CHAPTER 13
I rode in another six-wheeled vehicle with a ridiculously tall guard who barely fit in his side.
Hunched over, his crest was squished against the ceiling, and a giggle escaped me.
We both jolted at the sound. I hadn’t laughed in weeks.
I had forgotten how good it felt. “Sorry, Markal,” I said (he had introduced himself to me earlier).
“You just look so uncomfortable, and it looks a bit silly to me.”
“No offense taken, Lumanela,” he replied. “The legends say your voices are magic, and your laughter feels good on my skin, so it must be true.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but let it go as I took in my surroundings.
I eyed the landscape with more interest than my last voyage, noting the beauty of the red and gold striations in the rock formations outside my window.
They reminded me of pictures I’d seen of sandstone canyons in Utah, although with the ever-present green and purple moss, the surroundings didn’t seem quite so desolate.
We shortly passed through a village, and I looked about with interest. “This is not the village where you will reside. Your cottage is in the next one,” Markal informed me.
“You can walk to the palace in about half a centine. We generally fly, which is much faster.” I had gathered that a centine was a little over one hour.
About fifteen minutes later, another village came into view.
It was pleasant enough, with red stone buildings that matched the canyons we had passed.
I imagined they quarried stone from there.
We turned down a path and stopped in front of a small domed structure.
Markal helped me unbuckle the harness, and we both exited the vehicle.
He showed me how to enter the dwelling through the biometric panel on the front.
“Everything is already keyed to you,” he explained.
Inside was a small, round entryway. “This is the formal receiving room. All our homes have them,” Markal said.
It was a surprisingly Earth-like setup, with multiple, colorful cushions grouped in pairs for seating and small tables in front of each pair.
“This is the cooking area,” he continued as he walked through the house. The kitchen had a lot of unfamiliar appliances, ample counter space, and a low table with two cushions on the side.
He walked me through the cold and dry storage areas, something that reminded me of a wood-burning pizza oven, the sink for water, and most importantly a food replicator.
“The cooking area has all of the appliances for traditional cooking, but many Ptexari prefer to simply use the replicator. It is voice-activated, so you can ask it to make almost anything. I don’t know if it’s programmed for human foods, though. ”
He pointed to a panel on the wall. “This is the communications panel for the dwelling. The King had it upgraded so it also serves as an instructional guide. You have access to all the same data as the royal family, except some of the sensitive security data.”
“How does it work?” I asked.
“You can ask the panel anything. Just say something like, “Computer, describe the Ptexari moon festival.” The panel flashed and showed a video of hundreds of Ptexari in bright-colored skirts circling a fire. “The Ptexari moon festival is celebrated when the planet’s three moons align, occurring approximately once every four solar revolutions. The festival is a three-day event marked by sports competitions, special foods,…” “Computer, Stop” Markal said.
“You can ask it anything. This will help you to learn anything you want about our people and customs. The panel can also help with daily tasks, such as setting your robots to clean at certain times of the day. You can ask for a list of available commands to learn the interface.”
So it was a supercharged Alexa. Got it.
Moving to the side of the kitchen, Markal pointed out the sanitizing room and the bedroom, which featured a nest of pillows and blankets as opposed to a bed.
It looked surprisingly inviting. The backyard had a greenhouse structure for growing vegetables and a decent-sized fenced yard.
I wondered what most Ptexari did with their yards.
This one was pretty empty, other than the greenhouse.
After Markal left, I took some time to explore the greenhouse, which included several growing plants, none of which I recognized, of course. I had no idea what was edible.
I successfully procured from the replicator a cup of the bitter tea Lanicar had shared with me.
It made me feel a bit better. Restorative properties, and all, I thought.
I asked if it had any foods available from Earth, and strangely enough, it offered a chocolate bar.
It was surprisingly good, and I hummed a bit as I ate it.
I wondered how it had that in the system, and why it had nothing else.
The comms panel had a wealth of information, and it was fairly easy to navigate.
I asked for information that it had on humans, and it had some, but not much.
Evidently, most of the information was sourced from another human captive named Edith who had died a long time ago.
I was sad for her, but grateful that even this much information was available.
