Beginnings part vi

A couple of days later Cia invited me to a party on her ship, with all the crew celebrating the birthday of her XO Luisa. Amieta was there, and Fisk - Cia's Security chief, so there were people to talk to. I was quite careful, trying not to "let people know" that we were, or might be, an item. There was an argument between the XO and some other crew, and Cia stepped in. She chose a middle path, and although I was filled with misgivings when it started, it ended rather well - even the XO looked pleased.

I enjoyed talking with Amieta - she treats Cia like a little sister, and I think if she disapproved she could, practically speaking, end it. But Fisk - I tried treating him politely, reasonably friendly, and he seemed Ok, if a little formal. And later I caught him giving me a dirty look, and then asking Amieta off for a quiet chat. I thought perhaps he found something in my background that he doesn't like, even if it's not bad enough to kick me off her ship.

As the party died down, and we said our goodbyes, I cornered Amieta on the way out - what had Fisk wanted? was it anything to do with me? Ami assured me not, that it was something else and seemed surprised that I dropped it at that point. If she wanted to lie to me, there wasn't anything I could do, and if she was telling me the truth, then ... Cia's ship is not my business - I should stay out unless invited.

I'd asked Cia if she wanted to maybe go sailing the next day, and she said yes. I told her to call me when she was available, and we'd go.

All the next day I spent waiting around. Either in the bazaar or on my ship, or flying listlessly between Rens and Pator. I ran into Amieta in the Bazaar, and we talked for a bit. She seems nice, in a dangerous, competant way. She said I'd answer to her if I hurt Cia. I said if Cia hurt me, Ami would owe me a beer. Ami looked surprised, but agreed.

Then Camille came in - high on sugar and without Cia. She said Cia was working, so she was shopping. Camille started going through a list of plans for how to take over the 'verse - get a monopoly on the air supply and make people pay up or die, put TCMCs in their heads so they'd do what Camille wanted them to. The more I listened, the more I was scared, even horrified. She sounded like a sociopath in the making. I was feeling abandoned, emotional and unable to deal with that any more, so I left Amieta to it before I said something I shouldn't.

That night, after leaving Camille and Amieta in Rens, Mata gave me a call. She asked how I was (shitty) and gave me good advice about dealing with Cia. She told me to relax a bit and try to just get on with her, to let it happen. She also told me that I should get used to Jonny and her being a couple, that it was working and it was good. She'd just told him to sort his sec status out so he could come to the naming day after the birth, and Jonny had been doing legitimate work for the Republic fleet to try to get back in their good books.

I flew back to Rens and walked the Bazaar for a bit and ran into Cia. It was ... good. One of the reasons she'd been busy was that her application to join ReAw was accepted, and she was a bit overwhelmed with information, and the other was that Matariki had cornered her somewhere and asked her questions. We walked arm in arm through the bazaar and talked. It was nice, relaxing, joyous.

We discussed Mata and her child, and it came up that Cia doesn't believe in medically assisted pregnancies - it just wasn't done on Annelle. It felt like Matariki made her sad because Mata has something she thinks she never will, since she's been pod-killed.

I said I might be going down to lowsec to work for a few days, and Cia said she was glad to see me, that she'd miss me, and then kissed me on the cheek before we parted.

The day felt like I had been in a high-G maneuver, diving down and feeling the immense G forces at the bottom, and now I was ending the day feeling weightless, floating at the top. It was dizzying. I felt worn out, emotionally weary, but happy and I found myself smiling all the time.

There has to be an easier path.