"Four full days," Steel replied. "This is the fifth morning since the attack." Tani stared at him, wide eyed with surprise. "Astra pushed you out of the way of the knife, but as I said, you caught the tranquilizer dart. We've encountered this particular tranquilizer before, and it's never harmed anyone. It just makes the victim sleep for varying periods of time, depending on the strength used. If you'd developed signs of an adverse reaction, we'd have put you in a hibernation tank and contacted your family the moment it was safe to do so. I'm sorry, but there was nothing else we could do without risking all of our lives, and our people depend on us too much. It was our only choice."

Tani nodded. "Don't worry, Steel, I understand. I'd never expect you, or Astra, or anyone else to throw their lives away for me, even if I weren't a perfect stranger."

"Thank you, Tani," he said. "I appreciate your understanding. I've been watching over you very closely, if that helps, and I swear that I would not have allowed you to die, no matter what." In truth, Steel hadn't left her side for more than a few minutes at a time since she'd arrived unconscious aboard the Stray.

Tani saw the emotion in his eyes but didn't understand what was behind it. She cleared her throat and looked back down at the food on her plate, picked up a slice of bacon and stared at it for a moment while she tried to settle her emotions and think of a more neutral topic. "How long will you keep Astra in the hibernation tank?"

"We'll take her out when we reach home," Steel said, his tone so sad that she felt tears prick her eyes. "The truth is, my people are not skilled in healing. She may very well die no matter what we do. Aside from the fact that she is one of our few, precious females, she is also family to me, and I care for her a great deal."

"Maybe I can help," Tani said. "I have some medical knowledge. Not enough to handle anything really complicated, but I can at least evaluate her injury and treat it if it's not too serious."

Steel stared at her in surprise, then smiled for the first time, nearly taking her breath away. "That would be a great relief to us all, Tani."

Tani placed the bacon back on her plate and stood up, but Steel shook his head. "No, please, you need to finish eating first. It has been four days since your body has taken nourishment." Tani nodded and sat back down, but only because standing had made her a bit dizzy. She picked up her fork and began eating again, hoping that Astra wasn't too badly injured, and reminding herself that a few minutes wouldn't matter since she was in a hibernation tank.

Steel watched her as she finished her breakfast, noting the expression of worry and sadness on her face that seemed to grow by the minute. "I promise you, Tani, we mean you no harm, and we will see you back to your own people as soon as we can."

"I appreciate that, Steel, but it's not what I'm worried about."

"What do you worry about?"

"My family," Tani replied. "If it's been four days since my disappearance, that means my sisters and parents and my younger brothers have been suffering for all that time, thinking I've been abducted."

"I'm truly sorry for that," Steel said. "If there was any way that you could send them a message without risking all of our lives, we would allow it."

"I understand," Tani said. "And you don't have to worry about me trying to sneak a message, either. I'd never do anything to endanger the lives of others unnecessarily." She put her fork down and finished her coffee, then pushed the tray table back. "If you can show me where my shoes are, and the nearest bathroom so I can clean up a bit, I'll be ready to see Astra."

"Your shoes are beneath the bed, and the lavatory is across the hall. The door sensor is here." He waved his hand over a small indentation in the metal wall that she hadn't noticed before. "I'll be back in just a minute."

"Thanks," she said, watching as Steel picked up her tray and left the room. She leaned down, moving slowly so as not to get dizzy again, and retrieved her sneakers. It took a little longer than she expected to put them on, but the more she moved, the easier it became. When she finally got her shoes on and her laces tied, she stood up and took a few short, experimental steps. She stopped in the spot where Steel had been standing and inhaled deeply, unable to help herself. She shivered, wondering if his scent was natural, or the result of cologne. She smiled to herself, already knowing the answer.

Ignoring the lingering arousal, she evaluated her body and, feeling no dizziness or weakness, she waved her hand over the sensor and stepped into a short corridor that looked much like the room she'd just left with bare metal walls and recessed lights in the ceiling. Now that she knew what to look for, she easily spotted the sensor for the door to the bathroom directly across the hall and waved her hand over it. The door opened and she started to enter just as Steel appeared at the end of the hall with a small pile of clothing in his hands. "I got these from Astra's room," he said, handing the clothing to her. "I know she's much taller than you, but perhaps you can make some of this fit."

"Thank you, Steel," Tani said, smiling with pleasure. "Is it possible to take a quick shower?"

"Yes, of course," Steel said. "You'll find all that you need in there."

"Thanks, I won't be long," she said, then stepped inside and closed the door.

