“Oh, that’s very generous, Rivven. But I don’t think she’s going to even want to leave the room for a while.”
This made sense. Hence the need for a piss bucket.
Well, that was alright. I didn’t mind emptying it. I’d shovelled shuldu shit daily for most of my life. Emptying the piss pot of a small, lovely human female would likely be a pleasure compared to that.
And it would be a pleasure, I knew, to take care of her.
Even now, I wanted to do more for her. But Tasha told me to stay outside the room as she slipped quietly in. When she returned, her hands were empty.
“I think she’s asleep. Or she’s too tired, or in too much pain, to say anything.”
“What is the matter with her?” I asked, staring at the now-closed bedroom door, as if I could see right through it. “She is ill?”
“Sort of,” Tasha replied, descending. I knew I should follow her, but I found myself lingering on the landing at the top of the stairs, outside the bedroom door, until Tasha turned her questioning gaze up at me.
“Come on down from there, Rivven,” Warden Tenn said. “We’ll go talk in the saloon so our voices don’t carry, and she can get some rest.”
I wanted very badly to remain planted outside the closed door that had Shiloh behind it, but I followed the warden’s instructions. I took care not to make too much noise with my heavy boots on the steps, but a couple of them creaked anyway.
Until that moment, I’d never had the desire to punch a staircase before.
“What ails her?” I asked once we were in the main, front dining room of the saloon. The question came out hurried, hectic. A demand.
“She’s got a migraine.”
“That word does not translate.”
“Ah, so you guys don’t get them, I guess. Lucky.” She took off her hat and mitts, then removed her jacket. I already had a fire in the hearth going, in anticipation of Shiloh’s arrival. I knew the human women got cold much more easily than we did.
“It’s like a pain in your head,” Tasha explained, draping her jacket over the back of a chair and sitting down. “Or not even just in your head. Like, surrounding your head. Utter, throbbingagony. And you can get nauseous, and really sensitive to sound and light. And it affects some people’s vision, too.”
“By the empire,” I breathed, my gaze going to the kitchen where the stairs were, as if parts of me were already once again straining towards her, to help her.
I knew a little about pain. Sometimes the empty air of my right hand still pounded with it. Sometimes it even woke me from sleep.
It did not seem right, it did not seem fair or just or natural, that the dainty woman hiding her eyes behind her slender fingers should ever have to suffer so.
“What causes the migraine?” I asked. “Is she always in pain like this?”
I wondered what sort of life she’d lived before now. If she’d been constantly in pain, always in the dark. I wondered what she thought she’d gain by coming here. Perhaps her migraine kept her from doing what she needed to do in whatever world she’d come from.
She would not need to do anything here, I vowed. She could lay in bed all day if that was what it took to bring her comfort. Already, my mind was whirring with plans on how I’d best take care of her.
As if she’d already chosen me.
Which she hadn’t.
“Oh, no!” Tasha said quickly. “She’s not always in pain like this. She mentioned being prone to migraines in the application she got from the calendar download. In the health section. She’s had a few appointments about them over the years and they don’t seem to be caused by any serious underlying health issue. They can last from a few hours to a few days, but otherwise she’ll be alright. I’m sure she’s got a list of things that can trigger a migraine attack that we can try to be aware of and accommodate for her. My guess is this was caused by the stress of moving, ormaybe being fatigued from the shuttle flight and then entering the atmosphere. Obviously, she won’t have to repeat those specific things anytime soon. Well, unless…”
“Unless?”
Tasha’s mouth quirked awkwardly. Warden Tenn, who’d been content to let his wife speak up until now, said, “Unless one of you lot gives her reason to leave after her two-week trial period.”
“Obviously, we need to let her rest and recover before we even talk about who she’s going to marry,” Tasha said, turning in her seat to look at where he stood behind her. “I know there are rules about unmarried women not being allowed to be here for long unless they’re employees, like me. But she is still part of the program.”
Warden Tenn sighed, then gave a grunt.
“Since she is already an approved program participant, we can allow it. But when she’s well, she either needs to marry somebody soon, or she needs to leave.”
