“Yes, I’d love to see the planet. But I think it’d be more special experiencing it for the first time with a guide who so obviously loves their home planet as you do.” They look a little confused by that statement. “What? Did I just finally freak you out?”
“No. It is that I suppose I never thought about Pfahrn in that way before. I do love my planet, because my family lives there. Unfortunately, I am not wealthy, or from a wealthy family. I have long thought I would need to eventually leave Pfahrn to make a better life for myself. That would mean being parted from my family and I am not yet ready to do that. Plus, I contribute part of my salary to the household funds.”
“Would they be upset if you left?”
“Not because of the money, no. They could get by without that. They wouldn’t be upset, exactly, but they would miss me as much as I would miss them.”
“Must be great coming from a large family.”
“It has its benefits. Although, as the oldest sibling, I really do not remember a time when I did not have at least one sibling. Olartmin, the youngest, has the closest relationship with our parents, for phey work with phem on a nearby estate. Olartmin spends the most time with phem. Colarmin travels a lot due to work, but rarely into orbit, and phey are home several days a week. Dholartin lives at home and commutes to work every day, but phey also have many friends phey spend time with, so phey are not always home until late in the evening.”
“I kind of envy you having both parents and several siblings. I’d love to meet all of them.” Oops, there I go, making it weird again. “I mean, if you or they wouldn’t object to that. I don’t often get to spend time with families.”
“You said you were taken in by a family, though.”
“A couple. They didn’t have kids of their own. Yeah, they were nice, but we haven’t really stayed in touch. They moved a couple of years ago, and then I lost their new contact information. I really should try tracking them down.”
“Family is a blessing, whether it is one you are born into or one you are adopted into.”
I know Olarte didn’t mean to make me feel guilty, but I do.
Mostly because it’s something I’ve felt before, that I didn’t try harder to stay in touch with them. They were nice people who didn’t have to step in the way they did.
“Once I started working,” I say, “I kind of thought it was good that I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, because then I didn’t have to keep track of them.”
“You have no other living family?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. Probably distant cousins, somewhere. I’d have to research and find out. Hasn’t been at the top of my list of priorities.”
“On Pfahrn, it is impossible not to know who you are related to. We carefully track everything.”
I chuckle. “Sounds like it.” Sounds like a complicated, pain-in-the-ass system, to be honest.
Likely meaning Olarte and I will never hook up. I’m not signing a contract for sex. If I’m going to do that, I might as well buy a membership card to a brothel chain, if we’re reducing things to a transactional basis.
Where’s the romance and spark in that?
But, damn, the thrill of talking to Olarte sure feels good in a way nothing has in as long as I can remember.
Certainly not since before I lost my parents.
This isbetterthan sex, in some ways. It’s different, it’s emotionally satisfying, and it bears the promise of a personal connection that any countless number of hookups I’ve had over the years do not and cannot.
With our bills paid, we leave the restaurant, but I’m nowhere close to being ready to say good-night to Olarte yet. Fortunately, they have the same thought.
“Would you like to take another walk?” they ask. “Or, if you’d like, we could go to my quarters and sit and talk there.”
If Olarte was a human, I would assume that was a cue they wanted to get busy. Except they’re not a human, and I already know that casual hook-ups aren’t on their mind.
“I would enjoy that, thanks.”
“I will not be drinking alcohol tonight, because I must work tomorrow. But if you wish to stop and buy some for yourself, I would not object to you drinking in my quarters.”
“Thanks. That sounds like a great idea.” We stop by the same liquor store I hit last night. Instead of something hard, I pick up a bottle of wine from the chiller, and see from the label that it was bottled on Pfahrn.
Olarte nods at my choice. “I have sampled that brand before. It is a little sweet with just enough tartness to make it pleasant to drink.”
“Perfect. I don’t like dry wines.” So I grab another bottle to have it on hand.
