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“It is a little strange.” Izetsi curled herself up in one of Iruna’s soft chairs and took in some incense. “Since when do we take Tal’darim? Since when do Tal’darim want to set up on a research planet?”
“Well, we’ve had one in for a while already, you know. He’s a Judicator, though, so I doubt you’ve seen him.”
“Oh, that explains it.” She shrugged. “You know I hate boring myself to death unless I have to. What does he look like?”
“Tall, one arm missing, prosthetic cords, a glare that could disintegrate you, you know.”
“I do not know, that is why I asked.”
She rolled her one good eye. “You haven’t even seen him in the forge? He’s had to come around a few times to write up a report or two; Fenaril’s spoken to him apparently.”
“Nope, not once; I do not bother myself with the boys all that much.” Laughing a little, she leaned closer. “Alright, but what about the other one then? This other new one.”
Iruna sighed a little, rolling over what she had been told earlier that day. She didn’t really believe all the details she had been given, but then again, she hadn’t been in the business of bothering herself with Tal’darim social structure. They killed each other and stole her hard work, what more was there to know?
“Apparently she was a phase-smith once upon a time and wants to go back to it without a war going on.” Her veil swayed slightly as she tilted her head. “Though honestly I didn’t even know they had smiths.”
“If they want to pretend copying our schematics makes them smiths, then that is their prerogative.” Izetsi made a small noise. “So you will be teaching her, then?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was asked, anyway. She was an aide on Aiur a while after the End War, and something’s made her give that up and come out here.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with him, then?”
“Probably. Two in the span of a few months? That’s not a coincidence.”
“Maybe they are partners.” The Khalai laughed again. “Though knowing Tal’darim, ‘partner’ likely means some sort of rival you fight with for an eternity.”
The Nerazim shrugged. “They likely knew each other at least. I haven’t ever spoken to the one that’s here, so I’m not going to just stroll up and ask something that personal, am I? Especially when he has such a permanently murderous look on his face.”
“You will be able to ask her when she gets here. Small talk, you know?”
She nodded, sitting back. “If she’s not like him. Not that I’m worried about the why all that much; I just hope she has enough base knowledge that teaching her isn’t a slog.”
“You remember the last new guy?”
“Mm. I’ll put in a formal complaint if she’s anywhere close to being as incompetent as he was.”
“You’re Iruna, right?” A soft, nervous voice pulled her from her concentrated trance, and she looked up from her work to find two pairs of red eyes looking down at her.
“… Yes, that’s me.” The Nerazim slid out from under the chassis of the large robot and stood, lifting her visor to get a good look at the two newcomers. The taller one she knew about, so she didn’t really bother, but the other one…
She was tiny.
Iruna tried not to stare. The Tal’darim clearly wasn’t a child; her face had begun to line itself with the cracks of age, eyes rimmed with sleepless shadows like the Judicator stood next to her. She was also pretty; too pretty to be out here doing the hard labour. Her body looked soft, her cords were long, she held herself like the aide that she had apparently been, though her hands were rough and calloused, littered with scars…
The mixed signals set her on edge, but she forced a smile.
“What can I do for you both?”
“I was told to escort her here.” The Judicator moved the stump of his arm slightly, as though he were used to talking with the missing hand, a fresher amputation maybe. “You are to be her teacher.”
“Ah. Alright, I’ll take it from here, um…?”
“Arkhia.” The smaller one said. Then, she looked up at him. “I’ll be fine.”
He simply nodded, giving her a lingering look that immediately piqued Iruna’s interest before he turned and left. He had a slight limp as he walked.
“I’m Ri’kara. Sorry for interrupting.”
“It’s fine, I should have been called, really, but I guess the good Executor didn’t deem it necessary.”
“She wanted me to be able to navigate here myself. Mostly by myself, but he had other things to do here anyway. She also wanted me to get started as soon as possible.” Her face scrunched into an embarrassed grimace. “I don’t think she believes I can do it.”
Well, I don’t either.
Iruna shrugged. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Then, she looked her over, adding; “You’ll need a custom suit and armour before you can get on to the big stuff, so we’ll start with something small.”
