Maric looked around the dim Pond Pub. He felt out of place. The Homeworld cautioned Nestlings to watch themselves around alcohol; their psychic tendencies could become difficult to control.
He wondered if Ariadne could possibly maintain control after receiving the horrific news this morning. He had to find out. They’d been granted this moment out of time, in this foreign place that was not theirs. Only one moment to just stop and assess… He had to be a fierce friend in the brief time allotted.
Looking for her distinct, long auburn tresses, he could see she wasn’t at the bar. The pub was fairly quiet, some soft crooning music in the background, the hushed chatter of a few individuals in scattered clusters. Denizens held themselves against the shadows rather than risk exposing themselves beneath the dim pools of light cast in sporadic intervals from flickering lamps. Since he couldn’t see her, he reached out with his mind and felt for her.
There was a hollow pain in the back right corner of the vast, wood-paneled room.
Maric walked past murmuring shadows dressed in darker hues than his pale white robes, until he found the source of the pain; another figure dressed in the same elaborate folds of pale fabric but who was shrouded in a pitch black mood.
“Hello Ari,” Maric said softly, sliding into the aged wooden booth across from the tall, eerily attractive woman with purple eyes and a devastated expression.
“Hello Maric,” she replied hoarsely. As if she’d been screaming.
“How are you faring?” he asked cautiously, not daring to look into her amethyst eyes. Instead he stared at his warm brown skin and how it appeared in sepia tone beneath the weak light.
“You tell me, Maric. I don’t even know.”
He dared to look up at her haunted beauty. “Your face betrays your heart. Your mind, while bitter, seems composed.”
“Good training,” she muttered.
“Chief Counsels are allowed their emotions too,” Maric cautioned. “Don’t cage your grief, you must go through the process just like anyone. Let me help,” Maric said, reaching across to her tightly clasped hands and squeezing.
“I’d never have broken with him if I thought…” she looked away, her gaze escaping to the wall carvings of other passersby that had come before; initials and hearts left in the annals of wood-grain. She narrowed her eyes as if she wanted to burn holes into the names linked with the word “forever”. Maric knew she wanted to cry. But she wouldn’t. It wasn’t their way.
“None of us thought Kristov could die. He seemed immortal,” Maric murmured, thinking of their school-days years ago when Kristov Hadyn was one of the brightest stars of the Homeworld’s Psychically Augmented training program. Ariadne comprised the other star in the constellation, and their ongoing love affair had been long speculated, but never declared. Only Maric, and Kristov’s sister Pietra, knew the truth.
“I’ll have to go to the ship,” Ariadne murmured, her mouth barely moving. “I… assume there will be a funeral.”
“I can take you.”
“Now, Maric.” She stared at him with blank eyes. “Take me to the Dark Nest now.”
“In a moment. This is a time for friends, Ari. Take this moment to compose yourself. This is a moment granted us. Existentially. We don’t actually have this moment. But we’ll take it.”
Maric motioned for the bartender. Suddenly a lithe, elfin-faced woman in tight black clothes appeared.
“Something strong,” Maric stated. The woman nodded and disappeared among the bar shadows again.
“This is so unlike our ship,” Maric stated, and shuddered. He was used to the bright white sterility of his Light Nest vessel.
Ariadne looked around at the shadows absently. “I like it. I want to stay. Right here. In this netherworld. Where I don’t have to go back to the Light Nest after a funeral on the Dark.”
“We can’t stay here, Ari. Things are changing on our ships. Dangerous things.”
“Assassinations. Yes, those are new.” Ariadne muttered. “I want to go home. No more space. No more explorations of new atmospheres. I want to go home to our burning planet and-”
“But the Homeworld doesn’t want us, Ari, don’t you see?”
“No. I don’t see anything. Kristov saw it for me. He kept me safe. And now my shields are gone.”
“Chief Counsel Ariadne Corinth, that’s nonsense. You’re the strongest woman I know. And now the Light Nest, and Dark, needs you to be strong for them. Kristov was not the source of your strength. He needed you just the same.”
“But I failed him-“
“The Homeworld failed him. Something’s wrong, Ariadne. The man you loved like a husband and I loved like a brother is dead and we’ve got to set it straight. Our very survival may be on the line. His sacrifice spells danger. It may not be about what the Nests do or don’t like about each other. It may be war. Not between us, but between our home and our people. You’re not really going to have time to grieve, Ari, so you’d best deal with it now.”
The lithe elfin woman came back with two small, steaming tumblers that smelled of spices, fire and a trace of fuel. She vanished as Ariadne and Maric raised their glasses.
“To Kristov,” Maric murmured.
“To Kristov,” Ariadne’s voice broke. “I’m so sorry.” She offered quietly, to the air. To his memory. To the part of them both that were hoping against hope it was all a mistake and Kristov was still alive… Bringing the glass to her lips Ariadne downed it instantly, managing to keep it down with one loud cough and a pounding of her breastbone.
Maric was more cautious, but the more time the beverage frothed beneath his nose, the more frightening it seemed, and so he too chased it down with uncontrollable shudders.
“Kristov would’ve loved that stuff,” Ariadne gasped, chuckling at Maric’s pained face.
“I’m sure he’s here laughing at us,” Maric choked. He glanced at Ariadne, whose hollowed face suddenly brightened with the familiar sparkle of the vibrant woman he knew. But the light soon faded.
Maric didn’t want to go. Neither of them wanted to face the coming day. Kristov might not be the first casualty in a war of misunderstanding…
In tandem they rose, not needing words. Their moment out of time had drawn to an end. Maric offered his arm. The folds of their white and gold robes came together.
The elfin woman was at the door, nodding to them. Maric could sense she would be ready for them when their realities next allowed a cosmic break.
But it was back to the ship. The Dark Nest, and the mysteries on board, was waiting. And they demanded answers.
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DARK NEST is now available at the new
Crescent Moon Press
