Itxaro chuckled weakly at Vigdis’ joke; she could feel her facade cracking as her frenetic energy crept into her eyes, and suspected that Vigdis had picked up on this, trying to soothe her with humor. She was embarrassed, but grateful nonetheless. Itxaro trusted the engineer more than anyone on the ship at the moment, which granted wasn’t much, and if she was going to crack up in front of anyone she was glad it was her. 

Still, Itxaro was surprised no one accompanied the commander out to greet the new arrivals. She sat down on one of the crates, weighing her options. She didn’t feel much loyalty to the commander, but Itxaro knew that if she let her go alone and something happened to Zey, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. Itxaro already had too many memories of shame, the kind that still made her break into a sweat and tighten up around the throat as she lay in bed. She didn’t have much use for one more. The pitched battle of cowardice and courage raging inside her finally came to an end for the time being. 

“Guess I better go find out,” Itxaro replied to Vigdis, hopping off her thinking crate. She quickly grabbed the box of metal pens, a meager offering to their new acquaintances, and followed the commander through the breach.