Private On Fleeting Wings

[Arcturus Dinn]

Dawn was just breaking along the horizon as Beholder settled down upon the southern plateau's of Jelucan. He'd been seeking her for weeks now, following the various strands as they presented themselves; every trail had gone cold. Maybe they hadn't been talking about her at all, maybe Arcturus had been right in worrying that some of his friends has been lost when Korriban fell, but he wasn't ready to give up hope yet. He wasn't willing to call it a lost cause. Did not wish to mourn.

So he carried on, listening out as he traveled alongside Tamiko Sabo aboard Leviathan to the reaches of the Galaxy. Much had happened in that time, he'd visited Tash-Taral for one, and wound up with something of a curse due to his own folly. He'd found Grundark again, pulled him back from the edge of the void and back into action. Learned to accept himself despite the beast in his stomach. He'd been on his way back from Kesh when he'd felt it, a strange pull from the Force. Not the same whispered words within his mind which often directed him, but something else. A tug at his chest. And somehow a sense of understanding along with it.

Arcturus had radioed ahead to Tamiko, informing her that he'd be a little while longer in returning. Gave her a few things to work on in his absence, encouraging further Telekinetic attempts, and then he shot off through the stars aboard his spherecraft hoping that this time he wouldn't be too late.

He disembarked onto the grassy knoll and peered out over the landscape. From upon his belt he pulled free a small device, a compass which could zero in on items and beings seeped in the Force, that is those formed of it, and he watched as the various needles span. One found true-north, the others took longer to zone in on their targets. One flipped westward, but two... Two angled toward north east. He followed the latter, hoping deep down that they would lead him to the Sithspawn he was hunting.

Hunting... That was hardly the word for it. But it seemed the only one that would come to mind.

Melydia was out there somewhere; Arcturus would see her found.

Melydia Gold​

 

[Melydia Gold]

Let's go in the garden...​

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

The forest was one of many that had hosted the insectoid. It was a home away from home, except there was no home to be 'away' from. Melydia had thought she'd found one on Korriban, had defended as such when others would see the world of sand turn to dust. But when the sand settled and the threat passed, Melydia couldn't shake the hollow feeling that ate at her core.

If home was less a where and more of a who, as Melydia had learned over time. There had been an odd, refreshing time for as bit in which the friend-maker was indeed making friends, though not in the way she normally did. At that time, one could arguably adjust the moniker from friend-maker to friend-finder.

But that time had passed, when the sand settled to hollow. And once more Melydia was left to friends of her own creation.

A part of her had wondered if it was something she'd done. A much larger, louder part had been more preoccupied with the safety of her lost friends and the group of Sith that had supposedly fallen on Korriban. For one with wings, fallen was an such an odd word. The exact meaning of it was often lost on she who's primary response would be to simply get back up. Yet confused or otherwise, a few things were perfectly clear.

The Sith Eternal were no more and her friends were nowhere to be found. Like it or not, lonely or not, it wasn't safe to remain on Korriban.

And so the friend-maker had drfited from one world to another, eventually wandering to Jelucan. She'd made friends along the way, of course, a small menagerie followed her always now. But try as she might, the made friends just couldn't replace the found friends. Not yet, at least.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Though he felt certain he'd been walking in a straight line, Arcturus still stopped to check the needles every now and then and found that the two he was focused on would move more frequently than the one he'd rejected. Sometimes a little more to the east, sometimes further north, but thankfully always more or less the way he was headed.

Whatever it was was on the move. That boded well for him, did it not? Hinted that perhaps this was her trail after all.

Soon the plateau was left behind entirely, and instead he walked the lower grounds; instead he found himself wandering between thick tree trunks, among the underbrush. Plenty of small critters had made that place their home, and it was the smallest of all which gave him the most hope of succeeding.

The bugs.

Melydia was always found with bugs. He'd even carried one on his person for a time, one she had claimed was attached to him. Well it hadn't ran away, it hadn't left though he'd never forced it to stay. At some point though, likely when he'd been pulled into the Nether, it had disappeared. He'd felt surprisingly hollow with that information, as though somehow he'd lost his one connection to her.

If he found her, he decided, he would not allow just one flimsy connection to be all that bound them. She was a friend, one of the few friends he'd ever really had... She deserved better than that.

