by Ashley West
It was touching after so many months of having to scrape and fight for every little thing. Cullen seemed to care, though she didn’t know why, and for the time being she planned to trust him. What other choice did she have, at this point?
There were no windows in her room, which she didn’t like, but she supposed that made sense. The lack of screens on the wall and the lack of unnecessary opulence kept it from feeling like K’varot’s ship, but all the same, Sadie couldn’t tell what time it was outside, and she didn’t know how long she’d been asleep.
She still had the tunic Cullen had lent her, as well as the few things she’d grabbed from her house before she needed to get out of there or run the risk of bursting into tears again, but she desperately needed a shower and to wash her mouth out at the very least.
There was nowhere to do that in the room, so she was going to have to venture out.
Cullen had promised her that no one on the ship was going to hurt her, but Sadie remembered the way they’d all been looking at her like she was some kind of...well. Like she was some kind of alien. It was ironic, honestly.
Either way, she couldn’t just stay in the room, so she got up and eased the door open, relieved to find that it wasn’t locked this time.
“Hello?” she said softly, looking up and down the hall that her room was on. There was no one there, so she walked, picking the direction she was pretty sure they had come from when Cullen had led her back.
She could hear voices coming from somewhere up ahead, so she followed the sound, wincing when it became clear there was an argument going on.
“She’s a danger,” someone was saying. “We shouldn’t be keeping her here.”
“We’re not keeping her here. She can leave whenever she likes.”
That voice was Cullen’s, and she was pretty sure they were talking about her. Sadie hung back, not wanting to reveal herself just yet.
“Then she should. What if K’varot sends people looking for her?”
“Then it’s better she’s here where she won’t be in danger. Or are you afraid of a bunch of Gilots?”
The person Cullen was arguing with snorted. “I’m not afraid of Gilots. They’re idiots, the lot of them. I’m worried about you jeopardizing our mission because of a human. She’s not a pet, Cullen.”
“I know that,” Cullen snapped. “But she is vulnerable and alone, and we’re here to protect these people. How many times do I have to say that?”
“Cullen,” cut in another voice. “We all know what we’re here to do. We’re just concerned. We can’t keep bringing humans back here. We need to take K’varot down. We have to stay focused.”
“I’m focused,” Cullen said. “But I’m not sending her back out there. She doesn’t have anyone else, and she’s in danger. I’m not doing it.”
“You know,” said someone else, someone very close to her. Sadie turned her head to see probably the tallest woman she had ever encountered standing right there. “It’s not polite to listen in to conversations that don’t involve you.”
Sadie blinked and took a step back. “Technically,” she said. “This one does involve me.”
The woman smiled. “That might be fair. Do not worry. Overon is mostly bluster, and Cullen is the cool head. They will let you stay.”
“Oh. That’s good. I...I don’t want to make things worse, but he’s right. I don’t have anyone else in the city, and I’d rather not be alone.”
“Understandable,” the woman said. “I am Tiama.”
“Tiama,” Sadie repeated, like Cullen had repeated her name when they’d been introduced. “I’m Sadie.”
“Sadie. Well met. Is there something I can help you with, Sadie?”
She nodded emphatically. “Is there somewhere I can clean up? I feel like I haven’t been clean in weeks.”
Tiama smiled again, just a small lifting of the corners of her mouth. “Come with me,” she said, and led Sadie away from the argument. She seemed convinced that it wasn’t going to result in her being thrown out of the ship, so Sadie followed with no complaints.
The ‘bathing room’ as Tiama had called it was different from the bathrooms Sadie was used to. This was divided down the middle by a thick wall, strange toilets and sinks on one side and cubicle like showers on the other.
She did her business and then stepped into one of the shower cubicles, eying the truly complicated and not at all in English array of buttons. It would be best to lean back, out of the way of this, probably, so she did and then pressed some of the buttons to see what would happen.
Some of them gave her water so hot she felt like she was burned, and others changed the pressure of it. It took a moment, but she finally managed to punch in the right configuration and then made a mental note of it for later so the next time she had to shower in one of these things it wouldn’t be such an ordeal.
There was something magical about the power of soap and hot water, though. She’d fetched her own clothes and bath supplies from where she’d stashed them in her room, and she lingered in the shower, letting the water soak into her hair and run down her body in rivulets.
Steam filled the small cubicle, and she inhaled it, pushing wet hair out of her face and then lathering her bath cloth with her favorite body wash. It smelled like vanilla and brown sugar, something she’d always found comforting, and she washed herself once, twice, and then three times just to be on the safe side. Sadie didn’t want to feel anything of K’varot still on her skin.
He hadn’t touched her all that much, mostly he’d had one of his goons do it, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
Water and suds sluiced down her body from her shoulders to her toes, and she looked down, wiggling them in the suds as they went down the drain. Usually they would have been painted, but she hadn’t had a chance before she was snatched. Sadie sighed. As much as she had talked about making do with what they had these days, she missed the way life used to be. But there was no use harping on that.
Jasmine was missing, everything was chaos, and a madman with a god complex wanted to wreck the human race.
