Page 127 of Every Almost

"I would, too," Reyna added.

"We have a tea date tomorrow where I'm going to tell her the whole story, and she's going to tell me about how she's half Midwestern and half Californian."

"What does that mean?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea." Reyna laughed, and Selowen joined her.

"It sounds like fun."

"I am sure it will be."

She'd asked Tavi if he'd had any interaction with Charlie yet. Tavi had looked at her with wide eyes and said, "She asked me fourteen questions about the zero-G field yesterday, Captain.Fourteen. Most of them were ones I hadn't even thought of yet!"

Reyna had raised an eyebrow at that.Fourteen questions? In one conversation?

But the one thing Reyna noticed, outside of the feedback she'd received from the crew, was that Charlie Wickett was obviously dying of boredom.

It was visible in everything she did. Reyna would see her walking the corridors with purpose but no destination. Her hands trailed along walls with the focused attention of someone taking note through her fingertips. She tilted her head when the engine pitch changed, tracking frequencies Reyna herself had stopped hearing years ago. Borran had told her that Charlie asked how the galley ventilation system worked. She suggested a fix for the condensation problem before Borran even finished his explanation.

Reyna recalled the conversation Charlie had with Maren when she first landed on the ship, talking about closed-cycle nuclear rockets and three hundred pressure regulation points. She remembered Charlie's story about the PERS displacement accident, how she'd been 'assigned' to the debris because she was one of the only people on her team willing to look at it. Or, what was it Charlie had said? That she was 'stubborn' enough to figure it out.

The way Charlie talked about mechanics, the knowledge she displayed in her explanation of what happened, and the way Reyna watched her walk around the ship. She realized it was obvious.

Charlie must be an engineer. Perhaps as a profession. Most especially as an orientation.

And she had nothing to do.

Reyna knew just how to fix that.

Reyna foundher in a corridor at the end of the first week. Though she was on her rounds and should probably keep walking, the image before her caught her attention.

Charlie was standing with one hand flat against the wall and the other holding a small device to her ear. Her eyes were half-closed, her head tilted, her expression one of concentration and curiosity simultaneously. She hadn't noticed Reyna approaching.

Reyna stopped. She'd seen Charlie do this often, stand in a corridor, palm pressed to the wall of Reyna's ship, listening to it. It had been on Reyna's list to seek Charlie out for this exact reason, but watching it in real time was fascinating in its ownway. No one had ever listened to the Emberkind the way Charlie listened to it. At least, no one under Reyna's leadership.

Reyna stepped forward, and the sound of her boot on the floor broke whatever spell Charlie was under.

Charlie startled and yanked the device from her ear, its cord trailing to a rectangular machine clipped to her belt. Her eyes went wide before she was able to relax, one hand going to her chest.

"Jesus, Captain, you scared the shit out of me!" Reyna chuckled. She watched as Charlie's chest rose and fell in a quick rhythm.

"Apologies," she responded. "The last thing I'd want is to 'scare the shit' out of you."

"Ha ha," Charlie retorted, turning to face Reyna fully. "Somehow I feel like you do it more often than you think."

"I don't think so," Reyna scoffed.

"Hmm, I may need to get a consensus from the crew."

"Okay, that's not fair."

"In this particular situation, Captain, where said crew may be experiencing mental instability due to an mismanaged leader?—"

"Mismanaged leader?!" Reyna interrupted. "I'll have you know, Ms. I Think I Know Fucking Everything Because I'm From Earth?—"

"What did you just call me?" Charlie interrupted with a laugh, the lights above dancing in her eyes as they came alive on top her gorgeous smile.

Reyna stopped dead in her words.Gorgeous smile?Where had that come from?