Again he paused, checked the compass. It was a little more active now, spinning this way and that as he honed in on the source it was tracking. So too were the bugs more active and plentiful. He shut the lid of the compass, secured it back to his belt, and followed after the insects instead.

Followed them right into a grove where a certain set of fluttering wings could be found.

Arcturus didn't say anything as he came upon her there. For a moment he simply watched her, afraid it was all some sort of dream...

Melydia Gold​

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

When she was alone, it was easy to get wrapped up in her work. Melydia had a very all-or-nothing approach to things just as a creature and friend-making was no feat to slack off with. Many a night had seen her working into the wee hours, sleep forgotten until she was on the verge of collapse. Her eyes would close for a few short hours, only to be roused by her crawling friends to begin the process again.

It was a simple existence, albeit not quite as fulfilling as it'd once been. She'd often talk at her creations, met only with the animalistic calls and grunts. A language of their own, no doubt, and one Melydia would still respond to when questions came and went. But it didn't quite hit the same as the humanoid tongue.

There were a couple of birds capable of mimicking human speech. She'd added a few to her collection of friends, fixing them so they might mimic even more. She'd given them names, gone about having full conversations with them, but every so often she'd slip up and call them a different name. Kal, Alina, Thesh...

The conversation would cease soon after.

The sensation of another, one not created by her fixing, tugged just at the edge of her senses. She shook it off. Surely, it was a phantom feeling of an age past. It had been weeks since she'd last seen an individual not by her own design. Those who would've sought to interfere with her creation had quickly learned otherwise, be it after she fixed them or after their friends were fixed.

So she shook the sensation off, concentrating further on the project at hand. A creature laid broken before her, mangled by a predator. Or rather it had when she started. What it was now, well, she wasn't quite sure yet.

Again, that sensation tugged at her consciousness, pulling her away from her work. Not bothering to look at whatever was interrupting her, she shuddered, releasing a wave of energy meant to encourage the plants around her to intercept this interruption. When she did glance back to see what had come upon her and her work, she paused, eyes filled with a mixture of recognition and uncertainty. Was this a friend returned? Or simply a figment of the forest?

"...Sandy?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He should have said something, made his presence known, especially when she seemed to pick up on his arrival, but he didn't. Instead he just watched her with adoration as she tended to some creature or another that was injured. She lost herself in her work the way he did, they were kindred souls in that sense even if the topic of their studies was so vastly different.

It was easy to watch her.

She made everything seem so... Effortless. So natural. Even when it wasn't in fact very natural at all. There was a dichotomy there, and Arcturus admired the way it existed within her.

Eventually though his presence was too apparent. Flora formed up around him, as though creating some sort of barricade between him and her, and with a soft sigh he resigned himself to ruining the moment.

She spoke then, a name he wasn't expecting. Sandy? Was that some bug, or... Sandman.. Sandy. He couldn't help but smile at that one, ever an innocence surrounded Melydia. She was proof that Sithspawn were more than just their apparent nature.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you" he stated, as he carefully worked the Force through the plants and forced them to part without damaging so much as a single leaf. He'd been practicing ever since the day he and Ishani had put the effort into learning plant surge. So long ago now, so very long ago...

"May I join you?"

He hadn't stepped forward yet, despite parting the plants. He would not encroach upon her mossy workshop without her permission. For all he knew, he was the last person she wanted to see. He'd been gone for so long after all.

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

The insectoid's head tilted to the side as they considered the newcomer. Her brow furrowed, thorns starting to grow out from the vines that moved to intercept the other as the Sithling carefully considered whether the being before her was friend or artifice. He sounded the same, looked mostly the same, as the friend she'd had not so long but also so very long ago. Yet there was a difference about him, coupled by the lack of beetle that had opted to join the fellow Sith once.

But then she saw how he maneuvered around the plants, careful not to hurt them. Few Sith had displayed such care if only to humor her while in her presence. Even fewer carried that respect for life outside of those short interactions.

Her wings fluttered in an everpresent buzz, propelling her forward with the intention of hugging her now-found friend, not even waiting for him to finish his sentence. Back in the days of the Sith Temple, she would've refrained from such contact, painfully aware of how others held physical contact at different levels of meaning. Here, though, there was no one to care what was and wasn't the proper, or Sith, way to behave.

