty soon it’ll be time to teach you how to walk and run!”

“Let’s finish figuring out crawling first,” Daniella said. “You can’t go skipping developmental milestones!”

Ari made an exaggerated scoffing sound. “You’re so demanding!”

They both chuckled at the exchange, then Ari asked them a more serious question.

“How are things with the Govi family?”

“Perfect,” Christos said with a wide smile. “You should see all the safety measures they took after they found out how easily toddlers could hurt themselves. There are shutdown sensors on everything now!”

Shortly after baby Allie was born, Daniella and Christos agreed to be adopted by a Talin couple with a large property not far away. Today the three were visiting so everyone could get a checkup from Rossimun. Although the healer was perfectly willing to go to them, Daniella and Christos liked this arrangement so they could see everyone and visit. That’s why they’d insisted on coming hours early for their appointment and asked to stay for the evening meal afterward.

The couple who owned them indulged the little family in anything. Baby Allie was going to be a very spoiled child!

“I guess they don’t need to make many accommodations for Talin children,” Daniella said with a shake of her head. “Did you know they start forming memories at birth? They often remember the process of being born.”

Daniella and Christos laughed at Ari’s look of horror.

“I felt the same,” Christos said.

They talked more about life with the Govi family and being treated like beloved pets. It was weird, but Ari was a little jealous. The Talins who owned Daniella, Christos, and Allie lavished attention on the three humans. It was rare that the family left the humans home alone, and other members of the extended family constantly sent gifts in an attempt to get the humans to interact with them.

Daniella said she had more clothing and bedding than she knew what to do with, and Allie had so many toys they took up an entire third of a room!

Baz treated Ari like an equal, but the tradeoff was that he didn’t seem to have time for her anymore. Even now, he was off doing something secretive that he refused to talk about.

Maybe she wasn’t an equal anymore. Maybe she was in a strange gray area between pet and partner.

A sick feeling started rising up in her again, and Ari did what she’d been doing all along, she shoved it down deep and ignored it.

“Ari?”

She met Daniella’s gaze to find the woman holding out her hands for Allie. Ari gave the little girl a quick kiss on the head and then reluctantly handed her back to her mother.

“You did it again,” Daniella said, handing Allie to Christos then leaning closer to Ari. “You spaced out. What’s going on?”

Ari forced a smile. “Everything’s fine. I’m—”

Daniella held up a finger, cutting her off. “Don’t bullshit me. I can see you’ve lost weight and you’re paler than normal. Even if you could explain that away as a few bad nights of sleep, you keep zoning out and you’re slow to respond.”

As a skilled physician's assistant, Daniella had been the only medical care for their mining crew for years. Just this once, Ari wished the woman wasn’t so observant.

“I might be struggling a little,” Ari admitted. “But it’s nothing, really.”

Daniella pinned her with an unwavering gaze. “Tell me everything right now, or when we see Rossimun I’ll tell her you are severely ill and need overnight observation in the infirmary.”

Ari had to admire Daniella’s threat. No one wanted to spend the night in the infirmary. The lights were always on and there was constant noise from sensors, meters, and various pieces of equipment. The beds were high off the ground, having been designed for Talins, and the mattresses were thin and hard. Zuri was the only one who never complained about spending time there and that was only because she was desperately in love with Kasium.

“Did you know Zuri kicked Kasium out of their cottage?” Ari asked, hoping to distract Daniella.

Daniella raised an eyebrow. “Nice try. The threat still stands, talk or I go to Rossimun.”

That’s all it took, and Ari found herself spilling her guts to Daniella. She talked about feeling useless and alone. Once she started, she couldn’t stop and even told Daniella and Christos how Baz didn’t trust her to do even the most simple tasks. She confessed that most days all she wanted to do was sleep, and maybe drink, because after getting drunk with Zuri, she’d felt happy for the first time in a long time.

The couple's sympathetic expressions never changed as Ari talked and talked. When she finally ran out of words, she felt lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“You’re clinically depressed,” Daniella announced after Ari finished talking.

Ari looked up, blinking in surprise. “I–what?”

Daniella reached out and grasped one of Ari’s hands. “You’re depressed. We need to get you on some medication, and you need to start talking to Baz. Tell him you feel neglected and you want a role in this operation. Most of us are pretty happy to sit back and let the Talins take care of us. It’s been a hard road, you know? If I never have to worry about someone dying on my watch again, I’m content to never practice medicine again. But I think you need to feel like you're making a difference. That means you’ve got to demand Baz let you sit at the table.”

Ari knew Daniella had some PTSD from all the people at the mining station that she couldn’t save due to lack of resources. They’d been given the barest essentials, and if someone fell seriously ill or suffered a profound injury, there wasn’t much Daniella could do to help them. In the end, she didn’t even have painkillers to ease the suffering going on.

