The Gay Space Adventure

Chapter 7: Thvr

Zyren's gone missing. We're going to look for him.

Oh, gods. Shit. I almost typed, "WHAT," with as many question marks as possible in a single message, but that wouldn't do anything. I had read what she said.

Instead I opted for: Where are you going? And: Do you want me to help?

No response.

Of course not, they were scouring the lower town markets for Zyren. They didn't have time to answer texts. Which meant that I had to sit, and wait, and hope that they didn't get arrested or assaulted or otherwise meet their doom.

The sitting didn't last very long. The couch was too comfortable a place to be idle while Zyren was mysteriously missing and Arkovf and Rania were braving the nighttime chill—and probably brigands—to try and find him. So I went to check up on Weldlyn, but that didn't make anything better, because it only reminded me that it was my fault Zyren was missing in the first place. If I didn't insist on taking Weldlyn for the occasional drive, we wouldn't need oil to fuel it. If we didn't need oil to fuel it, Rania and Zyren wouldn't have to pull their oil out into the bazaar where they could be kidnapped or caught by the cops.

I sent another digital message to Arkovf: If Zyren's been taken to jail, we can pay his bail. No, that wasn't enough. I'll volunteer to take the charges. No, the courts would never go for that. I could see the judges now, reminding us that even though we'd hired him, the kid had still committed the crime. We can get him a good defense attorney, right?

I needed something to do with myself. Did the cats need fed? I checked the bowls in the kitchen, and no, they did not. Their water bowl was also full, and Arkovf had cleaned their litter this morning. Cloud watched me from her perch atop the stairwell railing, perfectly cool and collected. Of course, if she knew of the situation, she would likely not be so calm. Last time Arkovf had left for more than a few days, for a historians' conference in Yrfery, she'd wailed every night at the door, waiting for her to come home.

No, Cloud was right not to worry. Arkovf wasn't going to be gone for more than a few days. In fact, she wasn't going to be gone for any days. I was being ridiculous.

Lord Flooferdoodle II zipped by, a fluffy streak of orange fur partaking in his nightly zoomies. At least someone else felt as restless as I did.

Someone knocked at the door, a distinctive pattern that made me halt my pacing and finally release all the air trapped in my lungs. I hurried to open the door. On the other side stood Arkovf and Rania, both looking desperate and determined.

"I forgot my keys," Arkovf explained sheepishly.

Rania pushed inside. "We need to go."

"We need to—wait, what?"

"Rania knows who kidnapped Zyren," Arkovf said.

"Someone kidnapped Zyren?"

Arkovf nodded.

"We need your ship," Rania said. "We're going after them."

"Do you know where they are?"
Rania paused, and her shoulders slumped. "No. No, we don't."

"But we'll find them!" Arkovf insisted. She strode inside with a monarch's confidence and shut the door behind her. "We know what their ship looks like, we know their license plate number, we can track them down."

"They're criminals," Rania said. "I can almost guarantee that they have multiple license plates."

"Well, we still know what their ship looks like."