As I looked into his eyes, he grinned at me. “That settles it. You are myone,too. I love you, Evalee, and they don’t get to decide. We do.
"Our peoples have had thirty years to discover how different our cultures are. Now that the races are interbreeding, the purists on both sides say alien DNA is polluting the gene pool," Lanimer said gently. "We were all victims of the same war even though humans perpetrated it. They were as misguided as the purists, but the Zevians are nothing like them."
Lanimer
I didn’t understand what was happening. Zevus Mar was a freedom-loving world before the Tregans came. No one made it their business to tell other people how to live their lives or whom to love. My father and both mothers were from Aledus, where traditional family units were flexible. My father had two wives. One was my biological mother, and the other was my co-mother.They loved me, and I loved them. The Zevians accepted our family as we were.
I had a Zevian governess, and had he lived, my father might have married her as well. Zevus Mar had plenty of room for everyone. Each faction could have its territory and live according to its customs.
Life was hard after the Tregan invasion decimated the population and destroyed a lot of real estate. But in 30 years, things looked like they had been built back up again with even bigger cities now that the population had doubled with the influx of Trakellisans.
While they didn’t exactly look human, the females were exotically beautiful, and the males exotically handsome with their purple skin, luminous eyes, and beaded brow lines. They had large, pointed ears, much larger than humans. Evalee’s long blue hair parted over each of her beautiful ears.
The sun was a crimson ball low on the horizon when I parked our flyer inside the garage. In no hurry to go inside the home, Evalee and I strolled along the paths between the crop fields. The rolling hills were a desert oasis, and they reminded me a bit of the rolling hills of the high plateau where I’d spent most of my life. The vegetation was different, but most of it was just as green.
I missed my family, and damn it; I missed my horse. It would be months before my horse foals emerged from their nurturing tanks, and then the real work would begin. Despite small ripples of homesickness, I still felt a kinship with my family’s farm and the place where my parents were buried. Yet I would not trade my newfound love with Evalee to go back home again where, even surrounded by family, I still felt profoundly alone. Zevus Mar is where I’m meant to be.
While my adopted family would probably readily accept Evalee, I am not so sure about the mountain clans. In some ways, they were a strange bunch.
After a relaxing stroll with the sun on our faces and the warm breeze drifting over the rolling hills, we felt refreshed after our busy day. We went to the house, ordered food from the processor, and had a peaceful dinner. Afterward, we showered together, making love under a fine mist. We fell into bed together and made love again before drifting to sleep.
Chapter Ten
Lanimer
Evalee and I worked five days on and two days off. Things seemed to be going a little better than expected until the day a Zevian elder, consumed by rage, yelled at Evalee. He blamed her kin for tearing his family apart. He meant Trakellisans in general because his son wanted to marry a Trakellisan female. Now, he would be ostracized by his friends and extended family for allowing it.
We both knew that it wasn’t true, but it made a scene in our waiting room, and several prospective patients got up and left. It was simply an irrational accusation. Of course, Evalee had no control over his son’s love life. I sensed that seeing Evalee and I as a couple touched off his rage.
Unfortunately, our day only got worse as we left the clinic for the day. A chaotic rally filling the street met us. Whipped into a frenzy by Toran Nethos, the fiery Zevian spokespersonof the radical Xenos Free railed against the Trakellisans. He laced his impassioned speech with hateful accusations of betrayal and cultural impurity.
"The enemy lives right here among us!" Toran roared, his voice carrying throughout the crowd. "They steal our resources and taint the gene pool. Soon, there will be no pure-blood humans left on this planet. The Trakellisans are a blight on our world, and hybrids are an abomination! —Like that one.” He pointed right at Evalee. “A filthy half-breed, tainting our pure bloodlines. Whom does she truly serve - this adopted world or the invaders who spawned her? The Elders had no right to re-home them here.”
As the crowd’s attention turned toward Evalee and me, someone shouted, “Send them back! Send them back!” Soon, the rest of the crowd were shouting the chant in unison.
Toran strode toward us, his eyes full of menace and mind full of hate. I could feel it radiating from him, and he wanted to hurt Evalee. I stepped in front of her and held up my hand to stop him, coupled with the force of my mind. “You will not hurt my mate! There is enough room and resources for everyone here. Go home and take your hatred with you.”
I could feel his rage as a tangible force crashinto my mind. I am not a violent man, but I so wanted to punch him in his evil face. Instead, I just stood my ground and stared into his dark brown eyes defiantly. I sensed his fists clench at his sides and felt his desire to put one in my face as well, but he resisted.
The crowd stopped chanting and turned their attention to our exchange. I could feel their hostility. I reached behind me for Evalee’s hand and started to back away. “We’re leaving now.”You will not stop us. Back away.
Obsession, anger, and the threat of violence pulsed through the air as I held them back with the strength of my will. The horrible things some of them wanted to do to Evalee turned my stomach. My sweet, beautiful lover had never considered hurting anyone until now. With her empathic abilities, she could feel their hostility as a tangible thing.
I gripped Evalee’s hand in mine and hurried around the crowd, heading toward the hoverport two blocks away. A few started following us, still chanting, but we lost them by turning down an alley shortcut to the lot. We were in our flyer and lifting off when the angry crowd came into the hoverport. I sent our craft shooting off to the west of the city, heading for home. As soon as we were in the air, I gave the autopilot command.
I knew Evalee was crying even before I looked over and saw the tears streaming down her face. Sending my love for her directly into her mind, I leaned across the console and cradled her face, wiping away her tears with my thumbs.
It made me both angry and sad that they would make my beautiful Evalee a scapegoat for their grievances. They were treating the Trakellisans like they were worse than the Tregans who murdered my family.
The Trakellisans were a kind and brave people who fought the Tregans with everything they had. The Tregan’s decimated their population as they had ours on Zevus Mar. Plus, they created an ecological disaster that would eventually kill all life on Trakellis.
The Tregan Empire only wanted the planet for its rich verlian crystal mines. With their planet dying, the people needed someplace to go. Zevus Mar was close, and they had space in the young colony.
“I had no idea things had gotten this bad,” I murmured, stroking her cheek tenderly. “Baby, none of what they said was true. You are sweet, beautiful, and compassionate. No one ever should have a reason to hate you like that. It’s completely irrational.”
“It is not rational,” Evalee cried inagreement. “It started over a mining dispute on the edge of the Zevian and Trakellisan territories. Apparently, they were mining the same vein that ran between our territories, and the richer part was on our side. That was two years ago.”
“The info stream made it sound like a minor dispute. It never alluded to such hate-mongering. Who the hell is this Toran Nethos?” I wondered.
