Eight
Stevan
I smiled across the table at Catherina. I’d have much preferred to sit beside her, but here on Letozlet, custom dictated that men were placed on one side of the table, the women the other.
I knew she’d rather not be here. She never complained when I asked her to attend a formal function, but neither was I so blind that I couldn’t see the reluctance with which she attended. While in public, she was as charming and winning as ever, but I knew she would much prefer to be working with people who needed her help.
Normally, I allowed her to stay behind, citing the importance of her work, but Letozlet was a special case. If I didn’t have a mate on my arm, one would be provided for me. Here, the Peoples did everything as pairs, and to attend a formal state function without a companion at my side would be scandalous.
I felt rather bad for her. While the nanites would prevent the food we ate from harming us, they didn’t do anything for the taste. The Letozlets used a root native to their planet as a spice in most of their dishes, a spice that gave the food a bitter, rancid taste. The Letozlets loved it, but most of the rest of the universe despised it, and their traditional food was the joke of the universe. To tell a cook you’d eaten better on Letozlet was a scathing insult. Through trial and error, I’d learned which dishes used the spice lightly and which didn’t, and ate mostly those that weren’t heavily spiced. Catherina, on the other hand, was being helped by the two Letozlets to either side, and they were suggesting mostly foods loaded with the root.
I had to hide my smile in my napkin when she looked at me with pleading eyes, but there was nothing I could do to help her. I couldn’t very well insult our hosts by suggesting their food tasted bad. As the meal progressed, Catherina nodded and smiled, tasting everything that was suggested. She may not enjoy being my Lady on occasions such as these, but she did her duty well.
I was on Letozlet meeting with First One, Letozlet’s leader. The Letozlet leader was unique in the universe in that nobody knew his actual name. When he assumed the rank of First One, all mention of his given name was scrubbed from the records and was replaced with First One. It was both a title and a name and served to remind all that the man no longer existed and that he had devoted his life to the Letozlet people.
After the vote on Pearakut had gone decisively my way, more and more Peoples were coming around to the idea that I hadn’t technically broken the Prime Law. I might have broken the spirit of the law, but I had done it with the best of intentions and only in the most dire of circumstances. The Aquallians were the first to make a public statement that they would stand with the Firaspatciti, issuing their announcement only hours after the results of the Pearakut vote was known. The Thath, another culture whose birthrate had slipped below sustainability, had followed the next day, and now the Letozlet were joining the chorus. The Letozlet were an important addition to those voicing support. Their birth rate was low and still falling, but it hadn’t yet dropped below the threshold to sustain them. Nobody could accuse them of supporting me simply because they needed Catherina’s help.
I hadn’t told Catherina how concerned I’d been as the uprising grew. Only Kergah knew of the stress I’d been under and the concerns I had. To defend myself could make me appear guilty, but ignoring the issue had allowed the movement to grow.
Had the Peoples demanded adjudication, and I lost, I would have submitted myself for punishment. While I was sure the Firaspatciti people would stand behind me if I chose not to submit to the judgment, I wouldn’t risk having Firaspatciti banished from the Peoples of the universe. The thought of my people facing the long darkness alone, never interacting with our brothers and sisters again, was too terrible to contemplate. Now it appeared that threat was behind me and I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Even the foulness of my meal couldn’t dampen my spirits.
First One stood and the eight of us at the table immediately quieted. He looked at me and smiled, holding his left hand at his ear, palm forward, indicating he was going to make a statement and we should take heed of his words.
“Stevanualfutherac Gerretterdedsath, Lord of the Firaspatciti,” he said grandly, and I smiled. Catherina wasn’t the only person to have trouble with our names. “Great is the man who places the lives of his People, the lives of all the Peoples, ahead of his own. No greater gift could be given or asked.” He then turned and smiled at Catherina. “To his lovely joined, whose wisdom may save us all from the long darkness, we thank you for taking the time from your most important work to fellowship with us. May you both prosper with long life and happiness.”
When he pulled his hand from his ear, I grabbed at the air, as did everyone else at the table, and held my palm to my chest for a moment, indicating I had heard his words and made them part of me. Catherina then rose, as my joined. It was her duty to thank our hosts.
