Chapter 24

Rory blinks, returning to the here and now. "So yeah, things were hard right after that, and I was in no way ready to be a False Maiden, even though I probably wouldn't want to, anyway; as you mentioned, my career and skills lie in other areas."

"I can see that, yeah. So is that why..." Cali trails off and points to Rory's shaved head.

"Yeah. There are times I miss my hair, but I'll never miss the way he caught me with it. Besides, I like what I've done with it." Rory says with a small smile.

"So, what do we do now?" Cali hugs Rory tight, grounds and centers and visualizes sending healing, calming energy her way. She leans back, causing them both to almost disappear into the pillows. "Besides, take a nap, that is. My, this is comfortable!"

Rory gives a small laugh, appreciating Cali's attempts to cheer her up. "It is quite nice, isn't it?"

She thinks about Cali's question. "I don't know. Is there anything to do?"

"That's a good question; I'll think about it and get back to you." She yawns and pretends to be sleeping. "Unless I just sleep here forever now..."

Cali has a moment of sadness as she realizes she had to get up from the comfort of the pillows and return to work, leaving her nest behind. As she is leaving, Cali stops and embraces Rory again and says with a fierce whisper in Rory's ear, "This will never happen as long as you're in my crew, and I'll work to make sure it doesn't happen after that as well."

She parts, holding Rory's shoulders and looking softly into her eyes. "Thanks for sharing that with me; I know it's difficult. I hope it helped a little. You can always talk with me, okay?"

At Rory's nod, Cali turns and heads out of the swamp.

#

A few days later, after The Maiden had gotten settled in, Brigit pulls her aside after a delicious lunch of pasta salad and freshly baked bread. "Are you ready to try climbing?" She asks The Maiden.

The Maiden nods emphatically, smiling. "I can't wait! I'll go change.."

The Maiden and the Brigit both leave to change, and they get to the exercise bay simultaneously. Brigit stands aside and swings her arm wide, motioning for The Maiden to go through, "After You."

Entering the climbing area, Brigit asks, "Anywhere in particular you'd like to climb?"

The Maiden thinks for a moment and snaps her fingers. "I know. There is a hill near my home on Zephyr that I would routinely hike up. But around the other side was a pretty sizable cliff that people would climb." She says with a little giggle, which Brigit thinks is weird to hear coming from The Maiden. "Some of us would jump off the cliff into a spring-fed hot pool. I believe the name of the hill was Lugh's Heights."

Brigit nods and says out loud, "Tyche, please configure the climbing area for the base of the cliff at Lugh's Heights on Zephyr."

"Beep Boop will do," Tyche says with a laugh. After a moment. "There ya go. You'll want to close the door."

"Thanks." And with that, Brigit closes the door. As she does, the climbing wall tilts out, though not at a sharp angle, but not an easy one either. The wind picks up, and they both are glad they have already put their hair up as the wind whips it around.

"Wow!" Brigit says over the rising wind. "This is intense!"

"Yeah," The Maiden responds, walking over to the wall. "I didn't remember it being this windy. And this slanted.." With a deep breath, she reaches up and takes hold.

Brigit does the same a few feet away, and they start climbing, not talking at first as the exertion is so high to get over that first slant. Then, after they climbed for half an hour, the wall tilts more towards a straight up and down, and they both get good handholds and rest.

The wind has picked up as they climbed 'higher', so it is even harder to have a conversation. Brigit says in a loud voice, trying to be heard over the wind, "How are you doing?"

"Okay! It will be easier from here.." The Maiden responds.

They say nothing else as they continue climbing. Higher and higher, and the wind is so fierce now that their bodies are blowing, making it harder and harder to climb, having to hug the rock face to cling. Finally, The Maiden says, raising her voice to be heard over the wind, "Done!" and falls back to the mat. Followed closely by Brigit, who says, "Tyche, end program."

As the wind dies down and they catch their breath, The Maiden smiles from ear to ear. "That was amazing!"

Brigit says with a smile at The Maiden's reaction. "Well, though it's not quite as amazing as that, now you get to experience the sauna. Come on. Tyche, can you.." Tyche says, "Already done. I've prepped the sauna, and it is ready."

They grin at each other and headed to the sauna.

#

After her shower, Brigit asks Tyche, "Where is Rory?"

"She's on the bridge with Adair. Do you need me to let them know you're looking for them?"

"No, thanks, I'll head there now. Thanks."

Bridget heads to the bridge to check on Rory. She figures she is helping Adair with the final astrogation figures. As she pulls herself up to the bridge, she notices Adair and Rory with their heads together over the conference table, that could also double as a large work screen. As she approaches, they both look up and grin widely.

"Okay, spill. I was coming up to see how you were, Rory. You seemed off earlier. But you seem okay now and clearly the astrogation calculations are going well."

"Yeah, I talked to Cali earlier, and she helped me feel better about things. Thanks for checking." Rory answers.

Adair kicks themself for not noticing, but went on to direct Tyche to display their work on the large screen on the wall. "Well, you know how we did a slingshot maneuver around The Well, and we asked for permission to cut it a little closer than safety measures usually allow?" At Brigit's nod, they continue. "Well, when we did that, we were able to angle up and enter more of the solar wind directly. So we're picking up more speed. And, with some creative transition math, we're going to come in under the elliptical on the other side. Then using a slingshot about halfway there to reenter the solar wind, well, long story, not actually short, we're going to get there in half the time!"

Rory says with a small smile. "Well, it's more like 58%, but close enough."

"Wow..." Brigit's bright smile lights up the bridge. "You both are going to be published after this is over, which reminds me. If you aren't already, I was going to tell you, make sure you're recording all this data. It's going to make for some excellent papers. When each of us improves, we all improve."

Brigit turns and headed towards the ladder. "How long until transition?"

Adair answers, "About 30 hours, give or take."

"Thanks, see you then. Let the rest of the crew know, please, Tyche?" Brigit asks as she descends the ladder.

"Of course." Tyche replies, then a mere moment later, "Done."