Nyx (Complete✅)

Chapter 50

   Right when they got back, they went directly to the Captain's cabin. They had to report everything they had seen. It was the biggest news they had heard since coming to Viscordia, and they couldn't wait even an hour to share it. The Captain had to know, even if he was busy with other things.

Just as Beth thought, the Captain was busy seeing to some issues, sitting behind his desk as an endless stream of complaints came—either from the newly-installed computer system or from settlers that came in person to bring up an issue that they believed needed to be resolved.

The Captain was just finishing with someone when they rushed into the cabin.

"Beth? Liam? What is it?" he asked, obviously shocked. Beth was half-surprised that he still remembered their names, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like they were insignificant little blips on the radar that faded away soon after they were there, but he had so much stuff to do, and so many things to take care of that she hadn't really been expecting him to know their names on the spot.

"We have something very important to tell you." Beth glanced at Liam. It was more than important. It was a life-changing piece of news.

The captain politely told the person he was helping to excuse them before he turned back to hear the news. "Please, sit down." He waved towards the woven-grass chairs sitting in front of his desk. Beth sat down, and Liam followed and sat in the other chair.

"I guess I'll just cut to the chase..." Beth took a deep breath. "We found—well, actually, Kelbar found, so we went looking for Kelbar, and then we found it too—but that's not important. Kelbar found a whole village of Viscordians living underground.'

A moment of silence passed, during which the Captain was obviously fighting shock. "A village, underground?"

"Yes, an entire village with kids and a leader and everything. They went down there back when the Slayer was still alive, and now that the threat is gone, they've moved back onto the surface. Kelbar has decided to stay with them." She looked at Liam, and he smiled at her, reaching over to grab her hand and give it a light squeeze.

"That's definitely big news, thank you for coming to me." He nodded. "Where are they? Are they settling close by?"

"We don't really know exactly how far away it is, but they were near a mountain," Liam informed him.

He nodded again, looking thoughtful. "It's good to hear that Kelbar isn't alone anymore, and maybe we can establish peaceful relations with them. We could probably help each other a lot."

"Yeah, I'm sure everything will work out from now on." Beth nodded and stood up. "Now we'll let you get back to your work."

Liam stood up as well, and together they made their way back outside. The golden sunlight seemed to come from everywhere at once, warming the air and making the day shimmer. The colony was especially busy, with people everywhere going to do whatever job they had been assigned. From where they were at the edge of the village nearest the ship, they could see the sun deck, once more crawling with people as they hung out on their day off, or stopped there for a nap in the sun. It was nice to see people living like people. The memory of Earth and their old ways of life seemed so far away now as if they had only been a distant dream quickly fading from everyone's mind.

She let her thoughts wander. As she walked hand-in-hand with Liam along one of the many dirt paths that wound like a maze through the hundreds of huts. She thought about how well everyone was adjusting. She had heard a wonderful story about a woman who had just delivered the first baby born on Viscordia. It was like they had been living there their whole lives.

The future would be the same. They would make more houses when they needed to, and they would plant more crops as the population grew. There were plenty of young couples, married on earth or on the ship that would probably be having children soon. There was hardly anywhere they could go but up.

Then she realized that she and Liam would most likely be the first people to be married on the planet itself, and then she realized that she didn't have a wedding dress or anything like one. She briefly considered making one out of the sheet that was still on the beds in the ship, but that would look even worse than simply keeping her every-day clothes and washing them a bit. If worse came to worse, she had an option, but she wouldn't seriously consider bedsheets as a wedding dress until there was no other hope left.

"Hey, Liam?" she tilted her head, and when Liam stopped and turned to look at her, she went on. "What do you think I should use as a wedding dress?"

He looked almost surprised for a second. "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it." He shrugged. "I'm sure we'll think of something."

"And since we're on the topic, when do you think would be a good time?" she smiled.

"We can ask the Captain when it would work out best." He smiled in return.

"Hopefully soon." She winked at him, squeezing his hand before she continued walking.

"I agree." He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, and then they walked in silence again.

Beth almost brought herself to tell him something that had been bothering her for a long time, but she didn't think she could do it just yet. She would have to tell him eventually, and definitely before they got married, but she didn't know if she could spoil his happiness.

She had known since she was a lot younger that she couldn't have kids, and it had always been something that wasn't really a big issue, but now that it was staring her in the face, and she was a hairbreadth away from getting married, she didn't know how she could broach the subject.

Liam had proposed to her without knowing, he had always known her without knowing that one fact about her. What if it changed the way he felt about her? What if he would love her less because she couldn't have kids? She didn't even want to think about it. She hoped that he wouldn't be too mad that she'd kept it a secret, but it hadn't really been a secret. She'd just never really thought about it until now.

She stopped, and Liam walked another step before he realized, but when he did he retraced his last step and turn to her.

"What's up?" he must have noticed her frown because his own face mirrored the expression.

"I have something to tell you. Something you should know." She didn't know if she could make the words come when the time was right, but she had to try. She forced herself not to shy away from the subject. Liam deserved to know everything about her.

"What is it?" his frown deepened. "Should I be worried?"

"No. It's nothing like that. It's just—" she choked on the words, unable to force them from her mouth. She looked at her teal-stained shoes.

Liam gently lifted her chin up with the hand that wasn't clasped in her own. "You can tell me."

"I can't have kids." She blurted out, trying desperately to quell the tears that were threatening to overflow from her eyes. She waited with bated breath to hear what he had to say.