Chapter Six #2
“Yes, we do it human-style, printed on a card, and you tell me what you want or ask me about what you need information on.” Bess smiled brightly.
The guardians looked stunned.
Bess sighed. “Or you can activate the plate in the middle of the table if you aren’t up for any guessing.”
Arkon looked at the digital display on the table. Morsek lifted one of the pages and worked to read it.
“This is all food of your world?” Morsek looked at Bess.
Bess grinned. “More or less. Mostly less, but Cloudy taught me to go for flavour, as much as that is occasionally difficult.”
Cloudy went for another egg, and Hazor said, “You know that is—”
Cloudy clamped her hand over his mouth. “I work on the dock. I know what it is.”
His lips smirked beneath her palm.
Bess chuckled and focused on Morsek’s questions.
Arkon placed a few safe orders and sat back, watching Morsek slowly flirting with Bess.
Cloudy removed her hand from Hazor’s mouth.
He reached for one of the eggs and took a bite, raising his brows. “That is interesting. You eat this frequently?”
“Yeah. After a day at the stall, I hate cooking. I usually just get some meat stew and some bread.”
Bess looked up. “And dessert. You are getting several today. Molly said so.”
Cloudy said, “What are Molly’s marks?”
“The dots?”
“Oh, right.” She chuckled and grabbed a handful of chips. The brown ketchup took some getting used to, but it tasted right. That was what mattered now; she had to look beyond appearances.
She laughed as she caught her reflection in one of the mirrored walls.
She wasn’t pigmented like she had been on Earth, but the silver and dark green suited her.
Bess’s rich brown suited her, and back in the kitchen, Molly’s deep grey suited her, as did the pointy ears. They had all opted for pointy ears.
Arkon asked, “Who is Molly?”
Cloudy said, “My cousin, her twin. Of course, they look a little different now. They opted for pigment changes like I did.”
Bess chuckled. “I went brown. She went grey. Cloudy went nuts.”
Cloudy laughed. “The gills have come in handy twice this week.”
Morsek asked, “Miss Bess, are we diverting you?”
“You are very diverting, but there are other servers. I am a co-owner, so I get to stop and chat now and then. It’s good to be the boss.”
Cloudy groaned. “Oh, damn. She has her flirt on.”
Her parents hushed her, and Hazor ate along with interest, watching like it was entertainment, which it was.
Arkon looked at them. “Miss, you said your sister was in the kitchen?”
“Yes, why—oh...”
Arkon got up and walked into the kitchen, where there was a screech and a shout immediately following it. Arkon came out with Molly over his shoulder. His face was covered with frost. “Hazor, we have another one, and I know what she does.” He wiped the ice from his face.
Molly twisted. “Cloudy! You are hanging out with a horrible class of Vecchin.”
Cloudy smiled. “I know. Side effect of working at the dock.”
Arkon said, “I am not a Vecchin. I am a Nycorin.”
“Great. I am sure you are very proud. Put me down.”
Morsek smiled. “I am a Jennar.”
Bess said, “You, also, must be very proud.”
Morsek grinned. “I am, actually.”
Cloudy leaned in and explained the food that Hazor was looking at.
He grinned. “Aren’t you happy I didn’t flip you over my shoulder like that?”
She snorted. “You know I would have bit you, right?”
He shrugged and ate some chips. “I confess, I did suspect that would be your response after knowing you for five minutes. The risk-reward ratio was difficult to work through.”
She laughed. “You are unpleasantly accurate in your assessments.”
He smiled. “You do know that my mother and father are going to come to this place, right? Perhaps my grandparents.”
“We don’t have any Hmrain-backed chairs,” Bess said.
“You have benches. He can sit on a bench. I think it will be good for him.”
Strains of music began, and Cloudy smiled but remained sitting as couples took to the dance floor.
Hazor asked, “What are they doing?”
“A form of dancing. It is a courtship thing.”
She snapped her mouth shut when he got to his feet and pulled her up. Locals of all races stared as he walked her to the dance floor and wrapped his hands around her, pulling her in close.
The room went quiet except for the music, and then conversation gradually started, only to be broken when Morsek led Bess to the dance floor, and Arkon hauled Molly and set her on her feet.
She huffed and straightened her clothing, muttering darkly at him.
He grinned and whispered. She looked at Cloudy and shrugged, clearly saying, “Family tradition.”
Arkon smiled, and he moved easily with her in his arms.
Hazor moved slowly and deliberately against Cloudy. “This is an interesting pocket of community.”
“Well, your mother stuck us here.” She smiled. “She wanted to try the different, but she didn’t want us to disrupt anyone.”
“There are a number of human-Vecchin couples here.”
“Yes, there are.” She smiled.
“That is unexpected.”
“Well, we are a tight-knit community. A little too tight-knit. Most of the people here are related to me within a few degrees of removal. We were a small town. If you go back three hundred years, we are all related. Once we were handed an unlimited gene pool, those who wanted to jumped right in.”
Hazor blinked. “So your pigment?”
“Me and the cousins thought it might go easier for folks if they got a rough estimate of what the kids of differing combinations would look like.”
Hazor smiled. “That is very community-minded of you.”
“That is what happens when you are in a small community. One succeeds so all elevate, and you all have something in common again.”
Bess was nearby. “She learned the laws regarding food and beverage service, so she taught all of us. She still won’t tell us her akko dressing recipe. Guardian Hazor, please ask her to share.”
Cloudy sneered, and Hazor and the guardians looked delighted. “Why are you all looking so happy?”
“This isn’t simply community; this is family, and Hmrain don’t have large families. It is amazing. My grandfather is going to want to examine the dynamic.”
“Vecchin? Really? Why?”
He flickered with white flame. “I have a few thoughts, and the reports have been sent to him. Any change in his bloodline is very interesting to him.”
She was about to comment when his suit started chirping. He sighed, kissed her, and headed out the door. Morsek kissed Bess’s hand and cheek, and Arkon kissed Molly until she frosted his shoulder. They left after Hazor.
Cloudy sighed. “Well, that has been a helluva thing.”
Molly grimaced. “I think he gets off on getting cold.”
Cloudy walked Molly and Bess to the back. “He’s tapping into your emotions and seeing if you are on the right frequency for consumption. He’s goading you into emoting.”