She nodded, standing to attention. “Ok.”
There were a few odds and ends of circuitry scattered across the curved desk that partitioned the bay from the one next to it. Thankfully, she’d had the foresight to take out the schematics for the electronics earlier that day, so the instructions were available for the newcomer. She gestured to them.
“I was making a computer system for this big guy. Blue panels are the plans for it. I want you to put them together.”
Ri’kara nodded and pulled off the brown outer robes she had been wearing, hanging them up on the edge that jutted out of the desk. She was in a bodysuit rather than underrobes, so at least she’d have more freedom of movement if she decided to put her through something more rigorous.
“Have you soldered before?”
“Yes. I tried to keep myself from getting rusty.” She took the rod and automatically pressed the tip of it onto the finger that was the most calloused, quickly pulling away when she found out it was hot, and began.
The Nerazim blinked, logging that nasty habit immediately as something to correct; no wonder her hands were so chopped up.
Still, as she carefully walked over and rested against a free part of the desk to watch, she found that the Tal’darim was pretty good, both at following instructions and wiring precisely. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, and she barely seemed to need to look at the panels laid out for her.
Once she was done, she put the iron into the correct holder and moved back, suddenly looking a little anxious. “I hope I did alright.”
Looking at the motherboard, following the wiring, Iruna every so often glanced up at the schematics, and eventually nodded. There wasn’t anything much she could fault.
“You go too quickly.” She finally said. “Not that there’s anything really sloppy about your work, but we’re not really about speed here. Better that it’s done right than fast.”
“Sorry, I… It’s just what I was used to.”
“Also don’t test the heat of the iron with your finger. Use the stand; it tells you the temperature.” She gestured to the small display just under where the tool had been put back.
“Oh.” Ri’kara blinked at it. “Ok, I didn’t know that they even had those.”
“How old was your equipment?”
“I was gifted some from a friend before I came to Aiur. Except… Well, they’re a Purifier, and their tech seems to have been from the Golden Age? I had to change the power source from solarite. Anyway, it didn’t have a stand so I just…” She made a stabbing motion.
A Purifier friend? A phase-smith Purifier friend?
“I thought you were an aide on Aiur.”
“I was, but… like I said, I didn’t want to get too rusty, and my friend was fine to help me with that.”
“… Alright. And they didn’t teach you how to use anything they gave you?”
“They knew I would be fine. I had to fix them when we first met, so they had seen me use the tools I had available.”
Iruna nodded, unsure of how to respond. She supposed that a Purifier wouldn’t have needed a temperature gauge since they would have displays or readouts, but neglecting to make sure that their friend had something to safely use their equipment?
Some friend.
“Well, just remember that for next time, ok?”
She nodded in turn and gave her an embarrassed smile. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
“You’re here again?”
Iruna blinked at the Khalai draped over one of her chairs, waving an incense stick around to watch the smoke.
“Yes. I was bored. How is your project going?”
She sighed, rubbing her eyes and throwing her satchel bag on the floor next to the other chair, which she flopped down in.
“You could ask sometimes.”
“I could. So? You look a little frazzled today.”
The Nerazim took an incense stick from the table between them and lit it with a psionic spark, shrugging. “It was… Interesting. The new one came today.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “Mm. That new Judicator brought her over. She’s called Ri’kara.”
“And…?” She made a gesture with her hand, trying to get Iruna to hurry up and start spilling everything.
“For a start, she’s tiny. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s got…” Iruna waved her hands in front of her chest. “And wrinkles, I would have thought she was a youngling.
She introduced herself politely, though she seemed pretty nervous. Apparently the Executor is as sceptical as I was, so I just had to jump in and start coaching her.”
“I have already said that I am not particularly confident either. How did that go?”
“Well… She was willing to listen to me, already was at least wearing a bodysuit rather than robes under her outer ones, so even if she needs a custom suit, we’ve got an easier time measuring her. I tell her to go put some circuitry together, she sits, looks the plans over – she can read Khalani at least – and then when she gets to work she just pokes her finger with the soldering iron!”
