“S’samph has always been a strange one. I’d go so far as to say he’s rude. I’m surprised you chose him.” She paused as if trying to test Eleri’s reaction to her words. “Why did you accept his application? Surely there were better candidates.”
Because he looked as sad as I did. And he seemed like he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. Stupidly, I thought we might have something in common.But she swallowed the true answer as she tried to find an acceptably bland substitute. “I was hoping to come somewhere quiet. Laurus seemed like a good match.”
“Quiet is one way to describe this place, I suppose.” Myla tapped one of her claws on the tabletop. “Laurus is quite dull compared to other places I’ve lived. If you want a little more excitement, you could always go with my brother Minio to Abwele. There are some good restaurants there and some reasonable shopping. He’s about your age in standardyears, so the two of you might make a good match.” She left the subtext of the sentence hanging in the air between them. Eleri had no intention of thinking about any other male until her pride recovered from what had happened with S’samph. She had met Minio earlier, and the likelihood of him being a good match seemed slim.
“Do you like living in Laurus?” Eleri asked, diving far away from the obvious attempt at connecting her with Minio. From the short time she spent with him, she got enough of an impression to be disinterested.
“Stars, no. I grew up on Brasnia Prime. But Pyo and I were betrothed from a young age, so when he moved here to build up Laurus, I came along a few solar cycles later. I told him he could just take a job in my family’s factory, but he insisted we break ground here for some reason. Looking for adventure. Perhaps my karst was too harsh on him; my dam never liked him much.”
“Brasnia Prime must have been an exciting place to live,” Eleri commented as a way to keep the conversation focused on anything other than herself.
“Well of course. Coming from a Tier II colony planet I’m sure it’s well beyond the scope of your experiences.”
“I would imagine so.” Eleri took another tentative bite of fruit even though her stomach churned in protest. Myla continued with her stories about living on one of the biggest trading planets in the sector. She was recounting something about the luxurious shopping districts in the capital city of Prime Central when a knock on the door of the dwelling interrupted them.
“Now who could that be? I’m not expecting anyone,” Myla said as she rose from the table. “Just wait here. I’ll see who it is. I’m sure it’s just someone wanting to meet you since you’ve just arrived.”
Eleri swallowed hard. That seemed like the worst-case scenario. She’d much rather listen to Myla prattle on about how much better her life was on Brasnia Prime than talk to someone else who had come to gawk at her. Her stomach rolled painfully, and she clapped a steadying hand against her torso. She should have known better than to fill her stomach. Even without the additional warning from the luxportal technician, she was a nurse. She’d seen enough people in the hospital on Gaia come in with portal sickness.
“You have a visitor!” Myla trilled from the doorway. “Although if you’d rather me turn him away, I will.”
Eleri stood from the table and ambled around the corner to see who could possibly be there to see her.S’samph stood in the doorway of the dwelling, his head ducked low to avoid hitting the top of the doorframe. Her expression soured. She couldn’t imagine what more he’d have to say to her after their miserable conversation that afternoon.
“Can we speak?” S’samph asked. Eleri remained seated. After his blatant and, truth be told, cruel rejection that afternoon, she wasn’t exactly feeling charitable. Her stomach made a noise of protest in solidarity.
“Well go on then.” Myla made a shooing gesture with one of her wings. “Don’t let me get in the way.”
Eleri pressed her lips in a thin line and walked outside the dwelling while doing her best to avoid eye contact with the male who had snubbed her so completely earlier that afternoon. She noticed Myla hadn’t closed the door behind them, nor had she made any effort to disguise her obvious eavesdropping. The dim sun hung low in the sky, casting a gray tint over the blue dirt. She took several deliberate paces away from the house. S’samph followed in silence.
Finally, Eleri stopped near the irrigation canal. The sounds of flowing water in the background might provide at least some privacy, but then again, most other species had better hearing than humans. She steeled herself and turned to face him. He stood a good head taller than her, but she forced herself to maintain a steady gaze.
He stared back in silence, but she wasn’t about to start the conversation. She wasn’t about to open a dialogue when he’d been the one to close it. Finally, he sighed and flicked his tail back and forth in a gesture that she seemed to recall was impatience.
“Would you like to come back to my nest?” The words were muttered and barely audible. Eleri tried to stop her jaw from literally dropping open. Of all the questions to ask after this morning. She tried to read his face and then the rest of his body from the flat dorsal frill to the downturn of his mouth, searching for any indication of his real intentions. But Eleri had never been particularly adept at social games.
“No thank you,” Eleri said, crossing her arms against her abdomen, partly in defensiveness and partly to try and quiet her rebelling intestines.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you?” His voice was low, but if he felt bad for the way he’d behaved earlier, she had no way of knowing.
“You haven’t exactly done much convincing.”
“Will you take another as a mate?”
Eleri’s brows shot up in response to the blunt question. “I haven’t thought about it yet.”
S’samph muttered something under his breath and scuffed a boot through the dust, kicking up a hazy cloud. His frill clung tight to his spine.
In response, Eleri tightened her arms and stared up at him with narrowed eyes. “Why did you really come here? This afternoon you made it plain you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“So, you won’t come back with me?”
“You haven’t given me any reason to.” Her overwrought stomach chose that moment to complete its revolt. A wave of nausea hit her. Eleri clasped her hands over her mouth.
“Are you unwell?” His hand clamped on her shoulder when all she wanted to do was get away to vomit in relative peace.
Eleri tried feebly to shove him away, but it was too late. She was sick all over his boots. Splatters of dark purple leaked across the thick leather.
“You need medical attention.” He grabbed her elbow and tried to pull her in some direction, but she wrenched herself away.
