“Don’t dismiss his feelings.”
She stood. “I speak the truth I know. My people, the heor, live in bond groups. Always groups. We are gregarious and proud of our bonds and bondmates. From the time I was young, I knew I was different because I avoided courtship behaviors instead of playing at them from the time I was old enough to walk. But I never denied my identity, even when it was at odds with my culture. Regi embraces your identity as a victim to avoid his own emotion.”
“That’s your truth, but you can’t speak for other people,” Dante said. “If we’re going riding, we need to go before the sun gets too high.” The last time he’d been out in the midday sun, Bevit had been horrified at his sunburn and had treated it like a medical emergency. He shuddered at the memory. He scooped up Peaches and headed down the corridor.
The ship’s noises had become familiar over the weeks, but now silence hung heavy in the air. The crew moved on tiptoe and whispered, as if the danger of their situation had only now occurred to them. Dante wondered what was going on in engineering. If Ter wasn’t careful, his own underlings would gut him and toss his body out of the airlock to appease the natives. He hoped Regi had taken that into consideration before he left for the temple and ordered his second in command to go horseback riding.
Outside, one of the Kowri stable hands stood holding the reins for both Divashi’s Brown and the huge, lazy beast Vk preferred. “Dante a’Texas,” the man said. In previous days, he had been respectful and had even asked about horses and how they differed from pebafri, but now there was a coldness that didn’t invite conversation.
Ignoring his discomfort, Dante took the reins for both animals. Part of him wanted to abandon this ride and hide in his room, but Regi might have good reason for wanting him andVk to keep to their schedule. Dante didn’t want to damage those plans. Still, Dante had never been so reluctant to ride.
Vk must have felt the same because she was slower than usual to approach the animals. The stable hand had left the immediate area before she came over. “I don’t think we’re popular.”
“I don’t think we ever were, but they seem more willing to show their disdain.” Dante swung up into the saddle and led the second animal closer to the ship so Vk could use the steps to get on. She was not built to vault into the saddle.
The day was cool. The planetary rings cast a glow in the sky that backlit the flat-bottomed clouds. It was stunning, and Dante allowed Divashi’s Brown to wander towards the edge of town. The cobblestone lane had crowded townhouses on one side and untouched forest on the other. Apparently, no Kowri had invented suburbs. However, it made a beautiful ride with dappled sunlight drifting through the canopy of leaves and bright flowerboxes and rugs hanging from the townhouse windows. He felt as though he’d escaped into some idealistic German painting.
Peaches was not as happy. She held his collar and chittered in anger when he let Brown start trotting, so he slowed to a walk. Vk was behind him, gripping the front of the saddle.
Smaller paths intersected the trail. Kowri carried baskets and pushed wheelless carts that hovered above the brickwork. Every time, the Kowri would either glower at them as they passed or rush away as though expecting Dante and Vk to fling heat tiles at them. One female scooped up two small children and ran in the opposite direction. Dante wanted to chase her down and explain that he was a good person–a nice person. But chasing someone down wouldn’t improve his reputation.
They followed a curve around another set of three-story townhomes when the growing season temple came into sight.Like the cold season temple, it was an enormous structure that dominated the landscape. Kowri crowded the walks leading to the arched entry, even more than at the cold season temple. However, instead of being white stone with bluish accents and blue tinted carvings, the builders had used variegated brown rock with both live ivy and stone carvings of plants climbing the sides.
A Kowri on a hoverboard came gliding out of the temple and made a beeline straight for them.
“Incoming,” Vk whispered.
Dante pulled Divashi’s Brown up short and waited while Vk’s hand rested on her thigh near her pocket. Dante assumed she had some Regi-approved weapon in there.
“Only temple officials use the hover boards. Apparently Kowri are religiously opposed to vehicles.”
“They are religiously opposed to common sense,” Vk whispered back.
Before Dante could answer, Gimi a’Onidba called out a greeting. She was an exalted of the Lady of logic, and their most ardent supporter. Dante smiled and offered a wave.
“Good morning,” he said as she slowed and then stopped the hover. She had deep black and warm cream stripes that contrasted sharply, and her ears were larger than most Kowri. It made it easier for Dante to judge her moods. Right now, they were angled backward in an aggravated tilt.
“The gods’ twin blessings on you this morning, Dante a’Divashi,” said Gimi.
“Good morning,” Dante said. He was not in a mood for verbal sparring, so he asked, “What new disaster or danger has you out this fine day?”
Her whole body twitched. “I had hoped that you would attend the temple today.”
Dante shifted in the saddle and took a tighter hold of his reins. Divashi’s Brown shifted sideways, not liking the change, and Dante urged him back to the side of the path. “I had planned to return to the ship after my ride.”
“I believe your presence would help your cause.”
Dante snorted. “I think the exalteds have seen more of me than they want.”
“Ah,” she said with a twitch of her ear. “But there are far more exalteds now. Two ships have arrived.”
Dante’s blood went cold. “Because of the incident with Ter?”
“Oh, no. There has not been time for any of those angry about that dishonor to arrange for travel. These exalteds have been in transit for weeks, brought by news of Regi a’Divashi returning with outsiders under the protection of his goddess. There will be many who come to see you. I believe many are taken with the idea of an outsider so like us.”
The Kowri were getting a skewed impression of humans, although humans were as xenophobic and religiously odd as any Kowri.
“I had also hoped to speak to you outside the temple where others might hear us. I hoped you would give me an insight into the character of this Ter. I understand from Regi that the deletion of the data was caused by Bekdi a’Gavd’s order to breach the outsiders’ ship; however, that does not explain the engineer’s willingness to cause physical harm to others through his injudicious use of a heat tile as a projectile weapon.” From her tone, Gimi was unimpressed by Ter’s antics.
