Page 48 of Ava Stargazer

They had been waiting for nearly the entire morning. Xai’s large sun was already high in the sky, and the humidity was rising with it.How long does this heat last? All of summer?Ava had no frame of reference for how long anything on this planet lasted. She sipped some water while waiting, wiping sweat from her brow.

“Well, we did decide to come a bit early in case it arrived ahead of schedule,” Ava said mildly, pulling her jumpsuit front from her body, where it was sticking.So gross.

Orla absently patted the head of the coar Erox owned that had brought both her and Ava here this morning.

Ava pet the animal as it moved its large head her way to look for further pets when Orla moved away, scratching under its horns while it closed its eyes. She smiled as it nudged her hand when she stopped, looking for more.You are so soft and fuzzy.

Now that the shuttle was coming closer, the markings were easily identifiable. It was not the same Spry shuttle that had left roughly a week before. What was also not the same was the charred side with a neural field over a hole, a temporary emergency patch that deploys only when a ship sustains damage. Fear, fast and sharp, ran down her spine.Oh no.

Ava’s eyes tracked the ship as it landed a distance away, not paying attention anymore to the coar or Orla as her feet dug in the dirt and her heart pounded as she ran closer.

She stopped at the edge of the landing pad, her eyes raking the shuttle as the door opened and a bloodied Erox was lifted out. It was then that she became aware of Orla’s presence next to her as Orla audibly gasped seeing Erox, his face visibly scarred in a way Ava could already tell would never fully heal. Rhutg was next to him, holding an emergency sealer to his wounds, keeping him stable as they exited together.

Ava’s eyes flitted up and met with Vox’s a moment later, a flush of relief going through her at seeing him standing, unharmed, before returning her focus to Erox.

He nodded to her, mentally saying,“Ava. I am fine,”before turning back to his brother.

A small crowd had begun to gather, already drawn by the shuttle arriving, as the landing pad was near the main lake. Now even more came, hastened by the alarm. For once, Ava didn’t feel them, having reached that state of effective detachment in her panic.

She swallowed as Erox was lifted down, deep gashes in his side in addition to his face. Ava hung back as Orla rushed ahead, not wanting to get in the way as Erox’s wounds were assessed. But she watched as Pyra came, fast as he could, with a stronger heat seal from the quorum hall near the landing pad. The same place where Ava had attended that meeting several weeks ago.

Vox came to her then while Rhutg stayed next to Erox, taking the heat seal from Pyra and holding it to his side, discarding the weaker one from the shuttle.

“Is he going to be alright?” she whispered.

Vox swept her into his arms instead, hard, before dipping down and nuzzling her neck. “Yes, in all the ways that matter.”

He held her until it hurt slightly from the force. Vox pulled away, and a line of sticky blood clung to Ava’s jumpsuit where he was pressed against her.

Red blood, like hers.

She pointed to the deep gash on his jumpsuit. “Vox. You're injured.”

He shook his head, looking back at his brother. “Erox needs tending to first. My injury is not critical.”

“What happened? How were you hurt?”

“The Tuxa fired a parting shot at us as we left. One got through our defenses and hit the side of the hull Erox was standing on.” He pulled her again next to his non-wounded side and they watched as Erox’s wounds were sealed, more of a crowd filtering in as time went on.

Rhutg pulled his hands away after several heartbeats. “He’ll need to rest now. We’ll do more once we get him settled.”

Erox appeared more lucid now that the most critical wounds were sealed. He gave a feral look to the crowd. “Those bastards.” Then he snarled in Pyra’s direction as Rhutg held the seal against a smaller wound on his leg. “Do you see, Pyra? The Tuxa attack again; they do not care about peace agreements.”

Rhutg stood, alone unharmed of the three of them from the shuttle. “Rest, Erox. We will take the cart back, you take one of the hovers.”

Ava went to Rhutg, now engaged in talking to the quorum members who were filing in about the peace talks and subsequent attack. He looked down at her as she tugged at the heat seal, then handed it over, not pausing his conversation.

She turned away from them, eyes only on Vox and the blood dripping from the wound on his shoulder as she walked back to him and carefully moved his jumpsuit, activating the seal. Vox grunted as the heat started. The wound was deep, and even after holding it for several seconds a large gash remained.

It's toobig for the seal to fix.She patted the area with hands coated in his blood. “We can get the seal onCelestialfor you and Erox once we get back.”

He shook his head and pulled his hands down and away. “Enough, Ava. Sometimes nature just needs to take a minute to catch up.”

She took a deep breath and looked up to see several of the quorum members were watching, glowing as they did, her emotions and actions on display. Her eyes snagged on Keervel, expecting to see a sneer, but only seeing speculation instead.Well, they can see I care at least.

Vox looked over her shoulder at them and replaced what he could of his jumpsuit, covering his torso. “Let’s get home, alright?”

She looked over at Erox, who was being loaded in a hover brought over by Zeed. He had fallen back unconscious, with Rhutg carrying him.

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