“I lost a bet with S’kasia, so you’ll be enjoying my cooking this week.”
“The last time I ate your cooking you poisoned our entire unit.” S’samph shook one of the boxes, examining the contents. In the earliest days of their military service, long before S’samph held any rank of significance, they’d been on a mission to stake out an enemy nation over threats of terrorism back on Latilla. During the long months of monitoring, everyone in the unit had taken turns preparing meals. Some were worse than others, but K’kaen’s attempts had sent everyone running to the latrine pits for nearly a week.
“Do you want the free food or not?” K’kaen swiped the boxes back away from him. “I’m going to put these in your refrigeration unit, and you can thank me when you’re starving later tonight.”
“I’ll have to be starving to consider these worth eating.”
“Injury has made you downright cheerful, hasn’t it?” K’kaen shuttled the boxes over to the empty refrigeration unit and stacked them inside. “You can always cook yourself some vela beans if my cooking isn’t up to the standards of your refined palate.”
S’samph grunted a dismissal of his friend’s prodding. The pain was something else. Even though he was healing quickly, as most latil’e did, he didn’t have the same healing speed he’d had as a much younger male.
“Where is Eleri?” S’samph asked.
“She said she’ll be here before sun high with more pain medication.” K’kaen sat on the floor beneath the sleeping ledge where S’samph reclined and steeled himself through the radiating pain.
“You saw her this morning?”
“She was walking around Laurus bright and early, delivering medications and visiting some of her other patients.”
S’samph tried to ignore the twinge of abandonment from learning Eleri was visiting with others before him. The rational part of his brain knew she had many responsibilities and was determined to complete her training as a healer, but the small jealous piece of himself struggled to share her with others. Of course, Eleri wasn’t a possession. She could go and see whomever she pleased, but he wanted her to choose him above all others.
“Why are you so quiet? I thought the medication was out of your system, you useless f’fret.”
“I am thinking.”
“If you’re in too much pain, I’ll tell Eleri to come sooner.”
“She is busy. Do not disturb her on my behalf.”
K’kaen made a soft clicking noise with his tongue, and his tail went flat. “How well do you know your mate?”
“That is a ridiculous question.” It was not a ridiculous question even though he resented K’kaen for asking. He had read her file to completion. He knew she was passionate about her work. But the file only included basic demographic data about her species alongside a sparse personal profile. And her work was not such great insight. When he considered, he knew much less about her than he should.
“Eleri has secrets from you.” K’kaen finally revealed the intent behind his question, but it only made S’samph more disquieted. “I suspect she is worried about anyone knowing.”
He stiffened, and the sharp motion sent a ray of pain shooting across his chest. “What nature of secrets? Is she in trouble?”
“I don’t think she’s in a dire situation, but it is not ideal.” K’kaen pulled the bottle of painkiller out of his bag. “She’lldefinitely be upset that I’ve told you.”
“Tell me anyway, and I will decide how to handle it.”
“She is financially destitute. I don’t know how she has survived for so long without credits.” K’kaen’s frill rose with an unspoken accusation. “Your female makes foolish choices. If it were me, I would not allow her to be so stubborn.”
“What choice do I have?” S’samph responded more to himself than to K’kaen. “Eleri would not accept my assistance even if I offered.”
K’kaen made a sound of disgust to coincide with the pique of his frill. “She doesn’t trust you. For obvious reasons.”
S’samph regarded his friend with a mixture of annoyance and budding comprehension. “You’re protective of her. If this was not something that bothered you as well, you wouldn’t have come to me with it. Eleri’s credits are her own business, although her having almost none is worrying.”
“She reminds me of K’taya,” K’kaen admitted. His clutch-sister and three clutch-brothers had all perished in the cataclysm on Latilla. It reminded S’samph he was lucky to still have S’kasia around, no matter how often she vexed him. K’kaen stood then, clearly not willing to belabor the conversation. The timing was fortuitous as Eleri chose that moment to arrive, dragging her outrageously large medical kit behind her.
“Sorry, I’m a bit late.” She tapped at the timekeeper interface on her wrist. The implant was old and low-tech compared to the ones S’samph and K’kaen both received while still living on Latilla. S’samph started to rise to greet her, but bit back a curse as the mangled remains of his shoulder ached in sharp warning.
“Don't get up on my behalf,” Eleri said. “Pretend like I’m not even here.”
“He's just trying to prove that he's not a total ravik.” K’kaen glanced up at her from the other side of the room. S’samph glared at his friend. He understood that the other male was just trying to lighten the mood, but that was only part of it. The other part of him absolutely lived to get on his nerves. As the two of them battled soundlessly, Eleri busied herself pulling things out of her medkit.
“How is your pain today?” she asked as she snapped a pair of sterile gloves over her hands to change the bandages covering his wound. He grunted in response, not trusting himself to have a rational conversation as soon as she started touching him.
