After returning to the Temple from her visit to Third-Eye, Leeta and her belongings were quickly hustled into a waiting armored carrage and then onto an airship at the Rephidim docks. Her duffle bag and mandolin case were shoved into her arms and she found herself being hustled up the plank.

She was told that Tahir had already been transported there earlier and was awaiting her. The ship itself was moments from departure… apparently Leeta had made it in just under the wire.

Leeta clutches the bag and case, not looking down as she is hurried along the plank. Still, her steps are hesitant, her memories of airships are not pleasant, and are returning very vividly. She concentrates, this isn't a slaver ship, and no horrible fates await her on board. Just Tahir, and she focuses on stilling her nervousness to join him.

One of the Elite Guardsmen scrutinizes Leeta as she approaches. He nods his head and points to the hatch leading belowdeck. "Cabin twelve." he grunts from behind his mask.

The Savanite nods to the guard, her duffle bag squeezed tightly against her chest. On the deck now, she feels a little better, though her ears are still depressed and all her motions very tight. She goes straight for the hatch, eager to get inside. Recent events have made her only feel really comfortable when surrounded by walls.

The hallway takes a sharp turn and angles downwards a bit as it leads deeper into the belly of the ship. Leeta feels the floor below her feet lurch a bit as the ship prepares to take off. A doorway with two guards marks Cabin Twelve, Tahir's cabin.

She staggers at the unfamiliar motion of the ship under her feet. Managing to keep her balance, Leeta goes up to the guards, stopping in front of them, ready for an inspection. Her nervousness is fading as she becomes surrounded by things she is familiar with. She looks between the two guards, waiting for their instructions.

"Ah, here's the Candidate's servant." one of the guards mumbles through his faceplate. "Leave your bags here for inspection… but you can go on inside, he was worried that you might not show up."

Leeta shakes her head as he says that, placing her bag on the ground, and after a moments hesitation, her mandolin case as well. She steps over them and opens the door, entering the cabin.

It's a bit unusual to enter Tahir's room without hearing the sound of a cycling door behind her. Instead there's just a soft 'click' as the door closes. Tahir himself is lying on his back on the bed. His bright red hair has grown long enough that he now wears it in a small ponytail tied in the back of his head with a small piece of leather. He gazes disinterestedly at a book resting on his stomach. His flowing robes have been replaces with a more casual zolk shirt and slightly baggy breeches.

After watching the door close behind her, the Savanite approaches the bed. She smiles, slipping down to sit on the edge and looks at her friend. "What are you reading?" She signs.

Tahir starts a bit as the Savanite seats herself.

"Oh. This?" He closes the book. "Just a bit of history. So, where have you been off to?" Tahir smiles, bit it's one of those smiles that looks forced.

"Are you feeling okay?" Her whiskers arch forward as she sees the strangeness of his smile. Leeta takes a moment to glance around the room, then looks back. "I had to say goodbye, it took longer than I thought it would."

The human pulls himself into a sitting position, he dangles his bare feet off the side of the bed. "I'm fine." He glances at the door. "Ah. Goodbye to your family? I'm glad you got the chance to do so."

Leeta's gaze follows Tahir's to the door, then back to his eyes. "Yes, I am too, though it was not as good as it could have been. Is there something wrong? Were you worried I wouldn't show up?"

"I was worried that the ship might leave before you got back," Tahir says with yet another forced smile. The smile slowly melts away as he pulls himself off of the bed. "It's just poor Delwin. I miss him a great deal."

The Savanite rises without a sign and gives the young human a comforting hug. She rocks him gently, trying to give him some strength in his grief.

Tahir hugs Leeta back tightly, then pulls away after a minute. He wipes one of his eyes and clears his throat, "Ahem… anyhow. They're about to serve dinner. Care to join me? You can meet Rhys, he's the Bridge candidate."

