mysterious light of the valor squares, Darien flashed her a teasing smile.
“You don’t like me being here, Deliya?” he asked.
In Brionese, their language, almost nothing ever remained the same. It kept changing according to what the speaker wanted to emphasize. The Brions found much humor in the fact it drove the rest of the galaxy insane.
Darien always said her name like Deliya-the-star, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what he meant. Or to be precise, whether he was joking. She knew rationally that she was attractive and men desired her. Even the commander thought so. She had no problem with that, nor was it any of her business what Darien wanted or didn’t want from her. It bothered her that she couldn’t be sure if she was being made fun of or not.
“I think it’s a waste,” she said, easily avoiding a gaping trench in the snow, hastily covered up to lure her into it.
“Of resources?” he continued, with the same maddening smile.
He didn’t fall behind not even for a moment, while some of Deliya’s warriors had to double-check.
That bastard didn’t even look down , she thought bitterly.
Keeping her eyes on the horizon, trusting her senses to guide her step and her instincts to warn her of danger, she tried to focus on her task. The Brions were moving in a rough line, combing the area the Triumphant had deemed most likely to hide the Antanaris. Far ahead, the commander and his chosen twinkled in and out of sight between single higher rock formations, but the shimmer of their valor squares was so bright she didn’t lose track of them once. To her left and right, she searched for her fellow officers. All in place.
“You think I’m a waste of resources?” Darien repeated.
“Of my time,” Deliya said.
Another warrior would have gotten mad, maybe even demanded a reprimand – the Brions didn’t forgive anything easily, personal insults the least – but Darien merely laughed.
“You’re colder than this place,” he said, shrugging. “Once we find the cowards, I think you’ll be glad to have me around.”
“Try not to get me killed,” Deliya said, regretting the snap at once.
She wasn’t usually the snappy type, but Darien brought that out in her for some reason. And once again, he reacted out of character for the Brions by letting the insult go.
Instead, he turned serious for the first time on a freezing planet where by that point every living soul wanted them dead.
“I would rather die,” he said.
Deliya believed him without question. Darien was a joker by character, someone who could be trusted to always make light of something, even his own death. He laughed in the face of terror and pain, one of the many reasons he rubbed Deliya the wrong way – it simply struck her as fake. When in danger, she also faced it head-on, making as though she had no fear, but she didn’t pretend the danger wasn’t there.
So when a man who joked about everything said something serious, you believed him. Deliya started to think she might have to start believing him about the her-the-star thing as well.
Perhaps she was so shocked by this sudden flash of honesty, or the Antanaris were better at setting traps than she’d thought, but the ground disappeared from under her feet. She caught a glimpse of the fall, hundreds of feet of impenetrable darkness between her and the bottom of the chasm.
Such a fitting end , she managed to think. I will fall like a star, illuminating the chasm before I go out.
Yet as she took a breath and then another, the distance didn’t seem to grow smaller. She was hanging in place, almost mid-air.
“Don’t move,” Darien said, much closer to her than he should have been.
Deliya heard her men shuffling around, some falling back from the edge of the treacherous cavern beneath them, some forming a line to pull her and Darien back to safety.
She was standing on her tippy toes at the edge of the chasm, bent forward like she was flying over it.
“You don’t like me being here, Deliya?” he asked.
In Brionese, their language, almost nothing ever remained the same. It kept changing according to what the speaker wanted to emphasize. The Brions found much humor in the fact it drove the rest of the galaxy insane.
Darien always said her name like Deliya-the-star, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what he meant. Or to be precise, whether he was joking. She knew rationally that she was attractive and men desired her. Even the commander thought so. She had no problem with that, nor was it any of her business what Darien wanted or didn’t want from her. It bothered her that she couldn’t be sure if she was being made fun of or not.
“I think it’s a waste,” she said, easily avoiding a gaping trench in the snow, hastily covered up to lure her into it.
“Of resources?” he continued, with the same maddening smile.
He didn’t fall behind not even for a moment, while some of Deliya’s warriors had to double-check.
That bastard didn’t even look down , she thought bitterly.
Keeping her eyes on the horizon, trusting her senses to guide her step and her instincts to warn her of danger, she tried to focus on her task. The Brions were moving in a rough line, combing the area the Triumphant had deemed most likely to hide the Antanaris. Far ahead, the commander and his chosen twinkled in and out of sight between single higher rock formations, but the shimmer of their valor squares was so bright she didn’t lose track of them once. To her left and right, she searched for her fellow officers. All in place.
“You think I’m a waste of resources?” Darien repeated.
“Of my time,” Deliya said.
Another warrior would have gotten mad, maybe even demanded a reprimand – the Brions didn’t forgive anything easily, personal insults the least – but Darien merely laughed.
“You’re colder than this place,” he said, shrugging. “Once we find the cowards, I think you’ll be glad to have me around.”
“Try not to get me killed,” Deliya said, regretting the snap at once.
She wasn’t usually the snappy type, but Darien brought that out in her for some reason. And once again, he reacted out of character for the Brions by letting the insult go.
Instead, he turned serious for the first time on a freezing planet where by that point every living soul wanted them dead.
“I would rather die,” he said.
Deliya believed him without question. Darien was a joker by character, someone who could be trusted to always make light of something, even his own death. He laughed in the face of terror and pain, one of the many reasons he rubbed Deliya the wrong way – it simply struck her as fake. When in danger, she also faced it head-on, making as though she had no fear, but she didn’t pretend the danger wasn’t there.
So when a man who joked about everything said something serious, you believed him. Deliya started to think she might have to start believing him about the her-the-star thing as well.
Perhaps she was so shocked by this sudden flash of honesty, or the Antanaris were better at setting traps than she’d thought, but the ground disappeared from under her feet. She caught a glimpse of the fall, hundreds of feet of impenetrable darkness between her and the bottom of the chasm.
Such a fitting end , she managed to think. I will fall like a star, illuminating the chasm before I go out.
Yet as she took a breath and then another, the distance didn’t seem to grow smaller. She was hanging in place, almost mid-air.
“Don’t move,” Darien said, much closer to her than he should have been.
Deliya heard her men shuffling around, some falling back from the edge of the treacherous cavern beneath them, some forming a line to pull her and Darien back to safety.
She was standing on her tippy toes at the edge of the chasm, bent forward like she was flying over it.
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