Neirdith exited the refrigeration compartment in the galley with several round bluish mushrooms in her long fingered hands. As she walked back into the main mess hall Seth asked her “What was that?” His eyes a bit wide.

“I told you I would get you back for the roleplay comment didn’t I.” She said sweetly while giving a little twirl and touching his shoulder with her tail..

Seth’s face went bright red and he was silent for a few moments, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to process this new information. Finally as a look of recognition crossed his face he exclaimed "Holy shit Neirdith, you absolutely destroyed me, I thought you were going to just put capsaicin in my toothpaste again or something like that." He said laughing.

Leaning close to his ear she purred "And what makes you think I still won't." While dragging her tail down his spine.

His back arched reflexively and jumped up from his seat saying "Whoa what has gotten into you? You're acting like some sort of, of…" he trailed off seeing the wide smile on her face. "Ok, that's not funny you know." He grunted, crossing his arms and putting on a frown.

"Oh I don't know, I think it's hilarious. It's also fun." She said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Oh please don't tell me this is going to become a habit of yours, you are acting like a hormone addled teenager you know.” Seth said with a defeated look, though he didn't seem to be all that upset.

“If I didn't know any better I would think you were trying to encourage me.” Neirdith retorted with a sly wink.

Blushing again slightly, Seth quickly stated “Oh, no. I'm just glad that you are having so much fun at my own expense. I mean it's not like you are actually trying anything right?” he said a bit hesitantly.

Stopping herself before she revealed anything, she said “Oh, of course not. I just like finding new ways to torment you.” Giving him what she hoped was a nonchalant look she turned slightly looking at him from the corner of her eye.

As she said that and turned he seemed to slump slightly before straightening again. “Ah, yes. Well please do tone it down slightly, you wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.” and with that he turned and began to walk out, as he reached the door he turned suddenly and upon seeing Neirdith's gaze fixed on him he smiled slightly before exiting the room.

Her head was a whirr of thoughts spurred by this latest interaction. Was it just her imagination or was he actually disappointed that she wasn't coming on to him for real? Not knowing how to take this new information she decided to simply sit and finish her meal. A few tangy nurshtops should help to settle the strange flutterings in her stomach.

The majority of the trip to New Dundas would be rather dull. She decided not to try and mess with Seth for the moment, Neirdith instead poured her focus into teaching Skorr how to speak galactic common.

A few days passed in this manner, Seth would occasionally drop by to check how she was progressing but for the most part stayed in the bridge area monitoring the ships progress. The going was slowed greatly by the extra mass that their warp drive was having to encapsulate, and their fuel was getting dangerously low. Captain Filch assured them that they would be fine, that the ship would reach New Dundas with energy to spare. While she trusted the captain she found it hard not to worry.

Neirdith turned from her thoughts from their somewhat precarious situation and back to the task at hand. Namely teaching a potentially ancient alien cyborg how to use proper syntax.

As Skorr noticed her shivering they reached out their hand to her and rumbled “Neirdith afraid?”

Looking over at Skorr she shook her head and replied “No Skorr, just cold.”

Thinking this over Skorr placed their hand lower and said in broken speech “Come, I hold, protect from cold.”

Wondering in her head what they meant by that she figured the easiest way to find out would be to humor them. Feeling slightly awkward, she climbed onto their massive hand and yelped in surprise as Skorr reached their arm up and placed her on top of their mighty form. It was then that she felt the slight heat emanating from their armoured hull and the concern radiating from their being.

Laying on her front on top of them she let out a sigh as warmth slowly trickled back into her body. Giving a stretch she found her eyes drooping as the warmth permeated her body and the calm devotion saturated her mind. Slowly her eyes closed fully and her breathing became rhythmic as she fell into a deep sleep.

**********

Neirdith shivered, alerting Skorr to a possible threat. “Neirdith afraid?” they asked with concern, while reaching out a protective hand.

Shaking her head, Neirdith replied in her small voice “No Skorr, Just cold.”

Cold, well that was certainly something they could fix, slightly upset that they hadn't noticed her discomfort earlier they lowered their hand saying “Come, I hold, protect from cold.” The alien language felt strange to their voicecasters but not unpleasant.