Leeta lets her friend draw back when he has to, and nods in response to his question. "I'd like that." She runs a hand through her mane. Her eyes don't leave the human's. "It will pass, Tahir, but he was your friend. You shouldn't be ashamed of how you're feeling now. Try to hold onto the good memories that you can, and he'll still be with you."

The Candidate flashes another forced smile and walks to the door, "Shall we then?" He knocks on the door and then opens it up.

The Savanite nods again in response, following behind him. {Oh Star, it isn't good for him to be hiding it like that.} She lets her hand rest momentarily on his shoulder, and gives it a small squeeze before dropping her arm down to her side. She waits to follow him to the galley.

One of the guards outside places Leeta's baggage inside the doorway, from his stance it doesn't look like he found anything out of the ordinary. One of the guards remains at the door while the second follows behind Leeta and Tahir as they make their way to dinner.

Leeta follows behind Tahir. As usual she has her head up and is looking around for dangers. Something is different in her posture however, a subtle change. Her bearing has pride, and there is a relaxed aspect to her motions, even considering her nervousness with airships. Her body knows, and it shows through all her actions, she is no longer a slave. Leeta is where she wants to be.

Tahir on the other hand walks with a stance almost mimicking that of a slave. His eyes are downcast and he walks hunched forward. His hands are jammed into the pockets of his breeches. His gaze only rises again when they reach the Galley… Well, it's not exactly the Galley… It looks more like a very private dinner hall with a wooden table nailed to the floor (so it won't slide away in case the air gets rough). Beyond a curtained doorway a heavenly aroma wafts in. The guard stands next to the door while the human quietly seats himself at the bench.

"We're early, it seems," Tahir remarks absently as he traces the grain of the wood with one finger.

The Savanite looks for some obvious place set aside for her, and seeing none, slides in beside Tahir. She watches him tracing the wood grain. "Tahir… " Leeta searches for something to add.

The curtains leading into the kitchen rustle a bit as someone peeks out at the new arrivals. The noise level in the kitchen begins to quicken. Oblivious to it all, Tahir keeps staring at the table.

"Our time here is so short, and there's so much suffering and hurt for most of it. You have to hang on to the memories of the people who you manage to find some joy with. You have to know that he wouldn't want you tearing yourself apart. I know he's joined the Procession. He's not gone forever, just for a little while," Leeta signs where he can see her words.

Tahir opens his mouth to respond, but promptly shuts it again as the door leading into the dining room creaks open. Another human walks in who looks a bit like Tahir… except his hair is cut short and he still wears his Candidate's robes. The guard following behind him takes his stand at the door opposite to Tahir's guard. The human looks around with a bored expression on his face and then seats himself across from Tahir at the table.

"Hello, Rhys," Tahir says, while he takes Leeta's hand and signs into it with his own. "Need time."

"Greetings, my brother. How does life fare for you?" Rhys says as he loostens his robe. "Gone casual, I see. Me, I'm just not comfortable unless I'm in uniform."

Leeta gives Tahir's hand another gentle squeeze, then releases it as she sits up, and looks at the two candidates. She glances back and forth comparing their features, voice, mannerisms.

Beneath the table and out of sight, Leeta's tail loops around Tahir's ankle, and just stays.

The Bridge candidate does look like Tahir's twin… but the differences between Rhys and Tahir are easy to see. Tahir's hair is long, while Rhys's is cut in a short, almost militaristic manner. Rhys's skin tone is also a bit darker… slightly tanned. He holds himself with a commanding air; confidence radiates from him.

"This is supposed to be a vacation," Tahir says to his twin. "I decided to go casual. It's rather nice to feel my skin breathe a bit instead of being stifled by robes."

The Savanite's hands flash through the signs, "Look strong", as she moves them off the table and down to her lap. She tries to be the example beside Tahir, keeping her posture straight.

Rhys scrutinizes Leeta with icy blue eyes as he folds his hands in front of him. "Our kind aren't allowed vacations. This is work, just like any other kind of work."

The Inquisitor Candidate pulls himself up a bit, although he seems uncomfortable in doing so. "At least we can get away from the Temple for a bit. This will be my first time on one of these flying airship contraptions."

