chapter 3
- Travel between Nexus locals seemed like a headache of space/time/dimension calculations that Nananya couldn't fathom, but the FTL ride to Nidus Descendi gave her plenty of time to consider her choices.
- The Superhero program wasn't going to disappear. Whether she bonded at the Nidus or not, she could still return to the labs. She'd just bought herself extra time to consider her options. She wanted to remain part of the Heimdall - to be a soldier, a hero, like the troops that protected her home colony Kishar - and whether she did that by proving herself worthy of a dragon or by gaining her own superpowers, it would still be her accomplishing her dreams.
- Would a dragon think she was worthy?
- The few she'd met on Kishar had been the bonds of soldiers, already strong and brave in their own rights. She knew it wasn't just soldiers bonding dragons on the Heimdall, though. Plenty of science officers had their own dragons, and probably some of the support staff too. But those people were hyper intelligent or magic or a hundred other things Nanaya wasn't.
- Or wasn't yet, anyway.
- She'd just have to prove she was the best among the novos, that she could become the best once she had a dragon or powers or super strength. She would.
- She arrived at the Nidus on a shuttle with a small contingent of Heimdall personnel who pointed her in the direction of The Stareyes hostel before going on their own ways - with or without bonds in tow.
- Nanaya shouldered her bag of essentials, set her chin, and headed toward the Nidus proper's caverns.
- Her eyes tracked the winding ridges of fossil as she passed the Diasil and several mid-sized dragons backwinging to ground. Curiosity niggled at her to dawdled but she shoved the urge down and continued the well trod path.
- She reached the blinking neon glow of the "Stareyes" after ages of meandering, her feet sore, mind tired. The bright eyed mascot beckoned to her with blinking star shaped pupils.
- There would be other candidates.
- She forced the weariness out of her skin and deep into her bones instead, where she could hide it. She strutted through the door only to find the main foyer empty and quiet, except for a television program murmuring a language she didn't understand.
- "Excuse me?" she called.
- Narrow feline eyes appeared behind the television. "Novo?"
- "Yes, I'm-"
- "Grab an empty bed. Chore list is set up in the common room." The cat-person hacked as he spoke, like something was caught in his throat. "Do your work, sleep for free."
- He slumped back to his seat, disappearing from sight.
- "Where do I-"
- The cat cleared his throat, half-gargle, half-cough. "Yer interrupting the good parts. Go find a room."
- Nanaya shut her mouth with a sharp click of teeth. Well. Alright then.
- Feeling even more unmoored, she trailed down the hallway in search of an open door and empty bed. Daylight had drifted away and most of the hostel was quiet, making it eerie and alien.
- The sound of voices caught her attention, stemming down a hall labeled "common room."
- Well, if she couldn't find a place on her own, surely another resident would steer her in the right direction. And she'd be happy to meet new faces.
- A handful of aliens were scattered around the room, most her age or younger - at least in appearance. It was difficult to judge some of the more inhuman looking species, but none of them looked old.
- The center of the room was taken up by two humanoids at a plain stone table, their fists clasped over the center of it. They both looked like they might have some draconic heritage - the first with scaly crimson skin and bright tips of sharp teeth poking between their lips. And the second with horns sweeping back over a shock of pink hair. Arm wrestling.
- Nanaya paused in the entrance to watch them.
- The red scaled kid was larger, with rippling musculature that dwarfed the pink-haired woman's more diminutive form. Why did she even bother, when she was so obviously outmatched? She wasn't scrawny like Nanaya, but her wiry frame seemed frail next to the draconoid.
- The pink-haired woman flashed a grin at her opponent, snapped something cocky that made Nanaya roll her eyes.
- The dragon-kid smirked back and gained the upper hand, twisting the woman's arm toward the table.
- It wasn't over as quickly as Nanaya predicted.
- They battled inch by inch, the draconoid gaining twice as much as the woman, but never quite making the final push.