They were all just going to have to hope that these Ithilir knew what they were doing.
“You just left her alone in there?”
“Yes, Cullen. She’s an adult human, so I assumed she had used a shower before. Unless you think K’varot was lurking in our bathing room. I’d have to wonder then how he got onto the ship. Perhaps when you and Overon were arguing.”
“We weren’t arguing. He was being stubborn. As usual.”
“And you were being the picture of flexibility, I’m sure.”
“Tiama, can you just—”
Sadie sighed and decided that she was tired of lurking around corners while people talked about her, so she strode straight down the hall where Tiama and Cullen were having their conversation right in front of the door to her room.
She felt more like herself now, after the shower, and she arched an eyebrow when they both turned to look at her.
Cullen had the grace to look slightly ashamed at being caught, and Tiama just looked at her blankly.
“You’re alright,” Cullen said, sounding relieved.
Sadie smiled at him. “Of course. It was just a shower, Cullen. Humans can handle those, at least.”
“Oh. I didn’t...I mean, I wasn’t doubting you could, I was just…” He seemed at a loss for words, and Sadie took pity on him.
“It’s okay, Cullen. Thank you for worrying.”
He nodded and looked relieved. “Of course. I was wondering…”
“Yes?”
“If you would like to go on a walk with me.”
Tiama made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort of amusement, and Sadie and Cullen both turned their heads to look at her. She had her blank face back on. “I will leave you to it,” she said, and then withdrew back down the hall.
Cullen turned his gaze back to Sadie, and she blinked. “A walk where?” she wanted to know. “Is it safe to go out?”
“Just around the ship,” Cullen replied. “It’s probably alright to go out, you were doing it before, but we have no way of knowing if K’varot has figured out you’re gone or that we’re here yet. We should be careful.”
“Okay. One minute.”
Sadie ducked into her room quickly, dropping off her things and running a towel over her hair to get the last of the water that lingered there. It was damp still and curled all over the place, but there was nothing she could do about that until it dried. And anyway, Cullen was the man who had rescued her and the man who was promising to keep her safe. What did it matter what he thought of her hair?
When she stepped back out of the room, Cullen was still waiting patiently, and Sadie lifted her head to get a good look at him.
He was handsome, that much was for sure. Tall, much taller than the average human male, and broad, rippling with muscles and obvious strength. His clothing was spare, just a sleeveless tunic that came down over his thighs and was belted in the middle and a pair of dark pants that hugged those thighs nicely. His boots were black and shiny, and they gave him an air of authority that would have pulled Sadie in and made her want to flirt with him if this were any other time.
Cullen smiled good naturedly at her, and Sadie shook herself, determined to focus. “So,” she said. “You wanted to walk?”
“Yes,” Cullen replied, and motioned for her to follow him.
They walked in silence for a moment, and that was fine. Sadie was preoccupied with looking around her, taking in the ship. “Are all alien ships like this?” she asked.
Cullen chuckled. “Oh, no. There are too many different races and groups for any two to have the same sort of ship. And anyway, there are many different kinds of ship as well.”
“Really? You know, before all of this, I wasn’t even sure if aliens existed, let alone so many.”
He shrugged a shoulder and it was an elegant gesture, even on his large frame. “We don’t really concern ourselves with humans, so that’s logical. But there are many, many planets out there in the far reaches of the universe. And most of them are inhabited by at least one species, usually more. We have communities and cities and kingdoms and entire empires, even.”
“And can they all do magic?” Sadie wanted to know.
“Magic?”
“Yeah, you know.” She held up a hand and wiggled the fingers on it. “Like you did with the ice back on K’varot’s ship.”
Cullen looked at her for a moment and then laughed. It was soft laughter, not unkind, and it was a nice sound. “Sadie, that was not magic.”
“Then what was it?”
“I...don’t know how to describe it. It’s a gift that we were given. It’s how we fight, how we protect ourselves and our loved ones. It’s our connection with Fora, perhaps given by the planet itself.”
“Fora?”
“Our home. An icy planet in the Zion system. The birthplace of the Ithilir.”
“Do all Ithilir do the ice thing?”
“No,” he said. “Not all of us have the gift. Those that do pledge their service to the people and join the warriors. They learn how to fight with the gift and with their bodies and they protect the Walled City.”
“What’s that?” She had a million questions, it seemed, and Cullen didn’t seem to mind answering them at all. He explained that Fora was the birthplace of the Ithilir, but also home to many other races and creatures who sometimes tried to break their way into the Ithilir’s city. And so they fought them, to keep them out and protect the people.
“But why have walls at all?” Sadie wanted to know. “Why did you put them up?”
Cullen shook his head. “I don’t know that one. The walls have been standing since long before I was born. Since before my parents before me were born, even. They are all I’ve ever known. The others on the planet want to get in, and they will do whatever they can to do it. So we fight them. It’s always been that way.”
“Hmmm,” Sadie said. “I guess something must have happened a long time ago, then.”
“More than likely.”
