Page 24 of Sway's Peace
“Oh, yes,” Reetak chuckled, the sound a deep, hissing rumble in her chest. “The poor male was positively stupid with desire. You should have crooked your little finger at him and see how long it took him to come running.”
Grace giggled, kicking her feet under her desk.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so interested in a guy, or this excited about meeting one. He was so cute! And that shy, sweet smile just drew her in. Best of all, he was a farasie. That meant he was safe.
Grace wasn’t a tall girl, even by human standards, and humans were short by alien standards. She was constantly surrounded by people much bigger and much,muchstronger than herself. While she knew, with relative certainty, that she was safer than on Earth, she was also in greater danger. If someone wanted to hurt her, there really was nothing she could do about it.
But farasie were pacifists. Everyone knew you could trust a farasie not to hurt you. There was no one more trustworthy in the Coalition.
He was cute and he was safe, but he was still an adventure! The kind of small, safe adventure she liked. It was like he had been specifically designed for Grace.
Was this…
Maybe…
She swept her makeup supplies back into the kit as her heart thumped excitedly in her chest as she considered the possibility.
Humans recognized their mates by sight, after all, and she had been attracted to him immediately. And sure, humans were notoriously terrible at recognizing their mates, but they still had them. Grace knew it was a possibility she’d never meet her mate since, statistically, you were far more likely to mate within your own species.
But there was still a chance…
How did farasie recognize their mates? She didn’t know. She should look it up, but part of her was scared to try. To learn that he might be sight or scent triggered or something, and he would already know that she wasn’t his mate, but he was going along with her anyway. The farasie, she knew, weren’t one of those that only gave themselves to their mates. He could want nothing more than a good time while he was in port.
That very real possibility stayed her hand when it came to finding more information on him. If thatwaswhat their fate held in store, she didn’t want to know right now. That reality might be waiting for her, another disappointment to add to her life, another person for whom she wasn’t enough, but she didn’t want to know.
For tonight, until she was forced to confront the truth, she just wanted to enjoy this. Whatever it was, whatever it might be. For now, it was a bright, sparkling joy in her chest that she wanted to savor.
She stowed the kit in her desk and turned off the console, all the holodisplays winking away. The entire desk went to sleep as she stood. Straightening her dress, she took a steadying breath, and glanced at Reetak.
“How do I look?”
“Beautiful, of course,” her friend grinned. “But you better get out of here quickly. Covor just spotted you and he looks ma-a-ad.”
Grace wanted to ask why that mattered, but then she looked to their right where Covor was coming into the room. He had his own office space above theirs, fully private and separate. She rather enjoyed it, because that meant he wasn’t constantly hovering over her.
But he still came down to linger over the dock masters whenever the mood struck him. Loom over their shoulders. Ostensibly, making sure they did their job right, but realistically, just being controlling. To be fair, he did it to all the dock masters, but Grace could swear he did it to her the most.
And he was definitely coming their way. All four ham fists tightened, a harsh scowl making the rough lines of his face even more unattractive. He was stomping, each of his big feet making a loud, ground shaking thump as he stalked their way.
Not at all wanting to deal with the multitude of questions she knew were coming – Where are you going? Who are you meeting? When are you getting back? – she sent Reetak a grin as she hustled out from around her desk, hurrying to the door.
“Grace!” Covor boomed.
Pretending she didn’t hear him, she waited until the door slid shut behind her before taking off at a sprint. Her shoes clicked against the ground as she laughed, hair flying back.
By the time the door to their office was opening again, she was already in the lift. The clear doors were sliding shut, trapping her in the circular room. She beamed, waving at Covor like she was saying an ordinary goodbye at the end of the day, then the lift dropped, and she lost sight of him. Grace was breathless and excited as she fixed her hair in the reflection of the glass.
Covor was annoying with how controlling he could get. She really couldn’t even tell the exact cause of it. Sometimes, it felt like he didn’t trust her to do her job correctly. Like he thought she was incompetent and required extra supervision. She sometimes got the feeling that she was only there because she was human, as eye candy for customers.
Other times, it seemed like he was just kind of controlling as a person, and it had nothing to do with her in particular. He was kind of a butt. Not so much that he made her job too horrible to continue, or enough that she could claim harassment, but he could be insufferable when he was in a mood. It was just easier to not deal with him.
Instead, she focused on her date.
The levels streaked past, too fast for her to follow, as she was taken down to the main floor. It was the public front of Uver Prime on the station, and it had the main lobby where ship crews would come and go from their assigned docks. It was a bright, airy, open space, similar to that of her office, and quite different from the rougher, spartan style of the docks themselves.
She walked through happily, aiming for the next lift that would take her down to the level with the restaurant she had chosen.
The restaurant wasn’t super fancy or anything. Calling it a restaurant was a bit generous too. She’d liken it more to a food truck park – a garden ringed by food stalls. The entire area was a naturalistic environment meant to provide a sense of freedom and nature for the visitors. Such places were common on stations, and practically a necessity for mental health.
