Psychro's Descision

Psychro said his good-byes and flicked off the comm unit. He and his twin Psikaris rarely had time to talk any more. A month ago, she had taken on the job of Chief Engineer on the warship Goliath, and tended to be busy. Psychro himself had returned to the mechanic business, with a small shop on the Second Moon. He made enough to support himself, never lacked for company, and things should have been his modest idea of perfect.

Of course it wasn't. He knew he'd miss his sister, but never as much as he did now. He had always watched over her. It wasn't as if they had negligent parents or anything, but they tended to be busy. And Psikaris was pretty and naive and trusting.

She had a new protector now, the half-Solarian icewalker Cameo. After a thorough interrogation, Psychro had decided that the young fighter pilot was a nice guy, loved Psikaris, and now could take care of her better than Psychro could. Wasn't this what he was aiming for? Psikaris growing up, emotionally?

Sure it was, but what was left for him? His life, his personality, hells, even his penchant for one-night stands stemmed from protecting Psikaris ( of course, he rather enjoyed the one-night stands part. He might have had the best of intentions, but in the end, Psychro was still a purple-blooded male. ) If she saw him acting like a jerk, it would make her more distrustful of men, and hopefully make her more objective. Well, she didn't need him any more. He could think of only one person who would have any idea of what he was going through. Of course, said person was near-impossible to talk to for many reasons.

The comm unit beeped again, startling the ice hybrid from his thoughts. Another customer, he thought, then hit the button. "Space Junk, Repairs and Restoration."

"Horrid name. You'll never attract high-paying customers."

Psychro smirked slightly. "Hey, Mysty. What's up? I'd ask if Her Royal Poofiness' transport broke down, but I'm a mechanic, not a veterinarian."

"You're actually not far off..."

* * *

Mystan ( Psychro wasn't sure of his title any more. Trying to figure out the royal hierarchy gave him headaches ) showed up a few hours later at the door of Space Junk. As per usual, he hadn't given any details about the purpose of his visit. "Okay, you got me curious. What's going on?"

"How would you like to save the Empire?"

"This better not be another war..."

"No, no," said Mystan placatingly. "Nothing of the sort. This is more insidious. Do you remember Tanthas Loraelin?"

"Vaguely. Tall, light gray, always smiling, made you want to bash his teeth in. What about him?"

Mystan smiled slightly. As far as he knew, every man that laid eyes on Tanthas wanted to beat the tar out of him, mostly because every woman who laid eyes on him also wanted to lay hands on him, if you follow. Then sombre again, "He has unofficially ousted me from my position of Court Advisor. That is how I was able to come here on such short notice. From there, he intends to take over the Empire."

The ice hybrid raised an eyebrow. "He's got Luna hypnotized? Why hasn't Amok done anything? He recognizes when she's under thrall. And why haven't you blown the whistle on this guy?"

"There is nothing Amok or I can do," Mystan admitted. "Luna isn't under thrall - she's in love."

"What!? Luna's a smart girl. She knows better than to fall for a guy who goes for women like her!" Psychro yelled. "Look, I know Luna. She knows she's screechy, unattractive, crippled, and the single most powerful person on the Moons. Anyone who goes for that combination is a slimeball."

The telekinetic sighed. "I know that, you know that... hells, even Amok knows that. Luna has temporarily forgotten."

"So drag her off and tell her."

"I tried," snapped Mystan. "You think I have been doing nothing? Amok has tried, in his way, as well. He also failed. And this entire situation is a bit worse than you think. Aristarchus still has support. Luna cannot afford a scandal. Now, tell me of Luna's current medical condition."

"Terminal shortness," Psychro snapped back. He never liked Mystan's condensending attitude. "Now get to the... oh, hells, you mean her pregnancy. I get it. Aristarchus got the boot because he was illegitimate. And now Luna's baby will be..."

"If she doesn't get married and soon," finished Mystan. "Tanthas' courtship not only swept her off her feet, but also solved a major problem. Before you ask, I don't think anyone outside the old Skytomb crew knows of Luna's condition yet. She's naturally on the chubby side and is always sitting anyway."

