“You don’t need to be so mean about it.” Her words were accusatory, but her tone was light. He did not know how to interpret this.
S’samph considered her words. Although she did not seem to mean them with sincerity, he could sense she was hurt by his bluntness. Humans were sensitive to words; it was why their language had so many softening expressions. To match her expectations, he selected his next words with more care. “My words weren’t meant to be unkind. For latil’e, anything other than the truth isconsidered unkindness. I intend to offer you respect with my honesty.” He examined her scrapes as she was also covertly trying to assess his own physical status. The taut lines of her face had softened in response to his explanation.
“You’re not wrong.” She hid her face behind a single hand in a gesture S’samph wasn’t familiar with. “I am a terrible driver.”
“Why are you hiding your face?”
“Oh. I’m embarrassed.” She dropped her hand back to her side, but deep pink lingered on her skin.
S’samph lifted his tail slightly in acknowledgement. “You will learn to drive in time if you continue practicing, but I don’t want to see you injured again today.” If he had his way he would see she wasn’t injured ever again, but there would be time to make his feelings known when she was more accepting of his status as her mate.
While S’samph reasserted the levibike on the track, Eleri cleaned up the worst of her scrapes, applying ointment and bandages from her medkit. When she finished, S’samph took the driving position with Eleri behind him. Her small fingers wrapped around the passenger handles.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He accelerated in a way that didn’t make his stomach dip and drove them into the town center. Eleri hummed behind him, and the melody was unlike anything he could have produced. Latil’e vocal cords were not particularly attuned to musicality. S’samph wondered if there was a meaning to it. Some species, like the giradey, performed elaborate songs as part of their reproductive rituals, but he did not remember reading anything like that in relation to humans.
When they reached the main street of Laurus, S’samph pulled his levibike to the charging ports. It had been too long since the mechanical beast had a good charge anyway. Some people were milling about. The young ones were finished with their school day by now, so they roamed until their parents were finished working and could come to corral them to their respective homes.
A group of adolescents crouched around a makeshift table formed from an overturned shipping crate, playing a spirited game of Galactic Warlords. Factions had clearly formed around two of the top players, and S’samph could hear the near-inaudible zap of electricity as credits were exchanged in illicit betting. Minors couldn’t legally exchange large credit amounts anyway, so it was all in fun. The pride was no doubt in boasting about being on the winning end.
Some of the smaller ones passed a lumpy ball between themselves in a nameless contest of athletics. A few of the young ones greeted Eleri with various calls and body movements, and she returned the attention with a wiggle of her fingers. In such a short time, she brought joy with her presence here in Laurus. He’d been here for several standard years already, but none greeted him with such enthusiasm.
Eleri dismounted behind him and offered him the spare helmet. “This is yours.”
He took it from her, almost asking if she wouldn’t need it for the return trip, which was a stark reminder of the fact that she would not be returning with him. Their nest was yet unshared. Instead, he accepted her offer and replaced the helmet back in the storage compartment. He then led the way to the general store.
Eleri stepped inside first, holding the door open behind her. It was a gesture of welcoming in Latil’e culture, but he didn’t know how to or if he should interpret it as anything. He lashed his tail once in frustration and made a note to check back on Gaiese customs, once again regretting he’d wasted so much time deliberately not learning about them. He was trying to fight for a mate as a male who had woken up the night before a mate-choosing season without a single scale to his name. Upon entering, it was only a moment before voices started in on him.
“S’samph? How are you doing?” Iulia was the shopkeeper’s eldest spawn. Sometimes he left her in charge of the store when he was in Abwele picking up new stock. S’samph regarded the adolescent urtazi female. She was one of Myla’s flutterbys, and he knew anything reported to her would get fluttered directly back to the kyrot female.
“I am well enough.”
“I heard you were shot!”
“I was.”
“What happened?”
Eleri seemed to be trying her best to stay out of the way as she browsed through the wares on display, but when S’samph didn’t respond quickly enough, Iulia turned her attention to Eleri.
“You were there too!”
Eleri glanced up with an uncertain smile. S’samph could tell because her eyes did not join the smile, which meant it was uncertain. This he had studied. He felt a certain sense of pride in this smalldetermination. “It’s true. I was there.”
Iulia hopped closer. “So, are you two mating then? I heard you saved his life. So romantic!” She made a low burbling noise in her throat. “Just like the fics I read!”
“Healing people is my job.” Eleri’s words paused as her face turned the same shade as the bottle of kowsa sap she’d been examining. “Do you have any grain flours?”
S’samph admired the attempt at a tactical diversion but wasn’t sure if it would work. Iulia’s wide purple mouth flattened for a moment, but she hopped closer to Eleri and helped direct her to a shelf full of various off-white powders.
“So, are you though?” Iulia asked. “Will you have a mating party? Can I come?”
“I…” Eleri’s words halted again as she glanced over her shoulder at him. S’samph was so thrown by her looking to him for assistance that he almost stepped on his own tail like a clumsy youngling.
“Where are the edible grains, Iulia?” S’samph asked gruffly to reinforce the question.
