"And women?"
"What do you want to know?" Holly turned down a corridor, and Zahra heard the soft whoosh of the engine starting up somewhere deep inside the ship.
"Are they treated well? Same as the men? Can a husband kill or beat his wife?" Zahra didn't want to marry a brute. Then again General Bohler had reassured her that their agreement involved her not being harmed and returned in good health. But... still... it wasn't like Earth was in a position to retaliate if they did harm or kill her and the Khuuz’eth had to know that.
"Mind you I'm still learning about them." Holly cautioned. "But from what I've read so far, their women are highly respected as life-givers. But," Holly held up a finger in warning, "Cheating is a grave sin. It's up to a wife's husband what her punishment would be. Sounds like he can punish her or allow authorities to punish her."
"And punishment might be?"
"Anything from a slap on the wrist to death. Up to the husband."
Great. Not that Zahra planned on ever cheating, but it still made her worry about accidentally breaking a law she didn't know about and losing her head quite literally.
Seeming to notice her discomfort, Holly laughed, "Don't worry too much about anything. General Bohler must like you because he made a contract stating you'd need time to learn their customs and laws. They agreed... kind of."
"Kind of?" Zahra stopped in her tracks. Wasn't like she could flee back onto the space port. The reverberations of the shuttle let her know they were already on the move.
"They agreed to leave it to your husband."
"Judge, jury, and executioner, eh?"
"With how eager your future husband appears, I doubt you have much to worry about." Holly reached out and grabbed one of Zahra’s hands. "Wait until you see the rooms. Their beds are so... comfy."
Zahra's eyes widened as they entered a cabin onboard the ship. The bed was circular and carved into the floor. But all the vibrant blues of the pillows and blankets called to her. Looked like a calming sea ready to lull her to sleep. And it was huge. Looked like a small pool. Then again, she supposed it was meant to fit an alien of Khaazai’s size.
"We only have ten hours before we reach their home world, and I'm sure you'd at least like a nap.”
"No, I'll be fine." Zahra cut Holly off.
"Okay, then we should sit down and go over some of these customs. Also," Holly basically skipped over to a metal chest and drew back the lid. "Your husband-to-be sent over these delightful pieces." She held up the fabric to her breast, a smile widening her lips.
"Maybe you should be the one marrying Khaazai.” Zahra half joked as she watched Holly twirl in a circle, clearly delighted by the clothing.
When Holly came full circle, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one who won his affections. Don’t think he’d be pleased to see me at the altar."
"Affections?" Zahra approached the chest as curiosity drew her feet closer, taking a peek inside the open lid.
Holly held out her hands, offering out the dress. Zahra accepted it and marveled at the softness of the fabric as she rubbed it between her fingers. The black material was swirled with a glimmering blue.
"Black seems to be a favorite color of theirs." Holly remarked as she dug through the chest. "And this is why I sayaffections.” She popped open another, smaller chest. "No man gives this much jewelry to a woman he isn't interested in."
"Looks like a bribe to me." Zahra commented as Holly held up different necklaces for her. Each necklace gleamed with magnificent jewels. The dull lights of the ship didn’t do the jewels justice. In sunlight, she felt certain they could blind a person.
Holly fished. "Where's your inner princess?"
"Wait," Zahra held out a hand," Khaazai isn't the Emperor, is he?" Her heart thundered in her chest as she waited for an answer.
"Oh, no." Holly shook her head. "Khaazai is the cousin of the Emperor."
Cousin of the emperor.
"How much power does an Emperor’s cousin have?" Zahra wasn't sure which was better, a man with power or a man without power. She didn't want to inadvertently insult the emperor when she inevitably left his cousin at the end of her year on their planet. Because that was what she would do. Leave.
"Not entirely sure. There isn't a whole lot of information on my pad about individual people. More just information about their people generically."
"Ah. Guess there'll be a lot for me to learn about him then."
"Isn't that the fun of a new relationship? The butterflies? The learning of each other’s quirks and what you love about each other?"
