Chapter 40
Survii
“Everything’s ready,” Havali announced, turning off the comm he had borrowed from Atem and storing it into his hip pouch. Havali still wore, predominantly, domini style clothes.
Survii lifted his eyes from the human computer he had been examining.
He was picking a traditional human male wedding suit.
They were simple, but elegant. He had multiple options that were being given to him as a slideshow of images since he couldn’t read anything in human.
He was supposed to be choosing his favorites so they could be brought to him to try on.
He wanted to see what Alanna would be wearing so he could choose based on that. Her dress, apparently, was incredibly important to this ceremony. He was not sure why, but it was so vital that he wasn’t permitted to see it until the day they were joined.
In lieu of that, he had asked what she would prefer him to wear, but she had just stated that he should wear whatever he liked.
That she didn’t mind if he wanted to wear domini style formal attire, or even his favorite alien formal attire.
The suit designers already knew her color preferences. Anything besides that was up to him.
Her outfit was incredibly important, but his, evidently, was not.
That was fine with him though. This ceremony was for her, and to that end, he was trying to find a human style suit that he would look best in. When she saw him at the ceremony, he wanted her to be completely astounded by the beauty of her mate.
But, for now, there was something just as important.
Traditional claiming attire for the domini was something they could camouflage against – or even nothing at all, letting their skin be its own natural camouflage.
Camocloth was a great choice, but that was advanced technology, and he couldn’t wear it here.
The humans were not comfortable with nudity either, so he had to put on something.
So, he did what most domini did, he wore static colored clothing naturally designed to camouflage into the scenery. In this case, he wore human camouflage. An idea he got from Tuvo who had, in turn, learned about it from their security team.
The pants were baggy, designed to fall into more natural, comfortable lines, and was a combination of black, brown, beige, and green – natural colors of Earth’s landscape.
The random colors were not incredibly perfect camouflage, but he could understand how a creature without eyesight as acute as his could lose track of someone more easily in those colors in a natural setting.
They were kept on his hips by a simple, beige belt, and tucked into a pair of sturdy, black leather boots.
He was told it was a fairly common human military style.
They had come with a jacket, but he had opted not to wear it.
Instead, he only wore the plain, matte green sleeveless shirt to be worn underneath.
He would have gone shirtless completely if it weren’t for human sensibilities.
He had pulled his hair back into a looping bun and had Alanna’s clear, crystal mating ring hanging proudly around his neck.
He pulled the tight shirt straight as he grinned at Havali. “Time to claim my female.”
Survii led the way out, Havali at his heels, as they made their way down through the UN building where he had been preparing. He had been busy all day yesterday, up on the Jutiron Stor, getting everything he needed set up for today.
Though it would be easier, he couldn’t ask any of his friends aboard the ship to do those things in his stead.
The claiming was about the domin proving to the adassi and their clan that he was strong enough, skilled enough, to take care of them. It was already fairly obvious who was the fighter between them, but he still had to fight her because he had to prove his strength.
So, if he had someone else make his preparations, it would completely miss the point of the claiming entirely.
True, he couldn’t hunt his own food on the Stor like he would have if he were on Turv – or if hunting wasn’t illegal in Geneva.
They had offered to make an exception for him, but he refused.
He appreciated the thought, but he didn’t want to start the relationship between himself and Earth by circumventing rules and laws.
Besides, he rather thought that Alanna would prefer properly cooked food on the Stor rather than a freshly hunted and quickly burned pieces of meat from a hunt.
The claiming was all about pleasing his adassi after all.
Down through the UN building, he went. Confident in each step. Facing determinedly forward. An eager grin on his face. His claws already emerged. Allowing all who saw him to know that he was a male on a mission, determined and proud.
And there was no doubt that others were watching.
There were cameras set up in the halls he took leading to the outside.
He couldn’t see the operators at the other end, or the vid program that was showing him and Alanna, but he knew they were there.
Eager to witness the first alien claiming to take place on Earth.
He hoped to give them a good show.
He hoped to honor his female in this.
Through the building, out the large doors. Crossing the large statue of what he assumed to be an artistic rendition of Earth itself, beheld in pride of place within a wide pond surrounded by green plants. He made his way to the park where his adassi waited.
There was a whole crew operating the camera equipment now. Their recording devices still needed someone to hold them. How delightfully old fashioned.
He ignored them as he focused on his mate.
She sat on a large cloth spread over the green grass.
Her legs swept around to her side. The dress she had been given was loose and draped artfully over her delightful body.
Barely highlighting the delights hidden beneath.
The fur around her shoulders, he had been told, was fake to suit Earth sensibilities, but the bright white of the fabric and fur contrasted her dark skin and hair stunningly.
She smiled at him. Golden eyes glowing.
Then, ruthlessly, Atem stepped in front of her. Growling at him. Eyes narrowed.
First Domini really had worked himself up into a state. His claws were out, fingers twitching, tail lashing. He was ready to defend his sister. Protect her. Demanding proof that Survii was capable of doing the same.
There was no way Survii could actually defeat Atem in combat.
He had already tried during the Hortii Kristivar – the ceremony that cemented Atem’s position wherein he had to fight all of his council to prove his superiority over them.
Survii had given that fight everything he had.
Not because he wanted to remove Atem from power, but because to do anything else would be an insult.
Not just to Atem, but to Turv as a whole.
He already knew he couldn’t defeat him. But that wasn’t the point.
The point was to prove he was willing to do anything, even face an opponent he could not beat, with all of his spirit and determination.
They had learned to speak the traditional lines in English so that those watching could experience the full ceremony alongside them.
“Why have you come here?” Atem growled, fingers twitching. Something the cameras were sure not to miss as five of them caught every angle of this meeting from Havali to Hattie and all of them spread out in between.
Survii held his head high. “I am Survii, First Voice of Turv, current ambassador to the planet Earth. I come to retrieve my mate.”
Atem snarled. “You dare to claim one of my clan? You have not proven yourself worthy! I will not surrender her to so weak a domin.”
Survii chuckled, raising his claws, letting them flash in the sun. “Then, I challenge you to prove my worth.”
“I accept.” Atem’s lips raised as well, but it wasn’t a true smile. It was a threat. “To the sparring grounds.”
They didn’t have to go far. A place had been cleared in the park for them.
The sparring grounds for the claiming was a cleared patch of grass with a small border demarcated by a simple rope fence with a break in it for them to enter.
The humans had offered to get them mats or a proper ring, but they had declined.
The natural dirt and grass suited them just fine. It might even be better.
The claiming harkened back to a time before true civilization. A time when a domin would be, genuinely, fighting the clan guardian for their mate. They still didn’t use weapons, to this day. Having the fight in the open, fresh air, on bare ground, spoke to them on a primal level.
Survii led the way into the ring, Atem behind him, acting as a barrier between Survii and Alanna.
She was surrounded by the other females.
All of them laughing and chittering together excitedly as they stood around the ring.
Havali and Romival stood to either side of their group.
Tuvo was the only one not immediately visible, though he was here, working with the security team.
Survii came to a halt on the other side of the ring-
-and barely ducked in time, avoiding Atem’s first strike.
There was no call to begin. The fight started the moment they stepped onto the ground.
Survii laughed as he danced back, barely avoiding the flurry of blows coming towards him.
Atem was a superb fighter. He excelled at altering his fighting style to meet whoever he faced.
Survii could admit to a flare for the dramatic, even when he battled.
Atem was meeting that with an unrelenting, focused style.
But Survii had too much at stake to lose this early.