Alliance of Serpents (19 page)

A slow warmth heated Arus' cheeks as he
smiled and nodded. "Right. I guess that's it, then. Thank you so
much for your advice, Doctor. I really appreciate it."

"No trouble, my friend!" Nori bowed his head
slightly. "No trouble at all."

This time, Arus walked casually through the
halls. There was still some time to spare before he was expected at
the lift, and he didn't want to get himself sweating again by
darting off in a mad dash. Hopefully Doctor Nori's advice would
come in handy, though the old man sometimes seemed a bit out of
touch with the nature of present day relationships. Still, kindness
was kindness, and it was good advice to hear, regardless of the
generation from which it came.

As he rounded the corner to head for the
lift, he nearly stopped short. Kitreena was already there, standing
beside the lift. However, it wasn't her presence that caught him by
surprise, but her attire. Her hair was drawn away from her face and
clipped behind her head, spilling down her back like a waterfall.
Sparkling jewels no larger than a pea dangled from her earlobes,
and her cheeks glistened with a faint touch of glitter. But the
most shocking of all was that she wore a dress—a dress!—that
reached halfway to her knees and faded from a royal blue at the top
to black at the bottom. Elegant black slippers that girls back on
Terranias would've worn to a wedding or a ball adorned her feet.
She was biting her lip when he approached, another first for her.
Kitreena,
nervous
?

"Do I look all right?" she asked, pawing her
dress. "I don't wear this kind of stuff often because I'm not all
that great at choosing what looks good and what doesn't. I can go
change if you want. I just thought you'd like it if I looked like a
girl for once in my—"

Arus held his hand up with a warm smile. "You
look beautiful," he told her. Certainly better than he did with
that ridiculous machine sticking out from his head. "Since you told
me to meet you by the lift, I assume we're not going to the
cafeteria. Where
are
we going, then?"

Her lips curved into a small grin. "Do you
like spicy food?"

"I'll try anything," he told her. "Why, what
do you have in mind?"

She pulled him by the hand toward the lift,
and the door slid open. "Come on, I'll show you."

The lift carried them to the highest level of
the ship, an enormous room that Kitreena called the Observation
Deck. There were no walls or ceiling, only a crystal clear dome
that she referred to as reinforced titanium glass. Beyond that, the
endless sea of space swam by in silent tranquility, unfazed by the
conflicts and struggles of the mortals that floated alongside its
stars and inhabited its worlds. For the first several minutes,
Kitreena stayed quiet while Arus simply stared, taking in the
amazing sight. If not for the occasional shimmer of light reflected
by the dome's surface, he'd have thought he was standing amidst the
cosmos itself. It gave him a sense of reality grander than anything
he'd ever known before. No longer confined to Terranias, never
having known what he'd been missing. For his entire life, he'd been
taught that machines were evil. Yet floating amongst the stars, he
couldn't help but question that. It wasn't as though human ideals
had never been misguided before. He'd been so depressed about
leaving his home behind, but perhaps . . . Perhaps he
could
embrace this lifestyle.

"Takes your breath away, doesn't it?"
Kitreena's voice was near a whisper. She stood close to him, her
eyes tilted up the same as his. "I've flown across the universe
more times than I can count, but whenever I look out at the stars,
words escape me."

"We never knew," Arus murmured, half speaking
and half thinking aloud. "We were so content to confine ourselves
to Terranias because of our fear of machines. We've always been so
afraid of the unknown that we don't ever venture out and try
something new. Our civilization has been at a standstill for as
long as our history books have recorded, never once even
considering the possibilities of what a little exploration might
teach us. To think that we're so far behind . . . If I hadn't been
captured by Truce, I never would've been able to see any of
this."

Kitreena looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"You almost sound as though you're glad for what he did to
you."