Iruna held her face in both hands, ash sprinkling across the floor and her chair as she shook her head. Izetsi let out a cry of anguish.
“What?! Why?!”
“To see if it was hot enough! She didn’t even know they had temperature gauges!”
“I thought you said she used to be a smith!” Izetsi scoffed. “Time to make a complaint? My mentor would have immediately taken me off the floor to do extra training at best.”
That made her calm down a little, a long, irritated sigh leaving her. “I mean, this is the training, I… No. She’s good. Her work is clean, she’s maybe a bit too fast, but… She can do what I’ve asked her to so far. Wherever she used to be a smith must have had some nasty habits to pass on and it makes her a big liability. She takes my feedback, but by Adun…”
“There is that at least. I suppose you are teaching her one-on-one for a reason. Anything else you noticed? You said the Judicator brought her to you?”
She sighed again, taking in some of her incense. “Him… He’s called Arkhia; we were right about them knowing each other, but there’s something going on.”
At that, her companion leant forward again, waiting for her to continue.
“She was curt with him; he kind of hovered over her, and when she said she’d be fine as a way to get him to leave, the look he gave her? I might pry a little and see how close they are because I don’t think I’ve seen anyone look at another that intensely.”
“So at least he might be sweet on her, then?” Izetsi’s eyes glimmered with mischief. “I could do something with that.”
“You haven’t even seen her yet!” Then, Iruna relented; “Alright, she’s stunning, you’ll want her as soon as you lay eyes on her. I know you.”
She giggled and rested her head against her hand. “From what you have told of her so far, you may be right. Short? Nervous? Curves? If she does not kill herself on the equipment and makes it to the factory line, there will be more than a few who would be interested in that.”
“Like I said, the way he looked at her… I doubt anyone’s going to get very far.”
“Psh. We will see.”
As quickly as she could, Iruna shut off the electrical current, waving her free hand to get her colleague’s attention. “Ri’kara, don’t touch that!”
Immediately, the Tal’darim flinched, bolting back from the hull, putting her hands behind her back, and dropping her eyes to the floor.
She blinked, bewildered by the extreme reaction. It was like she was waiting for someone to hit her for the mistake. She put up both hands in a calming motion and kept her voice as level as she could.
“Hey, I just didn’t want you to get hurt. It was electrified, that’s all.”
Ri’kara seemed to come back into herself, letting out a nervous little laugh and waving a hand in front of her.
“Sorry, I… You startled me. I had the gloves on; I thought it would be fine.”
“Look, I don’t know how you used to do it, but we turn off the current, gloves or not. Safety. You can touch it with the gloves; doesn’t mean you should.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Of course. I’ll remember that.”
Her flat tone set Iruna on edge, and she carefully placed a hand on her shoulder to catch her eye. “Are you ok? You looked like I was going to hit you or something.”
Embarrassment and shame passed across her large eyes, and then they slid to the side. “Sorry. I know you wouldn’t.”
That only raised more questions. Carefully, she sat her down on the benches at the side of the bay. “Ri’kara, I can’t let you onto the line if you’re going to be this skittish.”
“I’m fine, it was just a force of habit; I can shake it.”
“And what if that ‘habit’ comes in when you’re doing something delicate? Or someone other than me yells? Come on, I know you know that it’s a liability. Talk to me.”
Her brow furrowed, her shoulders sagged a little, and she passed a hand over her crest. “It was just how we used to do things when I was a phase-smith. You get something wrong; you get slapped or whipped. Sometimes stabbed if you were really unlucky. Or lucky depending on your point of view.” Her laugh was hollow; “I couldn’t help but flinch, but honestly you just got it worse if you did.”
Of course the Tal’darim would find a way to make smithing shitty too. Iruna rubbed her eyes, pity lodging itself in her chest. Her voice softened.
“Look. We’re not going to do that here—”
“I know. Again, it’s habit, it’s muscle memory. I thought I would be fine.”
“I’ll try not to yell, at least. I think we both just got startled.”
Ri’kara shook her head. “No. Yell if you need to. Like you said, what if one of the others yells? I need to be prepared; I’ll kick the habit, and I’m sure if you just react as normal I’ll get there.”
