“Go ahead. Drink away.” Jace opened one of the cans and there was a pop and then hiss of carbonation. He chugged half the can. After swallowing, he let out a moan, allowing his head to tip back. “Sugar. Caffeine. So good.”
Thammah followed suit. “So bad, but so good.”
“I know, right?” Jace laughed.
“Thammah, you have called this food and drink junk yet you indulge in it as if--”
“It’s like a drug, Khoth. A wonderful drug. You should try some!” She thrust a can of Coke at him.
He recoiled, which had both her and Jace laughing. Even Captain Parker snorted as Khoth smoothed down his exo-suit, trying to pretend he had not been afraid of a simple can of Coke.
“Don’t worry. If you don’t want it--yet--that just means there’s more for us,” Thammah said.
She then slung an arm around Jace’s shoulders. They leaned into one another companionably and Khoth was surprised at his Xi letting out a pain of jealousy. He knew this was illogical. Had he not been able to rub Jace’s temples earlier? Had the young man not reached out to him after the duel? So what that Thammah could hug Jace! He could do it too. As easily. If he wanted. Thammah wiggled her eyebrows at him, noticing his stare. He became still as stone and just as impervious to her barbs of amusement at his expense!
But Khoth’s annoyance with Thammah bled away as he saw that Jace’s cheeks had a warm color. His eyes sparkled again. Food and drink seemed to have been the problem. Khoth wanted to run tests on Jace to see if his systems were fully functioning. But Jace’s violent reaction to being tested--an almost angry horror at it--stayed Khoth’s hand. Whatever he could discover through scanning Jace was not worth the young man’s fear.
He will trust me. In time.
But the moment he thought that, he saw his mother’s face. He could almost hear her telling him that making Jace Parker trust him would be good for the Alliance. That he should do whatever was necessary to get Jace on their side. His hands curled into fists. These were the compromises that his mother had to make in order to move the Alliance in the direction she thought was best. It had been determined early on that Daesah, and not himself, were better suited to command at the highest levels, because Khoth balked at taking certain actions.
“Do not take Mother’s assessment of your nature as a criticism,” Daesah had urged him.
“But is it not a criticism?” He’d tilted his head at her, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.
Daesah had sighed. “Only if one thinks the highest good is where we end up and not how we get there.”
“One should try to get to the proper ends by the proper means,” Khoth had responded stiffly, but he already knew that was the “wrong” answer.
But his sister had smiled sweetly at him. “Yes, Khoth, that is a good way of seeing the universe and one’s part in it.”
Khoth thought of his sister’s ultimate fate then. If he could have saved Daesah by doing something underhanded, something improper, would he not have done it? Who cared about acting properly if one lost at the end! That was his mother’s point that he had not understood until the stakes were so very high. Yet when he looked at Jace he wanted to be proper. He did not wish to be underhanded to win this young man’s allegiance.
But to not gain it, to have Jace as an enemy or even an unwilling ally, would be a disaster as much as losing Daesah was to the Alliance cause.
Captain Parker was watching Jace closely, too. There was a momentary look of relief on his face at Jace’s renewed strength. Though Jace’s parents must have wanted to have Jace examined to see that he was functional--and to find out what changes had been made to him--they were both being exceptionally careful not to crowd Jace or let their concern show. Khoth appreciated this measured Xa approach, but it was confusing to him as it conflicted with what he had heard of humans.
After the duel, when Jace had reached out for him instead of the elder Parkers, Khoth had felt a wave of… something. His emotions were unreadable to him except for the surprise that he had been chosen over people Jace clearly loved and trusted implicitly. That had inspired him to act as well. So he’d touched Jace. And when he’d done it, it had been natural to try and soothe him. He did not understand why that was. But, like with Daesah, he found himself acting more on instinct than logic.
“Your parents are concerned, Jace. They are going to come in," Khoth had said to him.
Already, he could see through the glass walls that the Parkers were stirring. General Intoshkin was still enamored of the weaponry, but the Parkers were thinking only of their son.
“Yeah, I just need a minute or two to recover and then I can face them. Gehenna?” Jace had looked up at the squid.
Yes, Jace?
Her answer appeared on Khoth’s suit’s screen as well as being heard by Jace telepathically.
“Block my parents, please? Tell them I just need a sandwich,” Jace said then muttered, “I hope that’s all I do need.”
But Thammah is already obtaining sustenance--
“I could eat a horse, Gehenna. Now that I’m letting myself feel it, I am completely starving,” Jace told her. “That’s got to be what’s wrong with me. I can’t be going back to how I was.”
Your vital signs are strong, Gehenna assured them both. But this new form needs more nutrition. And you have been going since this morning. Remember, you did just face off against the Khul and then you decided to fight Khoth too and you--
“Yes, yes, let’s not go through my many missteps today,” Jace laughed and then winced.
