"What the hell was that?" he asked, raising this voice to be heard over the shower. The steam that had escaped when he had opened the door started to fill the room again.
"What was what?" she called back, nonchalant. He ripped open the curtain and immediately regretted it. He caught her smirk as he turned away, balling his fists.
"You know full well what you did. That...that wasn't..." He tensed as her warm hand touched his shoulder and she embraced him.
"I sensed that you needed to relax, to take your mind off of things. Where I come from, this is one such...method to accomplish that. Unless I'm mistaken, it was something you wanted too...right?" She sounded worried, he noticed, and he exhaled to steady himself, shrugging out of her arms.
"I...look, that isn't the point. You manipulated me. I was -"
"- I did what I did to comfort you, to make you feel better!" she interrupted.
"Comfort?!" He whipped around suddenly, engulfed with rage. "That wasn't comfort! I opened up to you, I was vulnerable, and you took my feelings for you and you did that thing," he gestured wildly at her eyes, ignoring the shock on her face, "and you took advantage of me. How the hell is that comfort?"
"Hara..." she started, tears swimming in her eyes. "I...I didn't mean to, I just...I wanted to make you feel better. I thought we were..." She reached out, but he pulled away. The anger was probably misdirected, he thought. He hadn't had an outlet for it since he left the Institute, and it was likely tainting his reaction. Try as he might, though, he couldn't let it go.
"Look. Honestly? I do care about you. But you didn't need to convince me or whatever you did. That was a breach of trust. You should've just...asked? I don't know, anything but what you did. You...Aela, its just, maybe we shouldn't take this any further."
To her credit, she only looked stricken for a moment. Ever the consummate soldier, she composed herself in an instant and, her jaw set, nodded. "Shower's yours, O'Ans," she said, stepping past him. "Best make it quick; D.D. is expecting us in 20."
He sighed, alone with his thoughts. He did the right thing, he told himself, as he showered. It was wrong of her to do what she did. Sure, he did want it, want her, but that was not excuse for taking advantage of him. The devil's advocate in his head, however, begged to differ. Maybe he should just explain that he hadn't meant it, that he did want to be with her, and maybe he was overreacting. He could feel the indecision gnawing at him as he got dressed. Why did he feel so at odds? He had thought this was fairly cut and dry. And yet here he was, feeling guilty. Absolutely absurd, he reflected, as he crossed over to the lander. Aela was inside, armored up, her helmet on and visor darkened. She didn't say anything as he walked past into the deployment bay. He donned the Vector suit, ruminating on the events of the previous night. As he finished suiting up, Hara had made up his mind. He decided that he wanted to talk to her while they looked for the Mirzaj. When he stepped outside, Aela was standing with D.D., who turned as Hara approached.
"Well, O'Ans. It seems you've convinced Arturi that you need to go on a scouting trip."
"Oh," Hara replied, caught be surprise. He had completely forgotten his separate objective for the day. "I guess I have." D.D. continued speaking.
"O'Ans, you will search as you please. I expect a return and report by sundown today. Yokan and I will continue with the primary objective due east from camp. Any words for him before we depart?" D.D. asked, turning to Aela. Her visor remained darkened and her voice was cold in reply.
"None."
Hara could see D.D. raise an eyebrow, but he didn't address the issue. Hara saluted and headed for the exit. The talk with Aela would have to wait. He had a job to do. Leaving the camp, he walked several paces east before igniting the jetpack and jumping straight into the early morning air. Wind readings reported a relatively calm day, with winds from the east. That should help with fuel, he thought, as he turned westward, flying towards the last sighting of his mysterious lioness.
Half an hour in, Hara realized that he should have given this search more thought. The desert stretched, seemingly endlessly, all around him. Without a single lead to follow, he was just burning fuel. It didn't help, he considered, that all he could think of was getting back to Aela and setting things straight. Hara rose, preoccupied, even further into the sky. He could see to the south, on the horizon, the dormant volcano that he had flown by on his way to his comrades. He felt a strange pull then, towards that lonely peak. He had seen it last night in his dream. Hara could hear the voice faintly echoing in his head. Otun, it had been called, back before the Empire had arisen, when the gods and goddesses still held sway on the land.
"Where are you?" Hara muttered, moving slowly towards the mountain, scanning the land below him. He had no doubt about the owner of the voice in his dream, or the source of the dream itself. Arturi had mentioned that the lioness was an ancient alien, capable of things that normal people were not. While dream projections were somewhat peculiar, Hara had seen enough oddities among his travels in the universe to not be too concerned. Still, this being would be a powerful one, and one that he would have to be careful around.
He wracked his brains as he dipped downward, meandering towards the mountain, skimming the dunes. What else had he gotten from his dream? There were a couple of names on the tip of his tongue, ones that he felt might have vital import to his current mission. He mulled it over as the peak grew closer and closer. Without realizing it, Hara had come to the edge of the desert. He landed lightly and checked his HUD. Enough fuel to lap around the volcano and get back to camp in time. Taking a short break, he looked at his destination. The mountain was framed by dark clouds, threatening a torrential downpour. Thunder rumbled in the distance. In stark contrast, the sky behind him was bright blue, the sunlight assailing the dunes without reprieve. He thought for a moment and hailed Aela.
"What do you want?" came the reply, through the static in the link.
"I was just wondering if we could talk," he replied, staring into the distance. It had started to rain heavily, south of the volcano. The tall grasses of the plains swayed violently in the wind.
"If you don't have anything on-topic to say, I'm a little busy with our mission," she said, curtly. He sighed.
"Fine. I'm leaving the desert for the bit, heading southwest of camp, towards the volcano I passed by on my way in. Just keeping you posted."
"No need to." She cut the link, leaving him dejected. He did a systems check and diagnostics came back positive. Hara had been recording data constantly since departing in the morning. Environmental data would be particularly interesting to Arturi and to those in the Archives. He pulled up what he had covered so far and the data gave him pause. The atmospheric readings looked phenomenal. He hailed Aela again.
"This better be good."
"Aela, the atmospherics. Have you read them?"
"Naturally. Abysmal. Why?"
"They aren't though. Not here, at the edge of the desert. My readings are...normal." She heard the implication.
"Don't do it."
"Why not? There's no reason not to."
There was a pause on the other end. "D.D. says under no circumstances are you to endanger yourself in a such a reckless way. Don't be so stupid as to think that -" Hara cut the link, rolling his eyes. He noticed that she was hailing him, but he ignored it. He was sure that the rest of her commentary would be about the malfunctioning sensors on the Vector, as she and D.D. had been experiencing on and off during their time on the planet. But the Vector had never let him down, and the small visual issues the day before were substantiated by the very real entity that Hara was trying to meet. He reached up slowly and, after a moment's hesitation, pressed on the bilateral latches in the rear of the helmet. With a hiss, his helm disengaged and he gently removed it it. The warmth of the sun behind him was encouraging and the breeze from the plains was welcoming. He slowly exhaled and, gambling, took a deep breath in. For a moment, nothing happened. And then -
"That was very brave, Thestian."
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