Leeta sits through the examination, wishing now she had the chance to clean up her clothes, or at least brush her mane properly after her run. She watches Rhys' hands, out of habit, not really expecting him to sign anything. Her tailtip twitches against Tahir's ankle as he sits up, but otherwise she sits still.

The curtain leading into the kitchen parts and an old Savanite with one ear walks in. She leans forward next to Fire-Mane and places a mug of water in front of the two humans, bumping Leeta as she does so.

The younger Savanite almost turns in recognition, but manages to suppress it. Her tail curls and twitches out of sight as she sees the head slave from Nartak's household, a time that seems so long ago now. Her ear closest to the older cheetah wiggles, long enough to let Naoko know she's seen her.

Naoko's ear wiggles as well in acnowledgement to Leeta's. She seems to be fighting an urge to smile with every fiber of her being. The old Savanite bows to the two humans, then vanishes back into the kitchen.

Leeta fights to keep similar feelings from showing themselves. She's already making Tahir look bad enough, by sitting so upright beside him. {I've got to help him somehow, at least make him look good through all this. How did those protocol lessons Nartak sent me for go? Oh, it's coming back now… }

Rhys casually drinks from his mug. "I always thought they drugged Savanites on voyages like this. Amazing what you learn sometimes."

Tahir coughs. "Er… really? Well… um… " he looks back to the kitchen. "Perhaps they drugged the chef by mistake. Our meal seems rather late."

Fire-Mane stiffens at Rhys' comment, and tries to relax; it brings back too many unpleasant memories.

Rhys drains the contents of his mug. "It will be nice to get away from the Temple for a bit, though. I've heard Tarsus is an amazing place, bits of old technology stored away as well as some of the older Temple records. I'm sure I shall learn a great deal there."

Tahir just sips from his own drink; he seems even more uncomfortable now. "Yes. Much to learn."

One of the things Leeta was trained for a long time ago, was to assist Nartak with etiquette in formal situations. Most of the techniques involved subtle cues to signal what was a proper action. The Savanite sinks forward, so she is leaning more than Tahir, then she imperceptibly straightens up. The idea is to 'push' her friend into a better posture, by making him sit taller than her.

{Oh I hope this works, all the things I was taught assumed that the person watching me was a master who didn't want to look worse than his slave.} Leeta's tail gives Tahir's ankle a small squeeze.

The Inquisitor candidate blinks and glances at Leeta, then smirks just enough for the Savanite to notice and then straightens himself up a bit more. "I never saw much of you in the Temple, Rhys. Were you trained elsewhere?"

"A bit… and my teachers simply felt that I should be separated. The Bridge is such a sensitive area, after all," Rhys responds. "My condolances about Delwin, by the way. He was a good man."

The curtain flys open again and Naoko walks in, balancing a salad bowl and three plates in her arms. She manages to put the bowl down on the table and then give a plates to both humans and Leeta. Naoko bows and exits again.

Leeta brings her hands up, and rests them on the edge of the table. She stays rigid otherwise, enough for Tahir to notice, then lets herself relax, and lets it show in a slight sinking of her shoulders.

She looks down at the bowl in front of her, then Tahir's and finally Rhys'. Her friend's food is safe, but what about hers? Naoko wouldn't have obeyed any order to drug her, but still the other candidate's comment lingers in her mind.

Tahir mechanically eats his food. "Delwin was a very good man, and a very good friend. I'll miss him a great deal."

Rhys attacks his bowl with such gusto that one would think he hadn't been fed in a month.

Leeta takes up her own spoon once the others are eating. {Will I even taste it if something's wrong?} Without hesitation she starts to eat. After all, she learned to accept the possibility of poison.

Tahir looks at Rhys and cringes a little, he looks at Leeta, her plate and just shrugs. If she's been drugged, he doesn't know anything about it.

The Savanite wiggles an ear once at Tahir, and gives him a quick smile. She isn't worried, really.

