Sword of Dreams (The Reforged Trilogy) by Erica Lindquist, Aron Christensen Page A

doorway.
    "Xia has not seen Xen in years," Maeve said. She had to shout to make herself heard over the engines. "They were close friends once, and her desire to spend time with him is easy to understand."
    "Panna said that they were… you know… together," Gripper moaned. He clutched a huge wrench to his chest as he paced. "What if… what if he's trying to get Silver to fall for him again?"
    "I doubt that."
    "But what if he is?"
    Gripper stopped pacing and threw his wrench to the floor. It rang off the fibersteel mesh and made them both wince. Maeve picked at an orange stain on the doorframe for a long moment, trying to figure out what to tell her anguished friend.
    "Your challenge remains the same in either case," she said at last.
    Gripper looked down at her. "My challenge?"
    "Xia does not know of your affections. You must win her," Maeve told him. "My Orthain courted me for a year."
    "A year?"
    "Two hundred and eighty-eight days of gifts and songs, dancing under the pale starlight. We shared our oathsongs under Aes' bright eye."
    "Oh… I don't think I can dance," Gripper said unhappily. He looked down at his huge, calloused feet. "I can't sing, either."
    "It is the spirit of the thing, the chase. If Xia does not know your heart, then you must show it to her!"
    Why had she never thought of it before, every time Gripper watched Xia with huge, love-struck eyes? The pain of my own losses blinded me to hope.
    The Arboran was nodding as he thought about what Maeve said. He picked his wrench back up and cradled it in his claws. "You're right, Smoke. I'm a catch, right? I'm… I don't know… exotic?"
    "You are that," Maeve agreed. "Xen will find it difficult to compete."
    "Yeah. Yeah!"
    Gripper grinned and – contrary to his earlier protestations – spun in a pirouette. The mechanic brandished his wrench and turned his attention back to his messy workbench. He grabbed a large datadex and a bent stylus, talking to himself as he got to work, designing… something.
    Despite the clangor and heat of the engine room, Maeve lingered. She had no other pressing duties and it was nice to see Gripper happy. Her friend had not been happy since Professor Xen set foot on the Blue Phoenix.
    Maeve wished it was so simple to improve Tiberius' spirits. Nothing had been right with him since Stray. Since Kessa and running from Axis.
    I did not see it. I was too involved within myself. It always came back to that, it seemed. But then, I do not think that Tiberius did, either. When Kessa first came to us, Tiberius protected her. He was an officer of the Prian police. He would have done anything to help Kessa and her baby. But now Kessa and her family are gone, and Tiberius is alone with his shame.
    ________
     
    Superluminal flying was boring, but Tiberius was convinced that it was good practice. At the end of the second long week, Duaal sat at the controls in the Blue Phoenix's cockpit, occasionally checking the instruments. The only change was the numbers ticking slowly by on the taximeter.
    Duaal leaned back in the copilot's chair, worn by years of just this kind of practice until no one else could sit in it comfortably. But it was not comfortable for Duaal now, either. He closed his eyes and rubbed them uselessly.
    It was another headache, the second one this week. The pain was an almost tangible thing – a hard ball of tight, knotted brain matter between his temples. It pressed at the back of his eyes and made his nose burn acidly, like it was bleeding, but there was no trace of red. The pain was almost enough to make Duaal scream, but it never lasted for long. Just a few seconds – maybe a minute – and then it was gone.
    Thank God. The last thing I want to do is go shrieking around the Phoenix for everyone to see.
    The pain was fading now, leaving as mysteriously as it had come. Duaal supposed he should talk to Xia, but he did not want her or anyone else to think him weak. He could handle it.
    The headaches had started about six months