CHAPTER 17 #2
Eleri couldn’t contain her amusement this time, and he heard the bright peal of her laughter.
“It’s a bit too hot to walk anyway. You can ride the levibike with me at your own risk.
” She hid her eyes under the brim of her hat and waited for him to press his identity chip against the levibike’s ignition.
When the engine started humming, S’samph gestured for her to get on first behind the steering column.
She struggled with the height of the seat, and after two clumsy attempts to mount, he came up behind her.
“Are you sure you brought me back from Indras by yourself?”
Eleri turned back toward him, her face the bright pink-red of ywes berries. “I definitely did. You were heavy. But I’m sure the adrenaline helped,” she murmured the last part to herself.
“I’ll assist you.” S’samph’s hands encircled her waist, and he hoisted her up onto the seat. She made a slight, startled noise, but didn’t struggle against his attempts. Once she was situated, he settled behind her. She fit against him well; her softness molded to his rough form.
“I’m starting now,” she announced. S’samph barely had enough time to grip the auxiliary handles before the levibike jerked forward, and she kicked up a cloud of dust around them.
“You don’t need to push so hard on the accelerator.” S’samph closed his hand over hers and pulled back her tight, nervous grip. “It’ll go easily.”
“Okay.” Eleri breathed heavily and pushed the accelerator knob again. This time, the movement was smoother. “You and K’kaen make it look so simple.”
The tip of S’samph’s tail flicked with amusement. “Keep your eyes on the track and take us down to the canal.”
Eleri’s shoulders lifted together in a stressed shape. S’samph moved in closer toward her and placed a hand on her shoulders. “Relax your muscles. You’re driving, not targeting a sniper cannon.”
The tension eased, and she straightened the levibike’s trajectory so that they weren’t leaning dangerously to the right of the magtrack. “I don’t understand why this is so hard,” she muttered. It was almost too low for S’samph to hear her over the drone of the engine.
“To start, this levibike is not designed for someone of your stature.”
“Are you calling me small?” There was an undertone he recognized as laughter in her voice.
“I’m not calling you anything, it’s an objective truth.” S’samph reached out a hand to straighten the steering column as she veered them too close to a patch of dsare bushes.
“I’m actually pretty tall for a female human.
” Eleri’s grip tightened as she regained control over their path.
S’samph considered and realized he’d never met other human females.
Even the choice of Eleri hadn’t been his.
S’kasia had been the one to look over the dossiers and pick her out for him.
However, despite her claims, she couldn’t be more than a tail span tall.
When she stood beside him, she reached slightly above his shoulder only.
If her statement was true, then other human females must be tiny.
S’samph was grateful S’kasia had the good sense to choose a sturdier female.
He couldn’t imagine pairing with one so small.
The gratitude was short-lived as he realized his momentary introspection had allowed Eleri to start careening the levibike toward another patch of dsare bushes.
“Eleri!” With his injury, his reaction time wasn’t what it should be. S’samph grabbed the steering column, preventing them from flipping entirely, but the miserable machine still lurched sideways, pitching Eleri into the bushes.
Eleri shrieked as she landed hard in the thorns.
Once again, S’samph cursed his injured state as it prevented him from grabbing her fast enough.
He landed flat on his back a few spans away from the bushes while Eleri’s clothes and hair snagged against the pointed leaves.
When he regained his bearings, he rushed over to her.
She was making a horrible wheezing, spluttering noise he’d never heard from her before.
Was she dying? He knew humans were fragile and much more prone to death than latil’e.
However, as he got closer, he realized she was making a strangled version of her laughter sound.
“I’m so sorry,” the words choked out as she struggled to breathe through her fit of humor.
“Your poor levibike has had enough of me, I think.” The tight fist clutching around his chest loosened as she started to untangle herself from the grasp of the bushes.
He knelt in front of her and started to help her remove the long strands of her fur from the hooks of the bush’s leaves.
“We’ll try again another time. For today, I will be driving.”
“Wait!” Eleri scrambled to her feet, leaving a few strands of her starlight hair stuck in the bush. She was still moving toward the levibike to block his progress. “You’re still healing. I can’t let you drive.”
S’samph sidestepped her with ease. “And you’re a terrible driver. If we consider the options, letting me drive carefully will be better for both of us.”
“You don’t need to be so mean about it.” Her words were accusatory, but her tone was light. He did not know how to interpret this.
S’samph considered her words. Although she did not seem to mean them with sincerity, he could sense she was hurt by his bluntness.
Humans were sensitive to words; it was why their language had so many softening expressions.
To match her expectations, he selected his next words with more care.
“My words weren’t meant to be unkind. For latil’e, anything other than the truth is considered unkindness.
I intend to offer you respect with my honesty.
” He examined her scrapes as she was also covertly trying to assess his own physical status.
The taut lines of her face had softened in response to his explanation.
“You’re not wrong.” She hid her face behind a single hand in a gesture S’samph wasn’t familiar with. “I am a terrible driver.”
“Why are you hiding your face?”
“Oh. I’m embarrassed.” She dropped her hand back to her side, but deep pink lingered on her skin.
S’samph lifted his tail slightly in acknowledgement.
“You will learn to drive in time if you continue practicing, but I don’t want to see you injured again today.
” If he had his way he would see she wasn’t injured ever again, but there would be time to make his feelings known when she was more accepting of his status as her mate.
While S’samph reasserted the levibike on the track, Eleri cleaned up the worst of her scrapes, applying ointment and bandages from her medkit. When she finished, S’samph took the driving position with Eleri behind him. Her small fingers wrapped around the passenger handles.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He accelerated in a way that didn’t make his stomach dip and drove them into the town center.
Eleri hummed behind him, and the melody was unlike anything he could have produced.
Latil’e vocal cords were not particularly attuned to musicality.
S’samph wondered if there was a meaning to it.
Some species, like the giradey, performed elaborate songs as part of their reproductive rituals, but he did not remember reading anything like that in relation to humans.
When they reached the main street of Laurus, S’samph pulled his levibike to the charging ports.
It had been too long since the mechanical beast had a good charge anyway.
Some people were milling about. The young ones were finished with their school day by now, so they roamed until their parents were finished working and could come to corral them to their respective homes.
A group of adolescents crouched around a makeshift table formed from an overturned shipping crate, playing a spirited game of Galactic Warlords.
Factions had clearly formed around two of the top players, and S’samph could hear the near-inaudible zap of electricity as credits were exchanged in illicit betting.
Minors couldn’t legally exchange large credit amounts anyway, so it was all in fun.
The pride was no doubt in boasting about being on the winning end.
Some of the smaller ones passed a lumpy ball between themselves in a nameless contest of athletics.
A few of the young ones greeted Eleri with various calls and body movements, and she returned the attention with a wiggle of her fingers.
In such a short time, she brought joy with her presence here in Laurus.
He’d been here for several standard years already, but none greeted him with such enthusiasm.
Eleri dismounted behind him and offered him the spare helmet. “This is yours.”
He took it from her, almost asking if she wouldn’t need it for the return trip, which was a stark reminder of the fact that she would not be returning with him.
Their nest was yet unshared. Instead, he accepted her offer and replaced the helmet back in the storage compartment.
He then led the way to the general store.
Eleri stepped inside first, holding the door open behind her.
It was a gesture of welcoming in Latil’e culture, but he didn’t know how to or if he should interpret it as anything.
He lashed his tail once in frustration and made a note to check back on Gaiese customs, once again regretting he’d wasted so much time deliberately not learning about them.
He was trying to fight for a mate as a male who had woken up the night before a mate-choosing season without a single scale to his name.
Upon entering, it was only a moment before voices started in on him.