Chapter 34
Chee
The restaurant at the edge of Holotulle, still within the grasp of the artificial atmosphere, but out of bounds of the night shields, was a beautiful and dim place.
She’d describe it kind of like a dome. To get there, they had to fly a hover to a building at the edge of the district.
And from there, they had to ride a long lift all the way to the top.
Which was a shorter trip than she expected.
Not because the wall was at all short. The walls were massive in a way that she couldn’t really grasp.
When she looked up at them, they disappeared into the color of the sky, seeming to fade into the atmosphere itself.
No, it certainly wasn’t because the wall was short that the ride was quick, but the lift only had two stops, the ground and the top, so it was able to practically rocket between those two places.
Moving so fast, she could only marvel at the glass walls as the ground dropped away and she was given a fantastic view of the meadows and fields of the district.
Trove stood at her side, one hand on her lower back, watching the view alongside her.
They weren’t the only couple in the lift.
There were probably half a dozen couples, and about three throuples, all riding upward together.
Everyone was holding conical style glasses with elaborate, delicate stems filled with golden cider that had been given to them while they waited in the first part of the restaurant on the ground.
This place was by reservation only, and they took everyone up and down at the same time.
Everyone was dressed to the nines. One tall, elegant female was wearing a black dress with a broach that seemed to have a flame burning inside it.
Two males getting very cozy in the corner were wearing what appeared to be golden armor pieces.
One furry male with very long hair was wearing what looked like an elaborate, embroidered silk robe and was absolutely dripping in rose gold jewelry.
There were multiple different styles represented here, but they were all fine fabrics, high end jewels, and spoke of a lot of wealth.
But thanks to Hyde, Chee and Trove fit right in.
Her silver dress and diamond jewelry and diamond studded shoes made her feel like a flapper style Cinderella.
Her hair, after some fighting, had been pinned back in a bun with a few waving strands escaping around her face and neck.
She didn’t doubt that she’d lose the fight against the frizz soon, but for now, she looked casually elegant.
But Trove just looked delicious.
The dark blue suit he wore was simple, but all the more handsome for that simplicity.
From his neatly pressed trousers to the simple overcoat, the color was reminiscent of the night sky right around the glow of the moon – dark blue, nearly black, but still glowing.
His black undershirt and black shoes actually worked really well with the color.
There was a pop of silver in the broach on his chest and the diamond that sat, sparkling, in the center, and another in a silver ring clasped around his tail.
His hair was down for the first time. Slick and straight, shining almost like the surface of water at night, it hung down his back, around his face.
With the pointed ears and now dark blue skin and glowing violet eyes, he looked like a dark elf.
Seductive and elegant and powerful in a way that couldn’t be purposefully replicated.
You either had the casual confidence to stand in that power or you poorly mimicked those who did.
Chee was having a hard time keeping her eyes off him. Especially when he lifted the glass to his lips and took a small sip.
How was a male who had lived the hard life he did look so comfortable and easy in all this wealth and power?
He caught her gaze and gave her a smile. Full of tenderness and joy. And with that, looking at her like she was the most precious thing in this room filled with wealth and money, she realized why he was so comfortable.
He didn’t care.
Not in the way she knew Hyde didn’t care about money – in that he had so much of it that it didn’t carry any meaning to him. No, Trove wasn’t wealthy, he’d probably never be wealthy. At least, not in the way that would traditionally define it.
But he didn’t care. None of the guys cared. They weren’t the type of criminals that treated it like a business, that cared about gathering money more than laws or morality. They earned money because they needed it, but they didn’t chase riches because, to them, they had something better.
Freedom, warm food, a safe place to sleep, a crew they could trust.
And now also mates to love.
Trove could stand so easily in wealth the same way he stood so easily and confidently in his jumpsuit because both of them were worth the same to him.
Not to say that the expensive suit and silver and diamond brooch were as worthless as a jumpsuit, but more like the cheap jumpsuit was just as priceless as the suit and jewels.
Chee smiled, leaning into his side. It was an incredible thing, to realize how much you meant to someone. She was part of his happily ever after, and she meant more to him than all of this wealth that surrounded them.
There was a weird spot at the top where the floor swung backwards and at the same time the gravity changed. So that they were standing on what would have been the outside of the wall, what would have been sideways if they were on the ground.
Above them was a wide dome. The sky of Holotulle was completely artificial.
Chee didn’t know how it was created, but she knew it wasn’t a glass dome.
The night shields were the closest thing to a dome structure over the sky, but they were temporary and retracted when it was time for daylight.
She imagined it had to be the same thing that kept the atmosphere on planetary bodies – gravity.
It was just that Holotulle’s was artificial.
She didn’t know how that worked, but she didn’t really know how smart phones worked either. Technology wasn’t her thing.
The point was, here at the edge, the artificial atmosphere was thinner, just like it would be high up in the stratosphere of Earth.
The dome structure kept things more normalized.
The room was dim, only enough light to let them walk around without bumping into anything.
There was soft music floating through the air, and an elevated dais in the center of the room where there were already plenty of people dancing.
Surrounding that dais were tables where people were sitting, chatting, and eating by soft lights.
Everything was purposefully dim so as not to take away from the real star of the show.
The stars.
Overhead, visible through the dome, a beautiful expanse of stars spread out overhead.
They were bright, almost as vibrant and beautiful as Heava Yu’s sky.
Though it was fascinating to her just how different they were.
She could tell that they weren’t the same stars, just like she could tell it wasn’t Earth’s stars.
A whole new spread of constellations and planets that she normally wasn’t able to witness because of the night shields lay bare before her.
Dinner was a lovely affair. She had no idea what she ordered.
Genuinely couldn’t tell what it was, if it was meat or fish or what.
Trove ordered something that came out looking like a blood milkshake, and considering that his species drank blood, she wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what it was.
The metallic scent coming from it was certainly familiar.
But it was almost completely overpowered by the steam coming from whatever steak she chose.
But whatever it was, it tasted really good – savory and fatty in the best kind of way. It came on a bed of greens that were soaking in its juices and spices.
She and Trove pretended that they were uppity rich people as well.
They spoke of their fine mansion but how their staff were certainly too lazy and not at all doing their job well.
They spoke of their fine starship and how unfortunate it was that it was in for repairs.
He gifted her an emerald mine on a planet she didn’t know the name of in celebration of their upcoming anniversary, and she was grateful but said it wasn’t as nice as the silk farm he gave her last month.
It was all very silly and ridiculous, but so much fun. And after eating, they got to dance together under the stars. Trove didn’t know how to dance in the way that the others were doing, so she taught him how humans just held each other and swayed at the edge of the dance floor.
Apparently, his people, the domini, danced like they were fighting. Which was a bit weird, but she was pretty sure she understood. Their whole culture was based around combat and strength and competition, even and especially among mates.
Hyde had already told her how the domini mated, so she wasn’t surprised to hear that she would have to fight Trove for the role of who was the more dominant one in their pairing.
But she was surprised to hear that he would also traditionally have to fight her strongest relative for the right to take over as the one protecting her.
“You have to fight like my father? Or mother?” She asked, frowning.
“I wouldn’t fight them seriously,” he assured her. “I would fight them to defeat, but not to hurt them. Especially your mother. I don’t know much about human males, but I’ve met multiple human females now and you all seem terribly fragile.”
“I am not,” she laughed. “And my mom would definitely try to hurt you. She’d take a challenge like that very seriously. Why do you think she taught me how to shoot?”
“Very nice,” Trove smiled approvingly. “She sounds vicious.”