deborahjross | It's Jaydium Friday again...

And not only are we not i/n/K/a/n/s/a/s on Stayman any more, but relationships are about to get complicated. Here's the link.

"Eril and that Brianna, I've seen their type before," Lennart nodded. "They're always so excited about what they're doing, they never look to see who's bringing up the rear."

"And that's us?"

"In a matter of speaking. I don't know what your story is, but I always figured that being a loner was the price of space flight. It never seemed like too much to pay before. Most other people couldn't understand what I wanted, anyway. But maybe it was the opposite, that I never got close to them because I knew I'd only have to leave."

"So you pushed them away... Are you telling me I do the same thing?"

Lennart shrugged. "I'm not saying it's bad to do that. You make your choice and you live by it."

"But I didn't choose this!" Kithri's nerves sizzled. "I had nothing to say about any of it! First I get dragged off Albion, then the goddamned war strands us in the dustpit of the universe, and now this crazy place--"

"And you're pissed at Eril because he sees it as a chance instead of a dead end?"

Something hot and red welled up inside Kithri until she could hardly see. "Why should you care what I feel?"

"Because you could use a friend."

For a moment Kithri saw herself reflected in his eyes, saw beauty in the taut, muscled grace of her body, the ragged curls. He stood before her, his big hands at his sides. The sky was light enough to reveal the startling red-brown of his eyes.

"A...friend," she repeated, heart pounding.

He smiled, one corner of his mouth turned down. "And so could I. Whether we stay here or make it back to your Fifth Fed, nobody's going to run me through a weekend refresher course and zap me back into space. I'll be lucky to get a job pushing a broom."