To their relief Neirdith compiled, climbing into their hand, they felt a pang of alarm from her as they placed her on their top, but it was soon replaced with contentment as the warmth of their body saturated her shivering frame.

Skorr felt rather than saw her breathing become more regular and heavy as the comforting warmth pulled the fatigue from her core. If they could have smiled they would have done so broadly as she drifted off into a comfortable sleep. As her muscles relaxed her tail swung down in front of one of Skorr's eyes and much to their amusement they saw it begin to twitch slightly as she dreamed.

After a while spent in silence so as not to disturb her they noticed with a small amount of trepidation that something didn't seem right. Her tail began to twitch more violently as she began to let out small mewling whimpers. They couldn't see her on top of them as she was, but their sensors could detect the quickly stiffening muscles as she seemed to stir fitfully in her sleep.

Suddenly Neirdith began thrashing as if fighting off a multitude of invisible entities and to Skorr’s horror she slipped and fell. The act of falling seemed to shock her body awake and she twisted slightly in mid air before Skorr was able to scoop her up and slow her tumble, while this prevented a potentially damaging fall they still winced internally as her heavy impact with their hand most likely caused at least some bruising to her fragile body.

As her wild eyes slowed and focused on them she began to cry. Great gut wracking sobs wracked through her as Skorr tried their best to console her with thoughts of calm and peace. Getting an idea from how she had calmed them down when they first met Skorr quickly brought up the memory logs and repeated “It's okay big guy, I'm here it's okay, you don't need to be afraid.” Repeating those same words she had used to comfort them only days before.

It seemed to work as quiet confusion replaced her hurt and a look of puzzlement crossed her face before realizing what they had said. Putting two and two together she seemed to brighten and let out one of her crystal laughs. The sound brought a measure of calm to Skorr’s aching heart and they laughed with her, a deep grating sound reminiscent of waves crashing into cliffs and boulders tumbling down a hill. As her mirth subsided she gave another shudder and murmured something so quiet even their enhanced hearing could not pick it up.

“Friend Neirdith is okay now?” Skorr asked uncertainty, fearful of triggering another of whatever had happened.

“I’m okay now” she told him while giving their form a pat. “It was just a nightmare, and a pretty bad one at that. I must have been more affected by that pirate experience than I thought. I'm okay now Skorr, really.” She said to them as they felt another spike of concern for their new friend. “I just need a few moments to clear my head, I'm going to go find Seth, you will be okay here by yourself for now right?” she asked them with a look that spoke a thousand emotions.

Putting her down Skorr spoke in their grating voice “I watch bad man, Neirdith is okay to speak to friend Seth.” With a thumbs up like she had shown them how to do, Skorr stepped back into position in front of Medrigil’s room and tried to ignore the small figure walking away. She was so small and fragile it hurt them every moment she was out of their sight. But she had asked them to stay, so stay they would, if she willed it they would stay until the end of time.

**********

“Wait wait, slow down. You aren't making any sense, start over from the beginning where you said Skorr picked you up.” Seth said with a gesture to Neirdith to calm down, patting her shoulder comfortingly.

Neirdith paused her verbal assault and took a deep shuddering breath. She had found Seth sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, and no sooner had she gotten his attention than all the dark thoughts in her mind seemed to burst from her mouth in a wave of frantic words.

Feeling a bit more calm she began again. "I was talking with Skorr and started shivering. Skorr said they could protect me from the cold and I will admit, I wasn't exactly sure what they meant. To my surprise they meant literally and as I got onto their hand they picked me up and set me on their head, well upper body. Did you know that they are like a giant space heater?"

"Of course not, but I'm not really surprised. They are part machine after all, they probably have to maintain a stable temperature for their biological components." Seth said matter of factly.

"You're probably right, but anyways, as I was warming up on them I noticed how tired I was because I have been having trouble sleeping lately. And before I knew it I was asleep." Neirdith continued. Seth gave her a dubious look. She shrugged and continued in earnest "What, you have slept in stranger places. As soon as I fell asleep I began to have this strange dream. You know how sometimes a dream can feel real while you are in it?" She asked Seth.

