by Crystal Dawn
“How did you catch them?”
“A fellow guard turned them in. He said he didn’t want to die because they weren’t doing their job. They were warned he would do it if they didn’t get back to work. We should feel glad to get rid of them, but instead I feel bad that they didn’t care about their jobs. Will we have more of this?”
“I don’t know. I researched a little about what happens on Earth with their mixed troops. It does happen, but it’s not common. Maybe once they get used to it? That it’s disappointing, can’t be denied. Perhaps they were bad guards all along and we’re better off?” He suggested.
“They weren’t the best, I’ll admit that.”
“Have a seat. Share lunch with me. Jary will have a tray brought to you.” He nodded at Jary. “We need to move past this. Recruitment is down. As wonderful as Dori is, she’s getting more workers than we are. Being a soldier isn’t the career that pulls in the young males anymore.”
“I spoke to Davy a bit. I’d heard she came to see you and I wondered why. Her boss is a disappointment. I’m not sure what you thought of her surveillance suggestions, but it could give us a place to go with some of the females and cut the number of males in dangerous patrols.” Garulto admitted.
“I liked her suggestions. Did she not say I told her to start on the towers?”
“She mentioned that, but there are also something called drones that can fly around and film any areas of concern. We’ve been losing at least two guards in the desert every year on average. It doesn’t sound like much, but it also discourages sign ups.
“That hadn’t occurred to me.” He admitted. “What else?”
“There are some weapons from Earth that guards in dangerous areas could use that might safeguard them. Dori also said some of her guys that were former military want a chance to go back. She believes they’ve learned their lesson.”
“That’s a big decision to make. Are you prepared to make it?”
“Me?” Garulto asked.
“I bet you know the ones she’s talking about. Decide and do it.”
Garulto saluted then hurried away. He now had more work to do, but he could handle it.
Chapter 3
Queen For a Day
“C’mon Tomi. Give the guy a chance.” Davy said. The others seemed to agree with her. Had she stuck her nose in their business? No, she hadn’t.
“Don’t you think he’s hot as hell? You’ll be a queen. It’s like every young girl’s fantasy.” Bree tossed in.
“I always thought I’d be the odd man out. Never you, Honey.” Betty added for good measure.
Mama said nothing just working on whatever she was cooking. She’d have her say later. Everyone looked at Cretia. “What? I have enough trouble keeping my own life straight.”
“Get to work girls. We’ve got a lot of cooking to do.” Mama scolded lightly. Thank God for Mama. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have her say when they were alone together.
They were all working on the food for this afternoon’s barbeque. Her mother, Dori, was in charge and it was at her and Garulto’s house. The males, dragons all, would arrive soon and the meat had been tenderized and marinated properly according to its type. It was in the large cooler waiting to be placed on the grill.
It was almost funny that she worked with food every day, but her mouth still watered at the thought of the good food they were preparing. Especially a few choice dishes her mom did so well. No one, not even her, ever made them as good as her mom.
Back on Earth it would be mother’s day soon. Their sister Kitty would probably think about their mom and miss her like they all missed Kitty. She was a doctor near the end of her internship. The youngest and probably the smartest of them all, she was the only one that hadn’t come with them. That may have been the only mistake she’d ever made.
Tomi knew Kitty would have thrived here. The doctor at the castle would have exchanged information with her making everyone here even safer medically. Kitty was beautiful and funny in a humorous way. She was also a force of nature getting things done when it was important. They’d not heard from her in a while, but interns were kept busy most of the time.
“I’ve got the potato salad done.” She called out.
“I’ve finished the macaroni salad.” Bree said.
“Those are both marked off the list.” Davy said. Her mom had taught Davy to cook during the summers when she’d stayed with them because her mother wouldn’t. She’d said they were too wealthy to cook for themselves, or something like that. Still, Davy was too restless to stand still long so she kept up with the list and ran things back and forth.
Davy took the finished foods to the cooler and grabbed some items for the rest of them. “Did I miss anything?”
“Not for me.” She said and the others called out too.
“My baked beans are done, but I’m setting them on the countertop to cool off.” Betty said. It was smart to let Davy know or she’d grab it and run.
“We’re ready to start on the meat.” Garulto said.
“Davy will show you what’s where and help you with it.” Mom directed. Garulto might be a general, but at home he took commands from his mate.
“Hey, Erak! How are you doing?” Mom asked as a chorus of hellos filled the air.
“Better now that I’m here. The food smells wonderful.” He complimented. “Are you making my favorite dessert?”
Her mother flushed. “I am if it’s banana split cake.”
Erak grinned. “It is. I can hardly wait. The guys are waiting for me. Need me to carry anything to them?”
“Grab some beer and they’ll love you.” Her mom counseled.
Erak grabbed a case and rushed out. “Just like a big kid. All of the guys are.” She observed.
“That’s better than if they’re old crab apples.” Betty said.
“Let’s finish up so we can enjoy ourselves too.” Her mom suggested.
