Page 88 of Seven Oars
He slugged Ucai, but Ucai parried.
Nud came bounding in, jumping into the fray, and it was unclear if he was for or against the Striker.
Xorris picked up a tool from the floor and swung, hitting someone…
A giant wave of weariness swamped Rosamma, which had nothing to do with her waning energy.
It was the Habitat, with its performative fights that were, at the same time, real. This place was sucking dry her will to live another day.
Gro grabbed Rosamma’s arm.“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“No, wait. Phex…”
But she was already pulling Rosamma out of the Habitat and down the passageway toward the Cargo Hold.
“They will kill him or they won’t,” Gro said.“Nothing you can do.”
Halfway to the Cargo Hold, they ran into Esseh, back on his feet and moving toward where they’d just come from. They pressed against the wall to let him pass, expecting violence, but he didn’t acknowledge them, too preoccupied with the fight happening without him.
Alyesha, Fawn, and Anske were still in the Habitat with the pirates.
“The others…”
“Screw the others, let’s go back.”
Gro pulled, but Rosamma’s feet refused to move.
“We need to help them get back. Staying there right now is dangerous!”she pleaded with Gro.
Gro stopped pulling. “They don’t need our help. And you can’t save them from themselves.”
“But I don’t understand.” Anxiety gnawed on Rosamma. “Why would they want to linger?”
“Different reasons. To watch the fight. To size up whatever little advantage they could find.”
“Advantage! The pirates aren’t our trading partners.”
“Of course not,” Gro said.“They’re our captors. But even so, now that we’ve gotten to know them better…”
A tide of mixed-up feelings rose in Rosamma.“There isn’t ‘getting to know them better!’” she exclaimed. “Just look at what the did to Sassa, to Phex! Gro, I thought we had a plan, to send out that signal. Our only goal is to escape!”
“We do have that plan! It’s still our goal. Why would you think otherwise?”
“Because they… I don’t know. How’s that part of the plan?”
They were alone in the passageway, with the sounds of fighting coming strong from the Habitat.
Gro took her shoulders in her strong, leathery hands.
“I know. It’s a weird feeling. I remember it from prison. At first, you hate it so much that you think you’ll die. But then life takes over. You still hate it; it just fades to the background, and you can think again. You learn the lay of the land, start using the system… Do you understand?”
“I’m not sure I do,” Rosamma said.
It upset her that three of the women were now—voluntarily!—in the Habitat, watching the fighting spectacle. It seemed wrong. Especially Alyesha, with her marked interest in Ucai, threatened to blur the clear demarcation in their established order, where the women were“us” and the pirates were“them.”
Her feet moved, and she ran in the direction opposite the Cargo Hold. Gro called her name, but Rosamma let the sound be drowned out by the din of theoars.
She followed the passageway to the Bridge. Her steps were light, the same as her head--so light she was dizzy with it.