Seth answered "Yeah I had this weird ass dream once where I was being chased by a T-rex. But as it was about to eat me I fell off a cliff. You better believe that it felt real as Luck when it was happening." He said animatedly.

"Well that's just the thing, I knew it was a dream as soon as it started." Neirdith confirmed.

"What, how?" Seth asked, confused.

“I'm not sure, but somehow I knew I was not awake, and I had this feeling like I was being watched. Then everything seemed to focus into a single point of light and rush towards me at incredible speed. Before I could react that point of light touched me and seemed to swell till it was all around me. Then out of the light shapes began to form, strange alien forms that I didn't recognise from anywhere. A sense of wonder filled me and I saw the death of a world, and then it happened…". Neirdith said in a rush. Seth by this point had settled himself in to listen more intently, one arm under his chin and the other resting on the side of the chair.

Hanging on to every detail Seth leaned forwards out of his seat, entirely focused on her voice. "And then what happened?" He asked.

"I saw a world burning below me. And all I could feel was satisfaction, millions were screaming in terror and agony and I laughed. It was horrible but I wasn't able to do anything. Then my view shifted, darkness once again for a moment then another terrible scene. A creature stood before me, shackled and beaten, cowering in terror and again all I could feel was that terrible feeling of satisfaction. Like I was somehow relishing the agony and suffering of the poor thing. And then the worst thing, the sight that made me scream myself awake… I can't." Neirdith said suddenly, shaking her head and holding the base of her horns as if trying to force the memory from her mind.

Standing, Seth walked to her and opened his arms and Neirdith gladly rushed into them crying openly now, clutching his shoulder she heard him murmur into her hair "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I'm sure it was just a bad dream caused by stress."

Pushing away from his chest but not breaking from his arms she said angrily "No, it wasn't a dream. I… I think it was a memory."

Seth looked at her worriedly. His concern showing in the features of his face, his shockingly blue eyes fixated on her. "Wait a minute, the Neirdith I know couldn't do those things, no way." He opened his mouth to continue but she cut him off with a hiss.

"Not my memories Seth, remember, I was laying on Skorr when I fell asleep. I think that those memories were theirs. I’m worried that Skorr may be a monster." She told him with another sob.

"Skorr? But why would they, they have done nothing but help us since we met them. But, the way they killed those pirates does suggest that they are familiar with killing… I hope and plead you are wrong." He told her.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She pushed away from him again, this time breaking from his arms and standing several feet away, her back now turned to him. "Wait Seth, I need to tell you the last part of the dream. The part that makes me worry the most. The part that truly scares me.” She paused, steeling herself.

“I was in a great room, an elevated platform was under me and I was sitting on a throne of dark metal. I felt fear, unreasonable fear. A door opens at the end of the room and silence permeates the atmosphere like a physical force. Then, a thing comes in, made of shifting shadows that look like living smoke or darkness. It has eyes like molten embers, they stare at me with hatred that feels ancient. I want to run, to scream, to die before it can get me but I am paralyzed. I am rooted on the spot and a sense of grim defiance fills me as the fear recedes like a wave.” Neirdith pauses for breath, Seth’s face full of both worry and a little fear.

She continues. “The thing advances to me and stops, it seems to see through me to my very soul. Then it speaks, its voice is pure malice and I discern a name, a name seemingly of such great importance to me that its very utterance nearly strikes me to my knees with fear. It calls me Mathias of Fighstrom, it then condemns me to living eternal torture, saying that everything I had done will crumble to dust before me and I would be powerless to stop it. As it lashed out at me I woke up falling only for Skorr to catch me. I’m afraid of what it means." Neirdith said with heavy heart, her arms wrapped around her core as she once more felt a little sick to her stomach.

"I guess we could ask them right?" Seth offered helpfully before shrugging.

"Ask who, what, the dark thing?" Neirdith shuddered at the thought of meeting such a horror for real.

"No, Skorr, we could ask them about this Mathias person, who they are and if it sounds familiar." Seth said.

"Why does this strike me as a really bad idea?" She asked him, shivering slightly..

"What could happen, it's not like Skorr will turn on us for asking a single question right?" Seth said in his normal cheery manner. "I mean who knows, they might even know what was happening in your dream."