They were almost done as it was. She was finishing up on the deviled eggs. With a group like this, she’d made six dozen and she still bet there wouldn’t be one left over. She sighed in relief. They were all done and covered.
“Anyone need help? I’m done.” She offered.
“I’m almost done so I don’t need any.” Bree said.
“I could use some help. I’m making kabobs. We just need to use all this up.” Cretia pointed.
“Looks like fun.” It was a pile of vegetable, mushrooms, and chunks of meat.
Betty got done and came over to help too then Bree joined them too. “This is fun.” Bree said.
“Only if you like playing with your food.” Tomi observed. Bree was throwing things in the air and trying to stab them with the kabob skewers.
“That’s enough. Let’s get done and outside so we can have some real fun.” Their mother said as she joined them to finish the job. The kids were all outside with their dads.
They were done in moments. “Let’s go now.” They cleaned up quickly and then carried the kabobs out to the guys.
The scent of succulent meats filled the air as the guys stood around, some holding babies, and drank a cold brew. Those kabobs would be amazing too. Erak was holding one of the babies and he looked so natural doing it. As he passed the baby back, he looked up and their eyes met. She wondered if they were thinking the same thing.
The ladies all took their seats by their mates except her. They left a seat next to Erak empty. Without any other choice, that’s where she sat. Erak leaned into her. “When are you going to visit me for a day?”
She flushed as his hot breath tickled her ear. “I’ve actually got some help now. Maybe in a couple days when I see if they’ll work out?”
“Two days? That will work for me. I’ve got a lot going on you can give me your opinion on.” Erak whispered.
The meat was nearly all cooked and some of the others were filling their plates. Most of the babies were asleep and it was a good time to eat. Her stomach growled. Yes, a good time to eat. “Okay, but righ
t now let’s just eat and have a good time. I rarely get away from work.”
“I thought you enjoyed it?” Erak questioned.
“When I was on Earth, I never thought I’d have a place of my own I could run and make the decisions for. I’m thrilled to have the cafeteria and I love cooking, especially baking. But anything can take over your life and become too much. Almost, I gave up on ever getting some good help. Now I have some, but I worry about keeping it. To be honest, I could use a couple more helpers just like the two I just hired. Mom says the guys around here are embarrassed to work in a kitchen. Since we cook such big amounts, the females have trouble lifting the pans especially when they are full.”
“I can see how that might be a problem. Also, I can admit I’ve never seen a male in a kitchen except giving orders. Maybe it’s a failure of our culture. Never did I think about it. There’s a separation of male and female roles, but it is changing. We’re taking females in active military roles, but it’s already caused trouble.”
“What kind of trouble? The males resent them?”
“Oh, no. The males had sex with them instead of doing their job. Two couples had to be fired. They were punished as well but I’m not sure how. Their actions could have led to deaths of many including themselves.”
Her face felt hot. That explanation had caught her off guard. “Perhaps putting the males and females together in less dangerous circumstances the first few times might give you an idea of what will happen? A strong attraction revealing itself at the worst possible time can’t be a good thing. Not everyone is strong enough to fight the desire.” She knew what he was thinking. Yes, she was strong and she was fighting it.
“I’ll mention that to Garulto. We should have thought of that but it never occurred to us that seasoned guards would forget their duty.” Erak explained.
“Maybe part of the problem is they only meet their mates when they are ready to mate. It sends them a message that when they find their mate, they’d best grab them fast. Did the couples make it permanent?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask when the General and I discuss it. He makes most decisions and runs the military in general. He only mentioned the incident so I would be informed.”
“And possibly to get your opinion on what to do with the new program?” She asked.
“Possibly. But with our situation with females, I’m as clueless as he is.”
“It was a big change to make. Now you’ll need to change the way your males view females. My suggestion would be instead of sending a few males at a time to find mates on Earth, have a program where you recruit females to come here. You can do that several ways. Set up a mail order bride type service, recruit for your military, or just bring in females to fill jobs. I’d take two for the kitchen. If you set up a company to take applications, you can choose females that fill certain requirements.”
“We thought of that before, but we were afraid we’d get a lot of females that had no match here.”
“Why is that a bad thing? Some of your males may not find a match. The females may find someone in the human settlement, on the meteoroid, or you may even want to bring in a few human males to fill positions you can’t get enough people for. Earth has too many people, right now you don’t have enough. Human males are good, bad and somewhere in the middle. At least you’ll have a chance to pick and choose.”
“I never thought about it that way.” Erak admitted.
“You’ve been too focused on mates. Bringing in a few males or even some families wouldn’t hurt if you pick the right people. There are even people that do that for a living, select the right people for a job and a situation.”
“That’s amazing. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“In my country, former country, we take specialization to a high level. Many people train sometimes years for specific jobs that require a lot of education and training. Take my baby sister Kitty. She’s training to be a healer. Kitty went to school for six years. Because she’s smart, she got done quicker than others. Now she’s training in a big hospital.”
