“We’ll be your friends, too, Destiny! We can teach you how to make the best snow forts.” Urzu’s daughter says excitedly.
Beside her, her brother nods emphatically, “You can tell us more about summer on your planet. I can’t believe your sun turns your skin colors. I wonder if it would turn my fur blue!”
“Or purple!” his sister says, then they both break out in giggles.
Urzu turns to me in horror, “your sun does what?”
Chuckling, I attempt to explain tanning and UV rays' effect on bare skin to my new friends as we finish our meal.
The evening is genial and peaceful. After dinner, Gunnvall breaks out a blue bottle of something he calls ice wine and pours all the adults a drink. The kids help their mother clear the table and then she presses a button on the wall and a panel pops out. A few more taps has thetable in front of me shrinking and sinking into the floor and my jaw sinks right along with it.
“How? Does mine do that, too?” I ask in disbelief.
“Did they not give you the manuals for your apartment?” Urzu asks as she walks back into the living room empty handed. She swings back over the couch unassisted and plops between Furga and Gunnvall.
“No they did not. I imagine they don’t have a lot of materials in my language yet.”
“Hmm. Come over one day and I will give you a walk through. It’s quite easy once you memorize the sequences.”
I nod, feeling warm inside. Friends offering me small favors like this was something I missed. Actually, it’s not something I ever had so I’m not sure why I felt like my heart was going to burst and spill out of my eyes. I take a deep swig from my cup to cover my emotion. The ice wine is tart and cool, reminding me of lemonade with mint leaves in it. It doesn’t taste like alcohol at all, so when the buzz hits me almost immediately I am a bit surprised.
“Wow. I didn’t realize how strong this stuff is.” I eyeball the cup, warring with my desire to taste more and the fuzziness quickly infiltrating my brain. Shrugging, I take another sip as the Dhugarens around me laugh at my antics. It sounds more like growling and snarling than human laughter, but it’s obvious to me they are enjoying themselves. Furga and Urzu have matching smiles, their eyes crinkling at the corners in glee.
“You know, I hadn’t considered that you would have a much lower alcohol tolerance than us, given your stature.” Gunnvall smiles sheepishly. “Perhaps you should take it slowly.”
I am already feeling the confidence that only comes with alcohol, though, so I stick my tongue out at him.
“Did you just call me short?” I tease, taking another long swig.
“Ok little human, how about you take it easy there?” Khur says from beside me. I look over, shocked to find out that I am leaning fully against his arm now, my hand tucked in his elbow. He reaches across me and plucks my drink from my other hand, tossing the remainder of it down his throat.
Some small part of me is indignant that he would try to cut me off. I’m a grown woman, I know my limits. A much larger part of me, though, is finding I’m pretty close to my limit already and really who cares what he does when his arm is this beefy, his bicep bulging against my cheek as I press into it, his fur-covered muscles somehow so soft and so hard at the same time.
“So soft,” slips out of my mouth before I can stop myself from nuzzling my cheek on him.
“Her tolerance must be much lower than ours, she didn’t even have a full cup and she’s snuggling up to Khur like awursplutin heat.” Furga laughs heartily, elbowing Urzu in the side.
Her words sear through me like a hot iron and I move away from Khur so fast my head spins. I pull my hand from the crook of his elbow, even though he squeezes for a moment like he might resist.
“I am so sorry, Khur. I don’t know what came over me.” I say, staring at my hands clenched tightly over my knees, “I think I better head home now. The ice wine has really gone to my head.”
I rise on watery knees, trying to determine how the hell I am going to get out of this couch dungeon.
“Wait, Destiny, no! I didn’t mean anything by that. It was sweet.” Furga rushes in front of me, grabbing my shoulders, “I was just teasing. Dhugarens are terrible teases, too forward for our own good. Please don’t leave.”
“It’s late, Furga. I’m not upset, I’m just tired,” I lie to my new friend, “thank you all for this amazing dinner. I enjoyed this evening very much.”
As gracefully as a baby deer during an earthquake, I climb over the back of the couch where I was sitting and pull myself to my feet. Behind me, I hear a much larger body doing the same and grimace, knowing what’s coming next.
“Let me walk you home.”
Khur is a larger than life presence. I risk a glance up at his face and see no pity there, no anger or disgust at my ridiculous actions.In heatFurga had said. How embarrassing.
All I see from Khur, though, is kindness, maybe a bit of curiosity, and something else I can’t put my finger on but makes a spark light in my belly. For some reason I find myself nodding. The light pressure of his hand on my lower back guides me out the door.
11
Khur