“… Alright, if you’re sure.”
“I am. And I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“Don’t be. You’re doing a good job so far, you’re just… Very reckless.” She gestured to her bad eye. “I’m surprised you don’t look like me.”
“I was fortunate to never lose a limb or anything, but you should see my back. And my stomach. Legs too. Anything that’s covered right now, really.”
The Nerazim looked at the scars that she could see, especially the state of her palms, and nodded.
“I can believe it’s that bad under there. Come on, we can keep going.”
She nodded, and they both got up, heading back to the sloped golden hull. Part of it had warped since the current had turned off, and she sighed, waving a hand in front of the console to bring up the extra displays.
“Ok, if you could go up and bend that panel back into place, that would be great, then we can continue the plating process.”
“Alright.”
“There’s a lift just—” Iruna looked up from the blue screens and blinked.
The Tal’darim was sitting on top of the structure, carefully doing as she had been told.
It baffled her, looking at the smooth curve of the metal with no feasible way for her to hold on to it, let alone get up there so fast.
How in the world…? “Ri… Ri’kara?”
“Yes?” Then, her face dropped. “Did I do something wrong again?”
“Uh… I mean, not technically, but… We have lifts.”
“Oh.” She peered over the side and blinked at the floating platform set to the side for them to reach higher places. “… Sorry. I’m used to not having those either.”
“So you used to have to climb everything?”
“Yes. I mean, look at me, I have to climb a lot anyway, but… Yes. I used to have to climb inside them too.” She lifted up the silver ring at the end of her long cords. “If I got stuck, I’d get pulled out.”
Iruna hadn’t had her cords long since she was a youngling, but even so the back of her crest ached at the thought of being yanked around like that. She winced.
“That’s… Horrible.”
Ri’kara shrugged. “It was how we did it. We had to get the bodies out somehow.”
She said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world to her. Dread snaked down the Nerazim’s spine at the thought of dying inside the belly of a ship while she was working on it, at the thought of needing to be recovered by being dragged out by the cords. Alive was bad enough, but…
“We use probes for fixing the insides. You won’t have to do that either.”
Relief crossed her red eyes, and she nodded. “Ok. That’s good to hear.” Then, she went back to work, not even noticing that she was still being stared at. Or maybe she did and chose to ignore it.
Being a phase-smith had it’s dangers, sure, and even though she had known that the Tal’darim were callous and bloodthirsty, the idea of just throwing body after body into the cogs of production without a second thought was chilling to her. That lump of pity grew; she tore her eyes away and sent the lift up for her for when she was done, going back to the screens.
“Once we’re done here, I’ll show you where we change. They were done with your undersuit this morning, so you can try it on.”
“Ok.”
After many more hours of trial and error, when the metal had been bent to the perfect shape and Ri’kara had been taught how to get down without risking injury, Iruna finally showed her the large room that they used to change into their suits and armour. Pigeon holes lined the back wall, filled with the neatly folded clothes of the other smiths that were working in other parts of the forge. The right wall was lined with mirrors so they could piece together the more complicated bits of their equipment.
“It’s just there. See how it goes.” The Nerazim gestured towards the little box on one of the benches that ran through the middle of the room.
Her companion nodded, but looked around a little, suddenly uncomfortable. “You just… change in here?”
“Yes?”
“Out in the open?”
“… Yes, what’s wrong?”
The Tal’darim played nervously with her hands and shrugged. “Nothing.” Instead, she turned her attention to opening the box and inspecting the contents.
Her behaviour was certainly strange. With a shrug, Iruna grabbed her own robes from her cubby and placed them on the bench, beginning to undress. Ri’kara turned herself away to start taking her own clothes off.
There was something odd about the way she was holding herself as she did so; keeping herself small as possible, pulling the cream bodysuit off as quickly as she could so she could wriggle into the other one. Iruna wasn’t trying to watch her, but she felt oddly bad for making her change there rather than figuring something else out.
“Do Tal’darim not change together?”
