Upon Vestia: Chapter TWENTY

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Heny stood there and listened as the two spoke, her heart beat rising. She had visited him a couple of times but found it too painful with eveything going on.

Dawn looked to Luka then nodded and shrugged "Yes, as well as I can be."

Asher wasn't too bad a dancer either. His biggest problem was that he was obviously pretty self conscious about dancing and had trouble relaxing, but like James, at least he wouldn't step on Skye's feet.

James started sort of dancing in place while sitting next to the baby dragons. Hey, they were dancing, he could too.

Luka looked guilty. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I should have backed down." She lowered her head.

Skye grinned at Asher "See, you can dance well" She said teasingly. She was glad he could, and just needed confidence.

Dawn shook her head and placed her hand on Luka's arm "You were not the one itching for a fight from what I have heard of the situation. No one blames you for defending your people, not on this ship. We may not understand your culture well, but we usually won't pick fights about it. And don't apologize just for Esk, he knows how to stay out of a fight he doesn't want to get in if that's what he wants."

"He was defending me..." Luka shook her head, that part baffled her. "I don't... " She kept her voice low. "Maybe you were right and he's not such a dick underneath it all. " She sighed.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but this is going better than expected," Asher said. "Did you have fun at the Artuvian festival today? I'm sorry I didn't make it to that."

"We are crew and he likes to defend his cremates." Dawn said and smiled again "And no, he isn't so bad once you get past that tough exterior. Not that he would admit as much"

Skye shrugged then sighed "What part I was there for was fun." She said softly "We missed most of it though"

Asher smiled softly. "That's a shame. I'm glad you had a bit of fun at least. It must be strange to be around other Artuvians again after spending so much time with us."

Skye nodded at that "Yes, I hadn't realized quite how backwards our views are as a culture. It was enlightening"

Asher frowned. "That's unfortunate. Is everyone all right?"

"Yeah, we didn't fight" Skye said reassuringly then shrugged "Not sure if we could stay here though."

"That's too bad," said Asher. "Hopefully things will sort out, sometimes people take a while to open their minds, but eventually realize that they were wrong." He thought of Matt, and how Matt had believed him to be soulless at first. That had ultimately worked out well, but then again, Matt was an unusually open-minded guy. Hmm.

Skye sighed and nodded "But it doesn't help the now. Orel's parents won't accept Moone"

"Oh." Asher winced. "Well that's unfortunate." He looked over at Moone for a moment, poor kid, that had to be hard for her. "Because she has magic?" he asked quietly so hopefully only Skye would hear.

Skye nodded and looked down to their feet. "She must have heard and run off earlier and I spent most of the day trying to track her down again."

Asher sighed. "That's not something anyone should have to deal with, much less at her age. Please tell me if you think there's anything I can do to help, although I suppose there probably isn't." He remembered what it felt like to be ostracized by the people around you, and it had been disheartening and painful.

Skye looked back to his face then smiled at him "Just keep being you Asher, be her friend and mine, that is the best thing you can do."

Asher smiled softly. Aww, that was sweet. "I'll do my best. No matter how things are with the other Artuvians, you and Moone always have a place as part of this family. Always remember that."

Luka shrugged. "You're probably right." She shook her head. "still, i'm sorry. " as far as she was concerned it was mostly her fault people hadn't gone out tonight and that sucked.

Skye smiled at him again. Even if they were not Artuvians, this crew was like family and she didn't want any of them hurt, but she was glad to hear they thought the same way. "I will remember that."

Dawn looked to her then smiled "Apology accepted, if that's what you are looking for. Still, those minotaurs got locked up for their behavior, if these peacekeepers thought you were at fault, you would have probably been locked up too. No one blames you Luka, for any of it."

Luka didn't look so sure but she nodded slowly. "thank you Dawn." She still looked upset. "you're a good friend. You.. all are."

The song ended. "Thank you for the dance," Asher told Skye with a smile. He looked over at Luka and Dawn for a moment, guessing what they were talking about. Poor guys, these people were way too young to be dealing with bigotry. Yeesh.

Dawn smiled at Luka again then reached over to hug her "I am glad we are friends Luka."

Skye smiled at Asher then headed over to get a drink and take a seat for a bit. Dancing was hard work.

Asher headed over to the baby dragons. "Okay, I'm back," he told Danika affectionately, "I think you can stay on my shoulder if you want now."

"Who knew that dancing ran in our family?" James joked, looking at the dragons, "But all of us are so good!"

Asher chuckled. "It's impressive," he agreed. "You're impressive," he told the three dragons.

Luka hugged Dawn back. "So am I. I don't think i'd have survived out here alone."

Danika walked over to Asher and yawned, exciting as this was, it was late for them.

Kerr and Vela had stopped, grinning at the praise as well as they could. They liked the attention from the adults.

Dawn smiled and held her as long as she would like before pulling back to sit up again.

Asher picked up Danika and petted her back gently. "You kids ready for bed?" he asked, before reaching down to pet Vela and Kerr a bit too. It was getting late for little dragons. Sometimes Asher forgot just how easily young organics got tired.