Page 46 of Invasive Species
But as Arra-bellah's head lowers, grief scours claws into my chest. She needs help.
“This isn't like you. I'm making you a cup of tea.” That seems to be a restorative substance people from Earth need.
I point at the house, a silent order, and she nods, following alongside me as I lead the way. I hold the door open for her and the murder chicken, who comes in and settles straight into the dog’s basket as if she belongs there, and fill up the Earth invention called the kettle and set it on the hob.
I busy myself preparing the infusion Arra-bellah always makes in the morning, complete with three heaping spoonfuls of white glucose crystals she calls sugar and a splash of milk, which is an imprecise unit of measurement. That's not important right now though, what matters is Arra-bellah has already perked up.
“You know how I like my tea.” She sounds astounded.
“Yes, I’ve watched you make it many times.” Once thekettle boils, I pour the hot water into a mug. My hands are utterly steady, as if I'm mid operation.
Once she takes a sip she seems to relax, shoulders slumping and arms loose on the table. She picks at a crack in the wood, eyes far away from this room.
I ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Her lips tremble briefly. “I ruined Ellen's planning permission.”
I cock my head.
She waves her hands dismissively. “Bits of paper the council give you to let you build things on your own land. Like that's fair.”
“Council. You mean your government?” My hearts lurch imagining ranks of Parthiastock-like humans, law keepers in hardened armor scales.
“Yeah. I deliberately didn't notify them of a change, because I was worried they'd want to come out. They might see you guys.”
That hits me as hard as a backhand slap. She lied to hergovernment,which is an executable offense on Oloria for males, and probably bears a harsh penalty here given by how upset she is. And she lied for us, to keep us safe.
Arra-bellah is a tiny human, with delicate limbs. She tries hard to make us feel welcome, to respect our culture while challenging it, but I never imagined she’d put herself at risk for us. She's never been all-knowing, authoritative or harsh; those were my own fears layering over her, distorting the truth. Outside under the blue-gray skies she seems wild, curls flying untamed and free, but she's boxed in by her world's rules, structures and definitions.
Like me.
She drops her head in her hands. “So yeah, it looks like I fucked the papers up, and Laura and Ellen won't trust me with something like that again.”
The word fuck rings in my ears. “You did what to a piece of paper?”
She snorts, nearly inhaling her tea, and giggles. Her laughter eases the tension across my shoulders, and I can't help but smile with her, her joy lighting up her face.
“It means… I messed up. Again.” She sets her tea on the table with a sigh, face falling. “I'm trying, I really am, but… sometimes it feels like all I do is fuck up.”
“No. That's not true,” I say, fighting against all my training yet again.
It’s wrong to correct a woman, but she’s so completely mistaken that I can’t let this untruth live for even a moment.
I stand. “Those ideas are beautiful. Your vision is beyond anything I've ever seen before. Your creativity is unmatched, able to draw forth these designs as if you can see the future, guiding us toward something we mere Tubers cannot see. It's… amazing, and words fail me to describe it even adequately, so time what I said by a factor of a thousand.”
She stares at me throughout my assertion. “Wow. That's… specific and poetic.”
“And accurate,” I remind her. “I don't exaggerate and I don't lie.”
“Hm. You don't lie, huh.” She gets to her feet with grace, her body a tiny set of curves with oversized feistiness. Perfect curves, and perfect feistiness. They suit her… perfectly.
I gulp. Words fail me as her scent wafts up to me, spice warmed over a stove, sugar sweet and bracing.
She rounds the table, getting closer with each heartbeat. “So. What do you think of…me?”
I stand my ground, my cocks leaping in my pants and, oh, All-Mother, she notices. She looks up at me with surprise, and my mouth dries at the same time as my cocks twitch, the tension between us thrumming.
“What I think of… you.”
