The Melier (Women of Dor Nye Book 1) (7 page)

She nodded, distrusting her voice.

Re’Len and the males smiled and crowed appreciatively. “We come with gifts, before you leave.”

Now I really feel like an ass.

“Oh no, that isn’t necessary. You’ve been very welcoming-”

“Tsst!” Re’Len held up her hand. “I insist.” The wind kicked up and her hair blew in platinum wisps behind her, like she was commanding nature. “Soren is a brave soul, and we are grateful for his protection from the
lome
beast.” The grinning male stepped forward and held out a large, folded purple hide that Lu hadn’t even noticed before. He set it gently into her arms and the weight of the hide sagged her muscles slightly. It was heavier than it looked. “Please give him our thanks.”

Lucia nodded, half wondering why Soren hadn’t followed her outside.

Re’Len moved forward to drape a necklace about Lucia’s throat. It tinkled as the colorful beads rubbed against each other. One large claw hung at the bottom of the necklace and draped along her breastbone. It was tribal and raw and beautiful. Lu blinked back up at Re’Len.

“I don’t even know what to say,” she whispered. “I mean, thank you, of course, how silly of me.”

“You are welcome.” Re’Len’s indulgent smile was contagious. She set a pouch atop the folded fur Lu was holding. “This is the healing salve I promised you. And lastly,” she gestured the other male accompanying her. He stepped forward with a woven basket of
seetkut
fruit. “A share of the harvest. It will ripen as the days pass on. Eat it when the skin has turned yellow, not before.”

Lu opened her mouth to say it was too much, but Re’Len tsk’d her and wrapped her in a hug. “Safe travels, Lucia.” With that, the males nodded in her direction and then they all retreated back across the field.

Lucia smoothed her hand over the hide and slowly set it atop the basket of fruit. She couldn’t believe the kindness of the Sanruki people. Now she definitely would have to come back for the harvest next year with Soren, if only to repay them for the kindness they’d shown her in her time of need.

So it’s official. I really am stuck with him.

“Loo-Sha?” Soren’s weight bore down on the ramp until he was standing in front of her, bathed and dressed.
That must’ve been what he was doing.

“Soren, the Sanruki’s brought gifts,” she gestured to the fur specifically. “It’s for you; their gratitude for killing the
lome
.” Lu picked it up and set it in his arms. He was quiet for a long while and Lucia wasn’t sure why. His large hands ran through the long fur, and his forehead was wrinkled. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

“I am… conflicted.” He sounded like he’d swallowed a toad.

“About?”

Soren looked like he was having an internal debate about what he was going to say next. “I am conflicted,” he repeated. “I look at this hide and feel gratitude for the gift. I have never received a gift. I have never owned anything. I look at this hide and feel sadness, because Loo-Sha was hurt because of the beast this hide came from.” Silence. “I am conflicted.”

Oh fuck me.

Don’t cry.

Think of credits, ular fruit cocktails, HAPPY THINGS!

Lucia cleared her throat loudly and shook her head trying to clear it of the swell of
something
fuzzing her thoughts. “Soren,” she croaked and cleared her throat again. “You saved me-
us
, all of the Sanruki people in that clearing yesterday. Don’t let the what-if’s cloud the joy of living another day. I’m alive and kickin’ and so are many others, thanks to you.”

Soren nodded. “Okay, Loo-Sha.” He gathered the basket and followed her back up the ramp.

“And do me a favor Soren,” Lu threw over her shoulder. “Stop saying my name all the time.”

“Yes, Loo-Sha.”

It’s pointless.

Chapter 6

“Wade, connect comms with control tower.”

“Yes captain.”

Lucia nibbled her bottom lip as she worried over something that crossed her mind yesterday. What if the original owner of this craft reported it stolen? The last thing she needed was the Sanruki government confiscating everything.

“What is wrong?” Soren asked and for a moment she didn’t realize he spoke, since he didn’t use her name. She did a double take and then decided to confide.

“I’m worried. If this craft has been reported stolen, you and I will most likely end up in a penal colony on a prison planet unless I can talk my way out of it.” Her brows knit together as an icy grip of fear clenched her guts. “Soren, what happened to the original owner of this ship?”

“The Trepnils ate him.”

Oh.

“Thank god. I mean,” she waved her hand. “That’s terrible for him, but that means he didn’t have a chance to report this craft stolen. The worst we’ll run into now is scouts,
if
his family is looking for him. Scouts are easy to avoid.”

Soren soaked this in.

“Control tower here, please state your business.”

This time Lucia
did
groan with loathing at the sound of Za.

“Yesterday I sought refuge on your planet and I would like to know if the Trepnil’s ship, my pursuer, is still within Sanru rotation space.”

A few moments of static popped through the speakers around them.