“Only if they trust each other. You don’t want to be exposed near those who will take advantage of the opportunity to stab you.”
Oh.
“Well, you know that won’t happen here.”
“I know. It’s hard to break a habit.”
She nodded even though she wasn’t looking at her, tying the sash of her robes and glancing as she pulled her long cords out of the way to close up the back of the suit.
Dusty purple scarring cracked open her skin like fissures, large, gnarled patches reaching across the full length of her back. Iruna couldn’t help but make a short sound at the sight of it.
“You weren’t kidding. There’s barely any skin left.”
Ri’kara stopped, looking back at her, embarrassed. Still, she let out an odd little laugh.
“I told you. It’s fine, it’s all old anyway. There’s a few in there that were because I got stuck in the vents of a ship. Plasma burns. The rest are from energy whips.” She spoke matter-of-factly, shrugging as she fully closed up the fabric and let her cords fall back into place.
“I knew your kind were bloodthirsty, but this seems extreme.”
“Phase-smiths were basically slaves once upon a time. When you came of age, if you were weak, or looked weak, or were deemed unfit to join the Chain or the temples, you were put down in the underground complex to build machines for the Death Fleet.”
“So you were one of them?” Iruna scoffed. “I’ve seen you lift something that looks twice your weight. How were you not strong enough?”
“When I stopped growing, my batch set me up as a punching bag. I was too small and so deemed too weak. At least I could crawl into the ship vents to help with the more delicate wiring and such.”
So much of what she was saying tugged at her curiosity, but she thought better of bombarding her with every single question that poured into her head. “… And you just stayed down there?”
“Yeah. We were locked down there. I used to climb through the vents to get outside. It’s how I met my friends.” Her face lifted into a soft smile. “If it wasn’t for them, I may have died.”
She tilted her head. “Arkhia? Was he one of them?”
“Oh! No, no, not at all. I met him on Aiur later; we worked together. No, I met two sisters. They patched me up when my overseer got too violent, and when Highlord Alarak allowed us to leave if we wanted, they took me with them… I was one of the only phase-smiths who managed to escape.”
“So they’re still trapped?”
“No. I made sure of that later after their rebellion. A lot’s changed for the better.”
“Hm.” She laughed a little and got her own armour on. “It seems like you were up with the bigwigs on Aiur. Why come out here?”
“I wasn’t needed where I was anymore, so I decided I wanted to be a phase-smith again. Without the…” Her hands waved towards her back. “You know.”
Deciding to be a little bold considering how much she had got from her already, she leant forward to catch her eye. “And it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s here too? Arkhia, I mean.”
“… I wanted to be somewhere with at least one Protoss that I knew. I don’t think that’s suspicious at all.”
“I didn’t mean to come off as though I was suspicious.” Iruna shrugged. “I just thought… Well, you live together. Aren’t you—?”
“No.” The answer came too quickly. Lilac had begun to tinge the edges of her crest as she frowned. “We’ve known each other for a long time. It made sense that we would share the only house that was free when we were transferred. It was the Executor’s idea.”
“Oh.”
The Nerazim couldn’t help but feel disappointed, her shoulders sagging slightly.
“I guess you got asked that question a lot on Aiur. I’m sorry for assuming…”
“It’s ok. I did get asked that question a lot; I guess two Tal’darim working together well and being friends was too unbelievable to some, but… They’ve changed. A lot.”
“… How long have you known him then?”
“About two hundred years, give or take.”
Iruna made a long, impressed sound. “That’s a long time to know somebody, especially after everything that’s happened.”
“I suppose.”
The atmosphere felt oddly chilly all of a sudden.
“… How’s the suit?”
She blinked, and then stood, stretching experimentally.
“It’s good. I think you got the perfect fit.”
“Good. We’ll have to call you in to get the armour correct, though. It’s modular.”
“I’ve been…” She passed a hand over her crest. “Sorry, I’ve been watching you move around in yours. It’s a lot like some Tal’darim armour with all the panels and such, so I understand it’ll take a bit more work.”
“You’re saying sorry for doing the exact thing I’ve been doing with you.” Iruna let out a short laugh. “Don’t worry at all.”