"We had thought you were lost," she said quickly, words quivering with emotion that threatened to breach the surface. "The Hive could no longer feel our brother beetle with you, we had to assume the worst."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

There was doubt and uncertainty and resistance to his presence. Perhaps she feared he was not who he seemed. Perhaps she feared he was. Either way, thorns made a home of the vines and bracken which blocked his path. In the face of it he did not back down, he did not waver or draw back. He saw through the charade, saw through what others might perceive as hostility and anger.

How long had she been alone?

How long had she been left with only bugs for company?

His heart broke.

Parting the way, he deftly stepped through the plant life without harming a single frond, and therein, as quickly as he'd set his foot down, he found himself engulfed by her presence, swallowed up within her embrace.

Naturally Arcturus' arms enveloped her too.

"I worried you had been lost also" he replied softly, rubbing a hand over her back as comfortingly as he could. "Oh, Melydia, I am so grateful to know you're alive, that you're safe."

They spoke of the beetle, and guilt swirled within him at the thought.

"The Nether claimed me in my sleep," he explained, before realizing how horrifying that might have sounded. "I mean, I did not die... Something dragged me there. My beetle friend was not taken with me; I hope that he is well."

Arcturus pulled back just enough to get a good look at her, and then a soft frown fell over his expression.

"How long have you been out here? Is it just you and your friends?"

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

How long had it been since she'd felt another's embrace? Melydia couldn't pinpoint the last time, the minutes, days, etc of yesteryear all blending in. The insectoid in all her spiney prickliness would cherish the brief moments of security that came with a hug. She could've remained there too, just absorbing both the physical and metaphorical warmth, if not for the unspoken timers of social cues.

"We are happy to see you safe, beetle or otherwise," she said eventually. The beetle had no doubt been missed., though not nearly as much so as the human it had remained with. The Hive was a great many with a great many losses every day. Humanoids were far less resilient or numerous. And so, their departures held a different kind of meaning.

"The Nether...where Kal is from, yes? Did you see him?" another friend who'd been gone for too long.

With Arcturus' question, she hesitated, brow furrowing a fraction in concentration. How long had it been? "We do not know how long. There have been a couple humanoids every now and then," her amber gaze slid to a blooming garden where the remnants of a hand poked out from the soil, semi-hidden among the foliage. "They were not good friends, though. They didn't seem like they could be saved, either. We tried."

"We do have these friends, though!" she gestured to the menagerie that had only grown larger since the two had last met. "They don't talk much - well, they don't talk at all, but they're still friends. Actually..." she tossed a quick look over her shoulder, picking out a a few leathery creatures that were not unlike rancors. "You still have the others, yes? These ones miss their littermates."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He would have stood in that embrace for an eternity if it had been her wish to do so. In fact when he did pull back there was an obvious reluctance to the action. Even then he settled his hands upon her shoulders, keeping some level of contact between them, regarding her solemnly from an arms length.

"Yes," he replied to the question of the Nether, "It is where Kal is from. And I did seem him in the end. He led me back to Realspace."

As she gestured this way and that and made mention of friends both bad and good, Arcturus was provided with even more of a glimpse of how long it had been. The hand was rotten and decaying, the menagerie was rather large compared to how many she'd usually kept around herself.

There were further signs of passing time too. Heck, the garden in and of itself told a story.

"I am so sorry" he said, after witnessing it all, returning his gaze to her face. "You deserve so much better than to be alone for so long, my friend." Alone... Would she see it as such with all of her creature friends? Maybe deep down she understood the difference he meant, for it could be so lonely an existence among those who could not speak, who could not hold, who could not laugh.

"The others are on Korriban; they quickly outgrew my ship, but they are safe where they are. Away from the Academies, and the tombs. From meddling hands."

Was that what Melydia had hoped to achieve by coming here? Safety, sanctuary, away from the war? His gut twisted at the thought of it, and at the thought of her remaining her indefinitely.

"Melydia... Would you like passage elsewhere? You, and you friends, would you... I don't know, is there somewhere else you'd rather be? Someone you can go to? I can't just leave you here, Mel... I refuse to just leave you here."

His voice broke part way through, and unexpected tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. No, he couldn't leave her here to rot with the corpse.

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

"We're glad they're safe, then. We took what friends we could find when Korriban was threatened - even visited that spirit in the tombs. You know, the one we all visited once. We worried for what friends we couldn't find."