“No ships are currently in Sanru rotation space. You are free to leave when you wish.”

“Thank you, that is all.”

“Safe travels.”

“Wade, autopilot us out of here please. Resume original course to Dor Nye.”

“Yes captain.”

Lu relaxed against the seat, relieved the Treps decided to give up. The fear wasn’t completely gone, however.
Who’s to say they aren’t lurking somewhere on the outskirts with stealth tech?
She didn’t think Treps had stealth tech, but they
were
pirates. They’d stolen almost every piece of tech they owned.

The craft’s engines purred to life and they slowly began ascending. The village that had welcomed them grew smaller and smaller until they were just specs among purple fields, and then they were swallowed by the planets strange green clouds.

****

The next six days went by in a blur. Lucia tried her best to avoid Soren, and he didn’t push. The only time she contemplated seeking him out was when she needed to apply the salve. It was a pain in the ass, literally, to apply it on her own but the possibility of what that
may
lead to kept her far away. Being confined on the ship with him after
that night
was starting to wear on her psyche. Part of her wanted to discuss it, the
female
part of her that
needed
to analyze everything and pick it apart just to put it back together again. Another part of her just wanted to
do
it
again.

That’s the part she was most afraid of. She’d find her eyes wandering from the adventure novel she found in the office, to wherever Soren happened to be.
I’m such a creeper,
she’d chastise herself and look away to pummel her brain. It would last for .03 seconds before her amber gaze would sweep back to stare. He had to know.

How could he not? He’s a predator.

That much had been proven with the
lome
.

Oh yes, he’s a big, scary kitten.

You’re damn right.

The avoidance didn’t always work, though. The boredom would get so severe, and there was only so many times she could go roll around in the cargo hold, ooo’ing and ahh’ing over those YutYut tomes before she began contemplating space walking. A couple times they’d played charades, since there were no board games anywhere to be found on the ship and charades normally consisted of Soren blinking at her like she’d sprouted a second head. It was pitiful. Without other human beings around, she felt like the last of her people, lost in space.

They ate dehydrated space food together, if that counted. The rations were tasteless and pasty, unfit for the lowliest beast but Lucia didn’t want to eat up the cargo. Soren’s expression when the paste stuck to the roof of his mouth was priceless and while his tongue was working overtime in an effort to swallow, Lu had nearly pissed her spacesuit with an ugly guffawing; the kind of laughing that only a mother could love.

On the last day, after Wade announced they’d be landing on Dor Nye within the hour, Soren sought her out.

“What will happen to me when we reach Dor Nye?”

Lucia’s heart pitter-pattered.

“Well…” she swiveled the command chair in contemplative silence. “You’re free to go wherever you wish. You’re no longer a slave.”

“I am not your slave?”

“No,” she shook her head, figuring it was time to tell him. “I don’t believe in slavery. I should’ve said something sooner, but…” Soren was silent and Lu figured he was thinking about the places he wanted to go or things he might want to do. “Will you go back to Melierun?”

“I do not remember it,” he stated. “I am curious if I had good parents or what my siblings are like, or if I have siblings.”

At that moment, Lu despised slavery more than she ever had before. Here Soren was, not even sure
if
he wanted to go home because he
couldn’t
remember anything about his life outside of servitude.

“What is Dor Nye like?”

Lucia leaned back in her chair and acted like she was taking a moment to figure out how to describe her planet. In actuality, she was trying to calm her nerves. She wondered what the original Soren had been like, or what his real name even was. Was he aggressive, kind, funny, or did he already have a mate or possibly younglings of his own? How permanent was mind wiping? Did it wear off after a certain amount of time, or was it permanent? She needed answers.

“Dor Nye is a very lively planet,” she began. “There are many territories and each one has different traditions, cultures and species. It’s mainly human, but since it’s one of the five main trade planets, there’s never a shortage of variety.”

Lucia proceeded to tell him how four hundred years ago, in 2113, humans were relocated to Dor Nye with help efforts from the Intergalactic Coalition. Humans had ruined the Earth and it was no longer liveable. When humans were relocated, I.C. began conservation efforts and the Milky Way was declared a private galaxy. Earth was healed and other planets atmospheres were altered to support life of endangered species and plants from around the universe. Two hundred years later, the Milky Way was made public again, but still a protected galaxy; a sort of wildlife reserve.

The Coalition’s help came with conditions. Humans had to stop their use of manmade chemicals and consumption of fossil fuels. Natural sources of power were to be used, such as solar, water and wind. With such drastic changes, life expectancy of humans went well over one hundred years of age. They shared advanced technology and worked with humans to make Dor Nye into the trade planet it now was.