“Ok. I guess we’re done for today?”
“Yeah. You can leave that here if you like; nobody is going to be able to take it by accident.” She laughed again. “I don’t think there’s even a Terran who could fit in it.”
Ri’kara nodded, turning again to change.
“You’re not going to get anywhere with her, Izetsi.” Iruna called as she stepped into her home; she didn’t even have to look into her living room to know that the Khalai would be there waiting for her.
“What makes you say that?” She scoffed.
With a chuckle, she hung her outer robes on the hook by the door and crossed the threshold into the small living space. As she predicted, Izetsi was curled up in a chair, holding out a lit incense stick without bothering to look up.
“Well?”
Iruna took the incense and sat opposite, deciding to ignore that question; she wanted to get to other things first. “I talked to her a lot today. She almost got herself electrocuted for starters.”
“Oh?”
“Tried to touch the hull when we were looking for imperfections in the shaping. She had her gloves on, but when I yelled for her to move, she flinched.”
Izetsi’s usually curious expression melted into one of pity; she knew immediately what she was implying. “She thought she was going to hit you?”
“Yeah. Apparently that was just how it was done, I mean… We went to the changing room later, and her back…” The Nerazim shuddered at the memory of the sight of the gnarled scar tissue. “There was basically no skin left. She said it was from whips and being forced to climb into ship vents to fix things. They pulled them by their cords to get them out.”
“… Of course Tal’darim would make smithing horrific as well.”
“That’s what I thought. They were slaves, basically. That Chain thing they have. Or… had, apparently, if they were too weak, they were put to work down in this huge underground factory and tortured! No wonder she thought I was going to hit her—”
“No wonder she has no idea about safety standards.” The Khalai finished, looking as though she had finally put all the puzzle pieces together. “We are going to show her what it is like to work as a team. A proper one.”
Iruna nodded. “I’ll make sure of it. I don’t understand how she could even be seen as weak in the first place; she can lift panels that are at least twice her weight and size. She didn’t know about the elevated platforms and climbed the hull with no foot or handholds faster than I could say ‘use the lift’. It’s insane.”
“I suppose they have different standards for their smiths. By that I mean none.”
“Had. She was… Well, from the way she talked, she’d clearly been part of a thing to help the Tal’darim. She mentioned a rebellion, how much has changed, how she escaped…”
“Ugh, you are getting all the good stuff! When is she coming into the production line?”
“Soon. We’re almost done with the first ship; there’s a couple more I want her to help me touch up before I think she’ll be ready. Just need her to not be so jumpy around the higher ups.”
“Yes, that would be best…” Then, Izetsi’s eyes narrowed. “What did you mean, by the way?”
“Oh. Yeah, her and that Judicator have known each other for something close to two hundred years.”
“You’re kidding. How are they not together?”
Iruna shrugged. “See, I asked if they were, and she immediately said no. She said no too quick, if I’m being honest.”
“Oh, so they are?”
“No, they’re not; even if she said it too quickly, she was very insistent that they were just friends, but I think there’s a big flashing light over their heads that says, ‘it’s complicated’.”
Her companion wilted, resting her head against her hand and letting out a long, dejected sigh. “You are correct, then. I doubt I could compete with something like that…” She trailed off, and then the light danced back into her eyes, and she smirked. “But. If he seems so sweet on her, then I can make him think I do have a chance.”
She groaned, rubbing her face. “Don’t go starting any fights—”
“Not a fight, just a friendly rivalry. Maybe when we are more cosy with them, we could even try to get them together. I think it would be fun.”
With a sigh, Iruna took in some of her incense and melted back against her chair. “Look, I don’t condone this, but I can’t stop you.”
“You will join in. I know you will. Eventually.”
As she walked into the shared living room, Ri’kara watched as Alarak seated himself. His movement was quick, as though he had been watching the door for a while and did not want to be caught doing so.
“… Evening.”
He nodded, picking up a scroll and beginning to read it. Well, pretended to, at least.
“Better than the previous week, I imagine?” He finally said. “You do not look so exhausted.”
