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"But? Come on, Faye. I can hear the preposition hanging in the air. What do you want to know?"
"Something feels off about them. I haven’t quite figured it out yet. I just want to understand what might be going on."
Klinn’s expression tightened, his body language betraying a hint of defensiveness. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Why do you always have to go into interrogation mode? Gravix and Zorbluk are my crew, my friends. I trust them, and they trust me."
"I get that."
"Then why do you expect them to warm up to you in a couple days? You put me in jail for months and then took me off from your planet to go round up people here."
I expected him to be defensive. I didn’t expect the tug at my chest when he mentioned my actions. "I’m not going to apologize for stopping crimes. You just admitted that Kajal is safer because of the Wanderstar Fleet."
"I’m not arguing that. You said Zorbluk and Gravix seem distant to you. Detectives in constant sleuth mode don’t exactly give people warm and fuzzies."
"Remember who started all of this."
"I know. You only remind me every chance you get."
I tried to keep meeting his defensive stance with a calm resolve. My own efforts were diminishing as my emotions rose. This wasn’t like me. Why was I internalizing this so much? I supported eye contact, keeping my voice steady. "I respect your bond with them. I'm not trying to sow seeds of discord."
"That what it sounds like."
"Now you sound like them."
"They spoke to you about this?"
I saw how I just clumsily revealed the information to him. My feelings were getting to me, and I needed to get them under lock and key. "The other day. They wanted to make sure I was on your side."
"Then you have your answer. It’s not as complicated as you want it to be."
"I think you might want to check in with them yourself."
"One more stop tomorrow and it should be enough to get us back to Xaxos." He got up from the chair.
"Klinn, wait. This doesn’t have to be a big deal."
"Says the woman who treats everyone she meets like a case study from a textbook."
I got angry then. "There’s a reason why people use textbooks. They’re generally accurate."
"Generally. Humans aren’t the only beings in the universe who have thoughts and feelings. Goodnight, Faye."
