Page 126 of Every Almost

"I think you could help her," Kess stated.

"Me?!" And there went Reyna's shoulders again, straight up to her ears.

"Don't have a hissy fit," Kess commented. "I'm just saying, between the way you were able to communicate with her without a Voxlink, get her to trust you to the point that she let you shoot alien technology straight into her brain, and how I see her calm around you," Kess paused here, looking pointedly at Reyna. "I think you could help her."

Reyna let those words work over her. When Kess put it that way...

"Really?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah," Kess answered, smiling.

"But, I mean, how exactly?"

"I don't know," Kess answered honestly. "Maybe, for now, just be there. Listen." Kess made sure to look into Reyna's eyes. "Sit and stay with her when you see she may need some support."

Reyna took a deep breath. "I'm the captain, Kess. It's not fair to Charlie that I be the one she turns to for support when I don't know how much time I'd be able to give." And Reyna realized she was saddened by that. If it were up to her, she'd give Charlie as much time as much as she wanted in order to help her. It was something she'd been thinking about on her own, how much she truly wanted to spend time helping Charlie, more than she thought she could.

"I know," Kess said gently. "But I think you'll find a way." And then, Kess smiled at Reyna. That was something she didn't see often, despite how close they were.

Reyna stood. "Is there anything else regarding the diagnostic itself?" Kess stood up with her, lifting her datapad again.

"No. She's healthy. Remarkably so for someone who just survived a PERS displacement." Kess placed the datapad on the table. "I'll have a full report for the Coalition file by morning."

"Thank you, Kess."

"Of course, Captain."

Reyna walked to the door.

"Rey."

She stopped.

"The Aetherfin timeline. Tavi said he'll have the boundary calculations finalized by tomorrow. Engineering is going to need to prep the shuttle modifications. You should talk to Cael."

Reyna exhaled, her hand reaching up to massage her temple. "I know."

"He's going to be difficult."

"He'salwaysdifficult."

"He's going to bemoredifficult. He hates change, you know that," Kess said. "And with this new...variableaboard."

Reyna didn't ask what variable Kess meant.

"Duly noted. Goodnight, Kess."

"Goodnight, Captain."

One week passed.

Charlie adapted. Not without difficulty, but with a relentlessness that Reyna recognized as something deeper than resilience.

She ate meals with the crew. Borran had begun setting a place for her at the main table without being asked, which was Borran's version of forgiveness and acceptance, and roughly equivalent to a formal declaration of friendship. Charlie had complimented his spiced grain dish on her third night aboard, and Borran had grunted in a way that Reyna understood to be profound emotional satisfaction.

Reyna had been checking in with the crew about Charlie's integration. She'd asked Torvax about security concerns, but there were none. He noted that Charlie was cooperative, curious, and had demonstrated no hostile intent. Torvax had paused before adding, "She asked me to walk her through the bridge navigation systems yesterday. Her questions were... surprisingly well-informed." Coming from Torvax, this was practically a love letter.

She'd asked Selowen how Charlie's visit to the animal habitats had gone. "Well," Selowen had said. "She has gentle hands, that girl. The creatures responded to her instinctively and immediately." A pause. "She asked me how I'm both Kaelari and Brontari again. She is curious. But she said she'd like to know, to understand better. I believe her."