A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance

by T. J. Brandow

  Another orphan. I began to see a pattern.

  “From what I understand,” I said carefully, “blood relations are very important to you, to the Konkoma. Why would you live in the same town, be related, but not be close?”

  Mema-Marno smiled as though I’d cracked the code.

  “That is a complicated answer,” she said. “But in the end, I think it’s jealousy. Simply, my mother is alive and hers is not. Our father favored me when we were growing up, because my mother was his current partner. Reyna has not been able to forgive me for that.”

  I took this all in, trying to filter this new information through what I’d already noticed about Reyna. It did fit and Mema-Marno didn’t have a reason to lie about the facts of their parents’ lives, but I couldn’t help feeling that there had to be more that she was leaving out.

  “Are you close with Sorel?” I asked, hoping to go at it from another direction. I had never heard him talk about Mema-Marno and that fact only struck me now that I had this new information.

  The tip of Mema-Marno’s lavendar-grey nose darkened and she deliberately looked away from me for the first time in our conversation. I had no idea what this reaction was, but I could tell it was a strong one. I had never seen a Konkoma change color like this. I wondered if it was akin to a light-skinned Human’s blush.

  “No,” Mema-Marno said finally. “We’re not close. Reyna doesn’t let me get to know him, really. He seems like a sweet child.”

  “He’s a really funny kid,” I agreed. “He has such a great attitude about everything.”

  Mema-Marno leaned closer to me ever so slightly.

  At that moment, the server appeared to take my food order. I ordered and then Mema-Marno did as well, as though she’d always been sitting at this table with me. I figured that I was stuck with her for the rest of Second meal. I meant to make the most of it.

  When the server was gone, I started a more delicate line of questioning.

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, “why is adoption such a strained topic for your species?”

  She hesitated, pulling in her lips while she thought.

  “I’m not an expert on society like you are,” she said, “but I can tell you that it’s been this way for centuries. Reyna made quite a stir when she adopted Sorel.”

  “She doesn’t seem the type to want others involved in her business,” I pointed out. “Why would she do something that would draw attention to herself like that?”

  “It was in the rotation of office leading up to her bid for Mayor,” Mema-Marno said. “I think she did it for the publicity.”

  “Are you sure?” I pressed. Something just wasn’t adding up and I wondered if I could uncover a prejudice in Mema-Marno. “I’m not sure Reyna would make such a life-altering choice just for publicity. Surely, she could have chosen something a bit less...permanent? And isn’t it a bit more scandalous than admirable?”

  “You’re right about it being more like a scandal,” she agreed. “But I wouldn’t put it past Reyna. She doesn’t shy away from scandal or bad press. It’s what got her into this mess in the first place.”

  “And by ‘this mess,’ I’m assuming you mean what caused her to seek good press by accepting me into her home?”

  “Yes.”

  And there it was again: this secret evil that had allowed for my arrival. My heart picked up slightly at the thought that I was close to uncovering this particular mystery.

  “And what exactly happened?” I asked. “What did Reyna do that caused the town to turn on her?”

  Mema-Marno leaned close over the table, her gaze holding mine with renewed intensity. I stared into her light eyes, trying to find expression there the way that I could with Reyna.

  “The better question,” she started, “is: what didn’t Reyna do that caused the town to turn on her?”

  The words hung in the air between us, hovering over the diner table like a ghost.

  “Well?” I pressed when Mema-Marno didn’t continue. “What didn’t she do?”

  The Konkoma hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath, and then she launched into her story with all the flurry of activity that I’d come to expect from her.

  “Well, there’s a man in town named Garn. He owns the antiques shop in the middle of town. Maybe you’ve seen it? Well, his family has been in this area for generations, longer than any other family in this town, and his whole family is well-respected. Last cycle, his adolescent son was killed in an accident. The whole town came out for the death ceremonies. As a matter of course, Reyna should have spoken at the burial. But Reyna refused to attend any of the ceremonies, even at Garn’s personal invitation. When asked for a reason, she wouldn’t give one. I don’t know that anyone has forgiven her yet for that.”

  I didn’t say anything right away. I thought over what I knew about Konkoma culture and tried to fit it all together. I couldn’t judge if Mema-Marno was exaggerating or if this truly was a significant subject to her people.

  As I tried to decide what to say, the server returned with a drink for Mema-Marno. The floral scent of the pink drink hit my nose with a force that I was still adjusting to.

  Mema-Marno quickly changed the subject, detailing the history of Bonarin throughout the rest of our meal. I knew some of it from my reading, but the rest of it was new or unreliable information to me. I listened, trying to absorb as much of it as I could. I wished I could record Mema-Marno and play it back for my notes, but I knew that was asking too much at this point.

  The meal ended pleasantly and Mema-Marno gave me her contact information before we parted ways.