Psychro sank back into a chair, not liking where the conversation was going. "And you need my help because?"

"Luna respects you, believe it or not. She will not listen to me or Amok because we are her servants. Besides," - here Mystan smiled - "you are her unborn child's biological father. When all else fails, I can still defeat Tanthas by blackmailing you and Luna."

"I am not marrying the Goblin Queen."

"You don't have to," said Mystan. "Not if you co-operate. I just need you to remind her that Tanthas is only after her for her kingdom. I will deal with getting her married off later."

* * *

Psychro wasn't usually self-conscious, but the halls of the Royal Palace on the Third Moon made him nervous. However, bluff and bluster had got him through worse spots, so he merely followed Mystan and made defiant eye-contact with anyone they passed.

Mystan led the way trough to what Psychro assumed were Luna's private apartments. "If we're lucky, we'll catch her alone and... drat." Luna was out, and oddly, Amok was not. Approaching the guardian, he asked, "Where is she?"

Amok said, "Pthibbit."

"She's out with tall, pale, and fast-tracking, eh?" asked Psychro, crouching down by the massive Lunatac and waving Mystan away. The telekinetic shrugged and left. "I never thought I'd say this, big guy," sighed the ice hybrid, "but I think I finally understand you."

"Psikaris."

Psychro smiled slightly. "Fascinating. You really are aware of what's going on. You know Luna's going to have to get married off in the next couple months, right? Everybody leaves sometime, and even our little girls grow up."

"Hmph."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to convince myself of that, too. At least when this baby's born you'll have a new charge."

"Grr."

"Sorry, big guy, but you've heard my side already and nothing can be done now. I'm trying to make good here. If I get rid of Tanthas, am I forgiven?"

Amok seemed to think about that. "Depends."

* * *

Tanthas and Luna ran into Mystan as he was leaving. Tanthas took one look at the telekinetic, and saw what was in his mind. And smiled. A telepath was always two steps ahead of his opponents. "Mystan," he said smoothly. "Forgive me if I don't bow." The reasoning being that Luna was seated on his shoulder, her usual method of transportation when away from Amok.

Luna snickered from her new perch. "You won't have to, anyway."

"Luna! I thought I heard you out here... oh. It's you," said Psychro, emerging from Luna's room and noticing Tanthas. Behind him, Amok growled slightly.

"What are you doing here?" She tried to sound annoyed, but was in too good a mood to pull it off.

"Going through your stuff. What else?" Psychro asked. "No, seriously. Can't I come visit one of the most memorable women of my past?"

Amok snorted. Mystan smiled slightly. He always did enjoy wordplay, though the telekinetic was better at veiled threats and subterfuge than Psychro's good-natured teasing and innuendoes. "'Memorable'? You work for me for a year and all I get is 'memorable'?" Luna asked.

"It's either that or lie," the ice hybrid replied.

Mystan raised an eyebrow. Saying that he is honest, and others might not be, he thought, somewhat impressed. A bit obvious, but still clever. He caught Tanthas looking at him and smiled. Unfortunately, Tanthas' reciprocated smile told Mystan that he had already lost.

The telepath used his free hand to tap Luna on the foot. "Would you care to tell them?" Tanthas asked her, interrupting.

"Oh! Yes, of course," said Luna, pulled from her chat. "You'd have heard it soon enough, but Amok and Mystan should hear it first. Tanthas and I are getting married."

The colour drained from Mystan's face, leaving his already ashen countenance almost white. Amok just scowled. Psychro, always vocal, got mad. "What!? When?"

Tanthas smiled at him. "In three days. You know why it must be soon."

Psychro rarely blushed, but the accent on the 'you' reminded him that he was dealing with a telepath, and told him that his mind had already been sifted through without his noticing it. Furious, he snatched Luna from her perch before she even realized what happened. "We, Luna, are going to have a little chat..."

"Put me down, you overgrown toadstool!"

