Star Storm

Chapter Twenty-One

Panic Room

"Princess," Traen said, his body half jammed through the doorway. The door bounced off his chest and he grabbed the handle, tugging it carefully back against him. The effort turned his knuckles white. "Are you awake?"

Why do you care? Nona wanted to say. Why do you care at all, about any of this and about me and these people and this ship? Why did your friends want Kael? Why do you need my brother?

But her lips remained pressed together as she twisted in the blankets. After considering pretending to sleep, Nona pushed her head up on the pillow with a defiant sight. If she tried to stay in bed, the monster Rhesha would eventually come and pull her out of it. Whatever the Sorii wanted, it was best Nona saw to it through Traen. At least he kept himself from cursing at her or making rude threats.

"That depends on what you have to say," she grunted.

"We're landing soon. There are some checks that have to be done. You can't be in here when the inspectors come. I'll take you somewhere else." He hesitated when Nona made no effort to move. "Well, now. We should make a start."

"Whatever."

"Whatever?" Traen's hold on the door wavered slightly and it knocked against his chin.

"Whatever. I don't suppose I have a choice in the matter, so it's not like I can say 'no' or 'yes.' So, whatever." Nona managed to prop herself up on her elbows. Her body was tired. What little sleep she had gotten had been plagued with nightmares. Horrid images haunted her mind – most of them fragmented pieces of Rhesha's face. Closing her eyes was becoming an unwelcomed challenge.

"I presumed you'd want to shower first. And I've got you clean clothes." He raised his other hand and showed her another set of Sorii uniform. Just the sight of the dull fabric made her want to crawl back under the covers.

Upon seeing her disheartened expression, Traen kicked the door open and stepped fully into the room. The other guard was not at his post, but Nona did not mind Masdwi's absence. What she had seen of the man during her trips to the bathroom had not been pleasant.

"It only comes in one colour, I'm afraid," Traen added. He hovered at the end of the bed for a moment, then scooped to drop the clothes. Chewing his lip, he glanced up at her. "It is what it is. Out here, you've got to learn to make the best of things."

"Don't you ever want to wear something, I don't know, blue? Green? Red?" Nona pulled at the t-shirt she wore. Everything about the Sorii was drab. Their ships were bare. Their uniforms bleak. Their haircuts were simple and their weapons without decoration. What their home city looked like; Nona could only imagine.

"We don't have fabric dyes."

"Clearly," she huffed.

"Right." Traen shook his head. "You know, Uterca might have all these things," he said, anger creeping into his voice as he headed for the door, "but we left your city days ago. Other places aren't as lucky."

"That's not my fault." A need to defend herself flared inside her. It was hardly her doing that Uterca's people prospered while others like the Sorii did not. She could not make the galaxy a fair and just place. That job was for politicians and queens and kings. It was not hers. Not the princess' who was yet to be fully accepted by her own queen.

An icy feeling spread over Nona. It was Telion's fault, as it was the queen's inability to care for anything but Uterca that had left Nona in the hands of the Sorii.