Her mind full of death and consequences, Talis met Scrimshaw at the lower bay doors. Xe had xist few belongings with xin, including what remained of xist food in its mysterious unmarked barrel. They never had figured out how xe prepared xist nourishment. Xe would step off Wind Sabre and that was that. No more uninvited alien presence on her ship. She’d expected to feel relieved.
It wouldn’t be accurate to say that their alien passenger had become a friend. After all, that vial xe squirreled aboard had endangered her ship. Beyond the contraband, though, he had managed to stay out of trouble. For an unwanted passenger, that was as large a compliment as she could give. She’d hosted other passengers whose money-glazed fingers left prints on everything and managed to turn up everywhere. Underfoot, joining inconvenience with irritating commentary, or questioning the way she ran her ship. Scrimshaw, either because xe sought to keep xist brittle limbs free of her grip, or because xe was accustomed to ship life, was skilled at not being in her way.
Talis had to admit that her curiosity regarding Peridot’s alien visitors only increased after exposure to their linguist. Scrimshaw revealed just enough to make it clear that there was some strange mystery to their behavior, some odd drive to their mission that Talis might never uncover or understand. And just like a mother saying “I’ll explain when you’re older,” the question of it needled in her mind. Sophie might be eager to absorb their language and siphon off their technological know-how, but Talis was far more concerned with learning how to read the aliens. Find their tells. Every race had one, surely that was a universal truth that extended beyond Peridot’s skies?
Sophie was walking Scrimshaw down to the gangway, rattling off a list of questions she’d forgotten to ask previously, double-checking her pronunciation of words xe’d taught them, and sharing her own limited knowledge regarding Onaya Bone. It seemed like she wanted to say more, but at a severe look from Talis, she finally said her goodbyes and ran back to her post.
The murmur from the gathered crowd escalated as Scrimshaw disembarked. If anyone present had entertained the notion that the two ships’ simultaneous arrival had been a coincidence, that theory was dead now. The crowd shifted, and she saw some children lifted onto shoulders for a better view. She tried her best to ignore them all. Tisker stepped out and watched the crowd, his hand resting casually but meaningfully on the gun stowed at his hip.
Talis couldn’t ignore the increasing volume of the crowd as a Yu’Nyun escort greeted Scrimshaw on the docks beneath their starship. Two of them came forward and claimed Scrimshaw’s luggage. The others formed a triangle around xin, and the group disappeared up the ramp.
Talis realized she’d assumed that Scrimshaw would be among those going to the temple, but she’d never actually asked. Had she seen xin for the last time?
There was silence, then, from the Yu’Nyun ship. Talis stepped over to Tisker’s side, her back to the crowd, and went over the orders she wanted them to follow while she was gone. Dug was to remain on the ship. He already knew that, but she wanted Tisker and Sophie to know it, too, just in case Dug got a rabid thought in his head and decided to take his foul mood to one of the bars behind Talonpoint’s walls. She reiterated that they were not to cause trouble, which of course Tisker already knew. But he solemnly promised that they would all be on their best behavior while she took the aliens to stir up whatever trouble they had in mind. She shot him a look for that comment, but it struck home.
Her crew would keep her ship safe. The rest was up to her.
Chapter 24
A few hours later, four aliens emerged from the Yu’Nyun ship, stepping down onto the sandy Talonpoint docks. Talis let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when she saw Scrimshaw among the party. That she was even able to pick xin out from the other three was something of a point of interest to her. She recognized xin at a distance by xist uniform, but confirmed it when she approached and saw the familiar motif in xist body carvings. She had noticed it when they first met, at the ball where arm met shoulder blades. Later she’d realized that it repeated on xist left temple and the side of xist right forearm. She had to admit, if only to herself, that she’d picked xin out by those details alone, not by any variations in the structure of xist face, as she would a friend. It was more like looking over a group of similar horses and identifying her own by the marking on its coat. Or worse, the details of its saddle.
Also in the small group was the captain, who advanced with enthusiasm to greet Talis in xist stiff accent. Talis realized Scrimshaw had never actually explained their genders to her. The aliens seemed to show no secondary characteristics to indicate their sex, and she had to assume the loincloths hid any primary. Their body types looked identical to her. But Scrimshaw had said the Yu’Nyun lived on their ships and were prolific. So there had to be another gender type somewhere, and wouldn’t it be more efficient to mix the crew than to separate
