"He knows that you are upset, and he doesn't want you to be."
Eden rubbed the side of her belly.
"It's alright, little one," she whispered, "I'm fine. I just want you to be healthy and strong, and I want your Papa to be here when you're born."
"He's calmer now, but he is nearly ready to come into the world and meet you."
"How nearly ready?"
"I can't tell you that. Remember, I am not positive about anything that I tell you about him. I can only tell you what I feel. I would say, though, that becoming a Denynso definitely changed how you will carry this baby and any future children you may have. I do not think that he is going to stay cuddle up inside you for another two months."
Chapter Seven
The sound of a sharp knock on the door startled Zuri and she turned away from watching Loralia and Eden. She looked around the room to make sure that all of the women were there, and then looked back toward the door. There was another hard, sharp rap on the door and she heard a deep but feminine voice come through the door toward them.
"It's Zsilvia."
Zuri crossed the room and opened the door to allow the Denynso woman in. With the exception of Samira, who was nearly as tall as she was, the Denynso women were the only females anywhere around that could rival Zuri in size. They were actually taller than she was and slightly larger, which was not something that Zuri was accustomed to. On Earth she was always made to feel extremely large and ungainly, particularly when compared to the other women who worked in the university. It had been the lingering feelings of discomfort about her size and how she compared to the other women that made her nearly walk away from the love of her mate, Ero. On Uoria, though, she felt like she fit in. In fact, it was the tiny, delicate-looking other human women who looked far more out of place that she and Samira did. Fortunately, they were never made to feel the shame and self-doubt that she had.
"Hi," Zuri said, "Is everything alright?"
Though the Denynso women were nice enough and all of the women spent time together occasionally, the women born into the tribe tended to be quieter and preferred to keep to themselves. It was unusual for one of them to show up at one of the human women's homes without there being a specific reason.
"Creia and Theia sent me to retrieve you."
"Is something wrong?" Zuri felt a sudden surge of panic. "Is there something wrong with the men? Did they hear from them?"
She didn't realize it until she was within a few inches of her that she had been advancing toward Zsilvia. She stopped and took a step back, trying to calm the suddenly frantic pounding of her heart.
"No," Zsilvia said, "They said nothing about the warriors. They didn't seem upset, but they did say that they would like for you to get to them as quickly as possible."
"Eden, do you feel up to going?" Zuri asked.
Eden shook her head.
"I think that I should stay here and get some more rest if that's ok."
"I'll let the king and queen know. I'm sure they won't mind."
"I'll stay here with Eden," Loralia offered, "I can't imagine they need to see me."
Zuri nodded and the other three women came toward her so that they could follow Zsilvia toward the meeting hall where the king and queen lived and held court. This kept them close to their people at all times, whether they were eating in the banquet hall or needed to speak with them in their meeting hall.
The four women followed closely behind Zsilvia as they made their way toward the meeting hall. Not for the first time since she had been on Uoria, Zuri longed for the convenience of the vehicles on Earth. While there certainly weren't as many individual vehicles as there had been in past generations, the availability of many different kinds of public transportation virtually everywhere made it easy to get anywhere you needed to go without having to resort to walking. This seemed especially important when even her long legs were having difficulty keeping up with the impressive stride of the Denynso woman leading their way. Zuri could only imagine how much more difficult it was for the smaller human women to keep themselves up to pace.
When they finally made it to the meeting hall Zuri noticed that again Creia and Theia were standing out on the front steps rather than waiting inside for the women to come to them when beckoned. They had eaten their meals at home rather than in the banquet hall since the men left, and this was the second time that the king and queen had greeted them from the front steps instead of inside. It was almost as if without the warriors Creia didn't have the heart to have anyone in the hall. Zuri sometimes had to remind herself that these two sweet and gentle people were not just the beloved monarchs of the Denynso compound. They were also the parents of many of the warriors. This ensured that they were suffering an extra level of pain and worry now that the men were gone.
"Hello," Zuri said as she approached the steps.
Creia looked down at her with his customary smile, but she could see how the worry was impacting him. He seemed worn and tired in a way that Zuri hadn't seen him before.
"Ah, Zuri," he said, coming down the first few steps to greet her, "Thank you for bringing her to me, Zsilvia." Zsilvia nodded and stepped to the side so that Creia and the women didn't have to look over her. "I know that there is a still a bit of time left, but I wanted you to get here early so that there was no rushing when the shuttle arrives."
"The shuttle?" Zuri asked. Creia's face darkened and it suddenly hit her. "The shuttle! That is coming today!"
"What's going on, Zuri?" Samira asked.
Zuri turned to her.
"The professor from the university is arriving today."
"I thought that the shuttle was still a couple of days off," Samira said.
Zuri shook her head.
"Creia told me last night that he got another communication confirming the arrival and that it would be a day earlier than anticipated. Apparently they are not using the same shuttle after the incident with the flight attendant, and the new one is going through testing for the university Design and Engineering program. It is faster and more efficient than the older ones."