Edith’s favorite foods from the planet she was taken to (Efowid) had been cataloged, for example, so I asked for the replicator to make as many of those as it could.
The tasting menu it presented was a lot of shades of brown, but I was determined to try.
Some was surprisingly good, and I had the replicator make notes of the things I felt I could eat.
Whether any of this would be nutritionally valuable to my body remained to be seen.
An alarm buzzed. “Computer, what is that alarm?” I asked.
The computer informed me that I had a visitor at the front of the cottage, and the alarm was essentially the doorbell.
I asked who was outside, and I heard an unfamiliar voice.
“Greetings, human, I am your neighbor Camavel. I wish to meet you.”
I had a neighbor! And perhaps they were friendly.
I was excited about this prospect and hurried to the door.
I opened it and saw a female not much taller than me.
Her muzzle was somewhat faded, and she looked a little…
droopy. I wondered if this meant she was elderly.
Her movements were a bit slow as she entered, confirming my theory.
“My, you are a lovely thing!” she exclaimed.
“Are you a Lumanela? I heard you might be. It is so exciting to have an offworlder in our village. Tell me, is your voice truly magical?” My new neighbor positively radiated curiosity and kindness.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I bet she was nosy, though.
Given how starved I was for friendly company, I was more than happy to oblige.
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you! Please come in.
” I suddenly realized I had no grasp of Ptexari customs, and if Camavel was anything like old women on Earth, she might be a stickler for manners.
“I recently arrived on Ptekennan and I don’t know any of your customs, so I apologize in advance if I mess up or say something offensive. ” There, that should help.
Evidently this was the right thing to say.
“No need to worry, human! I have trained many a youngling in manners, so I will be an excellent guide for you. Now first, you must offer me some Oonag, and then you will allow me to choose a seat in your receiving room. Then after you bring cups of Oonag for us both, you sit on the seat paired with mine so we may talk.” I nearly hugged her.
This woman was going to be a godsend, I just knew it.
“Thank you for the instruction. My name is Andie. Welcome to my home, Camavel. May I offer you some Oonag?”
“Yes, you may, how kind of you to ask,” the elder replied, with eyes glowing yellow.
“Please, be welcome and choose a seat wherever you are comfortable,” I said. My grandmother would be proud.
“Why, thank you. I shall choose while you prepare the Oonag.”
Fortunately, I already knew how to get the bitter tea from the replicator. I carried two cups back to the receiving room, and settled on the cushion next to Camavel.
“Now, dear, tell me everything. I have seen the vids from the court testimony and the analysis on the news program, but I want to hear from you. How did you get here?” Over a cup of Oonag, I spilled my guts to Camavel.
She listened patiently, asking a few questions here and there.
She expressed sympathy over my plight, and did not flinch when I burst into tears.
When I got to the point where I explained the King considered me his daughter-in-law and set me up in this cottage, she said, “Quite right. It is well that he is doing right by you as his son’s mate, regardless of how that came to be.
That affords you a great deal of protection.
I would not advise attempting to dissolve your bond to the Prince so quickly.
That would leave you extremely vulnerable, and also open to the advances of the other Ptexari males - especially given how beautiful you are. ”
“I thought that females initiated the mating ritual,” I said.
“Yes, the formal mating is initiated by the female, but there is usually quite a bit of courtship prior to that.” Camavel explained.
“That is why the Prince’s mating was so surprising.
He did not properly court you at all! Usually, several males will court a female, until she selects her choice of mate.
You are exotic and your voice feels pleasant on the skin.
If you were believed to be unmated, there would be males at your door every day with gifts and offers of courtship. ”
I had no desire to be courted by anyone. “Well, I suppose I’ll leave it alone for now. The Prince is gone for the next several years anyway.”
“Yes, prison camp! Terrible thing, although frankly, I think he deserved it. Even if a female initiates the mating ritual, he should not have accepted without a proper courtship to get to know her. Males think too much with their cocks,” she declared, matter-of-factly.
I full-on spit my tea out of my mouth. “I’m so sorry! I just wasn’t expecting you to say something like that,” I jumped up and got a cloth from the kitchen to clean up.
Camavel chuckled. “Obviously, I have much to teach you.”