Her brow furrowed, hand raising to Arc's face. Eyes of amber zeroed in on the gleam of tears. What a curious thing, tears were. The Sithspawn knew of them conceptually, had shed them before, but seeing them shed by another was just beyond her understanding. Had her friend been hurt? He looked fine, physically at least. Even more puzzling was the sting in her nose - tears of her own ready to join the fold if she lingered too long on the thought.

"I don't have a place, not really, not outside of what's been created." The Hive was always on the move, forever in search of the next addition, the next home. "Where we go, our friends go. And where our friends go, we go, too, when we can." In all her time in the universe, Melydia had seldom put thought towards where she wanted to go, or even if she had a preference. The Hive wasn't built for the singular and neither was she.

But that was a complexity seldom understood outside of the HIve. One that even Melydia struggled to conceptualize when attention was drawn to it. Sure, she'd missed her speaking friends, but the reasonings and significance of missing them over missing the crawlies wasn't quite available to the insectoid. But for a friend to be so moved by...whatever it was she didn't quite understand, surely there was more to it.

"Is there somewhere you'd like us to go, Thesh-friend?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"You saw the spirit again?" he inquired, quiet surprise wrought within his words. An appreciative look upon his face. "Admirable, if perhaps a little dangerous my friend. Was he there?"

The touch of their hand against his face had Arcturus' breath catching in his throat. Those tears which had only threatened to claw their way free now fell, and he turned his face into their touch. "Anywhere but here" the boy breathed in response, shaking his head softly. "I know that you do not perceive yourself as alone, and in many ways I do understand that you're not, but... I have yet to see what your critters are capable of. Perhaps it is my own folly to underestimate them, for they are small, yet they are many, and there is a might in numbers. Regardless, I want more for you than this."

He swallowed, afraid that perhaps what he said might offend, or be confusing, or... Well, he worried about a lot of things. Especially where this brazen little moth was concerned. He reached out, touched his own hand to their cheek, and leaned his forehead forward against theirs. His eyes closed as he did so. There was nothing ulterior about the act, as innocent as they came in truth, just a pure kinship stretched between them. Internally he was pleading for them to understand him on some deeper level, for there were some concepts even he could not do justice by voicing.

"Please... Come with me... At least to some place safer, some place the Jedi aren't seconds from encroaching upon. I have never known them to discerning in their treatment of those borne of the Darkside, Mel... They'd take you only at face value, and not see who you truly are. I won't allow it, I won't let them take any more of us. Please..."

Where would he take them? Where even was safe in this tumultuous Galaxy of theirs? He didn't know. But he would seek, he would find, he would try. There had to be somewhere free from strife, and if that turned out to be false?

Well... Then Arcturus would find a way to keep watch all the same. House them for as long as it took, while ensuring they got plenty of time within landscapes not consisting of pure durasteel. Find a way to set them back on whatever path they wanted out of life. Help them grow, if he could.

He'd have to explain to Tamiko Sabo of course, and hope that she understood. But he'd also have to do it regardless...

Because friends did not abandon friends.

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

"Oh yes, he was." The insectoid said with a matter-of-factly nod. "He is a part of us, now." She'd needed the spirit's power, to save what friends she could, and so she'd absorbed the spirit into herself. Simple as that.

"Our friends do have their strengths, yes. They protect us just like we would them. And we fix them so they might protect themselves better than we could." She froze as he turned into her touch, uncertain what to do other than remain there. Offering touch, she'd done plenty of times. Having it reciprocated was a rarity among Sith. Lasting contact such of this just didn't happen. The spines that protruded from her being, pokey yet ever-peeling away like papery bark, often discouraged those unaffiliated with the Sith from touching the creature.

She didn't dislike the contact, certainly. Some humans carried with them an internal warmth like a Nexu or other beasts and Thesh was no exception. So she was content to remain in one place as long as Thesh wished to do so, wings flickering every now and then as if they too were confused by staying in one place.

"We've met a Jedi, once." She said, thinking back to the brief encounter with Dagon Kaze . "He was nice, we think, though he did say our fixing of friends, the power we use to do so, is bad." His explanation hadn't quite made sense to the insectoid. If she was helping her friends, did the method in which she did so truly matter?