"Here now, you can't go treating the Moonqueen like..." Tanthas' protest died in his throat when Psychro turned around and snarled. Even with his power, Tanthas knew better than to challenge an angry ice Lunatac. Psychro turned on his heel and carted the seething Moonqueen back to her room.

The telepath recovered quickly. "Amok, Mystan, I'm surprised you let that savage get away with that."

Amok had meanwhile settled himself in front of the door with the smug expression of one who knows he can't be moved. Mystan smiled again. "He is a jerk, yes, but he is an honest jerk."

* * *

Psychro had set Her Royal Highness on the edge of her bed, and was currently pacing the floor in front of her. "I can't believe you fell for this guy! He's only after the title! Why can't you see that?"

"He loves me, you twit! If you're jealous..."

"Jealous? Of him? You're no prize, Luna," Psychro snapped. "And I heard it from you first. 'I don't want a man who wants a woman like me,' you said. 'He's either lying or some sort of pervert', you said."

"I've changed my mind," retorted Luna. "What happened? You can't protect Psikaris any more and I'm your second choice?"

The ice hybrid bit back a scathing retort. They were fighting dirty now, and while he started it, he also knew he had to end it. Lashing out at each other's weaknesses would get them nowhere but angry. Forcing himself to be calm, he stopped pacing to crouch by where Luna was sitting. "Listen to me," he said quieter, catching her by the shoulders, "Listen, as the closest thing you've got to a friend. Tanthas is nothing but trouble. If you marry him, you'll become a figurehead faster than you can say 'I wish I'd listened to Psychro'."

"Leave me alone. You have no right to run my life."

"I'm not controlling you, I'm advising you to ditch this guy before you regret it. Trust me. I know jerks when I see them."

Luna scowled, but relented. "I'll... think about it."

"Thanks."

* * *

Perhaps she thought about it, but it did no good. Three days later, the ceremony to wed Luna and Tanthas began.

Psikaris looked around the assembly, noticed her brother, and dragged Cameo along to where he was. Looping her right arm through his ( her left arm was occupied with Cameo ), she smiled, "I've never seen you in formalwear before. The effect is nice."

"Thanks," replied Psychro, distractedly. "I've never seen you in a dress before, so we're even. Good thing you've got Cameo to scare off all the single guys in here."

Psikaris blushed. Cameo smiled proudly, then looked around. "Impressive set-up Luna's got here. Tiny woman, big party. How'd she rope herself a husband, anyway?"

"Tanthas is a no-good, sneaking charlatan who's only after Luna for her title," snarled Psychro with more venom than he intended. Quieter he said, "Sorry. You two haven't been here. Mystan and Amok have been working hard in their own ways to stop this stupid wedding. Mystan's been searching high and low for a loophole in the ceremony to annul it. I've heard him ranting so long I know the current marriage customs backwards and forwards. Mystan initially hauled me in because he thought I could talk some sense into her."

His sister raised an eyebrow. "Why you?"

Psychro made an exasperated noise. "Why not me? Anyway, I failed. Too late, too slow, and too bad." With that, he settled into a sullen silence.

He'd seen friends married off on the Ice Moon, but each satellite had its own customs. For example, on the Ice Moon the father of the bride got to challenge the groom for possession of the bride. Usually it was for show, but sometimes not. Apparently, it was still in practice. The elyon custom of the Third Moon seemed to have a 'bigger is better' policy. And Luna, because she was the Moonqueen, had the biggest spectacle of them all. Worse, the initial sermon was running extremely long, and everyone was stuck standing.

Psychro didn't really notice that minor annoyance. He was too busy alternating helpless glances at Mystan, glaring at Tanthas, and trying to think of some way, any way, to stop the wedding.

After a while he came up with one. If the initial plan didn't work, the back-up was foolproof. And Mr Telepath Tanthas couldn't do anything about it. He could deny his goldigging until he was blue in the face, but there were some things that couldn't be argued away.

He just didn't want to implement it.

The timing had to be right. If he did it wrong, he'd be kicked out for unnecessary rowdiness and Tanthas would win. So he waited until the priest asked if there were any objections.

