Jaiya walked along the corridor with Raizxl trailing swiftly behind her as they left the fourth day of meetings. Years of piloting fighter ships had made her forget how boring it was to sit at a table for the whole day—and after four days of political discussions, she was ready to be done.
How am I supposed to handle another day trapped inside these metal walls?
She would make sure her brother realized the sacrifices she made coming here. Not only would she probably be disciplined when she returned, but with peace between their species slowly becoming a reality, she could be stripped of her duties as a wing captain and lose her reason to fly.
Jaiya stopped at the large window and peered out at the wondrous view of space beyond. A sudden itch to escape the starbase and fly amongst the stars coursed through her.
“Do you see something?” Raizxl asked, slightly alarmed.
“Only the stars.” Jaiya shot a smile at the emerald male. “I’ve always loved the feeling of freedom whenever I fly. All of these heavy conversations have placed a lot of weight on my shoulders, and just gazing at the stars made me ache for a break from all of this.”
“I understand.” He nodded, crossing his arms in thought. “We have a recreational pool. At this time of day, most of the day shift should be turning down for the night, so it should be fairly empty.”
Jaiya cringed. The major differences between their species were quite noticeable whenever she traveled along the halls to and from the war room, and they would be all the more pronounced in swim clothes. Not to mention the fact that she lacked a vital part of the male anatomy.
“Sorry,” Jaiya sighed. “I appreciate the offer, but even though you’ve done nothing more to make my stay awkward, the rest of the starbase has failed to hide their blatant stares.”
“For what it’s worth, you are the most pleasant human I’ve ever talked to.”
“How many humans have you talked to?” Jaiya asked pointedly.
“One.” Raizxl laughed, merriment dancing in his silver eyes. “But, I have shouted insults at plenty of your pilots in battle.”
“In CTA Common, I hope,” Jaiya chuckled. “Not many humans study Dzexet, and even fewer understand it at a proficient level. Slinging insults in your enemy’s native tongue is much different than trying to orchestrate a peace treaty between two species.”
Raizxl sobered, studying her. “I learned enough of the basics of your language, in case I ever needed to converse with your species.”
“Is that so?” Jaiya faced the male, switching from Dzexet to CTA Common to test his understanding. “Are you an alien? Because you’re out of this world.”
His eyes bulged—apparently, he’d caught her implication. “I’m not interested in copulating with you,” he replied in his native tongue. “Is it possible for males in your species to do so?”
Laughter erupted in loud bursts from her mouth like chimes of a bell. The innocence in his question humored her, especially considering the secret that she held.
Jaiya gasped, quickly covering her mouth with both hands to stop herself from making any more femininesounds. She had been hiding her gender well, deepening her voice and tying down her breasts, even though her size was already smaller than most human males liked.
Both species were too arrogant to study more than the other’s language and war tactics; social and physical characteristics were a mystery. She had a feeling that unless she was nude, most Daextru wouldn’t know the difference between a human man and woman, especially since all Daextru wore their hair long regardless of gender.
If only I hadn’t cut my hair.
She suppressed that train of thought. There was no use denying how much she hated having long hair. The care alone was enough to drive her crazy, and she didn’t like dealing with the weight on her scalp. Sooner or later, she would have cut her hair anyways, so it was foolish to regret her haircut for the sake of the mission.
“You have nothing to worry about, Raizxl,” she assured him. “Humans, like your species, need one female and one male in order to reproduce. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t multiple different types and sizes of relationships.”
Raizxl took a step away from her, eyeing her with caution. “What do you mean?”
Jaiya pursed her lips. While she was glad he was trying to become more informed about her species, human relationships were a foreign concept to the Daextru, so she needed to explain carefully.
“While most humans are in monogamous female-male pairings, we have monogamous same-gender couples too,” Jaiya sighed. “The next part will be more difficult to explain.”
Jaiya took some time trying to describe various forms of polygamy. His limited grasp on CTA Common complicated the explanation, but he responded with interesting information about his own species as well. He told her that during desperate times in the past, the Daextru royal family had a structure like some historic Earth royals, where each royal member bound themselves to multiple mates in order to preserve their bloodline. More mates meant more potential heirs to the throne, which was vital in times when war could take many royal lives.
The Daextru was a possessive species and didn’t like sharing. Once they bonded a mate, they were loyal until death. Most never moved on after losing their mate.
“Such practices haven’t been necessary until recently. We have been at war for over forty years with the Vresqoxk, and starting a war with your species made matters worse.”
“Are you saying the current royal family is polygamous?” Jaiya asked.
Raizxl flicked his tail, seeming to catch the hitch in her voice.
