Page 79 of The Last Hunt

Maeve’s brows narrow. “You almost died, though.” She gestures to him with her free hand. “Let’s catalog your injuries, shall we? Lacerated cheek, shoulder, arm, stomach. Shrapnel lodged in both legs. Nicked artery in your thigh. Burned face and neck - oh,” she pauses and glares at him so hard that Aethon winces. “And a broken fucking back.”

“Um,” Aethon says, giving her a small smile. “Whoops?”

“Shut up, artrenn,” she mutters. “It’s a good thing there was a fully equipped surgical suite on Scimitar. They had better equipment than Two Roses.” She gestures to his body. “They were able to knit you right up. They deal mostly in mods though, so at first I was worried the doctors might do a hack job on your spine.”

“A hack job?” Aethon asks. He reaches back feeling the ropy scar that starts at his neck. “They healed me though?”

Maeve nods. “Like I would have let them touch you if they hadn’t promised me you’d be alright.” She sighs. “Still, most of their expertise is with mods. You know, superficial stuff. Colored irises, gemstone teeth and nails, fangs. But they also do limb replacements for rich people who want bionic limbs instead of flesh.” She taps him on the thigh. “You didn’t need a limb replaced, but because of that, I trusted them to be able to fix your spine without fucking it up.”

Aethon blinks, the amount of information momentarily overwhelming. “Damn. Thank you, Maeve. How did you afford it?”

Maeve gives him a wan smile. “Drained most of my account. I’m hoping Two Roses will reimburse me, but -” She shrugs. “Now that you don’t have the money to pay your dues, I’m not sure they’ll consider it a wise investment to pay for a former guild member’s medical bills.”

A former guild member… shit. Defeat makes his shoulders slump.

“The bounty,” Aethon says. “Brimstone wanted Daik alive, didn’t they.”

Maeve nods. She looks so tired. Aethon wants to draw her to him, but he feels too weak and sore to do so. “Fuck,” he murmurs. “I’m sorry, Maeve.”

That bounty was supposed to be her ticket out of this life. Instead she’s creditless, bountyless, and stuck with him - injured and useless.

She shakes her head. “You know, having those credits would be great, but even before this, when I thought we were going to catch Daik - I knew I didn’t want to retire on Kespar-2.”

Aethon looks up at her, surprise filtering through his body. “What?”

“It was Tellamar that did it,” she says. Her eyes are tired, but she squeezes his hand and Aethon squeezes back.

“It was hard for you to see your people like that,” Aethon says.

“And doing something to help them felt… right,” Maeve adds with a shrug.

“It felt good to me too,” he says. He remembers talking with the refugees during the ten hour trip from Tellamar to January Starbase, TAI translating the entire time. Aethon liked getting to know those people. He felt a small sense of victory when a few of them started speaking to him in Standard. It was like no bounty he had ever chased. The hunt can feel futile. After all, as the second rule of Two Roses says, crime is endless. But instead of returning to Brix-9 with a criminal in tow, turning them in, and going right back out again for another, Aethon had felt a sense of pride at being able to help the Tellamari. His help mattered to them. Hopefully it was the lift they needed to be able to turn around and help someone else.

“I think I want to do more of that,” Maeve says. “More of what we did on Tellamar. I don’t know exactly what or how yet.”

Aethon smiles and lifts a hand to caress her cheek. “I like that idea.”

“I’m sorry about Two Roses,” she says, shaking her head. “I know the guild is important to you. If I had the credits, I’d pay your dues.”

Aethon shrugs. The loss isn’t nothing and he doesn’t want to act like it is. The Guild of Two Roses saved him - an angry, grief ridden young man - all those years ago. But it’s not Maeve’s fault.

“I’ve been wondering what else might be out there for me,” he says. “So maybe this isn’t the worst thing. I’ve been thinking about what we were able to do on Tellamar too.” He shifts and winces at the pain in his back. “But Maeve - I’ll pay you back for the medical bills as soon as I can. I’m sorry -”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” Maeve says. He looks up and sees her green eyes are sparkling with unshed tears. “Your decision on Scimitar saved me. And so many others. I’ll never be able to repay you for it.”

“You don’t owe me anything -” Aethon protests.

“I’d be dead if you hadn’t -” she says at the same time. Maeve stops and shakes her head, a tiny smile curving her lips.

“What?” Aethon asks.

She sighs. “Maybe we should stop keeping track of what we owe each other,” she says with a shrug. “Because I don’t think we’re ever going to stop saving each other, and keeping track of it is going to get annoying as hell.”

Warmth blooms in Aethon’s chest. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

Maeve glances at the ceiling. “Go on, Maevey,” TAI chirps. “Just like we practiced.”

Aethon smiles, feeling confused, and tilts his head to the side as he watches Maeve gather herself.