Page 34 of I Married A Lizardman

After squeezing me one last time, Olix put me back on my feet. His darker scales made me realize he was a little embarrassed. Judging by the number of pairs of eyes ogling us like we’d both grown a second head had my own cheeks turning red. The Andturians weren’t big on public displays of affection. They’d also probably never seen anyone kissing. Right now, they were likely all speculating about all the other weird things Olix and I might be doing in private.

If they only knew.

“You made it back on time,” I said, trying to steer the conversation away from me making a spectacle of myself.

“Like he said he would,” Yamir said proudly.

I smiled and nodded, although I silenced the annoyance I’d felt every time my mother-in-law had informed us of the status of the great hunt. Before my arrival, Olix had always relayed information to his mother when he was away so that she could pass it on to the clan. But now, it felt like he should be contacting me, his wife, instead. I shouldn’t find out when my husband would come home from his mother. But that was a discussion for another time.

“We did, my mate,” Olix said with a smile, although the sad glimmer in his golden eyes told me what I’d feared all along. “We must make haste putting away what we have brought back.” He turned to look at his mother. “You should all leave ahead as planned with the few Hunters that are also Crafters. The rest of us will catch up.”

For a brief instant, I wondered if I had misinterpreted his expression. Maybe their hunt had been successful after all, and they had a lot of game to put away. But judging by the large number of cooling units being brought back directly to the common storage room, my first presumption had been right. My heart broke for Olix.

I wanted to ask him how things had gone, how he was feeling, and if there was anything I could do… essentially be a supportive wife. However, with so many of his people around, I feared it would be like poking at a still bleeding wound. He caressed my cheek and started turning away when he noticed the hovering platform packed with crates. He gave me a questioning look. For some silly reason, I immediately felt uncomfortable, as if I’d done something illicit.

“They contain things I grew specifically to sell,” I said sheepishly.

Olix didn’t say anything. An unreadable expression fleeted over his reptilian features as his gaze settled on the cooling units for a few seconds before turning back towards me. He gave me a single nod. My stomach twisted. I didn’t know how to interpret what had just happened. Did he feel betrayed? Did he feel like I was rubbing the failure of his hunt in his face? Did…?

The sound of the approaching shuttle coming to taxi my stuff and me to the market forced my attention away from my husband. This was not the reunion I had hoped for. Our relationship was still too fragile to have already undergone that long separation and for him to return with this much stress.

Now, I didn’t even know how to feel about the market anymore. What if a resounding success only rubbed more salt in the wound?

Distraught, I supervised the loading of my harvest. The shuttle proved even more spacious than I had anticipated, allowing us to pack it with all of the larger items the clan hoped to sell, from big, ornate wooden bowls and plates, to sculpted vases and statues, to low, cushioned benches similar to the ones commonly used by the Andturians, although scaled slightly smaller. On top of all that, there was enough room left for Yamir, me, and five elder Andturians, including Molzeg. I wished Luped and Olix could have traveled with us, but it made more sense for them to ride the mrakas. Since they wouldn’t be burdened with a passenger like me, they’d be able to travel a lot faster.

The riders left shortly before our shuttle took flight. We completed the journey mostly in silence. Yamir kept a neutral expression, but I could feel her pain and worry for her son and clan as a whole. Despite our differences, I liked the older female. She was a devoted mother to her children and her people in general. I’d never been close to my own mother. In this instant, I wanted to pull my mother-in-law into my arms and tell her that all would be well—we would get through this together. But now wasn’t the time, not with the others packed with us in the shuttle and within hearing range.

Still, it took barely fifteen minutes instead of the more than one hour ride on a mraka. This perfectly suited my purpose as we not only got to settle our kiosk early, but it would give me time to do some reconnaissance.

“With your permission, Yamir, I would like to set my stall in the middle, with the furniture and houseware at my left and the weapons and jewelry at my right,” I said carefully.

She slightly recoiled, her eyes narrowing while she pondered. “Luped says you have a plan to help sales today,” Yamir said without answering my request.

I nodded. “If my berries are well-received, I believe it will enable me to help the Crafters sell more.”

“I struggle with understanding your ways, Susan of Meterion,” Yamir said in a slightly tired voice. “It troubles me that you are what you are, but your skills cannot be denied. I believe you have genuine affection for my son and our people. Both are hurting right now. If you think this position could help bring a better outcome to this day, you have my support.”

“Thank you,” I said with gratitude. “I cannot promise what will happen today, but I will try my best.”

Yamir’s expression softened. “Only Seers can predict the future, and even then, it is often cryptic. Your best is all that anyone can ask for. The rest lies in the hands of the Spirits.”

On these final words, she went on to help the elders set up their tables and display their goods on each side of my own humble table—all of which were provided by the venue. Where my companions piled up their goods on the tables, on the floor in front and around them, and had tall standing panels at the back onto which they would hang jewelry once the others arrived, I had a single table. I covered it with a light beige tablecloth and placed my cooling units under it to keep my place clean and uncluttered, but also to hide just how much stock I had left.

As patrons wouldn’t show up for another hour at least, I seized this opportunity of our early arrival to investigate the other stalls being set up at the market as well as take a peek at a few of the tourist shops inside the spaceport. To the extent possible, I’d been doing my homework online, finding out what products the Conglomerate was selling here and at what price points. But nothing beat seeing it firsthand. What I saw further reinforced my determination to carry out my plan. I acquired some overpriced blank tokens at one of the stores which could have a value imprinted on them with a basic com or datapad.

When I returned to my table, I sweet talked Kuani—one of the houseware Crafters—to lend me one of her medium-sized presentation plates made of aldomyan wood. The dark grey wood, with tiny streaks of dark red, was stunning. Smoothly polished and embellished with finely chiseled motifs and luminous stones, it was a beauty to behold. A very thin layer of the same sotomac resin Olix had used to seal my blood into his wristbands and weapon had been applied to the plate so that it would never lose its shine. I made it the centerpiece of my table. I also snagged two small bowls from her in the same style as the plate, and a stunning fork—that seemed taken straight out of a fondue set—with a handle made of sculpted mraka tusk.

I was getting beyond antsy to take out my berries, but it was still too early. As the first of our clanmates started arriving on their mrakas, I busied myself encoding my tokens and placing them inside the two bowls.

Olix arrived at the same time the organizers of the event announced the customers would be allowed in shortly. My heart skipped a beat, excitement, and trepidation warring within me. Forcing myself to focus, I opened one of my cooling units, and took out two pounds of berries that I carefully washed at one of the eight water stations provided for the merchants of the market. I also filled a bottle with water so that I could spray a fine mist on my fruits throughout the day to keep them looking fresh and mouth-watering.

When I began placing them in the center platter, Olix came near my stall, a slight frown marring his face at the sight of my mostly empty station. He appeared to want to ask me what was wrong, but someone calling his name prevented him from doing so. I hated that we hadn’t had a chance to discuss my plan. I only hoped things would go well, and that he would be proud of me.

After displaying my sample tasting berries, I removed the entire contents of my first cooling unit, placing two full trays on each side of the centerpiece, and lining individual one-pound baskets in front of it. Addressing a silent prayer to all the powers that be, I began the waiting game.

Chapter 14

Olix

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