And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 19: Tranquility

"So, Seth...I feel like kind of a bitch now," Nova murmured.

"What? Why?" he replied, startled out of the near half-doze he'd fallen into with her still in his arms, both by her sudden words and by what she had said. They were both nude and laying together, embracing on the bed.

"I got all wrapped up in getting off, I completely forgot to ask...what happened out there? When you ran off?"

"Oh." He paused, considering it. It was important.

"If you don't want to talk about it-"

"No, no it's fine, Nova," he replied. "I just...I kind of freaked out. I kept thinking of all those people who died on Taris. It was filling my brain. I was just-I kept asking myself over and over again, what does it matter? If the Sith can just kill a planet like that, then what does anything I do matter? You know?"

"I know exactly how you feel," Nova whispered. "But you came back in so much calmer...what did Maya say to you?"

"She said-" he paused, suddenly picking up on something in her voice. "Are you...jealous?"

"No!" Nova replied, then sighed. "No, I'm just...okay, I get a little touchy in the beginnings of relationships...I mean, not that this is a relationship, but you know what I mean. Flings. Affairs. Whatever. Don't worry, I'm not going to let it affect what we've got going on."

"It's okay," he said, then laughed a little bit.

"What?" she all but demanded.

"It's just...I don't know. It seems a little silly, you being jealous. You're so freaking attractive. I mean beyond that just incredible body you have and how clearly skilled you are in bed, you can fight better than most soldiers I've severed with. You're a good person, you're brave, you're competent and a total badass. What do you have to be worried about? If anything, I'm the one that should be worried," he replied.

"Why's that?"

"I mean...well, just look at me. I'm not very attractive, I've got all these ugly ass scars. More now since I got burned coming down from the Spire..." he murmured, looking down at his right bicep. That was where the most prevalent scarring from the burns was.

"Well, Seth, I happen to think you are very handsome. And scars are hot. And, believe it or not, personality means a lot to me. You...Seth, you were willing to die to help those people. I was nervous before, but you made it happen. That is attractive."

"So you trust me now?" he asked.

She opened her mouth, then faltered. "Well, I'm sleeping next to you."

"That sounds like an evasion, Nova."

"Well, I mean...do you trust me?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied simply. "I trust you, Nova."

"I..." she worked her mouth for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I do...trust you, Seth. I just...I have a hard time with trust."

"It's okay," he said. "I won't push."

"Thank you. I appreciate it. So you didn't answer my question. What did she say to you?"

"She said...you know what? I can show you, actually. I want to show you. Come on, you'll love this," he said, getting up suddenly.

"I'll need a shower," Nova said.

"Yeah, I guess I will, too."

* * *

They showered, and then dried and dressed, and Nova tracked down a comm link. When they went onto the bridge to hook it into the ship's own comm network, they passed Yex standing with a pair of technicians, a human woman and a male twi'lek, instructing them on something. After they'd linked the comms, they left the ship.