The journey to Captain Lillian's hab unit was one spent mostly in silence. Willow held onto Sarah’s hand tightly, trying to mentaly prepare herself for dealing with the captain. She had barely even gotten a full day with Sarah and Lilian was already demanding she be brought over for a ‘playdate.’ In reality, Willow knew that this was all a farce, an excuse for Lilian to pressure her into taking a floret. No matter how many times Willow told her that she didn’t have the time to properly take care of a pet, she just wouldn’t give up. Willow's leaves rustled and she shrunk in on herself, a subtle anxiety bubbling in her core as she gave Sarah’s hand another little squeeze. Having her here was probably only going to make Lilian even more determined, though if she was lucky the captain might be too distracted fawning over Sarah to focus much of her attention on her. She could only hope.

“Sarah dear, would you mind if we made a little detour? I'd like to pick up a few things before we get to the captain's hab.”

“Yeah sure, I don’t mind. What are you gonna be getting?” 

“Oh just a few bits and pieces, plus I'd like to bring a gift for the Captain and her floret.” This was also a chance to delay the inevitable, but Sarah didn’t need to know that. Making their way down to the market district they arrived at the first stop on Willows list. A quaint little building with a sign above the door that read ‘Cormlu’s Hardwear.’ Walking into the building the first thing Willow noticed was the audible gasp that came from her companion. Looking down she saw Sarah’s jaw was practically on the floor. Willow felt her rhythm pulse with joy. Stars, this girl made the most adorable expressions. “Is something wrong dear~” She reached out a vine to pat Sarah on the head, seeming to snap the girl out of her daze. 

“I..it’s just…..this place…it’s amazing. I thought your workshop was impressive, but this, this is something else. Half the stuff here looks like it came straight out of a Scifi novel! And I don’t even know about the other half!” 

Willow tried to stifle her giggle, it really was cute how excited she got about this stuff. It was to be expected though, from what she had gathered Sarah had only ever gotten access to the most basic equipment, so Willow could only imagine what it would be like seeing something so much more sophisticated. “It is a rather impressive establishment, anything I can't build for myself I get made up here. Come on, I just need to pick up a special order.” Moving over to the counter Willow rang the little bell that sat on the desk and soon a mass of dark, shaggy vines emerged from the back room. Dozens of yellow eyes peered out from the depths of its foliage, most of them eventually settling on Willow. 

“Yo! If it isn’t my favourite chief engineer. What brings you here?” 

“You know exactly why I’m here Cormlu, do you have the item I requested?” she said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah I got it under here, one sec.” A couple vines reached under the counter, searching for a few moments before returning with Willows order. As Cormlu handed it over he seemed to spot Sarah for the first time. “Hey, nice augments kid! What is that? Composite steel with a chrome finish?” 

Sarah looked a little startled, suddenly snapping to attention after being addressed. “Uh, yeah, actually. How’d you know?” 

Cormlu pulled himself over the counter, moving over to Sarah to get a better look at her, a few vines reaching out towards her grabbing hold of her hand. “Put it up to a lucky guess.” he said with a modest chuckle. “These are pretty well made, where’d ya get 'em?” 

Sarah had a slightly nervous look on her face as Cormlu grasped her arm, running his vines over the outer casing, inspecting the craftsmanship. “Oh, I made them myself actually.” 

Eventually Cormlu released Sarah's arm, taking a step back to lean on the counter. “So what’s the deal with you too? You finally takin’ on an apprentice Willow? Cuz it’s about damn time.” 

A few of those pink blooms spread across her vines, as her core fluttered. “Oh, uh, no nothing like that. She’s my ward, temporary ward, that's all.” Willow had to admit the thought of taking Sarah on as an apprentice was a nice one, but soon doubt crept into her mind. She was sure Sarah wouldn’t be interested, she probably just wanted to live her own life. Besides, Sarah was smart, if she really wanted to learn what the compact had to teach her, she was more than capable of doing it on her own. She didn’t need her help.