  “I’m glad we could do this,” she said with a wide smile.

  “Me, too,” I said and found that I meant it.

  “I’ll speak with you soon?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I told her. “And you know where to find me.”

  Mema-Marno made an unreadable facial expression at that, her nose crinkled in a way that reminded me of Sorel. I smiled to show that I’d been joking, at least somewhat.

  Then she was gone and I was left to ponder many things on my walk back to Reyna’s home.

  Chapter 8

  That afternoon, I reported in with Dr. Weaver. She concluded that I was doing well, but she worried that I was becoming embroiled in local politics.

  “You can’t become a piece in this game,” she said. “That’s a rookie mistake and I won’t let you fall into that trap. Observe, ask questions, but don’t develop feelings that run too deep for these people. It’ll blind you with bias. And that, you know, won’t do anyone any good.”

  “Yes, Dr. Weaver,” I said. I knew that she was right; there was no way around it. “I’ll do my best.”

  “I know you will,” Dr. Weaver said with a smile. “And I’m fascinated to see where this all goes. Do keep me updated regularly.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  Suddenly, I heard the front door slam shut.

  “I think Reyna is back home,” I told Dr. Weaver. “I’m going to sign off.”

  Dr. Weaver nodded and the link cut off, leaving the screen on my InterStellar blank.

  “Dr. Lewis?” Reyna’s voice called from downstairs. It was definitely the loudest I’d ever heard Reyna talk indoors.

  “Coming,” I called back.

  I ambled out of my room, automatically fixing my hair on the way. When I reached the top of the staircase, I could see Reyna standing at the bottom with her arms crossed. She looked as angry as the time she’d jumped down my throat for talking to Sorel about being adopted. I steeled myself for her unexpected intensity.

  “Dr. Lewis,” Reyna said sternly. “Am I right in saying that you had Second with Mema-Marno today? In public?”

  “Yes,” I answered, reaching the bottom of the stairs and standing beside Reyna. Even in her shoes she was shorter than me, but she felt about six feet tall in her anger. “I don’t see the significance.”

  “I let you go out one time,” Reyna continues, as though she h
asn’t heard me, “and this is what you do. Did I not make it clear that she is not savory company?”

  “She seems fine enough to me,” I said, my tone even. I refused to give into Reyna’s mounting frustration.

  “That is because you are an outsider,” Reyna said, the way she spoke the word ‘outsider’ sounding a lot more like ‘idiot.’

  “Pardon my ignorance,” I began, trying to remain diplomatic, “but I can’t see the problem here. She’s your sister--”

  “Half-sister,” Reyna corrected immediately. “And she told you that?”

  “Yes,” I said, frowning. “Is it a secret?”

  “No. Just an unfortunate truth.”

  I took a few steps away from Reyna, hoping to cool the situation with my distance. I felt like we were talking in circles, slowly approaching something important without ever reaching it.

  “Reyna,” I said softly, “please work with me. I didn’t do any of this to upset you. I’m simply talking to the locals for my research.”

  Reyna let out a huff that I thought sounded similar to a Human scoff.

  “Are all Humans so blind?” she asked, her lip curled around the last word.

  “I think you’re taking this a bit too seriously,” I said.

  Reyna turned on me at this. She closed the few feet between us rapidly and stepped right into my personal space, her face close to mine and her eyes alight with the flame of her anger.

  “Doctor Lewis,” she said slowly, the words dropping like coins into a pond, “do not dare tell me what I’m doing or not doing. You don’t know anything about this town, about the people in it, and I will not be judged by an outsider for my decisions. Is that clear?”

  My breath caught in my chest at her closeness, at the intensity of her words, at the glare in her dark eyes… Fear tingled at the edges of my consciousness, but something like curiosity and attraction overrode it. I was shocked to find that all I wanted to do in that moment was grab hold of the smaller woman and crash my lips against hers. I suddenly needed to know what her body felt like against mine, what the taste of her mouth would be when combined with my own. I knew that I should take a step backward, distance myself from the desire pulsing between us, but I couldn’t bring my muscles to move.

  Instead, I choked out a small, “Yes.”

  I cursed the way my voice cracked on the single syllable.

  “Good,” Reyna said, her gaze falling ever so briefly to my lips. It was so fast that I almost missed it, but it happened. I swallowed hard.

  Reyna held her place for another excruciating minute and I knew, without a doubt, that I was far too invested to even attempt to follow Dr. Weaver’s missive.

  When my heart felt like it would explode, Reyna turned and walked away.

  “Try to keep your time with Mema-Marno limited,” Reyna threw over her shoulder. “She’s trouble.”

  The beautiful and terrifying Konkoma disappeared into the next room, leaving me to recapture normalcy on my own.

