I looked up from the display full of new gadgets and turned toward Z’fir. Following his gaze, I searched the crowd, noticing it was the same direction as my bond threads.
Two familiar forms dodged and weaved through the passersby taking their time on their stroll. Odelm’s tentacles were wrapped around his sling, holding its bloated form close to his chest. Xylo carried four sticks full of a variety of meatin his hands as each of his vines carried three small, colorful spheres, each dangling on a string.
I covered my mouth and giggled at the view. Xylo looked ridiculous, dodging the others as his collection of colored spheres bobbed along above even the tallest heads.
They both halted in front of us, breathing deeply.
“I wondered if both of you caused problems and had the enforcers called. I hoped I didn’t have to pay fines to bail you out of prison for teaming up against an old woman, no matter how rude she was,” I said jokingly.
Odelm’s colors slightly shifted to a nervous yellow and worried orange as he glanced at Xylo.
Xylo lowered his vines and handed one of the strings full of spheres to each one of us. I gently pulled it and watched his vine unwrap itself, freeing its hold.
“What is it?” I asked as I raised the spheres in front of my face and peered through them. They were translucent and lacked anything floating inside.
“Here,” Xylo offered a stick of meat with another vine, and I grabbed it, waiting for his explanation as he passed the others theirs. “We walked past aphnrawesstall on the way over here and figured you should try some.” He passed his meat stick to a vine and pulled a green sphere from its string. “These arephnrawes, Selena. Each color is a different flavor, but they are all drunk the same way.” He popped the greenphnrawein his mouth and closed his eyes with a large moan.
Following his lead, I grabbed the pinkphnrawesfrom my string and did the same. Thephnrawesexploded as soon as it touched my tongue, disintegrating in a burst of sweetness.
Rapidly, I popped the other two into my mouth and had the same result. They each had a different fruity flavor, ranging from tart to sweet.
I watched the others enjoying theirphnrawes, finishing offtheir string. Without waiting for him to explain what the meat on the stick was, I bit the top piece and yanked.
The heat and spiciness assaulted my taste buds, making me cough as I gasped for air, my eyes watering from the heat. It was the spiciest thing I’d ever had.
“Selena?” V’dim asked, concerned.
I leaned over, placing my hands on my knees and breathed deeply, failing to find relief.
My vision blurred from the tears exploding from my eyes, my curtain of hair blocked all around me, as someone grabbed my meat stick from my hand. A set of hands grabbed my hair and held it out of my face as a tentacle offered aphnrawes,pressing it against my lips. I welcomed it, allowing thephnrawesto explode inside my mouth, dowsing the fire to nothing.
I sobbed in relief, taking in long breaths as I collected myself.
“Whatever that is… I don’t want it,” I breathed, slowly standing up. “Keep it away from me.”
Xylo looked at Odelm and shook his head in disappointment. “I told you so.”
I turned around to face Odelm as he released his grip on my hair.
“Selena, I am sorry,” he pleaded. “I thought you would enjoy trying a Trr-kiki delicacy. It wasn’t my goal to harm you.”
I reached forward and grabbed his tentacle. “It’s okay. Just next time, listen to Xylo if he thinks I won’t like something.”
“Noted,” he sighed. “I just wanted you to try something I enjoyed. I didn’t think you would have this reaction.”
“I enjoyed thephnrawes,at least. I would take that as a win.” I stepped back and shrugged, looking at my clan. “Now that I have recovered, I am ready to see what there is to do other than shopping. Who is with me?”
After a chorus of agreement, we discarded the sticks and strings and made our way toward the entertainment establishments. The males made a perimeter around me, boxing me in with a tentacle or vine wrapped around my wrists or hands. I didn’t know if it was for my safety or their way to battle jealousy.
I hoped there weren’t any jealous undertones brewing behind the scenes, beneath the casual touches and comments. Even though I had accepted the princes, I thought I was doing a good job trying to get to know and welcome them into the clan. I followed their traditions—and biological needs—of sleeping near their nestqueen and hadn’t pushed Xylo and Odelm away.
“Live dancers! New gaming tables! Come enjoy yourselves at Zero G-Spot!” shouted a crimson-haired, bi-pedal male with five tails. His tails reminded me of Aunya’s, and I wondered if that was the species she was spliced with. He had a leaner and much shorter build than the Aldawi, but his ears were taller and had cream tips that matched his belly.
The shouting male had a rough voice that carried, yet no one seemed to pay much attention to him or what he offered. The doors he stood in front of weren’t grubby—at least not compared to the other entrances we recently passed on the space station.
“What about that? Watching a dance show might be interesting… seeing another species’ culture.” I paused and pointed at the entryway, a short distance from us, with the promoter a few arm’s lengths away.
Z’fir hesitated slightly and glanced at Xylo, looking confused. “Is that what you want to do?”
