STAR MAP, aurora burning | f. de seel

□ Chapter Four

I huddle between Zila and Finian, core muscles as tense as my shoulders as I brace myself while staring at the gap between the junctions. We nestle at an interjection in eleven different transport tubes, pressed precariously against them that rattle and vibrate with passing civilians. Aurora had approved of this location being deep and dark enough. Finian had got us here.

I sigh wistfully. I reflect in the moment of near-quiet we've been blessed with, steering away from the tension of what our most recent encounter had been. It would come up in conversation inevitably, I decided not to ponder too hard on it.

So my thoughts strayed. To my roomate at the Legion- Zoë- and moreover my bed, too. I haven't slept steady in too many days, and my mind had begun to feel sluggish as a side effect.

The longer I sat quietly, the more I focus on the noises around me. The ringing in my ears has faded, but it still irritably sounds like a bug you can't locate. I huff, forcing myself to listen to something else.

Zila's tapping on her leg.

Tap.
Tap, tap.
Tap.

I wonder if she's thinking of a song. Curiously, it seems familiar and yet I don't even know if our music tastes would be remotely similar.

"Kal," Tyler's voice cuts through the quiet. "We have a lot of problems on the boil already without this kind of surprise cropping up."

He's huddled by Scarlett, knees drawn protectively to his chest as if to protect his injured crotch. Part of me screams at me to do my job as one of the Brains of the squad, but it's a conversation I don't want to have. It doesn't take a genius to know Zila probably feels the same. Besides, I wonder how I'd even bring that up without Finian relentlessly picking on me.

Hello sir, would you mind if you showed me your penis purely for medical practitioning?

I grimaced.

"My sister prides herself on appearing when least needed," Kaliis grumbles after a moment, shifting in his spot at Aurora's side.

"Well, where'd she come from?" Scarlett asks.

"I know not," he responds deeply, gaze distant. "I have not seen Saedii since before I left for the academy. She was unaware I had even joined Aurora Legion."

"She mentioned those Unbroken we fought back in the bar on the World Ship. I'm guessing they passed on word to her about you?" Tyler prompts.

Kaliis tilts his head, looking almost inquisitorial. His face is still bloodied with what he spilt from the Unbroken warrior, and his fingernails encrusted with it. "I did tell you I started that fight as a diversion."

"Because I used your name."

"Perhaps I should have silenced them permanently…" Kaliis murmured.

I scowl, briefly reflecting on his morals. Unbroken or not, murdering them seemed a bit extreme. How would that have made him any better than them?

Then I think of the violent display he showed earlier and thought maybe, just maybe, he wasn't much better than them.

Tap, tap, tap.
Tap, tap.
Tap.

I glance at Zila's hand again, watching her eyes focusing on it too. It's not music- it's beat is too irregular. But it is familiar.

"Tell us about your sister," Aurora's voice seems barely audible as I focus on Zila's hand, my own fingers creeping to copy them.

Strangely, I find myself knowing what comes next before she has to tap.

"Our father was a warrior of the Warbreed Cabal, but my mother was a Waywalker. They are the most spiritual of my people. They study the mysteries of the Fold, and the self. My father taught us to kill, but my mother tried to teach us the waste found in death," Kaliis low voice responds after a moment. "I took her lessons to heart. Saedii did not."