by Brandon Hill
No. That was merely a catalyst. The process is more subtle, and thus it takes longer. And Felyans produce the pheromone throughout their lives, although it increases in potency after puberty. Still, it takes interaction and an emotional bond for the process to take full effect. But it can be said that when you were children, your closeness came about, in part, quite literally because of chemistry.
“So you’re saying that it wasn’t real?” I asked, my voice on the edge of disbelief and anger. “That my love for Vani, and her love for me, was nothing but a chemical reaction?
No, not at all, the ambassador replied, ever placid. As a matter of fact, what happened between you and lady Sar’vana chemically could not have happened without the initial spark, the formation of an emotional bond. The pheromones merely gave it a ‘nudge’ in the right direction. I know this may sound intrusive and embarrassing, but you have not been intimate with many females of your species throughout your life thus far, have you?
“Ah … no,” I said, feeling myself grow hot, despite how casual talk of sex was on my world. For some reason that I was at a loss to explain, this Vlissian made me feel uncomfortable about it, but I chalked this up to his most likely being able read my thoughts as easily as I could read a computer screen.
Did you find females interesting?
This somewhat offended me, and my tone perhaps came out more sharply than I wanted. “I’m interested in girls, if that’s what you mean.”
That is obvious, the ambassador said with a note of wry humor. What I mean is, did you gravitate towards many females of your species since the time that lady Sar’vana left?
“Oh.” Now understanding, I shook my head. “No. Not many at all. And I was more or less coerced into sleeping with most of those I did sleep with.” I said nothing of Cheryl Althea and the spiking of my drink, but as my mind could not help but touch on certain memories as I spoke, I supposed the ambassador already knew, even if he remained silent about it.
And what of the one you mated with after Lady Sar’vana arrived?
“I already told you, she meant absolutely nothing to me!” I shouted with fervor. I knew that the ambassador meant no offense; nevertheless, his words provoked such a strong reaction of anger from me that it surprised even me. Quickly, I composed myself and sat back in my chair, pushing myself away from the edge that I found myself seated upon. “I’m sorry,” I said. It’s just that it’s kind of a touchy subject with me. Vani found out about it, and it was embarrassing enough having to admit the whole story to her, even though she did forgive me. She knows she’s the only one for me. I’d give up any other girl on Zynj for her. But I still have no idea what drove me to get with Keisha. It’s like I was consumed from the inside out, and …” I paused, my mind putting the pieces together. The ambassador watched on, maddeningly placid in form as my jaw dropped open.
“Sar’vana did it!” I ejected. And then, at once, I felt confusion, and even the beginnings of pain. But the subsequent words of the ambassador stopped those burgeoning emotions in their tracks.
Not on purpose, He said in a stiff tone. He thrust his hand outward in a stern halting gesture. You guessed correctly when you figured that lady Sar’vana was the cause of it. But it was nothing she had any control over. Felyans cannot consciously control the effects of their pheromones, but they are directed more strongly at a potential or actual mate than others.
I believed I was beginning to understand even more. “Then why would it make me head for some random girl?” I asked. “I mean, Vani was right there.”
That she was, the ambassador replied. But did you accept her as a mate from the beginning?
I wanted to lie, but I was certain that the ambassador would have known. “No,” I said at length. “I was still too concerned with what others would think of me. But that still doesn’t explain why I went for Keisha.”
Were there other females who would have so readily shared your bed at the time?
I shook my head, and then I understood. It would have required more effort than I was willing to give in order to get even the loosest woman in New Valis to sleep with me. Keisha, however, had been more than willing and easily accessible. And had Sar’vana left and we had not completely surrendered to our feelings for each other, I most likely would have considered settling for Keisha. She had most likely been willing to have any children that I wanted, at the very least.
“So you’re saying that I was subconsciously settling for the number two choice?” I asked.
