There was a moment of hesitation. The waitress’ incredibly polite notification that an emergency medical team had been called, coupled with Kaleta’s obvious anguish in the next room, was a bit more dissonant than anyone was really prepared for. Neya moved first, the waitress dancing out of her way as she scrambled for the door, her anger forgotten as she rushed to help someone she still considered a friend.
Alex let everyone else go ahead of him. Carbon and Eleya both knew her as well as Neya, and none of them had threatened her in the last half-hour or so, which he was starting to feel a little guilty about. Just a little. Even if he hadn’t done that, he expected that his presence probably wouldn’t help Kaleta much.
He was still going to follow, of course. A mix of curiosity about what the hell was going on, and plainly not trusting Kaleta. She had willingly acted as Sharadi to lead a botched abduction after all, which she could have just not done according to Eleya. But first, a little information gathering of his own. He peeked into the dining room, Kaleta sitting on the floor leaning on a chair, still ‘out of sorts’ but surrounded by people that cared about her.
Okay, Eleya did look annoyed, but had positioned herself where it wasn’t obvious to the one having the breakdown.
“Pardon.” Alex paused, about to cue up a nice, formal sounding question when he noticed the waitress had a translator clipped to her belt, black to match her uniform. Well, that was a nice change. “May I ask, what happened?”
“Of course, Prince.” She turned to him, sharp brown eyes meeting his. “She had started drinking wine, and went through a few glasses... quickly. I suggested a light hors d'oeuvres, she agreed, and when I stepped out to get that she acquired a bottle of lacan from the cabinet and started drinking it.”
That was the stuff that he and Carbon had been drinking on the Kshlav’o, shortly before... a variety of things happened between them. Very strong. Whatever else was in it did a great job at masking that, like it had been made to get people shitfaced at an alarming speed. “That is not great.”
“No. She drank part of the bottle while I was out of the room but slowed down when I returned. She had been quiet before, contemplative. Her mood turned morose after that.” Very matter of fact delivery here, but she seemed to be used to dealing with people that had titles and power. “I was concerned about the amount of alcohol being consumed by one person so quickly, though we have had guests who can tolerate that. It quickly became clear she was not so inclined. I notified the floor boss to summon medical, and then notified the host.”
“Well, thank you. Gets things a bit more clear.” He gave her a short bow and joined the rest of his family. Kaleta was stretched out on the floor now, staring at the ceiling with her head resting in Carbon’s lap. Neya was crouched beside them, tail wrapped around her feet, the three of them talking quietly. Kaleta at least seemed to be more composed, though a fearful glance was cast his way when she noticed him walk in.
He ignored that. Gave Carbon a smile when she looked over and skirted around the table to go visit Eleya, seated out of sight across the table from them and already working on a glass of wine. “Waitress said she drank a bunch of lacan." He said helpfully as he took the seat with his name on the place setting, clockwise down from Eleya and separating her from Carbon. There was also half a bottle of it still uncorked by where Kaleta had been sitting, which made things pretty obvious. It had the same hexagonal-shaped bottle he was familiar with, the same pale green glass, but appeared to be smaller. Maybe five or six hundred milliliters. Their server had followed him into the dining room, and after decanting him a glass of wine, took the bottle and all of the alcoholic beverage related glasses from Kaleta’s place setting.
“So it is.” She still looked miffed as she slid the plate of appetizers over to him, keeping her voice low so they would not be easily overheard. “Sounds as though she regrets that she allowed herself to be carried away by something that would end up doing harm to those she cares about. Extinguishing her shame with alcohol was unsuccessful.”
“Oh really.” He perused the selection, a neatly arranged array of cured meats and vegetables, both fresh and pickled. Thin ribbons of flatbread. Reminded him of antipasto, more than anything, and he recognized maybe three things on the platter. One of which was little raw shreds of that awful cabbage-potato. He had just opened his mouth to speak when the EMT’s arrived, hustling over to where Kaleta was still laid out. He waited until they were actually working on her to continue. “Who could have foreseen that outcome?”