“… It was fine.” She sighed, sitting herself by the still open windows to watch the sun setting, as far away from him as she could. “They got my new suit ready today; they’ll have my armour done next.”
“Good.”
Then, it was silent again. She watched the unkempt trees and overgrown plants sway and dance in the wind, casting long shadows onto the floor around her. She thought about Iruna’s questioning, how irritating it was that there were already rumours going around; at least on Aiur they were dealt with quickly, eased off by their very careful outward behaviour, but here…
“… She asked me if we were together.”
The little Tal’darim didn’t have to look at the former Highlord to know that he had frozen. As always, it only lasted a moment before he relaxed, his tone even. “Who?”
“My mentor. I suppose she’s been talking with her friends about me, about her expectations, about… Us. She had a lot of questions.”
“… And what did you say to that one?”
She scoffed, shooting him a look. “I said no, of course.”
His eyes narrowed with a feigned irritation, but she could see the hurt underneath; after that first time, she didn’t think she’d ever forget that expression. Her frown deepened.
“What else would I have said?”
“I was not implying that you should have said anything else.” He snapped back, pointedly lifting the scroll a little and once again pretending to read.
“Has anyone said anything of the sort to you?”
“No. My Executor cannot abide gossip, and I doubt anyone would have the courage to try.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Good. Maybe we can nip it in the bud.” The last thing she needed was anyone trying to matchmake when she was trying to sort out her own emotions on the matter.
At that comment, he seemed to calm himself. “I suppose. I do not enjoy the idea of anyone meddling; I had enough of it with the Matriarch.”
Ri’kara blinked at that but decided not to bother asking; she hadn’t ever seen the two interact apart from when she was in the room.
“Well, good.” She turned back to the window. “Could you go to the sunroom? I want to talk to Inzar.”
“Fine.”
It was only after the door in the hallway had closed behind his uneven footsteps that she fully relaxed, shuffling towards the large communication panel against the wall, just by the arch, and changing the configuration to contact her friend.
“I think this is done.” Ri’kara peeked out from the curve of the hull, awkwardly waving her hand for the levitating platform.
“Looks good down here, too.” Iruna smiled, watching her wobble slightly as she got on and was lowered slowly to ground level. “You’re making fantastic progress.”
“I’m glad.” She smiled back, the bump between her eyes scrunching slightly. She was quite cute anyway, but when she finally dropped her anxious expression, she was adorable.
It was back in the next moment once she was steady and off the platform.
“So… What’s next?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah.” Iruna shrugged. “We’re done with this one. I’ve got a few others that need sorting out, but it’s dark, so I want to head home, and I’m sure you’re tired.”
“… I am a bit.” She laughed nervously. “So long as I’m doing fine.”
“You are. I was sceptical, I will admit, but you clearly know your way around smithing. Even if you don’t know much about safety.”
The Tal’darim nodded, playing with her hands, lacing her fingers together. “Thank you for giving me a chance.”
“Of course.” Then, she put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you’ve looked kinda troubled lately. Something on your mind?”
The Nerazim knew then that it had been a mistake to say anything; if there was one thing she had learned so far for the months she’d been her mentor, Ri’kara was like a small prey animal. All the scraps in the world wouldn’t matter if she was spooked at the last second back into her hiding place.
She felt her freeze under her hand, then her gaze dropped from hers and off to the side. For once, though, she didn’t try to inch away from the contact. “It’s nothing to worry about, really. I didn’t mean to make you concerned. It won’t effect my work.”
“Hey, as friends, nothing else, yeah? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I’m just… Homesick? I guess that’s the word for it. I just need to talk with a friend from Aiur, that’s all.”
She moved back, and gave her a soft smile, though honestly her speech wasn’t at all convincing; it was better to drop it than push. “So long as you’re sure. I hope you’re not thinking of leaving us just yet.”
“Oh, I… Only if… Well, it won’t be your fault if I have to go, but I don’t plan too.”
Iruna blinked. What would happen that would even make her leave? Nothing happens here. “Alright. I’ll see you in a couple of days. Get some rest.”
“I will. See you.”