"Apparently."
"I'm so sorry that I forgot," Zuri said, looking back at the king, "I didn't mean to." She stopped just short of telling him what was happening with the men. It didn't feel like the right time to include him in the situation. "Eden hasn't been feeling well."
The slight angry expression dissipated from his face only to be replaced by worry.
"Eden? Is she alright? Is the baby alright?"
"Everything is fine," Zuri reassured him, "We were visiting with Loralia and Eden started feeling strange and having a few pains so we brought her to the midwife. Adela examined her thoroughly and says that everything looks good."
"Does she think the baby will be coming soon?"
"She doesn't know. She says there is still no way to know whether she will carry to a Denynso term or a human term."
Creia nodded.
"At least she is well now. Is Loralia with her?"
"Yes. She stayed home just to be safe."
"That's good."
The king looked off into the distance for a moment and then back at Zuri.
"Sir."
Creia looked like he was about to say something, but Zsilvia's voice stopped him before the words could come out. Zuri watched him turn to the Denynso woman.
"Yes?"
Zsilvia pointed into the distance and Zuri followed her hand to see plumes of white smoke appearing over the crest at the edge of the compound.
"The shuttle's here," Zuri said.
Suddenly she was nervous. No one had told her which professor was coming, and she was worried that it might be one of the women with whom she hadn't gotten along very well while she was on Earth. Fortunately there weren't many of them, but she didn't feel prepared to not only deal with one of them for however long she decided to stay on Uoria participating in the exchange program that as of yet had scarcely gotten underway, but to also have to go through the explanations a
s to why she had submitted papers to take an indefinite leave of absence from the university and stayed on Uoria. She hadn't told a single person on Earth other than Samira what had happened between her and Ero, or why she was choosing to join the Denynso. It wasn't that she meant to hide it from anyone, or that she didn't want her former coworkers or anyone else to know, it was simply that she hadn't cared enough about their perceptions of her or her choices to share it with them.
"Since the warriors aren't here, I've told the shuttle commander that you will be greeting the professor," Creia said to Zuri.
"Me?"
"Yes. You are a fellow professor and a colleague from the university. It will be comforting to see a familiar face and to have some guidance."
Zuri didn't have a chance to respond before Creia climbed back up the stairs to Theia and they both walked back into the meeting hall, likely to take their places in their main throne room so that they could greet the new teacher they way they did all visitors from Earth. It was both a comforting and intimidating moment that Zuri remembered clearly from her arrival. Thrust in front of the king and queen just moments after meeting Ero, she had felt welcomed onto the blanket, but also somewhat scrutinized. After spending time with the Denynso she knew of the threats that they had faced and felt herself being just as wary of the newcomer as she assumed they had felt about her.
Chapter Eight
By the time they made it to the landing platform, the shuttle had settled completely into place and the plumes of white smoke had begun to disappear into the air. The shuttle would stay there for at least 24 hours to give the crew a chance to rest and recuperate after the long journey and prepare for the equally long journey back. Zuri found herself wondering if the flight attendants had the option of undergoing the sedation process that many of the passengers did when they were on their way back to Earth. If the shuttle was empty, there really wasn't much for them to do. Perhaps, though, they were required to stay awake simply because they were working and it wouldn't seem practical to pay them for working five days when they were merely sleeping.
The door to the shuttle hissed slightly as it loosened from its position in the shuttle wall and opened out into the space above the elevated landing platform. Zuri watched as the shuttle commander, the same pilot who had been in charge of her trips from Earth to Uoria, back to Earth, and then back to Uoria again, stepped out onto the platform and took a deep breath of the cool air as if relieved to be out of the shuttle for the first time in days. Behind him came a young man and a young woman wearing the flight attendant uniform. She thought that the young man could have been the one who had been with her on one of her flights, but she wasn't positive. She didn't recognize the woman, an obvious hasty replacement for the attendant who had used her position on the shuttle as a means of betraying the Denynso because of an old family grudge.
The women shifted behind her as they waited a few more seconds for the professor to come out. It had been Zuri's experience that passengers who chose to stay awake during the voyage were usually standing right in front of the door with their luggage at their feet, ready to bolt out of the shuttle as quickly as they possibly could when the craft landed because they were so desperate to not be in the same small space, staring out of the window at the deep blackness that was the universe. To her this meant that the new professor must have taken the option given to all of the passengers and been put into a deep sleep to pass the trip. She had done it on one of her trips, and though she had to admit that it made the days pass far more quickly and numbed the pain that she had been feeling, it was not something that she would have wanted to do on her first voyage. That is something that she wanted to feel in control of and remember.
After another few seconds of waiting she saw a large suitcase fly out of the door to the shuttle and skitter across the platform followed by another, and then a smaller bag. Finally a figure stepped into the doorway and Zuri couldn't withhold her gasp of surprise. It was a man.