"Your table manners are as atrocious as ever, Ioakim," Tahir says as he pushes bits of vegetables around with his fork.

Rhys smiles. "Some of us did not have time to eat slowly, Archelaus. I was busy guiding a ship while you were having plesant little chats with your fellow diplomats over tea."

Leeta sets the best example of manners that she can, and only once looks at the curtain to the kitchen to see if Naoko is signalling her. A drug is the least of her problems, though. Tahir needs her help with Rhys.

Tahir twirls his fork in the air like a small sword. "Helped guide a ship, Lieutenant."

Naoko peeks out and flashes a smile at Leeta before popping her head back into the kitchen again. She seems much more energetic than Leeta remembers, slightly fatter and a little younger looking. Perhaps life on the airship has been good for the old slave.

Fire-Mane relaxes, things are going much better for everyone, the sight of Naoko really cheering her up. She puts her spoon down to adjust her napkin, managing to sign, "Caanan" in the process.

"Either way… I still had little time to myself," Rhys says as he scrapes his fork against the ceramic plate. "And table manners aren't a required skill for a Lieutenant." The human winks and licks the remaining bits of dressing from his fork.

{But they will be for a Captain-Astromancer, if he expects to represent Rephidim's interests to all of Sinai. Appearance can mean as much as power.} Leeta eats at the proper pace, carefully bringing her food up to her mouth and chewing each bite.

Tahir pushes his plate away. A few moments later Naoko appears again, swipes up the dishes and refills the humans' mugs. As she heads back into the kitchen a Jupani walks out and lays out the main course… some spiced up cuts of Rughrat meat that vary from pink to charbroiled, some bits of colorful vegetables, and a large bowl of bread. "I hope it's to your liking, sirs."

Leeta reaches forward and starts serving Tahir before he has a chance to do so himself, and before Rhys has a chance to grab the best pieces of food. She puts the meat, then the vegetables and finally the bread on the human's plate, watching to see when he has enough of each. Once she is finished, Leeta waits for Rhys to snatch whatever he wants.

Rhys watches Leeta over steepled hands and chuckles to himself when she finishes. "A fine slave you have. Perhaps I should get one myself someday. Ironic that the Silent-Ones fell so far, isn't it? Almost as ironic that it would be the Inquisitor candidate that would be the first to… "

"YES… " Tahir says, just a little too loudly. "I suppose it is."

Fire-Mane pretends not to hear, that she isn't curious. Her whiskers twitch forward, but her ears don't move, and she doesn't look at Rhys. It would only encourage him.

"I wonder if they know about their heritage. Nobody in the Temple seemed to know where they came from, so I'll assume it's the same way. Quite a shame really," Rhys says between bites. "Don't you agree, brother?"

Tahir shrugs. "I suppose. But after several thousand years you really can't blame them."

One of the guards at the doorway shifts a bit.

"Yes… it has been a long time. I wonder how much things have changed out there." Rhys gestures skywards with a fork, almost slinging a gobbet of meat up into the air in the process.

Leeta starts serving herself, then eating. Beneath the table her tailtip begins to slide off Tahir's ankle. She tries to pretend she is as deaf as she is silent, willing herself to avoid looking at Rhys. She is curious about what happened so long ago, but it's hardly relevant to now.

Rhys looks at Leeta again, scrutinizing her. "So, Archelaus… how did you manage to get yourself a slave while the rest of us had to suffer without one, hmmm?"

Tahir glances at Leeta again. "I asked for her," he says.

The Savanite smiles at those words, and her ears wiggle. She takes a bite from her bread, then washes it down with some water. {The only good thing Moffat ever did was introduce me to him.}

"Asking, what a novel idea," Rhys says, chuckling to himself. "I remember asking for a raise in pay once on the Expedition. Perhaps I would have been better off asking for a slave instead."

Leeta's tailtip tightens around Tahir's ankle once more. {You might have got that, but not a friend.} She puts her mug down and cuts her slices of meat into small squares, then eats them one at a time.