More like preparing to settle, the ambassador said. You were still struggling with your feelings for Lady Sar’vana at the time, and her presence was wreaking havoc on your body on a chemical level. That reaction of your body is actually normal when exposed to the pheromones of even an An’kya Felyan. And being in a state of readiness to mate increases its effect threefold. You would have never been able to resist Keisha had you and Lady Sar’vana not become intimately involved.
“Wait, rewind,” I said, gesturing emphatically. “A state of readiness to mate?”
Yes. After all, she is able to have children with humans. Those of her kya who can attract humans are also genetically compatible with them, the same as any An’kya Felyan.
I think my mind went blank at this news, because for the first time, an expression of confusion appeared upon the ambassador’s face. I believe that I had been staring at him for quite some time, however, until I noticed this. And once my thoughts re-focused on him, he spoke again.
I apologize. I thought that you would be happy to hear this news.
“What?” I said, at first stunned at his mistaken inference. “No! It’s not that I’m unhappy. In fact, that’s amazing. It’s the best news I’ve heard all day!” My thoughts went to my words of love to Sar’vana after my first confession about Keisha, and I laughed at how wrong my suppositions had been.
So it seems you did wish to fill your civic duty, the ambassador said with a note of amusement.
“I never said I didn’t want to,” I replied, raising an eyebrow. “Until now, I just didn’t know how it would happen. I thought that Re’kya Felyans couldn’t have children with humans. I guess I lucked out with Vani.”
My people do not believe in luck, Julius Galway. The ambassador spoke in the gravest tone I’d heard from him yet. Everything happens for a reason. Your meeting with Lady Sar’vana, as well as your falling in love … they could have happened to anyone. Another boy in New Valis could have been equally affected by her pheromones, and you would have become lifelong rivals for her affection, and that rivalry might have changed into something worse upon her return. But it did not happen that way.
“You’re serious?” My eyes must have grown as large as the Vlissian’s, I believe, and my voice had definitely risen a couple of octaves. “Let’s suppose that Chester had met Vani at the same time I did, and he became friends with her too. Are you saying that I could have actually ended up killing him for her affection, or he could’ve killed me?”
... Or you could have killed each other, the ambassador said, and I shuddered a little at this, glad that I had not been afforded such a fate. It has been known to happen even with humans and An’kya Felyans. And you are not the first human who has fallen in love with a Re’kya Felyan. It is rare, but far from unheard of.
“Well, I’m glad that it was just a hypothetical situation,” I said, and managed to laugh in spite of myself.
Are you happy? The ambassador said after a long pause.
“Happy about what?”
That you can start a family with Lady Sar’vana if you so choose. The ambassador again smiled his enigmatic smile, and thinking about what he said, I could not help but smile myself.
“Yeah. I think I am happy about that,” I said with complete honesty. “I mean, this is unexpected, but it makes things easier.”
I figured it would, the ambassador said, and I noticed that he did not ask me what I meant by what I had just said. I had to wonder if he already knew my plan, and was just pra
cticing discretion.
And then, I was struck with a realization that shifted the direction of my thoughts completely away from their current path.
“You planned this, didn’t you?” I said, suddenly realizing with some embarrassment, what the wily Felyan director must have had in mind. “Agura must have known I’d be confused and still trying to sift through things. He must’ve wanted you here so you could settle my worries.”
One of several reasons, the ambassador said in a conceding, yet evasive tone. I was also here to assure the director of your truthfulness when he questioned you.
This did not surprise me. “So you were speaking to him while he questioned me?”
The ambassador nodded. It was actually a two-way affair.
“Felyans can read minds?” I said, surprised.
No. But they don’t need to, seeing how we can, and, as you already know, communicate mentally to others. It merely takes focus on the recipient’s part in order to suppress all distracting thoughts, and a conversation can be held in mind only. I could teach you.
I doubt we’d have enough time for that,” I said. The Felyans will be leaving any day now.”
