He joined her in the large, swimming pool-sized hot spring that was their bath a moment later, but she managed to fend off his advances as they washed themselves.
“Do you wish to take the first meal here or at the meal hall?” he asked her as they dressed.Kate picked out a flowing, Luxirian-style dress that Keriva had made for her, in a soft orange.The color reminded her of sherbet back on Earth and she gave a sigh, knowing that she would probably never taste iced sweets again.Luxirians weren’t big on dessert unfortunately but what she wouldn’t give for a big bowl of ice cream, especially during the hotter days on this planet.
“Actually, I was going to order breakfast at the archives.Bruxilia found another batch of scrolls that I’d like to start uploading.She said they were written in an old language that even she can’t read very well.”
Vaxa frowned, but nodded.“Remember that I can not pick you up this span.I have a council meeting with the elders and my ambassadors.”
Kate nodded slowly.He’d been worried about something lately.And Kate wasn’t dumb.He’d been calling a lot of council meetings for the past couple weeks but whenever she’d questioned him about it, he told her that everything was fine and that he had everything under control.Which, of course, meant that something was wrong.
“That’s fine, I’m sure Bruxilia won’t mind taking me home,” Kate murmured, reaching out to touch his forearm, running her fingertips over the smooth, hard slightly scaled skin.Little scars were visible over his entire body and Kate had memorized almost every single one.She loved stroking his skin and it calmed Vaxa.After sex, he always purred continually whenever she touched him like that.“Are you sure that there’s nothing wrong, Vaxa?”
His chest rumbled and he stood a little straighter.But he hesitated.Vaxa had promised that he wouldn’t lie to her after she found out about the Luxirian crystal that would be enough fuel to take her back to Earth.So far, she couldn’t tell if he was keeping his promise.She got the strangest sense that he was keeping something big from her.
“Tell me,” Kate murmured, watching the light from the twin Luxirian suns making his skin turn golden.“You know you can tell me.”
Finally, he said, “There is something.But it is not anything that I cannot handle.I do not wish to worry you unnecessarily when I know that it will be dealt with soon.”
Kate let out a short breath through her nostrils.Patience, she reminded herself.She would get it out of him in time.Just the fact that he admitted something was wrong was a start.Her mate was as stubborn as she was.
“Okay,” she said.“I know that something has been bothering you, but I trust that you’ll tell me if it becomes a problem.”
His features softened and she felt affection pulse across their blood bond.“Tev.I promise.”
Kate went onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips.She let go of their conversation for now, but she would try again later.
* * *
The archives were in the center of the Golden City.The city had been literally carved out of the mountainside hundreds of years ago, according to Vaxa, and was comprised of terraces.There were markets, and shops, and homes, and places where the Luxirians could pray to their Fates, their deities.Kate was continually surprised by how much this foreign alien civilization relied on many things that humans did as well.It made adjusting to life on Luxiria that much easier.
The archive building was different than many of the buildings she’d seen on Luxiria.It was still domed, but unlike the open houses and shops with a plethora of large, open windows, the archive building had two sole windows facing a public square, but they were shielded by a strange material that resembled glass, only a lot thicker.Bruxilia had told her that the air and dust and black sand residue that blew in with the wind ruined some of the old, ancient documents and scrolls.They had to keep the building tight and secure to prevent damage.
The moment that Vaxa had shown her the archives, Kate had fallen in love.It was like a library.Just a strange, alien library.Unlike the jumbled mess that she’d first pictured when Vaxa had told her about her future place of work, the archives were meticulously organized, all of the inhabitants—whether they were old scrolls or books or even stone writings—carefully kept in enclosed shelving units.The building itself looked old from the outside, but the inside was as technologically advanced as the labs that Privanax worked in.That was one of things that Kate liked about Luxiria.They kept their rustic architecture as a reminder of their past, but almost everything else was modern.
Vaxa landed his hovercraft right outside the archives.Some Luxirians lifted a hand to him in greeting, their curious gazes raking over her as they did.It was nothing new.Whenever they went to the meal hall together or when Vaxa had taken her to the public markets for the first time, Luxirians stared and whispered.Kate knew that it would take time for people to not look so flabbergasted at the sight of her, but she would’ve thought that an alien species that had seen their fair share of outsiders coming and going, they wouldn’t stare for so long.
Vaxa had yet to announce her pregnancy, so that couldn’t even be why they stared so much.She’d been pregnant for over a month—ever since their mating ceremony.Kate wouldn’t be surprised if she learned he’d gotten her pregnant the very first time they’d had sex, even though she’d had the Luxirian version of birth control slapped around her wrist.The man was potent.
If Vaxa was bothered by the way his people stared at her, he didn’t show it.He simply kissed her goodbye, telling her to be safe, like he always did, and then she entered her work building.
Bruxilia greeted her as she entered the archives.The smell of paper and parchment, mixed with the natural smell of the mountain stone, which she absolutely loved, wrapped around her and she breathed it in greedily.She swore the smell was like a drug to her.
Bruxilia was an old, hunched, mostly cranky woman.The first time that Bruxilia had seen her, she said to Kate, “You are weird looking,” and then she’d cracked a smile and laughed this rasping sound that echoed around the building.Kate had liked her ever since and surprisingly, they got along great.
Unsurprisingly, she’d learned a lot from Bruxilia.The woman was a gossip, through and through.It was from Bruxilia that she’d learned Privanax, her doctor, was courting one of the few young Luxirian women left, although pretty unsuccessfully it seemed.She learned about gossip from the Luxirian outposts, where Vaxa’s ambassadors were stationed, and who was mating who.She also heard brief references to Vaxa’s brother, who Vaxa never liked to talk about.He’d just told her that after his parents’ deaths, he’d left the Golden City to seek out a rogue faction of Luxirians.Kate had tried to get more out of Bruxilia onthatsubject, but the older woman had gone tight-lipped when she saw how interested Kate had been.
Bruxilia seemed a little more subdued that morning, however.She greeted Kate by asking, “Did you bring me something to eat?”
Kate smiled and shook her head.“No, but I was going to order something from the meal hall.”
The older woman harrumphed, the sound apparently universal.Kate went over the silver screen pad mounted on a column and ordered two breakfasts, pleased that she’d become so adept at using Luxirian technology.
“They have that fruit you like today,” Kate said, knowing that it would brighten Bruxilia’s day.
Another harrumph.
“Should I get started on the scrolls?” Kate asked, eager to see them.Even though she was learning how to speak the Luxirian language, she would never be able to properly form the words.Luxirians did this tongue roll that human tongues simply couldn’t do.ButreadingLuxirian…well, Kate thought that she’d been making tremendous progress.Bruxilia was a patient teacher whenever they had some free time and Kate ate up the lessons greedily.To be able to read something again…it would be a dream.
“No, not yet.Come sit with me and keep me entertained,” Bruxilia ordered.Kate inwardly sighed, telling herself that she would get her hands on those scrolls eventually, and sat down next to Bruxilia on the cushioned floor.Every building she’d ever been in had these cushions, which usually surrounded a fire pit.Kate and Vaxa’s house hadtwopits, one in the living room and one in their bedroom.And while the archives didn’t have a fire hearth for obvious reasons, Kate and Bruxilia conducted their reading lessons on the floor, backs and butts to plush, soft pillows.