She shook her head, tail twitching as her overloaded mind tried to formulate the potentialities of the situation. "I still have a bad feeling about this… but it's the only way to know for sure."

Nodding to herself she and Seth walked out of the room and down the main corridor towards Skorr. Only their footfalls broke the silence that enveloped them as they walked, she didn't want to speak for fear of what she might say. As they neared Skorr the massive figure noticed them approaching and turned towards them giving one of their raised fist salutes.

Making ready she walked to a comfortable distance from them and looking at Seth for support began speaking "Skorr, I… We wanted to ask you something if you are willing. We realize that it might be a personal question though. Would you be comfortable with that?"

Skorr seemed to mull it over for a second before inquiring rather astutely "Question is why Neirdith had nightmare?"

"Yes, sort of." she replied "It's actually about something that I saw in my nightmare. Skorr, does the name Mathias of Fighstrom sound familiar? WHOA!" She yelled as Skorr recoiled violently as if struck by a physical blow.

Skorr reeled back a few unsteady steps with their arms raised in a protective manner before shuddering and falling to their massive knees. Skorr threw out their arms to prevent themselves from smashing flat onto the deck, the force of the impact carving dents into the sturdy deck plates like it was soft wax.

They stayed in that position not moving and after a few moments Neirdith began to become concerned. Worrying that they may be in need of help she started forwards only to be stopped by Seth. She looked into his wide eyes and read the shock in them.

"Seth, let me go, I need to help them." Neirdith pleaded.

"How can you help them?" He prompted "They are a massive cyborg alien that can bend steel like its paper and you are just a flesh and blood person, what can you do that they can't do themselves?"

"I can try to calm them, maybe even find out why they are in distress. That name obviously has some horrible meaning we don't yet understand. I need to help them, please let me help them." He tightened his grip on her arm for a moment before relinquishing it, he sighed heavily as she rushed forwards.

"You had better be right." He muttered.

As she put her hands on Skorr's still form she was immediately alarmed by the fact that she could not feel them. They were like an inert piece of metal, no warmth, no warm resolve, just cold dead metal.

She tried to imagine herself with Skorr, all the times they had made her laugh and smile over the last few days, all the warm happiness in her soul for them. As she tried to elicit some sort of reaction she slowly began to feel the faintest tickle in her mind, like a candle flame seen from a great distance.

She grasped onto the feeling and not knowing what she was doing she fed her thoughts and emotions into the flame, feeding it with her own fire. She began to feel cold but kept trying, and gave a great cry of joy when the flame seemed to roar to life washing her mind with the sweet ambrosia of their strength. The feeling was incredible, stronger than any she had felt from them before, it was primal, wild, and made her feel like she was soaring. It was too much information for her to handle as she slipped into unconsciousness and fell to the deck below Skorr, the last thing her fading mind saw was Skorr's bright eyes fixating on her face, and then darkness swallowed her completely.

**********

Seth was worried, Neirdith had her hands on Skorr and wore a grimace on her face. He desperately wanted to help her but was completely out of his depth. She had some connection that he admittedly didn't fully understand. She and Skorr seemed to be capable of feeling each other's essence and communicating in a way that he just was not able to.

Seth was deeply conflicted. On one hand he loved Neirdith as the sister he never had, and on the other slightly more selfish side he had other feelings. He buried them deep but they had started to resurface lately as she had begun to treat him less like an annoyance and more like, well something else.

It wasn't an unpleasant thing to be sure, but if she saw him looking at her she would twirl or exaggerate the sway of her hips. One time just yesterday she even seemed to trip into his arms and stopped just short of face to face contact. He could have kissed her just by tilting his head. When she saw his mouth drop open in surprise she just glided away with that amazing laugh, the one that sent chills down his spine.

He paused, speaking of chills down his spine he recalled how she had elicited such a feeling in him by running her tail down his spine in the cafeteria. What was he supposed to do, he had never had any luck with girls as a youth and had only kissed a girl once but that was the extent of his knowledge on the fairer sex.

