The grief felt weird, especially since it all still felt so unreal to Selena.

The harbinger followed her deeper into his quarters, not bothering to explain a thing to her. He was observing her, though. Selena could feel his harsh gaze on her, taking in her every movement. It only served to freak her out more.

Anything would be better than this.

Luckily the gods seemed to be listening in on her thoughts, for once.

"I will leave you for now," Ragnar said when she came upon a room lined with trophies and pieces of memorabilia that all looked deadly. "I must oversee the females before I return. I'll have food and clothes sent to you."

"Clothes," Selena repeated numbly, turning her head to see the harbinger waiting on the door. "I have clothes."

"New ones," Ragnar said. "In my colors."

Of course. Is this one of those things that would force your hand to punish me?

Selena decided not to try out her luck in pissing off the harbinger. She nodded, prompting the warlord to turn on his heel and march away.

Selena watched him go with a mixture of conflicting emotions. The most prevailing one was relief. She finally had a moment of peace and quiet to consider and process everything that had just happened to her. Yet there was a sense of fear as well. In a weird way, Selena believed her new fated. With him, no other Nayanor would dare to touch her. Left alone on an alien ship, even if she was safely in his rooms, felt eerie.

When the doors slid shut after Ragnar with a whoosh, Selena tried them.

Locked.

She abandoned all notions of trying to break out of her new cage and set to explore it instead, trying to ignore the last feeling that refused to leave. The attraction was still there, burning with a low, quiet flame.

Perhaps they were fated. It certainly seemed that way to her body that longed to see the gorgeous warlord again. Selena was perfectly fine with admitting that some kind of force other than her had made her feel that way, because it sure as hell wasn't her. She couldn't possibly be one of those women who fell for their captors.

For a man who had slain Jake right before her eyes.

Selena found a room with a bed and unthinking, uncaring, she slumped down on the warm, soft sheets.

Tears refused to come. Instead, there was an odd kind of numbness. Like a bad dream, Jake's death refused to register in Selena's brain as something that had actually happened. The image was very clear, but the bloody, broken body she remembered lying on the ground couldn't have been Jake.

Selena tried to conjure some righteous anger or even sadness, but both were denied to her.

The only thing she truly, undeniably felt – was guilt.

She'd spent so many nights wishing for some power to come and rescue her from Jake. For her friends to do something, for the neighbors to call the cops when she cried out in pain when Jake had twisted her hand or hit her. More often than not, Selena would have been satisfied with any force that chose to intervene on her behalf.

It had gone on like that for years before she'd realized the force was herself.

Her hands had shaken on the day she left, or ran, really. Selena had packed up her things and disappeared, right after she'd dared to stand up to Jake for the first time. The man had been so shocked he let her get out of the door and go before he decided to chase her.

So was it karma? Was Ragnar karma for her lying awake night after night, wishing that Jake would be gone from her life?

The door sounded again, waking Selena from her morbid thoughts.

Her first thought and reflex was to scramble out of the way before she remembered that she was now the lady of the house. No one would dare to touch her.

Unless it was someone seriously pissed off at Ragnar...

The trail of frightful thoughts that were getting away from her was cut when a young woman appeared at the door, looking at Selena with a soft, kind smile. The woman held up her hands like trying to calm a frightened animal.

I can't look that scared, can I?

Apparently she did.

"It's okay," the woman told Selena. "We're here to bring you food and the clothes the harbinger ordered."

"We?" she asked.

A few more women appeared from behind the first, giving her a small wave or a nod of their head. Selena jumped off the bed, not wanting to make her first impressions laid out like some dish for Ragnar.

"I'm Piper," the first woman said, nodding to the others who shuffled off back to their duties. "Is – is the harbinger gone?"

"Yeah," she said, frowning then. "How did you get in, by the way? I saw him lock the door."

"I have the key," Piper said, shrugging. "Or my handprint is the key, it's complicated on this ship."

She looked so young to Selena's eyes. Anger flared up in her. Piper was obviously an adult, but she reminded Selena of a teenager in many ways, what with the green streaks in the woman's short black hair and a tattoo (some bird?) barely visible above her collar. It reminded her that Nayanors ruined a lot of young lives, including her own.

"You have the key," Selena repeated, taking a step closer.

Piper's face dropped. The dimples that had appeared in her cheeks when she laughed were gone and she backed away.

"Don't ask me," she warned before Selena could utter another word. "I can't let you out. You can't ask me that."

"I absolutely can," Selena argued. "How could I not? If I get out of here before we reach the wormhole –"

Piper's full pink lips curled into a sad smile and the woman shook her head.

"No," she said simply.

Selena knew that the other woman was a victim just like her, but Piper's refusal to help angered her for that exact reason. She came closer, holding out her hand.

"Come with me," Selena said. "You call tell the harbinger that I dragged you to the door and made you let me out. I might not even make it, but at least I have to try."

"I understand," Piper said patiently, "but that's not going to happen."

"Why?" Selena asked, raising her voice. "What possible reason do you have to keep me here?"

"None," Piper said, a hint of deep sadness in her voice. "What's your name?"

Selena stared at the woman, but Piper seemed to have gained the confidence she had when she walked into the room.

"I'm Selena," she said, wondering where that line of questioning was taking them.

"Okay," Piper said, nodding. "Listen to me, then, Selena. I know every thought that goes through your head right now, because they were my own a few years ago. I can invite the others and they'd tell you the same.

"There is no escape. Not from this room, not from this ship and not from Luminos."

