Chapter 3 #2
“My friend Eral and his mate Ronet has a yshain too,” Trenet said with a smile. “A Human one, just like you. He’s told me a lot about what he’s learned to properly care for a Human yshain.”
“We’d love you to meet our friends and their yshain someday,” Vrayl said, plucking up a little round white ball. “Once you’re more settled. Now open up, sweetling. It’s past time we fed you.”
Asher watched in dismay as Vrayl held the white ball to his lips. It smelled more sweet than savory, but that didn’t mean anything. Asher didn’t know what the ball was made out of, or if it had a filling.
He could still remember being six and being served hot lunch at school.
Meat pies. He’d been old enough and aware enough to want to know what the meat was.
No one would tell him, and he’d burst into tears in the middle of his classroom and had been inconsolable until one of his big sisters had been called to calm him down.
That was when his moms had instructed him to start telling everyone that he was a vegetarian because “eating animals made him sad.”
Asher pressed his lips together and shook his head. He wasn’t going to eat something when he didn’t know what it was made from, and he had no way to understand their answers even if he could ask and be understood, so…
So he wouldn’t eat.
Trenet and Vrayl exchanged an obviously confused glance.
“Would you like to know what it is?” Vrayl said next, still holding the white ball right in front of Asher’s mouth.
“This is enga. It’s a sweet roll made of a glutinous paste harvested from tardak plants.
I’m sure you’ll love it. We know Humans like their sweets.
It also has a lot of protein, which will be good for you. ”
Vrayl’s growls didn’t sound upset or angry, but Asher had no idea how long that would last if he continued to refuse their food.
“Maybe try the alev,” Trenet said. “Maybe he’d prefer something savory.”
Vrayl popped the white ball into his own mouth, then picked up something that looked breaded, about the size and shape of a finger. Asher eyed it with trepidation.
“This is alev,” Vrayl said, holding the breaded thing up to Asher’s mouth. “It’s made of a synth meat that’s light and flaky, and then it’s battered and breaded before frying. Alev is very tasty! Won’t you try some for us?”
Asher bit at the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t open his mouth. He hated that it smelled good. Hated that he wanted to just allow Vrayl to feed him.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
There was a flurry of growls and hisses over his head that denoted a conversation between Vrayl and Trenet.
“I… I don’t understand.” That was Vrayl, with the way Asher could feel the Dresht’s speech reverberate through his body. “He has to be starving. The planet where we found him was completely inhospitable for Humans. And he’s… he’s so thin…”
“I’ll reach out to the Match agency.” Trenet, slightly farther away, spoke next. “They’ll know if there’s something more we can do for him, if he’s too stressed to eat.”
“It’s okay, Asher,” Vrayl said next, clawtips carding gently through Asher’s hair, which was probably a tangled mess by now. “It’s okay. We know you’re scared. But we promise you’re safe here. All we want is to make sure you’re happy and healthy and pleasured.”
There was a scraping sound followed by heavy footsteps, and then a second pair of hands landed on Asher’s body, carefully cradling his ankles.
Asher’s eyes popped open to see Trenet there, kneeling at his feet to look up at him. Trenet was so large that he wasn’t looking up very far at all, and Asher tried to catch hold of the scared sound that threatened to escape.
“Please Asher?” Trenet growls were his usual deep rumble, though his speech was softer, like he was making an effort to speak more quietly. “We’re here for anything you may need or want, and we’ll prove it to you as the days pass. But you need to eat, little love. Doesn’t anything look good?”
Asher looked from Trenet’s gaze to the table and back again. He knew that they had to be insisting that he eat.
He didn’t know what they might do to force him, if he continued to refuse to open his mouth.
“Oh!” Trenet growled suddenly, the loud outburst startling Asher, who shrank back against Vrayl.
Which was so stupid, because it wasn’t as though Vrayl would be any protection from Trenet.
Asher was… pretty sure Vrayl and Trenet were married, or whatever the equivalent was to the Dresht.
It would make sense, based on how affectionate they seemed to be with each other, and how this was clearly their shared home.
Asher’s moms were married, on a planet that only had female couples.
Maybe here on the Dreshtinian planet there were only male couples.
Asher still didn’t know what they wanted with some scrawny, outcast Human.
Trenet stood, and Asher watched nervously as the Dresht headed back to the table, plucking something up and then turning around to come back to kneel at Asher’s feet.
“This is oiyer,” Trenet said, holding up what…
what looked like a bowl of berries. Much larger than the kinds Asher was used to, but it was hard to mistake the fruits for anything except for something that grew from a plant.
“We grow it in gardens here. These were picked right at ripe harvest, and are juicy and sweet. Won’t you try some? ”
Asher licked his lips. Berries—those seemed safe. If they were poisonous to Humans, well, Asher would find out, but they were something Asher could eat.
He looked from the bowl to Trenet’s intense face and back again. Then he took a deep breath and opened his mouth, allowing Trenet to pop a berry inside.
“Oh what a good little yshain you are,” Vrayl crooned, watching as Asher chewed. “Such a perfect treasure.”
Asher had to swallow the rush of saliva as his mouth spasmed after not eating for so long, but once he got past that initial discomfort, he was able to genuinely enjoy the flavors of the berry.
It had a much less tough consistency than the berries on Journey-5, but was also so ripe and sweet it almost tasted like candy.
He swallowed the last of his mouthful and met eyes with Trenet again, who held up the bowl he was holding a little higher.
Asher opened his mouth again.