Perhaps, the ambassador said. But this is quite a delicate political matter that you’ve thrust the director into. It was a bold claim you made, but not unfounded. If your government is hiding illegal enslavers of a sovereign race, it may be a matter for the Empress herself.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, and immediately knew that he was. Zynj was a remote world of the Alliance, and one of the least necessary for her survival. The Felyans could reduce this world to molten rock and ash, and the rest of the Alliance would not think twice. Not wishing to dignify what I said with an answer, I guessed, the ambassador remained silent. “Damn. The Empress?”
Only if necessary, the ambassador warned. Zynj once fought against the Felyans during the Imperium Wars, and of course, you know how that turned out. Now is a different time since then; your people are far less arrogant now, at least in that regard. Her presence alone would be more than enough to force your Elders’ hands if it would come to that.
“No one would care if the whole planet were blown to hell,” I said, withholding some of my bitterness. “There are still some who blame us for the Wars. I hope that if the Elders knew something about what some of the Zadians were doing, they’d have the good sense to turn them in without the Empress getting involved.”
Your world is much more valuable than you believe, the ambassador said. And yes, turning in those responsible for enslaving the Felyans would be a most wise decision. But I know those thoughts trouble you, so let’s not dwell on them. His tone switched to something lighter and more conversational. Instead, tell me of your life in Zynj, Julius Galway.
With relief, I obeyed. And as I spoke, I found that like I was to Sar’vana, I had the ambassador’s undivided attention as I described my childhood before and after Sar’vana, my artwork, my job, and my friends, such as they were. The ambassador was a gracious audience, and only asked questions that prompted me to speak in as much detail as I could in order to pass the time.
At long last, Sar’vana returned with her father, flanked by their ever-present duo of Hara’Kya guards.
“What happened?” I said, eager for any news as Sar’vana broke away from her guard and hurried to my side. She slipped her hand into mine, and I clasped it firmly. I leaned into her as a newfound sense of confidence found its way into my already present comfort and relief.
“The Elders were … not happy with what we had to say,” Agura said with a faint growl. “We shall be meeting with them in about three hours.”
“And … what about me?” I asked as tentatively as I dared. I had not relished the notion of contemplating my future prospects with Sar’vana; the more I thought about it, the more the possibility of our leaving had pained me.
“You?” Agura eyed me with a curious gaze.
“You and Vani will be leaving sooner or later, along with the rest of your people,” I said. “After what happened at home, I’m most likely going to be persona non grata, at least for awhile. Even my parents won’t have anything to do with me once they learn what Keisha knows. Chester will find out soon enough, and there’s no way he’ll be able to keep his mouth shut about it.”
“So, you’re saying that there’s no place for you there,” Agura remarked.
“Oh, there’s a place for me,” I said, letting slip a bit more sarcasm than I intended. “After they sterilize me, I’ll be going to the communal homes. But I won’t be staying there long. After they learn what I’ve done to deserve getting force-fixed, my next stop is the ICU at the hospital … or the crematorium.”
Sar’vana made a little gasp, but her father’s expression showed not the barest hint of a flicker.
“Julius Galway, it appears that you are asking me for asylum.” A wry grin appeared, ever so slightly upon the director’s muzzle.
“No,” I said quickly, and a little more loudly than I intended. “It’s just that-”
“No?” Agura spoke in a peculiar tone. I looked at him directly and saw that his gaze had shifted to Sar’vana. Then it moved back to me. “And what of Vani?”
It was then that I realized fully what he had said to me. And at that moment, a grand, almost impossible joy spread through me. “Direct- I mean Agura … you mean it? I can stay?”
“As you implied, you’ve nowhere else to go,” Agura said.