Steel stared at the door for a moment, then leaned against the wall and sighed. Never had he wanted a woman the way he wanted Tanjelia Dracon. From the moment he'd seen her on the view screen in the control room, he'd been unable to get her out of his mind. She looked so delicate with her petite build and pale skin, and so young, with her short red-gold hair and the scattering of freckles on her nose. And yet, beneath that delicate exterior she had the heart and courage of a warrior.

And her battle skills! What he wouldn't give for just a fraction of her ability. He'd watched the vid of her attack on the Nomen repeatedly over the past few days, and it never failed to astound him. Oddly, it also filled him with pride.

Even so, he'd hoped that, when she woke up, her personality would cool his interest. But it hadn't. Just the opposite, in fact.

She'd processed everything he'd told her with a calm acceptance that frankly shocked him. She hadn't even gotten upset when he'd denied her request to contact her family, or to take her home. She'd understood and accepted his reasons far better than he would have done in her place.

He'd tried, half-heartedly yes, but still, he had tried to find something about her to dislike, but he'd failed utterly. Even her scent was intoxicating, like warm pears with a touch of spicy ginger. The urge to bury his face in her neck and just inhale her was so strong that he'd had to cross his arms to hide how tightly his fists were clenched with the effort of keeping his distance while they talked.

He shook his head. Princess Tanjelia Dracon of Jasan was completely out of his reach and he could not allow himself to forget that for a moment. What little he knew about the Jasani he'd learned from Astra during their journey to EDU-12, and she'd made one fact about them perfectly clear. Clan Jasani females always mated with Clan Jasani males. It was bitter knowledge, but he had no choice other than to accept it.

It was bad enough that it appeared as though he'd kidnapped a Jasani Princess. If he did anything to dishonor her while she was in his care, he feared that ICARUS would never help his people. They'd be more likely to destroy what little remained of them instead.

He heard the water begin to flow through the pipes to the shower, and before he could stop himself he imagined Tani naked, standing beneath the water as it flowed down her body. He raised his head so fast it slammed into the wall behind him, but he barely noticed as he turned and headed for his quarters, and a very quick, very cold shower.

Tani opened the cabinet over the bathroom sink and smiled with relief to find a box of disposable toothbrushes. A peek in the shower stall revealed body wash, shampoo, and a dispenser full of disposable body sponges. Next, she turned her attention to the clothing Steel had given her.

She set the jeans aside, knowing they'd be at least a foot too long for her. She was surprised and grateful, if a touch embarrassed, to find three pairs of clean underwear. Astra was much taller than Tani, and larger in the bust, but they were both slender. Tani was sure that the underwear would fit well enough to serve, though the bra was far too large. Well, she'd just rinse her own out before going to sleep at night. Problem solved. The other items were two white cotton t-shirts, a soft pink sweater, and three pairs of clean socks.

The tops would be too big, but she didn't care. They were clean. That was enough for now. She tore open the protective sleeve on a toothbrush and brushed her teeth until all of the pre-applied toothpaste was used up. Then she pulled her sweater off over her head, revealing the necklace she'd worn since receiving it for her birthday a couple of weeks earlier. She reached up and wrapped her fingers around the ruby dragon, gaining some sort of comfort from it, though she didn't understand why. After a few moments she released the pendant, finished undressing, and got into the shower before turning the water on, mindful of the fact that all water had to be conserved and recycled aboard a ship, especially small ones like the Stray obviously was.

When she was finished, she turned off the water and pushed as much water off of her body as she could with her hands before turning on the body dryer. She ran her fingers through her short, thick hair to help dry it partially before turning off the dryer, then stepped out. She dressed quickly, selecting the pink sweater since the ship was a bit chilly.

She left the bathroom, carrying the pile of clothing across the hall to her stateroom. She left them on the bed, then went back to the corridor. She looked one way, then the other, trying to decide which way to go. Luckily, Steel chose that moment to reappear at the end of the corridor to her right, so she walked toward him, doing her best to hide her body's instant reaction to him, though she couldn't seem to stop herself from smiling.

"Feeling any better?"

"Much, thank you. Can I see Astra now?"

"Of course," he said. "This way." Tani followed as Steel led her around the corner to an elevator. They got in and went up two levels, got out and went down another corridor. He waved his hand over a sensor, a door slid open, and they stepped inside a small infirmary that was sparkling clean, but outdated. She was relieved to spot a portable scanner plugged into a charging base that hung on one wall. She walked over to get it, but Steel followed and reached over her head to unplug it for her. She breathed his scent deep into her lungs and shivered, her skin pebbling though she wasn't at all cold any more.

