CHAPTER NINETEEN #2
Nonetheless, I set about preparing the food, making an extra sandwich for Rohinavon, on the assumption it might have been a while since she’d eaten.
The kitchen was quiet behind me, and I couldn’t help glancing back once or twice, since Xel and Rohinavon seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot.
Both of them were sitting there awkwardly, trying to avoid looking at each other.
It wasn’t a great environment to be in, but at least they weren’t arguing.
I was just setting the sandwiches onto plates when I heard a muted shriek.
I spun around to find that Mr Beans had jumped up onto the table in front of Rohinavon, and he was staring at her expectantly, clearly wanting a pat, while she was leaning as far back in her chair as she could manage to get away from him.
“He won’t hurt you,” I assured her. “You can gently push him onto the floor, if you really don’t want him there. But he loves having his ears rubbed, if you wanted to try making friends with him.”
Rohinavon looked startled at the idea. “We do not allow animals into our homes on Vangal,” she said. But nonetheless, she reached up to tentatively rub his ears. Predictably, Mr Beans started purring, rubbing his head more firmly against her hand.
Once the food was ready, I carried it to the table and lifted Mr Beans onto the floor. Rohinavon began eating straight away, but when I sat down and picked up my own sandwich, she jerked back from the table and made a startled noise.
“Something wrong?” I asked cautiously. Did she not like the food? Or heavens forbid, had she realised she was allergic to something?
But a moment later, she was shaking her head. “No. It’s fine. I’m sorry. Ignore me.” She took another bite of her food, avoiding my gaze.
“What’s wrong?” I asked gently. I didn’t want to push her, but at the same time, there were likely to be a multitude of cultural differences and misunderstandings – particularly once Aiden got involved – so I figured it was as well to keep things as clear as possible.
“No, it’s my fault,” she said, her scales once again rippling with violet.
“On Vangal we’re taught that women eat first and males only get to eat once all the females have finished.
Of course, that doesn’t apply here,” she muttered, dusting imaginary crumbs off her sleeve.
“I’m sorry. And it’s not like there are actually any males around on Vangal anyway.
We keep a handful of them for breeding purposes, but they don’t get to roam around or socialise.
It’s just… I’m sorry. I keep trying to convince myself that I’m so terribly progressive and defiant, but I still have all these ingrained things I was taught that are complete rubbish. ”
“How long ago did you leave Vangal?” I asked. I liked the fact that she was making an effort, even if the result was a little patchy.
“Eight days.”
I almost choked on my food. “Eight days? You made it from Vangal to Rendol 4 in eight days? How the hell did you do that?” I didn’t remember all the intricate details of my galactic mapping classes in high school, but off the top of my head, I thought it should have taken closer to three weeks.
“We took a shortcut through the Folian wormhole,” Rohinavon replied.
I snorted, partly in amusement and partly in disbelief. I could only assume she was joking. “The Folian wormhole is guarded by eight different sensor beacons. Nothing gets through there undetected. You said you were on a smuggling ship, right?”
“Yes,” Rohinavon agreed. “And I paid him a lot of money to bring me here. So yes, we jumped through the Folian wormhole, and yes, we did so undetected.”
I frowned. “Well, that probably answers my next question, then. I was going to ask how you got through the Rendol wormhole, particularly now that we’ve got Culrad technology in our sensors.
But if you managed to get through the Folis system…
” I shrugged. That must have been one hell of a fancy ship to work around that much technology.
But the more I thought about it, the more questions I had.
“How old is your son?” I asked next. But before she could answer, a low rumbling sound filled the air, and I instinctively looked out the window, though there was little chance I could see anything useful from here.
“That sounds like Aiden. Bloody hell, he really was in a hurry to get here,” I muttered.
It could only have been a total of about twenty minutes since I’d called him, and he would have needed ten of those to get across the city.
“I’m going to go meet him. Xel, can you stay here with Rohinavon? ”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, stern and serious, and I wondered what he would do if she actually tried to leave. Thankfully, she seemed to be willing to cooperate, though she was still wary of our intentions.
“I won’t be long,” I said. I shoved my feet into my boots then made a run for the back paddock, praying that nothing went wrong in the time it took me to collect Aiden and get back to the kitchen.