“Now, don’t be rude to our guest. Eleri can stay as long as it takes for her to get her bearings. I’m sure she doesn’t want to hang around with us old bats forever.” Pyo joined the conversation with a bow of his head.
Myla tapped at her mouth with a dainty pat of her napkin as she glanced with obvious derision in her mate’s direction before turning back to Eleri. “Well, you’ll certainly have to be settled elsewhere before the floodtides. We can’t have another person here with us then.”
Pyo made an odd grunting noise beyond the scope of Eleri’s comprehension. She instead stared into the assortment of food on the table, wishing she could escape the awkwardness of the conversation.
“You’re always making trouble out of small things, Myla.”
“Don’t you start that again.” Myla’s wings snapped open and shut behind her and Eleri finally realized if she didn’t say anything, her hosts would continue antagonizing each other.
“I don’t want to impose on your hospitality longer than necessary. As soon as I can find another place to stay, I’ll be out of your way.”
“Yes, well, no need to be in such a rush. You’ve been very entertaining company.” Myla’s wings flattened and she settled back in her seat. Eleri’s shoulders settled away from her ears as the tension deflated from the situation. She’d left Gaia to get away from the constant feeling of walking on eggshells, the last thing she wanted was to cause more discord in her new home.
Up to this point, most of her day had been wonderful. Even the morning in the hot suns. But then she had to contend with S’samph’s unclear actions. He’d made himself abundantly clear in the clinic when she’d arrived, but since their initial conversation, his behavior belied a different intention. She didn’t know what to make of him. If he was so against mating her as he’d stated upfront, then it was unkind of him to continue interacting with her as if they still held a connection. Besides, the IA still got what it wanted even if they never mated. She was here on Cassiaq-IV and contributing to the community.
Clearly, Myla had bored of trying to discuss Eleri’s prospects and presence in her home and had moved on to regaling them with other gossip. While Myla chattered about residents of Laurus, Eleri ate a small portion of food, still wary of her temperamental stomach. She made her excuses and retired to the bedroom, braiding her hair tightly against her skull out of habit. Even though it was no longer dull and oily, she had become accustomed to having it out of the way.
Eleri slept dreamlessly that night and woke refreshed and prepared for another day of the same. Pyo graced her with a mercifully silent morning meal after which they hopped on his levibike and headed to the fields.
When they arrived, the farm was in disarray. Bushes were stripped of their berries, and some of them had even been torn up by the root as if swarmed by a particularly ravenous pack of animals. Stalks that had been heavy with grain were trampled into the dirt. Notably, the fence surrounding the property hadbeen smashed over. The planks of wood were splintered in several places. Minio was already there, leaning against the doorway near the entrance to the storage building and glancing at a datapad with bored indifference. Pyo let out an unintelligible string of high-pitched syllables. As soon as they were inside the remains of the gate, Pyo shut down the levibike so that it lurched to a stop and thundered over to where Minio was standing.
“It’s about time you got here,” Minio drawled. “I’ve been waiting long enough.”
“Not a word,” Pyo growled as he held up a clawed hand. “I assume this happened last night?” He paced around the property, brushing his fingers over a prominent cluster of footprints by the door to the tool storage shed. Scratch marks surrounded the locking mechanism, but it seemed like whoever had tried to break in was unsuccessful. He released another high-pitched utterance. Eleri needed no translation to know he was swearing.
“Does this happen often?” She asked.
Pyo turned to Eleri. “Did the IA teach you about raviks? They’re a plague on this entire sector. Brasnia Prime has a whole peacekeeping squad dedicated to preventing them from getting on-planet.”
She shook her head. “I’ve heard them mentioned by some of the other passengers on The Spark, but I thought they were some sort of animal.”
“May as well be,” Minio grumbled. “Most of them are about as intelligent as a pichari, but they’re evil little parasites. I’ve never met one myself, but I’ve heard enough to know they’re a problem.”
“Consider yourself lucky you’ve never met one.” Pyo rubbed the end of his snout before explaining, “Fifteen standard years ago, a space cruiser of theirs crashed hereabouts. We were pretty early in our community building, and they weren’t really the sort we wanted around. They formed their own community of sorts. Turns out raviks are idiot warmongers and have no useful skills other than murder and making general trouble of themselves. They don’t know how to grow their own food, so they steal from nearby settlements.”
“I’ve heard they steal females too,” Minio chimed in. “But I suppose you can’t expect true safety somewhere where there isn’t even a proper peacekeeping force.”
Pyo produced a low huffing noise as he flapped his wings once in Minio’s direction. “Don’t go filling her head with stupid rumors. Laurus is safe enough.”
“Well, the rumors start from somewhere,” Minio retorted. “There isn’t even a proper security force here to keep us safe.”
Pyo spread his wings and grunted in a gruff warning. “We do well enough as we are. Keep your city male thoughts to yourself and go make yourself useful.” He kicked a clod of dirt in Minio’s direction, and the younger male only just managed to duck out of the way.
“So, what can we do?” Eleri asked. “I’d like to help where I can.”
“Clean up the mess and reinforce the fences. Let us worry about that. It’s heavy work. Why don’t you run along to Aglao early today?”
Eleri paused, torn between wanting to help and wanting to dive back into completing her nursing training. She shook her head. If she wanted to be part of a proper community, it was time to act like it.
“Let me help.”
Pyo shrugged. “Suit yourself. You can help clear out the smashed plants while Minio and I work on the fences.”
Eleri activated the glove component of her IA suit and started clearing away the smashed stalks of some sort of grain and piling them at the edge of the plot by the composting unit. The sun beat down on her, even with the help of Minio’s hat and her body suit’s sun visor.
A few others she hadn’t met before came by the plot and offered to help with the repairs. By the time sun-high came, everyone was still engrossed in their tasks. Eleri walked up to them, clearing her throat to get Pyo’s attention.
“Oh, sorry Eleri. Do you think you could take the levibike yourself?” He asked.