- The woman's grip tightened, her amber eyes flashed something dark and deadly. Nanaya watched something pass between their grips, a flush of blood to the woman's hand while the draconoid's turned pale.
- Then the woman barked an exclamation and slammed the dragon-kid's hand on the table. She threw her arms up with a whoop, earning a series of muffled cheers from the few other novos around the room.
- Not as weak as Nanaya thought she was.
- Nanaya entered the room with a cheery grin. "Hello! Does anyone know where the open rooms are?"
- The pink-haired woman spun around to face her, grin still brightening her flushed face. She winked, brazen and running high on victory. "I can help you out with that."
- Nanaya felt her cheeks heat - from embarrassment, from having been caught staring, from… from just being damned tired at the end of the day. Before she could reject the offer, the woman was strutting forward and flinging an arm in open invitation to the rest of the room.
- "I'm Eden," she said, then rattled off the other occupants' names. She flicked her warm, amber eyes over Nanaya. "Is that Heimdall insignia?"
- Nanaya brightened. "It is! And I'm Nanaya." The warmth of people, of camaraderie, drew her into the room, momentarily waystaying her need for a bed. Eden led her to one of the tables.
- "Me too," Eden replied. "Heimdall, I mean. What division?"
- "You are?" Nanaya drew her eyes over Eden, scrutinizing. She seemed so average. So young. So normal, compared to the larger-than-life heroes she was used to. She remembered the rest of the question and caught herself. "Infantry, I think."
- "Same. Got scooped up by Sergeant Speothos."
- Sitting closer, Nanaya could just make out the hint of a scar slashed across the right side of Eden's face, hidden behind the fall of her pink bangs. Eden's expression tightened and she turned away, just a little - just enough to let Nanaya know she was uncomfortable.
- Nanaya leaned away again, scrambling for a cover.
- "You cheated," she breathed, quiet enough that a normal human ear might find it hard to hear. "When you were arm wrestling."
- Eden shrugged. Chuckled. "You've got smart eyes. But I didn't, not really. What's the difference between using a little of this-" she lifted her hand, which appeared totally innocuous now- "Or him using that extra strength being part-dragon gives him? That's not cheating, just using what you've got."
- Nanaya eyed Eden's hand, aching to reach out and inspect it. "Did you go through the superhero program? Is that where the-" she reached above her own head, miming the shape of horns.
- Eden shook her head. "Just born with it. That and a couple other tricks."
- Nanaya tried not to make her disappointment too visceral. Born with special powers, where Nanaya had to work and risk and worry about getting some of her own. She'd been wrong about Eden. She wasn't small and ordinary, she was something special. Unique. Stronger than she looked.
- How was Nanaya supposed to compete for a dragon against that?
- Or maybe she wasn't meant to. Maybe making friends with Eden, showing she could be useful to powerful people, would attract a dragon to her.
- "You know what I loathe about the Heimdall cadet uniforms?" said Nanaya, leaning closer, conspiratorially.
- Eden smiled and met her part away across the table. "Yeah?"
- "Do they have to make every pair of boots pinch like scorpion claws when you walk in them?"
- "Only during marching drills."
- They chatted into the wee hours of the night, until Nanaya couldn't keep her eyes open much longer, and Eden's warm glow seemed to ebb. Eden helped her navigate the now dark hallways to an empty room, pointing a few doors down to say, "I'm down here."
- "Thank-you," said Nanaya. "It's nice to not be alone."
- Eden's face wavered a little, but she tugged her smile back in place. "Right."
- "I'll see you tomorrow at class?"
- "Training and chores, just like home." Eden snorted. "I'll race you there."
- "I'm faster than I look," said Nanaya, but Eden was already heading down the hall. She waved lazily before disappearing behind a door.
- It only occurred to Nanaya later, laying in her cot, that she didn't exactly know where candidate classes were.
Chapter 2 || Chapter 4
