As Jovie and I sit and eat lunch in a booth across from one another, I notice the screen behind her, showing the moment she caught her foot and swung around under the rope bridge. I couldn’t see it from where I stood behind the railing, but watching it now makes me cringe. “How did you manage that save?”
She glances over her shoulder at the race feed. “Oh, lucky instinct, I guess.”
“Instinct?”
She takes a long drink of her soda and pushes it aside. “Yours helped you find me. Mine helps me not die when life is full of bitches and dishonest deadbeats. I grew up playing in trees on the farm. Now, I’m used to hanging from ships with a tether. Talros usually wants me to climb since I’m smaller and can fit inside the engine housing better than he can. But itcaughtme by surprise, too.”
I muster a laugh. I can’t believe how close I’ve come to losing her already. But she is proving I have underestimated human females.
Jovie gets up and reaches for my hand. “Creatures tour looks like it’s starting. I’d love to hear what you know about them.”
I’m still watching the replay as she leads me out of my seat.I should’ve been there for her.
I’ve always been stronger than most my age. But lately it feels like I’m failing at every step. I couldn’t grow when I followed the rules. I can’t win in civil matters when I don’t follow them.Battles, yes. And maybe with Jovie.But I know I need to steel my Storm and accept that I can’t control everything. Trying towould just make me like the Royals I despise. And sometimes, that means letting others take risks I don’t like.
Jovie’s eagerness to see the creatures and ask me questions about them proves she has a curious mind. I think she will adapt well to living in space, but I don’t want to drag her around it forever.She deserves a home. A real one: safe, stable, and filled with food.
We follow other couples and singles along the roped-off path lined on both sides with many tanks and glass cages.
“What about this one?” Jovie asks. “It looks like a liquid metal lizard.”
“Eralloy. Six-legged chrome shifter. Never touch them. That’s how they get you.” I motion to a finger. “The metal coats your finger. Then it latches on, bites the end off and…” I make a slurping sound. “Drink you dry.”
Jovie nibbles a fingernail in horror. “Oh.”
A familiar blue-eyed male punches me lightly in the arm. “Don’t listen to him. He’s teasing you. They’re from my homeworld and are more like pets with useful armor plating we put on our ships.”
“Thank you, Sa’Tai.” Jovie pokes me in the chest in mock offense. “Trying to scare me?”
I shrug and chuckle.
“Therearesome nasty ones,” Sa’Tai adds.
“Firespine,” I offer.
A red-haired male hisses at me in passing.
I point at him. “Thanks for proving my point.”
“My experience was with a gatleris.” Sa’Tai directs our attention toward a posturing critter releasing a rattling, high-pitched growl.
“Ooh, yeah, quills are like jagged little daggers.” I rub an arm where a ghost pain flares.
“For real?” Jovie looks to him, not me.
He nods. “All up my side. Poison took weeks to process.” A female with dark skin and blue tracework around her eyes returns to his side and smiles at us.
“See you two later.” Sa’Tai draws her close, and they walk off to look into another cage.
“Later,” I say.
Jovie giggles when she sees the next. “That looks like a sloth.”
I tilt my head and look at the lump of gray fur clinging to a branch. “Sign says Tiiorl. It’s a calm creature, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. Got rows of teeth that would scare a werewolf.”
Jovie squints at me. “How do you know what a werewolf is?”
“Watch all kinds of shows on the holovid when I’m bored. What I’d like to see is a pack of Mindor versus a pack of Earthen weres.”