It was hard enough to be a medical professional when there were adequate supplies, but Daniella had almost nothing by the end of their stay at the mining compound.

Suddenly Ari felt guilty for wanting more when she should be thankful that they were all safe and secure.

“Nope, don’t do that,” Daniella said, squeezing the hand she was holding. “You’re feeling guilty because you’re sad when everyone else is happy. There’s no reason for guilt.”

It was close enough to make Ari draw back a little in surprise. “When did you start reading minds?”

Daniella let out a little laugh. “You have one of the most expressive faces of anyone I’ve ever known. That’s one of the reasons everyone trusted you so much and why you were the natural successor when Tomas died. We always knew exactly what you were feeling.”

“I don’t think I can talk to Baz,” Ari admitted. “I don’t want him to think I’m ungrateful for everything he’s done. Plus, I don’t want to burden him with my issues.”

“Do you really think he hasn’t noticed something is wrong?” Christos pointed out.

All the trips to the infirmary popped into her head. Of course he’d seen the change and worried, but she’d been too mired in her own misery to appreciate it.

“I’m a selfish idiot,” she muttered.

Daniella gave their joined hands a little shake. “You’re an individual in need of help. We all need help, none of us can survive alone.”

Ari felt tears burning the back of her eyes. “You’re a good friend.”

“Only because you were a good friend first. Remember when we were eight? You beat up Steward for stealing my food credits. You became my best friend that day and there’s no getting rid of me.”

Daniella’s words made Ari bark out a laugh at the same time a few tears escaped to trail down her face. Wiping them away with her free hand, she sniffed and nodded her head.

“I’ll talk to Rossimun or Kasium,” she promised.

“Today,” Daniella insisted. “We’re due at the infirmary soon, and you can go with us. I’m sure they’ll fit you in.”

“There might not be anything they can do,” Ari said, trying to set her own expectations low.

“I’m sure they can help! Look how much the guys were able to help Aubrey, and that was with the rudimentary equipment and medication they had on their ship,” Christos pointed out.

Daniella nodded her head. “Rossimun and Kasium are fully trained, with the ability to compound or produce just about any medication, hormone, or neurotransmitter you might need. Don’t be afraid, Ari. I promise you’ll feel better. It might not be right away, but it will happen.”

The door of the cottage slid open, and Baz bounded into the room. Ignoring everyone else, he rushed to Ari’s side and dropped to his knees next to her.

“What is your favorite color?” he asked with a loud, demanding rattle.

“Um, green,” Ari answered, amused by both his abrupt arrival and random question.

“There are many greens, can you be more specific?” he urged, unclipping his Ident from his belt. He tapped it until it displayed a large color palette of greens. Ari pointed to the one she liked the best, and Baz quickly isolated the color and then sat back on his heels to do something else with his Ident that she couldn’t see.

“Hi, Baz,” Daniella said loudly. “It’s nice to see you.”

“Hello, Helpful,” he said absently, still focused on his Ident. All three of them laughed at his slip of the tongue. When they’d first encountered each other and couldn’t communicate, each group gave the other nicknames. Ari’s nickname for Baz was Leader, and he’d nicknamed Daniella Helpful. Occasionally Baz would forget and call them by their nicknames.

Aubrey hated hers, Daniella tolerated the one she was given, but Ari secretly loved the one Baz had settled on for her—Brave.

Undernourished, shaking, and scared out of her wits, she’d met Baz and the Advance Squad in the middle of a hallway and almost fainted. Yet he’d still named her Brave. Remembering that gave her more courage to face whatever Kasium and Rossimun might tell her.

“Thank you, Ari,” Baz said with the windchimes sound of an excited rattle. He looked at Daniella and Christos. “I will contact your owners, but both of you must return tomorrow for the evening meal.”

“Sure,” Daniella said. “But what—”

She didn’t get to finish her question. Jumping to his feet, Baz leaned over and ran one of his scent glands over Ari’s head. The smell of hazelnut filled her nose, and then he was rushing back out of the house.

Instead of looking confused or annoyed at Baz’s behavior, Daniella laughed with delight. “He’s planning something big for you.”

“How could you know that?” Ari asked.

“I can tell,” Daniella said.

“Don’t question her,” Christos advised. “She’s the one who can always figure out what’s going to happen in a vid or story before anyone else. It’s as annoying as it is adorable.”

“Aww, thanks, honey,” Daniella said, leaning back to let Christos give her a quick kiss.

Ari tried to let go because she and Daniella were still holding hands, but the woman didn’t let her.

“Everyone up,” Daniella ordered after Christos brushed his lips over hers. Standing, she tugged Ari to her feet. “Let’s head over to the infirmary. We want to get you started on whatever the healers think is best as soon as we can. You might even start feeling better before whatever Baz is planning gets started.”