“He’s gone, Opal,” I say bitterly.
“He tried to save me, you know. He’s deadbecause of me.” Opal lets a fat tear roll down her alabaster cheek.
“No,” I say, kissing her forehead, “he died protecting his queen from a situation she had no control over.”
“I’m sorry Ke’ain.”
Before I can even tell her again it’s not her fault, a food vendor approaches us.
“Something warm for the queen,” he says, bowing his head.
The silver bowl is full of absolutely mouth watering sq'aurks.
“The queen doesn’t like—”
“Thank you,” she says as she accepts the bowl I know disgusts her.
As the fi’len man walks away to pass out more of the delicacy to the crash survivors, I turn to my wife. “You don’t have to eat that, you know.”
“There’s a lot of things I know I don’t have to do, but bubble babe Opal is a different beast than Queen of Sontafrul 6 Opal. When my subjects give me a gift, I might as well be gracious enough to try it.” She takes a steadying breath.
I laugh as she brings the two pronged pick with a pale pink sq'aurk up to her mouth. She pops it in quickly and braces herself for the worst.
As she chews, though, her face slowly softens. “Ke’ain!”
“Are you all right?” I check her over once more in a panic.Are humans allergic to sq’aurks?
“Sq’aurks taste exactly like peach pie!” she squeals with delight.
“Looks like I can let Gra’eth off the hook about sourcing an Earth pie for you, can’t I?” I breathe a sigh of relief.
She shovels the pastel puff balls in her mouth. I smile as her red human blood floods back into her face.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave you alone again,” I say.
“Ke’ain, I’m fine.” She sets a blue sq'aurk in front of my lips.
I pop the delicious morsel into my mouth. “So these taste like Earth peaches?”
“Even better, peach pie. I want them every day.”
“I can arrange that.”
Opal hands me the empty bowl and rises to her feet, somewhat shakily. She moves into the crowd and I follow close behind.
Wrapped in nothing more than a blanket, the fi’len still know their queen.
“Thank you,” she whispers to each fi’len nursing a soaked and half-drowned human woman.
They bow their heads, accepting their queen’s praise reverently.
When she arrives at Gra’eth and his red-maned human, I have to remind myself that he saved Opal as she embraces him with her whole body.
“Thank you Gra’eth. I know you don’t like me, but thank you all the same.”
He stiffens when he sees me try my best to shove my hands into my pockets.
“Opal, just because you’re the weird alien who stole my best friend’s heart doesn’t mean I dislike you.” Gra’eth smartly pushes the queen away and against me. “But just for future reference, if you touch me like that again, your mate is going to have to kill me. Wereallydo need to get you some classes on fi’len customs, my dear queen.” He laughs nervously.
