by Elin Wyn
“I’ll make some eggs before we head to work,” I offered.
“I’ve got to stop by the place I share with my brother,” Rokul said, standing up. “I’ll never hear the end of it if he notices I’m wearing the same clothing two days in a row.”
“Would he really care that much that you spent the night with someone?” I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
“No,” he smiled and extended a hand to me. “He’ll just be overdramatic about how terrible I smell.”
“I don’t think you smell terrible,” I replied.
“Neither do I. But Takar will.” Rokul stepped around the tiny table that served as my dining table to kiss me on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
His lips were still close to my cheek where he’d kissed me, and I turned so I could feel his warm breath on my lips. Our eyes locked and the little space remaining between us disappeared, him pulling me close to him and my lips parting. His tongue swept over mine and I moaned into his mouth.
I wanted the taste of him to linger in my mouth all day, long after he left. Watching him leave, I felt a reverie wash over me of the feeling of sleeping in his arms. It was perfect.
After he left, I decided to make myself some breakfast anyway. Usually, I wasn’t hungry in the mornings. Often, it would be late afternoon by the time I had my first meal. This morning, I was ravenous. I fried up three eggs and ate them right out of the pan.
Now that Rokul had left, my place felt colder. He was officially more effective than the heater my room came with. I stepped into the shower and turned up the water as hot as it would go until I could feel my fingers and toes once more.
The rain had stopped sometime in the night. The streets were mostly dry, with a few puddles here and there. All of the buildings looked clean and refreshed. I felt clean and refreshed, too, as I walked to General Rouhr’s building.
Though he’d left my rented space over an hour ago, I still felt Rokul’s skin against mine. Wherever he went, he left his warmth behind him like the fading sun. I felt happy to linger in that tail when he wasn’t with me.
I was so caught up in my memories of Rokul that I walked right past General Rouhr’s building. Only the Valorni guard stationed at the door noticed, barely bothering to hide a smile as I walked back.
Leena was already hard at work when I strolled into the lab.
“Do you ever go home?” I asked her.
“I got here at the same time you usually get here,” Leena replied. When she looked up from her station, she gave me a once over. “You look oddly glowy. Did you get laid last night?”
“Excuse me?” I choked on the words.
“Oh my god, you did!” Leena gasped. “When I told you to go back to your place and lie down, I didn’t think you’d bring someone with you!”
“I didn’t get laid!” I shrieked.
“Then why do you have that look on your face?” Leena asked. “Don’t try to tell me it was a good night’s sleep. I don’t care if your bed is made out of clouds and Lidwig feathers. No amount of sleep results in that transformation.” She gestured broadly to me.
“I did get a good night’s sleep,” I insisted. “Not because I got laid, but because I had someone next to me to keep me warm.”
“You had someone in your bed with you all night and you didn’t fuck them?” Leena looked at me as if I’d just slapped her sister. “Who was it?”
“I’m not going to tell you that,” I blushed.
“It was Rokul,” Leena said with a knowing nod.
“You can’t know that and I’m not telling,” I repeated.
“Who else would it be?” Leena shrugged. “You only know me and Rokul in this building.”
“I know more people than that,” I said a little defensively.
“What’s the name of the Valorni guarding the entrance this morning?” Leena asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before,” I replied.
“Yes, you have. He’s there every other day,” Leena said smugly.
“Now you’re making me feel like an asshole,” I muttered.
“Just admit it was Rokul you spent the night with and I’ll stop making you feel like an asshole,” Leena grinned triumphantly.
“Fine, it was Rokul.” I threw my hands up. “Tell me the name of the Valorni at the front door.”
“Oh, I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before,” Leena smirked. “I said hello to him when I came in, though.”
“I can’t believe I fell for that.” I shook my head.
“I can’t believe you spent the night with Rokul and didn’t have sex with him,” Leena grinned. “You must have some insane self-control.”
“Believe me, I considered it. But I really did need sleep. I think he did, too.” I smiled fondly at the memory.
“It’s not as fun to talk about when you’re not embarrassed about it,” Leena teased. “Do you want to see what I did yesterday after you left?”
“Absolutely.” I knew I wouldn’t be able to put Rokul completely out of my mind today, or ever again. However, there was still the mystery plant and its invasive vines to deal with.
“It’s nothing fancy.” Leena laid out three small vials filled with identical amounts of clear liquid. Each one was marked with a different percentage. “I altered the composition of one of the common pesticides on the market so it targets brain activity rather than vital organs and systems.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“Well, the sentient plants don’t have traditional brains, organs, and systems, so I had to tweak it more than I’d planned,” Leena continued. “I ran the compound through a few different simulations. That’s how I got these values.” Leena indicated the percentages marked on the vials.
“Those three concentrations yielded good results?”
“Yes. However, the simulation isn’t exact, nor is it foolproof. All three of these should have the desired effect, but they need to be tested on actual sentient plants,” Leena said. My face lit up.
“I’m more than happy to test them,” I said not caring if I sounded overeager.
“Not surprising. Go talk to General Rouhr,” Leena instructed.
