“No, thank you, I’m okay,” she says to a brethren kneeling at her feet. She reaches down and pushes his hands away from her sandals, which he has already untied.
“Supreme Beauty, it would be my honor to massage your feet and legs. You must be tired from today’s exertions.” This poor deluded idiot doesn’t know when to stop.
“I appreciate the offer, really. Give me a minute to cool down.” She sounds tired. When she looks up at me, I toss her a long stripof dried yellow fruit. She catches it midair and mouths “thank you.”
The brethren at her feet jumps up. “You’re hungry, Our Precious Light!” He runs over to the table with food and grabs two of everything with his dirty hands that were previously on her feet. I lean up against the tent pole and watch this unsanitary act of desperation unfold. Who says there’s nothing fun to do on Sabaak?
“I’m good, really,” she says, her voice heavy with exhaustion. He rushes back to her, kicking up sand everywhere. He dumps his armload of food into her lap. She slowly blinks and takes a deep breath, collecting herself before she loses it on him. I’m hoping she tears into him.
Another brethren steps up behind her and massages her neck and shoulders. From all the way over here, I see her entire body tense up at his touch. She awkwardly laughs and declines his offer.
Her eyes catch mine and she mouths the words “save me.” I mouth back “you’re on your own.” I’ve already helped her once. She’s on her own this time. Actions have consequences, and these are hers.
“Oh no!” Bri yells, laying it on thick. The brethren have no idea that she sounds so insincere it’s laughable. “I think your h’axom got loose!” She points dramatically toward the trough, which is out of her line of sight, blocked by the doting brethren surrounding her. There is no way she would know that. A clever way to get some space.
Panicked that he might have to walk all the way home, the brethren behind her takes off at a run, his headscarf flapping behind him as he looks for his ride.
“A little solidarity would be nice,” she says to me with narrowed eyes when they are all out of earshot.
“You handled it perfectly fine. You are the goddess after all, aren’t you?”
I can tell the sun and heat are affecting her. She doesn’t have the same level of fight in her that I’ve gotten used to.
I grab my canteen and wet the end of my headscarf, soaking itwith the cool water. I take her hand and press the damp scarf to her wrists first then behind her neck.
She leans close to my ear. “Thank you,” she whispers. “pt’Alquon, did you do something nice for me?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Bri lets out an audible sigh and leans back into the wet fabric on her neck.
I look away into the hot wind before she realizes what keeps catching my eye. She doesn’t need me drooling after her like all these pathetic brethren. I anchor my arm behind her and nudge her back to let her know she can lean against me. Her skirt shifts and the split falls open all the way up to her hip.
“Any progress on Operation Savior Complex?” I whisper in her ear.
Her sharp elbow lodges itself in my side.
“I’ll take that as ano.”
“It’s incremental,” she says, full of righteous indignation. “You should know this about me. Once I’ve made up my mind, there is very little that can stop me.”
The brethren Bri sent to go chase down the h’axom is back, out of breath and covered with sweat. If he’s unhappy with the false alarm, he doesn't show it.
“What’s the deal with Table Mountain?” I ask him, trying to direct my attention away from her smooth, far-too-distracting leg.
I catch one of the other brethren leering at her chest. I loudly clear my throat, breaking his concentration. He knows he got caught and looks guilty as fuck when he finally meets my gaze.
“When we first arrived on this planet, we landed at the top of Table Mountain. We were greeted by a glorious sunrise and we knew we had found the place the clouds had foretold.” He conveniently left out the part where they were banished from their home planet because of their violence toward women.
“How long have you been here?” Bri asks.
“Eleven turns of the wind, Divine One,” he says with reverence.
“And you’ve just been waiting around for your goddess to show up?” she asks skeptically.
She is making a giant miscalculation with the brethren. Their extreme religious beliefs make them far more dangerous than she knows.
“It’s our highest calling,” he states as if it’s a matter of fact.
