“I wasn’t able to keep the credits.”
“Well, what happened to it then?” The other female chimed in. Her words weren’t malicious, but Eleri wilted under the scrutiny of their questions.
“My brother is ill. The credits were used for his medical care.” She glanced toward the ground as she said it. S’samph recognized the dissembling, but now he itched to know the truth that lay behind her words. He’d read her dossier and knew that she did have a brother, but nothing in the record had mentioned any significant family illnesses. If she was too genetically unfit, she would have been disqualified from the IA colonization program.
“Your brother?” Myla restarted the conversation with her habit of needling for more information than she was entitled to. “What sickness does he have that could possibly run your family such a steep price? Although perhaps it’s true what they say about Tier II planets. It must have been a struggle to get anything done there.”
Eleri squirmed. “I’m going to go put this back where it came from. I appreciate your help both of you, but I’m going to wait to buy any nice clothes until I pass my licensure examinations. It’ll be more celebratory that way.” Her voice held an insincere brightness as she fled the conversation. S’samph retreated from the entrance to the shop. No doubt they’d be exiting soon, and he didn’t want to encounter Myla. However, despite his expectations, Myla wasn’t quite ready to let things rest.
“If you ask my brother, I’m sure he’ll purchase the dress for you. As a courtship gift, of course. He earns good credits working on Pyo’s farm.” Myla’s wings fluttered and then settled against her back. Finally, S’samph had enough, and he strode into the shop, unabashed by his sudden entrance.
He justified his entrance by telling himself it was irresponsible of the other male to leave Eleri unattended even in a relatively safe town like Indras. The kyrot females might be capable of defending themselves in a physical altercation, but unless Eleri had some sort of hidden venom sac or spurs somewhere, she was defenseless. S'samph made a mental note to review her anatomy chart provided by the IA when he returned to his nest.
As he emerged from the dust outside, S’samph ignored the females’ exclamations of shock and surprise and marched up to the giradey vendor who had been watching everything unfold without a word of comment aside from a few disapproving flutters of her deep red wings.
“I need a dress with the correct number of openings for a human.”
“S’samph?” Myla turned toward him with an expression of consternation. “Now what are you doing here?”
“Shopping. Same as you.”
“Well, what a coincidence.” She eyed his nondescript bags of purchases. But S’samph wasn’t interested in conversing with Myla. He turned his attention instead to Eleri who had gone quiet in the corner of the shop, still wearing the offending dress.
“Do you want a dress?” He asked her.
She shook her head, swinging the tight plait going down her back. “Please don’t worry about it. It’s completely unnecessary. I don’t have anywhere to use a nice dress anyhow.”
“There’s a festival at the beginning of the planting season.” He wasn’t about to mention a mating ceremony, not after the prodding she’d already suffered from Myla and her flutterby.
“I don’t really need a new dress. The ones I have are suitable enough.”
“I will purchase it anyway. It’s my first proper courtship gift to you.”
Eleri changed to a strange color again, less dark than the first time and mostly highlighting the high bones of her cheeks. If he’d known their species had color-changing similarities, he might have considered her differently. Then again, it was certainly in the information file he’d been too hardheaded to read.
“Bold of you to come in here talking about courtship after shaming Eleri in front of the whole town.” Myla scoffed her disapproval and tried to wedge herself between Eleri and himself in some misguided protective gesture. “There are plenty of other males who would treat her with more courtesy. I would happily introduce her to any of them.”
“Eleri doesn’t have to accept my offer of mating. It is only an offer.” He turned his attention to the giradey shop owner who had returned with two different dresses, one in blue and one in white. S’samph selected the blue one and extended his wrist to the giradey shop owner and paid the credits for the dress before anyone else could complain. Eleri would have a dress the same color as her eyes, and then she would be aware of his mating intentions. “This color is complimentary on you.”
Red deepened around Eleri’s cheeks and crept up the hearing auricles on the sides of her head. “Thank you. It’s unnecessary, but I appreciate the gesture.”
S’samph shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. It was unnecessary, but the purchase seemed to please her nonetheless, and it was at small expense to him. If anything, at least he had proved he was a reliable male. “I’m returning to Laurus now should you wish to join me.” There. His intentions were as transparent as he could make them. They would return to Laurus together and then he would help her relocate to his nest where he could set up the remainder of his mating gifts. S'kasia would be pleased and then he wouldn’t have to worry about other males encroaching on his mate. S’samph raised his frill as high as it would go in a gesture of triumph until he realized he was still waiting for an affirmative response from Eleri.
The strange expression on Eleri’s face shifted to something more recognizable. Pale ridges of fur drooped heavily over her eyes in what he had learned was a gesture of disapproval. Without a frill, the IA manual instructed him to rely on human facial changes to understand their moods. Such subtle twists of expression and lifting arcs of fur were nearly impossible to read. Although he’d studied what the IA defined as the seven basic facial expressions for humans, there was proving to be much more subtlety when trying to detect them on a moving face.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I came with Myla and the others. It would be rude to disregard their hospitality.”
S'samph processed her words for a long moment. She hadn’t explicitly said the word ‘no’, but she’d rejected his offer all the same in a roundabout way.
“Then you will not be returning with me?”
“I’m sorry.” She turned away from him in a gesture of discomfort. Myla took the opportunity to usher Eleri out of the shop with the other female closing rank behind. Again, he still hadn’t heard her say no. Perhaps this was a quirk of her cultural speech patterns, but he found it maddening she wouldn’t just say what she meant.
The protective instincts he felt for her were one thing, and S’kasia’s nagging another, but a larger part of him wondered if it might save him a world of trouble to just forget the whole thing. He could suppress any rising feelings. It was a small matter. The matter of sectioning off any feelings would be a small task. He wasn’t ready to give up on his mission just yet, mostly out of fear of starvation inflicted on him by his clutch sister, but S’samph decided it was best to cut his losses for the afternoon.
S'samph retreated to his levibike and stowed his purchases in the relevant compartments before speeding off back to Laurus. No one stopped him on the way out and he was soon back on the same dusty road, his mood considerably soured.
He ruminated on the interaction, wondering if there was a different maneuver he should have employed to win her favor. The chapter of the IA manual he read specifically stated that human females appreciated verbal compliments. He had offered a verbal compliment. It also listed clothing as an acceptable gift. He had purchased her dress, saving her from social disgrace among her female peers. Nothing made sense. He’d followed the instructions. It should have worked.
