Az #2
I look to my older brother, who is nodding vigorously along with our cousin’s explanation. Niska narrows her eyes up at him. These human females do not like their gender to be slighted, even a little. I like it. They are fierce. And so they should be, glorious little things that they are.
Of course, these thoughts make me turn to the most glorious thing in the room, Lois. She is about to seat herself at the table, and I take the opportunity to steal the place of the footmale who is about to come and tuck her chair in behind her.
“Thank you,” she turns quickly to say, doing a double-take when she sees it is me and not a member of palace staff tending to her needs. “Az, sit down,” she growls under her breath, her cheeks turning berry pink.
Don’t mind if I do, I think to myself, occupying the seat beside her while Jaya is busy talking to Aunt Zalora.
She twists in her seat to face me, shaking her head. “You never give up, do you?”
“Not when it comes to you,” I grin.
Her eyes scan my face like she is looking for something specific there.
I wish I knew what it was so that I could give it to her.
Does she doubt my words? Is she searching for meaning behind them?
I do not know. I haven’t really had to interact very heavily with Xaviann females in any kind of way that even came close to courtship.
If anything, they always courted me. And I am finding being on the other end of things both thrilling and confusing.
It comes to a point where I feel I must break away from Lois’ mesmerizing gaze, however. I clear my throat, shift in my chair, and look around at the other attendees of this little farewell dinner – before I pounce on the little human beside me.
And above all things, I must remember not to press my Lois too far. I want her so, so Goddess-damned much. And that may scare her.
I press the tip of my tongue to my left fang as if I can push the thing back up into my gums while everyone else comes to the dining table to be seated.
“So, like I said-” Niska continues, already halfway through a conversation with Vel as K pushes in her chair behind her.
“We will be able to rescue a few here and there, but we can’t very well go and actually purchase all the humans we find in captivity.
Otherwise, we’re just creating another supply chain.
What we really need to do is influence intergalactic laws.
Currently, what people like Mama Z’rykby are doing is perfectly legal, even if some cultures frown upon it. ”
“I thought it was against the law to go to Earth?” Lois says beside me. “What about the aliens going there to take people like us?”
“There’s a technical loophole in the laws,” Vel answers as a staff member fills her glass with the finest pukpuk wine.
“A number of monitoring licenses are issued each turn of your solar system’s sun.
Those licenses allow the holder to visit Earth and monitor the goings-on of its inhabitants.
Somewhere along the line, some license holders have found it lucrative to start abducting and smuggling humans off-planet.
That part is illegal,” she says before picking up her glass and taking a sip.
“But once a human leaves Earth and has interacted with another species, they cannot be returned. Nor are they classed as a free, autonomous people. If you can’t prove that the beings they are with are the ones to have smuggled them off-planet, then there’s nothing the law can do. ”
“So, we’re classed as property,” Lois concludes, slumping against the high, polished wooden backrest of the chair. “Just like all that Earth junk you and your friends collect.”
“Junk?” Vel asks, her eyes blinking too fast… and that smile-
I know that smile. It’s the smile she uses when she’s pissed and deciding whether or not to attack.
I know Vel is very proud of her Earthophile club and her own personal collections of Earth paraphernalia.
She’s boasted on more than one occasion that she owns the largest collection of something called a cost-coh-ree-seet, which is some kind of thermal-ink transaction record used in Earth commerce.
The slips of paper are notoriously fragile, prone to fading if exposed to sunlight, moisture, or if you breathe on it wrong.
Vel takes great care of those things, something that brings her much pride among her peers.
Hearing them being called junk may have just flipped her switch – a switch that my brothers and I are very familiar with.
Once she goes – she goes. Her tongue is barbed, and although she is physically smaller than K, Zann, and I, she can attack like a cornered sand-cat.
“Vel,” I say, using the same commanding tone as when I am First Drak Rider to our drakball team. She looks to me, breaking the stare she had locked onto my Lois.
Her left eye twitches.
That fake smile is looking just this side of sane.
I fix her with a stare of my own and slowly shake my head. Silently telling her to stand-the-fuck-down.
If she has a problem with Lois, she has a problem with me.
Besides, my female does not know how much of a nerdling my cousin truly is for her home planet.
She may know she has an interest, sure, but she’s never felt the sting of having her ear almost twisted off because she teased Vel about memorizing every word to some sacred Earth scripture – a tome known as ‘Twilight’.
I resist the urge to reach up and rub the phantom pain in my right ear at the mere memory.
My cousin and I stare at one another across the dinner table until she relents. Vel is forced to take a deep breath and plaster on what is a much more natural-looking smile.
I may owe her some new cost-coh-ree-seets for this.
“Yes,” she says, picking up where my Lois had left off. “Unfortunately, once humans leave Earth, they are classified as property, and are only protected by certain laws while still on their home planet.”
“But…” Lois shifts in her chair beside me, clearly agitated. I want nothing more than to cover her knee with my hand and tell her I could set it all right. “Surely they can see that we’re sentient beings? Where is the common decency when-”