The corner of Eleya’s mouth quirked up for a moment, accompanied by a very quiet, very brief chuckle. “Who indeed? It appears that some less critical faces have improved the situation. She needs those connections, they are as important for her soul as they are for our ends. Those two will be upset with her, likely for some time. This is fine, it is the way of family that favor will ebb and flow. We will see to it that our boats are not left in the mud.”
“I don’t get that one.” He picked up a tiny little fork and laid a few slices of what was effectively an olive the size of a peach onto a piece of bread and topped it with what was definitely some kind of cured sausage. “The mud thing. I assume it’s bad?” Sounded bad. Who wants a muddy boat?
“When the tide goes out, you do not just let the boats come to rest on the mud of the bay at random. You tend to them so the keel does not get stuck, or other damage befall it. You put in effort, like a relationship that you wish to last.” She gave him a curious look. “I know your people sailed, you live on the coasts. How do you not know that?”
“I’ve never been on a boat. Like a real one on the water. I grew up looking at the bay, sure, but we were still kilometers away from it.” He shrugged and popped the little open faced sandwich into his mouth. The sausage was actually pretty good. Probably Rakaro meat, heavily spiced. Nice heat to it. “So no, didn’t make it into the lexicon. Not to say we don’t have nautical references. Rising tide lifts all boats, liking the cut of someone’s jib... I can probably think of a few more if you want.”
Eleya shook her head, pondering what he’d said. “I am sure I will be fine.”
They sat there in silence, listening to the medics talking to Kaleta. She relayed almost exactly what they’d ascertained through other means, though it was distinctly sanitized. She had merely been drinking excessively because of personal troubles, and was overcome by grief. The two EMT’s both commiserated with her, understanding how things can spiral out of control while advising her that this should be considered a warning about her alcohol consumption. It sounded like this was a common occurrence for them.
There was a lot of pain to go around, even if you weren’t party to the attempted kidnapping of your sort-of daughter’s Husband.
They gave her a wide spectrum anti-intoxication injection and helped her to her feet, one of them handing her an actual printed card and again advising that she should be careful with alcohol, that there were people who could help with the challenges of uncontrolled excessive use. Sounded like a very gentle way of saying ‘we think you’re an alcoholic, please get help’ to Alex.
Kaleta bristled at that insinuation, but she was the one who didn’t want to talk about why she’d chugged half a bottle of hard alcohol. Not that she was going to be having a choice in the matter after everyone was seated.
Which was just about now. The medical team packed up their bag and departed with a particularly deep bow aimed at everybody in the room. Carbon immediately hugged Kaleta, squeezing her so hard she grunted - that look of fear came back, too. Tail stiffened and antenna raised, fully expecting this to be a reprisal for the events of the afternoon.
All she got was reunited with someone who had desperately missed her and the echoes of those she now carried. “It has been too long, Kaleta. So much has changed, but so little is different.” Carbon held her hands and smiled, genuine and earnest, despite the news of what she had involved herself in.
Alex understood it. That was someone who was parent-adjacent to her, and carried facets of her mother and Erai, who Carbon had spoken well of in the past. Yes, even her father, despite being on his shit list, Sharadi was still important to her. There was more than just one person wrapped up in Kaleta. All of that made this situation a lot worse for her.
That was fine by him.
Kaleta hesitated, her body staying stiff as anxiety swept in to take the place of the fear that Carbon had just dispelled. “So much is different. You look h-” The corners of her mouth twisted down and quivered, lips pulled tight as her voice hitched. She swallowed another sob and sniffed. “You look happy. It has been too long since...”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Carbon patted her shoulder and gestured to her seat, allowing that sentence to simply not be finished. She knew exactly what Kaleta meant. Everybody at that table did. Even Alex, who hadn’t known her for very long comparatively, remembered how cold she had been the first time they had met. The severe look that hadn’t left her face for weeks, only giving way to a sort of professional indifference.