Before Psikaris could pull him back, Psychro stepped from his place in the crowd and announced, "I object."

If looks could kill, the ice hybrid would have melted under Tanthas' hateful glare. Luna and Mystan looked surprised. The priest looked annoyed. "Who are you?"

"Psychro of the Myntaello Clan. As the bride's former lover, I challenge Tanthas Loraelin to his claim on her, according to the custom of my homeworld."

"This isn't the Ice Moon," snarled Tanthas, already seeing Psychro's plan.

"No?" Psychro sneered. "Well, isn't it lucky that the Third Moon has a similar custom? Only we won't be allowed to use our natural advantages. What a shame." The ice hybrid flashed the telepath a predatory smile as that knowledge sank in. Ice Moon custom was hand-to-hand, all natural abilities allowed. Third Moon required weapons, but Psychro was fairly certain that anything Tanthas could do, he could do better. Psychro had no defence against a telepath, but with that removed...

Tanthas knew the rules. "Swords, hybrid. I choose swords." Since neither Tanthas nor Psychro were armed, the weapons had to be procured.

Luna chose this time to steer Amok over to Psychro. "What the hells do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

"Rescuing you from a really bad situation that you've gotten your fool self into."

"Do you know what will happen to you if you lose? If you win?"

"All too clearly."

The runner who had been sent to fetch the weapons returned with two curved blades. Tanthas picked one up with a smile. "You who seem more used to barfights than duels of honour are going to be taught a very short lesson in respecting your betters."

Psychro reached for the offered sword, but stopped his hand at Mystan calling, "Psychro! Catch!" The new sword telekinetically flew to the ice hybrid, who caught it. He recognized it vaguely. Wasn't this Tycho's weapon? And indeed, the Lunatac prince was saying something to Mystan. Mystan smiled grimly and said something back. Psychro was not reassured.

He liked Tanthas' expression a bit better. Surprise, fear, then burning hatred. Psychro couldn't tell, though, if the telepath was glaring at him or the sword.

Without warning, Tanthas lashed out. Psychro surprised himself by stopping the blow. He had no time to wonder at it; the sandweller was attacking again.

The ice hybrid had never used a sword in his life, yet he was able to counter every slash and thrust of his opponent. He couldn't go on the offensive himself. When he tried, he got a nasty cut down one arm. "First blood," Tanthas hissed.

So Psychro just didn't think about what he was doing. Maybe this was some kind of telekinetic trick, courtesy of Mystan... but Mystan couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Well, whatever it was, he wasn't going to fight it. Whatever Providence was guiding his actions screwed up only when he tried to take control.

Only when Tanthas was starting to tire did Psychro make his first attack, cutting a light gash across the sandweller's chest. He smiled, showing fangs. "It isn't first blood that's important. It's last."

Tanthas attacked again, but his movements were clumsy due to fatigue and fury. Psychro scored against him three more times in rapid succession before knocking the sword from Tanthas' hand. The telepath looked ready to explode with rage, but carefully composed himself and spread his hands. "If it must be done, do it quickly."

"No." If Psychro could sheathe his sword, he would have. Instead he just stood back and gave the sandweller a contemptuous look. "I don't trust you. Maybe you're just putting on a brave face, maybe you've got some last telepathic trick up your sleeve. No, you'll live. And I still win." With that, he turned his back on Tanthas and returned the sword to Tycho.

Tycho looked at his sword. What happened? Usually you blast any non-royal Lunatac who so much as touches you.

Tycho suddenly felt as if the Lunar Blade rolled his eyes at him and said, "Duh."

For once in her life, Luna was at a complete loss of words. Without the slightest glance her way, Psychro stepped up to where Tanthas had been standing. When Amok calmly started to amble back to his place, Luna found her voice again. "Amok, what are you doing?" she hissed. "Whose side are you on? I'm not going through with this!"

However, Psychro overheard. "You are, and there's two good reasons. First is that Tanthas is a slimeball. For the second, you only need to look within yourself."