"If you wanted to get paid well, you should have found another line of work." Tahir says, focusing on his plate.

Rhys smiles even more. He twirls his fork in the air, "Touche'."

Fire-Mane reaches up in a gesture that seems to be brushing back her hair, and turns into one that removes her collar and sets it down beside her plate. She keeps eating as if nothing has happened.

Rhys arches an eyebrow at this. "What's the matter, Archelaus. Did you accidentally give your slave an iron collar? Or perhaps it's just not to her liking."

Tahir looks away. "I always take my adornments off while I'm eating."

"Monkey see, monkey do," Rhys says, chuckling again. (Whatever a 'monkey' is.)

Leeta keeps eating, her tail rubbing at Tahir's ankle to try and get him to follow her lead. She just ignores Rhys and finishes her vegetables.

Tahir grits his teeth but silently continues eating. He spears the vegetables as if they were enemies on his plate.

"It's a good thing there are no watchers in here right now," Rhys says nonchalantly as he sips from his mug again. "I'm sure it would reflect badly upon you if they thought the Captain-Astromancer had a slave he couldn't control." He coughs. "But as you said, she merely removed it so as not to somehow get a piece of dinner lodged in it somewhere."

The Savanite's tail taps once on the human's foot, then twice, and works up to ten taps, and then stops twitching. All through this Leeta pretends to calmly eat.

Tahir just frowns more. "I doubt that something like my slave would be of much concern to them. She does what I need her to, that's all that matters."

"Of course. Of course. I've heard many people speak highly of her on the Bridge," Rhys says. "You both were a hot topic of conversation for quite awhile."

Leeta finishes eating. She sets her knife and fork down on the plate. She glances at Rhys' ice blue eyes, then looks away as she picks up her collar and re-clasps it. Under the table, she gives Tahir's ankle another squeeze.

Rhys just smiles back at Leeta. He looks like he's having the time of his life actually.

The Savanite doesn't return any expressions, she lets her silence speak for her.

Tahir pushes himself back from the table. "Well, Leeta has finished eating, and I don't feel too inclined for dessert myself. I'll take my leave now."

"I'll pass your regards along to the chef… " Rhys says, brushing a few crumbs off of the front of his robe.

Leeta moves out of the way so Tahir can stand, she waits for him to pass her, then follows.

Tahir nods to his brother and exits the dining room. The Candidate's personal guard quickly takes his place behind the pair as they walk back to his chambers.

The Savanite follows the human, and tries to get a feel for the shifting floor beneath her.

The Candidate almost kicks his door open and walks in. He wordlessly strolls to his bed and flops down to lie on his back. He picks up the book he discarded earlier and starts reading it again.

Leeta closes the door then looks around for a chair to sit on. She watches Tahir carefully.

Tahir looks like he's… sulking. Something Leeta has never seen him do before, actually. He just glares at his book, as if trying to burn a hole in the pages with his eyes.

Fire-Mane decides against a chair, and moves to the edge of the bed. She pulls his book down so he'll have to glare at her signs instead. "He's trying to get to you, Tahir. Don't let him succeed."

"Of course he is," Tahir says. "He wants to be Astromancer. He's just more aggressive about it than I am."

"He'll succeed if you let him, Tahir, and I don't think he should. That whole dinner was to try and upset you, and it seems to have worked," She signs, trying to get Tahir to look at her face, and see where the anger in his eyes is directed.

Tahir shakes his head. "No… his goal was to make me feel like an insignificant diplomat again. And in that he succeeded."

The human seems to be avoiding Leeta's eyes. He tries burying his nose in his book again.

Leeta pushes his book down gently again, "I can't make you watch my signs, Tahir. You have to want to talk with me. If you don't, I'll stop."

Tahir takes a deep breath. "What were you trying to show by taking your collar off in front of Rhys? No… I know what you were trying to show, and you're right. But it still only gave him more ammunition to use against me."