She almost always looked happy, recently. Even now, though her façade faltered as Kaleta turned away, sadness creeping in around her eyes.
Kaleta took her seat, as did Carbon and Neya. The waitress returned from standing so still in the background that Alex had forgotten about her, decanting wine for everyone but Kaleta as they sat at their assigned seats. Eleya gave her a little gesture, a simple swipe of the fingers, to indicate that the first course should be brought.
It was that green space crab soup they had at the first state dinner, though this time it came in a more conventional bowl. A particular quiet had fallen over the table, no one wanting to start talking first. Alex suspected Eleya was waiting on him. She’d never had trouble kicking things off before, and he needed to be crafted into a better, more functional Prince. Alright, he could do this. Where could he start a conversation that was going to be moving them towards their goal of swaying Kaleta to their point of view? Maybe something that was actually of interest to him, that he could have useful input on. “So, I’ve heard you’ve been out working with the new colonies. Must be kind of exciting, out on the frontier pushing the boundaries of the Empire.”
“It is not. Life there is difficult and hardship is all but guaranteed.” Kaleta was still a bit chilly, but at least she was talking to Alex now even if she never looked directly at him. “There are threats there that arise almost daily.”
“I suppose that is a rather Human way to look at things.” The soup was good, but eating it was annoying while he was missing so many teeth. Eating anything was probably going to be annoying. At least he was up to his eyeballs in painkillers thanks to the akimbo patches he had slapped on, which seemed to be taking the edge off of everything. “I hope that things are at least improving?”
She stirred her bowl, her dislike of having to talk to him starting to surface. “Slowly.”
“Better than the alternative.” Never hurt to look on the bright side, right?
Kaleta made a disgruntled noise and set her spoon down. For a moment it looked like she was just going to leave, until Eleya cleared her throat. Wide violet eyes swiveled towards the Empress, catching the harsh glare directed her way. The look was sharp and subtle, barely extending past her eyes, carrying a promise to make good on Alex’s threat.
Neya hadn’t spoken at all since the medical team had left, but the scorn radiating from her was palpable. Those two shared a home, a history, a way of life that had been all but wiped away. No longer concerned about Kaleta’s immediate well-being, her disdain for the actions her fellow Zeshen had taken were allowed to run free.
Faced with that much disapproval, she thought better of it and stayed put. Instead of leaving she picked her spoon up and arranged it across the top of the bowl to indicate that she did not wish to eat any more. Her reply was terse and this time directed more towards the table than Alex. “It could be worse.”
Carbon sighed, not oblivious to what was going on around her. “I understand there has been some resistance to using supplies donated by the Confederation.”
“There has.” She at least looked in Carbon’s direction, even if she didn’t seem to be up to making eye contact right now. “The refugees can hardly be blamed, everything is so very strange.”
“You make it sound like they’re aliens or something.” Alex got a smile out of his joke as he took a sip of wine, then realized he probably shouldn’t be drinking alcohol while otherwise medicated. Shit. Too late now.
“They are aliens.” She didn’t appreciate his humor. Nobody at the table had, really, so she wasn’t alone this time. Kaleta glared at him. “You are an alien.”
Oh, that’s what it took to get her to actually engage? “Just saying, everything was new. Maybe not fresh out of the factory, but it was all unused.” He had skimmed a partially redacted report about the aid mobilization while preparing for the Kshlav’o expedition. Most of it was old stock that had been filling out disaster response warehouses. Prefab housing, humanitarian rations, basic food and water dispensers, heavy equipment, tools, construction drones, palletized vehicles of all sorts. Things you could house and feed a refugee with, then build an actual place for them to live. That was just the prepackaged stuff, too. Sitting in containers ready to be slapped into a Trailblazer.
She scoffed. “They have tiny square domiciles. Most of the structures did not even include plumbing, or cooking areas. That is hardly useful.”
“Yeah, it’s called the Emergency Modular Housing System to clearly describe what it does. You know, emergency housing.” Alex got very close to taking a snide shot at her, nearly dropping a little ‘for when your planet explodes and kills your family’ as an example. He’d be damned if he was going to be the one being that mean in front of a bunch of people who didn’t deserve to hear something vile come out of his mouth.
