Kalan trailed after the enormous Tessan, who guided them into a living room. He knew what to expect and what not to expect from previous visits. There were a pair of small couches and a chair arranged around a small table. The furniture was simple and held a clean elegance so subtle that it made Kalan nervous to sit on them. He feared he might bring down their value through simple proximity. There were equally elegant cabinets scattered throughout the space. They held small curiosities from dozens of worlds. Treasures from Estra’s earlier life as a humble freighter ship captain or so she said. Estra could talk at length about each curiosity and the world it came from. Kalan had seen her do it.

Yet, for all the care and attention the home received, there was a vaguely antiseptic quality to the place that almost tripped Kalan’s sense of danger. That feeling never quite manifested as a real concern, but it rubbed uncomfortable close. It had taken several visits before Kalan was able to pinpoint the problem. There were no pictures in the place. There were paintings and more than a few tiny sculptures among Estra’s collection, but not one solitary picture of an aged parent, a child, or even a distant niece or nephew. Kalan had the distinct impression that if he were to search the place for some unfathomable reason, he’d find nothing that personally identified either Estra or Tessan.

What he couldn’t understand was why. They’d been living on the station since he arrived and got on well with most of the people they knew. At least, they did as far as Kalan was aware of at any rate. He hadn’t pried into their affairs, though. They’d treated him fairly whenever their paths crossed in the early days. In the last two years, Estra had given him a lot of work and quietly encouraged others to do so. He knew she’d deny doing any such thing, but people had made a point of letting Kalan know that he had someone looking out for him. He respected and liked them both. So, he held his curiosity firmly in check. They had a right to their privacy.

Tessan dropped onto one of the couches and waved his hand at the other one. Kalan sat down. He reached out and set the bottle of wine on the small table. Tessan peered at it in evident interest before leaning forward and picking up the bottle. The big man read the label and shot Kalan a smile.

“Oh, you’re too good to a tired old man, son.”

Kalan lifted an eyebrow. “Old?”

“Oh yes, terribly, horrendously old, my boy. Just look at this goatee,” said Tessan, gently stroking the facial hair. “It’s more gray than anything now. I’ll turn around twice and the blasted thing will turn silver on me.”

“It just makes you look distinguished.”

Tessan snorted. “That’s for politicians and actors. It’s just a sign that you’re old for the rest of us.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Kalan said. “Is there something we should be helping do for dinner?”

Tessan’s head shook back and forth aggressively. “Destruction lies that way, boy. Estra threw me out of the kitchen twenty minutes ago. The hard part is over now, anyway. It’s mostly just stirring things at this point.”

“Fair enough.”

Tessan reluctantly set the bottle down. “She’ll kill me if I open it without her.”

“Can’t have that now, can we?”

“Heaven’s no. I’m far too handsome to go out that way. No, I’ll go out in a glorious blaze of historic importance. Women will weep for my passing. Children will hear stories of my gallant end and aspire to one day rise to the level of Sir Tessan of Cobalt 7, Galactic Hero.”

“Do we have knighthood’s here?”

“We will after my tragic passing. They’ll institute it just so they can grant it to me posthumously.”

“It’s always good to have a plan.”

“Indeed it is,” said Tessan, giving Kalan a speculative look. “Estra tells me you’re headed back out, what, tomorrow is it?”

“Maybe tomorrow. Next day more likely,” said Kalan. “I took on a new crew member. Not even sure she has a bank account, so there may be some headaches on that front.”

“A new crew member? You? Really?”

“You sound shocked.”

“No, no, dear boy. The word you were looking for was dumbfounded. Perhaps, flabbergasted or stupefied. Astounded. Stunned. Astonished,” Tessan took a breath as though he would continue.

“Yes, alright. I suppose it’s not exactly in character for me,” answered Kalan, feeling a little sheepish.

“I suppose there’s some story there. You said, ‘she,’ so I suppose she was the damsel in some kind of nefarious distress, and you were the gallant captain who swept in and saved the day. No doubt setting her heart ablaze with unspoken yearning for you.”

Kalan blinked at that last. “What have you been reading lately, Tessan?”

Tessan barked out a laugh. “Oh, I don’t even know. Estra came across a batch of old books from somewhere. I’ve been leafing through a few of them.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Lots of heroic rescues and unspoken yearning in them?”

“A higher than average occurrence of both, yes. Still, whatever made you decide to take this mysterious woman on as crew?”

“Girl is more like it. She,” Kalan paused. “I’ll tell you both the whole story over dinner. Otherwise, I’ll just end up telling it twice.”

“Fair. Where are you headed next in your relentless quest to put every other captain out of business?”

“Ariadne Base.”

Tessan lifted an eyebrow. “That’s right out on the edge of civilization. What in the gods’ names could you possibly be taking out there to make the trip worth it.”

“Medicine,” said Kalan, suddenly serious. “It’s a government job for the Kessellians. They’ve got something going around out there that nobody expected. It’s treatable, apparently. Since nobody predicted it and it’s a government base, the authorities are stepping in to fix the problem.”

Tessan stared off into the distance for a few moments. “I suppose they’d have to, at that. Can’t build the place and then let everyone die off from something treatable. They’d never be able to staff another base again.”

Kalan nodded. “That was my read, as well. Besides, I don’t mind the occasional humanitarian mission.”

