Page 33 of I Married A Lizardman

Despite all the work we had to do, this day and the next one dragged on forever. It also didn’t help that Olix and the others still had not returned. His last communication with Yamir claimed they would make it back for the market, but they would likely cut it extremely close.

On the eve of our departure, I went back to my sheds to start preparing the cooling units and racks that I would fill with my harvest in the morning. As we would be leaving fairly early, every minute would count. Sure, I could have done it all tonight, and they would still have been fresh enough tomorrow. But the fact that they’d been picked that very morning would play a big part of my sales pitch.

As was her wont, Luped dropped by to see if I needed a hand. I’d barely known her a week before she went on that fishing expedition for three weeks. And yet, I felt closer to the Andturian female than I had ever been with any of my blood sisters. Then again, I had been purposefully raised apart to avoid painful bonds since I would be discarded in the end. Still, my heart warmed watching her take a tour of my lair.

“What you have done here is amazing,” Luped whispered, awed as she stared at the shelves she’d built for me overflowing with ripe purple reezia berries. “Not even four full weeks and you have already produced all of this…”

Although she was complimenting me, Luped appeared to be musing out loud to herself. I didn’t comment, pride swelling in my chest as she continued to prowl around the nursery where a number of additional vegetables would soon need to be transplanted outside. On her way in, the sight of spinach, baby carrots, green onions, and lettuce in the field, ready to be harvested had already blown her away. But coming in to see that, on top of the berries, I also had radish and oyster mushrooms ready for consumption had left her speechless.

In two to three more weeks, I’d have cucumbers, beets, zucchini, tomatoes, and squash. And then another three to four weeks after that, we’d be talking serious business with corn, wheat, and potatoes. God, how I missed potatoes!

Luped staring strangely at me pulled me out of my wandering thoughts.

“There is magic in what you do,” my sister-in-law said pensively. “Good magic. You have accomplished so much that I didn’t think possible, like growing food out of wet woodchips. You have done the work of twenty with just two strange machines, and without ever straining yourself. You are proof that technology and knowledge can take our people into a better future. I do not know what you intend to do with all of this, but remember that if you need my assistance, you have it.”

“Actually, there is something I wanted to run by you,” I said sheepishly, grateful for this unexpected opening. She tilted her head, the vertical slit of her lizard eyes widening with curiosity. “The Crafters have told me that sales have really dropped over the past year, and especially in the last few months.”

Luped nodded. “That is correct.”

“I have an idea that might help their sales tomorrow, but it is all contingent on how my own sales go,” I said carefully. “I am pretty certain the Bosengi will fight over these berries. If that is the case, I will try to drive them to buy some of the crafted items. But I’m totally going to wing it if and when an opportunity presents itself.”

“Wing it?” Luped asked, confused.

I chuckled. “It means improvise. I’m not even quite sure how that expression came to be,” I confessed. “I just need you to convince the others to play along, even if they think what I’m saying is outrageous. If things work out, everyone will get their full compensation for their goods. I promise.”

“You are sounding mysterious, Susan,” Luped said while lining up a couple more cooling units near the reezia berry racks. “I will tell them, but our people always show a united front in public. So, they would play along regardless, no matter how disturbed they might feel had you done it without warning them. However, see that you hold your end of the deal. Once you lose the trust of an Andturian, your chances of regaining it are slim to none. As our Clan Mistress, you have an even greater duty to uphold.”

“My word is my bond,” I said proudly. “And if all goes well, there will be much to rejoice about tomorrow.”

“I hope you are right,” Luped said. “And I hope your plans come to fruition.”

She was referring to more than just successful sales. I had many plans, and God willing, they would indeed come to fruition.

We wrapped up for the night, gathering for evening meal in the Great Hall. Tomorrow, I wanted to contribute to the communal meal with spinach-lettuce-nuts-and-fruits salad, as well as sauteed oyster mushrooms with green onions. The rich soil and perfect weather here made things grow faster than expected. I would never be able to eat all of my crops by myself—not that this had ever been the plan.

Although individual dwellings didn’t possess a full kitchen, we could make simple individual meals at home using a fire stone or the hot plate found in every house. But the Andturians’ custom of cooking as a group for everyone would facilitate things for me to make them taste the benefits of my work. It was an interesting approach. Meal choices were decided on as a group, although a different person every day had the right to veto said choice—a power rarely used.

That night, my bed felt emptier than ever. Olix had not returned, and my hope of him showing up in the morning had seriously dwindled. I took solace in the fact that there wouldn’t be another great hunt for at least a month. That meant more bonding time for the two of us. And if my plan worked, that could possibly mean a major leap in the right direction to a better future for the tribe. My biggest sorrow about the Andturians not wearing clothes was that Olix didn’t even have a shirt lying around that I could cuddle with just to have his scent around me.

Despite that, sleep came quickly to me, and morning found me in high spirits. Upon exiting my house, I found the Gatherers already up, busy preparing an early breakfast. A few of the crafters were lining up mrakas to carry a lot of the merchandise. At my request, Luped had secured a shuttle for me. The pilot would come in a couple of hours to transport all of my cooling units as they were too large to comfortably sit or hang on a mraka, not to mention the fact that they would poorly travel on the road, carried by giant alien rhino-boars.

It was an expensive service to retain and constituted a major hit to my meager savings. But I had faith my sales would make up for it and then some. Initially, Yamir had frowned upon hearing I wouldn’t travel the traditional way with the clan, but seeing the number of crates I was bringing, she agreed with my course of action. That I offered to carry all of their more voluminous and heavy items aboard the shuttle, as well as a few elders for whom the long journey riding a mraka was becoming challenging, further pacified her. Some elders had not participated in a public market in a few months for that specific reason.

While I didn’t doubt that the clan usually rode those beasts out of tradition and enjoyment, I also believed that they often wished they could use shuttles in specific situations that warranted it, like today. They…Wesimply couldn’t afford them.

For the time being…

With time ticking, I frantically picked the reezias and placed them in one-pound berry baskets, which I placed in trays of twelve inside the cooling units. Each unit took five trays secured within by hooks I could clip them onto. Although I had known my harvest would be plentiful, I never expected there would be this much in such a short time, with many small berries still growing. I’d be harvesting again in a few days, and this on a regular basis.

I’d just finished loading the seventh and last cooling unit onto the hovering platform when a commotion in the general direction of the plaza set all my senses on high alert. Setting the platform to follow, I hurried to the plaza—half-walking, half-jogging—my heart pounding in anticipation of what surprise I suspected awaited me.

Even through the crowd gathering around the returned Hunters, my eyes immediately locked onto the tall and muscular silhouette of my husband. The powerful emotion that squeezed my heart made no sense, but I didn’t bother trying to analyze it. My man was home, and I was happy.

I shouted his name, involuntarily drawing quite a bit of attention to myself, and broke into a run. My body had developed a mind of its own, and my brain was just onboard for the ride. Olix stared at me with a mix of happiness, shock, and then worry as I raced towards him. I threw myself into his arms, and he caught me. His powerful arms holding me firmly, and my arms wrapped around his neck, I crushed his lips with a passionate kiss. Although our tongues didn’t join the fray, Olix returned my kiss, brief though it was.

“I missed you!” I whispered before burying my face in his neck.

“I missed you, too,” he replied with that deep, rumbling, and slightly sibilant voice of his.

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