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Time; somewhere around the end of S3
Spoilers; I don't think so
Aeryn stalked into the centre chamber. Her face was a mask, but her shoulders with their now familiar droop said it all.
Chiana froze. If there was anywhere to scuttle away and hide she would have gone there.
The tense painful silence was palpable. It continued as Aeryn searched with barely controlled patience through the storage jars.
Chiana sat tight - trying to be invisible, her own misery on hold for the time. She daren't look at Aeryn - but was acutely aware of her every move. Yet she was totally unprepared when Aeryn suddenly lost it - hurling a jar and slumping into a seat, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Damn it, Chiana!" she exploded in angry despair.
It was like undamming a flood.
Chiana jumped guiltily. "You think I don't KNOW it's all my fault?"
Aeryn met this with a blank look of mystification . . .
"You - you think I haven't worked it all out?" she choked. "If I hadn't let that intellant virus out, you'd never have been stabbed, and Crichton wouldn't have gone to the Gammack base, and Scorpy would never have put the chip in his head, and - and everyone could have just got on with finding a way home, and Zhaan wouldn't be dead . . ." And at this point Chiana was forced to pause for breath.
"As I recall," Aeryn told her steadily. "You went to the Gammack base too, and brought back the paraformal tissue. So I owe you my life."
"No - no, it wasn't just me - Crichton took the risk - and there was . . ."
"One debt at a time Chiana - alright? And you cannot take on the blame for - for this whole. . ." She waved a hand helplessly. "How far back should we go? Crichton? Crais? Me? If I hadn't got caught up in that first Starburst I wouldn't be on Moya at all............"
"So - so you forgive me?" Chiana hovered between relief and confusion.
"This whole - mess - is because we are trapped in a cruel Universe - no - not even that - an indifferent Universe. So - so I don't blame you. But if you want forgiveness, then, Yes Chiana, I forgive you," Aeryn told her wearily. She wiped a hand across her face - and tried a smile. "That wasn't why I shouted. I was angry that you are eating the last of the cocash. I really - really - needed that right now. . ."
"Oh . . ." Chiana gave herself a little shake. "Why didn't you say? - that's easy . . ." and she pushed her platter Aeryn's way.
