Laughing to cover my own slight anxiety, I follow her back.
9
Khur
Ithink I scared her. When Destiny and Furga finish my order she just waves and says she’ll see me later tonight. It feels like a dismissal. I try not to take it personally.
Really, I can’t blame her. I acted like a brute to Shemo. It enraged me that he would speak to her like that. My girl would not be disrespected, especially with something as lowly as speciesism.
I almost lose my shopping bag as I realize…I’m thinking of her as my girl. Which is crazy, because she isn’t my girl, and she doesn’t want to be. Why would she? I’m a feckless brute who turns into a monster at the slightest provocation.
While I was deeply disappointed to hear the vitriol come out of Shemo’s mouth, I am also glad it wasn’t another Winged-One, someone I didn’t know so well. Shemo is Meshi’s brother, and a few years ago when the first group of refugees from their planet arrived on Sanctuary, I helped them out of a troublesome situation. Ever since then, Shemo has treated me with the utmost respect. I knew I was testing the limits of that today, but he took it well.
If an Originem had heard him talking like that, he would have spent the rest of the week in rehab, and no one wants that.
I finally see the door to my sub and elbow my way through the flow of foot traffic to get to it. The door closes behind me and the noise of the main corridor is muted. I nod to the few neighbors I pass as I make my way to our apartment. This time of day, there are few people in the subs. Most people have fulfillment positions or keep a booth in the market. Others spend their days just exploring the station, taking odd jobs when they need the credits for extra supplies, like cold weather gear.
Shaking my head and grumbling, I wave my cuff over my door panel, remembering how Destiny’s lips turned blue and her entire body shook in my arms. She's reckless, but it was a trait I was beginning to admire a bit. She may be reckless, but she certainly seemed to know how to live. Boldly, unapologetically. A little teasing, like she was with Shemo earlier. When she tossed him that sly grin and saidpleasure to meet youI thought I might snap his neck just for giving her any sort ofpleasure.I think I may be obsessed with this human girl, and that could only be bad news. My wandering thoughts follow me all the way to my apartment.
“Hello, brother. You’re home a bit early today.”
Urzu sits in the middle of the room, on the floor between the enclosed couches. It looks like she is working on one of her weavings, with white and blue fabrics and rich brown yarns laying around her.
“What are you weaving, sister?” I ask, depositing the supplies by the kitchen hallway and vaulting over the back of the couch to join her in the middle.
Urzu has a rare gift Dhugarens call the weaving. Tapestry weaving is one of the most valued skills of our species, but trueweavingis ever more revered. She sometimes has visions she calls flashes. They are one scene or image that she weaves into a tapestry, the finished piece revealing a glimpse into the future. Some of her larger ones take months. This one is only about a foot tall and two feet wide. She can finish that in a week or so. Trepidation settles over me. “Is it a flash?”
“Yes.”
“You’re really not going to explain any further than that?”
“No. It will be revealed when it is finished. Now, what are you doing home so early?” She looks at me patiently, but expectantly. I can’t hide anything from her and it infuriates me sometimes.
“I had a craving. For somefurkurra…I thought you might make some tonight? I mentioned the dish to Destiny and she mentioned maybe coming to dinner? I told her to bring her father as well. I hope you don’t mind.”
My sister can see right through me. She shakes her head, clucking.
“You know you could have just asked. I would have done it without the deception, dopey brother.” She stands up, brushing bits of yarn and fibers off her jumpsuit, and makes for the kitchen, grabbing the bag I deposited on the floor. Before she disappears down the hall she says, “Go to Gunnvall and get a bottle of the ice wine from him. We won’t be drinking Furga’s grog tonight. Don’t tell her I called it that either!”
With that final shout, Urzu disappears into the kitchen and I make my way back out the door.
The noise of the division washes over me once again as I walk back into the main corridor. We lived in a highly populated urban area onDhugar, so this is familiar to me. I walk through the crowd, letting it part like water around a glacier. Being large and imposing certainly has its benefits at times. I remember earlier today when Destiny would surely have been trampled by the crowd if I hadn’t been there and it makes me stand a little taller. I could do that for her.
Gunnvall’s booth sits where it always does, between a Silfan woman who sells hair coloring elixirs and a young Dhugaren who tinkers with data pads. I wonder if he could program Destiny’s language in my data pad, until she gets her own. Maybe she’d like to read about Dhugaren culture straight from the source. I have some fantastic historical novels downloaded.
Maybe that’s stupid though and humans don’t even like novels. I will have to ask.
I am not one to normally doubt myself. I do not hold doubts or hesitations. Things either are or they are not. I am a good engineer. I am not a good leader. Simple. Clean.
But with her… I’m doubting every thought, every move. I know how a Dhugaren female might act if I tell her I’m interested, but I highly doubt Destiny would challenge me to a bare clawed fight.But what if she does?A small voice asks, and I cringe at the thought. I can’t imagine raising my claws against her, tearing that flawless, smooth skin. Everything about her seems soft in a way that Dhugarens are not and I am drawn to it like a wursplat to the moon.
Is she drawn to me, too? Or does she see nothing but a big brute?
“Deep thoughts, Khur?”
“Hello, Gunnvall. Yes, I mean no! Urzu just sent me to get some of your ice wine, have you got any well aged?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Gunnvall said, turning to sort through the shelves behind him. “This wouldn’t happen to be for that pretty new human would it?”