Arus shrugged. There were many ways he could
perceive things, but both his father and Master Eaisan had always
been positive, optimistic, and hopeful people. They were well
respected and accomplished men, and both had been able to
positively affect the lives of others through their attitudes and
outlooks on life. Arus had lost sight of that once, and it cost him
his arm, his mother, his master, his best friend, and his home. "I
just want to see the good in things. I want to take the bad
experiences in my life and find the good in them. I mean, everyone
goes through tough times, right? But it's those times that teach us
about ourselves, and show us what we need to improve. I could be
moping around and crying and sulking about what I've lost," he
tapped his cybernetic arm, "but look at all I've gained." He shook
his head in wonder as he gestured toward the stars. "I'm not happy
about what Truce did to me, but I can't change the past. All I can
do is make the most of whatever situation I find myself in, and
that's what I intend to do."

"I wish you luck with that," she told him. "I
truly do. I wish I had that same outlook."

"You can," he said, finally turning to face
her. "You just have to be positive. I mean, if I hadn't been
captured by the Kyrosen, would you and I be standing here together
right now?"

She smiled through a thoughtful expression,
but for a moment, she looked as though she was going to argue the
point. Instead, she tugged at his arm with a grin. "I promised you
some spicy food, didn't I?"

The deck was carpeted with a deep blue and
dotted sparsely with cushioned chairs and couches where a few
crewmembers were either reading or conversing quietly. A few small
tables sat here and there as well, mostly near the outer rim of the
dome. Opposite Arus, a group of young men and women were lying on
their backs on the rug, staring up at the planets and stars that
flew by and trying to name each. Glowing lights from the floor
provided the only illumination other than that stars. The room had
the overall feel of a library, Arus noted, though whatever books
were being read had been brought from elsewhere on the ship. A long
counter stood on the far right where Kitreena was pulling him,
lined with circular stools in the front and trimmed with a golden
edge that ran its entire length. Behind the counter stood a plump
man with at least three chins who was wiping his hands on his messy
apron. His jowls swayed as he moved, alternating between rinsing
off dishes in a large basin behind the counter and flipping
circular patties of meat on something Kitreena identified as a
griddle. Racks and cabinets full of cooking tools and supplies
stood behind him. He smiled as the two approached, nodding politely
to Kitreena in particular. "Hello, Kitreena. I hope this evening
finds you well. Who's your friend?"

"Good evening, Ron," she responded. "This is
Arus, a guest from Terranias who is going to be staying with us for
a while."

The large cook ran a greasy hand through
similarly greasy hair. "Ah, I see. Welcome aboard, then! I trust
you're enjoying your stay on the
Refuge
." He sounded more
like a tourist guide than a cook on a military starship. Still, he
was friendly enough, and that was enough for Arus.

"Thanks," he nodded politely. "The
hospitality of the crew has been remarkable. I appreciate
everything you've all done to make me feel at home here."

Ron's smile grew wide enough to expose a
blackened tooth on the right side. "Bah, it's nothing. That's what
we do! Can I get you two anything?"

"Two baekrolls would be great," Kitreena told
him. "Light on the cuen powder on mine."

"Coming right up!"

Arus watched as the man went to work, laying
several narrow strips of some kind of dark meat on the cutting
board before sprinkling them with seasoning. He threw some chopped
vegetables that resembled peppers onto the griddle, then took the
strips of meat and wound them together into two rope-like
concoctions. Once they were tightly wrapped, he drove a pointed
stick of wood through each and placed them on the griddle amidst
the vegetables. More seasoning, and then he scooped the chopped
vegetables up and poured them onto the meat-ropes. While they
cooked, he grabbed an oblong bowl and took a large bottle of some
kind of sauce from the top cupboard. With that, he filled the bowl
nearly halfway and added the vegetables. Yet more seasoning, a
quick stir, and then he dunked the ropes of meat into the bowl
until they were completely submerged. "Five seconds," he said with
a smile. Arus began a slow count, and two plates were being pushed
toward him by the time he reached five. The meat-ropes—baekrolls,
Kitreena had called them—were completely covered in sauce and
vegetables, though the ends both sticks had been wiped clean.
"Enjoy," Ron said, immediately going to work on cleaning the dishes
he'd used.

