Page 70 of Tis the Season for Tentacles
“Oh, my dearest Najar.” Kheph reaches out to clasp my hands in his. “You are a brave and wonderful man who deserves to find love. I know why you protect yourself so diligently. Anyone with your background would feel the same, but I don’t want you to close yourself off to what could be your one chance at true happiness in this lifetime. Don’t abandon what you have with Felix.”
I swallow, struggling to breathe for a moment. “Do… do you think he cares for me too?”
He smiles at me brightly. “While I can’t say for certain, and that’s something you definitely need to talk to Felix about directly, I will say I would bet every space credit I possess that he does.”
His words help something suffocating inside me unclench and I can breathe again.
“Right. So I just have to talk to him…” I hesitate. “Aboutfeelings.”
Kheph laughs. “Good galactic gods, Naj. They’re not contagious, let alone terminal. Emotional connection, especially love, with another being can be a beautiful and magical thing.”
“If you say so,” I grumble, rubbing absently at my chest. All this anxiety and uncertainty, and the swinging back and forth that seems to goes with it, is far from enjoyable at the moment.
All the same, I can’t stop thinking about Felix.
“Like I said, it’s time to have a heart-to-heart with Felix to find out where you two stand.”
Yeah, that doesn’t sound terrifying at all.
“What if he… rejects me?”
One of Kheph’s tentacles reaches out and holds on to one of mine, just like when we were kids. “Then all of us will be here to help you get through it.”
I’m surprised to find my eyes tearing up. “You know I love you like my brother, right?”
He beams at me, his face glowing with happiness. “Of course, because I feel the same way about you. Forever and always.”
“Okay.” I nod decisively. “You’re right. It’s not like me to dither and worry about what may or may not happen. I prefer to be a man of action.”
“Exactly.” Kheph gives me an amused smile. “Go get him, Tiger.”
I roll my eyes at him fondly. “All in good time. I have to plan my mode of attack.”
Kheph looks incredulous. “You do realize you aren’t going to war, don’t you?”
I cross my arms. “As Sasha likes to say, love is a battlefield.”
He strokes his chin. “Hmm. An interesting analogy and perhaps quite appropriate for you.” He waves a finger and two tentacles at me. “Just don’t make Felix a casualty of the fight.”
“I won’t,” I promise.
“Good.” He gets up. “We’ll be docking at the intergalactic space station soon for a quick in-and-out trip. I don’t want to linger there any longer than necessary, especially if there are any Alliance agents lurking about. But once we get back to the ship, you’ll have plenty of free time to have that much-needed talk with Felix.”
As we depart the Augmented Reality Simulation Environment and make our way to the bridge, I dare to ask him, “Any final tips you want to give me?”
To my surprise, he stops and pulls me into his arms, giving me a fierce hug. “Be honest and speak the truth of your hearts. To do that, you need to let yourself be vulnerable and open withFelix. But be brave and trust in the one you have given your hearts to.”
With that, he lets me go, and I stand frozen for a few moments as I digest his words and acknowledge the wisdom of them.
I’m truly lucky to have Khephren Thrase as my best friend.
When we dock at the intergalactic space station a short time later, Felix joins me by the station’s market entrance, while Luna heads off with her list of items and Sasha and Kheph go to complete their assigned errands.
Felix and I have been put in charge of the stocking up on some essential
ingredients for the food generator that it needs to learn how to replicate. Holding hands, we enter the bustling market full of energetic vendors selling foods from all over the universe.
Since we’re on a bit of a strict schedule, I steer us to the stalls with the ingredients appropriate for our ship’s food generator to use in creating new items. We rent a hover cart into which we load our food cargo as we move from one vendor to the next. I even indulge Felix and spend some of my own personal credits, separate from the ship’s budget, on a few rare and exotic fruits he wants to try.