"Psychro, I do not love y..." Luna started, then stopped when she realized what he was hinting at. "You..."

"Shh, Luna. Don't entertain the reporters any more than you have to."

* * *

After the ceremony, Luna took off, furious, in one direction, Tanthas in another. Mystan pulled Psychro aside as soon as he was able. "You did it," said the telekinetic happily. "Beautiful plan, though not one I'd have expected from you."

"Hey, what choice did I have?" Psychro sounded fairly cavalier about it, but figured he'd be regretting his decision the rest of his life. Which could be a very long time.

Psikaris caught up to them a few minutes later, Cameo trailing behind. "Psychro! I can't believe you did that! Of all the hare-brained stunts..."

"Calm down, 'Karis," he said, trying to quiet his sister. "I know what I was doing."

"You don't even like Luna!"

"I like her fine. Usually," Psychro admitted. They got along quite well, unless they were angry. And since both Luna and Psychro were possessed of hair-trigger tempers, knew one another's weaknesses, and knew how to best exploit them... well, their fights, which happened fairly frequently, were extremely nasty. Changing the subject he asked, "Hey, Mysty, what was with Tycho's sword? It magical or something? Was that cheating?"

"Don't call me 'Mysty'. Yes the sword is magical. You should get your arm treated," Mystan replied.

Psychro looked at the injury sustained from his fight with Tanthas and winced. He'd forgotten about it completely, but now that he remembered, it hurt. He spat some ice on his arm before following Mystan to the medlab, "I outrank you; I can call you anything I want."

* * *

"No."

Luna found herself, for the hundredth time that day, scowling at Psychro. Just because he was now her husband didn't mean she couldn't be fuming mad at him. "Amok goes where I go."

"Look, I know that, but enough is enough." His current cause of annoyance was because of Amok's habit of sleeping at the foot of Luna's bed. Luna and her steed had already settled in for the night. Psychro had just arrived after a stop at the medlab and a talk with Mystan.

"Oh, like we were going to do anything anyway."

Psychro glared right back. He was telling the truth about him and Luna being former lovers. He left out that due to a magic belt, Luna had been tall and attractive at the time. "It's the principle of the thing. I just rescued you from a real jerk. I think I can protect you in your own darn room. Come on, Amok," he said, prodding the guardian, "How would you like your own room?"

Amok glared balefully at Psychro, but got up and shuffled towards the door. "Hey! Since when do you listen to him?" demanded Luna.

"Hmph."

"We came to an understanding a few days ago," Psychro explained, closing the door behind the massive Lunatac. He then opened a drawer, scowled, and went back to his bag. "Note to self: Send for the rest of my stuff," he muttered, getting out his pyjamas. He paused for a second, reminded himself that Luna was already well aware of what he looked like naked, and got changed.

For her part, Luna had rolled over and was staring resolutely at the opposite wall. Truth be told, angry as she was at him, she had found him to be an excellent lover, and figured that if nothing else, he would be good for that. When she felt his weight settle onto the bed, she stole a look over her shoulder. "Hmph."

"'Hmph', yourself," retorted Psychro, sitting on the edge of the bed and checking the bindings on his arm. The cut had been deep, but didn't hit an artery and Lunatacs bled slowly anyway. "You want to hear a few interesting things that Mysty and Tycho pieced together about your ex-fiance?"

"No."

Psychro ignored the response. "Turns out loverboy Tanthas pulled this little trick off before. Before Tycho took over, the Moonqueen was a woman named Lellune. Ended up marrying a guy called Luntalus. Luntalus was actually Tanthas, pulling off a mass hypnotism - everyone thought he was an elyon Lunatac. Queen Lellune ended up dead, though of course no one suspected anything. Tycho showed up, challenged Luntalus, they fought, and Luntalus was presumed dead. But that was just Tanthas' mass-hypnotism trick again. When you first met him after the war, that was probably the first time in years anyone heard his real name or saw his natural form."