His attention was shattered by a loud shout from Neirdith and as he refocused his eyes on her he saw her smile widely at Skorr before collapsing onto the deck. Without a second's hesitation he rushed to her barely noticing that Skorr seemed to be conscious again. Seth scooped her up in his arms, her limp form light enough for him to heft with some minor difficulty. She was much taller than him though and as he struggled to carry her comfortably he felt the deck shake as Skorr climbed back to their wide feet.

Turning anxiously, preparing for the worst, he was surprised when Skorr asked in galactic common "What happened, I feel as though I may have made a mistake. Oh, Neirdith is injured. It was not me was it?"

"You speak now?" Seth asked dumbly. ‘Of course they spoke now you idiot, that's what Neirdith has been doing for the past few days.’ Seth thought to themselves angrily.

"Yes, friend Neirdith has been helping me learn your words. Please tell me, did I hurt her?" Skorr asked with concern filling their deep voice.

"No Skorr, she just passed out." Seth told the worried behemoth.

"She did not try to blend with me while I was retracted? That would be a dangerous thing to do." Skorr stated.

"I don't know exactly what blending is, but after you passed out she went to you and looked like she was struggling with something before she fell and you woke up." Seth told Skorr.

"Troubling. We must get her to a healing place fast. I will assist you friend Seth." With their offer they began to walk towards Seth. Seth barely had time to let out a strangled yell before he was scooped up bodily while still holding Neirdith, as Skorr thundered towards the medical room. Seth had to appreciate the remarkable speed to which the lumbering giant seemed capable of when they truly needed to move.

'Nothing this big should be able to move like that' he thought to himself slightly dazed as they reached the infirmary in what seemed like seconds. Shaking off his confusion he felt himself being lowered, "Wow that was fast." He gasped. Carrying Neirdith's limp body inside with slight difficulty, he laid her down on one of the beds.

Captain Filch, who had very obviously been alerted to the quaking approach of Skorr, watched with concern and waited till she was settled on the bed before asking Seth. "What happened, and why in the great unknown was Skorr trying to shake my ship apart at the seams. Any more of that and I'm sure the artificial gravity generators would have given out.

"She and I were trying to ask Skorr something when they fell, when Neirdith tried to help them she lost consciousness, when I told Skorr what happened they got very concerned and carried us here." Seth answered in a rush of breath.

Looking to the infirmary door and seeing it completely blocked off with Skorr staring inside and watching Neirdith intently, the captain decided not to ask any more burning questions instead opting to simply say "Well, I'm glad that they were aware of how serious sudden loss of consciousness can be. Better get her hooked up to a vitals monitor and leave her to rest, don't worry I will keep an eye on her." The large white furred man told him.

"That's all fine with me, I know she will be okay but I'm not sure Skorr is convinced, I really doubt you are going to get them to leave her side. Well the front door I mean." He said with a faint smile as he again glanced in Skorr's direction. Skorr was far too wide to fit through the doorway and so was pressed against it, only one of their large orange mechanical eyes able to peer through at once.

“Well, might as well ask them, but if they decide to stay you need to keep an eye on our friend Medrigil. We can't have him sneaking off to make trouble for us while his door guardian is off duty.” The captain said with a slight grin.

Walking over to Skorr Seth asked “Hey there big guy, can ya scooch a bit so I can get by?” after Skorr moved slightly he squeezed past with some difficulty. Turning back to the big cyborg, Seth tapped them on the arm before realizing how stupid that was because they were made entirely of metal. To his utter amazement however, Skorr seemed to feel the slight contact and rotated slightly to be able to make partial eye contact with him. “What the, you felt that?” was all he could say.

“Indeed, I can detect heat and electrical currents across the entirety of the surface of my body.” Skorr replied coherently.

“Oh, cool. Um hey, Neirdith will be fine and the captain is watching her, would you be willing to go back to watching that pirate scum Medrigil?” Seth asked bluntly.

“I regret that I will be unwilling to comply, friend Seth. If I may offer an alternative solution however…” Skorr paused waiting for affirmation to which Seth just gave a small wave of approval “If you would tell our guest that if they attempt to make any kind of trouble there is no place in the galaxy they can hide from me, and I will not make their end quick.” With that heavy statement done, Skorr turned their attention back to the medical room. Their intensity reminding Seth of a loyal noppin or perhaps an earthly dog. He had never seen one before, but they were well documented on the hyperweb.

