Perhaps Kr’?∂’txx—“Mercy”—would not end up being Titan’s friend per se, but he would at least be able to listen and offer advice. There was a chance he would even be able to offer clarity about whether or not Ezra could be his True Mate.
With renewed energy, Titan pushed himself off the floor and padded over to the closet where he had stored the few belongings he had been allowed to bring with him from Darvrok 6. The Earth governments were wary of “alien technology,” as they called it, and thus heavily monitored what was brought through intergalactic customs. He had not been able to keep his eviscerator, which was unfortunate because it was a very convenient device for eliminating waste products—much more efficient and better for the environment than garbage dumps—but for some reason, the government officials had said that a device that could erase matter from existence at the press of a button was a safety concern. It was a terrible inconvenience, but not all was lost, as they had graciously allowed him to keep his communication device.
Titan retrieved it from one of his bags and brought it to his bed, where he sat cross-legged with his back pressed to the headboard. He remained like that for an increment, gazing down at the device as he collected his nerves, then breathed out slowly through his nose and dropped his human disguise.As soon as he did, the device recognized his face and unlocked, allowing him to open up his contact list and select Mercy’s coordinates.
The call did not connect instantly—there were light-years of distance to be bridged before instant communication could ensue—but after some time, a holographic image popped up from the screen. To Titan’s surprise, it did not depict Mercy, but rather his cousin: a slightly awkward being with corrective lenses. Most Darvrokians born with poor eyesight used special drops to fix this dysfunction, but this cousin had an allergy to the medication. In fact, he was allergic to several things, each more inconvenient than the last. Unfortunately, such was his lot in life, as his markings—single rings capping each shoulder, with smaller rings upon the apples of his cheeks—foretold he would live a luckless existence.
Coincidentally, “Luckless” was the closest English approximation of his name.
“?.Λ.yz’Ο?” Luckless asked, eyes sharpened with curiosity. “It’s unlike you to call. Is something wrong? Is everyone okay?”
Titan did not bother to point out that their family was so large that it would be nearly impossible to know if all of them were in good health. Statistically, at least one of them could be poorly and Titan would be none the wiser, but he decided to let it go. It would be a conversation for another time.
“As far as I know, everyone is fine,” he said in Darvrokian, easily falling back into his mother tongue. “I was actually calling to speak to Kr’?∂’txx. Is he around?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s right here.” Luckless adjusted the angle of the communication device and up popped a hologram of Mercy, who appeared to be seated beside him. It seemed Titan had caught them in a time of relaxation—perhaps midway through viewing the newest episode ofPlanet Hoppers.
Titan felt a brief pang of homesickness. He sometimes forgot that he was very, very far from everything and everyone he knew.
“?.Λ.yz’Ο,” Mercy said in his deep, rumbly voice. Where Luckless spoke with quiet emotion, Mercy always sounded flat, even when he was being sincere. He was a burly, muscular being—handsome, but intimidating. Titan had always found him to be a little unnerving, especially as a child. “Is something the matter?”
“No,” Titan said, then reconsidered. “Well, yes, sort of. I was wondering…” He twisted his mouth and rubbed the nape of his neck. He was not used to asking for assistance with, well, anything, if he was being honest, and he felt oddly exposed. Perhaps even mortified. He had been so sure he would feel comfortable sharing his insecurities with Mercy, but now, staring him down, the truth simply would not come out. He could not admit he was worried that there was something wrong with him, but he could not end the transmission without positing a question lest he arouse suspicion.
He had to saysomething.
And since he could not bring himself to speak his doubts aloud, he shifted his focus onto the secondary purpose of their conversation. “I want to know what you know about True Mates.”
“True Mates?” Mercy furrowed his brow. “Aren’t you on Earth? AA.??’p’Zx would be the one to ask. He’s the only one I know who actually found his.”
“No, I know that.” Titan’s cheeks warmed. He did not want to admit to his older brother that his relationship with his clutchmate was so poor that he could not ask him a simple question without getting coldness in response. “I just… I wanted to know more details about how it works, and you’re the smartest one I know.”
“Low blow, ?.Λ.yz’Ο,” Luckless said through a laugh. Like Mercy, Luckless was an academic, but whereas Mercy had graduated many rotations ago and gone on to devote his life to his chosen field of study, becoming quite renowned for the depths of his expertise, Luckless was an eternal student, graduating from one program only to begin the next. Both were intelligent beings, but they applied their intelligence in different ways,and Mercy’s brand of disciplined intelligence was more closely in line with what Titan needed.
He quickly muttered an apology, which Luckless laughed away.
“I may be smart,” Mercy said, continuing the conversation, “but the study of True Mates is a bit outside my purview. What is it you want to know?”
“I was curious if… if it’s possible for True Mates not to always recognize each other at first touch, like all the literature says they do. Could it be possible to find your True Mate and not realize it until later on?”
“Not as far as I know,” Mercy said, and Titan’s heart sank. “The bond between True Mates is always detectable upon first touch. There has never been a case in which the bond formed later on.”
Titan frowned. “Right, but… let’s say, for example, a non-Darvrokian’s anatomy begins to adapt to better suit its Darvrokian lover. Wouldn’t that be a marker of a True Mate bond?”
“Sure.”
“Can you think of any other reason why a non-Darvrokian’s body might change like that?”
Mercy tilted his head in thought, taking a long increment to ponder the question.
“No,” he said finally. “I can’t think of any reason why that would happen.”
Titan bit back a huff of frustration. This was not helping at all.
“Why are you asking me these things, ?.Λ.yz’Ο?” Mercy went on to say. He grinned. “Are you looking for a True Mate of your own?”
“My questions are purely academic,” Titan shot back, lying through his teeth.
“Well, regardless of why you’re asking, those are my answers.”