Suddenly Willow felt a tug at her arm. Looking down she found Sarah staring up at her with a slightly concerned look on her face. “You ok Willow? You kind of spaced out for a second there.” 

“Oh, yes dear, I’m alright.” she turned her attention back to Cormlu, feeling the concern quite clearly on his biorhythm. “Thank you for getting this done so quickly. I have a few other errands I need to attend to so I must be going.” 

“Alright Willow. Now don’t be a stranger, and bring her with ya next time too.” 

With a silent wave Willow walked outside, followed closely by Sarah. For much of the journey things were quite quiet, at various points each of them tried to break the silence but quickly thought better of it, leaving the two of them to walk in the awkward quiet. Eventually Willow broke the tension once they reached their next destination. “Alright, this is the last place we need to go before we head over to the captain's hab.” Using one of her vines she pointed out the little bakery that was nestled in between two other buildings. Sarah just gave Willow a nod before following her inside.

Approaching the counter Willow found the cutest little Rinan standing behind it wearing an adorable pink floral apron.

“Hi Miss! What can I get you? We have some lovely muffins that just came out of the oven!” it chirped, hopping up on a stool to get a better view of Willow and Sarah.

“That sounds lovely little one. I’ll take half a dozen of those and some sweetened nutrient slurry if you have it.” 

“Certainly Miss! I’ll be right back with your order.” The little Rinan scurried off into the back, leaving the pair alone in the front of the bakery. After a short while Willow felt a small finger poking at her side.

“Hey, Willow?”

Turning to look down at Sarah she could see that something was on the girl's mind. “Yes dear, what is it?” 

“Well, it’s just, what Cormlu said earlier, about being your-” 

Before Sarah could finish her sentence the Little Rinan burst back into the room with a happy squeal, holding a little box of muffins and a bottle of nutrient slurry. “I’ve got your order Miss!” 

Both Willow and Sarah snapped to look at the little Rinan, standing stunned for a few moments before Willow moved over to the counter. “Oh, thank you little one” she said, scooping up her goods and giving the Rinan a pat on the head.

“You’re welcome Miss and please, come again soon!” 

“I will dear, now have a nice day cutie.” Willow left the bakery, Sarah trailing behind her. Willow kept stealing glances at Sarah as they walked, wondering if she should ask what Sarah was going to say. Once again anxiety started to bubble away in her core, telling her to just leave things be. If Sarah wanted to talk about it she would say, best to just let sleeping horses lie. 

After about half an hour walking the pair had arrived at the captain hub unit, Willow reached out a vine to ring the doorbell but hesitated, turning to Sarah. “Are you sure you’re ok with this? I’m sure the captain won’t mind if you need a bit more time to adjust before meeting her.” Willow did her best to suppress the anxiety emanating from her core, giving Sarah the best faux smile she could muster.

“I’ll be fine Willow, you don’t need to worry about me so much, besides, I’m curious to see what the captain’s like.” 

A small pang of disappointment flashed across Willow that was immediately followed by a flash of guilt. Had she really just tried to use Sarah as an excuse to avoid seeing one of her closest friends, just because they would likely have an awkward conversation? That was the kind of behaviour that got non-affini sophonts domesticated. With a sigh Willow resigned herself to being marginally less pathetic and just powering through. The doorbell rang out clear and only a few moments later the hab door slid open. 

Sarah wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she first found out that she was going to meet the Captain of the ship, but whatever it was it was not this. Vines covered with deep crimson flowers were draped over her body, giving her the appearance of wearing a long flowing dress, a mane of long purple fibres sprouted from her head, running down to her neck and all four of her eyes glowed with a deep violet hue. Almost as soon as the hab doors were open the tall slender Affini pulled Willow into her viney embrace causing those little pink flowers to bloom across Willow's vines all over again. “Willow dear! So good to see you!” The Affini released Willow from her grasp, turning her attention towards Sarah. “And this must be Sarah. I’m glad to see you up and about little one. My name is Lillian Cleasan, 18th Bloom, She/Her. I’m the Captain of the Auralium.” One of Lilians vines reached out and patted Sarah on the head, ruffling her hair before returning to Lillian’s body.

