23. Terra
TERRA
By the time they got back to the kitchen, Terra had managed to convince herself that she wasn't going to obsess over the mysterious pleasure blooms until after dinner.
At least, that was what she told herself as Taurex began unpacking the living baskets from the Market, though every few minutes her thoughts drifted back to the steaming blue-green pool outside her bedroom window and those strange white and red flowers hanging over the water.
“Tell me what I can do,” she said, rolling up the sleeves of her blouse as she moved toward the broad preparation surface. “You’re cooking for me, so the least I can do is help.”
“I invited you here so that I could prepare a meal for you,” Taurex reminded her as he began removing the humming golden g’rn bulbs and long purple roots from one of the baskets. “You are my guest. Guests should not be required to labor.”
“First of all, chopping vegetables isn't exactly hard labor,” Terra told him. “And second, if you make me sit on that insanely comfortable couch while you do everything in here, there's a good chance I'll fall asleep and miss dinner.”
Taurex looked at her thoughtfully.
“That would be unfortunate.”
“Exactly.” She nodded.
“Very well,” he rumbled. “You may help.”
“How gracious of you,” Terra said dryly.
His golden eyes gleamed with amusement, but he handed her one of the long purple roots along with a cutting implement that looked like a knife except the blade appeared to be a hardened green leaf. Terra took it cautiously and ran one fingertip near the edge without touching it.
“This is a knife?”
“It serves that function,” Taurex told her.
“Of course it does.” Terra shook her head. “Is anything in this house actually made out of metal? Because if so, I haven’t seen it.”
“The blade is grown from karnath grass,” Taurex explained. “Once properly hardened, it is sharper than most metal and will regrow its edge if damaged.”
Terra looked at him with wide eyes.
“So you have self-sharpening grass knives?”
He nodded.
“If that terminology pleases you.”
“It pleases me very much,” Terra said. “Also, I’d love to get one of these to take home with me if they’re not too expensive.”
“They don’t cost anything at all—most Monstrum make their own,” Taurex rumbled. “I will make you one if you like.”
“Would you? Thank you—I would love that.” Terra beamed at him.
He nodded again.
“I will make you one soon.”
Terra set the purple root on the counter and began slicing. The blade slid through the dense flesh with almost no resistance, and inside the root was a surprising swirl of pale yellow and deep violet arranged in concentric rings.
“Oh, that's pretty,” she murmured.
“It will not remain that color when cooked,” Taurex told her.
“What color will it turn?” she asked.
“Green.”
Terra looked up at him.
“That should be interesting. On Earth, purple vegetables generally stay purple.”
He frowned.
“That seems limiting.”
Terra laughed as she went back to chopping.
It felt surprisingly domestic standing beside him in the strange living kitchen, each of them working on different parts of the meal while the cooling pod breathed softly behind them and the glowing flowers overhead brightened and dimmed in response to the movement in the room.
Taurex chopped several of the golden g’rn bulbs while Terra worked on the roots, and soon the preparation surface was covered with piles of vividly colored vegetables.
There were dark green cubes that had been orange before he cut them, little silver pods that popped open when pressed and released tiny pearl-like seeds and something resembling a pink onion that smelled faintly of garlic and rosemary at the same time.
“What is that?” Terra asked, leaning closer to smell it.
“That is velka root.”
“It smells amazing,” she remarked.
“It is very strong,” Taurex observed.
“I like strong,” Terra told him.
Taurex glanced sideways at her and she realized what she'd said and immediately looked back down at her chopping.
“I mean flavors,” she added quickly. “Strong flavors.”
“I understood.”
The low amusement in his voice made her cheeks warm.
Once all the vegetables were prepared, Taurex turned toward the enormous cooling pod growing from the wall. He stroked its pale green side, and the overlapping leaves peeled themselves back, revealing the chilled interior.
“I need the marnak meat,” he told Terra, who was looking around his shoulder curiously.
The meat was stored in another living container inside the cooling pod, wrapped in broad translucent leaves. Taurex lifted it out and unfolded the covering to reveal several thick chunks of bright blue flesh.
Terra stared.
“That stuff is meat?” she asked.
