The soft candle light seemed to soothe K'Lara's raging emotions. She was glad that her mate and fiance Commander Jonathan Lataro was alive and well. What burned her the most, though, was that she was tricked into believing that he had died trying to escape the ship. She still had some anger left over from those trying days. She was still angry at Captain Maruu, but it was now just burning embers instead of the raging fire of the previous days. She still wanted to confront Maruu about it, but right now she was going to enough the time she had with Lataro.
"Aren't you hungry, K'Lara?" Lataro's voice interrupted her musing.
"Wha? Oh. Yes. I was just thinking."
Lataro put down his glass of wine and looked at her. He could see the embers burning behind her eyes, and he figured what had put them there. Still he asked, "What about?"
K'Lara stared at him. Clearly he knew what she had been thinking about. It was all she could think about for the past few days.
"How Maruu tricked me into believing that you were killed while escaping the ship. He had no idea of what I was going through. Didn't even think of what I would be going through?!"
"K'Lara, calm down. He knew what this would do to you. Hell, even I knew what it would do to you, but it had to be done. We would all be dead now, if we hadn't have gone through with it. You know that."
K'Lara growled, "I still wished you could have told me. Did he think I would blurt it out to everyone? Is that what he thinks of me?"
Lataro shook his head, "K'Lara, it was for the best. He couldn't risk telling anyone. You never know who would be listening."
K'Lara averted her eyes. She still wished she had been told. It would have saved her lots of embarrassment over her anger. She had gone on a rampage of vengeance, and she would have gone as far as kill those that got in her way just to avenge her mate's supposed death. It hurt a lot to be reminded of it.
Lataro saw K'Lara's hurt expression and he felt for her. He did wish he could have told her, but it was his duty to the ship and the mission too important. He wanted for to understand that. Maybe with time, she would. Until then, she had to get over her anger.
"How is your recovery going?" Lataro asked, hoping the question wouldn't anger her further.
K'Lara stared at him, but it was an innocent question, so she answered, "All right, I suppose. I've only been once, Jon."
She smiled as she said the last part. Jon returned her smile and lifted his glass toward her.
"Here's to a swift recovery," he said.
K'Lara raised her glass as well. "To a swift recovery."
The glasses clinked together, and they stared into each others eyes as they sipped the wine. It would be a swift recovery with Lataro by her side.