"Thank you," she said, fighting the impulse to turn around and press her body against his. "Where are these urges coming from?" she wondered, shocked at herself. She cleared her throat and accepted the scanner from Steel, then took a little more time than was strictly necessary to examine it while trying to corral her suddenly disobedient hormones.

When she could think clearly again she flipped the switch on the top of the scanner and slid the viewing window cover open. "Hold your hand up please."

"What is this?" Steel asked as he held up one hand.

"It's a portable scanner," she replied, aiming the lens at his hand. "And it appears to work perfectly. Where are the hibernation tanks?"

"Through here," Steel said, turning toward the back of the infirmary. She followed him out of the infirmary and up a narrow corridor to yet another door. She stepped inside the room, startling a man with short black hair who was standing in front of the only occupied tank in a bank of ten. The man turned around quickly, his golden complexion darkening in what Tani suspected was a blush.

"Khurda?" Steel asked curiously as he followed Tani into the room.

"Hello Steel," the man said in a low voice. "I was just double-checking the tank to make sure it's functioning correctly."

"I thought you refurbished all of them when we bought the ship," Steel said with a worried frown.

"I did, and I had them tested, inspected and approved," Khurda said. "It's just that we've never used them, so I thought I should keep a close eye on this one."

"Good idea," Steel said, nodding. "Khurda, this is Gunji Tanjelia Dracon. Tani, this is our pilot, electronics genius, and my lifelong friend, Khurda."

"It is my honor to meet you, Highness," Khurda said with a bow.

"Thank you, Khurda," Tani said. "It's an honor to meet you, as well, and please, call me Tani."

"As you wish," Khurda said, blushing again.

"Tani has some medical knowledge and wishes to evaluate Astra's injury," Steel said.

The sudden hope on Khurda's face told Tani the truth of why Khurda was standing in front of Astra's tank, staring at her, because she knew darn well that he wasn't inspecting the tank's functionality. The control panel wasn't even opened. "Can you really help her?"

"That's what we're about to find out," Tani said.

Khurda looked up at a clock on the wall, an expression of frustration on his face. "I'm afraid I've been absent from the control room long enough. I must return now."

"I'll let you know what we find, Khurda," Steel promised.

"Thank you, Steel, I would appreciate that."

Tani and Steel watched Khurda as he glanced once more at the tank behind him, then hurried out of the room. "He's got it bad," Tani said mildly.

"Yes," Steel said with a sigh. "So does Astra. They're both too shy to do more than stare at each other when the other isn't looking."

"Sometimes it's safer to dream about possibilities than it is to reach for them and risk outright rejection," Tani said as she approached Astra's tube. It made her sad to see her friend floating in the hibernation gel, one side of the close fitting leotard she wore stained with blood.

"So true," Steel said softly as moved to stand beside Tani. She turned the scanner on again, and looked up at him.

"Will you help me hold this up, please?"

"Of course," he said, and took the device out of her hands. He placed the transducer against the transparent wall directly in front of the area of Astra's wound as Tani directed, and leaned out of the way so that she could see the screen. She made a view adjustments to brighten and sharpen the image, then magnified the area she most wanted to see. After a careful inspection, she smiled.

"Good news?" Steel asked hopefully.

"Yes," Tani said. "The wound isn't bad at all, see here?" she asked, pointing at the screen. Steel leaned down so he could see while still holding the scanner in place. "Was the knife still in her when she transported up?"

"No," Steel said. "If it had been, we would have been able to guess how deep it was. But it bled a lot, which worried us."

"Well, she's lucky," Tani said. "This is a flesh wound, a deep one, but it didn't get near anything important because it went in at an angle. It looks like it nicked a bit of muscle, but it's not too serious. She'll be sore, and we need to be sure it doesn't get infected. Do you have antibiotics?"

"Yes, we do, and pain meds as well."

"Good, then let's get her out of there," Tani said as she reached for the control panel on the front of the tank and slid back the cover.

"Will you want to seal the wound?" Steel asked. "Because that might be a problem."

"Why's that?"

"We don't have any skin adhesive."

"I need to get a real look at it before I'll know for sure, but if it's necessary, I'll handle it the old fashioned way. The damaged muscle won't take more than a couple of stitches, if I have to do it at all."

"Stitches? Do you mean with a needle and thread? Like mending clothing?"