Still, experience with one Jedi wasn't indicative of what her experience would be with another. That much, she understood. She loathed the idea of putting her friends in danger, especially if what put them at risk were individuals who would judge their origins before their character. Plus, doing so would make Thesh sad, and she certainly didn't want to do that. She'd missed her humanoid friends dearly, doubly so now that she knew some of them were still alive. "We will come with you Sandman, with our friends. We wish to revisit our other friends, too."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Part of her?

Wait, did she mean... Certainly not... How? He looked genuinely surprised by all of that. "You... How? Merged with him?" Awe, that was the principle expression the boy held. That spirit had staved off several budding acolytes, and yet somehow, some way, Melydia had forced him to join her cause.

Amazing.

"I'm glad they help to keep you safe" he stated, of the bugs. Maybe with such in mind he shouldn't have been so concerned, she wasn't a helpless child after all, even without the friends. But they'd lost so many, and faced such tragedy, that he couldn't help but feel protective all the same. The boy nodded.

He could tell that she was becoming a little antsy, remaining in one place, so reluctantly he freed up his embrace and gave her room to breathe and move once more. Apparently she'd met Jedi before, and her experience couldn't have been too harrowing. But would the next one she encounter be as permissive? And the one after that...

"It's not wrong to help something, no matter how it's done," he stated firmly, though he knew Melydia likely wouldn't need his affirmation of such, "You save them, strengthen them, that will never be wrong."

Eventually she decided that she would join him, for however long she saw fit. Informed him that she missed her friends, too, and wanted to see them. "I'll get you back in contact with Kal at the very least," he promised, "Maybe he'll have better luck finding some of the others for you."

Arcturus glanced around the clearing, then offered her a small smile. "Anything you need to gather? Beholder is close by, I think you'll like the friends I have there Mel. You can even swim with them, if you'd like, the water won't harm you."

The boy was eager to leave, but he knew better than to rush another so for now he tried to remain patient.

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

Prickly shoulders rose in a quick shrug. "We don't know. It felt right in the moment, so we just did it." The sands had been in her favor that day. Perhaps that was a benefit of being such a creature of variable. Ever-changing, ever-adapting, the elasticity granted to the sithspawn served her well in friend-making, friend-taking, and anything in between.

There was a cost to it all, of course. Though not even Melydia herself had a grasp of how costly or not her machinations were.

The moment she had a little more space allotted to her, Melydia was far more hyperactive. She didn't know what to do with herself stuck in one place. Conscious of it or not, she always had to be doing something. So she picked up one of her many small creatures, a hand gliding over its back lovingly, encouraging growth. Somewhere in her being, the chest cavity likely, warmed with her friend's reassurance. Her fixing was a good thing yes, it had to be.

At mention of Kal, her eyes widened. In the blink of an eye, she was back at Thesh's side, personal space forgotten. "You can bring us back to Kal-friend?" She asked hurriedly, excitement being quick to take over her being. Kal was perhaps one of her first friends of the humanoid variety. One that had become her friend of their own volition, almost immediately at that.

Just as quickly as she'd re-approached Thesh, she was gone again at the mention of gathering things. Her mind whirled with quick inventories of friends and supplies. Hmmm they were going to a bee holder. That sounded fun, albeit possibly a bit pokey. With that information in mind, she quickly gathered some of her friends who'd take poorly to being stung. Some, she quickly introduced to her bag. Others, she encouraged to grow more of a protective layer. The spines decorating her being grew and shriveled in response to the sudden expenditure of energy. But it was worth it, if it meant protecting her friends.

"Uhhh we think we have things gathered, mostly," she called, voice a bit winded. "Some of our friends can carry what's left, yes yes. What friends did you bring? We uh, don't know about swimming," her wings gave a flutter in emphasis at that, "but we do want to meet them!"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

While Melydia buzzed this way and that, Arcturus remained rooted in place like one of the trees of the forest they stood within. His eyes followed her back and forth, an all too easy smile settling upon his lips to witness her truly in her element.

It made guilt twist up within him at the thought of taking her from it, but the Jedi were closing in and it would only be a matter of time before they claimed this place for their own. He'd find her another place, with another forest, and more lifeforms to add to the hive. He'd give her the entire Galaxy free from the Force Wars if he could.

But he couldn't. So they'd have to make do.

When she flitted over to him excitedly he beamed a grin. "Yes, of course I can," he promised her, "I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you, too."

