Pearl & Quasit (Pt. 48)

Half way to Olis V, the Phengodidae passing through ghostly phosphorescence of the Candellion Cluster, Quasit joined Pearl on the bridge.

"You didn't bring me any tea," she quipped, though she desired none.

Quasit shrugged. "Chattsworth drank it all anyway. I left him to watch over our guests." He amended. "Well, the Mariri seems to do a good job of watching over the Queen, anyway. She's sleeping like a newborn."

"Is she a newborn?" Pearl said contumely, yet rhetorically. "And just what has the Mariri divulged to you, academe acquired through the aeons?"

Quasit's expression darkened in a conflicted scowl.