"I thought you were on your way to speak to Bask." Laene and I stood in the kitchen of my quarters. Addy had fallen asleep in the living room. Her exhaustion gnawed at even me. She'd been toiling all night over issues that should have never been hers to solve, and yet? Here we are.

"I got a summons that Addy needed me." My voice was soft. I wanted her to have time to rest. I had been on my way to speak with Bask. Unlike Addy, I had faith in my ability to hide matters from Kayle's brother. I could focus on his own emotions to darken his field of view so to speak. We'd more or less be at a stalemate unless he decided to well and truly press, which was unlikely.

"And spending time with her is certainly a more pleasurable experience than dealing with him," Laene's commentary was dry, but his face looked almost wistful as he shot a glance toward the couch where Addy slept.

"It's different," I hedged. Laene knew of our struggles, but I wanted him to see the forward progress and the work that both she and I were doing to create something stronger from the ashes of the bridges both of our races had been burning, so to speak, "but not bad. It's a learning experience. Despite everything, I wouldn't change it."

Laene nodded absently.

"Kayle?"

"Drafting."

It was a tedious subject, touchy. It needed to be revealed but no one would like it. The polar opposite of whatever was plaguing Addy.

"I'm assuming you've called me here for a reason other than watching your mate sleep?"

I could feel like a phantom a specter of worry that loomed over me, it's talons dug into my chest. Whatever it was that worried her, she couldn't escape it even in sleep. "Addy has a secret that she feels can't be revealed, yet."

"It seems to be a common occurrence around here of late."

He was right and it was unsettling. Secrets weren't a common occurrence, despite their relative prevalence currently. It was polarizing and would only cause more trouble in the future, but this Searching had been fraught with trouble from the beginning.

It is not easy, only worthwhile. Sacred words I'd taken to repeating to myself. "She's expressed a specific fear over Bask."

Laene looked unsurprised, "None of us wanted to so openly mention it around Kayle, but I suspect everyone that keeps secrets considers him their chief concern."

"I want to imagine that Prince Roan has divined some guidance and will lend our cause assistance," it was a faint hope. Prince Roan had a ship to run, but our actions directly impacted the future of this Temani Bercari, so maybe he would have a part to play in this as well.

Laene let out a laugh that was louder than either of us anticipated. It caused Addy to stir.

I shot him a look and he mouthed an apology to me as Addison sat up from the couch.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A little while." Not long enough. I stepped out of the way so that Addy could see Laene behind me.

"Hi, Laene." Her voice was groggy, but she was making a valiant effort to sound awake.

He inclined his head, "Addison. It's nice to get the chance to see you again."

"I wish it were under better circumstances," She grumbled as she approached us. When she stopped at my side a felt the warmth of her presence seep into my side. I had to physically restrain from leaning towards her.

"For now I wanted to ask you to guard her thoughts as she spends her time as a Human Liason."

Addy made a frustrated sound, "You don't have to if you don't want to! I'm just worried I won't be able to field my thoughts like--"

"Of course." Laene answered quickly like I knew he would, "I would be honored. You need not ask."

I stifled the desire to look smug.

Addy seemed at a loss for words. She opened her mouth as if to make a comment, but decided against it. Instead, she settled on trying to erase the concern, "There's no guarantee that I'll even need you to shield me. It could just be a waste of time."

Laene glanced between Addy and me, "Esayr mentioned that you're guarding a secret that you feel shouldn't be revealed yet. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"If it spread what would the consequences be?"

I watched her throat bob, for a moment I expected she'd decline to answer the question, but she charged forward. "Your image would be irreversibly tarnished and most of Earth would likely become aggressively hostile to your presence."

"Then why chance it? I'll follow and shield you whenever you ask." Laene's loyalty was unwavering and it was moments like these that I remembered the asset he was to our Riniere.

The idea of him being out and about in sensitive areas of the ship was concerning, what with his position approaching Unsearching. But, I hadn't been lying when I'd told Addy that I felt her presence would help him. I bit the side of my cheek. I hadn't revealed to her who it was he'd matched to and that small secret of my own still fought with me. I told myself it wasn't her secret to know yet, but that didn't quite ring true even to me.

"If anyone asks, tell them you're talking to Addy on matters of human women, given your circumstances. That should mollify them on both fronts." I shrugged as if I hadn't been considering the idea for a while.

Addy brightened almost immediately, "Congratulations Laene."

For the first time in my life, Laene looked almost bashful, as if he didn't know what to do in response to her heartfelt congratulations. I'd worried it'd strike a nerve since he was still undecided, but he took it in stride, "I'm still adjusting." He hedged as he sent a curious glance my way.

If he told her who it was that he'd matched, I'd consider the circumstances resolved, if not? I wouldn't interfere.

"We're all still adjusting to a lot of things, so I understand where you're coming from" her smile was genuine and I watched a small amount of tension ease from Laene's shoulders, "I'm happy for you."

"I'm happy for me, too," Laene's admission was arguably much quieter, but it held considerable weight in the small kitchen.

Small steps. Always small steps.

"How long have I really been asleep?" Addy turned the brunt of her gaze to me and I watched Laene shift awkwardly, freed her attention he rubbed a hand to cover the blush that stained his cheeks.

"About an hour," it wasn't too long, but I knew it was longer than she would have wanted to sleep when she had things she wanted to pursue.

"An hour!"

I was right.

"I need to get to the Comm Bay! It's going to be nighttime soon in America and I won't be able to get a hold of Cecelia!"

I wouldn't tell her that she could speak to her tomorrow, that would only make her angrier, "You needed the sleep."

"Yeah, and you need me to speak to her to clean up your mess!" She was tearing through the room toward the bathroom, loudly complaining about her dirty rumpled clothing and the need to change.

Laene shot me a bemused glance, any hint of his embarrassment disappeared behind the amusement.

"What?"

"It's interesting to see that Human Media depicting relationships was relatively accurate."

"She's," I laughed a little to myself as she ran back into the bedroom wearing a different set of clothes that looked just as clean as the last pair, "...You could toss me into the endless expanse of stars and I'd find my way back to her. I'll never tire of her."

When I glanced back to Laene, his attention shifted off of me quickly and he murmured his assent. "I'll go with her to the Communication's Bay."

I will go with you. It was what I wanted to say, but it wasn't what needed to be done. Bask was nursing his wounded pride somewhere on this ship in much the same way I was, and I needed to seek him out and smoothe over that hurt before it festered along with the other things that ate at him, "I'll deal with Bask."

*****A/N*****

Three in a row. That's pretty good work so far :). Needless to say, I'm proud of myself. Would it be gruesome to say I'm looking forward to ripping this story to shreds in editing? Because the closer I get the more bits and pieces I see that need to be rearranged for this story to flow better. The pitfalls of posting the first draft online I suppose. I get a good chunk of time to just really look back at all the mistakes I've made that people are reading through.

I've had two coffees and a soda today. Here's to hoping it will keep me up even though I'm no longer a night owl.

Fair Nights...

Layla