Outsider

[Laowai]

The Shuttle flight up to the mountain cabin had been a short one. Usually Laowai chose to walk the distance, prefering to take the few days it took to collect his thoughts and enjoy the journey.
This time however he had opted for a shuttle, not knowing how Zarita would have held up on a trek of such a length, as it was, she had fallen asleep in the shuttle and as it touched down a short distance from his cabin he woke her gently.

She had only been on Crete for a few days and they had spent the time secluded in his Hangar while he organised some paperwork to have her registered with the local Corsair authorities. Using his influence he had had her included on a local census that had taken place prior to her arrival. Corsair security was known to be suspicious of people who just "Showed up" on Crete, usually these individuals underwent a vigorous questioning regime and were subjected to scrutinity and more often than not, surveillance. None of this could be allowed to apply to Zarita, and being the wife of an Elder, she was able to fit within some of the few loopholes that Elders could use to thier benefit. His suddenly showing up with a wife had indeed raised a few eyebrows among those who knew him well enough to know, but they also knew well enough not to ask.

The Shuttle lifted off again, casting clouds of dust around them as they gathered up their packs and supplies and walked the remaning distance to the cabin. Zarita shouldered her pack with little to no effort, something that caused Ben to raise an eyebrow. He had noticed over the last few days that while she looked as she always had, she seemed to posses a physical strength that belied her size. For her part, she wasnt aware of it, and had only barely noticed, claiming, rightly so, that it had been so long since she had physically lifted anything that she had no idea what her strength had used to be, much less what it was now in her new form.

By the time they had unpacked and given the cabin a brief clean to make it slightly more habitable the sun was beginning to set and they sat outside on the balcony together, watching the flaming orange colour show as it gradually decended into the Cretian sky.

"Its really beautiful here" Zarita said "I mean, i know it, ive seen it in my thoughts, but its so much more vivid when i see it like this."

She had said many things like this over the last few days. She had known her way around his hangar like she had been there her whole life, she had had to catch herself several times to prevent herself addressing members of his crew by their first names, and on one occasion had inquired about one of his Navigators wives by name, causing a small amount of confusion in the man who wondered how this woman who he had never met seemed to know so much about him and his family.
On the whole though, they had remained alone, keeping quiet and marvelling in the fact that they were physically close again, with no deadlines, no 6 month intervals. Things were different in some ways, there was no way to share their thoughts as they had, at least not as easily - They had tried using their crystals at one point, but the moment Zarita had touched it she had sent her husband sprawling to the floor, grasping his head in pain.
Best not do that for now - they had thought, best take small steps before they started to run.

"Ill need to go and hunt us something to eat" Ben said, breaking the silence. She stirred beside him and yawned, "I should go now before the light goes completly, Slouchers are quite hard to track at the best of times, and they'll be out now".
She sat up and stretched, "Dont worry" She said, smiling at him "There are two of them a few hundred metres that way" gesturing in the direction of the small creek that ran nearby.
"How do you know that"? he asked, a slight look of concern crossing his face.

She hesitated a moment; "I Dont know,.... i can just.... feel them". She took his hand, "I can feel... lots of things, the Slouchers by the creek, the nest of native eagles in the tree behind the cabin, the rats that live underneath it....".
"Rats?!" Ben said, surprised, "Ill have to set some baits!"

They chuckled and she continued "Its so strange Ben, this happened on Tangier, and its just gotten stronger, its like... i feel.... presence, life... something around me.... I could feel your crew when we were in your Hangar, i could feel the people outside my cell on Tripoli...."

There was so much they didnt understand. He tried to reassure her, telling her that everything they knew about the Nomad species pointed that they possesed what humans would call "extra sensory" abilities, she was bound to manifest them in some way. This seemed to comfort her somewhat, and yet at the mention of their name "the Nomads" She had visibly tensed, he didnt need to have any kind of telepathy to know the idea of them seemed to chill her to the bone.
"Ive had... dreams" She had told him, "Im not alone in them, its like there is something out there, waiting, something watching.... its light and dark at the same time, sometimes, its like a distant singing that seems to hover around, just outside earshot, i only get fragments of it... it scares me and i want to wake up".