She held her hand to her ear. “To you, First One. Thank you for a lovely evening, and may your good wishes be returned to you a hundredfold.”
We all grabbed the air again.
“Lord Gerretterdedsath, the Letozlet statement of our support will be released tomorrow,” First One said. “All of Letozlet was touched by your moving speech on Pearakut.”
I bowed my head. “Thank you, First One. The support of the Letozlet people means a great deal to me.”
First One smiled. The man was approaching the end of his life and a new First One would soon take his place. He was one of the longest serving leaders in the universe and commanded a great deal of respect for his steady leadership. The universe would be losing a great man when he finally met his joined in the long darkness.
“What you have done means a great deal to the Peoples. Once again, the Firaspatciti have taken the lead in solving a problem the rest of the universe was unwilling to tackle.” He smiled. “I know the Firaspatciti hold their honor in high regard. Rest assured you have restored any perceived loss in honor to the Gerretterdedsath name.”
I subtly dipped my head in acknowledgment and thanks for his kind words.
We left the table and sipped some Firaspatciti wine that First One had obtained specifically for our visit while conversing with our hosts. After a couple of glasses of the excellent wine, First One excused himself and Catherina and I retired to our suite. I was smiling as I closed our door behind us.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a gruller, a fruit that I knew Catherina was found of. It was fist sized and oblong with a rich green sheen, indicating it was at the peak of ripeness. She said it had the constancy of an Earth apple, but the taste reminded her of an orange. I tossed her the fruit.
“Hungry?” I asked as she juggled the fruit a moment before getting control of it.
“A gruller! Thank you! I’m starving!” she gushed before biting into the fruit. “You’re a life saver!” she mumbled around the fruit as she chewed.
I smiled and pulled another one out for myself. Not only was the fruit tasty and filling, but it was consumed in its entirety, leaving no evidence that we’d packed a snack to sate our hunger.
I took a bite out of my gruller and chewed thoughtfully, wondering not for the first time if the Letozlets were really so unaware in what low regard the rest of the universe held their cuisine.
“My hero,” she said as she slithered into my arms just as I popped the last of my gruller into my mouth. “I think you saved me.” She smiled at me. “A kiss for my gallant knight.”
I smiled as she took my lips. The first time she called me that, she had to explain what a knight was, but I rather liked being thought of as her protector and the righter of wrongs.
“I have a surprise for you,” I whispered as our lips parted.
“Mmmm…” she purred. “Now that I’m not starving, maybe I have one for you too.”
I snickered. “Remember, it would be considered rude to mate in the First One’s palace without permission of his joined.”
She sighed. “Oh yeah. I forgot. And since she’s gone to the long darkness… What a stupid custom.”
I snickered again. “Embrace our differences, remember?”
“Yeah, well, embracing them and agreeing with them aren’t always the same thing,” she grumbled. “What if the First One’s joined had gone to the long darkness a hundred years ago. Nobody could have mated in his palace?”
I nodded. “Not until he joined again. It is the Second One that runs the household and holds full control over what happens here. First One may speak for Letozlet, but in the palace, he answered to his joined.”
She sighed. “Well, since that’s out, what’s your surprise?”
I smiled but said nothing. I pulled out of her arms and opened a portal. “Bruth, Grewel, to me.”
“Where are we going?”
My smile widened. “You’ll see.”
Over the millennia, the Peoples of the universe had tended to specialize. Each planet had everything they needed to survive, but their Peoples exhibited traits that they became known for. The Fires provided protection, keeping the peace and dealing with rogues and outlaws. The Waters were in great demand as healers and end of life support. Thath provided much of the fish for the universe and Hedord grain and bread. Xzarett mined the many planetoids of their system for raw materials and the Estaanayouk produced more scholars than any other single People. And the Letozlet? Where the Estaanayouk were scholarly, the Letozlet were artists. They had a keen eye for the dramatic or the whimsical and could easily adapt their artistry to suit local tastes. Most entertainment and popular culture experienced throughout the universe originated on Letozlet in some way. The most popular and prolific producers of Firaspatciti entertainment were actually Letozletian imports.