She was gone as quickly as she arrived to him, gathering up bugs and the like in preparation to leave. Watching her alterations happening first hand was mesmerizing, if a little unnerving when it came to the shriveling of spines. Still it did not seem like lasting damage; he certainly hoped it wasn't lasting damage.

When she was ready he turned to lead her back toward his spherecraft, going so far as to reach out in offer of carrying her bag should she let him.

"You'll see when we get there" he assured her, of the friend's he had aboard his ship, "And, well, it isn't really water they're within, I do not think it would damage your wings at all. But, obviously, you may do as you please my friend. You may always do as you please."

It wasn't the longest walk in the history of ever to get them back to the ship, and thankfully he seemed to remember the way without much difficulty. Eventually he could see his beloved ship just a stones throw in the distance, and he paused to admire it from afar. Truly a marvel, he was grateful to Kal for making him aware of its existence.

"There she is," he stated wistfully, "Beholder... Come on, with any luck we can catch back up with Leviathan soon enough. I, uh, I have a student now. Tamiko. You'll meet her, if you want to." If not? Well, Melydia could hide out on Beholder, but as of yet Arcturus had never once seen her turn away from meeting a potential new friend

Either way soon enough they were aboard Beholder which was making its way up out of the planetary atmosphere, and once the ship was airborne Arcturus turned his attention to Melydia, and led her to a levitating platform which would bring them up to the top deck. It was a wonder to behold, and provided them with a clear view of the tank which surrounded the vessel's interior. Therein jellyfish bobbed and glowed.

Truly, a beautiful view... At least in his eyes.

Melydia Gold

 

[Melydia Gold]

TAG: Arcturus Dinn

Had another offered, Melydia would've thought hard as to whether or not she trusted them with her bag of friends. But this was the Sandman, the one she'd collected friends with before. He of all people understood their significance. And she had no doubt that he'd do well by them.

"Woah," Melydia cast a wide gaze over the ship, so often put off by the mechanical monstrosities that ships so often were. They served their purpose, got her and her friends from point a to point g, but nevertheless, the insectoid kept to ships only rarely. They were a necessary discomfort, but this one promised friends. "We would like to meet this Tamiko, yes yes. A friend of yours is a friend of ours, at least until they say otherwise." And Melydia certainly hoped they wouldn't say otherwise. There was room for all in her collection of friendships. The insect was eager to add whomever she could. "We didn't know you were a teacher."

A hand reached up to touch the tank, her attention temporarily claimed by the bobbing jellyfish. "Jelly-friends," she said softly, embracing the visions contact with the tank psychometry afforded to her, as well as the gentle hum of a presence these aquatic creatures resonated in the Force. She liked these friends, indeed. For a solid moment, her mind was captured by their preexisting majesty, with only an inkling of a thought as to what she'd add to the creatures if they needed fixing.

Her brow furrowed, the Sithling concentrating as they entered the ship, listening intently to whatever she could distinguish outside the soft buzz of her fluttering wings or the occasional chitter of the friends she brought with. "Maybe they're asleep," she said mostly to herself, casting another curious gaze over the interior of the ship. "Or maybe they left...Thesh-friend, where are the bees?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I didn't know I was either" he replied with a chuckle, "at least until she came into my life. Now? Well... I'm hoping I can give her the guidance we all need in life."​

​

Whether he'd fail as so many did or not he didn't yet know, but he was hoping he could do at least a decent job. Show her the basics, get her on track, and let her pave her own way. Yeah, that's what he wanted for her - to give her the strength to do as she pleased, to not be swayed by the rest of the Galaxy's lot.​

​

Melydia was understandably transfixed by the jellies, and he leaned his shoulder against the wall as he regarded her with a goofy grin. He didn't rush her, didn't press for conversation, he just watched for as long as it took.​

​

Then she muttered to her insects, at least he thought it was to the insects, and he watched her curious gaze flitter around the interior of the meditation chamber.​

​

What she said next had him blinking at first in confusion, and then amusement.​

​

"Oh, my friend, it seems there's been some confusion," he shook his head and approached her by the tank, a solemn frown playing over his lips; he hoped she hadn't only agreed to see the believed bees. "Beholder, it's the name of the ship. You know, like... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..?" He paused, tilting his head a little to the left. "I thought it was funny, because it looks like an eye, but... Yes, I can see how you confused it. I apologize."​

​

Chaos, he really hoped that wasn't the only reason she'd agreed to come.​

​

Melydia Gold​