Page 17 of Alien Triton's Prize

She looked confused for a moment, then sighed and relaxed again when I started rubbing the muscles of her neck.

Some cultures ignored the female’s needs, and until Vera learned that it wasn’t the case here, I had to be extra careful. She didn’t have any defenses or claws, so she would not be able to fight me off if I misread the cues from her body.

Our females fought back, clawing at us if they were not ready, as penetration was painful otherwise. Back when the male-to-female ratio was more even, there were some dishonorable males who didn’t care. It was frowned upon, but not punishable back then. But now, if a male was selfish with a partner, news of it would get out, and no female would ever consider him again, no matter how much wealth he had. Starlight Brides wouldn’t accept his application either.

According to the information package about humans, the females only came into heat about once every Earth’s lunar cycle, which was just a little shorter than ours. Even then, it wasn’t always consistent. With such a narrow window of opportunity, I had to make sure I didn’t miss it. I’d make the attempt every night until it was the right time. Vera seemed to enjoy it, so that was a good thing.

With Vera still languidly stretched out on the bed, I grabbed the tub and finished reapplying the rest of the salve, making sure to get every exposed inch of skin. I ignored the sound of my contact conch as it rang on the table.

When I had finished with the salve, I checked my contact conch. It was a message from Seena. She’d made a human-style meal for Vera, and it was waiting for us in the dining room.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Yes. I think I might have worked up an appetite even though you did all the work.”

“Good. Then I did my job right. Let’s head down to eat. Seena made you some food.”

“That’s really nice of her.” She smiled, but there was still some uncertainty on her face.

She put her external gills back on, and we made our way to the dining room. Her skin now had a slight sheen to it, almost reminding me of our scales.

We found a platter on the table with a pouch of fresh water next to it held down by a rock. The plate was piled high with sliced fish and clumps of roe on a bed of sea greens. Eggs were much loved by the females of our species, and I hoped that Vera liked them too. Seena had stocked up on them specifically for her arrival.

I’d seen plates with precut food before when I was out and about in the city, but I hadn’t expected her entire meal to be like that. It wasn’t particularly appetizing to me, since it meant none of the food was truly fresh. But if that was how she liked it, then so be it.

Vera looked at her plate and then at me with a questioning look. Then, remembering that she couldn’t speak, I tried to guess what she was asking.

“This is all for you,” I said, moving her to hover in front of her platter.

Then I went to our extensive pantry to choose a meal for myself. I didn’t know how some of the prey would react to a human, and a few species did fight back, so I chose some fast-swimming but relatively docile suchees. Their only defense was their speed, which meant they lacked any sharp quills or venom, and very rarely bit.

I opened their enclosure door and set three of them loose in the room. I then selected a handful of thick, crunchy leaves to use as wraps from the greens cupboard. When I turned around, Vera hadn’t started eating yet. She was looking quizzically at my food, which was swimming around the room, moving higher and higher toward the ceiling.

Seeing me looking at her, she grabbed one of the round, juicy eggs and popped it into her mouth. Happy to see that she seemed to be enjoying her food, I went after my own meal. The suchees were particularly lively today; Seena must have just picked them up from the market. The forearm-length, silver, crunchy delights swam up near the top of the room, which was for the best since Vera and her table were at the bottom.

I swam up there too, chased one down, and stunned it. I wrapped it in a leaf and swam back down to join Vera at the table.

I noticed she’d eaten another one of those rich, fatty eggs but hadn’t touched the sliced fish. I wouldn’t either. Seafood was best enjoyed as fresh as possible.

I offered her myextremelyfresh suchee wrap just as the creature was regaining consciousness. It began to struggle inside the leaf. Vera shook her head, looking shocked and more than a little disgusted. In fact, she looked almost afraid of it.

“These ones don’t bite back,” I said reassuringly. “Give it a try. Their bones and scales are particularly crispy.”

She shook her head again and focused on her plate, picking up a leaf and wrapping a few slices of fish in it. She took a tentative bite and chewed.

My suchee was thrashing up a storm now, so I took a bite before it could destroy my perfect wrapping skills. Vera finished her wrap but did not go back for a second one, although she did continue to snack on the juicy eggs.

The suchees stayed at the top of the room, which was usually where I fed anyway, since up there it was more open without all the enclosures, but I decided I’d bring the next one down to the bottom so I could be with Vera. It was just at this point that a pouch of fresh water floated up from the table, and Vera came chasing after it, kicking her finless legs.

Ahh, it floated. No wonder Seena had weighed the pouch down onto the table. I did find it harder to swim in freshwater whenever I’d gone up into lakes and rivers of the large islands in my travels. Fresh water was too light, and made me feel heavier.

I plucked it out from the water and handed it back to her.

Her eyes were wide as she gazed around the room. The lower level of the dining room was small, since the enclosures took up so much of the space, but up here, it opened up so we could simulate the hunt when chasing our prey. It wasn’t the same as the real thing, of course. It was still an enclosed room, and the types of prey we kept on hand weren’t what we’d find in the open ocean, but it was still enough to get our appetite going.

The last suchee swam in large circles, too dumb to realize its imminent demise until I gave chase. But soon enough, it also went down the gullet, and I was full. Just in time, too, because below us, the door opened and Seena made her way into the room. She didn’t bother staying down by the enclosures but instead swam up to greet us.

“Ah! I’m so glad you two are enjoying a meal together. I wasn’t sure how much you needed to eat, Vera, so feel free to leave anything you don’t want, and I’ll take care of it. I’m not picky like the Thalassonians. My food does not need to be moving for me to eat it.”

---