Page 2 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

“What are you talking about?”

“Mother has Aru lined up for you. So that you can begin courting a woman before you’re too old to marry.”

A shudder passes through me. Aru is just as ruthless as she is emotionless.

“You of all people shouldn’t be picky.”

“Yet, I don’t want to be married to a woman who only wants me for my status in House Zu.”

Lia dismisses me by looking away for a second. “You should be grateful to have such a doting mother. Aru will be good for you. She will keep you in check and remind you of your duty to the Empire and House Zu.”

I remain silent for a few seconds letting this conversation drop. “I will see you in a few weeks. Congratulations on your first day at the High Council and may the goddesses light your path.”

As soon as I finish the RVM, I strap myself in and hit the first jump to catch up with Ros. I don’t know what he’s done, but I won’t question the Empress. If she commands me, it must be completed. I just pray that I get back to the Empire without being prosecuted for his death.

When I catch up with Ros it doesn’t take me long to recognize that we are almost equally matched. And I am chasing him on the outskirts of the galaxy. If I can just get one more good shot in, he’ll be gone, but he’s an excellent pilot and his maneuvering skills are equal, if not better, than mine own. My sensors tell me there are two people in his craft, but I think this must be a mistake. As I move in closer to try and get an identification readout of who is in his ship, I realize he’s preparing to make a risky jump directly into Earth’s atmosphere. It’s an odd and a dangerous move and one I’m not likely to follow. But then I think about the Empress's words and I can’t let Ros get away. I have imperial orders. I must follow Ros or risk the Empress’s wrath. I have to take the chance of going up in flames too. I follow his jump right into Earth’s atmosphere. Upon arrival I see his ship burst into flames. Then my own engine begins overheating. I immediately abort in my ejection pod hoping none of the primitive human satellites registered this, or Alliance Force. In the pod, I continue searching for Alliance life signs. I see very few, probably Alliance Force officers, and no life signs where Ros might be if still alive. He's gone and whoever might have been with him. Both of our ships have been consumed by Earth’s atmosphere. My secret imperial mission is complete. The only question now is how do I get back to the Empire without having to explain how I ended up on this side of the galaxy?

2

Georgiana

APRIL 30, 2024

I order a sizable German beer from a street vendor and join the crowd walking toward the scattered bonfires, medieval kiosks, and various street performers. I’m surrounded by jovial Germans dressed in costumes. I hear folk music everywhere and it seems everyone knows the words to these songs but me.

That’s probably because I only speak a few words of German. I’m only here because my roommate urged me to buy a plane ticket somewhere now that I’ve finished my accounting degree. It was a playful dare. She challenged me to put in a couple weeks’ vacation on a travel website and let it take me to the cheapest destination. I agreed and the destination that came up was Hanover, Germany. So I got a passport and went with money I had saved. Unfortunately, she could not join me, so I had to go alone.

At the beginning of my trip, I spent a few nights in Hanover and at my hotel over breakfast, I met a couple who were going to Brocken in the Harz Mountains for Walpurgisnacht. With nothing else to do I decided to take the train and go there as well. I have always loved Halloween and this seemed like something similar, but German style. I managed to read a little about the festival on the train. It’s a holiday that dates back to the eighth century, but is confusing because it’s about a few different events. An abbess who became Saint Walpurga and the myth of Wotan marrying his beloved Freya on this day at the end of April. Then it was further popularized by Goethe in his play Faust, the guy who made a deal with the Devil. After Faust, I fell asleep because I am still jet-lagged. By the time I switched to the smaller antique train up to Brocken, I was completely taken in with the scenery and my anticipation about what this tradition of Walpurgisnacht might be like.

Although being here now, I wish I would have been able to read more about what’s going on. There are a lot of symbols and traditions that look a frightening, like straw dolls with creepy plastic doll faces that are probably going to be sacrificed in one of the many bonfires. I guess this would be no different than someone coming to the US for Halloween and not realizing we put fake plastic skeletons on our lawns. Although, what I didn’t expect was for everyone to be dressed like witches or devils in almost too realistic and scary costumes and everyone seems to have either a broomstick or pitchfork. I have not seen one ‘sexy witch’ or ‘sexy devil’ costume. In fact, the realism of the costumes makes me feel like I’ve traveled to an alternate universe.

And it doesn’t take me long to realize that I stand out with my plain blue sweater and jeans and being a lone foreign woman makes me an easy target. So when I pass a small stand selling all assorted colors of cloaks, I stop and buy one with one hand, still holding my lager beer with the other. I always tell myself never to shop when I drink, but today is an exception. I let the woman running the shop know that I’ll wear it right away. I put on the dark green cloak and look at myself in the mirror. This is more like it.

“It suits you,” says the woman in accented English. “Maybe you would like a hat too?” She points to her wide selection of witch hats.

“No, it’s okay. Just the cloak is fine.”

“You should braid your hair then.”

“I can’t braid,” I admit with a smile.

“Can’t braid?” she asks shocked. “Come here. It’s such a waste, a young woman like you, almost looking the part perfectly and then falling short for this one thing.”

I hesitate. “It’s fine. Thank you.”

“No come on, I have two daughters of my own and if they were in a foreign country I’d also want them to blend in better. There’s not a lot of crime here, but it helps if you don’t look foreign. Especially being alone on Walpurgisnacht.”

I agree with her logic. It is why I bought the cloak in the first place. I go over to the woman and allow her to brush and braid my hair in a neat style around my head.

“There. Now you won’t stand out as much. Go enjoy. Spring is here.”

I see myself in the reflection of the mirror, and I’m surprised at how a different hair style and cloak can completely change my look. I thank the woman with some of the few German words I know, “Danke schön.”

She smiles and replies in kind, “Bitte.”

I leave her shop with a small skip to my step and let the carnival atmosphere guide me. I feel much better knowing that at least from my appearance, I fit in. But of course, once I open my mouth and everyone will guess I only have a few words of German. But it doesn’t matter, I’m totally in the spirit of the German countryside now and want to enjoy this.

I walk through the various stalls of arts, crafts, and food. I buy a sausage and a pretzel for dinner. Afterward, I stop to watch some magicians and jugglers. I really do feel like I’ve time traveled back to medieval times.

---