Page 23 of I Married A Lizardman

I stared at my female for a second, my discomfort increasing exponentially. Agreeing with a stiff nod, I led her to the buildings. During the whole walk there, her eyes flicked in every direction as she took in the environment. As far as I knew, it didn’t differ much from the human’s original homeworld, planet Earth, aside from our more colorful vegetation and our three moons. In their world, most plants came simply in various shades of green, and trees mostly had brown bark. On Xecania, the leaves on the majority of the plants were purplish blue or a brownish red, although we did have plenty of greenery, too. And our bark tended to be in darker shades without ever fully being black.

The buildings both sat unlocked. Despite the many years of disuse, like everything in Monkoo, they’d been built to last. A bit of dusting and airing would suffice to make them usable again as their former contents had been disposed of decades ago. The spark in Susan’s eyes as she explored the large buildings further twisted my insides. I stood still by the entrance of the former shed, bracing for what would follow.

“Any chance I could make use of these buildings?” Susan asked.

“Just the buildings?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

She shifted on her feet and rubbed her nape with a guilty expression on her face.

“Well, I’d also love to be able to use part of the land outside,” she admitted in a sheepish voice.

I stared at her, forcing myself to silence the anger bubbling below the surface. I didn’t want my scales to turn red on my female, especially not the day after our union. But Spirits! Had she not heard a word of the story I’d just told her? She’d acted as if she understood how my people felt after our liberation, and not even an hour later, she was asking me for land?

“Look, I can guess what thoughts are going through your mind right now,” Susan said in an appeasing tone. “I understand what tragedy befell your people, and that you have all since forsaken farming. I respect that. I’m not asking you or any Andturian to work the land.”

Although I remained circumspect, those words alleviated part of the tension stiffening my spine.

“However,Iam a farmer. My entire life has revolved around working the land. It’s what makes me happy,” she said carefully. “These lands are the richest and most amazing I have ever seen in my entire life. As a third daughter, I have never owned land. I only got to work those that belonged to others. This… this would be my chance to finally have a little something that’s mine. But it would also allow me to have a bit of home with me.”

Her words, and especially the longing in her voice, troubled me.

“How would it allow you to have a bit of your home with you?” I asked, confused.

“Last night, the feast was wonderful,” she said in a gentle voice. “But as much as I enjoyed every dish, all of them were completely foreign to me, not only the recipes, but the ingredients used. From my conversations with Luped, Xecania doesn’t possess any of the produce that are the foundation of human diet. Can the Gatherers find me potatoes, squash, or portobello mushrooms in your forests? There also are no strawberries, corn, or garlic here. How would you feel if you moved to a world where you would never again be able to eat roasted jovam roots?”

I recoiled at the horrendous thought. Jovam roots were at the heart of the Andturian food culture. Jovam was used in everything. Boiled, roasted, mashed, fried, it could even be turned into dessert.

“I would go insane if I were to never have it again,” I conceded.

“Well, this is currently what will happen to me,” Susan said, the pleading tone seeping back into her voice. “I am condemned to never again eat my version of jovam, unless you allow me to use a part of your lands to grow some human produce that cannot be found here. And we both know how prohibitive the cost would be if I tried to have some transported here from another planet just for me.”

I nodded slowly. She would never find a transporter who would go through such trouble just for her, not to mention the complication of transporting perishable items over a long journey in space, and the risk of introducing contaminants in our ecosystem.

“All right,” I said carefully. “But why do you need both buildings?”

“My personal belongings will arrive later today or tomorrow,” Susan explained, getting excited again. “I own very few things that aren’t farming related. I only have some clothes, and everything else are things I had hoped to use to grow some human produce. Mostly equipment and seeds for the things I’ve described to you. I would use part of the shed to store that equipment, and the other part to grow mushrooms. They do quite well indoors.”

That would actually help reduce complaints from the people. The less they saw her farm outside, the better it would be.

“And the other building?” I asked.

“It would be for my seedlings,” Susan said. “I will plant the seeds in small containers and start growing things indoors for the first two to three weeks. It is better for some vegetables to be started off that way before being exposed outside. These buildings have huge windows, so there will be plenty of sun coming in, without the problem of bugs, wind, or possibly excessive rain.”

That, too, would be good. Two to three weeks to give the people more time to get to know her and make their peace with her needs might help things go over more easily.

“How much land would you need?” I asked.

All the tension that had bled out of me came back with a vengeance upon seeing the look on her face.

“All of that area,” she said, showing a massive section of land with her index finger.

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed, feeling both offended and like I’d been played for a fool. “You said you just wanted a small section to grow things for yourself!”

“I DO! I promise, I do!” Susan said, raising her palms in an appeasing gesture. “I know it looks big, but it’s not when you think of it. I want to grow multiple things: potatoes, squash, watermelon, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, corn, and wheat, just to name a few. For each of them, I need a certain area for multiple of those plants to grow. That adds up.”

“Why do you need multiple if it’s only for you?” I insisted.

“Because vegetables take time to grow,” my mate explained patiently. “Some take weeks, but most take months. If I only have one or two plants of everything, I’ll only be able to eat certain things for two days every three to four months and have nothing left in-between. That’s terrible! But if I have multiple plants, I’ll be able to eat some every week.”

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