I turned and saw the wide grin on Sar’vana’s beautiful face, and I could not help but smile back with just as much happiness. To be more exact, I was no less than ecstatic. Joy coursed through me like the winds of a dust storm, shredding away the flesh of nearly all my fears and doubts. Not only was this what I had secretly hoped for, but never dared to imagine, but it made things so much easier for me, and far less heartbreaking in the end. More than ever, I wanted to divulge my plan to Sar’vana, but restrained myself. The right time would come soon enough; of this I was more certain than ever, now that we had all the time in the world.
“We’ll discuss the details of your asylum later,” Agura said, looking pleased with a smile of his own. “Needless to say, I believe you and Vani need a few moments of peace at the very least.”
11
I barely heard Agura’s words after his assurance of my asylum, and I was only vaguely aware of Gar and Sara as they followed Sar’vana and I back to the elevator, and through the corridors of the ship. The ship might have already been in space for how elated I was.
“Li-ah?”
Sar’vana’s gentle voice and subsequent giggle brought me back planetside, and I shifted my questioning gaze to her smiling face.
“You’ve been quieter than I’ve ever known you to be, and you’re wearing a grin the size of the planet.”
“I’m happy,” I replied.
“As am I.”
“How happy?” I said coyly, and she stopped and answered me in no uncertain terms with her kiss. I returned it in kind with great eagerness, and heard her purr loudly, despite present company. I opened my eyes once and caught a glimpse of our two guards rising discreetly from all fours to an upright position. They tried unsuccessfully to hide their respective snickering grins before they turned away.
“Was that happy enough for you?” She asked in a silken voice. Her nose touched mine, and I rubbed its velvety surface with my own.
“Oh, quite,” I said, and passed my tongue across her lips. I felt her skin beneath her fur grow warm with anticipation as her tongue touched, and then ran slowly across my lips; I heard her breathing quicken its pace as her grip upon me tightened. Reluctantly, however, I pulled back.
“If your people have as strong a sense of smell as you told me,” I said in breathy whisper, “then we might not want to continue here.”
“You’re right,” Sar’vana said, and let out a soft laugh. “But you made me stop here with your question.” She licked me once again with the tip of her tongue, and then gestured down the hall
way. “Shall we go?”
I followed, and after a moment asked, “Where are we going anyway?”
“To the guest quarters.”
“Oh,” I said, and we continued along through the twists and turns of the wood-enfolded corridors. I began to notice that Sar’vana had affected a very deliberate sway in her stride. I grinned in amusement at the very provocative way in which she walked, half-hypnotizing me with her tail as it swept from side to side with the movement of her hips. She must have known by scent how ready I was; this was now just plain teasing, and I would make her pay for it later.
Sar’vana dismissed the guards when we arrived at a door that was slightly grander than the ones on this deck.
“Come back in an hour and a half,” I heard her say to Gar and Sara in her native tongue before they took their leave. I noticed that all the other doors had numbers in Felyan script emblazoned on their surfaces, while this one did not. Sar’vana passed her hand across its surface, and a series of blue lights appeared beneath the strange white material that it was made of.
I heard a chime come from no speakers that I could see, and the door slid open to a room that was most certainly not guest quarters. Sar’vana brought me inside, and then closed the door, and ran her fingers upon its surface again. The lights this time switched colors from blue to red.
The room was unmistakably lived-in, and seemed to have been that way for a long time. The room was lit by lamps that resembled large flowers that seemed to grow from the floor. They stood in neat rows beside the eggshell white walls. The bed, though neatly made, was circular, with no discernible head or foot boards. It was like a round, velvet cushion of royal blue, and with various changes of clothes strewn about it. There was what looked like a dresser beside the bed with an assortment of objects that I could not immediately identify, along with combs, brushes, and a bottle I recognized as containing the familiar detangling ointment. On the room’s far side, there was a large instrument that looked like a strange fusion between a harp and a cello. I had long since come to realize that I’d become more sensitive to Felyans’ individual odors. Beneath the powdery fragrance, each Felyan had a distinctive scent about themselves. And this room smelled strongly of Sar’vana.