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Cloudy flipped the bird, and Aya laughed harder.
Thunder said, “And now they are all coming this way.”
Aya muttered, “Hide me.”
Cloudy chuckled and slowly broke the kiss. She glanced over and blinked. “Wow, they are all coming.”
She laughed but looked at Aya. She was hiding behind her half-brother. “Auntie?”
“I am not going back. They can’t make me go back.” Aya’s normally cheerful features looked haunted.
Cloudy said, “Auntie Aya, what did they do to you?”
“They put me in a room.”
“And?”
“For nearly four years. Four walls. Can never leave. Never walk the station. Never even see the stars.”
Cloudy stared at her. “What?”
“I was a soother. Zowoth warriors would come in, sit down, and I would relieve them of the burden of their rut so that they could return to active duty.”
“How?”
The group was there when she said, “I took the lust into myself and let it disappear.”
The tall Zowoth stared. “You are a soother?”
“Yeah. Why? You have your stress relief pressed against your side.”
The woman blinked. “Wow. Rude.”
“Dude, you vibrate at the same frequency. Either you are fucking, or he’s your brother, if it’s both... ew.”
The pilot paused and laughed. “Well, you aren’t wrong on the first guess. What the hell is a soother?”
Cloudy saw Aya smile as the big guy leaned down and whispered.
The pilot said, “What’s so bad about that?”
Aya said, “You freaked out in a small room. Imagine a larger room, but make the sentence four years. No one to talk to. The Zowoth don’t talk to soothers. All hormones deadened by visits from medical every two months. You can’t even relieve yourself manually. You are numb, and you use that numbness to do your job. There is nothing else. No relief. No breaks. No sun, no air, no sky, no friends, no laughter. Nothing. The better you are, the less you see. Too valuable to leave, even when your bond is done, and you have enough funds accumulated. They. Don’t. Let. You. Go.”
The pilot was shaking halfway through the explanation, and she turned and punched her companion in the stomach. She kept going, and he was staring at Aya, stunned.
“I know your voice.”
“Of course you do. I soothed you four times in two years. Two of the others have been in my chair once each.”
The pilot reached out and grabbed Aya in a hug. “I can dump them all here and take you with me if you like. They can wait for the warship.”
Aya laughed. “I am out here to see the stars. If the overseer doesn’t mind, I will make Siloven home.”
Yvari smiled. “I believe clearances can be arranged. Would you like to remain a soother?”
“I am good at it, but I hate being confined. Thank you for the hug, Margo.”
“You are tall.”