  Hell, was I in too deep…

  “You should clean up,” Reyna called suddenly from the other room, her voice calm. “We have a town meeting tonight and I’m bringing you along. I’m sure you’ll get plenty for your research.”

  I did get ‘plenty for my research.’ I got far more than I bargained for.

  The meeting started calmly enough, with Reyna reading through a few town charters that bored me more than anything. But when the floor was opened to the town, everything went to hell faster than I could follow.

  Garn took the platform, his gangly body darker and mangier than I’d expected. He spoke with a fractured, soft voice, but his words moved the others just as well as any great orator.

  “I stand before you,” he began, “to bring new evidence in the case of the accident leading to my son’s untimely death. This new evidence proves Mayor Reyna’s involvement in the tragedy. I call for a full investigation and her resignation as leader of Bonarin.”

  The uproar in the meeting room shocked me just as much as Garn’s accusation. Everyone stood from their seats, including Reyna who tried to calm the shouting and hissing. I watched her closely, in awe of the calm in her features.

  “Please,” she said loudly, “take your seats.”

  After a few more minutes of chaos and a lot of waving hand gestures from the Grand Judge (a female Konkoma I’d never met before), the town people subsided and returned to their seats.

  “I will not resign,” Reyna said without a hint of uncertainty. “I will allow the investigation to go forward, as is protocol, but I will not leave Bonarin without a leader. I have led this town for two rotations and I intend to continue in this way.”

  Someone yelled out a word that I knew to be a derogatory term in Konkomanese and Reyna’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly for the first time since the entire debacle began.

  “Silence,” Reyna said, her voice harder. “I will not allow this meeting to descend into primal war. You are all better than that.”

  The Grand Judge stepped up and seconded Reyna’s promise for an investigation. Then, without finishing the agenda for the evening, Reyna closed the meeting and left in a rush.

  I followed after her, barely able to keep up as she headed toward her hover.

  We drove home in tense silence. Once indoors, Reyna dismissed Sorel’s babysitter without a hint at what had occurred. The boy was already asleep upstairs, a fact for which I was grateful. I imagined Reyna felt the same. I thanked the universe that Sorel hadn’t been at the meeting to witness the attack against his mother.

  Once we were alone, Reyna exploded.

  “How could they do this?” she asked, pacing in the study. I sat on the loveseat, watching. “What evidence could they possibly have? I haven’t actually done anything. Whatever they have must be fabricated. Those ungrateful people…”

  “Reyna,” I started after she had stopped ranting, “I’m sure it’ll blow over. If there’s nothing to find, nothing will be found. It’s as simple as that.” I really didn’t know if Reyna was telling me the truth, but I figured that it didn’t help me to let her know that.

  “This is insanity,” Reyna said. Her pacing slowed somewhat, her anger transforming into something closer to sadness. “I have given this town countless hours of my life. I have worked for them like no one else has. And this is what they do.”

  I wanted to help her calm down, but I had no idea where to start. I couldn’t think of anything to say that I hadn’t already said and I didn’t want to aggravate her by sounding like a broken record.

  Reyna went over to the small piece of furniture that I thought of as her liquor cabinet. Like she had a week ago, she poured two glasses of the strong Konkoman drink. She downed hers before she even passed me mine.

  “You did the right thing tonight,” I told her, breaking the silence that had settled between us. “You should be proud of yourself for that.”

  Reyna actually rolled her eyes and I wondered where she’d picked up that particularly Human gesture.

  “You are too much sometimes,” she told me.

  I wanted to ask her “Too much what?” but I knew better than to ask her in this state. So, I held my tongue and Reyna let out a long, low growl.

  We sat there, in silence, for a long time. I simply waited for Reyna to break it, occasionally glancing over at her while I sipped my drink.

  I felt the heaviness of the Konkoman drink settle into my stomach, weighing down my limbs and slowing my thoughts. It reminded me of the time I’d drank too much vodka and had almost fallen asleep at a loud party. The drink dulled my senses, made me want to curl up and give up on the day instead of remaining alert and patient with Reyna.

  My waited eventually paid off.

  “I appreciate your company,” Reyna said finally, standing from her seat, “but I must turn in for the night.”

  “Of course,” I said, standing and reaching for the empty glasses on the short table between us. “You go to bed; I’ll take care of the glasses.”
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br />   After I’d picked up the glasses and turned to go, I stopped at the look on Reyna’s face. Her lips were pressed tight and the skin around her eyes had darkened slightly. I’d learned early on that the darkening of the skin on the face of a Konkoman was a sign of intense emotion. I couldn’t begin to guess exactly which emotion plagued Reyna at this particular moment, but I knew that she felt something and she felt it deeply.

  I stood there, holding her dark gaze, and didn’t move when she took a few steps closer to me. She lifted her hands, as though to indicate that she wanted to touch me, and I didn’t pull away.