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“You did it again,” he says.
I can’t hold it in. I snort again and then a chuckle follows it. I sink below the edge of the couch, unable to look at him any longer. Dilacs chuckles and stands. He rolls his eyes at me as he walks past.
“Let me help brother,” Dilacs offers as he enters the kitchen.
“Fine,” Khiara grunts, turning back around.
They talk in their own language, and it feels, for all that’s happened, as if everything is back to normal. I stand up and stretch every which way I can, still trying to work out the kinks. The Urr’ki version of a couch is as hard as they are as a people. Not comfortable sleeping at all.
I walk into the kitchen and take my seat at the table. I know from experience that there is nothing I can do to help with the fixing of food. Khiara is something of a prima donna about his food prep and it almost always ends up with him and Dilacs having an argument.
So I watch. And wait. They debate, argue lightly, and it feels like everything is okay. The smells are amazing and my stomach grumbles. They finish the food, fix up the plates, then set them down on the table.
“Thank you,” I say. “It smells amazing.”
“Huh,” Khiara grunts, then begins shoveling his meal into his mouth.
I eat at my own much more sedately pace. Dilacs pushes his food around on the table not really eating much. A sense of trepidation is building in time with the food disappearing from Khiara’s plate.
Is he okay now? Was he just drunk? Is he mad at me? Did he come up with some conclusion? I’m waiting for a shoe to drop, knowing it’s coming, but not sure when. Or sure if that shoe isn’t going to come flying out of the dark and whack me in the face.
Khiara finishes and pushes his plate forward. I don’t have much appetite, so I stack his plate with mine and take them to the cleaning station. This is how they both let me help out which I’m happy to do. They talk more in their language, softly, while my back is turned. I can’t understand them but it doesn’t sound heated. Which is good, I think. I hope.
I finish putting away the dishes and turn back to face them. Khiara is leaning on the table staring straight ahead. Dilacs is watching me only in his peripheral, but I mouth at him asking if it’s all okay. Instead of an answer he gives me a very unhelpful shrug.
“Well,” I say, smacking my hands together. Sometimes the only thing to do is barrel forward and hope for the best. “What’s the plan for today?”
Khiara clears his throat then scoots his chair back and half turns so I am in his line of sight. He crosses his massive arms over his chest and frowns.
“You believe this Rosalind?” he asks.
I purse my lips and give him the respect to think about it instead of giving a knee-jerk response. Do I? Why?
I do trust her. She’s led my people since we crashed onto Tajss and while it definitely hasn’t been a bed of roses, we’ve survived. Most of us have anyway. More, I think, than we would have if she wasn’t in charge. The best proof of that is how badly Gershom’s followers did under him when he rebelled against her. They ended up back in the fold too.
“I do,” I say. “You don’t know her, I get that. She’s really smart and on our generation ship she was in charge of all our armed forces. She was the Lady General and she’s led our people since we crashed.”
Khiara looks over at his brother. Dilacs grunts. What is up with him and this being so damn unhelpful?
“I see,” Khiara says.
“Look, I have to ask, are you okay? You drank, well it seemed like you drank, a lot. Do you feel all right?”
Dilacs snorts.
“Fine, why?” Khiara asks.
“Nothing, I just… is that an Urr’ki thing?”
“Is what an Urr’ki thing?” Khiara asks, looking from me to his brother.
“You’re not…” I don’t know a word in Zmaj for what I want to say. In Common we’d call it hungover, but the Zmaj doesn’t have that word. “Having bad effects from the alcohol?”
“What, do I look like a lizard who can’t hold my liquor?” he asks, clearly offended by my question. My cheeks burn hot and I really want to go hide somewhere.
“She’s being kind Khiara,” Dilacs says, helping at last.
Khiara smiles and laughs. “I know, I jest.”
