The Commander's tent was sparse and plain, with the exception of a bookshelf in the corner, his room contained only the essentials.
The Commander was a diminutive man, standing a head shorter than Cyne. But Cyne made no mistake of slighting him, he was a former Red Surge, the galaxy's most fierce fighting force, or at least used to be.
"I'm well aware of your contributions to this hunt," the Commander said, waving his hand in the direction of his monitor. A still image of Cyne and Libra engaged in combat with the snow dragon was frozen on the screen. "You were both quite impressive in your fight with the snow dragon."
"We are honored by your praise, Commander," Cyne said, choosing his words with careful consideration.
"No need to be so formal with me," the Commander remarked, offering Cyne a drink from his flask.
Cyne refused him politely. "Is there a reason for calling us here, sir?"
"Well actually, there is. I wanted to give away your rewards personally, think of it as an old man making connections with the younger generations," the Commander chuckled, placing two green, translucent cards in Cyne's palm.
"I'm surprised you have these, Commander," Libra exclaimed, pocketing one of the cards given to Cyne. "I haven't seen these used at all on this planet, I assumed they were just phased out."
"It's true they aren't used on this planet very often, but off-world they still hold great significance."
Lips pressing tight, he brought the card up closer to his face, studying it with apprehensively. "But we can't use it, right?" Cyne muttered, drawing out his syllables in an exaggerated fashion.
Libra gave him a hard elbow to the gut. "You're being rude, say thank you to the Commander," she whispered under bated breath.
"Thank you, Command-"
"No need, I know you have your doubts. But I see potential in you two, one day, when you get off this dying planet, these cards will prove a great use to the both of you."
"The Commander must be nuts," Cyne grumbled just minutes later on the way back to their tent. "We kill his snow dragon for him, and he repays us with a fancy card? Damn cheapskate."
"Depending on what's inside, these cards are far more valuable than any sum of chips he could've dished out for you. Sure they might be useless now, but I'm sure in the long term they'll prove useful," Libra said with a raised chin.
"Stop that," Cyne barked, his eyes narrowing.
"Stop what?" Libra asked, shrugging her shoulders innocently.
"Stop imitating him, I don't like it."
"Or what?"
With a shake of his head, Cyne stormed off. "Guess you'll be snacking on Nutri-bars again today."
"What? Are you angry? Come on, I was just joking," Libra drawled, chasing after him.
"Your apologizes won't work on me this time, go pester someone else for food."
"You should loosen up, they say being so serious all the time is bad for you."
Hours later, after getting settled back into their tent, Cyne and Libra were hunched over a boiling pot of stew.
"I was just joking earlier, you aren't actually going to make me eat those bars again, right?"
"It's tempting, but even I can't get through them," Cyne relented, passing Libra a bowl of steaming stew.
With a wide grin, Libra took the bowl and attacked its contents with the ferocity of a snow dragon. In between mouthfuls of soup, she took great sips of Cyne's flask. "This is pretty good, you should be a professional," Libra said, lavishing Cyne with half-hearted praises.
Cyne rolled his eyes, sycophancy was Libra's second nature when it suited her. "Oh save it, by the way when are we going to have the talk? You've been brushing it off, and it's going to have to happen, sooner or later," he remarked, setting his bowl aside.
"What talk?"
"You know… the talk."
"I haven't the faintest clue on what this… talk would entail."
She was sidestepping again. A common tactic for Libra when addressed on complicated matters. But she wasn't going to get away this time.
"You know what I mean, the future, our future," Cyne pressed. "You can't avoid this forever."
"I know, believe me, I know. But do we have to talk about it tonight? Why don't we just enjoy our stew and talk about this tomorrow?"
"No. That's what you always say," Cyne countered, a slight edge to his voice.
"Fine. We can talk." Libra finally relented, also putting her bowl aside.
"I know you want to leave, I've seen you eyeing those ships by the loading dock. But I want to hear it from you, I can't leave stuff like that up to assumptions."
"The ships are cool, that's all, there's nothing-"
"Stop it! Stop treating me like an idiot. Just tell me if you want to leave damn it! I'm not a kid anymore, you can't keep treating me like one either," he spat, his face flushing red.
Libra only gave him a sad smile. "We should talk tomorrow. I can see you're a little… disjointed right now."
"I'm… sorry, I'm just confused, it's all murky and I don't what to think… you're right, we should probably talk tomorrow."
With a soft punch to his shoulder, Libra leaned against his back. "I'll be honest, this whole thing has been a lot easier with you. If I woke up in that place all alone, life would be a lot duller than it is now."
Cyne responded with a small smile. "Thanks and… good night."
"Yeah, good night."