As she stared at the ceiling above her bed, Pryvani Tarsuss couldn’t help but reflect on her recent actions. With one simple sentence she had undone generations of effort that her family had put forth and sent an entire civilization into a tailspin.

She didn’t regret what she had done; it had been the right choice. She knew that. She might regret that the choice had been necessary in the first place, and she might regret some of the harsh consequences that had come about as a result of the choice she had made. But as for the decision itself, on that matter her conscience was clean.

With a sigh, Pryvani climbed out of her bed. It was well into the night, but she was reasonably certain she wasn’t going to be getting any sleep with the way her thoughts were churning.

So she decided to go for a walk instead.

Donning a plush blue bathrobe and a pair of fuzzy slippers, she padded through the door of her suite and into the corridor beyond.

As she walked her thoughts wandered to the proclamation she’d made in the City of Atlantis denouncing her own divinity. The reaction at the time had been one of obvious shock and confusion. She was pleased to note that the majority of the city had been, at least on the outside, accepting of her words.

For the time being, anyway. She was purposefully keeping her distance, giving them space to adjust. It was a delicate balance she was attempting to strike; if she stayed to close at hand, they would continue to rely on her and her renunciation would have been pointless. On the other hand, if she suddenly vanished without a trace, she risked causing a panic by “abandoning” them.

She had no doubt that inwardly a lot of them probably thought she was testing them, or that once they got over their initial shock some would turn to despair at having their world turned upside down. Others would see this as proof that she was no longer the “real” goddess and might continue to worship one of the other Titans. Pryvani made a mental note to explore options to deal with those types of issues when they inevitably arose.

The formerly faux deity was reasonably certain her words hadn’t spread much further than the city and the towns nearby, and was worried about when it finally did. It was one thing to hear those words coming from her, it was something else entirely hearing it second hand.

The phrase “killing the messenger” came to mind. Another mental note was made to find some way to safely spread the word, hopefully without having to visit each town and village personally. Although she would do just that if she had to. She owed them that much.

She let her mind wander, even as her body did likewise through the corridors of her home. The halls were dark and quiet; it was well after midnight on the mountain where she and the other Titans living on Avalon made their home. Everybody was asleep.

Everybody with any sense anyway.

She plodded along through hallways lit only by emergency lights near the floor. The soft blue green light they gave off left her surroundings with a surreal dreamlike quality.

Eventually she found herself at the end of a corridor, which caused her conscious mind to snap back into the present and she blinked in surprise at where her body had brought her.

Trell’s former quarters.

She was about to shrug it off and wander away down a different corridor when she felt an odd compulsion. She suddenly had a strange and undeniable desire to see just what the psychopathic woman who had come very close to wrecking her company, (as well as leaving her people open for invasion) had left behind in her hasty departure.

Taking a deep breath and steeling her nerves, she touched the control panel for the door and keyed in her personal security override.

The door whooshed open, which startled Pryvani. It shouldn’t have, because it wasn’t like the door was going to be malfunctioning after not being used for a few days, but it had all the same.

Cautiously, she stuck her head through the door. The room was completely dark inside. Again, Pryvani wasn’t sure why she was acting so cautious. She was reasonably sure that there were no monsters about to leap out at her. After all, the monster that had dwelled within had already vacated.

With a push of a button near the door, the lights flicked on, momentarily rendering Pryvani blind. It was her own fault for not closing her eyes first.

When her dazzled vision finally cleared, she got her first good look at the interior.

It looked fairly normal, if rather disheveled. It was clear Trell had packed whatever she could and had done it in a hurry, abandoning everything else. Clothes were strewn about, spilling from drawers left hanging open. Closet doors were thrown wide, personal effects scattered on the floor. Even the cushions of furniture had been ripped away and thrown in seemingly random directions.

Obviously, not only had Trell left in something of a hurry, but she’d been missing something important that she’d needed to find before she could leave.

Despite the chaotic state the room had been left in, Pryvani found herself feeling very relieved. Knowing what she now did about the former spy’s… predilections… the room’s contents could have been much, much worse.

She was about to turn and leave, making a mental note to have the room cleaned and disinfected, when she heard a rustling noise.

Her entire body stiffened and she felt her multicolored hair stand on end. There shouldn’t have been a single thing in that room capable of making such a noise, except her. She stayed absolutely still, trying to listen over the sound of her own pounding heart.

She heard it again, and she bit down on her lower lip to keep from screaming. It took every ounce of self-control not to run screaming from the room like a frightened child.

Instead she took a deep breath and turned around to see if she could locate the source of the noise.

It’s probably just a rodent or something… She thought to herself as she cautiously stepped further into the room. She softly padded in the direction she’d heard the sound coming from. As she walked she heard it again, very close to where she was standing in fact.