I hurried out of the lab with a new spring in my step. General Rouhr was in his office, as usual, scrolling through a datapad with a tired expression on his face. To my surprise, Councilwoman Vidia was in the office, as well. She stood behind the general’s chair, reading over the top of his head and rubbing his shoulders.
Not knowing what else to do, I cleared my throat. General Rouhr looked up from his datapad with a curious expression.
“Dr. Briar,” he smiled when he recognized me. “Can I help you?”
“Dr. Dewitt’s developed three potential neutralizers to use against sentient plants under the control of invasive vines,” I explained. “I’d like permission to test them in the field.”
“Not on your own.” General Rouhr spoke in a way that reminded me of my father, serious yet concerned.
“Of course not,” I assured him.
“Do you want to take Rokul?” General Rouhr offered. I tried to smother a smile at the phrasing of the question.
“If that’s all right with you, General.” I managed to reply with no hint of humor in my voice.
“He’s all yours,” General Rouhr replied.
“Thank you. I’ll get the results to you as soon as I have them.” General Rouhr nodded and went back to his datapad. Councilwoman Vidia offered me a kind smile. I left his office feeling lighter than air. I was so excited to find Rokul and tell him we had a new assignment.
As I walked through the corridors, it occurred to me that I hadn’t been this excited to see another living being in a long time. If it weren’t for the odd stares I’d attract, I would run through the hallways in order to find Rokul faster.
Damn, I was smitten.
How the hell did that happen?
I wasn’t sure where to go to find Rokul. I hardly spent time outside of the lab.
I thought I was walking in the direction of the armory when I spotted Rokul’s brother.
“Takar!” I called as I caught up to him. He looked down at me, only the faintest glimmer of recognition in his eyes. “I’m looking for Rokul, have you seen him?” I asked.
“He was late this morning,” Takar said. “I assume you had something to do with that.”
“Kind of.” I felt heat rising in my cheeks, sensual visions of our kiss painting over my thoughts and sending tingles through my body. “General Rouhr gave Rokul and me an assignment. I need to find him.”
“Oh.” Takar’s expression brightened slightly. He and Rokul really were complete opposites. “He should be in the weight room.”
I recalled that I’d disrupted his morning exercises and nodded.
“Where is that?” I asked.
“Down the corridor on the right,” Takar nodded.
“Thanks!” I took off again, eager to escape the uncomfortable conversation. I wondered what Takar knew.
I found Rokul lifting weights that weighed as much as I did.
“Hey!” I called to him. He looked over his shoulder at me, smiled, and set his weights aside like they were made of air.
“Good morning, again,” he grinned. “I didn’t think I’d see you so soon.”
“We’ve got an assignment,” I smiled back.
“What is it?”
“How would you like to chase down sentient plants and stick them with darts?” I asked.
“It’s like you can see into my mind,” Rokul laughed. “Does this have something to do with the neutralizers you’re trying to make?”
“Yup,” I nodded. “Leena created some for me to test.”
“So, there’s a chance they won’t work at all and I’ll have to deal with a sentient plant trying to kill us?” Rokul lifted one brow.
“Exactly!” I beamed.
“Even better!”
Rokul
I was glad that Tella had requested me to be her ‘bodyguard’ for this trek into the wilderness. Not only was it something to do, but it was more time with her.
“Just wanted to say again, thank you for requesting me,” I said as we headed for the aerial unit. I hated the thing. It was loud and annoying, but it accomplished what we wanted, and that was transportation.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked.
“Figured you would have gotten tired of me by now, you know, me and my gigantic redness and whatnot,” I quipped as I helped her into the transport.
“Eh, the red doesn’t bother me. Now, your voice, on the other hand…” she grinned as she left the sentence hanging.
“Understood,” I said.
Tella chuckled as she buckled herself in. I made my way around to the pilot’s side and hopped in. “So, where to?”
“You know where,” she said with a look.
We had decided to return to Rigkon, since we already knew from her previous job with Gille there was a plethora of rogue sentient plants there. The one she’d already killed had been infested with whatever those vines were.
Chances were good we’d find more.
“I know, just making sure you hadn’t changed your mind or found somewhere more dangerous for us, is all.” Before she could respond, I yanked the transport up into the air and pushed the engines hard as I turned us around.
“Hey, easy there, wild man. If you crash us, we have no job and no fun,” she yelled over the engine noise. I just laughed at her.
We flew over the trees for a bit before I dared talk again. “Hey!”
“What?” she yelled back.
“What are we going to call this thing?”
“What, this thing?” she asked, indicating the transport. “I thought you guys already had these named.”
I shook my head and smiled. “No, not this. The take-over-other-plants-with-vines thing!” I shouted back to her.
“Oh,” she said with a lift of her chin. “I don’t know. Did you have any ideas?”
“Not off the top of my head,” I answered with a shrug. “Let’s talk on the ground.”
She nodded. It was hard to yell over the engine all the time. I needed to talk to Fen and the other Urai to see if they knew how to modify these things to make them more powerful and quieter at the same time.
