POV: Lyra
When Medical Officer Yeil asked if I myself knew about my own peculiarity, Orion asked me to tell him about the childhood game I played with Juan and a few others. The officer noted it and asked whether I had any other peculiarities, apart from my abnormal resistance to neurotoxin.
"I have a striped pattern on my skin when in combat mode, does that count?" I asked curiously.
"I'm sorry, my Empress. A what?" The medical officer asked in total confusion.
I explained how my opalescent skin developed grey stripes only along my spine when I entered full combat state. Orion listened attentively but embarrassment soon crept through his pathways, shifting them to a guilty purple. How could he proudly declare that he loved me when he didn't even know that distinct part of my combat form? He knew I had the rainbow-shifting opalescence because he'd seen me fight at Jewel Station the other day. But he must have missed the stripes because he was focused on the bio-fluid from my wound.
As if to make himself feel better, he started caressing my shoulders in soothing strokes, neural sparks flowing between us, while I explained to Officer Yeil that I'd searched every database I could access on irregular Kaelari features but nothing came up.
"I must say that I've never heard of such a thing either, Your Eminences. But uh, my Empress, perhaps consider that the striped pattern may not be a peculiarity exhibited only by Kaelari."
I pondered before responding. "So, you're saying that I may have a peculiarity of another species, like a human, a Void Raider, or..."
"Or a Lyrokan," the officer suggested. "Lyrokans are known to be generally more resistant to neurotoxins."
I thought for a moment and shook my head. "That's not possible. There are no Lyrokans in my genetic line. And if there were, I'd be a Lyrokan right now, not Kaelari."
Officer Yeil offered his opinion. "I wouldn't say you have Lyrokan genetics per se. But perhaps the cosmos gave you different peculiarities from different species. You're not a cross-species hybrid, more like... a Kaelari with a few bonus attributes."
"So... my stripes are supposed to be able to do something?"
"Maybe, maybe not. And until you've tested the limits of your peculiarities, I doubt you'd know the full extent of them."
I was confused, my skin shifting to puzzled yellow. "What does that mean?"
"Well," the officer began explaining, "You told me that you absorbed merely drops of neurotoxin as a child, but the toxin on the blade that was in your body would be more than a few drops, don't you think?"
"Yes."
"And neurotoxin harms Kaelari younglings just as it would adults. An adult Kaelari can be terminated by the same amount of toxin as the amount given to a child. They don't become more resistant to neurotoxin, even with age."
"That's true."
"Well, then. That would mean that not only are you more resistant to neurotoxin, your resistance strengthens with each encounter your body has with that substance."
"I become more resistant to neurotoxin each time it enters my system. That... might be true." The officer waited in anticipation, so I explained. "In a few battles I fought before the one at Jewel Station, there were Rogues and hunters who scratched my skin or stabbed me with toxin-laced blades. It hurt badly the first few times but, even then, I was never in medical stasis like the others. Later, bearing with the pain just got... more doable, as long as I removed the blade quickly. I thought I was just getting used to the pain."
The officer then looked at me and asked, "I need to ask, my Empress, do you detect neurotoxin before you see it?"
"Of course, doesn't everyone?" I said without hesitation.
The officer and Orion glanced at one another before Orion said, "Lyra, I don't get any sensory reading from neurotoxin. Neither does Christian or any other Lyrokan I know."
The officer explained, "That's because neurotoxin is scientifically proven to have no distinct molecular signature detectable by standard sensory organs."
I furrowed my eyebrows, my skin shifting to confused purple. "That doesn't sound right. Neurotoxin registers like ionized atmosphere after a plasma storm combined with mercury compounds and a faint trace of carbon residue. Nothing metallic."
The officer frowned. "My Empress, mercury compounds have no distinct sensory signature either."
I looked at the officer, then at Orion whose pathways were pulsing with deep thought. I then dove into my own reflections. Why was I the only one detecting these things? What was wrong with me? If there was nothing wrong, then what were these peculiarities going to do? Why was I never taught how to harness what I was given by the cosmos? It felt like the universe treated me like an experiment, throwing in random mutations and sending me into existence to see how I'd fare.
Five psychic bond rejections and now this? Seriously? Universe, what have I ever done to you? I thought to myself.
I asked in despair, "Why me? Why did the cosmos choose me to test this... peculiarity combination? I'm just... a Kaelari, a normal Kaelari."
The officer scoffed. "Are you really just that, my Empress?" The emphasis on my future title made me drop silent. The officer smiled, his pathways warming. "I wouldn't worry about any of it. It's just interesting to know. I personally can't wait to see what your stripes are capable of doing."
I then asked, "Are there Lyrokans with stripe patterns on their bodies?"
The officer shook his head. "Not that I've heard of. But who knows? You may be the first."
When we got back into the transport, Orion pecked a kiss on my cheek, sending pleasant sparks through my nervous system. "Another first. And just to be clear, babe, you're anything but a normal Kaelari."
My skin flushed to embarrassed pink at his kiss and praise. That flustered sight of me never failed to make Orion and his inner Lyrokan happy—his pathways glowing with satisfaction.
After giving his plan some thought, Orion glanced at me as he navigated and said, "Hey, baby?"
"Hm?"
"Can I take you out? Like on an actual date? I feel like I don't really know you yet."
I was in a mood to be cheeky again, my skin shifting to playful gold. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, my Emperor. You may not like me if you get too close. I'm too blunt. I may say something that you won't like. Plus, you've seen my acting. How would you know that I'm not just going after whoever sits on the throne?"
Orion scoffed. Then, he took one hand off the navigation controls and reached for my hand before lacing his fingers with mine, neural sparks dancing between our palms. "My darling, you wanted to get rid of me the first moment we met despite knowing that I am Emperor. I highly doubt you care about the throne."
"Void take it! You're no fun," I complained in a teasing manner.
He smiled wider, his pathways brightening, and continued, "And if you think that being blunt is going to drive me away, you would be very wrong. If you haven't noticed, your words do two things to me: make me look at you like you're a goddess herself, or get me aroused."
I bit my lip before saying softly, my skin shifting to guilty blue, "There's a third thing, too. I hurt you with my words. I hurt you that first night and also at Jewel Station with what I said." I sighed. "I may have gone a little overboard with what I said at Jewel Station, and that first night was... uncalled for. I'm sorry."