“Yes, it is,” Taurex said.
“But…it’s blue.”
He nodded.
“Yes, that is the correct color for marnak meat.”
“And what exactly is a marnak?” Terra asked.
Taurex paused for a moment.
“It is a large grazing animal.”
Terra narrowed her eyes.
“You hesitated before you said that.”
“I was considering how best to describe it.”
“Does it have too many legs?”
“It has four. Is that too many?” he asked.
Terra shook her head.
“No. But does it have too many eyes?”
“It has two,” he told her.
Terra frowned.
“Does it have tentacles?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
At last she was satisfied.
“Good. I don't think I want to know anything else.”
“That may be wise.”
Terra pointed at him.
“See? That answer means there is definitely something weird about it.”
Taurex rumbled laughter as he carried the meat to the broad black cooking plant. He touched the side of the bowl and orange veins began glowing beneath its surface, spreading rapidly until heat shimmered above it.
“What do you use for oil?” Terra asked.
He shook his head.
“I don’t need any. The cooking pod produces its own natural oil whenever I add ingredients to it.”
He dropped the first chunk of blue meat into the heated plant, and it immediately began to sizzle.
The sound was so familiar that Terra almost forgot she was standing inside a living house on an alien spaceship. Then the smell hit her.
“Ohhh,” she moaned as her mouth started to water.
The scent of the searing meat was incredible.
It was rich, savory and slightly smoky, like the best steak she had ever smelled cooking on a grill, but with another note underneath it that reminded her of roasted mushrooms and browned butter. Her stomach growled instantly.
Taurex looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Hungry?”
Terra put a hand to her stomach and gave an embarrassed laugh.
“Apparently.”
“You told me you ate very little this morning,” he pointed out.
“I was excited.”
Taurex frowned.
“You should not skip meals just because you are excited.”
Terra raised an eyebrow. “
Was that my boss talking or my mother?”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile.
“Both may have valid concerns.”
She laughed again—she really liked the big Monstrum’s dry sense of humor.
Taurex turned the blue chunks with a set of wooden-looking tongs, browning each side until the exterior darkened to a deep navy while the scent filled the kitchen.
Terra found herself drifting closer without even meaning to.
“I cannot believe something that color smells like steak,” she remarked. “It looks like it ought to smell like blueberries.”
“Color does not affect flavor,” Taurex remarked.
“Tell that to green ketchup,” Terra remarked.
Taurex frowned.
“Why would ketchup be green? Isn’t it made from red tomatoes?”
“Yes—that’s my point,” Terra said. “But no matter what color the stew is, I can’t wait to try some of it.”
“I hope you’ll enjoy it,” Taurex said, smiling.
Once the meat had been thoroughly seared, he removed it and set it aside on a broad waxy leaf. Then the vegetables went into the same cooking bowl, and Terra watched in fascination as their colors began changing almost immediately.
The purple roots turned emerald green and the golden g’rn bulbs softened into a deep cobalt paste. The silver seeds became bright turquoise.
Terra shook her head.
“This meal is going to look like it was cooked by Smurfs.”
Taurex frowned.
“What are ‘Smurfs?’”
“These tiny little blue people who live in a magic forest,” Terra told him, smiling.
His brow furrowed.
“Are they real?”
She smothered a laugh.
“No.”
He gave her a deeply suspicious look.
“Humans have very active imaginations.”
“Very,” Terra agreed, laughing.
Taurex added the browned meat back into the bowl, then poured in a dark violet liquid from a bulb-shaped container he had taken from the cooling plant. The instant the liquid hit the hot surface, a cloud of fragrant steam rolled upward.
Terra inhaled deeply.
“Oh my God. It smells even better now!”
The scent had changed again, becoming even richer and more complex. It reminded her of beef stew simmering all day in a crockpot, except there was something deeper beneath it—a roasted, earthy flavor with a faint sweetness at the end.
“What did you just add?” she asked.
“Fermented kalith broth,” Taurex told her.
She shook her head.
“I have no idea what that is, but it smells amazing. Everything around here is so different from what I’m used to back on Earth.”
Taurex stirred the stew with a long wooden-looking utensil.