Slowly, carefully, she reached down to the pile of junk by her feet and lifted away the top layer. Underneath was a wireframe cage that had been thrown on its side, the gate to the cage was smashed open, likely from the impact, and hanging by a single hinge.

Inside the cage, curled in a pitiful little ball on a pile of scrap fabrics and loose paper, was the likely source of the noise she’d heard.

It was a human.

“By the Emperor!” Pryvani’s eyes widened and she barely stifled a surprised gasp as her hand flew to cover her mouth. She could tell the little human, a male, was still alive because she could see his chest rise and fall with every ragged breath. He was definitely still alive, but if his sweat soaked, dirty and emaciated appearance was anything to go by, that status was tenuous at best.

“Hey…” She whispered softly, as she knelt down to get closer to the sickly little person. “Can you hear me?”

The human shivered and uncurled slightly. Pryvani wasn’t sure if this was a reaction to her presence or not. Carefully, she reached out a finger and rolled the human until he faced her. His face was sweat soaked, and his dark blonde hair was matted to his forehead. After a moment, she noticed his eyes opened and briefly met her own. His gaze was unfocused, however, so she was uncertain if he was even aware of her.

Fighting back the white hot anger that rose in her chest at what horrors Trell had no doubt inflicted on this poor creature, Pryvani carefully gathered him into her palm and wrapped her fingers around him protectively.

She swore she would do everything in her power to ensure his survival. It was entirely possible that, even if she did manage to save his life, he would resent her for the simple fact that she was the same race as his tormentor, but that hardly mattered. After having thrown the civilization under her care into complete upheaval, this felt like a sign. It seemed the universe had given her a way of redeeming herself, in some small way, for not having done the right thing sooner.

She carefully raised herself back onto her feet, doing her best to keep her hand from shaking too badly. As she turned away from the cage that had been this human’s prison, she noticed a small pile of crumbs that sat next to the entrance. Likely this is what the human had been living off of since Trell’s departure.

Another wave of emotion washed over her and she felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of so horrible a fate. She consoled herself with the knowledge that the man’s destiny had been changed. And all because she’d had insomnia.

The universe was a strange place, sometimes.

Carefully, as if she carried something made from spun glass, she made her way back to her own quarters. She could see through the windows that dotted the corridor that the sun was just barely starting to appear on the horizon.

As she arrived at the door of her quarters, Pryvani was suddenly glad for the time difference between her moon and Archavia, the home world of the Titan race. She had a very important call to make and
while it might still be very early morning where she was, on the area of Archavia she’d be calling to, it was mid-afternoon.

She crossed to her office and then to the desk she used as her primary workstation, and sat in the comfortable leather chair; not caring for a moment that she was still wearing her bathrobe.

She took a soft square of cloth and folded it neatly, setting it on the desk and then carefully laying the feverish human on top of it. When she was sure he was as comfortable as she could make him, she turned to the computer and initiated the connection that would put her in touch with the one woman that immediately came to mind who could advise her.

After a few moments, the “connecting” screen was abruptly replaced with the cheerful face of a redheaded titan woman. Brinn’s eyes widened in surprise as she realized who was calling her.

“Pryvani!” Brinn’s surprise was replaced by a friendly smile.

Pryvani suppressed the worry she was feeling enough to give the older woman a warm smile. “Hello Brinn.”

Brinn’s brow knit in confusion. “Not that I’m not glad to be hearing from you, Pryvani, but I can’t help but wondering why you’re calling. Is everything okay?”

Pryvani took a deep breath and her smile became a bit strained. “Well, the truth is I do need your help with something… rather urgent.”

Brinn’s smile faded and she looked worried. “Is everything all right? Are Zara and everybody else okay?”

Pryvani raised her hand to cut off the redhead’s panic before it got out of hand. “Everybody is fine. No, I’m not calling for them… I’m in need of your expertise.”

She tilted the camera down so that it focused on the shivering human form laying on top of her desk.

Brinn gasped. “Pryvani! What happened to him?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but I found him in the disheveled remains of your sister’s quarters.”

“…I see.” Brinn spoke quietly. She was well aware of what kind of person her sister was. No doubt her own mind was being filled with all the horrifying things her sister might have inflicted on the poor creature.

“I… I didn’t know what to do with him, and I didn’t want to do the wrong thing. So I thought you might be able to help.”

“Of course I can.” Brinn smiled gently. “It’s pretty much a given that he’s dehydrated and malnourished by this point.”

“Of course.” Pryvani nodded a small smile on her face. She’d already surmised that much, at least.

“Now… I know the temptation will be to lay a banquet at his feet and let him go crazy but don’t under any circumstances do that. It’s possible to over feed him and cause all kinds of problems. You basically have to reintroduce nutrients and hydration back into his system slowly, otherwise you could possibly kill him.”

