Page 21 of No Strings Attached

She was thinking a little early Elton John might be nice. Easy for duets and very melodic.

Violet awoke on her folded blanket pad to Kompi singing, “Tiny Dancer,” and felt a powerful wave of the melancholiest feeling she’d ever experienced. She didn’t have a word for it; the closest approximation she could make waslonely lostness. That was close. Lostness. She lay still on her blanket pad and allowed a few tears to leak out of her eyes while listening to Kompi finish the song. But she didn’t let her face screw up, or sniffle, or sob. Just those few tears. She could not afford to experience or indulge these feelings in any way. She could not give in to them, because people were counting on her.

With her back still to everyone else, she wiped the tears from her eyes and opened them, then got up and sat back on her knees, joining Kompi for “Rocket Man.” The lyrics wanted to pull her deeper into her malaise, but the singing together with Kompi—and both of them doing it for Malachite, to keep him alive—countered the urge just enough.

She didn’t know what time it was and had no real way of knowing, but somehow she felt very strongly that Bobby was inthe control room already, watching her and listening to them sing. She could just feel it to be true.

Bobby entered the room a few minutes later, pushing the cart with the food sacks in front of him. His eyes lit up, and he smiled at her as he said, “I heard about your bargain with Qlu.” He began to move down the opposite row, making a bag bowl for the snake and then simply handing everyone their bag instead of using the maximum-security broomstick method. He continued, “I’m glad that today was a little more comfortable for all of you, with the extra food, and blankets, and heat.”

Vi watched him stick his arm fearlessly into each cage, stopping at Malachite’s.

Vi said, “His ration goes to Acken.”

Bobby turned around and trotted it back to the Estranian, then tended to her row, finishing up by handing bags into Mister Beastly’s cage, then hers. She wondered if he was conscious of how much trust he was showing everyone. She thought about him: quick to trust but also accepting of abuse. She’d maybe have to watch out for him, watch his back, a little extra.

She took a small handful of kibble from her bag, grimaced, and ate it. She didn’t honestly think she’d be able to choke another bite down, so she handed the rest of the bag to Mister Beastly. He had already finished his own.

Bobby scowled a little at her, with downturned whiskers. It was…it was…it was utterly fucking adorable, is what it was. She looked away.

“You’re not hungry?”

“I’m plenty hungry. I just can’t choke down more of that shit without gagging. I’m eating enough to keep me alive, don’t worry about it. Especially now that my body doesn’t have to work so hard to stay warm. When is Trak coming?”

At that, the door burst open and a squad of ten Trallians filled the entryway, all carrying shock sticks. Everyone froze.

The foremost Trallian pointed at Bobby and said, “You! Open the cage. Qlu wants her taken to his quarters.”

Vi yelled, “Fuck that!” Then she backed as far into the cage as she could. She pressed up against the side of Mister Beastly’s cage and he went to her, one hand wrapped around her waist and one hand ready for slashing.

The Trallian in charge pushed Bobby from behind with his shock stick and bellowed, “Open, now!”

Bobby stood frozen, eyes locked on Vi and blinking fast. Then he transformed. Completely. His shoulders sagged, he reached for a bar on her cage door to brace himself, and he let his head drop. The weary, cynical voice that came from him when he spoke was almost a perfect imitation of Trak.

“Sure, I open it up. And then you’re going to, what? Just go in and grab her? Out of the Garoxian’s arms?” He laughed. “Nice knowing you.”

“What’s your name?”

“Bobby.”

“You have a better idea,runt?”

“Maybe. But I’d rather see your plan in action. Anyway, cleaning the chunks of you off the floor will be an entertaining way of finishing up my watch.” He turned to face the squad leader and leaned casually against Vi’s cage, arms crossed and smiling. “Ready?”

“No.” He waved the shock stick, “You will tell me your plan. NOW!”

“I don’t have a specific plan. But I’ve earned some trust from her.Iwas the one who got the translator in her. Let me go in and coax her out.”

“Coax…her…out?”

Bobby looked around in disgust, “Did none of you ever tame a wild thark in your youth on Trallia? Just stay back and don’t approach the cage,no matter what happens.”

Bobby eyes locked on Vi as he placed his hand on the scanner, then pulled open the cage doors. He approached her exactly like a wild, unpredictable beast, with his left hand stretched out and slow steps forward. But he also gave her a small, crooked smile to show her—she hoped—that his act had a point. When he got close enough, he put his right hand on Mister Beastly’s forearm and took her right hand in his left. The entire squad of Trallians behind him gasped. Bobby gave Mister Beastly’s arm two pats and Vi felt his arm loosen around her waist. At the same time, Bobby whispered, “Come forward to me,” only loud enough for her to hear it.

Vi came forward and Bobby gently pulled her hand, until she was close enough to feel his fur against what skin she still had exposed by the blanket dress. He took his right hand from Mister Beastly’s arm and began to stroke her hair, like petting a cat. He leaned in close on her other side so that he could whisper.

“Even if we both fought right now, I’d end up dead on this floor and you’d still end up in Qlu’s quarters, anyway. At least this way, I can come in there with you. If we need to fight against whatever he’s planning for you, and die fighting, we will. But let’s not die fighting unnecessarily.” She looked up into his amber eyes and saw that he meant it; he would fight and die alongside her. Something in her welled up.

She nodded almost imperceptibly, afraid to speak. Then she was surprised as Bobby wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace that she immediately responded to, pressing her face into his furry chest and sliding her hands through the fur on his back in an almost desperate clutch. She let out a choked sob, and she could feel something in her wanting to break loose, to fly around inside her and smash down all her barrier walls in response to his embrace, but she nailed it back down. There was a flood of fury, and terror, andlostnesscoming for her at somepoint, but it couldn’t be now. So, she relaxed her hold on him and got hold of herself.

---