"But –" Selena began.

"There are no buts," Piper cut in. "Nayanors know what they're doing. The last time three prisoners escaped years and years back, there was a huge scandal. Now all the ships and escape pods are monitored. There are guards everywhere – and we are minutes from the jump. You do not want to jump into a wormhole, trust me."

"So I have to give up?" Selena asked her. "Just like that."

Piper observed her with her deep hazel eyes.

"There are many forms of giving up," she said then. "I suggest you do this one, yes, so you can maybe gain a few others."

"Like what?" Selena asked. "Like you, running errands for our captors?"

"Yes," Piper said, not blinking an eye. "And since you didn't ask, if I opened the door to you or allowed you to open it with my hand, be it cut off or still attached to me... the harbinger wouldn't let me speak a word. My fated either. We'd all be dead."

That shut Selena up for a long moment.

"I'm sorry," she said after a heavy silence fell. "I didn't want to get you into trouble. Nayanors are just –"

"The worst, I know," Piper finished rather cheerfully. "But they can be dealt with under certain circumstances."

The smile disappeared again as she seemed to remember something.

"You have a hard task ahead of you, though," Piper said. "Harbinger Ragnar is... not a merciful man."

"I figured," Selena said quietly, "after you described how he'd deal with you if you let me escape."

"That's pretty standard, actually," Piper said.

She was smiling again, softly and apologetically. Selena thought it couldn't have been a nice task, being forced to talk to someone like her and crush their hopes of escaping.

"All right," she said, offering Piper her hand. "I don't think it's fair I should dump all of my sadness on you. It's not your fault. Friends?"

"Friends," Piper agreed, taking her hand and shaking it.

It felt good to talk to another Terran. Everything was still deeply messed up, but Selena felt a tad of hope nonetheless. It seemed Piper was doing pretty okay, so being taken to Luminos didn't have to be a death sentence, or a promise of a lifetime of misery. That was good. If she could find a way to deal with her fated, it would be the start of... satisfactory living, like Ragnar had said.

Selena had thought he didn't sound too happy either, so perhaps they were both trapped in their own way.

"Anything else you can tell me?" Selena asked right as the ship began rocking around them.

"Just the wormhole," Piper said quickly. "It's always a bit rough, but you don't have to worry. Nomadin has a good pilot. Just avoid the walls. If they start bending, move out of the way. That shouldn't happen anymore, though."

Selena stared.

"You're not joking, are you?" she asked when Piper didn't immediately start giggling.

"No," Piper admitted. "I wish I was. The wormhole travel freaked me out the first time too and I was locked up in one of the holding bays at the time."

She motioned for Selena to follow and led her to a room that was almost civilized compared to the others, filled with armor and weapons and trophies. There were clothes laid out for her there, all adorned with silver patterns Selena didn't understand. On a low table, there were stacks of food and odd-shaped bottles of some drink.

"We'll leave you to it," Piper said. "We should be getting back to our own rooms before they start suspecting we're hatching escape plans with you. Mjorn would have a field day if you turned out to be like –"

She didn't finish the sentence, shaking her head instead.

"A long story, another time," Piper promised when she saw Selena's quizzical look. "For now, you are as safe as any woman could be on a Nayanor ship. Eat, drink, try to wrap your head around all this."

She pointed to the clothes.

"I'd dress up," Piper said. "Something tight and – let's admit – slutty always works."

Selena glared.

"I'm not going to do that," she said.

Piper gave her a tight smile, checking a device on her wrist.

"Moving out," she called to the other girls before turning back to Selena. "My last piece of wisdom for a while, then. Back when I first came on Luminos, I met a Terran woman named Ashley. She's the fated of a harbinger too. She taught me a lot and the most important thing was picking your battles.

"Kathleen would kill me if I said this, of course, but who cares. I think Ashley is right. Live to fight another day. It's just dresses and the harbinger would appreciate it, trust me. Everything is a bargain with these bastards. He'd consider it a point in your favor for sure. But I can't make you."

Names and people were running through Selena's head as she tried to figure out who she should listen to.

The women were filing out of the quarters as Piper opened the door and Selena couldn't entirely suppress the urge to bolt.

She stayed, earning a supportive nod from Piper. Then the doors slid shut again.

Selena couldn't resist checking.

Locked.

She returned to the room, taking a few moments to shuffle through the pile of clothes that had been left to her, all spread out next to a gigantic warm coat. Selena wasn't sure she could drag its weight around.

To her delight, most of the clothes weren't that bad – nothing she wouldn't wear to a bar or on a date. Selena wondered if Piper had had a hand in choosing the items and whether there was a pile of belly-dancing equipment her new friend had ditched. She decided to ask if she saw Piper again, and thank the woman for her help.

Eventually Selena settled on a tight black shirt revealing generous cleavage and pants to match, both adorned with silver of course.

She took a seat behind the low table, pulling the massive coat to the ground for increased softness, and began sampling the foods she'd been brought.

When Selena got to the strong, sharp wine that made her cough, she discovered that the grief for Jake had passed. No matter how hard she tried, Selena couldn't shake the bad memories of him, which were so plenty and clearly the majority. His death had been gruesome and unnecessary, but as the shock passed, Selena couldn't miss him. As minutes ticked by, she was glad to be away from him, for real this time.

The pile of her own clothes laid near her, reminding her of the home planet she'd never see again.

Selena poured out some of the wine on them, as the last toast to Jake, and then she put both him and Terra from her mind.

Piper was right.

It was all about the future now.