Page 158 of Commander’s Mate

The clerk looked at the floor.

Scarlet did not.

“You owe no one a relationship,” I continued. “You owe no one labor because they fed you. You don’t have to become anyone’s mate, girlfriend, wife, servant, employee, soldier, or whatever else this galaxy has.”

Ari looked at the clean clothing.

“Then why give?”

“Because you needed clothes.”

She stared at me for a long moment.

“That is all?”

“That is all.”

Scarlet snorted. “And because Commander Maktu is learning that Harper gets extremely loud when basic dignity is missing.”

“That too.”

The supply clerk looked alarmed.

I pointed at him.

“You’re doing fine.”

He relaxed slightly.

Ari took the clothing.

But when she left, I stayed angry.

Not at her.

At the gap between what Farseek believed and what rescued people had reason to believe.

Scarlet recognized the look.

“Oh, no.”

“What?”

“You have your postal-worker face.”

“I do not have a postal-worker face.”

“You absolutely do.”

“What does that even mean?”

“The face you make when a system has offended you personally.”

I turned toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To offend Zared personally.”