First: The Tod’cxeckz’ri Paper Part I

I wanted to poke at these guys again, so here’s a little ficlet, since the bit between Part Vi and this seems to have stalled me.

Jahnan woke to the sound of muffled clinking very near her. She opened her eyes to find Yira Trembane less than a meter away, diligently working at the Tod’cxeckz’ri collar locked around his neck.

“Stop that,” she snapped. her head hurt. Her eyes hurt. Everything hurt. “You’re still my bounty, and I’m still going to turn you in.” She put a hand over her eyes to block out the light. “Wait. Did I fall asleep? There’s no time for that.”

“You were knocked out. We were knocked out.” When she peeked at him, Yira had put his hands back in his lap and disappeared whatever he’d been using as a lockpick. “We were talking to that — that thing, whatever it was—”

“Brain slug,” Jahnan muttered. Those only existed in children’s sensie vids, she was pretty sure, but that’s what the thing had looked like.

“That thing. And then the air got thick. I woke up first. I out-mass you,” he added defensively.

“Don’t try to take the collar off. For one, I am still turning you in for the bounty, and for another, we don’t know what it’ll do to you.”

“Glad my well-being is so foremost in your mind.” He stretched, and Jahnan’s eyes followed the movement. Even sitting, his fingers touched the ceiling, which itself seemed to be made of something soft and pliable. “Now can we try to escape, or do you have more orders for me, kozel-wife?”

Every time he used the Tod’cxeckz’ri term that meant mistress, Jahnan noted, Yira sounded a little less sarcastic about it.

They had to get her ship back, and fast.

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