Luna pulled herself to a sitting position to better talk, and tried valiantly to ignore the fact that the person she was arguing with was shirtless, good-looking, and sitting on her bed. Fortunately, he was facing away from her, so if her expression betrayed anything, he couldn't see it to tease her about it. "How the hells did you come up with a story like that?"

"Not me," Psychro corrected. "Between Mysty's thorough background checks, the feelings Tycho got from his magic sword, and one of Knave's 'talks' with Amok," - months ago, the Skytomb crew discovered that Knave could sometimes see Amok's memories - "they put it together. Because Amok was immune to Tanthas' power, he could see him when the rest of us couldn't. And Tycho's sword recognized Tanthas, and somehow Tycho could pick up on that Luntalus and Tanthas were the same guy."

"Tycho's explained that 'magic sword' of his to me. The ancient, semi-mythical Lunar Blade. He also told me that only the royal family could use it. It sends a charge through any other that touches it."

Psychro laughed. "Indeed it does, but since it had a grudge against Tanthas, it decided that since I was going to be 'royal family' soon enough, it would make an exception. That's Tycho's guess, anyway." The ice hybrid stifled a yawn, turned off the light, then got into bed. "We'll see who's more sick about this situation come morning. 'Night, Luna."

"That's it? Don't you have a reputation to maintain?"

Psychro smiled slightly at the indignity in Luna's voice, but it was dark so she didn't see. "Not when I'm tired."

"You could at least put your arm around me."

Luna was rather surprised when he complied. "Now will you let me sleep?" he asked.

"Oh, fine."

* * *

Psychro woke up and spent a few seconds trying to figure out why his chest and stomach felt a bit warm. Of course, being used to waking up with a woman in his arms, he figured it out pretty quickly. What threw him off was that most women were taller than three-foot-four. First crisis of the day solved, he reached over and smacked the alarm clock which had woken him in the first place.

"Pretend to be civilized," Luna muttered, unimpressed. "And no comments about the hair." She knew she looked a mess first thing in the morning without being reminded of it.

"I wasn't going to say anything," he replied, getting up and looking for his clothes. "So what's my job supposed to be? 'Moonking'. Sounds silly. Do I have actual responsibilities or do I just open shopping malls and look good on your arm?"

"Mystan will be by later to explain your duties. I have other things to do today."

The ice hybrid finished getting changed, and ducked into the bathroom. When he got out he asked, "I thought you said you had stuff to do today. You going to rule the Empire from your pyjamas?"

The Moonqueen gave him a dirty look. "I can't get dressed or brush my hair or much else without help. My legs don't work right and my arms are too short. Usually Amok helps me, but someone kicked him out."

Psychro sighed. "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"First off, I keep my leotards in the second drawer, but I can get those on myself. Second..."

* * *

"Okay, Mysty, I'm here. Now what?"

"Now you stop straddling your chair."

"Oh, come on. It's not like anyone else is in here watching me set a bad example."

"Think of it as practice," Mystan retorted smoothly. Psychro grumbled, but turned his chair around. "Next, your image. Somehow I doubt you own any clothing befitting of your station. Your wardrobe should have a few items at least by tonight. Until then, we can just keep you out of sight."

"Oh, thanks, Mysty. How'd you get my size, anyway?"

"Psikaris knew. She should be back on the Goliath by now. Last I saw her, she was calling you every type of fool."

"She'll get over it. Do I have a real job or what?"

Mystan telekinetically floated a book from a nearby shelf, and plunked it down on the table in front of Psychro. It was a big book. "Read this," said the Court Advisor pleasantly. "Of course, Luna's the one in charge, so you're basically there to make an honest woman out of her."

Psychro glared. "For once in your sesquipedalian life, couldn't you have couched things in weasel-words?"

"Well, excuse me for being truthful."

* * *

"Why won't you... you know," Luna finished sulkily. "It's because I'm ugly, isn't it?" She and Psychro had been stuck in this marriage for two weeks now without so much as a good-night kiss. Coming from a man with a reputation like Psychro's ( and one that she knew first-hand wasn't so much bragging as candour ), it was rather disappointing.