“Humans aren’t required to stay or live on Dor Nye. They’re all over many galaxies. People venture out on their own, find mates or hop around. I live in the Curra territory with my family, where my father originates from. It’s very warm year round, very humid and full of exotic plant and animal species. My mother is from a northern territory called Quar Loy. She’s always complaining about the heat in Curra,” Lucia smiled and Soren’s lips twitched.

“There are so many differences for each territory, I wouldn’t know where to begin,” she mused.

“Why do you live with your family? Is this natural?”

Lucia nodded. “On Dor Nye, families have holdings, and they all live together. Families expand and shrink all the time, with deaths or partnership or younglings. When two people enter a partnership, they choose whose family they will be joining; the males or the females. Whichever they choose, they adopt that family name.”

“I do not understand,” Soren confessed.

“For example,” she extended her fingers into the air, unable to talk without waving them around. “If
I
partnered with someone in the future and we decided to live with my family instead of
his
… he would take my family name. Which is Herana, by the way,” Lu added offhandedly. “And we would move into my wing of the Herana residence. We would build onto the home if need be.”

Soren was nodding slowly, like maybe he was getting it.

“It’s very rare a couple goes off to start their own residence. Though some do prefer the nomadic life of living on various planets or wherever their craft or trade takes them. Make sense?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I think I would like this type of arrangement.”

You’re going to do it, aren’t you?

I’m not talking to myself, remember?

I’m shaking my head at you!

“Soren?” Lucia hedged, trying her hardest not to roll her eyes at herself.

“Loo-Sha?”

A strained sound eked from the back of her throat and she rubbed at the skin. “Do you want to come home with me?” She felt terrible at the idea of just leaving him at Dor Nye’s capital. With his luck, he’d be enslaved again.

“Do you want me to?” he countered.

He’s going to put this all on me.

The shit!

And she couldn’t help but smirk that he was learning his way around simple conversation. His comprehension of sarcasm was still a work in progress, though. “We’re friends,” she shrugged, eyes rolling around the command room before sweeping back to Soren. “I think it’s for the best you let me teach you how the rest of civilization lives.”

He smiled toothily and Lucia shook her head.

“Then I will go with you.”

“We have entered Dor Nye rotation space, captain. We are being hailed by control tower.”

“Looks like we’re almost home then. Strap in,” Lu told Soren and turned to face forward in the command chair. “Connect comms, Wade.”

“Control tower. Please state your intentions.”

Ahh, sweet English.

“Seeking permission to land.”

After a few more routine questions, they were breaching atmosphere and landing at the colossal port. Before leaving the craft, Lucia comm’d Boomer, the best fence on all five trade planets. It had taken two years of working with Raz’s crew for Boomer to even consider doing deals with Lu directly. It was all about trust and Boomer was worth it. There was no product he couldn’t find a buyer for. She gave him the security codes for the ship, which Soren had reset during their journey to Dor Nye, and their port location. Lu gave him special instructions about the tomes as those credits were to go directly to her account and a couple other notes on certain products in the hold. The rest of the loot could be divvied up between Raz, Trey and Mima.

“I have a stop to make before we leave the capital,” Lu told Soren as she tucked the single YutYut tome she was keeping inside his folded
lome
hide. The tome, the hide, the necklace, the salve and the basket of
seetkut
were the only items they were taking. Soren easily carried those items atop the basket and followed her through the bustling port. She was just happy to be
planet side
and not zooming through space. She’d had her fill of Treps, explosions and strange festivals to last her a while.

“Loo-Sha,” Soren growled closely behind her. “I do not like the way these males are looking at you.” The growl continued on steadily, never breaking as they moved through the bustling crowds.

Lu looked around, catching the eyes of passersby, most of them sleazy males of all species who’d been in space too long and were salivating for a warm body. A short, tentacle’d blob bleated at her and said something vulgar. Soren bared his teeth and snarled at the creature, causing it to skirt away several paces. She oddly felt at ease with Soren at her back, defending her honor.

It’s kind of adorable.

And since she still didn’t have a blaster, she wasn’t going to tell him to calm down and risk getting into an altercation without any weaponry. Even in a place like the port, crime happened in plain sight and some of the leering cretins had toxin coated appendages that would make it easy to incapacitate a human; best to keep them wary of even
trying
anything.

It doesn’t help that you’re leaving nothing to the imagination with the spacesuit.

Still not talking to youuuu.

Once they got to a quieter, more civilized part of the capital, she was where she needed to be. The colorful shopfronts were a confirmation she really was almost home. The smells of cooking food, sun ripened produce and various other aromas sent a tingle of delight through her body. The late afternoon sun beat down on the large market terrace and she rounded a corner, stepping into a small shop. The bell rang out and the owner stepped in from the back. Beautiful, various works of art were strategically placed about; everything from sculptures to collectible figurines, chimes and jewelry.