The door chimed and I stepped in front of Catherina, my hand resting comfortably on my blade.
“Enter!”
Bruth and Grewel entered and dropped to their knee.
“Rise,” I commanded. “Catherina and I are going to Taluh Face.”
“I will summon the rest of—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. “Only you and Grewel will accompany us.”
Bruth lowered his head. “Yes, my Lord,” he said without looking up. “But I recommend that—”
“Understood,” I said. I knew he wouldn’t like it, and it was his duty to make objection known, but it was my decision. “Station.”
I opened the portal and Bruth stepped through. After a moment’s pause, to give Bruth a chance to return and warn us off, Catherina and I stepped through with Grewel in close support. I smiled. I could just see the faint glow of the Letozlet moon, Joulus, lighting the notch between Taluh and Telrah, the two mountain peaks in the far distance.
Taluh Face was an ancient carving, dug out by the Letozlets hundreds of thousands of years ago. They had smoothed and finished the rock face of Taluh, then dug tunnels and fitted them with mirrors that focused and directed the light from Joulus. Standing in the proper place, at the proper time, as we were, Joulus would rise directly behind Taluh. As the moon rose its light would shine through the tunnels and appear on the finished face of Taluh. A globe of Letozlet, its continents outlined in the slightly blue moonlight, would slowly form, and then over the next thirty-seven clicks, exactly one-hundredth the actual rotation of Letozlet, the globe would complete one rotation as the moon rose and the mirrors directed the light down different tunnels.
The globe was five-thousand lengths tall and was truly a marvel of artistic engineering. Nobody knew the cost of construction, but it had taken the Letozlets more than a hundred years to complete. And why? Because it was beautiful and lifted the spirit was the only reason the Letozlets needed.
I had seen Taluh Face before. It was something the Letozlets were justifiably proud of and I had paid the area an official visit as Lord of Firaspatciti. On my previous visit the entire area had been cleared for security purposes, but now I was just another person, standing with my bonded as we watched one of the wonders of the universe.
In the darkness, we could easily blend into the small crowd. Nobody recognized me and I alternated my attention between Taluh Face and Catherina. As the globe slowly illuminated, picking up more and more light as Joulus rose, I watched as Catherina’s eyes opened wider with amazement.
“Is that Letozlet?”
“It is. Watch the globe carefully.”
Once the face reached full brightness, the globe slowly began to turn, Letozlet’s land masses creeping past. I watched Catherina, her gaze transfixed, her eyes wide in wonderment. I saw, really saw, Taluh Face for the first time, seeing the wonder of it through her eyes.
“That’s… amazing. It’s the moon that’s lighting it up?”
“It is,” I whispered.
“How?”
“I can’t say for sure. I know there are thousands of tunnels carved into the mountain with mirrors to catch the light. It requires no power to operate. Nothing but for Joulus to rise.”
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, never looking away.
I bent and whispered into her ear. “Not as beautiful as you.”
She glanced at me, but in the darkness, I couldn’t read her face. She turned away to continue to watch, stepping in front of me before backing in close and pressing her back into my chest. I surrounded her in my arms and rested my cheek against her head as we watch the play of lights.
As the slowly spinning globe returned to it’s starting point and began to dim, she turned in my arms and kissed me softly. I’d long ago stopped caring if anyone saw me kissing her in public.
She slowly pulled back from the kiss. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I smiled. “There are so many wonders that I want you to see, that I want to see again but to see for the first time with you.”
She smiled at me. “I stand at your weak side.”
I could have stood and kissed her for hours, but we had to return to the palace. If we were missed, a panic would ensue. I had broken protocol by sneaking out, but I wanted to be alone with her, to blend into the crowd and just be Stevan Gerrett, Fire, bonded mate of Catherina Hume, not Stevanualfutherac Gerretterdedsath, Lord of the Firaspatciti.
“Come,” I whispered. “We may not be able to mate, but I can hold you warm and close.”
She held my gaze as she touched my face in a way that I had become very fond of. “I guess it will have to do,” she sighed.