Page 7 of Mated By Twilight

Maybe someday, when she got more comfortable with all this, she’d be willing to let them tinker about with her internally. As it was, she was already changing everything else. She wanted to keep herself mostly intact.

The fibroid removal process only took about an hour, and she didn’t feel anything. The domini person told her that he was simply forcing the cells to kill themselves and encouraging her body to get rid of the remains – all using her body’s own systems, just with his direction. She liked that better than surgery, but it was still weird. Especially since she didn’tfeelany different.

After that, it was time for her language imprint.

They explained it to her in simple terms. Basically, they were just downloading the Standard language into her head. It would be quick, painless, and safe. She would have some homework to do to solidify the imprinted information, but if she did it right, she’d be fluent in both reading and speaking this new language.

Leah was hesitant about that too. She definitely needed to speak the language, so she eventually gave permission. Trusting them when they said it was safe.

That was why, when she woke up after blacking out, she immediately started panicking.

What had happened? What went wrong? Had they lied to her? Had they done something to her? What language was sheeven thinking in right now?!

It took a while for them to calm her down enough to explain that passing out was a rather common thing and it was just a result of the rush of information being imprinted. Nothing had gone wrong. She’d barely been out for a few seconds.

If there was any chance of her letting them mess around with her uterus, it was gone now. It was smart that they saved it for the end because she was absolutely done at that point.

“C-Can I come down now please?” She asked, death gripping the side of the stretcher. She didn’t want to move without permission, but she dearly would like to be let down please.

“Of course,” Tzomei said, offering her a gentlemanly hand to help her sit up. “You’re alright, I assure you. It was just a temporary loss of consciousness.”

Leah nodded but didn’t really agree. She didn’t like this at all.

Probably sensing that she’d reached her limit for the moment, Tzomei helped her down and brought her to a small room on the ship. It wasn’t anything special – just a bed and her suitcases in the corner. But it did have a window with an incredible view of Earth.

Leah gasped as she walked forward, staring at her blue planet in awe. The window wasn’t a small porthole either. It was wide, giving her an incredible view as Tzomei stood in the doorway, ever the gentleman. Gentlealien? Gentleratchi?

“Your meals will be delivered here directly,” he said. “You’re free to roam around this area of the ship if you like. You don’t have to worry about getting into anything you shouldn’t, as no doors will open for you if it’s not safe for you to be inside.”

“Thanks,” she said, turning away from the window to face him. “And thanks for taking me around personally, ambassador.”

“I assure you, I’m notthatbusy,” he chuckled. “There are two ambassadors, and between us, the workload isn’t overwhelming. I do also need to let you know about our new policies. After any human is left with their mate, there is a mandatory period of ten tendays wherein we will contact you every tenday to check in on you and make sure you’re still alright. If you do not respond to the message within a single day, we will send an agent to check on you in person.”

Leah frowned. “I thought that this mating thing wasn’t dangerous.”

“It’s not. Typically. It’s a precaution instituted after some unpleasantness. No one was harmed, but there was some concern, so we made the new rule. We won’t check on you forever. Just until we’re sure you’re settled and safe.”

“Oh, okay,” she mumbled a bit uncertainly.

“You’ll be fine, I assure you.”

She nodded, her fingers twisting together uncertainly.

“Do you have any further questions for me? Anything about life in space, in the Coalition. Anything at all.”

“Erm, actually,” she hesitated just a second before unloading on him.

She shouldn’t. He was an important male, someone with more responsibilities than looking after a lost little human. But there was so little information on immigrating off Earth. She hadn’t been able to scour the web for answers to her litany of questions, and Tzomei just happened to be the first one unfortunate enough to grant her permission to ask him anything.

She had dozens of questions. All of them small. How long would this take? Where were they going? Did she need anything special like her passport – since the one for Earth wasn’t any good out here in Coalition space. Which she was officially in since they were floating out beyond the moon because human territory extended only where humans stepped foot under their own power. Would her phone work while she was out in space? Where was Holotulle anyway? Who was going to be escorting her after him? What were they eating? Was it safe? Where was the bathroom? How did it work? How did the doors work?

She had to be wasting his time, but it was all information she would feel better knowing. She was willing to stop the moment he seemed bothered – and would have no doubt done so with no small amount of guilt rushing in for wasting his time. However, Tzomei was nothing but polite and patient as he answered every question she had to the best of his ability.

There was more, of course. She had so many questions about the male she was supposed to be mating. What he was like, what he did, where he lived. But she didn’t expect that the ambassador had bothered to read her file to that depth. There was no reason for him to do so, and it really would just be wasting more of his time.

Besides, she’d be meeting the guy soon enough. She’d be able to ask him all about himself then – and not through the clearly busted translator.

For now, Tzomei calmly and patiently indulged her curiosity and anxiety until she finally ran out of questions he would likely know the answer to.

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