Page 81 of Ava Stargazer

Vox looked down at his hands and sighed. “I am letting them go now, yes.”

They walked into the engine room, and Vox sat heavily on their bed in the alcove the moment they got in. The last few steps looked difficult for him to make. Ava sat behind him and pulled him to lean him back on her. He resisted, and she pulled harder, tugging on his firm shoulder. He didn’t yield in her grip. “Please? It makes me feel better to be able to care for you.”

At that, Vox finally stopped resisting, laying his head in her lap heavily with a sigh.There we go.She ran her hands over his frills, a bit frantic as the shaking continued, before Vox took his hands and moved hers away from his face to try to hold one. He let go a second later when another tremor hit, rolling onto his side with a grimace, his face still in her lap.

Ava leaned over and picked up her patchwork blanket, dragging its vibrant colors over the bed. She covered him up with it while she ran her hands along his head again, more soothingly this time.He’s not fine.She wracked her brain for what she could do to help calm him. “Do you want a story? To take your mind off it?”

Vox just shook, wracking his entire body, vibrating her lap underneath his head. “Whatever you want, Ava.”

So, Ava told him stories. Fun ones. Ones that she read in fairy tale books Ebel had gotten her over the years, and video feeds she had watched when she was younger. The stories were from back when Ava started to believe in magic a little, once she was here on the Phor ship and safe.

She couldn’t remember a few of them, so she made things up in spots, and changed them, making them all happy endings, switching scenes if they were sad. They were stories of sly creatures that hid behind the stars and all the tricks they would play.

Vox started chuckling at the end of one, clearly following along. “That isn’t how that should end.”

“How do you know?”

He gave a particularly violent shake before answering, “Even without looking in your mind I can tell you’re trying too hard to make it happy. The plot doesn’t make sense now.”

Of course.That made Ava give a sad, wistful smile. “Oh. Well, that ending was sad. Mine is better.”

Vox chuckled. “The ending was sad because it taught a lesson to the trickster. If it ends happily, then he gets away with too much. It is to teach naughty kits to behave.”

Ava shrugged as she stroked the scales on his head.The shaking is less.She whispered instead, “I don’t think either of us needs any lessons right now.”

Vox didn’t answer that other than to give a noncommittal grunt. Soon after, Vox fell asleep in her lap as Ava kept talking and making up stories. Her voice lowered as she felt his breathing deepen and his hands relax. He still trembled as he slept, making Ava’s gut clench with anxiety.

It was a different kind of worry she had then, watching his limbs twitch involuntarily while she held him. She brushed herhand along his skin, lingering on all the areas where he had scars from the past, delicately tracing those lines with her fingertips. The deep one on his shoulder from the shuttle attack was now healed, with only a ridged line remaining.

Guilt bloomed in her gut, making her heart pound a bit faster. All thoughts of Cipra and what she just did was pushed to the background. “I pushed you too hard,” she whispered to his sleeping form. Vox’s eyes fluttered at her words, but he did not wake up, finally in a deep sleep. Remorse fell over her. Vox wouldn’t deny her anything. Maybe they needed a balance there. Maybe they needed to think how to proceed and not rush into situations.Especially if breaking like this harmed them.

“No,” Rhutg said, standing in the doorway, shining and looking at her speculatively. “Vox was just foolish and thought he was invincible. He needs to delegate better and not try to do everything himself. He is just so hardheaded sometimes.”

Ava frowned, hand over Vox’s head. “Rhutg, don’t look at my thoughts like that.”

“I was trying to check on Vox. It is difficult to not overhear you sometimes.” He paused and sighed deeply. “You’re too familiar a contact to ignore easily now. I hear you all the time whether I want to or not.” He tilted his head toward Vox. “Him too. It’s annoying.”

Ava chuckled at that.I care about you too.She then looked up at him imploringly. “Is Vox going to be okay?”

Rhutg came closer. Even though the alcove room by the engine hall had been expanded, it felt tiny with both Rhutg and Vox in it. Rhutg touched Vox’s head, not as tenderly as Ava did but not harshly either, before connecting and shining. He stopped after a moment. “Yes. But he needs to rest. His mind has so many holes it needs to stitch.”

“So many holes?”

“Limits. He needs to learn them. As for you, don’t sell yourself and him so short over the fear of a little risk.”

Ava looked down and traced Vox’s face again. “Just as long as he is okay.”

“He should be.” Rhutg shone brightly again for a moment. “But he would hate to hear the turn your thoughts just took. About giving up to protect him. He is not that fragile.”

Her hand stilled in its soft stroking. “Should I though, Rhutg?”

Rhutg kept a hand on Vox’s head, still shining. “Should you what?”

Ava rolled her eyes at him. “You know what, you just heard everything I was thinking. Should we take a break, step back to consider everything? I worry if we keep going, it will end up with more of us getting hurt by a bigger enemy.” She gestured to Vox’s shaking limbs. “You are vulnerable too.”

Rhutg let go of Vox and sat down next to Ava, leaning back on his heels, placing his arms on his legs. “Kind of too late to take a step back. We did just destroy Cipra.”

“Yes, but . . .”

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