“A male told you this?” Even he was surprised at how much that bothered him.
She waved her hand again. “Forget it. It’s not important.”
He had a feeling it was. Maybe not for why they were here, but it was important to her. To learning who she was. “As you like.”
They walked a few more steps.
She started to speak. “He was a friend. Like an uncle. His job was intergalactic archeology.”
“He taught you about it?”
“Not exactly. Mostly he was just nice to me. I listened a lot.”
Stron nodded. “What was he researching?”
“The origins of the warp tunnels.”
He smiled. “So a treasure hunt, then?” The origins of the warp tunnels have been discussed and debated for centuries. Who built them has never been determined, though many theories prevailed. Stron had never used them, having never traveled outside of the Kantenan home world. For anyone who did want to travel from system to system, though, the warp tunnels were the fastest means of traveling. Created with anchor points woven throughout the galaxy, the tunnels allowed anyone to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other in short jumps of hours rather than days.
“Basically. But he was committed.”
“How did you meet him?”
“He would occasionally authenticate creatively-borrowed artifacts for the Rhysgarrds. For the credits.”
There was that term again. Creatively-borrowed. She must have always been surrounded by those of questionable character.
“So he was for hire?”
“He had to do something to finance his passion for the warp tunnels.”
“And he was nice to you when he came around?”
“Yeah. Sometimes he would bring me a trinket from someplace when he’d stop by. One time he brought me a moonstone necklace from Orlicia?—”
“Didn’t that planet blow up?”
“Yep.”
“It’s probably worth?—”
“Trust me, it’s not. Believe me, I checked. A lot. Besides, right now, it’s probably mangled mush in the exploded leftovers of the transport we arrived on.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t blow up the ship.”
“Not directly,” he said. “But you lost your things.”
“They were just things. I’m alive.” Though from her tone, he didn’t think they were just things to her. They had meaning.
If they could be recovered, he was going to find them.
They walked further into the cave, following the flow of others as they headed toward the tunnels that he knew Knobb would be at.
The ones who watched looked away when he glanced at them. A sure sign eyes were on him and Adryel. He carefully kept his face neutral, not wanting Adryel to notice his concern. His own armor, however, started to grow, he could feel it pushing through under his clothing.
He should not have brought her here. This was not a good idea, no matter what she said.
