Page 23 of Claim
She’d left Earth because there hadn’t been enough to hold her there.But she’d already promised herself she wouldn’t make a whole thing of this, with Mag.It was one thing to make a big, bold change like a platinum pixie cut, but mostly hair grew back.
But she didn’t think that was true of hearts.
“Good night, Mag,” she said.
He walked out without looking back.
***
Just as well she was completely swamped with finalizing the Luster looks.With last fittings, adding two more orcs when Teq decided he wanted extra bodies for security, and resynthesizing some of the makeup when it turned out orcs were sensitive to the highlighter pigment, June managed not to think about anything at all through the work periods and fell instantly asleep during the sleep cycle.Even the uroondu, their usually sacred rest and play time, was sacrificed to the critical preparations.
But she didn’t talk to Mag again.
The night before theDeepWanderwas due to dock with Luster Station, she saw him across the gather-hall.Carmen was stitching the hem of his cloak while Sil displayed the sung stones to be offered at the auction as he packed them for transport.Kinsley had told June and Adeline that Roxy had helped modulate some of the more abstract pieces, informing them that the work contained “secrets of the universes.”Since metaphysical mysteries were hard to price out, Kinsley had written some vague yet evocative marketing materials to hopefully garner as much interest—and as many galactic credits—as possible.
“How much would you pay for celestial tranquility?”she mused.
“I assume that’s worth a few times more than peace on Earth,” Adeline said.“Speaking of which, what am I getting Teq for Christmas?”
Kinsley wrinkled her nose.“How can you have Christmas in space?Or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?Or a winter solstice?We don’t have the same seasons or stars here or even the same spices.I mean, yezo eggnog… Eesh.”
Adeline smiled one of her serene smiles.“We’ll figure it out.After everything, we’ll deserve a celebration.”
Knowing about theDeepWanderdebt and having heard Mag’s deepest, secret fears, June didn’t want to be a scrooge or a grinch so she’d carefully eased out of the women’s discussion of the future.
But Amma caught her before she made it far—not that there was anywhere to go, really, on a spaceship.“You’ve done it now,” she said.
June’s heart skittered.How did the old orc woman know…?
“You’ve really done it,” Amma repeated, gesturing back toward the hall.
“Oh.The Luster looks.”June chuckled, the sound too high pitched in nervous relief.“Yes.It was all of us, working together.”
“No.You were the one who did Mag.”
Her gut clenched like she’d swallowed a hairball.“Do…Mag?”
“Magnificent, yes?”Amma clasped all her hands under her chin.“I told him, like the apexes of old.”
June let out a slow breath.“I guess he’s trying to be the apex of new.”
“Just so, just so.”Amma flattened her antennae, the sparse fronds quivering.“If I’d known he would grow up so big, I would’ve…” She let out a long, descending breath.“I would’ve hugged him more when I had the chance.”
Curiosity tugged at June; probably a side effect of that hairball feeling.“You made him apex, right?By dousing his egg in royalixir.”
“Not quite so simple.”When Amma shuffled toward one of the quiet nooks, June tagged along like a mouse following through a maze—a mystery that was theDeepWander’s apex.“I was a hatchling myself when we left our homeworld, and my mothers passed beyond the light before I was old enough to choose a life-mate.Of course we still have records of the old ways, but the royalixir was concocted by many hands together, and there was just me.I did the best I could but…” Her shrug barely lifted the invisible weight on her rounded shoulders.“I always knew the royalixir was more hope and fear than biochemical formulation.”
So the belief that had haunted Mag from hatching wasn’t even real?The royalixir was just wishful thinking and some goo?
June bit her lip.“Mag thinks since he was destined to be apex, he stole Sil’s size and strength, that the ship will fall if not for him, so he has to stay apex to justify his advantages, and he can never falter even one step because that means failure forever.”
Amma’s faceted black eyes didn’t have the same shine as the others anymore, but when she glanced away, the glimmer of the slymusk light looked like tears.“Destined?Maybe not.But determined always.”
But had it been his choice?And now he’d bet his freedom, maybe his life, to save theDeepWander.No one knew that but June, and she couldn’t tell.
Into her silence, Amma peered at her.“And where is your look?I have seen all the power and sparkle for the others, but what about you?”
“Oh, I’m not go—”
