A direct continuation to FFM 2026 24: The Overdue Conversation. 93 words over the limit in the first draft, oops. Surprisingly easy to prune once I really got into editing, though.
Steirdrar held on tight even once his tears dried and the only noises in the loungeroom were his sniffling and their breathing. Beyari wished she could do more to comfort him. Had any of the blankets within her reach been soft, she would have asked to wrap them around him, make a safe cocoon for him to stay in.
“I know I’m being a broken record but thank you. For this. For being so patient with me,” Steirdrar managed to say.
“Anytime,” Beyari responded softly. “How are you feeling?”
Steirdrar sniffled. “A little gross, for obvious reasons. But better. I-I needed this. All of this.”
Beyari nodded.
Steirdrar’s worry spiked all of a sudden. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you or anything, right?”
“I’m okay. You’d have to do a lot more to hurt me, especially from this angle,” Beyari assured.
“Okay, good. I wasn’t sure if I was holding you too tight.”
“You aren’t.” Beyari shifted a little to lean against Steirdrar. “I’ll tell you if ever do hurt me by accident.”
“Okay.” Steirdrar shifted in response, his arms remaining secure around her. Now that he was calming, Beyari could feel her own body warm up in response to the hug. “May I stay for a bit longer? I’ll have to wash my face and head to the barracks soon anyway but… just a bit longer?”
“Of course. You’re allowed to stay here for as long as you want.”
“Thank you.” Steirdrar huffed out a little laugh. “That’s such an insufficient phrase.”
“Yeah, one of the drawbacks of Earth-Common. Gets so wordy so fast. If you want something better, Eskel-Zai has plenty concise ways to express gratitude.”
“Considering how much I’ve been interacting with Eskel-Zai lately, making sure I know how to pronounce those would be a good idea.” Steirdrar chuckled. “Especially since just a greeting already gets me cheers.”
Beyari groaned. “Please don’t remind me of that day. The Zomok crew’s already not letting me live it down. ‘Twas so embarrassing.”
“Sorry. I just didn’t have any other examples about using Eskel-Zai outside fieldwork.”
“Sounds like we need to change that. If you’re up for trying to talk in Eskel-Zai.”
“I need to look up some conversational vocabulary first but I am open to trying.”
Beyari grinned. “Awesome.”
“Do you happen to have any learning material you can share?”
Beyari frowned. “Well, I do have material in Koltonese, but it’s mostly audiovisual and a lot of it is designed to be used with either in-visor computers or the gift of Environment’s technology skillset. I have no idea if anything written that I have picked up over the years aside from dictionaries is actually good.”
“Fair enough. A Koltonese or Earth-Common dictionary would be a start.”
Beyari nodded. “Well, I have my wrist computer on and we’re within my library’s range, so let’s see…” She was quiet for a while, the only indication that something was happening being her fingers moving. “Which do you prefer, Koltonese or Earth-Common? I do have one that has both too, but it’s overwordy when it tries to explain usage and etymology. Takes all day to explain what the Tessek Clan Publications’ single-language dictionaries explain better in two Standard Minutes.”
“Can you get me both of them? I did my schooling in a mixture of Koltonese and Earth-Common so cross-referencing the two would probably help.”
“Sure thing.” A bit more of the fingers moving and Steirdrar felt his communicator vibrate in his pocket. “There.”
“Thank you.” Steirdrar took a deep breath. “I guess I should start to get ready to leave.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I think so.”
“If you ever need something, you know how to reach me.”
Steirdrar nodded. “Thank you. Yet again.” He decided to try to say one of the Eskel-Zai thanks he was fairly certain he could pronounce, “In your debt.”
Beyari’s expression lit up. She responded in Eskel-Zai, “Nothing owed.”
Steirdrar nodded, his eyes grateful.
~~~
QWERTY found Beyari in the loungeroom, curled up around a pillow again. “I take it Urrang visited?”
“He’s hurting so much,” Beyari murmured half into the pillow, her eyes shining with tears. “Didn’t want to let him go. Wanted to wrap him in soft blankets and hold him close until everything would be alright again.”
Here we go. QWERTY sat down next to her. “Do you know if he’s seeing a suitable therapist?”
“Not sure if he’s yet. Hergon’s probably working on it if not.”
“I see.” As long as Urrang was not part of their crew or otherwise assigned to their care, neither of them could do anything about it except talk to Urrang. Fortunately, if there was someone in Medical who could out-stubborn someone who was letting themselves suffer from insufficient medical care, it was Hergon. “How are you?”
“Powerless. Been a while since I was last reminded why Mind-gifted don’t last in physical medicine.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Beyari shook her head, only to start talking anyway, “I offered to make him a utility belt since he didn’t want to bother Logistics about it and probably played a big part in him having that breakdown. He was a spy for so long he now can’t turn off the thought pattern that everyone’s out to get him if they can and I made it all worse.” She sobbed, tears now falling. “I wasn’t going to hug him in case it’d make him more uncomfortable but then I couldn’t stop myself from asking if it’s okay and he was so desperate for a hug…” She hid her face in the pillow, crying into it. “Didn’t wanna let him go after that.”
“Sounds like you need to see a suitable therapist too.” Not that Beyari had not needed to see one ever since Thyrif at the bare minimum.
“I know,” Beyari sobbed and likely did not resolve to do anything about it once again.
QWERTY put aers arm around her shoulders and stayed there until she was done crying.
Vocabulary notes: Eskel-Zai has a word for “debt of gratitude” and a separate one for debt as in owing someone something (money, favor, etc.). The debt of gratitude word is the one used in the thanks Steirdrar used here, and that specific thanks is usually responded with “nothing owed”, which is basically a “no problem”/”don’t mention it” type of response, unless it’s something utterly serious that demands recompense like saving someone from legal trouble.
WindySilver 