She dismissed her pondering and emerged from the bath chamber. She followed the sound of voices and entered the ship’s control room. Wex sat on a stool looking over a small flat screen. A glazed glass window revealed a startling sight. An indigo and violet planet loomed large in front of them.
“What world is that?” she asked in surprise.
“Not your concern,” Tok said, emerging from a corner closet where he’d been entering something using a key square. “The door to your chamber is open. It’s the one with purple walls.”
“Why am I not allowed to know where we’re going?”
“We haven’t said we’re going anywhere,” Wex replied casually. He’d turned from the screen to look over her body. His eyes were fixed on her breasts for several moments, then dropped lower. “Raise your skirt. Let’s see those flower petals.”
Heat rushed to her face. “Am I to be given no peace?” she demanded.
“Not unless we wish it,” he countered with a smile.
She couldn’t be angry with him, but tried to be firm. “Tok promised me a rest. Was it only to be the length of my washing? Because that was not particularly restful.”
“Why wasn’t it?” Tok asked.
“Because,” she said in an exasperated tone. “I had to spend so much time washing that my arms started to ache.” It was, of course, an exaggeration.
Wex grinned. “You didn’t need to be so thorough. We’ll only get you dirty all over again soon.”
She flashed a nasty hand gesture, which she’d never used in her life. Wex burst into laughter, his head tipping back.
She couldn’t help herself. She laughed too. “I shouldn’t have done that, but you’re too much sometimes, Wex.”
Her glance darted to Tok. His expression was neutral as he studied her.
“I don’t usually make that gesture.”
“I guess your tired arms have recovered,” Tok said.
She smiled. “I suppose they have.”
He gestured for her to leave the area, and she complied. It wasn’t until she was at the end of the passageway and looking into the tiny purple chamber that she caught a glimpse of him. She jerked in surprise. “I didn’t know you were there,” she said with a small gasp.
He waited.
“Stealth is a necessary skill for a hunter, I guess.”
He nodded.
“What’s the biggest animal you’ve ever caught?”
“A Throlic cannibal.”
She blinked, her jaw dropping open. “Do you—is that the kind of hunting you do? Wouldn’t that really make you a solider or warrior?”
“I hunt game more often than I hunt men.”
“Throlics are barely men. Or so it’s been said.”
He didn’t respond.
“Why is their humanity questioned? There are other cannibal races. None of them are spoken of with the same revulsion,” she said.
“Do you know where they come from?”
“The mountains on Thrack, don’t they?”