After recovering from the unexpected head pat, Sarah quickly snapped to attention, standing straight and tall with her arm’s neatly by her side. “It’s a Pleasure to meet you Captain, I’m Sarah Hadley, thank you for inviting us over.” 

Lillian was obviously trying to stifle a laugh at Sarah's formal display as she bent down to be on Sarah's eye level. “Oh my, such a polite little thing, but please, just call me Lillian. Now why don’t the two of you come inside.”

Taking a step inside the hab Sarah’s ears were immediately assaulted by the loud fluttering of wings. Landing with a fwoosh in front of her was a tall Xeno who had the appearance of a humanoid moth. Pink and gold fluff coated her entire body and the antennae that poked out of her hair twitched as she turned towards Sarah, staring with large black eyes. “Hi there! I’m Leamhan Cleasan, 9th Floret, She/Her. I’m really happy to meet you!” In an instant Sarah was pulled into a tight hug, all four of Leamhan’s arms wrapping around her. She shivered slightly, feeling the soft fluff rub against her cheek as her head was pulled into Leamhan's chest. Sarah began to wriggle, attempting to escape Leamhan's surprisingly strong grasp. “I..it’s nice to meet you too, Leamhan. C..could you let me go now, it’s getting a little hard to breathe.” she said in a strained voice.

Upon noticing Sarah's slight distress Lillian wrapped vines around her Floret, scooping her up into a tight embrace. “You’ll have to forgive my pet dear, she gets a little grabby when she meets new people.”

“I…it’s fine, I was just a little surprised, that's all.” She took a step towards Lillian and Leamhan, extending a hand towards the moth with a polite smile on her face. “I’m Sarah, Sarah Hadley,  It’s nice to meet you.” Sarah waited for Leamhan’s response, but the girl seemed to be transfixed, staring down at her arm, a look of awe and wonder in her eyes.

“Your arms are so shiny!” The girl grabbed hold of Sarah's hand, pulling it up to her cheek and rubbing the back of Sarah’s hand against it. “They’re so pretty!” 

A strong blush spread across Sarah's face as Leamhan examined and played with her arm. Part of her wanted to pull her arm back but the innocent joyful look on Leamhan’s face made the idea of taking it away from her simply unacceptable. Turning her head, Sarah gave Willow a pleading look.

“Oh, Lillian, I got you and Leamhan some gifts if that’s alright.”  

Before Lillian could even react Leamhan had already snapped her attention towards Willow, squeaking out “Presents!” before squirming her way out of Lillians vines and practically sprinting over to Willow. “What did you get me Miss Willow!” Leamhan said, bursting with excitement as she quickly swayed from one side to the other. For her part Willow took a quick glance at Lillian and after receiving a nod of approval took out the box of muffins.

Upon being handed the box of sweet treats Leamhan’s face lit up in a way that would melt even the coldest of hearts and she sprung forwards wrapping Willow's leg in a tight hug. “ThankyouThankyouThankyou Miss!” 

A few of WIllows vines reached down to pat Leamhan’s head, ruffling her hair as she let out a delightful squeal. “You’re welcome dear. Now make sure not to eat them all at once.” Willow scooped up the moth, holding her in her vines as she chewed away on one of the muffins. Making her way over to Lillian Willow handed over the moth, along with the nutrient slurry. “And this is for you Lillian.” 

“Thank you dear, I'm sure it will taste delicious. Now, why don’t the two of you come inside and get a drink, then I can tell you what I've got planned for today.” 

Sarah saw a smile creep across Lillian's lips that she could only describe as devious, looking towards WIllow she hoped to get some answers as to what she might expect but only received an equally confused and slightly worried glance in return. Swallowing her anxieties Sarah moved deeper into the hab, Willow following close behind. What did Lillian have planned? And why did she make it sound so ominous? Only time would tell.