He didnt say anything to her about this, but this did concern him - There was nothing he wouldnt do to protect this woman, and all he could do was reassure her. He had no idea whether there were Nomads on Crete, one thing was for certain however, if there were, she would no doubt feel it the moment any of them came near her.


Sure enough, he had found a Sloucher down by the creek, and after shooting it, he returned to the cabin, skinned and gutted it and carved it up into storable amounts. That night, they ate a hearty meal and retired early, laying close together in the small cot he had made, drifting off to a quiet, peaceful and contented sleep.

See the life that was, you can feel it, they are above you, majestic and powerful and yet so innocent - Remember on Tangier, watching them swoop and dive, if they could express emotion in a way you could've understood it would have been joy, sheer joy. You always wanted to be able to do that, do be like them and fly, imagine the freedom of it... imagine... imagine......


He was startled awake by a loud shattering sound and the sound of falling equipment, plates and untensils, broken glass spread out across the floor. Zarita was gone and he heard a loud and pained thud from outside the cabin.
He jumped up, grabbing a blaster from the side of the bed and bolted out the door. "Zarita"!!! He screamed. Dashing off the porch he shone his flashlight around and underneath the broken window he saw her, struggling on the ground, thrashing wildly as if she was trying to fight something off, dust kicked up and there was a flash of large dark feathers in the light, which quickly disapeared as she rolled over again.

"AAArrrghhh!!! my god!!! whatss happpening to me!!!! " her wail shattering the silence of the night around them. Thinking she must have run afoul of one of the game birds that nested nearby Ben dashed to her side and gripped her shoulders, "Zarita its ok, its ok im here.. its ok, its...." He turned her over and then leapt back in shock - There, where her left arm should've been, thrashing around in the dust; was a mass of feathers and barely formed flesh, still shifting, looking for all the world like some kind of molten metal trying to fit into a mould.
Complete terror filled her eyes - "Ben!!! what is it? whats it....."

He moved to try and steady her and she thrashed at her arm again, the feathery wing shape suddenly vanishing to be replaced by a morphous blue mass that whipped around quickly before shifting itself back into the shape of a human arm.

She was sitting in the dust, looking in terror at what now was a regular looking arm.... she looked up at him and her face broke and she burst into terrified tears. "Its ok! its ok, its stopped now" He knelt beside her, pressing her face against his chest. She sobbed uncontrollably, her body shaking and trembling. He rocked her against him, "its ok, im here... i wont let anything happen to you ...."
He knew he meant those words, and yet, far down in his instinct, he knew he was dealing with something here that he only barely understood, if at all.

She looked up at him, tears streaking dark dirty marks down her dust covered face. "Ben... I... I didnt do it, It.... just.... What have we done?"

He picked her up, cradling her against him he carried her, still sobbing back into the cabin. "We'll be ok" he said "We just need to take this one step at a time, this is new, this is going to happen, but we can do this...."
He could feel her nodding against him, and he felt an outpouring of love for this woman, he could only imagine the fear she must be feeling and for a moment he felt tremendous guilt at this; This had been his idea, it had been his plan to do this, but yet it is her now that has to bear the ordeal.... She was so courageous and in that moment he felt completely unworthy of her ordeal and her courage.
He scowled and then sitting her down on the bed he knelt before her. Taking her hands in his he looked up and into her eyes "Nothing will happen to you, and I will do everything in my power to go through this with you, to understand it and help you control it - Zarita, you CAN control this.... ".

She leaned down and placed her forhead against his "I... know, im just afraid, i dont know what I am....."

Looking up, he kissed her gently on the forhead, "You're my wife, nothing can change that".

A little smile crossed her face, which broadened into a grin when she saw his own smile break.

"Come on" he said, "Lets get this dust off you and get back to bed.... "

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