“I see.” Pryvani was instantly glad she’d had the foresight to call Brinn, as that likely would have been her first impulse.

“I don’t suppose you have equipment to put a direct intra-osseous line in him?”

Pryvani’s smile widened into a grin. “Darling, I have the best equipment money can buy, so I’m sure I do. Hold on I’ll transfer the call down to the medical lab.”

She put Brinn on hold and, after carefully depositing the human and his cloth cushion in the palm of her hand again, she exited her office.

Fortunately, the medical lab was fairly close. Once inside she fired up the diagnostic machines and transferred her call with Brinn onto the screen in the lab. With the press of a few buttons Pryvani was able to connect Brinn’s computer to the lab computer so she would be able to see the data being gathered on the human’s vitals.

“Wow. Your equipment is better than what we have at the clinic.” There was a touch of jealousy in Brinn’s voice. Her hands flew across her key pad as she entered commands into the machine.

“State of the art, dear.” Pryvani smiled as she gently placed the tiny male on the padded cushion under the machine’s scanner.

“Yeah well, I’m just a tad bit envious of your toys.” Brinn quipped wryly, as she tapped away at her keypad. The machine whirred to life and a bank of multicolored lights began dancing over the human’s prone form as it collected data on his vitals. “And, yes, you have exactly the equipment I need.”

“Good to hear” Pryvani replied, a relieved smile on her face.

“Okay.” Brinn spoke decisively as she manipulated the controls on the medical apparatus from light-years away. “His vitals, well they aren’t good, but they’re about what I was expecting.”

She peered at the screen in front of her. “His blood pressure is low, breathing is shallow and pulse is weak, but steady.”

A few more keystrokes and the machine whirred to life as delicate appendages lowered from the apparatus and began manipulating the human’s body, moving him into a more favorable position, and beginning to perform the tasks that Brinn was programming into it. “I’m going to put a direct line into his bone marrow and starting him on a saline infusion, and then inserting a nasogastric tube to start fixing his malnourishment.”

Pryvani shook her head. “I have no idea what any of that means.”

“I’m going to start giving him food, water and oxygen.”

Pryvani smiled, relieved. “So… he’s going to be okay?”

Brinn shook her head. “I can’t say for sure, it may be you got to him just in time, or it may be too late for him. That’s kind of up to him, really.”

The redhead smiled reassuringly. “But, you did the right thing Pryvani. He would have died for sure if you hadn’t found him.”

Pryvani nodded, unable to form words around the lump that had inexplicably formed in her throat.

“All right. That’s all I can do for now. I’ve synched your machine to my pad, so if there’s an emergency I’ll be notified.”

“This would be so much easier if you were here…” Pryvani said, wistfully with a slight hinting tone to her voice.

Brinn smirked. “I suppose it would. I’ll keep an eye on things, okay?”

“Of course. Thank you.” With a nod, she closed the connection.

She looked down at the human, laying underneath the diagnostic lens of her machine. The monitors on the wall of the medical lab were displaying vitals and information, but she didn’t understand the significance of any of it.

As Pryvani gazed down at the unconscious human, his dirty blonde hair matted over his closed eyes, and listened to his shallow ragged breathing she realized that she needed him to survive. She didn’t know his name or where he’d come from, and she’d only been aware of his existence for a short time; but all the same there was some indefinable need for him to live, beyond the desire for no harm to come to a human.

Gently she reached out a finger and stroked his arm softly. He was about the same length as her finger, not counting the nail. His skin was very pale, with only a slight bit of tan to it, as if he’d spent a lot of time indoors recently. Of course, that made sense, who knew how long he’d been Trell’s prisoner?

“It will be okay, little one.” She whispered to the little man, who was still unconscious. His breathing appeared to be a lot less shallow and more regular, which Pryvani took to be a good sign. Again, she looked over at the numbers representing his vital signs, but she still couldn’t make heads or tails of them. She hoped that they were improving as well.

It was fortunate she’d been able to contact Brinn so quickly, as Pryvani herself no doubt would have botched the little human’s care if left to her own devices. She mused, and not for the first time, on the fact that it would be very useful to have Brinn back on the moon. Her medical expertise was sorely needed, not just for actually treating the humans; but to instruct them in their own health care as well.

Perhaps this little human could be the excuse she’d been searching for to entice the redheaded veterinarian back to Avalon. She had, after all, admired Pryvani’s equipment. Who didn’t like having shiny new toys to play with? Not to mention the fact Pryvani was certain she could offer a much better wage to the young doctor than any clinic could.

She made a mental note to ponder those thoughts so more when she didn’t have more pressing issues to attend to. At the moment, she had some chores that needed to be done.

With a sigh, she sat down at the nearby workstation and had the files for her daily workload transferred down from her office computer. Pryvani didn’t want to leave the human’s side, but that didn’t mean she could ignore her work.