“You will become accustomed to it.”
The big Monstrum’s words caught Terra by surprise. He was talking as though he expected her to be here often enough that living appliances and blue meat and vegetables that changed color would someday stop seeming strange.
She looked up at him. Was he trying to tell her something?
Taurex was concentrating on the stew, completely unaware that his casual words had just created an unexpected picture in her mind.
She could see herself standing in this kitchen again—maybe next weekend or maybe many weekends. She could picture herself laughing with the big Monstrum while he cooked, or chopping vegetables while the glowing flowers swayed overhead.
Terra frowned—she was getting ahead of herself again. Way ahead. They had barely even admitted they were attracted to each other. Still, she couldn't deny that spending time with Taurex in his home felt easy in a way she hadn't expected.
While the stew simmered, Taurex turned his attention to the fargas pods they had bought at the Market. He placed two of the large warm pods onto the preparation surface and pressed his thumbs into a natural seam running along the center of the first one.
There was a soft pop and the pod split apart. A puff of fragrant steam escaped, and Terra leaned closer immediately.
Inside was a pale loaf of bread, still soft and slightly damp from the pod.
She shook her head.
“Fresh bread from a giant pod—that is never going to stop being weird.”
Taurex shrugged.
“It is bread.”
“I know, but it grew inside a giant seedpod,” she pointed out.
He shrugged again.
“Yes, it did. That is how fargas bread is made. And this is how it is finished.”
He lifted the loaf free and set it on a broad leaf, then he opened the second pod.
Terra watched as he took several tiny herb bundles from one of the market baskets and crushed them between his palms. The leaves released an aromatic oil that smelled like a combination of basil, thyme and something citrusy.
“You don't use butter?” Terra asked.
“I can if you like.”
Taurex tapped a small yellow flower growing beside the cooking surface. Its petals unfolded and when he stroked its center, it produced a thick golden cream.
Terra looked at it with interest.
“Is that…a butter flower?”
“You could call it that.” Taurex nodded.
He spread the golden cream across the surface of both loaves, then sprinkled them with the crushed herbs and a handful of tiny sparkling crystals.
“Is that salt?” Terra asked.
“Mineral flakes,” Taurex corrected. “But they do taste salty.”
“So it’s alien salt,” Terra said.
He shrugged.
“If you prefer.”
“I do,” she said, smiling.
Taurex smiled back as he put the loaves inside another large living pod growing from the wall. It closed around them and the outer surface began glowing a soft orange.
Terra looked at it with interest.
“So you even have an oven plant.”
“Yes.” He nodded and she grinned.
“See? You're not even fighting me anymore.”
“I have accepted that you will give everything in my domicile an Earth name,” Taurex rumbled.
Terra shrugged.
“It's how I cope.”
He smiled.
“Then I am pleased to assist your coping.”
There was such quiet affection in the way he said it that Terra forgot how to respond for a moment. She settled for smiling back.
The stew cooked for another twenty minutes while they cleaned the preparation area together. Terra insisted on helping, though she was mostly fascinated by the cleansing vine, which wrapped around every utensil they gave it and scrubbed each one with its fuzzy leaves before releasing it spotless.
“I want one of these at home,” she said.
“I could acquire one for you,” Taurex offered.
Terra looked up at him.
“Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Of course.”
“Would it survive in Tampa?” she asked. “I mean, we have a sub-tropical climate.”
“With the proper soil, it should be fine,” he assured her.
“You're telling me I could have a dishwasher plant growing beside my sink?” she asked eagerly.
“Certainly.”
Taurex nodded.
Terra pressed a hand dramatically to her chest.
“Taurex, you may have just won my heart.”
He paused what he was doing and just looked at her.
Terra realized what she'd said, and heat flooded her face. What must he think of her? She had to stop flirting so blatantly!
“Oh. I mean—”
“Don’t worry—I know what you meant,” he rumbled. But his golden eyes had grown warmer.
Terra turned back to the cleansing vine.
Smooth, Terra. Very smooth, she told herself.
Thankfully, the oven pod chose that moment to open with a soft rustling sound, releasing the smell of freshly baked bread.
Dinner was finally ready.