Page 63 of Tanin's Treasure
Tanin sat back in the seat, but didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. There was really only one change recently that could affect him like that.
“The females are nice to have around,” Sway said softly into the silence, like he could be talking to himself, fingers moving in the air as he worked with the holodisplay. “It’s almost like we’re normal.”
Tanin gave him a look. “Normal?”
“Yeah. Like, we’re not who we are. Like we’re the kind of males that females would feel comfortable around.” He smiled gently. “It’s nice.”
Sway’s tone was even and calm, but there was something sparkling in his black eyes. It meant more to him than he was letting on.
Sway was a farasie. The feathered species was vegetarian, peaceful, and pacifistic. They were probably the most peaceful species in the Coalition, even going back through their historical record. The males were strong to protect their females, their younglings, and their nests in emergency, but they were otherwise harmless. It was well known about their species.
But Sway was raised on Rik-Vane. A place where the peaceful and pacifistic were eaten alive, sometimes literally.
No one would normally fear someone from his species. If you saw a farasie, you knew that they weren’t going to hurt you. That they were the most likely to help you if asked.
Unless you were from Rik-Vane. Sway had never experienced the inherent trust that came with being a farasie. He’d never been able to enjoy the peace of his species. But with these two females aboard, females that had nothing to do with their past life, he could finally feel that sense of peace and tranquility. It was like proof of how far they had come from that part of their history.
“It is nice,” Tanin agreed finally, his tone as unreadable as Sway’s. “It’s different.”
“Should we tell them?”
Tanin frowned, not needing clarification as to what he meant. “No. They don’t need to know. We’ve killed that part of ourselves and left it in our past to rot. All of us did. Why bring up something like that if it’s left behind?”
“Well,” Sway paused in his motions, looking at the data without really seeing it. “I guess I don’t want them to know about my past either. But if you’re going to mate Garnet, don’t you think she deserves to know who you are?”
“Who said I was going to mate Garnet?”
Sway sent him a grin. “I may not leave my post often, captain, but I do see things.”
Tanin grunted. “I desire her. I won’t lie about it. But we aren’tthatfar from our past. All of you are still wanted. Most of us have enemies that could hunt us down at any time. Or friends. I don’t know what would be worse. If I’m just their sponsor, I can get them away from us if I have to. If I mate Garnet, she’s trapped with me. They are nice females. They’re sweet. Innocent. I can’t open our past to her. It would do nothing but cause her despair and worry.”
“And it would make them stop trusting us as well.”
There was that too. Tanin was rather sure that if Garnet found out all the things he’d done, the things they’d all had to do, she wouldn’t look at him with such obvious invitation. She doubtlessly suspected something. The questions she sometimes asked made him think she already guessed at least the broadest strokes of his past.
But she didn’t know specifics. And if she did, she wouldn’t have trusted herself or her sister into his hands.
They were safe, of course. He knew that. He’d worked too hard for this life to risk it by living the way he used to. But they might not understand. They’d likely fear them. If they could look at them and see their pasts, their crimes, written across their faces, no doubt they’d recoil in fear, in disgust, and those sweet smiles and cheerful dispositions they’d all come to enjoy flitting about their ship would quickly cease.
And it was only because they were humans that they weren’t reacting that way already. Any female from Coalition space would know what it meant that they were from Rik-Vane. But those two had no context for that warning, so it was meaningless to them.
Because of that, they could move around the ship, unconcerned. They might jump if they stumbled across Sorbet and Tebros lingering in shadows, or they might be confused when Rok peered at them from around corners, but they weren’t scared.
The sound of the lift made Tanin and Sway both look back as Garnet came into view, her newly repaired cleaning bot at her side. The robot trailed after her like a loyal pet as she came walking in with a determined look on her face, pulling her new gloves on tight. She was wearing one of her new outfits, a simple design rather similar to her previous one that she called her work clothes.
“Alright,” she declared, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Tanin asked, curious as to why she had an expression on her face like she was about to go to battle.
“I’m cleaning this mess!” She pointed around with a stern finger. “And it’s probably going to be loud. I am going to mutter about the filth the entire time. If you two need quiet to work, I suggest you go elsewhere, because this is happening. I’ve put it off long enough, and if I keep waiting for Sway and you to not be working, it will never get done. Go back to what you were doing or get gone. You can’t stop me now. Come, Spot.”
Tanin was about to ask her who Spot was, but he realized, as she sent a hard look at the cleaning robot, that she had named the machine.
Why?
He didn’t get a chance to ask, as she immediately dove into the piles of trash and dirty dishes that surrounded Sway’s workspace. Tanin could admit that it was getting bad, but it wasn’t yet at the point where he’d step in.
Apparently, Garnet’s point was much lower, because she attacked the mess like it had personally insulted her, grumbling the entire time as promised. Her hair was up, her face was red, and she was clearly not trying to be alluring or sensual at all in this moment.
