UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

Esk nodded. "I'll let you sleep." He picked up the board and set that to one side in case she decided she wanted to play again. Then he picked up the plates.

"Thanks for being here" Dawn said and smiled at him. She knew he proffered to be alone and that he had gone against that to be with her.

Esk nodded. "Someone's gotta, or you'll go wandering and hurt yourself." He reasoned flatly. He always had a rational reason didn't he? He gathered up the dishes and tray and headed for the door. "Get some sleep."

"Can you like, hear Vestia ever?" James wondered. "I don't think Kay can, he has to write to her."

Ivor frowned. "I don't... know..." How did you differentiate? "There's so many voices here..."

Dawn chuckled softly again and nodded, she certainly would "Alright, I will rest again."

~~~
Skye frowned a little then shrugged "Do the voices sound different, like the spoken voice?"

Ivor thought about that. "I... hard to tell, it.. it's like being in a room where everyone is shouting... and th.. then they're talking aloud on top of that. I... I can't make sense of it. It's just noise. Constant noise."

---

Esk went to put the dishes somewhere to be washed and found himself something to eat.

---

Armin went to go see Starr. If she was about. He was curious how the talk with the rest of the crew had gone.

"No, he's not immortal, he doesn't have super speed, and he doesn't have any telekinetic or other powers," Asher said. "His tail  has a barb that can cause temporary paralysis, but I've made it clear that he's not to use it, he should run away instead." He realized that didn't sound good. Oh well.
He smiled wryly. "None of us are experts on rehabilitating former slaves, but a lot of us do have first-hand experience with trying to rehabilitate ourselves. It's something, at least."
(I don't think you replied to this one? If I just missed your reply, I'm sorry about that)

~~
"That sounds nasty," James decided. "Funny, Kay doesn't seem as bothered by it as you do. Maybe it's cause he was isolated from people for so long, he got a chance to get acclimated to it."

(I keep losing posts! Sorry. I had a migraine for like 2 days so I kept going to lay down and then it was pages of stuff so I have totally missed a load of posts. Everyone poke me if I missed your post please! )

Luka nodded slowly. She didn't like the sound of a barbed tail, it worried her a lot actually. "But you... think he's sane and... controlled enough not to attack people right?"

---

Ivor nodded. "I don't know... Silence... Silence's mother said... half breeds always have problems of some form or other. If.. if they live at all... I.. I can shift, it hurts but I can do it... but I c... can't block the voices. " He winced. "it.. it's bad... very bad..." He looked away, tugging on his sleeve.

(Aww man, that stinks. Hope you're feeling better!)

"I think he has a lot more control of himself than we were led to believe at first," Asher said. "I've been visiting him for his medical checkups ever since he and his father arrived, and he doesn't act hostile toward me, even when I caused him pain while checking his injuries. I've made it clear to him that he's not permitted to use his tail or anything else to hurt anyone, and he seems to understand that. Obviously it's possible he could lose control, but I'm going to do my best to introduce him to the crew slowly and carefully so he won't be overwhelmed, and I think he genuinely wants to follow the rules I've given him, which should help."

~~
"I guess that makes sense." James sighed. Yeah, Kay couldn't hold a shape, Ivor couldn't stop hearing voices, who knew what problems other half-shifters had. "Well anyway, uh, you want to do anything, or you want us to stop bothering you now?" He smiled softly.

Skye frowned at his movements and glanced to James then back to Ivor. "It's ok, if we have to we can talk to Starr about making something to mute the telepathy for you, or just 'turn down the volume' a little. She's good at making magic things."

~~~
Starr had gone to get something to eat and was in a rec room at the moment, with her egg in the carrier at her side. She was trying to not become a hermit or be alone all the time.

"So he trusts you?" wierd, what was it about Asher that made him so trustworthy? Luka sighed. "If anything goes wrong we'll figure it out then. In the meantime, if the captain says it's okay, then it's okay."

