Page 27 of Tis the Season for Tentacles
Now I’m restless and frustrated—and stuck on this ship with a human who probably loathes me for the next few weeks.
Once again, fuck… my… life.
—Najar Mezdel, First Lieutenant and Voice of Reason on the Sleigh Belle
NAJAR
Luna was right. I fucked up.
Felix is avoiding me.
And it fucking sucks, as Sasha would say.
I do understand why he’s acting this way toward me. But I don’t like it.
He’s not overtly rude or even antagonistic. Perhaps if he were, I wouldn’t feel so wretched.
Instead, whenever he sees me, he gets this awful wounded look in his eyes and does everything in his power to flee whenever we happen to run into each other. Nothing has ever made me feel so shitty.
It’s already been a couple of days since my ill-conceived suggestion was overruled and we agreed to trust Felix and take him with us on our holiday tour of several planets. He seems to be having a good time with the others, but I only catch glimpses of him from afar.
If the last few days are any indicator, the next couple of weeks are going to be rough.
Sighing, I sit down at our communal table with my breakfast and a large mug of steaming kavga. There’s no one to blame but myself.
But that doesn’t make me feel any better.
I’m sipping my morning brew when a sleepy-eyed Felix, with tousled hair and clad in the too-big pajamas I left him, appears in the doorway of the ship’s canteen.
He freezes in place, staring at me wide-eyed.
I force an awkward smile. “Good morning.”
He whirls around and disappears. My shoulders slump. Even making simple pleasantries seems a no-go.
Seconds later, Luna peeks her head into the room, and upon seeing me, shakes it. Her green pigtails bob disappointedly. “Should have known I’d find your sorry ass in here,” she says as she strolls into the room, heading straight for the food generator, with Rambo gliding along at her side.
I scowl. “Excuse me.”
She arches an eyebrow at me. “Felix came hightailing it down the hallway like he was being chased by a pack of Ingarian wild wolves. I invited him to join me for breakfast, but he said he was going to eat in his room instead.” She looks me up and down knowingly. “Now I understand why.”
I set down my kavga and cross my arms over my chest, settling my face into its sternest expression. “I don’t have any control over what Felix does or doesn’t want to do.”
Rambo chooses that moment to comment. “I wish I knew how to quit you.”
Glaring at the droid only makes him beep at me cheerfully.
Ignoring my attempts to look forbidding, Luna joins me at the table with her own mug of kavga and toast with Dravethian nut butter. “Let’s be real, Naj. You’ve made things super awkward on the ship. Now Felix is afraid of you.”
Her words are like unexpected daggers to my heart.
I know he doesn’t like me. Not anymore. But… afraid?
Before I can say anything, Luna continues, “I understand why you pushed for returning him and erasing his memories, even after the rest of us had agreed to trust Felix’s word. But don’t you think it might have been better to wait to talk to us when he wasn’t in the room?”
One of my tentacles rubs my throbbing temple. I seem to get a headache every time I see Felix run away from me.
“We’re already in hot water with the Alliance after the whole Sasha debacle. A second Earthling abduction isn’t going to win us any friends and allies with them.”