“Well, that's going to do the trick just fine.” Seth said mostly to himself as he began to walk towards the crew area. He thought about the reaction that Skorr had to that name, Mathias of Fighstrom. He shuddered slightly at the thought of what they could have done to be so horrible that the mere mention of their name would render a being as powerful as Skorr unconscious.

Deciding to drop it until Neirdith was awake, he continued to Medrigil’s room and gave three quick knocks before opening the door a moment later. The room was a little worse for wear but mostly well kempt. Medrigil might have been a filthy pirate, but they were also a yeown, and they were known for keeping themselves well groomed.

Seeing the pirate in the corner reading a small book that Neirdith had given them after they begged her for something for almost a whole day, his lip curled in disgust. That one would stoop so low as to pray on the innocent, it didn't help that his prior experiences in life with pirates flooded to his mind every time he saw this villain.

Hearing him enter, or maybe the yeown smelled him, Medrigil gave a wide smile and said “Ah, the silent one returns, here to insult me again, maybe blame me for the deaths of so called innocents.” Medrigil snickered unpleasantly, closing his book and crawling to his feet. The man was big, at least one hundred and eighty centimeters tall even with his slightly hunched posture, but Seth was not afraid.

Seth’s vision flashed red for a moment but with a will born of a tough upbringing he forced his anger down and calmly replied “Actually I'm here to deliver a message from your good buddy Skorr.” He smiled as the statement instantly wiped the smile off the pirate's face to be replaced with a look of fear.

“And what does that demon wish to say to me?” Medrigil asked with a shudder.

Smiling more broadly now Seth replied, embellishing slightly “Oh nothing important, just that they blame everything that has happened on you. Neirdith got hurt due to the low power conditions and they hold you responsible. They wanted me to tell you that if you so much as think about causing trouble they will do things to you that will make your lineage scream for a thousand years or something like that. I believe them as well, they seemed furious, you know they can read minds right. Well anyways, have a good one.” He said with a little laugh.

Medrigil had gone stiff as a board and was seemingly paralyzed with terror. The book had fallen from their clawed hand, completely forgotten as they stared off into nothing. ‘Good’ thought Seth as the door closed behind him, 'That bastard deserves everything that happens to him.’

Neirdith was still sleeping peacefully when Seth returned to the medical room. Looking over at captain Filch who seemed to have also fallen asleep, Seth decided to pull over one of the padded chairs and take up vigil at her side. As he sat, his muscles relaxed and the aches and pains of the day seemed to overwhelm him, before he could stop himself he was asleep.

Seth was happy, beautiful music played in the background and the blue sky above him was clear and bright. Noticing the spinning motion of the sky he looked down and was delighted to see Neirdith holding his hands.

They were holding hands and spinning in an endless field of daisies, he loved daisies. He slowed and released one of her hands as he stooped to scoop up some of the tiny flowers. Giggling sweetly Neirdith grabbed his other hand in both of hers and pulled him down on top of her.

Laughing they rolled through the meadow for a moment before they stopped. Still smiling widely he began to thread the flowers into her raven black hair and she smiled. Pushing him onto his back she sat on his chest and wrapped her arms around his head, her deep indigo eyes and a furious blush on her beautiful face as she slowly lowered her face to his, and kissed him.

The contact was electric and took his breath away, for an eternity he let himself get lost in that kiss, feeling only the softness of her lips pressed to his and the heat of her breath. Sighing deeply as she broke contact he gasped as she laughed again and nibbled his ear, her slightly husky voice purred into his ear “Hey wake up ya big galoot.”

Sitting up suddenly in confusion Seth looked around wildly before realizing that he was in the infirmary still “Aww mannnn.” he groaned to himself as he rubbed his eyes vigorously. He felt a slight punch on his shoulder before whipping his head over to see Neirdith beaming at him.

“Oh I'm sorry, did I interrupt a good dream big guy?” she asked him with false innocence.

“Oh you have no idea.” He said with a smile as wide as hers as they both laughed at his misfortune.