Excerpt: The Night the Stars Were Dying

Dalsick felt thoroughly useless as he ran through one of his hand-to-hand forms, sliding and twisting his body with the same amount of ferocity and grace as normal, and he hated the feeling.

It was like being caged, being aboard this vessel, because he was pointless, extraneous baggage. He had no reason.

“Hwah!” He voiced the cry as his hands, curled into bird-like claws swung upward and he spun into a crushing kick. A sweeping punch followed, and then a pair of slapping blocks. He threw himself into a kick, a full body block, spinning again as an imaginary opponent aimed for his head. He ducked, dropping a cut kick to a nonexistent leg, and leapt into a back flip. He stopped, momentarily, to draw a breath and finished with a bow.

Unexpected applause from behind him caused him to spin around. It was Jamie, that pretty being of indeterminate gender. It looked thoroughly awestruck.

“That was incredible,” it said.

Dalsick allowed himself to smile, just a little. “I’ve always been a fighter.”

Jamie returned the smile, which turned a tad to teasing, “A lover, too, given your affection for Rell.”

He blinked. “How did you know?”

“It’s not hard to tell, from the way you think of him, and the way you held him on the bridge when we were all in danger. I tried not to hear your thoughts, but they were much too loud to avoid,” it said, its smile turning softer.