"I'm sorry about that, Tahir, but slavery isn't right. You know it, I know it, and he knows it. Everyone else can be forgiven because that's the way things have always been, but you know better. He should as well." Leeta reaches up and fingers her collar, feeling the texture and the weight before continuing. "Also, because it lies. I'm not your slave, Tahir, I'm your friend. I'm here where I want to be, nothing is forcing me to be with you. I chose to be here."

"And if I speak that aloud, I risk my death. For all I know, that's why Delwin died," Tahir says. "We had been ordered to switch duties that day, but didn't because the both of us thought the whole thing was silly. I'm watched for almost every moment of almost every day. Every misstep, every slip, every outburst puts the Astromancer seat just that much farther from me."

"And if you knew what the Silent-Ones were like, you might be glad that they're slaves now if you were in Rhys' position," Tahir adds. "Your people were not the most pleasant among the races."

Leeta just sits there and stares at Tahir, "I didn't know. I don't want to be the thing that makes you lose. I'm sorry… I want to help you." Her ears droop as he describes the Silent-Ones.

"I thought maybe you had been friends with some, in your previous life. I guess not." She looks down at the bed.

Tahir unties his hair. "I know you didn't know. And since you're my friend and not my slave, I didn't speak against you… which unfortunately added more fuel to Rhys' little fire." He shakes his hair out. "I was a diplomat, remember? I had many dealings with the Silent-Ones on the Expedition. Some became Tahir's friends in his later years as well in Rephidim. But they were also old. Age makes one realize how silly conquests are."

"Tahir… Rephidim just goes on its own, doesn't it? All the machine does is predict, and all the technical aspects of your job is simply reading that, right? If that is so, the Temple needs a diplomat more than a pilot," Leeta signs, shifting to a more comfortable position on the bed.

"And Tahir, you're also an engineer. One brash enough to ask for his own slave." The Savanite's ears wiggle.

"True. But the job of Astromancer is also a highly influental one," Tahir says, folding his hands behind his head. "They need someone who can command people as well. Ioakim could always get his men to do exactly what he wanted them to, either through force or his silver tongue. He is an accomplished leader, despite the insults. He's just a bit brash."

Fire-Mane signs, "I can see why not getting a slave to obey you would be a problem. I'll wear the collar, then, so I won't cause any. I just wanted him, and you to know it was my decision back there."

"I understand," the human says. "Just remember that Rhys wants the Astromancer seat as much as I do. And he may try and prod you into making me look bad now that he knows you're not as meek as the rest of your kin."

Tahir puts his fingers to his head and chuckles to himself, laughing at some unspoken joke.

Leeta smiles, her ears wiggling, "I've made my point with him, I think. I'll keep myself under control. I learned all that the first time I was on an airship. What's funny?"

"Just thinking of the irony of it all. Rhys was right baout one thing. It is ironic that the Inquisitor candidate would be the first to own a Savanite slave." Tahir chuckles.

"I was wondering about that, but I knew if I showed any interest he'd use it against you somehow. How is it ironic?" She leans forward curiously.

Tahir smirks, then looks nervously at the door. He sits up and signs something in swift, secretive signs that only Leeta can see.

The human quickly puts a finger to his lips in a 'shush' gesture and winks.

Leeta stares at the human for a second, then her ears explode in Savanite giggles.

"I don't think you have to worry about me saying anything," she adds, mimicing his 'shush' gesture, then holding her hands closed and pressed together, the Savanite equivalent.

Tahir leans back in the bed again. He taps his head and makes the sign of the Star across his chest. "Anyhow. I think I need to finish my book, the Technopriests gave me quite a reading list."

Leeta rises and picks up her mandolin, "Would you like some music?"

"Always," Tahir says, grinning.

The Savanite sits on the end of the bed, and starts to play. She keeps the notes quiet; the walls of the airship don't absorb as well as the stone ones in the Temple did. The melody is simple and soothing, following the swaying motion of the ship. The notes drift away as the Morning Star sails on through the night.