“Don’t tell me you gave them a discount,” said Tessan, looking aghast.

“I might have if they’d asked. They didn’t.”

“Small mercy, that.”

Tessan looked like he might say more, but Estra stepped into the room wearing a cook’s apron. Kalan thought it ought to look incongruous on her, but it didn’t. She leaned down and kissed the top of Tessan’s head. He smiled up at her with affection dancing in his eyes. Kalan wondered what that would be like, but a bit of grim realism told him that kind of relationship probably wasn’t on the table for him. Estra spotted the bottle on the table and picked it up. She quirked an eyebrow up in Kalan’s direction.

“To go with dinner,” he said. “I thought you’d like it.”

She gave him a cheerful smile. “You thought right. You’re a dear man, Kalan. Thinking of us old people and our need for excellent wine.”

“You and Tessan with your old talk. I suspect you’ve both got a lot more life left in you than you pretend.”

“Tessan, dear,” said Estra, still considering the wine, “I do believe young Kalan has seen through our ploy. Whatever shall we do now that he’s found us out?”

“I suppose,” Tessan answered thoughtfully, “that we’ll have to bribe him with food to keep the secret.”

“Maybe. We could always just,” she slid her thumb across her neck.

“And after he brought us wine,” said Tessan in mock indignation. “Have you no shame, woman?”

“Not especially. I’ve never really seen the percentages in it. Still, looks like you’ve had another narrow escape, Kalan. I imagine the Bekanin Shades are rather cross with you.”

Kalan smiled. “It looks that way.”

“Come along you two, the food is ready.”

Once they settled around the table, Tessan cracked open the wine and poured glasses for himself and Estra. Kalan waved him off.

“Too dry for me,” he said.

“Too dry,” scoffed Tessan. “Too dry, he says. As if such a thing could even exist. Kalan, I can’t help feeling that I’ve failed you in some fundamental and unforgivable way.”

“We just got to him too late, dear,” said Estra.

Tessan gave a sad nod. “Yes, that’s the only explanation.”

Kalan gave the two a gentle smile, amused by their banter. The banter died away as they began passing the dishes around. Kalan was only familiar with about half of the food served. He poked dubiously at the pale meat on his plate and asked what it was. Estra said it was something called chicken. He thought he recalled hearing something about those on colony worlds. He was pretty sure they were some kind of pet. He supposed different worlds treated animals in different ways. He tasted a bit of the meat and paused. He’d tasted meat like it before on his home world. Rokan. That’s what it tasted like. But, supposedly, everything tasted like those odd little quadrupeds that you could only find out in the grasslands. Kalan wondered if the similarity between rokan and chicken constituted proof.

As the meal wound down, Tessan prompted him to tell the tale of his taking on a new crew member. Estra didn’t go on about it, but she did look faintly startled. He started from the beginning and told them most of it. He did leave out the bit regarding Monsell’s family. He was sure that Tessan and Estra would keep it to themselves if he did, but he’d given his word. After he finished, the couple sat in silence before giving each other serious looks. The silence made Kalan uncomfortable after it dragged out for longer than seemed necessary.

“Honestly,” he said, “I was surprised he went along with it.”

Estra shook her head. “I’m not. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t worked out who you really are by now. He doesn’t want an avoidable war with an acolyte of the Great Temple.”

“I’m not an acolyte,” barked Kalan, harsh enough that Estra and Tessan both jumped a little.

Kalan took a couple of deep breaths, struggling to regain his abruptly shattered composure. It’d been years since anyone had called him an acolyte. It was a title he no longer deserved. It didn’t excuse his outburst though.

He raised a hand in quiet apology. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t call me that, though. I was, I’m, it’s not appropriate. Say that in front of the wrong ears and it could cost you your lives. How did you even know? I never told anyone where I came from.”

Estra gave him a sympathetic look. “It’s the sword. You keep the hilt covered now, but you didn’t when you first came to the station. I recognized it. Odds are good that reptile Monsell did too, eventually.”

Kalan gave Estra a long, measured look. Just when or how would she have had an opportunity to see a sword like his before? When his people left the home world, it was for a few, very particular kinds of work. Not the kinds of work that would let them cross paths with a simple freighter captain. Estra seemed to realize that she’d said too much and made a show of clearing the table. Just how much didn’t he know about her? He tucked that question away for later consideration as Tessan led him back into the living room.

“Kalan, what do you have on after the Ariadne run?”

Kalan gave it a moment of consideration. “I’ve had some inquiries, but nothing that’s fixed in stone yet. Why?”

Tessan seemed deep in thought as he answered. “I’d like to hire you.”

“Hire me? I thought Estra was the businesswoman in the family.”

“Oh, she is, my boy,” said Tessan, coming back to himself. “I need a courier, really. I have something I’d like delivered to a friend on Hasen 5. Since you’re already passing that way, though, I thought you might not mind the detour and some extra credits.”

Kalan gave Tessan a stern look. “Standard courier rates.”

Tessan beamed at him. “Now you’re learning. Standard rates.”

“What it is?”

“Just a data crystal. It’s got some old files on it from our misspent youth that he might find interesting.”

It sounded simple enough to Kalan, and he was headed to the right general area. “Sure, I can make a quick detour on the way back. Assuming that’s acceptable?”

“Yes, yes, that should be fine. There’s no rush.”