Shady

"Depends. Are you planning on gawking at them like a freak, or doing a portrait appreciating their beauty?"

“…oh.” He let out the tiniest breath of relief and inclined his head. “That’s… good.”

Kaelan looked at him in surprise, blinking. But Ash was--? Then what was--? Isn't that--?

“Possible.” Aeron shrugged. “At least I’ll be able to see them coming if we’re out here, though. So less likely.”

Kaelan kept his gaze straight ahead, expression drawn and harsh but back rod straight and chin raised. He focused on taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

Aeron nodded in agreement, stretching as they finally got to a real path. "Whew. Thankfully."

He'd like to 'speak' with the bastard, too. Kaelan turned a sharp glare on him. "You--" Rifkin stood up off his own bunk, poking Kaelan's chest to draw his attention. ...

"It is," Aeron agreed with a nod. "...I hope you're able to get there some day."

"...Oh." Then why was he upset by the answer? Talia dipped her head. Kaelan was pacing angrily in front of his bunk, getting progressively more worked up with each moment ...

"Yes." He nodded, grateful he could say that with honesty. "I've made myself a man I'm proud to know."

"I-I mean, we-we can be older," Talia said quickly, panicked that they'd said the wrong thing. "S-sorry, sir. We. I-I mean--e..ighteen?"

Aeron nodded slowly, not wanting to push it too much. They were still virtual strangers. "Good."

Talia hesitated, her gut reaction. She didn't like that question. It was always hard to gauge what the correct answer was. Most of the time when men asked it's because ...

"As a human."

"I... admit it's not quite what we were, um... expecting, sir," Talia said with a nod, still not quite sure what to make of it all. And it was fucking ...