The whispers that came from the women behind her told Zuri that they had all been assuming the same thing; that the new professor that would come to Uoria to be a part of the exchange program would be a woman. She wasn't sure why she had assumed that, other than that she was the only professor to have come to the planet and that the majority of the professors who had been in favor of the exchange program and voiced even the slightest interest in being a part of it were women. Even the only two students who had made their way to the program, Leia and Samira, were women. This middle-aged man's sudden appearance seemed somewhat out of place, like it was throwing the balance off track.
The man stepped forward and stretched his back, looking down to offer a grin to the women gathered at the foot of the platform, and Zuri suddenly recognized him.
"George?" she called up to him.
"Zuri!" he boomed, the lilting accent in his voice sounding both familiar and strange.
She had worked with George for a few years prior to coming to Uoria, though they were never what she would have considered close friends. She wasn't sure how she felt about him being the professor who was joining the program on Uoria, but she also didn't know how she would have reacted had it been one of the women. As she stood there watching George gathering his bags so that he could carry them down off of the platform, Zuri realized that she was feeling so protective of the compound and the Denynso that she didn't think she would have reacted well to anyone new coming. She would have just as soon cancelled the program and stopped anyone else from coming to the planet.
"Where to?" George asked as he came up beside Zuri.
"When new visitors arrive on Uoria, the first place they go is to meet the king and queen. We'll take you there."
"Sounds good."
"You might remember Samira," Zuri said, gesturing toward the youngest of the human women.
"Of course. It's good to see you, Samira."
Samira nodded and stepped out of the way so that Zuri could introduce the other two women, who exchanged pleasantries and handshakes with George. Zuri could see that all of them were looking at him with expressions that said they were feeling much of the same confusion and uncertainty as she was.
"And this is Zsilvia."
Zuri stepped back so that she could gesture toward the Denynso woman. Zsilvia had fallen back a few steps from the rest of them and looked somewhat startled when Zuri urged her forward. George reached forward and Zuri saw Zsilvia's hand tremble slightly as she placed hers against his palm. He closed his fingers around her hand and held it for a few seconds rather than shaking it as he had with the other women.
"Hello," Zsilvia said, her voice uncharacteristically soft.
"It is very nice to meet you," George said.
After a moment Zuri placed a hand on Zsilvia's arm.
"We should get to the meeting hall. Creia and Theia will be expecting George."
Her intrusion in the suspension between the two of them seemed to bring Zsilvia back into reality and she stepped away from George, her hand falling away from his and her eyes dropping to the ground. Zuri withheld the smile that was teasing at her lips and started back down the path away from the shuttle and toward the meeting hall.
Chapter Nine
As hard as she tried to keep her eyes focused on the king and queen, Zsilvia couldn't seem to stop them from wandering to George's back. He stood several feet ahead of her, facing the king and queen as they stood near the edge of their throne platform looking down at him just as they did with everyone who came to the compound. She was positioned on the side of the hall, taking up the position that would usually be held by the warriors who accompanied the visitors from the shuttle to the meeting hall. Though she was obviously not a warrior, she was a close as was available at the time, and it was important to maintain tradition.
"We are very excited to have you here with us," Creia said.
George nodded and Zsilvia felt her eyes travel down his body again. They didn't seem to care how much her mind was telling them to stay focused
and to keep away from him, but traced the broadness of his shoulders and the definition of his back through his shirt. He was not as large as the warriors, but still the biggest human man that she had ever seen. What startled her even more than his size, however, was his age. She had anticipated him being young like the human women. Even Zuri, who was the oldest of the women to have come from Earth, was at least 10 years younger than him.
Instead of making him look weathered or worn, however, the age made him seem strong, steady, and more dignified than the young warriors. Despite his broad, willing smile and the energy that exuded from him as he carried his huge suitcases with absolute ease, he had a sense of stability and control within him that stood in stark contrast to the wound up, often unpredictable nature of the warriors. She found desperately not to think about it, but she found it irresistible.
"We have found ourselves very fond of the women who have come here before you," Theia said with a laugh and the human women standing behind George chuckled.
"I look forward to the opportunity to get to know all of you and to work toward our mutual goal of cooperation between the planets."
George's voice was different than anything Zsilvia had ever heard. The accent was rumbling, like water rushing over rocks, but occasionally added a sharp edge to a word as if it were more difficult for him to say than the others. The sound rolled through her, seeming to reach deep inside her and settle into her chest.
"Usually we have one of our warriors act as protector and guide for our human visitors, but our men have recently left the compound on a quest that will keep them away for an unknown amount of time. Since you are already acquainted with Zuri, she may act in a warrior's stead."
Zsilvia watched Zuri step forward to address the king and queen.
"With all due respect, as much as I would like to ensure that George settles into the compound comfortably and has everything that he needs to get accustomed to his new surroundings, I don't think that I'm right for the position," she said.
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