Page 13 of Cozy Prisons
“I’m not insulted,” she said, pulling out a canister of the lightly flavored juice drink all Talins seemed to enjoy. She liked it, butonly occasionally. She turned to face him, holding the canister tightly with both hands. Neither of them moved.
“You might not be insulted, but my words made you uncomfortable,” Daxus insisted, remaining where he was near the door. “I didn’t mean to do that. I was only noticing that you like to fill your personal space with work projects instead of pretty, but useless items.”
“I guess,” she said, processing what Daxus was saying. Did he like it or was he saying she wasn’t acting human enough?
“You should see my domicile," he said, focusing his gaze on her worktable. “It doesn’t look like anyone inhabits it. This place looks busy and productive. I like it.”
She relaxed at his words. “Thanks.”
They stood there in awkward silence until Daxus’s Ident chimed. He unclipped it to read the notification.
“Palathum is requesting my presence,” he explained, reclipping his Ident to his belt. “If you have any issues during the night, please contact me. You seemed to enjoy looking up at the night sky as we walked here. I could take you for another walk further from the community so you could see more stars if you like.”
Daxus’s powers of observation were startling. She needed to be careful around him because he saw everything. “I don’t think I’ll have a problem sleeping, but thank you.”
“You can ask me for anything,” he insisted. “A walk, talk, or even my quiet presence. I can do any of that for you.”
She was already tempted to ask him to come back after he finished talking to Palathum, but that probably wasn’t a good idea. She shouldn't be leaning on anyone.
“Thanks,” she said.
Without another word, he turned and left. The door slid shut, cutting off his purring, but the sweet lemon scent lingered in the air.
That was going to need to be enough.
Chapter 5
Palathum
Despite working for the entire rotation with almost no breaks, Palathum only managed to get half her tasks accomplished. She stared at the projected supplies list, but she had a hard time making the glyphs come into focus.
Tossing down her information square, she sat back and let out an explosive gust of breath. It was obvious she was fatigued, but she couldn’t stop yet.
She looked at the three empty canisters of talsh tea on her desk. Would another canister help? No, that wasn’t going to be enough. She should visit Healer Falkilm for some vials of stimulants. He would be reluctant to give them to her, but he could probably be convinced it was in the best interest of the colony.
A polite chime sounded from the door display. She didn’t even check to see who it was before ordering the door to open. The sounds of human music in the large communal room belowfiltered in through the open door as Healer Falkilm rushed in. He was sounding a worried rumble, making worry spike through Palathum.
“I'm exceedingly concerned about the human Nataly,” he said. As proof of his agitation, he didn’t sit in any of the chairs but stood on the other side of her desk, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Nataly? That couldn’t be right. She was one of the hardest-working humans on Arise. If there was something wrong, wouldn't she have noticed it?
She forced herself to stay calm. “What’s wrong with Nataly?”
“I don’t know,” he answered with a frustrated rumble. “That’s the problem.”
She was surprised at the healer's dramatics; it wasn’t like him. Pointing to a chair, she sounded a soothing rumble. “Please be seated and explain everything.”
He sat, but then jumped up again. “Daxus brought her to me a few marks ago. He claimed she’d collapsed.”
Palathum sounded a questioning rumble. “Claimed?”
“Nataly countered his claim and said she only felt a little dizzy. I’m inclined to believe Daxus because every time I’ve interacted with Nataly she’s downplayed any issue I’ve noticed. The problem is that I can’t find anything wrong. There wasn’t anything obvious in any of the analyses I did.”
“That is concerning,” Palathum agreed. There were so few humans in the universe that Palathum felt privileged to have a colony with over thirty of them. The thought of even one becoming ill alarmed her.
“I have to confess that when I spoke with Nataly later I might have alarmed her,” the healer admitted. “I only meant to explain that my findings were inconclusive.”
She could easily see the blunt and socially oblivious healer accidentally upsetting a human. He frequently irritated otherTalins. Supposedly, he’d been raised in one of the best creshes on Talarian. A cresh where many politicians and diplomats graduated. None of their social aptitude had rubbed off on him.
