CHAPTER 28
ELERI
Eleri woke with the familiar dry sterile smell of the healing center around her. She wiggled her arms first and then her toes, registering unfamiliar weight to her left side. There were snatches of conversation around her. …kyrot will be brought to headquarters for sentencing. IA will… task force… raviks. Want to leave before… rains make the roads impassable. Eleri rubbed at her eyes, trying to bring her vision back into focus. When her vision cleared, she found S’samph sitting on her cot, nodded off with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.
“S’samph?” Eleri whispered as she glanced toward her mate at the end of the bed, unsure if her soft word would wake him.
“Eleri?” S’samph snapped to alertness. He turned toward Eleri then, his rough hands smoothing over her hair and then down her cheeks.
“What happened?” she asked. “I remember… I remember the raviks.”
“We came to rescue you, but you had already saved yourself.” S’samph’s tail lifted to brush across her wrist. “K’kaen and S’kasia stayed behind to argue with the Singularity, and I brought you here.”
“Is everyone else okay?” Eleri asked as she searched for something to drink. Each word felt like sand in the back of her throat.
“We are all well. It would please me if you worried about yourself instead. What are you looking for?” He asked, brusqueness covering up the clear worry she could read in his rippling frill.
“Hydropods?”
“Here, I don’t know your species requirements for hydration.” S’samph dragged an entire bucket out from under his chair. Eleri would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the image if her throat wasn’t so parched. She dipped her hand into the bucket and pulled out three hydropods.
“This should be plenty,” she said as she popped the first one into her mouth.
As she hydrated, S’samph stared at her with unusualintensity as if trying to find something obviously wrong with her. “How are you feeling? S’kasia and I aren’t trained to use this equipment, so I suspect we may have done it incorrectly.”
She didn’t answer him, instead pressing closer to him, she inhaled the warm scent of his scales. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“I will always come for you.” His strong hands clasped hard around her shoulders. “As long as I have strength. Not even the strongest gravity could keep me away.”
Someone cleared their throat at the entry to the clinic. “Sorry to interrupt. I can tell you’re having a moment. I’ll be quick.” A short human woman with glossy black pulled back in a severe bun approached her bed accompanied by Pyo and S’kasia. “You must be Eleri. Welcome back to Laurus.” The woman extended her hand in a human greeting that felt altogether strange and familiar. “I’m Yina Zhao. I’m an IA administrator.”
It felt like eons since Eleri had shaken someone’s hand. She reached out to shake. “Eleri Lewis, healer in training. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Yina said with a grin. Her hand was cool and dry.
“This is enough physical contact with my mate.” S’samph’s low voice rumbled behind her, and he pulled her back closer against him. “She is still recovering. I would have this meeting over quickly so she can rest.”
“You two do need to give me your biosigs to make your mating official in the IA records, you know.” Yina laughed and produced a datapad from a bag on her hip. “We can get it all squared now if you like.”
“It’s wonderful to see you back here safely, Eleri.” Pyo’s wings shifted behind him. “When S’samph and the others went to the raviks’ settlement, we feared the worst. I am deeply sorry for my mate and Minio’s actions.”
“I’m glad to be back.” There would be time later to discuss the details of what had transpired with the raviks.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. I’ve gotta get in touch with my karst to see what can be done about Myla on a familial level,” Pyo said before turning to leave. Eleri felt sorry for Pyo. The older male had been nothing but kind to her since she arrived in Laurus, and obviously Myla’sbetrayal was just as much a burden on him.
“Here I thought I was just coming to Laurus for some routine paperwork. Obviously, things have gotten more complicated since I left Brasnia Prime. If you’re ready to make your mating official, we can start there.” Yina offered the datapad to Eleri first. Eleri pressed her thumbprint hard into the designated box and then passed it to S’samph, who followed suit.
“Excellent. Now you two are legally mated in the IA database. Your personal identity interfaces should update soon.” Yina entered something into her datapad. “If there aren’t any objections, I’d like to get down to all the messier things.”
“Are you referencing the situation with Myla and her ravik of a brother?” S’samph moved closer to Eleri, helping to prop her up with his solid arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Exactly.” Yina tapped something else on her datapad. “Do I have your consent to record this conversation?”
“Yes.” Eleri nodded.
“Fantastic. Then let’s get to it. Tell me about your encounter with the kyrot named Minio from the Prime Central karst. Specifically, I’d like you to focus on the afternoon of dry season seventeen in the standard year 212.”
“How much do you know already?”