"Yes, that's what I mean," she said. "I'll check the infirmary for sterile sutures, but thread will work just fine if that's all you have."

"I never would have imagined doing that," he said. "Will you mind if I watch?"

"No, not at all," Tani said. "I'll even teach you, if you want."

"Yes, please," he said. "We often have wounds that we don't know how to treat other than to clean them and use antibiotics. We haven't had skin adhesive in a long time."

Tani glanced up at him, the sadness and worry in his tone impossible to miss, then returned her attention to the control panel. "No problem," she said. "I'll show you and anyone else who wants to learn how to do it. Like I said, I don't know a lot, but what I do know I'm happy to share." A moment later she activated the hibernation removal cycle and unlocked the tank so that they could rotate it, putting Astra in a prone position so she wouldn't fall to the bottom of the tank when the gel was drained.

An hour and a half later Astra lay sleeping on a medi-cot in the infirmary. Tani had chosen to pack the wound with an absorbent medium infused with antibiotics rather than stitch it closed after a second scan revealed that the muscle wasn't damaged after all. She wasn't sure how she'd read the first scan wrong, but since it meant Astra's injury was even less serious than she'd thought, she wasn't going to complain. Steel had been disappointed, but after she assured him that she'd still teach him how to stitch a wound, he was happy.

"When will she awaken?" he asked as he stared at his cousin.

"Not much longer, a few minutes maybe," Tani said. "She's doing well, Steel, don't worry. If I wasn't a hundred percent certain I could treat her wound successfully, I never would have risked taking her out of the tank."

"If I wasn't a hundred percent certain of you, I wouldn't have let you," Steel said with a little smile. "How did you learn so much about healing?"

"I grew up on a cattle ranch," she said. "Do you know what that is?"

"A place where cows are raised, yes?"

"That's right," she said. "Dracon Ranch raises cows, sheep, and horses. Animals get sick and have injuries all the time, so we have a med-barn. When I was a kid I'd spend as much time as I could there, helping Doc and Aunt Darlene care for the animals. Doc is a real doctor, he just loves animals, so he takes care of them too. When I got a little older, they'd let me come to the clinic to help out with people. They taught me a lot about treating wounds, broken bones, and mild illnesses."

"I would have guessed you lived in a palace, not on a ranch," Steel said.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Tani said with a sigh. "When I was little it used to hurt my feelings when people automatically assumed we were spoiled little girls who got anything and everything we wanted just for the asking. When our parents took us to functions on other worlds, we'd meet the children of important people and while a lot of them were just normal kids like us, some weren't. We saw firsthand why people thought the way they did."

"Your lives were so different?"

"Yes, very much so," Tani said. "We had regular chores, and got an allowance based on how well we did them. I'm not going to pretend we weren't comfortable, or that we ever went without something that we needed. We lived in a nice, clean home, we had loving parents, we went to good schools and never had to worry about how we'd pay our tuitions or buy our study materials, or whether or not we could afford to go home for breaks. We had it better than most and we appreciated that. But we didn't get everything we wanted just by crooking our fingers either. If we wanted something special, we worked on the ranch and saved our money for it."

"When I was in college, I sometimes visited the homes of friends I met there," Steel said. "What you say sounds much the same as what their lives were like."

"Our parents wanted us to have as normal a childhood as possible. They didn't want us growing up thinking we were better than other people just because of the blood in our veins. Of all the things I'm grateful to my parents for, that is the most precious to me."

"I now understand why Astra thought that you would listen to our problem, and perhaps be willing to help us."

"Thank you, Steel," she said, smiling. "That's a nice thing to say. So, what is your problem?"

"In short, my people have been enslaved for the second time by creatures of the Xanti," he said, then turned to look at Astra when she made a soft noise.

"Why haven't you contacted ICARUS?" Tani asked as they both watched Astra for further signs of awakening.

"We've tried," Steel said. "Our requests have been ignored."

Tani stared at him in surprise, then turned back to Astra when she tried to sit up. She hurried over and placed a gentle hand on Astra's shoulder. "Just relax, Astra," she said. "You just got out of a hibernation tank and need a few more minutes to adjust."

"Tani," Astra said, looking at her in mild surprise. She turned her head to the other side and looked up at her cousin. "Steel? What's going on?"

"Give yourself a minute, Astra, and it should all come back to you," Tani said. "Would you like some water?"

"Yes, please," Astra said. Tani went to get the water and Astra tried to do as she'd asked and relax. After a few moments, everything came back to her just like Tani had said it would. "Now I understand why my side hurts."