They lapsed back into silence and kept walking. Then Sadie remembered something she wanted to ask him. “Why are you here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your people. Why are you here? You said yourself that most aliens don’t even think about humans, so why did you come?”
Cullen was quiet for a long moment, and she worried that she’d offended him. When he finally looked back at her, there was a little smile playing around his mouth. “K’varot wants to destroy my people.”
“What did you do to piss him off?” Sadie wanted to know.
“Nothing, as far as I can remember. He wants to rule the galaxy, one planet at a time, and no one but the Ithilir have ever ruled Fora.”
“Ah, so he just wants what you have, then.”
“That’s how it seems. Come, I’ll show you the rest of the ship.”
And it was as simple as that to begin with. Sadie and Cullen walked daily, usually around the same parts of the ship when it became apparent that the others weren’t keen on them being in the further off parts. Cullen just looked at them angrily and then they went elsewhere.
It was fine with Sadie, honestly. She didn’t know how long she was even going to be on their ship, and she understood that insular people like the Ithilir had no reason to trust someone they didn’t understand.
It caused Cullen upset, but she soothed him and then asked him to tell her stories of his battles.
Honestly, she was surprised how easy it was to talk to him. There were huge cultural differences between them, and it was always apparent how pleased he was to learn something new. The others seemed content to keep everything separate, but Cullen liked to learn. He liked to ask questions and get answers that changed the way he thought about something.
It made Sadie smile that she was the one who got to fill in blanks for him and explain how things worked.
And honestly, it was something of a relief for her, as well. It took her mind off of...well. Everything. Jasmine being gone, the memories of K'varot touching her face before he locked her away in a cage, the fear she'd felt that she would never be free of that cage again.
If she thought too hard about it, then it would give her nightmares, and that was the opposite of what she wanted. Dwelling on it, would change absolutely nothing. It wouldn't bring Jas back, and it wouldn't provide some magical portal to the past that would let her go back in time and make it so she was never caught.
The world didn't work that way. So she focused on learning more about her new friend and teaching him things as well. She focused on her hope that the Ithilir would live up to their promises and be able to save them all.
Cullen seemed so sure of himself, and so who was Sadie to doubt him? He'd saved her, after all. Brought her out of a horrible situation to something infinitely better. And he'd promised to help her get Jasmine back.
It hadn't been long at all since he'd rescued her, but she trusted him and his words.
Chapter Six: And Further Still
Living with a bunch of aliens was less fun than she had been expecting it to be. Cullen took care to make sure that she was fed and not treated poorly, but for the most part, the Ithilir seemed content to ignore her.
She supposed she couldn't blame them. The more she learned about them, the more it made sense that they would be uncomfortable with someone they didn't know on a planet they didn't really understand.
Of course, Cullen seemed more than willing to make an effort, and he often brought her meals and brought his own along with it, sitting with her and talking about Earth and his own planet and how things were different between them. He talked about his Prince, and the walls and the way that Fora was always covered in ice. He teasingly showed off his powers sometimes, too.
When he was off hunting for K'varot and his minions and she was alone on the ship with whoever was left, Sadie found that she missed him.
He was easy to talk t
o, easy to be herself with. She told him about her life and her family and friends, even though it hurt to think she would never see them again. And Cullen was understanding. Loss wasn't something he had much experience with, but there was a night where she'd had a horrible nightmare about the destruction of her home, and she couldn't see herself going back to sleep after that.
Cullen had been sitting in the ship's kitchen area, nursing a cup of something thick and green that she hadn't wanted to get too close to.
"Are you alright?" he'd asked, the concern in his eyes palpable.
"Mm," was all she could say to that. She wasn't, but she didn't want to just start unloading over him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He'd kicked out the chair across from her and gestured to it, inviting her to sit with him. And she had. She'd sat there and talked to him about her dreams and her fears and how she just knew that she was never going to see Jasmine again, and he'd listened and offered words of wisdom and kindness.
They still didn't know each other very well, but she found that she felt close to him, and that only grew the more time they spent together.
The ship was quiet for the first time in a long time, and Sadie went to sit on one of the landings that overlooked the control bay, feet dangling over the edge. As much as she had always valued movement and being active and having her hands busy before everything had changed, now she was definitely learning the value of being still and quiet and just taking things in. And of course, there was a lot to take in these days. Things had changed so much from how they'd been before, Sadie found that the worries and cares she'd had before seemed trivial now. Who cared if men were intimidated by her when there were angry creatures from other planets out there trying to kill people? She had her priorities in order.
Footsteps behind her alerted her to the fact that she wasn't actually alone on the ship, and she startled and turned her head, smiling when she saw it was Cullen. Out of all the Ithilir onboard, he was the one she trusted the most. Something about him sitting with her while she completely fell apart after her rescue just made her want to be close to him.
She'd caught him eying her, as well, and she didn't really know what that meant. From what she'd learned of the Ithilir, they weren't big on mingling with anyone from outside their race. Sort of like a milder version of an extraterrestrial bigot, she figured. And a human was about as far outside of the Ithilir as it got.
