Page 65 of Ava Stargazer

Vox’s hands clenched on hers in his lap. “Ava. I want kits, yes. But I want you more. I want you in whatever capacity you’re willing to give me.” He leaned closer and tilted her face to meet his. “I will be your shield for now, sweet bird. Your mind is beautiful.”

Ava saw his sincerity and her heartbeat slowed, feeling more reassured. He held her like that, watching the bubbles dance. She leaned into him more. “You already know everything about me, Vox; how could you doubt?”

Vox just sighed and held her tighter, leaning against the biologics tank while holding her. “Ava, your mind twists, and then what you end up believing always surprises me.”

“You just said it was beautiful.”

He chuckled. “It is even more so because it can surprise me.”

Time passed, marked by the gears spinning. Vox glowed brighter, meditating calmly like he had when he was inthe prison and she’d watched him from overhead. Now, Ava watched the engine, letting it calm her like it usually did. “Where do we go from here? You and me?”

She felt him startle out of his deep, meditative state to answer, “When we get back to Xai, we can decide.”

Ava ate in the solarium the next cycle, instead of the mess hall. She tried to tell herself it was not about the cycle before, and the awkwardness she felt now, but deep down she knew that was a lie.

In the solarium, she felt more at ease, arranging her plants. It left her with time to think and be peaceful. Much like painting the halls with Sai did. She was lucky too; it was empty when she arrived with a ration bar in hand. That was a rarity lately with how much Fijjak liked to stay in the solarium. Ava had her suspicions that he spent the entire night there and never used his crew room at all.

The artificial waterfall bubbled in front of her as she sat on the stone bench, staring at it. The entire solarium had Fijjak’s touch on it now, in addition to her own.Not like he needs to sleep at all.Fijjak had taken to cutting the grass and organizing therocks that Ava had started to move to make garden beds after understanding her intent.

A ping at the door startled Ava, who looked up and over to see who it was. Her ears turned red, thinking of someone checking on her when she’d come here by herself in such an obvious way. Especially as she had eaten with everyone normally only a cycle before. She sighed and her shoulders drooped a second later at seeing Sai, who was carrying a bag under her arm.

Sai shook the bag in her hands. “What are you doing in here? Alone? You avoiding Zeed?” She sat down next to Ava on the bench, scooting close. “I know for sure you’re not avoiding me.”

Ava didn’t answer, but leaned over to look into the bag, happy to see some of the fruit still there. The smell of citrus was a welcome distraction. “No. I mean, yes. I just needed time before eating with everyone again.”

Sai nodded, pulling out a red, fuzzy fruit and handing one to Ava. “I told you. These men are intense. I told them I was going to come eat with you, and for them to stay away a bit. Can’t get away from them as much here being on a ship.”

Ava asked, softly, “Is Vox in there?”

Sai shook her head, blue frills flapping. “He is still in navigation. From what I could pick up, Iryl will be back any minute. Vox and Rhutg keep going in circles trying to plan for Cipra without having any more data.”

Silence fell, only broken up by the waterfall as the water hit the rocks. Sai bumped her elbow into Ava’s side. “You want to talk about it? Yesterday?”

Ava put her hand on Sai’s elbow and leaned forward to connect foreheads. “Not really.”

“Okay.”

Ava frowned, but then shoved the words out. “Sai, thank you. I know you have your own things you are going through, butyou have helped me the most here. Thank you so much. I wish I could do more for you.”

Sai leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Ava’s again. “Ava. You helped me initially. And you are now helping in other ways that ... I just am not good at talking about and putting into words. So let’s not talk. But I’ll do this instead.” She shone and opened her connection until Ava felt the close bond between them in her bones.

Ava smiled, looking at the waterfall as Sai sat back and threw the pit from her eaten fruit in one of her garden beds. They both watched it land. Ava asked, “Think it will grow if we bury it?”

“Maybe.”

Her heart picked up though, thinking of Iryl being back. “I’ll get to see Joy soon if Iryl is almost back.”

“Mhm.”

That, more than anything, made Ava’s spirits rise, and she felt nervous butterflies in her stomach. They ate together, and Ava relished the calm with just Sai next to her. She knocked Sai’s elbow.I like this.

More than Cipra, her mind kept returning to Xai. A large part of her missed the planet and the warm sun.The solarium just isn’t the same.Now that she knew the difference, she could feel how artificial it was in here. She looked upward.So different from a real planet.Ava finished chewing and cleared her throat. “Sai?”

“Hmm?”

“Will it still be summer when we get back? To Xai? I know Vox said he wanted to be back in around a month for the peace talks. When does that change? He talked about there being different seasons before.”

Sai pointed up at the artificial sun shining down on them. “Yes, the sun will still be intense, but not for long. It will still be hot when we return, though. Then everything will start gettingready for it to be cold. The flowers will stop blooming, and some of the plants will lose their leaves.”

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