One whiff of the aroma rising from the plate
brought Arus' appetite to life. "It certainly smells good."

Kitreena took her plate and led him toward
one of the tables at the far edge of the dome. "Oh, I guarantee
you'll love it. It's my little guilty pleasure. Whenever I'm
feeling down, I come up here and have a baekroll."

Once they were seated, Kitreena watched him
expectantly as he took hold of the stick and raised it to his lips.
A thought occurred to him before he bit down. "This isn't some kind
of trick, is it?" he asked, grinning suspiciously. "I'm not going
to bite this and be running for a bucket of water, am I?"

Kitreena laughed, though it was clear she was
forcing herself to be more reserved than she wanted to be. "You
tell me," was all she said.

He pursed his lips despite his grin, then
took a deep breath. "The Maker have mercy on me."

The meat was so tender it nearly felt apart
in his mouth. An explosion of spice and flavor spread across his
tongue, tantalizing his taste buds with a sweet tang and a spicy
heat all at once. The second bite tasted better than the first and
the third better than both. He'd eaten half of the baekroll before
he noticed Kitreena's stare.

"Enjoying it?" she giggled, swallowing a bite
of her own.

He licked the excess glaze from his lips.
"It's great. You've got good taste."

"I'm glad you like it. A lot of people find
them too spicy."

Her smile captivated him. Why was she looking
at him like that? He wished her telepathy would kick in so that
he'd know what she was thinking, then cursed himself silently for
wanting to intrude on her privacy. At any rate, it seemed she was
getting better control over her abilities; he had yet to hear a
single thought of hers, and it didn't seem as though she'd heard
any of his. She just kept smiling at him with those beautiful
little lips. Seeing her in a good mood was still hard for him to
get used to, especially considering how she'd acted when they first
met. "You've changed a lot since that day you found us in Truce's
lair."

She raised an eyebrow at him, looking more
confused than offended. "Really? How so?"

Arus chuckled as he laid down the bare wooden
stick from his baekroll. "Don't you remember? You were so . . .
cold. It was almost as though you didn't
want
to save
us."

Kitreena nodded, though her eyes were
distant. "Sometimes you
must
be cold when on duty.
Any
weakness can be exploited by the enemy, so it is
important to be strong in all aspects of oneself in order to give
as little advantage to your opponent as possible. Emotions have no
place on the battlefield."

"Somehow, I don't think that's all there is
to it," Arus said before he could stop himself. He hadn't meant to
probe into the young lady's personal life. Thankfully, she didn't
seem to take offense to the comment. "I mean, I wouldn't say that
your actions and demeanor in the Underworld were emotionless."

"My life has conditioned me into the person I
am," she responded. She looked uncomfortable, but not offended. "I
have been molded into who I am by the past events of my life. I've
had little say in who I've become."

Arus sat back in his chair. "May I ask what
happened to you?"

She shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter. It's
nothing compared to what you've been through, I'm sure."

"Everyone reacts differently to things," he
told her. "It obviously was bad enough to affect you so deeply.
What does not hurt one person could deeply scar the next. Don't
minimize your troubles simply because you perceive the problems of
others to be worse. Everyone's pain needs to be dealt with, not
buried away. This thing," he tapped his steel limb, "is a constant
reminder to me that I cannot run from my pain. No one can. It will
eat you alive from the inside until there's nothing left but a
hollow—"

"F'Ledro killed my parents," Kitreena finally
blurted out. She stood and stepped away, wiping her eyes so quickly
that Arus would've missed it if he blinked. He was out of his seat
in an instant and at her side in the next. "They came to Lavinia
when I was only six years old, about year before they landed on
Terranias. They were passing through our solar system at the time,
and they sent F'Ledro to pick up some supplies. He and his
detachment of soldiers landed right in the middle of our kingdom.
We had no warning." Her head tilted backward as she gazed at the
stars above them. Unconsciously, Arus took her hand into his own.
She didn't try to stop him. "He gave them no chance. There were no
requests made, no negotiations, and no attempts to barter. He just
forced his way in and . . . killed them."