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Chapter 8 - Kiahn
Normally, whenever we travel, I am more than keen to get back to Xaavia, and my Principality. There’s this strange itch in my mind that just will not settle until I am home again, and can return to my duties, and my people. This time, however, that itch is joined by an awful ache - a horribly uncomfortable feeling that I have no experience of, like I’m leaving something vital behind.
I have spent the last day wandering various levels of this wretched space station, trying to get a glimpse of the little human female - as if fate would ever be so kind. It was not kind to me when the slave trader had told me that she had already been purchased - that she was gone. He’d been decidedly tight-lipped on who had her, too. Za
I have never acted in such a way - especially not in public. And, ultimately, there was nothing I could do. He had sold her legally, and their sales are binding and confidential.
Now, as I wait in the lounge of our ship, there is a yawning pit in my stomach as our crew prepares to disembark from Moon’s Rest Space Station, leaving behind that intoxicating female - wherever she may be.
I lean back on the sunken, padded seating, arranged in a long, flowing shape set into the ground. My arms are outstretched along the backrest and my face tipped up to the ceiling, exposing my throat as I swallow painfully, thinking of her. I hope wherever she is, whoever it was who bought her, that she is being treated well.
The scent of smoke drifts my way, and I lift my head to look over at my youngest brother, irritated. “What are you smoking?”
Za
“I’ll take a hit,” Az, my middle brother perks up, leaning over to take the offered rolled stick of class 7 herbs.
I watch as he puts the primitive stick between his lips but reach forward, snatching it out before he has a chance to inhale.
“Hey!”
“You’re a professional athlete,” I reason with him. “You don’t know how pure this stuff is, or where Za
“It’s off season! C’mon, K!” Az whines, reminding me of when we were younger and he was in constant need of reining in from whatever new, daring plan for mischief Za
I look down and examine the smoking stick between my fingers, and by the time I’m looking back up to my brothers again, Za
“A Tressian?!” Az exclaims, almost choking on the word. “How did you manage that? Aren’t they… mostly hair?”
“It’s do-able,” Za
I reach for the decanter of distilled pukpuk liquor and pour myself a glass. I’m in no mood to hear the details of my brother’s bedding conquests.
The doors to the lounge area whoosh open, and in floats my Aunt Zalora with her cane, my cousin, Vel following along behind her, constantly checking lists of her own - ones infinitely more important than Za
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Aunt dearly. She raised us, after all. But she is one for duties, order, and making sure our lives and household runs smoothly. There’s a motherly side there for sure, but you normally have to chisel away at several layers of stern stoicism before you reach the fuzzy, smiling center.
So, her smiling? Freely? Let’s just say it’s enough to make me lower my crystal-cut tumbler of liquor and observe her a little more closely. Vel clutches her touchpad to her chest and presses her lips together like she’s trying desperately not to let any words burst out.
I narrow my eyes at her, too. She knows something.
Aunt Zalora opens her mouth and takes a breath as if about to speak, but she gets caught off guard when she looks over to Za
“Gifts?” Az perks up, rubbing his hands together. He’s only two years younger than myself, but has never lost that youthful spirit. “I love gifts.”
“Yes, well-” Aunt Zalora points her cane at both of my brothers, “you two will have to put some work in before you will be able play properly with these gifts. And even then, there’s no guarantee.”
Inexplicably, Vel giggles before covering her mouth and smothering the sound.
Za
Zalora smirks, and, without turning to face her aide, she simply instructs in a quiet tone, “bring in the gifts.”
After a tap or two of Vel’s deft fingers on her touchpad, she has apparently instructed some staff members to bring in these mystery gifts because the doors whoosh open again and this time, in steps-
Some humans.
Za
When the last human walks in behind the two others, my breath catches in my lungs.
That’s my human.
My female.
I’m on my feet in an instant, the crystal tumbler slipping from my hand and shattering into pieces on the floor at my boots.
My human.
Is she really here?
Am I dreaming this?
My little human female is here, standing in my ship. She is exactly how I remembered her, shiny black hair and a human skin-tone that reminds me of the deep, rich brown sands of the southern principality. Though, I ca
“Niska here has agreed to enter into a bridal contract with you, Kiahn-”
“What?” I cut off my Aunt. I think she had carried on talking, but my brain short-circuited after first finding out my female’s name, and then hearing the words, ‘bridal contract’. “What do you mean?”
Aunt Zalora looks at me as though I suddenly have wyzzie-nuts for brains.
“But-”
“Uh,” Za
Az reaches over and grabs the arm Za
Briefly, my gaze glosses over the other two females, one is ever so slightly taller, with rich, much darker skin and dark curly hair. She looks nervous, like she thinks someone’s going to eat her. The other has reddish hair, the length only just brushing her shoulders. Her skin is paler than both her companions, and her body much rounder. She’s also wearing a very guarded scowl on her face. None of them are covering their necks.
“That one?” I hear Za
Az grins, seemingly pleased and excited by Za
“I want to make it clear,” my Aunts voice booms out, cutting my brother’s murmurings short. “I expect you all to enter bridal contracts very soon. The time for-” she raises a brow at Za
My female - my ‘Niska’ - doesn’t make a move, in fact she is frozen to the spot, much like myself. I stare at her, still in disbelief as I ask my Aunt, “and what are those terms of purchase, exactly?”