Crew of the Aliya: Sayah on the drift

A brief vignette between game sessions.

It was cramped in the escape pod. Five people in a space meant for four. She hadn't wanted to be here. She'd wanted to be back in the Aliya with Lila. But there was space for her in the pod, and having one less person on the Aliya would benefit the already overcrowded ship.

Except it left the Aliya without its data djinn. Tahir was a great pilot, but that was no use without a djinn to tell you where to fly.

Gurgeh could take her chair if he had to. He knew what he was doing. But was he good enough to find five floating escape pods in a sea of spaceship debris? Only one way to find out. Embrace the Gambler. Take a risk. Roll the dice.

She didn't share her fears with the four other people in the pod. They were already scared, and looking to her for reassurance. So she provided it. She told them that the Deckhand was keeping their pod safe and functional. That the traveler was guiding them as they ejected from the ship. That the gambler was smiling on them for the risk they had taken.

And huddled together, united in their fervent prayers, she found she could start to believe it herself.
What she could not believe was Khomina, the fortune teller. Acting like she'd somehow looked into Sayah's heart, and see the fear and exhaustion that had driven her since the day she'd been forced to start running. Rather than just looking up her name. Perhaps not the easiest of things to dig up, but these charlatans knew their business.

And her crystal was fake, and more importantly, her words had been proved untrue. They were not all doomed to meet the icons in the heart of the star. One ship had already escaped, and the Aliya would soon follow. She had been foolish to let the woman's words trouble her, and cloud her judgement when speaking to Sabetha.

No. She should not think of these things. The others could not see her distressed. She thought instead of Lila, who had been the one friend who stuck with her, and the Aliya itself, her new home, which would be coming back for her soon.

She did believe, but perhaps she could give fate a helping hand? She checked the pod's transponder, ensuring that it was broadcasting as loudly and clearly as it could. It was working well.

She rejoined the others at prayer. She had done all she could. Now she just had to wait.