As soon as our door closed behind me I was charging down the hall towards the communications bay. It wasn't a long trek, but if felt like ages. By the time I finally made it to the silvered double doors that led to the com team where they were likely holding their nightly communications with other nearby Va' ships, I didn't even give it a second thought, I flew through the doors.

If it weren't for quick reflexes Vailen and I would have crashed together.

The male looked surprised, which would have been expected for any other male aside from him, as he tended to keep his emotions from showing on his face. Most of Roan's Riniere did, with the exception seemingly of Roan himself.

"Esayr...also convenient."

That gave me pause.

"You've had a hail from the planet. It is one of your female's Riniere. She wishes to speak with you."

The anxiety and nerves in my gut compounded. Already I had been worried about the knowledge Addy had shared with me, and with the hurt, our race had caused my little mate. And now, I was being summoned by one of my female's Riniere, whom I desperately wanted to impress, but I'm sure had a rather poor impression of me given the circumstances.

News first. "Vailen. Addison has brought to my attention issues regarding the contract for our--"

"The issue of compensation?" He looked nonplussed.

"Yes, we've made an error."

The male nodded as we walked back to one of the communication stations that the teams tapped into during their appointed times, "We talked at length after her discussion with her friend. It is...egregious, like most of the issues regarding that contract, however this time it is our own fault. It is legally binding and we cannot remove ourselves from the act of compensation. She optioned the possibility to meet the accusations head on and take control of them in the human media," Vailen fiddled with papers on the desk, looking distracted -- an expression far out of character on the rather stoic male. "What I am saying is simply that we are considering options, currently to remedy yet another situation. The female is still waiting to speak with you."

I swallowed back the lump in my throat. While it was of the utmost importance to fix the issue of purchasing human females, I had also relied on it to stall for time so that I could possibly prepare myself to speak to the first of Addy's Riniere. I wouldn't have felt ready even if we were properly bonded at this point. The fact that a wall had been built and the distance gained in our relationship had crippled my confidences. "Of course."

Vailen inclined his head toward the doors that Addy had used previously to speak to her kinswomen. He didn't walk me to the door, instead resumed his seat at the table and checking and rechecking gauges for communication feeds.

Who will it be? Addy had named off the members of her Riniere and had described them to me many times when we'd spoken, but I could barely keep any of them straight. They all tended to blend together. I slipped into the room, holding my breath.

I recognized her. The little rosy-cheeked female who was hugging Addy in the picture I'd first seen of her. Her name, however, I couldn't place as easily as her face.

She knew my name, however.

"Esayr." It was odd to hear another human female say my name.

I stepped up behind the seat and inclined my head to her, "That is my name."

Her light eyes raked over me like an accusation, stopping on every scar and spot on my person filling in blanks that she could only guess about on the surface of their little blue planet. "I'm Charlotte."

Charlotte. I remembered the name from Addy's stories. The boisterous, flirty one. The one that commanded a room when she walked into it. "Addy's spoken of you."

One of her dark eyebrows shot into her hairline, "I'm sure she has. Especially if you're close enough to be calling her Addy," her eyes flicked to the seat in front of me, "Have a seat."

I sat.

Truthfully, I'd lost the right to call her Addy. I'd lost that right before I'd even met her. I couldn't stop it now, though. She was Addy to me and likely always would be until our souls turned to dust amongst the stars, endless and bright.

"We're going to have a chat."

I nodded in assent despite the fact that she hadn't asked my permission. My spine felt as if it were made of steel. I had never been a particularly good student if my parents could have seen me sitting so quietly and still now they wouldn't have believed it was me.

"What are your intentions with Addy?"

"I love her." The words came quickly. I'd loved her for ages and ages, for longer than I'd ever even known that she was a possibility.

"That's not the correct answer."

I couldn't believe that there was ever a time when that wouldn't be the correct answer.

She must have read the disbelief on my face.

"My mother loved my father and he loved drugs. The drugs loved him too I think. You can love something and it can still not be the right answer. What are your intentions? What do you want for her?"

"It shouldn't be what I want for her, but what she wants for herself."

"Good answer, true answer, but still what do you want for her."

It always boiled down to the same thing. "I want her to be happy."

"Good answer." She watched me curiously for a moment before continuing on. "Tell me about yourself."

I didn't know where to begin. Everyone on the ship, for the most part, knew everyone else in some way or another. We all had relatively normal upbringings, and if we didn't it was common knowledge. I had never actually had to sum up any information about myself before.

"You want her to be with you, yeah?"

"More than anything," this answer, though, was easy along with all the others where our mating was concerned. Those I had known, forever. Craved forever.

"You know I've heard a lot of terrible things about your race, right? All of us down here have."

"I had expected," the nerves in my gut boiled higher and higher.

"Yet, she still believes in you. I want to know why. I want to know why, despite everything we have heard, she still believes you and the rest of your race are good people."

I started with my parents because they were good and I believed that people that good had to in some way raise good children. I told her about my friends and their faults, but also their strengths as well and how they've helped me grow as a male. I talked about Addy and how her rejection still stung and caused insecurities I'd never known I had to surface. I told her of my worries that originally I had been in love with the idea of loving someone, but now I realized it couldn't compare to the feeling I had for this little female that had come in and upended my life and how I was terrified I'd lose her because of so many things that were out of my control.

I laid my soul bare in that room, to Charlotte because she was a member of Addy's Riniere and her perception of me meant everything at that moment. I wasn't a Val'Dornn seeking to regain some kind of understanding from a human. I was simply a male searching for a blessing from my intended's friends.

"Do you think she could be happy with you?"

"I would do everything in my power to make her happy." My chest felt tight and my throat ached from the onslaught of emotions I'd been dealing with. I reached out toward our bond and felt it, stretched and tenuous between us. It revealed nothing to me, "and, if she's not, I'd send her home." I was treading a boundary I shouldn't. It was information I shouldn't give out, but if Addy needed that reassurance to feel safe here on this ship then I was sure another female would too.

"Addy has been offered 6 months. If we remain unbonded after 6 months she can return to your planet. I will have to follow, but I will not interfere with her life. I just simply cannot be far away or the tether between us will wither and die. Taking the both of us with it."

"That wasn't mentioned in the contract."

"It wasn't."

Charlotte nodded as the understanding dawned on her.

"If anyone asks, tell them I told you. I don't want anyone to believe it was her."

She stared at me for a moment and I had the acute feeling that had she been Val'Kier she would have been like Kayle, able to dig out thoughts with just her gaze.

"Do you love her, Esayr?"

"More than anything."

"Good answer."