Page 18 of Alien Triton's Prize

I made a face at the mere mention of still food. Still meant dead, and dead meant inedible.

Vera pointed to the plate and then grasped one of Seena’s tentacles, baring her teeth in a friendly manner the way her kind often did, and nodded.

“You’re most welcome, my dear.” Seena patted Vera’s hand. “Why don’t you two head out to the gardens for a walk while I clean up in here?” She turned to me. “Vera was out there with Cetia yesterday looking at all the wonderful specimens you brought back from your travels. You should tell her all about them, and the places you’ve been to where you picked them up.”

I hesitated. Details of my travels tended to bore people. Most were only interested in the riches I brought back, not my collection of fauna and flora.

But Vera’s head was bobbing up and down very excitedly, which I knew was the human sign for yes. So I took her by the hand and guided her out and into the gardens.

Chapter 9

Vera

It wasn’t until I was outside that I realized I didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. I’d gone to enjoy the meal au naturel since Cetius had just put the salve on me, and I didn’t want it to rub off. Then when Seena had showed up she hadn’t reacted at all, and I’d honestly totally forgotten about it. Oh well. Looking around, we were pretty much alone, and it wasn’t like Cetius hadn’t seen all the goodies already.

Not to mention, the water made bras basically unnecessary. My breasts didn’t sag here at all; the water was support enough. I loved how bras made my ladieslook, but hated the way they felt. Back on Earth, I always used to take them off the moment I got home. No clothes meant no bra, and no bra was most certainly a good thing in my books. So I rolled with it.

I was super grateful that Seena had prepared food for me. I wasn’t sure I could ever eat live fish and animals like the Thalassonians did. Then again, he probably found my lifeless slabs of meat just as unappetizing as I did a wriggling lettuce wrap.

Turned out that the “dining room” wasn’t what I had thought it was at all. The part I’d stayed in was simply the entrance. The giant open space above the enclosures was the real dining room, where they could chase down their meal. I bet it helped them work up quite an appetite.

I remember learning that some reptiles and amphibians on Earth only ate live food. In captivity, they had to be tricked to eat anything else. They’d even spit it out again if it didn’t move around in their mouth! It made sense, I guess. If it was still moving, you knew it was very fresh.

We stepped out into the courtyard. The sky…or rather the sea…was exactly the same as I’d remembered it yesterday. Either it was precisely the same time of day, or the ambient light in the city was consistent day in and day out. I made a mental note to ask when we got back inside. This whole lack of voice thing when I was in the water was getting really inconvenient.

I swam awkwardly to the plant with the blue and purple spear-like leaves and gestured to it, hoping that he’d understand I was curious about it.

“You were wearing this in your hair yesterday. You like this plant?”

I nodded, then held one of the purple-blue leaves with silver stripes up to his scales.

“Yes. We share similar colorings.”

I tipped my head questioningly…at least I hoped that was how he’d interpret it…and urged him to tell me more. I wanted to know where he found it, because it didn’t look like anything I’d seen coming into the city.

“I found it off one of the smaller floating islands. Clumps of it were clinging to the edge of the shelf, barely remaining attachedas they were battered by the currents. I believe it used to grow in a sheltered area, but a chunk of the shelf broke off, exposing it. I couldn’t find the plant anywhere else, so I uprooted a single section and carefully brought it home. We almost lost it several times until we came to know its requirements.”

Aww. Cetius might have saved it from extinction. Surely, as the floating islands broke off and were constantly carried by the currents, biodiversity would drop, since only life that could survive in a multitude of changing climates would thrive.

I opened my mouth to ask what the requirements were and who he meant bywe,but no sound came out. Drat! Add it to the list of questions.

I also wanted to tell him that purple and blue plants were my favorite. When I was younger, I’d longed for a garden full of purple and blue flowers, but that dream was dashed when we were all shoved into the space stations.

We went about his garden, and he explained where he had found some of the cooler plants and decorations. He didn’t know much about the plants themselves, but he remembered the exact spot where he’d found them. Each one was a live souvenir from his adventures around Aquaria—adventures that I could tell he was very sad to be leaving behind, now that he had to stay in the city and run the family business.

I thought it was kind of too bad that he had to put aside something he enjoyed so much. He didn’t look that old, either, but I was a horrible judge of age, especially with a species I didn’t know that well. For all I knew, he could be middle-aged, but I got the impression he was still in his prime.

I wondered if I could convince him to take me up to explore one of the islands. I would’ve totally checked out the island I landed on if it hadn’t been for that storm. The oceans around theislands were interesting, too. I wondered if species ever hopped from one island shelf to another, and if being isolated on an island shelf meant species evolved differently.

“Cetius!”

I turned, then shrank back and tried to hide behind my triton husband. There was a giant sea serpent in his garden! If I had been able to scream, I would have.

“Iravan, welcome. I thought you were coming by a little later.”

Suddenly, I was very glad I didn’t have the ability to speak underwater yet. Screaming and hiding at the sight of one of his friends? Super embarrassing.

“I wasss,” his friend hissed.

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