Page 1 of Her Alien Prince
CHAPTER ONE
Mabel
THREE LOH JEWELS: one tiny jewel on my forehead and two larger ones on my shoulder blades. That's it. That's all I had to absorb the moon's radiation. Because of that I'd grown small and weak in the eyes of my peers. No male had looked at me with more than pleasant acknowledgement, since coming of age to participate in the mating ceremony.
They weren't mean, not overtly.
I was simply ignored, and it wasn't difficult to be distracted by more accomplished estrelds that glowed in the moon's light.
The mating ceremony had been open to off-worlders for twenty cycles now. I didn't even know who my father was. Nor did I really care to. I'm different from most multi-species because female offspring usually take more after estreld genetics, having just as many loh to absorb the moon's rays as their mothers. Me, well, I only have three.
Three loh… and a freckle on my temple that glowed sometimes.
It was a sign of health to have many loh and, since most female offspring took after their mothers... Well, it wouldn't be wise to choose someone like me with so few loh to help an offspring grow and be strong. With the only mother I knew gone, the craving to have a family of my own burned inside like a cyclone of sand that my skin could hardly contain. I was one of many to my mother. She ran the offspring training center, raising hundreds, thousands even, of young. My only chance to raise even one would be to lure an off-worlder during the mating ceremony this cycle.
This year was my chance. According to all of my research as part of the M.R., Mating Research, team there has been a great correlation between offspring and an estreld's twentieth renewal cycle. I’ll be twenty cycles this mating season, one of the first offspring spawn from an off-worlder. There was bad data collection that first cycle. My estreld foster mother didn't even know what species my father was, and my birth mother… well, it was easy enough to disappear into the fabric of duties and never return to the training center again. She could be anyone.
Sometimes, I’d look into the faces of females as they passed, searching for similarities between them and myself. Paying close attention to whether they were taking pity on the girl that had few loh, or if there was something more. Guilt, perhaps? It was foolish, and over the years I cared less about finding either parent. There were many to get to know, and there were many who faded the same way my blood parents did. Estreld males took turns caring after me in hopes of becoming my foster mom's sired mate. She never chose any of them. And I learned not to get too attached to any of them.
"Mabel, I'm glad you're here," Elder Ezra said without looking up from her microscope scanner. "I have your results back from your egg samples. Every estreld is required to be examined before participating in the ceremony, as you know."
She was always very clinical in the way she spoke about the mating ceremony. The future of our species depended on her, and she relied on my data collection from other estrelds by interviewing them before, during, and after mating. That was my job. The more we knew about the intangibles, the more it could guide Ezra's research on the offspring decline.
I correlated the data, and provided statistical probabilities of the likelihood of factors contributing to successful offspring.
"Did you do the tests yourself?" I asked.
Pressing her lips together flat, never a good sign, she clicked off her tablet. Again, not a good sign, prying her away from her work was never easy. Ezra took a deep breath preparing herself, she had never been great with the communication bit of her job. That's why she relied on me to do the social interaction necessary for the job.
"I reran the tests several times myself after hoping there was a mistake with the synthesizer. I wanted to inform you personally before Almder summoned you, as all results are automatically uploaded for her this close to the ceremony. She likes to review them personally and verify electronic data with verbal acknowledgements to confirm their accuracy." She was rambling and relying on facts to help her get through what she needed to say. My heart pounded in my chest, waiting for her to reveal what needed her direct attention. This build up didn't do me any favors, but I couldn't blame Ezra for that. "Mabel, you know as well as I do that we've yet to see any estreld establish offspring with no endometrium to attach to. There is simply no place for the eggs to secure themselves should they fall."
"What are you saying?" My voice quivered with fear for what I knew she would say but didn't want her to confirm. This would mean I failed my examination and would be disqualified from joining the mating ceremony.
"Mabel, if you meet a compatible mate... you would be risking your life. Dropping your eggs without a lining is dangerous. They could try to attach anywhere to seek purchase, and that anywhere could kill you and the unborn offspring. The safest thing for us to do would be to remove your sack from beneath your shoulder glands. You could still have some fun without risking your life," she explained.
I stared at her, stunned. I was twenty cycles... Perfect estreld age for offspring, for starting a family, and she wanted to remove my eggs. Gulping back my fear, I asked, "There's no way to wait until they drop and then safely transfer them to someone else? Or perhaps keep the eggs and test to find a compatible donor to incubate?"
Her eyes lowered and distracted themselves with a spot on the wall, not wishing to look at me directly. "So much technology," she said wistfully. "So much advancement, but I can't risk it. I can't risk you. Of course, there are tools out there," she motioned to the stars outside of Estreldez, "but we don't have an alliance with Trillume directly. We are on the outskirts of the galaxy. Everything we get outside of our planet is from Krelis, and we can't risk trade with Necias Delta Fal. They are outlaws from even their own kind. There's no telling when trill enforcers will return to bring order to this sector, or if we even want them to."
"What do you mean, ‘if we even want them to’?" My eyes were stinging as I held back my emotions about being told I was broken. That I wouldn't have a family of my own.
Ezra quieted when she leaned in to say, "Sometimes being left alone is better than the cost of being 'helped'."
But the trill could help me, I thought rebelliously. "Allow me some time to process this," I said, trying to sound stronger than I felt. I knew she would want to perform the surgery to remove my egg sack sooner, rather than risk meeting a compatible mate when all the off-worlders joined shortly. Their ships were already orbiting our largest moon, and they'd be landing once their examinations were verified. It was my job to interview the mating candidates, and Ezra wouldn't want me around any mates if I might be compatible.
"Please return before the ceremony begins," she directed, her usual monotone, business-as-usual voice back in place.
I left the labs and went to meet with the leader of Estreldez, Almder, to see if I could get her approval to continue being her advisor despite my new status as infertile. There was more at risk besides not being able to have my own offspring; my whole career was on the line. Not only was I half estreld and half unknown, I only had three loh and had now failed my mating exam. I would be cast to a new position outside the palace, because it would be seen as a bad omen to have a mating advisor to be infertile. Perhaps I could convince Almder that I could at least train my replacement for a time being.
When I arrived at the central alcove carved from black tarnpul deposits to focus the moon's rays, Almder was busy speaking with a tall male with blonde hair... and horns. A krelin... in such close proximity to our leader, and her guards so far away? Whatever concerns I had for myself vanished as I watched with curiosity and a bit of fear. Luan would be appalled to see such trust shown to the krelins after what they pulled with our last import trade. I’d worked so hard to become an advisor to be of use to Luan when she took over as Almder one day. We were going to change Estreldez together. She'd risk going to the trill to help our planet, if need be. I knew she would.
"And the queen has agreed to this already?" Almder asked the krelin representative.
"Queen Kai seeks resolution to the tension between our trade agreements. It is reasonable to believe sharing biological ties between our species will bridge the gap we've found ourselves falling into of late. Krelin warriors are growing restless with our increased male population and are in need of females to calm their minds.
“As you well know, the hive shares a connection that all of Krelis feeds from. Many do not have the patience nor the desire to cull that connection when it overwhelms their sense of self. This has caused avarice to spread through the hive, infecting many warriors with a need to claim more than what is owed to them. Our export ships have taken advantage of their supply, and, without something for them to latch onto, they will continue to increase their efforts."
"Are you threatening Estreldez?" Almder thundered back, and I took a step back, feeling the increased tension in the room.