He mentally skimmed what he remembered about how an EMSH worked. Prefabbed units clicking together like toys to create an apartment complex. “It’s about giving people a temporary, secure place to rest. Each housing block only has one kitchen unit and one washroom unit. Because, you know, emergency versus permanent.” He switched to water, taking a drink to give himself a moment to cool down, annoyed by how flippant her response was. “Yeah, not having a bathroom en suite is inconvenient, but it sure as hell beats living under a tarp until a real building gets made.”
Kaleta stared at him, eyes narrow as a scowl darkened her face. “What do you know of the situation on the frontier? How many of our planets cannot support such a fragile system?”
“I don’t know shit about the frontier! I’ve been doing this for like a week. I do know the EMSH was proofed on Venus.” That didn’t mean anything to anyone else at the table. “The surface of that planet is like being in an acid storm at the bottom of an ocean that’s hot enough to melt lead. If you had read the documentation, you’d know that it’s perfectly capable of operating on most grade one, two, and three planets, and even on moons.”
“The frontier settlements overwhelmingly fall into grade one or two by the Human measurement.” Eleya added, a spoonful of soup poised in front of her. “Several are moons.”
“Well there we go.” Alex gritted his teeth, what were left of them anyway, and exhaled slowly. “And just so we’re clear, I don’t expect you to know this. It isn’t your job. I sure as hell expect Sharadi to know, though. He’s involved in distributing these supplies, correct?”
“He is, yes.” That scowl was still there, but it was twisting, giving way as the anxiety started to work its way back in.
“He knew about how the EMSH works, right? You’re just pushing my buttons when you say this because you don’t like me. Right? You’re trying to piss me off.” For fucks sake, if they were denying people housing because somebody didn’t read a manual... “I can understand that.”
“I do not know.”
That was unsatisfying. “So which is it? Are they too strange, too fragile, or you don’t know?”
“I do not know!” She snapped at him, mad again, but the intensity had flared. It wasn’t about just him being a Human, or being involved with Carbon. There was something deeper at play here. “I do not know what Sharadi does anymore!”
The table went silent, everyone focused on her.
Carbon spoke, voice soft and concerned. “What do you mean, Kaleta?”
“He has...” She stopped and glared at Alex again, jaw set for a moment before she turned back to Carbon. “He has withdrawn himself from me. We do not link anymore, and have not for some time. Primarily I perform secretarial duties, and rarely represent him.”
Carbon and Neya exchanged worried glances across the table, and Eleya hissed a curse under her breath at her brother’s actions. Alex was slightly out of the loop here, the exact implication of this withdrawl being lost on him, but those reactions were very clear. “Why the hell did he do that?”
“Shortly after Carbon departed to work on the Kshlav’o, he...” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, working up the courage to divulge this information, specifically avoiding looking at Carbon as she did. “He had a brief dalliance, which he insists was an affair.”
“A dalliance?” Eleya sounded utterly incredulous.
“Yeah, what?” Oh no, dad had a rebound relationship after his wife died. That’s never happened before. He still glanced over at Carbon to check on how she was taking this. If anything, she looked a little less surprised by the news than the rest of them. “People are complex and pain makes us do weird things.”
For the first time, surprise crossed Kaleta’s features at something Alex said. “I told him as much, which was the thing that drove the first wedge.” She had settled a little bit, quiet as she recalled this. “Still, he maintained it was infidelity. He took the loss of Nova very hard, and he has not tried to recover from it. Hiding himself in work and libation as though that could be enough.”
“I’m sorry he’s going through that, and he needs to work on himself.” Alex looked over at Eleya. “You said you were going to get him some help, right? Do you have like... special forces for mental health you could deploy on him?”
“You do not understand.” Kaleta was looking at Alex specifically again, her voice dripping with guilt as she clarified things for everyone. “She was a Human.”