Page 16 of Unfinished

He watched as she snatched up the first slice. Maybe he didn’t have Faseeth’s charm, but in time, he hoped she’d grow to love him. Until then, he’d just have to keep showing her how important she’d become in his life.

* * *

Jesthiand the others were plotting something. He was certain of it now. That first time he’d caught them gossiping in the kitchen had only been the beginning of many clandestine meetings and whispered conferences. What he hadn’t been able to discover was why, and when R’kash asked, they all had perfectly reasonable explanations for their atypical behavior.

Like now. H’viss was frowning as he glared at another portable record-tablet, his body partially hidden by a large potted tree near the east entrance to the courtyard. R’kash leaned against one of the columns lining the central garden and watched the man, wondering how long it would take the other priest to realize he wasn’t alone.

“Working on Jesthi’s plans for the harvest festival?” he asked when his patience had grown thin.

H’viss’ crown feathers snapped straight out around his head with such force that they vibrated. They were a blackish brown color, the same as his own. R’kash hissed with amusement at the shocked expression on H’viss’ face.

“Show me the tablet. I know Jesthi’s been keeping something from me. Don’t you think it’s time I know?”

H’viss tried to step back, but only succeeded in ramming his back against the wall. He fumbled blindly with the tablet, eyes locked on R’kash like he was some dangerous predator come down from the mountains that might pounce at any moment. By the time R’kash had pulled the tablet from his grip, the device was inactive. He swiped his finger, but the screen remained dark.

“It’s bio-locked, high priest.” H’viss smiled, showing his teeth. “You’re right. It is planning for the harvest festival. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you all about it…in a moon cycle’s time.”

R’kash’s rattle started to thrum in his chest, and it didn’t take long before the sound migrated outwards, filling the air with its threatening song.

The other priest hissed at him with a grin as he snatched back his tablet and weaved his way through the doorway back to the temple. R’kash wasn’t sure whether he should be angry or amused by H’viss’ antics. He didn’t like secrets. He never had, but surely his men wouldn’t be hiding anything of importance from him. He’d just have to wait and see what they’d planned once the harvest season was upon them.

R’kash headed for the northern side of the courtyard. The chamber where Faseeth taught Veesha was just a short walk away. He would observe until Faseeth called for a break, and then R’kash would ask if there was anything else the instructor needed for their lessons. He might be weak enough to envy the other man, but he made Veesha happy, and that was all that mattered in the end.

11

Sienna,

I’ve submitted our request for you to come to Xithilene at the end of our probationary period. We should receive an answer and itinerary within a day cycle if it’s approved. Are you as joyful as I that the day fast approaches when we may finally embrace? I long to hear your voice, to know the sounds of your words from your own perfect lips. I have included an excerpt from one of our people’s most respected poets that conveys only a little of my affection for you. I hope it pleases you.

A man utterly enamored by his future mate,

R’kash

Well,the message was a bit on the dramatic side, but that didn’t mean Sienna’s blood wasn’t pumping in response to the flowery words. What woman didn’t want to read that the man she was falling for longed for her words and was dreaming of her perfect lips?

She grinned and shook her head, wondering not for the first time if R’kash had gotten a little help writing his messages. They were just so different from one another, romantic outpourings one day, practical, diary-like entries of his activities the next, but she didn’t know what kind of human media the Xithilene were consuming. Maybe they were watching collections of old period dramas or mining romance novels for cultural insights. That would certainly explain R’kash’s stylistic choices. A greedy part of her hoped that wasn’t true and that what he’d written really was how he felt.

Her eyes flicked down to the attached vid file below the main message. She hit play, and the furrow between her brow grew. The three masked figures arrayed within the clearing amid a grove of clearly alien trees hadn’t been what she’d expected from the claim that this was going to be poetry.

She couldn’t tell whether the Xithilene in the vid were men or women. One wore a mask that reminded her a bit of a wolf, or maybe some Ancient Egyptian god’s head, with a long, narrow snout. The person began moving with erratic, jerky leaps. His snout opened and shut with a startling snap, and Sienna almost dropped the viewscreen.

A low drumbeat began to thrum in the background as the other figures joined the first’s strange dance. Words in English appeared on her screen just a few seconds before a Xithilene voice started to speak, the shivery sounds of the words raising the hair on the back of her neck.My feet are swift and my hunger rivals the j’vinka’s as I seek you, oh, daughter of the sky, read the scrolling subtitles. The wolf-muzzled dancer jumped and stuck their arms and legs out like they’d been electrocuted, and then someone hit the drum so hard she could feel her teeth chatter from the vibrations.

She knew she shouldn’t judge. This was an alien culture’s art, after all.

The reverb from the drum finally started to fade as another dancer began to spin. This one’s mask was different. It had a wide mouth with exaggerated fangs and big, round eyes. The person was wearing a long robe, but suddenly the cloth fell, leaving the body of the man beneath almost entirely naked. It was the loincloth from the tree man all over again.

She tapped the bottom of the vid and saw there was still another three minutes left. She snatched her hand back when the dancer gave a hip thrust that made her feel like he was about to assault her wrist if she didn’t pull away from the screen.

The Xithilene voice returned, and her shiver was definitely due to fright, not anticipation. She hoped R’kash’s voice would be less…uncanny. The man who spoke sounded so utterly other, so inhuman, that it brought home all of Tasha’s warnings.“It’s not just normal long distance dating, and even that doesn’t usually work out well. He’s from an entirely different species!”

Just then, she had an awful thought. Maybe the voicewasR’kash’s. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to hear him speak without goosebumps crawling up her spine.

Luckily, she was distracted by the next subtitle slowly scrolling across her screen.Let your mate claim you, blessed one. Let his venom bind you until your scales heat with desire, until you crave his fertile seed.The dancer’s violent hip thrusts intensified, although thankfully, he wasn’t sporting much of a bulge beneath that loincloth. Unfortunately, his mask also had a hinged jaw, and it clacked open and closed as it repeatedly mimed biting with those oversized, curved fangs.

Oh. Oh, my. That was certainly evocative. Not necessarily appealing, but evocative.

Sienna closed down her computer with a grimace, swiping lightly as if that might distance her from the uncomfortable feelings the poem-slash-interpretive dance had roused. It wasn’tthatstrange…probably. She’d write back to R’kash later that evening, and she knew she was going to tell him how excited she was to come meet him, but she had to admit that it’d be good to have some time to shake off her response to the vid. At least today would be plenty distracting.

---