Page 39 of Sway's Peace
“How many credz do you have?” Sway asked, giving him a look.
“More than enough to buy my fare,” Loyalty said immediately, giving him a hopeful look. “Is your captain willing to take me on as a passenger?”
“We’ve not a travel company. We’re a delivery company. We’ve delivered people before.”
“How is that different from a travel company?”
“You’re not a passenger; you’re cargo,” Sway said simply. Like that explained it.
Loyalty gave him a long look before asking, “And your captain won’t mind you’re offering to ‘deliver’ a 108?”
“Your credz are as good as anyone else’s.”
“Yeah, that’s what Uver Prime said when they took them to repair the ship that definitely isn’t getting repaired. Not exactly a comforting reassurance.”
Instead of answering, Sway once again took hold of Grace’s hand and led them around towards the back of the inn. Grace blinked at his grip. He took hold of her so assuredly. Like heknew he had the right to hold her. And she wasn’t trying to stop him either.
His hands were warm and soft. Like the softest velvet.
They came around to the back of the inn where a pretty garden was waiting for the guests to take a stroll through. Back here, she finally spotted the large fountain that she heard before. It was dreamy and beautiful.
But they didn’t linger in the garden. Instead, Sway stepped into a plot of ferns and up to a window that he promptly knocked on. He then waited.
Grace cocked her head. Confused. “What are you doing?”
Sway knocked again.
The glass was tinted, not allowing them to see inside. So Grace jumped when the panes suddenly separated, revealing a gray skinned s’skree male, his quills all up, a ribbon wrapped around his wrists. He didn’t appear threatening, angry, or scared. Just sharp. Ready.
“Captain,” Sway greeted as he looked over the three of them.
“I take it this is how you dealt with it?” He asked, tone unreadable. It was the same voice as the guy who Sway commed earlier, asking for permission for something.
“Grace is the female who I went out with yesterday,” Sway said in the same kind of expressionless voice Grace used when she was giving reports at work. “Her boss was assaulting her. The 108 tried to intervene. Got shot. We stopped him. I threatened him. 108 can’t get his ship repaired now, and Grace is out of a job.”
That was, probably, the grossest oversimplification of what happened that Grace could imagine. It left out so many details and blunted so many others. There was no way that could make any sort of-
“Good work,” the s’skree said, nodding once. “I’ll send the twins to make sure he keeps to our contract and his mouth shut. How much work is left?”
Sway looked at her, and she realized a bit late that she was the one who had that information. It was very slow in returning to her, however.
“Er, well, the, er, life support system was replaced yesterday. Shielding was all replaced today. Everything else has mostly been completed and installed. The only thing left, really, would be the, er, subspace crystal installation due tomorrow.”
“Good,” he said again, praising her this time. And maybe that should have been insulting, it wasn’t like he was her boss or she answered to him somehow. But just the way he said it – calm and authoritative, with no hint at all of being patronizing – actually made her feel like she’d accomplished something. It was strange, but not unpleasantly so.
Grace was aware she had a desperate desire for validation from authority figures thanks to never getting it from her parents, but surely it wasn’t so bad she’d be satisfied with any sort of praise from a halfway confident person.
But before she could grapple with that, Sway was talking again.
“The 108 wants to be delivered. He’s willing to pay.”
The s’skree looked to Loyalty. “You want to ride with us?”
“If you’ll take me,” Loyalty said, his voice pleasant but cautious. Like he would be more surprised by an agreement than a rejection.
“Where are you going?” The s’skree asked simply.
“My home planet. Xelfeter. It’s pretty far from here, even by swing.”
