“Do you need more pain medication?” K’kaen reached for the small bottle Eleri had given him on their way out of the clinic. As much as he hated to admit it, the medication would be a welcome relief. S’samph reluctantly accepted the offered dose and drank it down, knowing he wouldn’t be conscious for much longer.
CHAPTER 12
Eleri
Eleri stood in front of the door to S’samph’s home with her medical supplies in hand. She’d walked down from the clinic, and while it wasn’t terribly far, the medkit was cumbersome. Maybe one day she’d be able to afford her own levibike. Sweat trickled out from under the brim of her sunhat, but she felt more confident walking around in her practical new clothes instead of the tired IA jumpsuit. The early morning had been busy at the clinic. Two of the kyrot pups had gotten into a tussle and fallen into a bush of prickle squash. Aglao and Eleri had spent nearly an hour painstakingly removing all the thorns from their wings and faces.
Despite the need and her preparedness, getting herself to enter S’samph’s home remained daunting. Eleri shook her head, the heavy braid thumping against her back as she did. Now wasn’t the time to think about the ‘what could have beens’. It would do no good. Besides, she’d done harder things than this. She’d worked multiple jobs and scraped credits from wherever she could find them just to put herself through nursing school. She’d studied through late nights on two or three hours of sleep to get her nursing certification.
Sweat began to weep down the back of her neck, and S’samph’s appeared in the doorway before she was able to pluck up the nerve to enter herself.
“You are going to burn yourself in the suns if you continue to stand out there.”
“Sorry!” She picked up her kit, keeping her voice bright, although not entirely sure why she was apologizing. Besides, now she had a hat and proper sun protection, so she wasn’t really at much risk. “I was checking my pack to make sure I had everything I needed.”
“This seems unlikely.” He made a muffled grunt as he moved aside to allow her in.
Eleri had only spent a few brief moments here the day before, not long enough to really take anything in. Now she stood awkwardly in thedoorway, examining the modest space. Aside from the standard IA-issued appliances, she struggled to make sense of the organization of the space. Wide outcroppings protruded from the ceiling, some draped with swathes of fabric a similar shade to the color of S’samph’s scales. A pit of sandy gravel was neatly contained in a ring of large stones at the far end of the main room. The cooling unit was tucked away in a back corner in what seemed the most inconvenient position.
“Does my nest displease you?” His tone was cautious as he circled her, his tongue flicking as if trying to taste something in the air around her. “I read materials about human homes. They aren’t like this.”
“They’re not, but it’s a very nice home even if it’s different than what I’m used to.” Build rapport with your patients.All the texts and media she’d studied on nursing had advised a better patient-practitioner relationship led to better health outcomes. She’d never had trouble conversing with her patients before, but now, here in S’samph’s home, she struggled to maintain her usual cheerful chatter.
“When…if you join me in my nest, you can change it as you please.” He said it so matter-of-factly, Eleri struggled not to break out into nervous laughter. She’d done so much work to avoid people who were going to use her to their own ends. She’d enlisted to go all the way to a different galaxy, and still, she couldn’t avoid her attraction to this male who had not only publicly shamed her but had never apologized for his actions. Eleri shook herself back to focus. She was here in a professional capacity, and she’d never let anything get in the way of her doing her job before.
“Let’s take a look at your wound.” S’samph made a strange flicking motion with his tail that reminded her somewhat of how her friend Tammy’s cat would wriggle before pouncing on a toy. S’samph, however, made no motion to pounce on anything. Instead, he seated himself on one of the lower outcroppings jutting from the back wall. She picked up her medkit and followed. The air was humid in here, much more so than the dry windy plains outside. She removed her sun hat and tied back the loose flyaway strands of her hair before she snapped on a pair of sterile gloves and set to work unwrapping the wound.
It had already healed considerably from the day before, and from her conversations with Aglao, she knew it would only take about two weeks to be mostly back to functional. There was a good reason latil’e could survive injuries that would be devastating to most other species.
“When can Istart using my arm again?” S’samph asked.
“You should be able to return to light tasks starting five or six days if the rate of healing stays this quick. Now hold still, this will sting a bit.”
Aglao had given her a tube filled with a regenerative solution, but she hadn’t realized the scope of the accompanying needle. “Maybe a bit more than sting,” she corrected herself as she drew the yellow liquid into the syringe.
“Get it over with quickly,” S’samph grunted. He held perfectly still as she stabbed the needle deep into the vulnerable wounded area of his muscle and then injected the medication. If it pained him, he gave no indication, but Eleri couldn’t imagine it wasn’t painful, nevertheless. After she disposed of the needle in her portable waste atomizer, she sanitized the wound and then repacked it with fresh gauze, before wrapping the whole thing in clean bandages.
“I will buy you a new dress,” S’samph said.
Eleri paused her wrapping. “What?”
“K’kaen told me you used the dress I purchased to save my life. I will buy you another.”
“That’s kind, but I don’t need a new dress. I’m glad I was able to put it to good use.” She pulled a pair of scissors from her kit and snipped the ends of the bandage. S’samph made a strange noise. From a human, it might have been impatience, but Eleri knew better than to jump to conclusions.
“He also told me I owe you an apology for how I treated you when you arrived here.”
“It’s fine.” Her eyes were starting to itch, which was never a good sign. She was working, so it was especially important to stay professional. If she let her feelings get the better of her, it would be detrimental to her focus. This part was important for his healing, so it was essential she stayed focused and didn’t let her disappointment cloud her quality of care.
S’samph’s torn frill stood as tall as it could against his spine. “It is not. You were brought here to be my mate, and I behaved dishonorably. Now you have saved my life, which is more than I deserve. You have my apology for my unkindness and my gratitude for what you have done for me.”
Eleri paused in her bandaging, trying to figure out an appropriate response. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had apologized to her without intending it as a segue into asking for more of her credits, time, or patience. “Thank you for that. The apology, I mean.” She removed her gloves and tidied up her kit supplies.
“Then you will accept our mating?”
He was persistent when he decided he actually wanted something. The unexpected apology had helped assuage some of the hurt, but she wasn’t quite ready to forgive him so easily. She quashed the instinctive rising ‘yes’ and instead settled for something less definitive. One of these days, she was going to learn how to say ‘no’. Today was not that day.
“You need to give me time to think about it. It takes time for an apology to have real meaning.”
