Before we jump to the wrong conclusion, this is from before Kyarra and I got together.
You could consider this a text submission, rather than an image.
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As the years drifted on, the small abuses didn't stop. "You're such a wuss" became like a pet name for me. She'd try to soften it--put some romantic spin on it--by kissing me after she said it, but still the remarks were wearing on me.

I began to think more and more about that girl I had met a while back who had been wandering through space. The one from Cendor (Kristina? Or something with that K sound). I wondered if she could ever be as sharp-tongued as Amanda could get sometimes.

And I was devastated when I found out after a bit of research into Space Fix personnel files that she had gone down over the Dark Sun. She had been part of the mission to take down the stolen ship, the Gamma. And now she was gone, and somehow a part of me went with her.



"Alright, Arrow, I'm gonna hit the shower and then go to bed," Amanda's voice came from over my shoulder, waking me from my trance.

"I'll be waiting in bed for you, then... in case you need me for anything," I said trying for intimacy.

"Don't be a perv, Arrow, I'm really exhausted," was all I got back.

Why did those eyes of hers seem so distant, so empty; the way I felt now that I knew my that girl was lost? Where was Amanda's love? Had her love died, too?



"What's wrong, Amanda?" I asked her in bed, wrapping my arms around her blue satin sleepwear, pulling her in tight. She never resisted when I did that. Never.

"The Chana burned another city today. Slaughtered everyone again," Amanda's voice was dire, choking back her hatred and her helplessness. "The Chana are expanding their territory and the remaining cities are still too afraid to ask for our help. Space Fix is powerless."

I held her.

"Xander and the other groundstorm members... we're thinking about leaving Space Fix to join World Guard."

"World... But World Guard is militant. They operate outside the law..." I couldn't hide my concern from her. Not on this.

"World Guard changes the laws that need to be changed and ignores the ones that get in the way of doing what's right," she defended. "They've shown an interest in stopping the Chana Expansion, they just need people with experience in dealing with the Chana to help them plan."

She paused a moment, then added, "I'd actually like you to come with us."

I was shocked. Stunned. Space Fix was more than my job; it was my home, and it was a code of ethics that I believe in very much. "I can't..." I started to say, but I felt her squirm out of my arms to face me.

"Don't be such an idiot, Arrow," she said in a voice flavored with disgust. "The Chana have killed thousands of people already and Space Fix is powerless to stop it. You know the few remaining forest cities can't hope to stand up to the Chana alone. You know whatever peace treaties those idiots think they have aren't going to hold up when the Chana decide that it's no longer convenient."

Of course I knew. I'd lost friends to the Chana and Amanda knew how much that scarred me, but it was all too much for me to process right now. To decide to go against my family in Space Fix or not was simply too big a decision to make on the spot. Too much with her arguing at me.

"I'll have to think about it," I said getting up from the bed.

"You don't need to think about it, you just need guts for a change," Amanda called after me.

But as I stepped through the door. I heard her mutter, "You're such a wuss," but there was no kiss this time.



We were simply too far apart.



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-Amanda Raqharo and Arrow Baikonur belong to me- (July 24, 2010)