She was smiling at me, and a quick glance at Kol showed he was smiling at me too. It caught me off guard.
“You’re a fierce female,” Kol said, his chest puffed with what appeared to be pride.
“I agree with my brother; you would make a great party leader at our annual debates.”
I raised my brows. “You have annual debates?”
“Of course,” she said. “Maji citizens go to our Citizens Department and leave notes with formal complaints and requests for changes. For example, there are few Maji young, and we had no play sector for them when they were not in their homes, at lessons, or during training. Mothers have complained about this and requested a play sector. We will discuss it at the monthly debate and then vote to decide on a decision in response.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“The Council,” Kol answered me.
“And who makes up the Council?”
“Twelve Maji. Four members of the Guard, four members of the royal family, and four citizens of Royal City who are voted by the people to represent them.”
“I thought you said your father was the ruler? Why do you need a Council if he is in charge?”
“He is the ruler, and he is still in charge,” Surkah replied. “He’s been the Revered Father for over four hundred years now, and over the past hundred years, he has changed many of our laws. One of them is that the Council collectively makes decisions for the people. He deals with our warriors and all the hard stuff, but he lets the Council deal with the lesser stuff.”
He doles out the responsibility.
“He sounds like a good ruler,” I commented.
“He is the best,” Surkah smiled.
“Was he the one who gave the order to kidnap humans?” I questioned with a raised brow.
Kol stepped forward. “I believe the term you’re looking for is rescue.”
I didn’t want to argue with him again, so I looked at Surkah and said, “I’m really tired, and my head hurts. I think you gave me too much of the konia stuff.”
She pressed her hand against my forehead, and I felt a huge surge of relief, making my body sway.
“Surkah!” Kol scolded.
“She is fine, brother,” Surkah said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m taking her pain away. She is not used to healing, so it just feels strange to her.”
“A really good kind of strange.” I sighed and smiled lazily when Surkah lowered her hand. “Your hands are magic.”
She chuckled. “Yes, my lissa is a blessing from Thanas.”
I nodded in agreement as she removed her hand from my head.
“Wait.” I frowned. “What is this lissa thing you keep mentioning?”
Surkah looked at her brother. “How do I describe my lissa?”
Kol shrugged. “Look for the closest translation.”
Surkah looked like she was racking her brain then she said, “It is a version of… healing ability. You understand healing ability in your Earth words?”
Yes, I understand the words, but it left me with more questions.
“You have a healing ability?” I asked, wide-eyed. “I knew you somehow healed wounds with your hands, but you have a… a real healing ability?”
Surkah nodded. “Well, yes, how do you think I heal the wounded and sick?”
I stared at her. “With medicine and machines?”
She raised her brows. “We only have machines to monitor, not heal. And our medicine is only a substitute until a healer reaches their charge. The kind of machines you mentioned, there is no point of them when healers do the healing with our hands.”
Well, shit.
“Enough talking,” Kol said abruptly. “I’m being summoned to the bridge, so she needs to be escorted to human housing now.”
Surkah nodded and then moved to the far side of the room where she placed her palm on the wall and took items of folded clothing from inside when it opened. She returned to my side and handed them to me. It was a t-shirt and pair of pants in a bright grey. Like before, there were no underwear, socks, or shoes.
I was about to take off my gown when I noticed Kol’s eyes on me.
“Go away,” I said, holding his gaze. “I don’t want you here while I change.”
“Nova.” Surkah frowned.
I switched my questioning gaze her. “What?”
“You must learn respect for the shipmaster,” she stressed. “You cannot be a bad influence on the other humans.”
I hated that Kol was grinning at me like my being scolded by Surkah was amusing for him.
“Why’re you looking at me like that?” I questioned him.
Surkah lifted her hands to her face and deeply sighed into them.
“Come with me, Nova.”
I instantly stepped behind Surkah when Kol finished speaking.
“No,” I said. “I want to stay with Surkah.”
Don’t ask me why because I shouldn’t have felt safe with any of the kidnappers.
“And I said you’re coming with me.”
“But… why?”
Kol stared at me, his violet eyes now filled with annoyance.
“You’re healed, and as my sister fears you would not do well being accompanied by another male, so I stepped up to bring you to our temporary human housing on board my ship. Do you not remember our conversation when we broke our fast?”
“Yes, but a lot has happened since then,” I mumbled more to myself than to the Maji watching me.
Surkah was the closest thing I had to a friend among the Maji, even though she lied to me, and now I was being taken away from her. Kol was placing me in ‘human housing,’ and I was worried sick about it. What if the other humans tried to hurt me when my back was turned or when I was sleeping? What if they feared me as I feared them, and they attacked out of instinct?
My thoughts plagued my mind as I changed back into my comfortable clothes, bid Surkah farewell, and followed Kol out of the medical bay.
“You’re thinking so much that your skin is creasing.”
I looked up at Kol as we walked and jumped a little when he gently tapped on the centre of my forehead. He chuckled to himself, seemingly amused.
“I’m just scared,” I admitted.
He brought us to a stop, all traces of amusement fleeing his sculpted face.
“Why?” he asked, and he sounded concerned.
I shrugged. “The other humans will try to kill me.”
I knew they would; we were survivors and eliminating a threat meant survival. Everything was a threat to a human. Everything.
The shipmaster blinked. “Why would they try to kill you?”
“It’s what my people have become,” I said solemnly. “It is difficult to find someone civilised. Trust me, I’ve looked far and wide, and almost every person I’ve encountered has tried to harm me in some way or simply kill me. It is the way now.”
I took a step away from Kol when he growled.
“Do not fear me,” he said, “or your people.”
I frowned. “It is hard when all I’ve known is to fear them.”
Kol cursed, and then after a moment of tense silence, he said, “I will place you in private quarters until we have determined which humans are to be trusted and which are not. I am aware you’re also fearful of Maji, and since I am the shipmaster, you will become my responsibility, and you will see that we’re trying to help.”
I raised my brows. “You don’t have to—”
“It is decided,” he cut me off.
I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes at him.
“You can’t just make decisions for me.”
“Would you prefer I throw you to the mindless humans you fear instead?”
I flinched, and Kol’s tense look on his face fell.
“Forgive me.” He sighed. “I did not mean that. It is just… no one talks to me like you do.”
“Because they know you,” I countered. “I don’t.”
“We will have to change that.”
I sw
allowed.
“Come,” he said and began walking again. “You need your rest. The next few hours will be trying.”
They will?
“Why will they be trying?”
Kol didn’t speak until we got into an elevator that brought us to the highest level of the spacecraft. After walking down a few hallways, Kol stopped next to a black door that opened when he pressed his palm on the door. The area around his hand lit up green then the door opened.