Eirik was engaged in training, as he had been almost every day during their little getaway. Either training or scouting the surrounding area. Several hunting parties had ventured out in the mountain to hunt a native animal that seemed like a mix between mountain goats and moles, able to jump around the cliffs as well as they could burrow into them. Their fur turned out to be reminiscent of mink back on Terra, making it an exquisite trading material if the pelts were in good condition.

When Jeanette and Las'Tai found Eirik he was taking a short break to drink some water. Putting the ladle back in the large bucket and wiping his face, he cocked an eyebrow as Jeanette and Las'Tai were making their way over to the training men and women.

"Can I help you, ladies?? Perhaps a sparring match?" His eyes were glinting with humor as he spoke. "No, Captain."

Eirik stiffened. "When did you begin to believe Las'Tai?"

"I do not Captain, but my prayer is not for myself either."

"Hmmm." Eirik narrowed his eyes in concentration as he stroked the scraggy beard that had begun growing on his cheek. "Let's go to the shrine. No one will disturb us there and I sense it is a personal matter. You come with us, Jeanette. I guess you will perform the prayer on her behalf??" Eirik said the last words with a genuine smile, the kinship in faith and belief having created a strong bond of understanding between the 2.

"Of course, Eirik. But she also wants to offer sacrifice at a later date, once she has made something worthy, and once the prayer has come true."

"Wait-- Prayer gone true?? Not prayer has been heard??" Las'Tai was genuinely confused.

"You heard correct Las'Tai. See, we do not pray for the gods to fix the problems. They won't. They will, however, occasionally grant you inspiration, clear sight, and wisdom, to make the prayer come true. It depends on their whims though. More than anything, they crave entertainment. We can only hope that our prayers offer enough promise of entertainment to have them gaze approvingly upon our request, thus granting opportunity and knowledge to potentially achieve your goal. The work is up to us."

This made Las'Tai contemplate what she had been told as they walked to the shrine and once they arrived, they talked for a long time.

Later that day, Eirik proclaimed that they would make a large fire, further in the cave, that night. Celebrations were to keep morale up, he said, and no one complained so they had no reason to question him. Only David and Knud kept their eyes on him and he entered the ship's hangar and came back out with a small barrel under his arm and a backpack packed for a hiking trip in the other. They watched as he stashed both items near the entrance of the gate and went back to continue training

Exchanging a look Knud asked, "Is it that time again?"

"It has been a year" Confirmed David. As Knud grimaced and opened his mouth to speak, David interjected, "It keeps him stable. Let him mourn in his way. If anything, he will be the most dangerous thing out there tonight." David's voice was passionate, his loyalty to his childhood friend, total.

Knud sighed heavily. "I know David. And that it was frightens me. It is not a healthy coping mechanism. He needs professional help, you know this as well as I do."

"He would kill anyone of us, without hesitation, if he ever knew that we were aware of this," David spoke with the certainty of a man stating a well-known fact. As good a person Eirik could be, he would not allow anyone to know his self-doubts. This was his way of dealing with it, so be it.

Knud got up and left without a word, an angry expression on his face.

______________________

After talking with Eirik, Jeanette and Las'Tai had retreated outside the ship near the makeshift seating that had been made. They were going over the finer details of the pray this night when Knud suddenly come up to them. "Las'Tai, I need a favor from you."

"What favor?" Las'Tai asked. She was on guard, the doctor seemed to be in a fighting mood.

"Tonight, the captain is going to slip away during the celebrations. You are one of the best we have at sneaking because you can move so low to the ground. I want you to follow the captain, Observe him and keep him safe, but DO NOT LET HIM SEE YOU!! With the kind of mood he will be in, it is vital for your safety that you are not spotted!"

"Since it's almost been a year, I know what this is!" Jeanette flew in front of Las'Tai, right in the Knud's face, "She does not need to see him like that!!" Narrowing her eyes at the end of the tirade she followed up with "What game are you playing at old man?!? spit it out!!"

Knud turned around and stomped away while yelling at the cave ceiling "THESE PEOPLE!!!!"

"Jeanette??" Las'Tai had never seen the mild-mannered Terran female like this. Where she was normally kind and empathetic towards everyone she met, right now she was positively electric with anger. Las'Tai had heard the Terran expression *If eyes could kill* quite a few times over her time on the ship, and looking at Jeanette right now, she finally understood what it meant. The disgust, vitriol, and anger that poured out from them as she stared at the doctor's back were powerful enough to make Las'Tai shrink.

Jeanette breathed deeply a few times with closed eyes before turning back to look at Las'tai, her eyes back to being kind and mild again. "It's nothing Las'tai. Better leave it be. Come, let's go see if we can convince the engineers to create some sort of makeshift oven if we promise to make honey muffins in return."

"What are honey muffins??" As always at the mention of food, the short, humanoid lizard was all ears.

"You haven't had muffins before?? Oh, this is gonna be good!" Jeanette was excited as she pulled Las'Tai with her towards a group of men and women in overalls playing cards at some tables. Signe was seated at the table as well, a satisfied grin on her face as she was stacking loads of cigarettes into an ever-growing pile as the game progressed.

"Signe. we have a proposition for you" Jeanette interrupted the game, much to the relief of the other players at the table who quickly made excuses to leave the game.

"Hopefully something to make up for the fact that you prevented me from robbing the new guys blind" Signe did not sound happy, but her smile came back as Jeanette explained their idea.