---

"M..magic.. like.. like Silence's necklace?" Ivor looked wary. Magic was still a very odd concept to him despite his own abilities, he just hadn't had much exposure to it. He looked at the floor. "I... you want me to leave my room yes?" Was it time for mandatory recreation?

---

Armin asked Vestia where Starr was and would find her in the rec room. "Miss Starr?"

"Only if you want to, we will leave you alone if you prefer that" Skye said gently.

~~
Starr looked up to the door and smiled "Hello Armin"

Asher smiled softly. "Thank you, Luka. Rigel seemed to be okay with this plan when I talked with him earlier. And I'll do my best to make sure nothing bad happens. It'll be interesting I'm sure, but I think it can work."

~~
"Yeah, sort of like Silence's necklace," James said. He smiled reassuringly at Ivor, "It's okay, you can stay here if you want."

Ivor looked unsure, glancing back at his bed and frowning. "I... I will come..." He'd learned long ago it was better to just comply.

---

"Hello Miss Starr. How did your conversations with the rest of the crew go?" Armin asked politely.

---

Luka nodded slowly. "well, we hired a guy who actively tried to murder us all. He can't be much worse than that right?" She managed a weak laugh.

James frowned. Man, it was so weird to have someone this obedient around. Like, what the heck? Where were the opinions? Where was the defiance? Even Asher had opinions and defiance sometimes, and Asher wasn't exactly an anarchist. Ivor was a whole other level of messed up. "Okay man, wanna see, uh, the holodeck or something?"

~~
Asher smiled softly. "Esk did turn out to be a good addition to the crew, in his own way," he agreed. "I don't think Amari will do anything like that, thank goodness."

"W.. what's a holodeck?" Ivor asked. Prior to Hytar's crew he'd never been off the Hexenfolke colony.

--

"Good, I don't want to get shot again." Luka told him.

Asher nodded. "That makes sense. I'll do my best." He smiled softly, "I think that's everything I wanted to tell you. I guess I'll stop bothering you now."

Luka nodded. "okay, thank you Asher... and good luck." She went back to drying her hair.

"Thank you. And welcome back again." Asher left Luka to her hair drying. Hmm, maybe he should go see Kay next, he felt like he needed to apologize for bringing in yet another variable to their chaotic life, oh dear.
And also tell Kay a decision he'd made during all this chaos.
He headed for the med bay, guessing Kay would be there.

Kay was trying to take his mind off things with soduku. He glanced up when Asher came in.
[How'd it go?]

"Surprisingly well, all things considered," Asher said, smiling weakly. "Esk was only moderately snarky, Luka was concerned but not entirely against Amari being here, Marcus gave me a lot of information which I've sent to Vestia for translation, and Amari was happy to hear the rules when I told them to him." Whew, it really had been a busy day. "So far, things are going okay."

Kay nodded slowly. [Well that's better than expected.]

"It could have gone a lot worse," Asher said. He wheeled a bit closer, looking at Kay worriedly, "Kay, I know I've just added a lot of extra complication to our lives, and I'm sorry for that. I've decided, I'm going to wait to start the robot rights campaign. The time isn't right for it, I need to focus on everything that's happening here on Vestia first, we need to go to the Imperium and get the children and Thalia back. The android situation is stable, they can wait a while longer. Right now what's going on here is the top priority."

Kay stood up, coming over to Asher. [Our lives will always be complicated Asher, that's just life. ] He smiled softly. He didn't mind a delay in the robots rights thing though, it was a relief really, he was scared of what it would mean for the man he loved when it did start. He reached out and gently stroked Asher's cheek. [I'll stand by you whatever you decide. ]

"Well we don't need to go out of our way to make our lives more complicated than they already are," Asher said. "It's already an awful lot to keep track of."
He sighed, and leaned into Kay's touch a bit, even though he couldn't actually feel it. He appreciated the gesture. "You've been so patient with all this." He waved a hand in a gesture that meant everything that had happened since the battle, from his disability, to Amari, to being separated from Danika for so long. "You must be exhausted from it all, and I'm sorry I've been putting you through so much lately."