Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Five

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"perhaps this is something we should discuss with the telepaths on board, if any wish to volunteer or... have any suggestions for ways to reduce the risk?" Armin suggested, he cuddled Luna just a bit closer.

Ethan considered that, then nodded. He could kind of imagine why some people might like sharing a room,
"I guess the suites are a bit intimidatingly big," he mused. "Are you guys planning to find a way to visit Artuvia?" He seemed to recall it being somewhere in this area of space.

"I don't know." Skye admitted, she didn't really want to, not with the way things had gotten so political there. Her sister had stirred up a lot.
"I would like to." Jewel said, looking from one to the other

Ethan looked at Skye, her expression suggested she was thinking something more than what she was saying. "It's always weird to go home, I guess," he said, guessing that might be what she might be thinking.

Esk shook his head. "'m Fine..." He muttered, managing a few more swaying steps.
He didn't really buy the whole medics being upset with james if anything happened, he was pretty sure they'd just be disapproving at HIM.

---

Armin bowed his head and let Starr return to her food, moving to prepare his own breakfast.

Skye nodded, that was as good a reasoning as any to say aloud anyway. Of course the last time she had been home, she had lost everyone in her village and her freedom in one attack. Stupid slavers, bah. "It...wouldn't really be home." She said after a moment.

~~~
Starr let him go to make his food, looking back to Luna then returning to her meal.

James stayed near Esk, just in case. He did NOT want the wrath of Dawn and Kay and Tori, nope. Or Matt. Probably Asher's wrath too, come to think of it. And of course his own self loathing if Esk was injured any more on his watch.

He was going to let down a lot of people if Esk got hurt, so he was being super careful.

~~
Ethan nodded. "Bad memories, I take it?" he said. "I wouldn't want to go home either. Some of us just can't, I guess." He had very few truly happy memories from his own universe.

~~
Ellie would probably get up with Shane, to go in search of breakfast.

"how is she this morning?" Armin asked, nodding to Luna. He was fond of the little princess.

---

Esk ignored James' fretting and kept walking, trailing one gloved hand along the wall and pausing ever so often. He felt spaced out, disconnected, he didn't like it.

Dressed only in t-shirt and trousers and socks, he headed for the hall. He needed to get out, he couldn't stand being cooped up and bedridden.

---

James followed along, looking pretty worried. He didn't try to stop Esk though, he was perfectly aware that Esk wouldn't listen to him. And being cooped up in one room had to be pretty miserable.

Skye nodded then sighed and looked at Ethan "Right, bad memories for me. Good ones too, but they are overshadowed."

~~~
"She is fine" Starr replied, looking to the young dragon again. She did love the child, strange as her coloring was.

~~~
Shane was happy to stay with Ellie and went to find breakfast with her.

Ethan nodded again. That made sense. "Do you have family there?" he asked. Dangerous territory on this ship, not many people were willing to talk about their families here.

~~
Ellie and Shane headed into the dining hall. Ellie waved to Starr and Armin and Luna. "Hey guys!"

Skye shook her head "The only family I have is my sister." She answered softly.

~~~
Starr returned Ellie and Shane's waves "Good morning."

Luna chirped at the two since she was in dragon form at the moment.

"Oh," Ethan said. There really were a lot of people with family issues on this ship. "I guess it's good we're heading to Unity, then."

Skye nodded "I can't wait to hug Moone again, even if she is older than me now." That was still weird, and likely would be for a while.

Ethan shook his head. "Well, that sounds bizarre. I guess I hadn't thought about it, but she would be an adult now. Probably able to vote and stuff, right?" He didn't actually know how old Moone or Skye were, he was just guessing.

"Yeah, she's 21, an adult now. It's strange that ten years have passed for her in a second for us; but I got to see her on the video call, so I can get used to how she looks now." Skye replied. Looks were one thing, the actual time difference was more difficult to digest.

'Yes, that will take some getting used to," Ethan agreed. "So she's been helping out with the kids, then?" He knew star dragons aged slowly, and Lana was probably still a kid, unless her species aged super fast. So Moone was probably the only kid who had grown up while they were gone. If he was doing the math right.

Armin bowed his head to Ellie and Shane. "good morning friends."

Skye nodded "yeah, she's always liked kids and is...was responsible for her age."

Ellie went to pour herself some coffee and make some toast. "How's the day looking so far?" she asked. "I totally slept in."

~~
"I do recall hearing that you two looked after those avian kids," Ethan said. He smiled oddly, "Guess our siblings have a lot in common. I hear Asher's happy to be raising those kids too. And he used to be the same age as me, but now he just... isn't. So I guess we both have older siblings now."
Ethan kind of wondered what he was going to be like in ten years, and that was part of the reason why he wanted to talk to Asher. It wasn't a great way to find out his future, since Asher was nothing like him in so many ways, but still, he wanted to know.

"The day is young, so far it appears well." Armin mused happily. It was easy to forget all the woes of everyone when you were in a good place. Oops?
He could feel guilty about that later.

--

"I'm glad Asher and Nova found the kids." Skye agreed. She didn't want to think of the kids there without a responsible adult.

~~~
Luna chirped again, happy to be there with the room filling upand Ellie was fun to be around.

Starr nodded "This morning has no new disasters." Thankfully.

"Good, good," Ellie said, putting a thick layer of jam on her toast. "You seem super happy today, Armin. Good news?" she asked. Okay, so it was hard to see his facial expressions with that mask, but his voice and body language seemed cheerful to her.

~~
Ethan nodded. "It was good luck for the kids. From what I heard, Thalia didn't sound like parent material, even before she ran off." He snorted, "Poor Nova though, that wasn't the job she signed up for at all."

Armin bowed his head, he wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Things are well my friend. How are you?"

---

"She has done well despite the change forced on her." Skye agreed and smiled a little "Moone certainly likes her as a mother figure."

~~~
Starr looked to Ellie and tilted her head a little, wondering what she was thinking though she wouldn't pry.

Shane got his breakfast and found a seat nearby so they could all sit together.

"You already said the day appeared well," Ellie pointed out, amused. "I'm good," she added, "Getting used to the new century, you know." She wasn't suspicious of Armin or anything, she'd arrived too late to see him and Starr being affectionate after all.

~~
"Well that's nice, they're lucky she turned out to be a good parent," Ethan said. He couldn't imagine signing up for bodyguard duty, and ending up as a parent figure. Talk about unexpected career changes. "I never really met her myself, but James had plenty of praise for Nova the times he met her."

~~
James was totally still following Esk around, making sure he didn't fall or anything.

Armin nodded. "it is strange to think so much time has passed so quickly. My neices and nephew are almost fully grown." He mused, shaking his head.

---

Esk was stubborn enough to keep moving, heading nowhere in particular and keeping fairly upright... right up till the point he had another absence seisure and his legs went out from under him.

"You have nieces and a nephew?" Ellie looked impressed. "Oh yeah! Berit's kiddos! We gotta meet them sometime! Have you contacted them?"

~~
James let out a yelp of surprise and hastily reached out to grab Esk. He tried to lower Esk to the ground carefully, so he wouldn't hurt himself by falling. Stupid seizures, argh.

Didn't really help that Esk was taller than him, but James did his best.