“We need to be housed near each other, and we can wait until you find other quarters. I’m not fussy about where. However, Peaches needs to get to a nest quickly.” He held her up. Her panting had grown much quicker and her butt was getting puffy and pink. Dante expected naked little babies to appear at any time. In all the months he’d tended dops on the slave ship, he’d never seen one give birth. But he’d lived on the farm long enough to know birth was always messy and he would rather not have that happen in his hands.
“I do not wish to offend an exalted, but others should not be housed on the primary peristyle level unless they are exalted.” Ijo whispered.
“Or families,” Dante said. He’d spent a long time helping evacuate families from their sealed quarters during the attack, and he’d seen very large family quarters. Hopefully he wasn’t making a mistake by offering to share a kitchen and living room with Ter, but he didn’t want the others housed in a separate apartment. “Humans have families of origin that are usually related by blood, but we also have families of choice, those we choose, even when they drive us insane.”
“Dante,” Vk said, her nose so scrunched to her face her eyes almost disappeared into the folds.
“It’s a human thing,” Dante rushed to reassure her. “I don’t expect you to feel the same, but I would like quarters near each other or quarters large enough for us to live without driving each other to violence because Ter’s insults are very tiring.”
Ijo looked at Ter, who had gone still. “Do you prefer sleeping individually or in some combination?” Ijo asked.
“Alone!” Dante blurted. He was barely into the dating stage with Regi, and the idea of sharing a bedroom with Ter was enough to send him screaming down the corridor. “Definitely alone, with privacy for each of us.”
Fiope tilted her head to the side, and Ijo said, “I shall request such quarters.”
Peaches gave a shrill cry.
“Quickly,” Ijo gestured toward the interior of the shuttle. Dante followed, settling himself on a deep couch with cushioned arms that reached almost to his shoulders.
Ter sat across from him. “I am difficult to share quarters with,” Ter said with a deliberateness suggesting Dante might have trouble understanding simple words. Then again, given that the translator seemed to have a vocabulary three times larger than Dante’s, that was possible.
“I don’t doubt that,” Dante said. “And I’m going to get frustrated with you and yell at you, and when the situation has settled, I might move out or kick you out to your own quarters. However, right now I want us to stay together.”
Vk tried to sit next to Dante, but Ijo had to hurry over and remove the padded divider to allow her to use two seats before she could fit. “Logistically staying together is logical.”
“The rest of your discount logic more often than not.” Ter continued to stare at Dante.
“I try to be logical,” Dante said. “Besides, I like you guys. Living with you is not a burden.” For months on the slave ship, he’d lived in close quarters with people who stank from lack of showers, and then he’d lived alone in the dop quarters for the past few months. Maybe a little middle ground would feel good.
Vk’s nose crumpled again, and Ter’s elbows jutted out. Maybe it would be wise to avoid repeating that. The jolt of rejection didn’t feel good.
Ijo had vanished into the front of the ship, but now he appeared at the door that divided the front from this passenger section. “Quarters have been found. We will be launching and we will reach the ship in moments. Mechanical transport is waiting to get you to your quarters as quickly as possible.” Ijo glanced at Peaches and she gave a chittering whistle. Ijo vanished back into the cockpit.
Maybe Vk and Ter disliked the idea of being his family, but Dante always had Peaches, and animals were a good sight more reliable than people anyway. Besides, Regi should be out of his medical check soon, and he had a way of making Dante feel important. As long as he had that, he could survive a couple of reluctant family members.
After all, their rejection was milder than his father’s had been.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dante was sitting in the window looking down at the enormous wilderness area the Kowri had established for the sacred animals. It was hard to believe they were inside a ship. The Gavd ships had been big enough, but this Retav ship was more like a floating continent. A small continent, but considering that ships should not come in continent sizes at all, it was damn impressive.
Full-sized trees filled the space, but the window was so far above them all he could see were the green canopies and the birds that would sweep by and the occasional freio lumbering through the area.
Peaches chittered from the bush, soaking up the artificial sunlight streaming in the window. He wanted to see the babies, but he didn’t want to get poked with quills because she wasn’t ready to share yet, so he settled for the tiny squeaks that sometimes came from the base of the plant.
A branch shook, and Dante spotted a hint of quills before Peaches disappeared into the shadows again.
Dante turned his attention back to the park. Apparently primary peristyle meant a freaking huge balcony overlooking the park. He thought he'd seen a herd of pebafri on a distant hill, but that might've been wishful thinking. Dante always did his best thinking while riding, and he felt as though he did have some serious thinking to do. He always wondered how his people would handle contact with an alien species. But now he also had to wonder how the Kowri would handle contact with humans.He worried humans would be trapped in their own solar system, quarantined by neighbors who considered them a lower life form.
Dante ignored the tiny voice that suggested humans might be lower life forms. His people might suck, but Dante had good evidence other alien species weren’t any better. In fact, they might be worse.
Footsteps echoed down the long hallway between the main door and the living room, and Dante leapt to his feet, fear making his heart pound for a half second until he recognized Regi.
“Oh,” Regi said. “I thought these were my quarters. Pardon the intrusion.” The words were formal.
“We’re sharing,” Dante blurted. Regi blinked at him, and Dante’s verbal diarrhea kept spilling out. “I didn’t want Ter left behind or Vk separated from us, so I told them that humans make families of choice and that we needed family housing, so there are four bedrooms.”
Regi was silent until Dante’s guts started to knot up. “Should I request new quarters?”