Psychro made a noise of exasperation, then reached across the bed to hug his wife. "If it helps, I've dated uglier women than you. I've got no problem with looks; that's what the light-switch is for," he joked, then cuddled her a bit closer. "No, Luna, your looks have nothing to do with it. Truth be told, I'm scared to death of hurting you. You're so tiny..."

"I'm tougher than I look," muttered Luna, snuggling back against him and enjoying the feel of his arms around her. "And despite all appearances, I am a woman and do have... needs. It's not fair being married to a man who looks like you and not being able to touch him."

The ice hybrid chuckled at that. "I know I look good. I still like to hear it." With that, he lifted her slightly, turned her around, and gave her a critical look. "I'll think of something, Luna. I am an expert."

"Then you... don't mind being stuck with me?"

"Hey, I didn't just marry you to save the Empire from Tanthas. I did it to keep you out of trouble. It's about time I started taking some responsibility for my actions. Besides," he smirked, "I'm probably the only person in the world who actually thinks you're cute."

Luna wrinkled her nose at him. "Liar."

"Especially when you're disapproving," he teased, tapping her on the nose. "And when have I ever lied to you?"

"Every chance you get, I'll bet," Luna grumbled, snuggling against him again. "'Cute'," she huffed, "'Memorable'. I suppose I can't expect much else."

"Luna!" Psychro gasped in mock horror, "I do believe you're fishing for compliments." Then more serious, "You're going to demand they're true, aren't you?" She didn't answer. Psychro sighed. "Difficult woman. You're just in a bad mood and trying to convince yourself that you're totally unattractive."

"Well, I am."

"Not totally. You have nice hair. I'm serious," he added when Luna's only response was a noise of disbelief. "It's full, soft, a nice colour, and I happen to like the stripes."

"That's it, though."

"Luna, don't you start again," Psychro scolded, and deciding that further proof was needed, kissed her to end the argument. He drew back with a defiant expression, but that quickly changed to one more sympathetic when he caught Luna's wide-eyed, longing look. Poor little thing, he thought, pulling her close again. How easy was it for Tanthas to manipulate you? You're not even looking for love specifically, just companionship. Amok doesn't count because it's his job, and other than him, you had no one. Having someone tell you he loved you must have been overwhelming. I shouldn't have left when the 'Tomb crew split up. I was your friend, and I left you vulnerable...

"Psychro?"

"Eh?"

"You're holding me a bit tight."

He relaxed his grip immediately. "Sorry. Sigh, I knew I'd hurt you..."

"I'm undamaged," Luna scolded. "I'm not delicate."

"Yeah, that's what everyone else thinks, too," Psychro grumbled. "They don't know you like I do."

Luna wiggled back at bit to look at him. "Since when did you get all protective?"

"Since the morning after the wedding," he chuckled. "I didn't realize how helpless you really were until I had to help you with your morning routine. You're like a little doll, Luna..."

"Oh," Luna squeaked. It wasn't that he was protective that surprised her, she knew he could be. It was that he actually cared.

"... So I want to be very careful with you. Be patient, Luna. Like you said, I do have a reputation to maintain."

* * *

"You seem too pleased. Should I be happy for you or worried?"

"Be happy, 'Karis," smiled Psychro over the comm unit. "The job kind of sucks, but I'm enjoying the company."

"I still think you made a mistake," said Psikaris.

"What mistake? I saved the Empire from a schemer, kept Mystan from going completely nuts, won Amok's respect, and gained the most fascinating woman as a wife. Oh, yeah, and I'm the Moonking, too. My first order of business is to get a better title."

"You're not taking this seriously enough," his sister chided.

"Pthibbit," retorted Psychro. "I'm getting this from Miss Chief Engineer of the Goliath. I saw you when you got that job. You were like a kid with a new toy. How's that boyfriend of yours holding up?"

Psikaris sighed. "He's still the most wonderful man ever."

"Good."

"Oops. Gotta go. My shift starts in about five minutes. I'll call back later. Bye."

"Bye, 'Karis."
 
 

The End.