Project Prometheus Ch. 83 - Teaser (Patreon)

The Hephaestus-class salvage frigate cut through the pale skies of Talemkha with steady purpose, its engines humming in a way that was deeper and rougher than the sleeker craft Luminia had grown used to aboard the Perseus. It was not an elegant ship, not in the way the old human dreadnoughts and their support craft could be, but it had a kind of sturdy confidence about it.

Built for labor, hauling, and pulling useful things out of ruin and wreckage, it suited the work now being done in the Dead Snows perfectly. Inside the hold-cabin, the atmosphere was quieter than usual, not tense exactly, but thoughtful.

Luminia sat near one of the viewports with Aesha at her side and Matthias opposite them, while Gloria and Qadira occupied the seats farther along the bulkhead. Tahral and Taal’ani sat together nearer the rear, close enough that even if the two of them had tried to pretend nothing had changed between them, no one with eyes would have believed it. Luminia could not help the small smirk that touched her lips every time she looked their way.

She was genuinely happy for them, especially for Tahral. The poor boy had long been considered a lost cause by much of his own people, and not always kindly. Too withdrawn, too awkward, and too locked inside his own head. Even his sister, who loved him dearly, had all but despaired that he would ever properly come out of his shell when it came to women.

Yet there he was now, large and nervous and trying very hard to sit with dignity. Taal’ani, with all her feline confidence and sharp-eyed ease, had him thoroughly and hopelessly wrapped around her furry little finger. Luminia’s smirk deepened as she recognized what was between them now.

‘Good for him… good for both of them.’

She only hoped things would go well when they reached his family. Tahral looked hopeful, yes, but he also looked as though he was half expecting the floor to give way beneath him at any moment. Taal’ani wore her nerves differently: her chin a bit higher, eyes sharper, and a little more still than usual, but Luminia could see them all the same.

It reminded her, unpleasantly and fondly all at once, of how she herself had felt the night before when she had gone down to dinner with Aesha and Matthias beside her to face her mother. That had been… a trial, not a cruel one, as Valessa had not been unkind, but by the Mother Goddess, she had been thorough. Luminia stole a glance at Matthias now and had to suppress a laugh.

He looked much calmer than he had the night before. Though perhaps that was only because he had already survived the first round of maternal scrutiny and lived to tell the tale. Valessa had grilled him as much as she had Aesha, though in different ways. The relationship between Luminia and Aesha had not surprised her mother nearly as much as Luminia had feared. That part, if anything, Valessa had seemed almost amused by.

No, what had truly caught her off guard had been Matthias, a human man. That had required explanation, several explanations, in fact, and then further explanation still when it came out exactly who Matthias was descended from.

Luminia smiled faintly to herself at the memory of her mother’s expression when she learned he was kin, however distant and removed by time, to Commodore Tomisic. It had taken a fair amount of talking before the full shape of it settled into place. Descendants, bloodlines, inherited relation across centuries, the impossible strangeness of humanity’s sleepers and survivors… it had all taken some sorting.

Still, Valessa had accepted him well enough… more than well enough, if Luminia was being honest. And privately, her mother had admitted that Matthias was a very handsome human. That memory made Luminia sit just a little straighter with pride, as though she had personally selected him from some grand line of worthy candidates and been vindicated in the choice. Beside her, Aesha noticed the shift and glanced over.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Luminia blinked innocently.

“That is never true when you say it like that,” Aesha replied as her eyes narrowed, and Matthias looked between them, already wary.

“Should I be concerned?”

“A little,” Luminia said, just to be difficult.