“You miss her.”
“We all do. I wish she’d come with us, but she always wanted to be a healer and she’s so close to being finished.”
“Maybe she’ll change her mind once she’s done.”
“Maybe, but it’s unlikely.”
“You’re right. The females in your family are stubborn.” Erak observed.
She noticed most of the others had their plates empty while she and Erak had hardly eaten at all. “We’d best eat our food before someone thinks we don’t like it.”
“They know we’ve just been talking and that we have a lot to talk about. All the food is amazing.”
“The food is really good. Even using local ingredients, these taste like the dishes Mom raised us on.”
“You girls were so lucky. My mom couldn’t cook at all. She was the daughter of a neighboring king and grew up learning to plan parties, run a household, and help take care of the poor in the community.”
“Sounds like what wives of nobility did on our world too. All important things to do.”
“True, but it didn’t make the food at home taste better. We went through cook after cook. I think the problem was that a female’s role was so defined that males refused to cook. With the shortage of females, most males don’t want their mates or daughters out among males. It’s a vicious circle. You notice many males from town eat at your place?”
“Yes, I assume they’re single.”
“Most of our mating aged males are single. We do need to do something to help them find their mates sooner. Your idea is a sound one. It would help your planet too since it’s got so many people. It amazes me your planet can feed that many. That shows me the advantages of your technology. Dori has put some of it to use here and it is mind boggling how it ups production. Your mother runs her company so well. She’s organized and keeps up with everything. I see where you inherited your skills from.”
“My mom is amazing. She raised four daughters alone after my dad died. Really he was in the military and gone most of the time before that.”
“Military wives are to be admired. I don’t know how they do it especially when they have kids.” Erak admitted.
“They are tough. Mom knew other military wives and they helped each other. After Dad died, she got involved with a group of military widows that did the same thing. I’m sure she helped dozens of women through their loss. It can be hard to get the paperwork filed and get your benefits at a time when you’re reeling with your loss and trying to keep up with children who are also suffering.”
“I can’t begin to imagine. When I lost my parents, I was already grown and it still hit me hard.”
“I can’t believe losing someone you love is ever easy.”
Eating as they spoke, their plates were empty and everyone else’s were too. “I think it’s time to make some plans.” Erak observed. They moved in closer to the others who were already discussing what had happened and what they should do now.
“What are you guys discussing?” She asked.
“We wanted to come up with something to suggest to Erak. We know they’re in the caves at the Forgue Desert. They are also staying somewhere near the Hort Lake. If we went all in, we would find them. Maybe say we’re going to the desert and they’ll all leave then attack the lake instead? Or even switch it. I’m ready to take the assholes down.” Davy admitted.
“You’re a blood thirsty one, for a girl.” Erak observed.
“You didn’t just go there.” Tomi said.
“I was just joking, honest.” He held his hands in front of him.
“We’ll let you get away with it this time.” Mom said with a smile.
“Thank you. Now what are the suggestions for the plan?” Erak asked to get them all on track.
It was finally decided in a week they’d pretend to hit the caves, but hit the lake instead. “The lake would have the higher number of rebels and the leaders would be there t
oo. No one wanted to stay in the desert, it was hot, uncomfortable, and there were dangerous predators around.
In two days, Erak would expect her to hang out with him while he ran the kingdom. She could admit she had no idea what he did. While he was the ruler, she wasn’t sure what he did personally. Most of the day to day things were done by others, but when big decisions were made, they came to him. But what were big decisions? How did he decide what to do? He couldn’t know everything about even the simple things that were done every day.
If they ended up together, not that she was saying they would, what would she do? Could she still manage her kitchen? Did Erak expect her to become a social and political diva? That wasn’t really an area she was interested in. She was just a simple girl at heart. Maybe that was part of the reason she’d been so angry that he’d hid who and what he was. She wasn’t sure she could become a part of his world.
There was nothing sophisticated about her. She’d been told she was pretty, she was hard working, smart, and talented at cooking. That didn’t qualify her to assist in running a kingdom. Even the thought of it scared her. Erak had been raised to be a king so it didn’t seem as overwhelming to him.
She didn’t even know what to wear to spend time at his side. Would it be formal? It was unlikely they’d leave his throne room, but what if there was an emergency and they did? Calming down by taking deep breaths, she avoided a panic attack barely.
“Are you okay?” Erak whispered low.
“Yes, I’m just not good at politics.” She admitted.
“You’re thinking too much and making this way too hard.”
“Are you kidding? You’re a damn king.”
“Well, no one’s ever described it like that before.” He chuckled so at least he wasn’t mad at her.
“Isn’t it ever overwhelming?”
“It is sometimes when the decisions are very important. Making the wrong one can hurt my kingdom or cause people to lose their lives. You have to realize that while I hope you will give me advice and help with certain things, those big decisions will all be on me. What you can do to help me the most, is just love me and be there for me. You’ll have a small part in assisting me, but the responsibility of life and death is all mine.”