It wasn’t long before we were back at Rigkon, and it still made me wonder at how people were willing to live in such a ramshackle place. I understood the desire to start over and either build anew or rebuild, but this looked terrible.
We landed and I helped Tella out. “We should make sure to get a few extra supplies from the market,” she said as she hopped down.
“Why? I thought we had everything we need,” I answered. I honestly thought we had. I was better armed than last time and I had made sure Tella had a few extra weapons, as well. On top of her knife and the two blasters I had given her, she also had her complement of experimental neutralizers that she and Leena had created. Inside the two packs I had brought were food and drink in case we got caught in the wilderness after dark.
She looked at me as if I was stupid. “We should get some extra supplies from these people.” She was trying to tell me something, I knew it.
Ah, she had said ‘extra’ supplies. With a nod, I agreed with her and grabbed the packs from behind her seat. She meant for us to spend a little money in the market of the town, the extra income being something they couldn’t count on from one another.
“About time you got it, goof,” she said with a smile as she took her pack and started to walk away from me. As I caught up to her, she looked up at me.
“What have your teams been calling the monster plant?” she asked, refreshing the topic of choice on the flight over.
“The target?” I joked, then quickly backed off at her glare. “You’re the expert in plant-life,” I said. “Anything I come up with would be stupid, as you would most likely point out.”
“Eh, probably. But,” she stopped at a booth in the market and negotiated with the proprietor for a few extra fruits and some water.
She looked at me and indicated one of the other booths, this one with some interesting looking knives on display. Guess they didn’t have the same people at the booths every day. I approached the booth and the vendor took an involuntary step back. I tried to smile reassuringly but that made them step back more.
“Hello,” I said politely as I stopped to look at the knives. They looked to be in good condition, nicely serrated on one side, with a sharp edge on the other. “May I?” I asked as I reached for a knife whose blade was as long as my hand.
A nervous nod answered me. I picked up the knife. It had a good weight to it, was well-balanced, and when I tested the edge against my thumbnail, it cut into my nail as if it were water. A few practice swings, after making sure no one was near, solidified my opinion, this was a good knife. “How much?” I asked.
“It, it, it’s t-t-t-twenty, sir.” The vendor was a medium-built human male, young looking. He must never have seen one of us up close if he was this nervous.
“Did you make this?” I asked, holding the knife by the blade and handing it back to him. “It’s nice.” The compliment did wonders. His hesitation fairly flew away as he acknowledged that he indeed had made the knife.
“Learned from my daddy, before…you know.” I did. I answered him with a nod.
“Tell you what,” I started. “I’ll buy this one for fifteen, but to make it worth your while, if you can get me,” I stopped to think for a moment. Should I get one for just my team, or all three teams? Skrell it. “If you can make me another fifteen of these, I’ll take each one of those off your hands. What do you say?”
I didn’t think anyone’s eyes could get any larger. He nodded, told me it would be maybe two weeks before he was done with them all, and accepted payment. As he handed me my new knife, he thanked me profusely.
“My pleasure…” I hesitated. I had no idea what his name was or who to look for.
“My name is Umi,” he s
aid. “I can have the knives ready and waiting for you here in two weeks. Thank you.”
“Umi,” I repeated his name as I extended my hand. He took it without hesitation. Compliments did wonders for a person’s confidence, I thought as we shook hands. “My name is Rokul. Unless I get killed, I’ll be back for the knives.” I went ahead and paid him half of the price for the fifteen knives, promised him the rest of the payment upon delivery, and turned around to see Tella watching me.
“What?” I asked as I strapped my new knife to my thigh.
“Nothing,” she smiled. “So, have you thought of what to call this vine?” As we slowly made our way into the surrounding trees, we batted around ideas…some funny, some serious. Finally, we settled on the human definition of a Skotan word, zerl. A zerl was someone that controlled someone or something else. Tella said that that sounded a lot like a Puppet Master. I liked it. We ran with it.
It wasn’t long before we found a kodanos. This one was alone. While, in my experience thus far, kodanos only attacked when threatened, this one immediately began approaching when it saw us.
“I’ll distract it, you get behind it,” I said to Tella as I started moving to my left. She didn’t argue and immediately took a few steps back into the trees and headed to her right, making her way behind the kodanos.
I had to be careful with this thing. The kodanos had its own defenses with its whip-like tendrils, but it also housed some nasty little beasties the locals had dubbed talusians. Talusians were ugly things with wings, three eyes, and teeth sharper than my new knife. I kept yelling at the kodanos in an attempt to keep its attention on me. It whipped one of its tendrils at me, sending me diving to the side to avoid being struck.
I took out one of my knives, not the new one, and held it in front of me as I stayed in a low crouch. As it stepped towards me again, I noticed that it didn’t move anything like a normal kodanos. Now, a kodanos didn’t have the most graceful gait I had ever seen, but it was certainly more graceful than this bumbling monstrosity.
I could see Tella come out of the trees behind it. It was time to make sure its full attention was on me. As it whipped a tendril at me again, I took a step back and swung my knife. I felt the knife bite into the tendril and rip a bit as I pulled it back.