"And? I thought I told you not to waste any more of my time."

"You were wrong."

"Show me. Right now."

So she does.

She does not hate. Hatred is a feeling she has a very hard time actually having. But it turns out to be unnecessary: anger, disappointment, frustration, fear, these are enough.

Occlus catches the lightning in one hand, absorbing it without flinching.

"...Passable. You are not entirely a hopeless case."

"No, I am not," she agrees.

"Was there something else you wanted?"

"To know what comes next."

"You wanted to learn to summon lightning. You've done so. There is no 'next'."

She shrugs. "Okay, then."

"You're not my apprentice, girl. I'm not going to give you a course of study."

"I know."

The door hisses shut in her face unceremoniously.

And she returns to the bridge and resumes book reading.

The viewports offer an image of hypnotically swirling blurred purple starscapes as the ship tunnels through hyperspace.

After a while, Andronikos pokes his head in. "Hey. Gonna heat up some food, you want anything?"

"Sure."

"All right. Should be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Thank you, you're too kind."

He clears his throat somewhat awkwardly and disappears kitchen-ward.

And she resumes reading.

Shortly, it begins to smell like stew.

And shortly, she puts down her book and goes after the smell.

Andronikos has just taken a large pot off the stovetop and is getting out three bowls to dish into.

"Do you want any help?"

"Just with the eating."