Arguing the Basics (7 page)

He was shocked. “How did you learn that?”

“I went to the Sex Museum in Krimkat Province.” She shrugged. “I will be right back.”

She grabbed her nightshirt, went into the lav and changed. When she emerged, she put her suit in the refreshing unit.

“How did you know to go there?”

“I read the tourism information for each area. It is a tedious way to do things, but it did work. Since we got back, I looked up similar adaptations, and the Moreski spots are the closest thing I could find.”

He nodded and reached out to scratch Sookar. Her Yaluthu showed him that the blunt beak was still dangerous.

He jerked his hand back. “Still ticked, huh?”

Sookar growled.

Koara looked at the bite on his hand, and she hissed. “Damn.”

She sat next to him and took his hand. To his surprise, she put her mouth over the wound, and she licked it. He jerked, but he didn’t pull his hand away.

When she was finished, she sat up and licked her lips.

He stared at the spot where the gouge was. “It’s healed.”

“Of course. All the lower-class folks on Trimel have this adaptation. It was necessary when we couldn’t depend on getting emergency medical care in time or paying for it. So, we pay for breaks, but we treat cuts ourselves.”

“That wasn’t anywhere in the specifications for your people.”

“Of course not. Nor was the whole back issue for the Golum. Some things you take for granted. Everyone knows about them, so you just have to go to the place where they are discussing it openly as a wonder of biology.”

“You are a wonder of biology.”

She blushed. “Thank you. You are pretty as well.”

Sookar hopped onto her lap and growled at Ioko.

She held him tight while she leaned forward to kiss the Kozue on her bed.

Sookar’s growl ceased when Ioko kissed Koara in return. When they slowly parted with flushed cheeks and pounding pulses, Koara cleared her throat. “You are still consigned to the couch.”

“That is acceptable. Who do I contact about courting you?”

She blinked. “Trimel. The Avatar is the one who has power of guardianship for me. He had the right to remove me from his world, so he has the right to call me back. I am one of his people.”

“Good. As long as I know who to talk to, things will be fine.” He winked and got to his feet. “I will wish you good night, Koara Ulings.”

“Good night, Ioko Hanikada.” She climbed backward with Sookar on her lap and scooted under the covers.

She waited until he was on the couch before she turned the light off via the control by her bed. He was closer to her than any man had ever been, and she hoped to one day close the gap between them.

Two days later, she finished the question-and-answer portion of the lecture and gave the Alliance representatives food for thought. She had mentioned social mores and gone into details. If anyone tried to make contact, they would need to know that an exposed back was lewd and a turned back was a sexual invitation.

When the meeting was done, she headed off for lunch with Iara and Agren, as well as the elusive Rion. All their Yaluthu were also in attendance, and it made for a riotous lunch when Agren kept reaching for Sookar, and he hid behind his siblings.

Suddenly, Agren looked up and reached for Koara.

Iara grinned. “This should be interesting.”

Koara was holding the baby a moment later, and the little fists closed on her hair, and he rubbed his face in it.

“He likes pink. Problem solved.” Iara grinned.

“Sookar will be so relieved.” Koara let the baby rub his face in her pink hair, and he was content to do so.

Iara smiled. “Where is Ioko?”

“Finishing up the report. I have given my all and passed along all the tourist crystals that I had collected. They got my opinion, and they will do with it what they will.”

“Can you really give it up to them like that?”

“I have to. I can’t push folks into doing my whim. That isn’t safe or sane.”

Iara smiled. “But you could if you wanted to.”

“Yup, but once in a lifetime was enough. The first time, I lost my family, my world and my home. I was sure that I was doing the right thing, but what was right for me might not have had immediate returns for someone twenty years my senior.”

Koara shifted the cheerful Agren and looked down at him. “I have to learn to explain all possible outcomes for a decision, not just the ones I want.”

Rion rumbled. “It sounds like you are growing into your particular style of seer talent.”

“I really hope so. I want to use it to make sure that folks benefit, not struggle. Everyone deserves the basics of life at their government’s expense. Without those basics, there is no tax base and everything gets patchy from there. Once you take care of the poorest citizen, everything else rises. That is worth fighting for.”

Iara smirked. “And your bias to the poor comes from living that way. It is understandable.”

“No, and now that I know I do have a bias, it will be easier to temper my own opinions and see the truth of the effects. It makes things easier when you know what you are colouring the universe with.”

“Compassion is a good thing to spread around.” Rion smiled.

Koara stroked Agren’s cheek. “As long as it is tempered with an eye toward reality and sensibility, I agree. Anyway, the report is over, and now, I await my next assignment. I am really hoping that I botched it badly enough for me simply to consult. I found the undercover work a little difficult.”

Ioko arrived as she finished speaking. “Do not worry about it. If they send you out again, you will not go alone. I am officially your new partner by every government involved.”

She winked. “Great. You can move the couch three feet closer tonight.”

He grinned and took his nephew but let the baby keep his grip on her hair. It was a devious binding method.

One look to Sookar told her that he wasn’t going to pitch in. She was on her own when it came to the baby. He refused to get close enough to be grabbed.

She looked around at what was rapidly becoming her family and saw no help at all. She sighed and remained pinned by her own hair. It was truly a family meeting. You would get all the support you needed, but you only got help if you were in danger.

Koara sat there and mentally went through all the colours she could use to stop Agren from fixating on her hair. It was extreme, but so was shaving and that was also on the list that her mind came up with.

She looked into Agren’s future and saw a strong man with a good sense of humour and a wife with hot-pink hair and vivid green eyes.

He let her hair go, and he looked into her eyes. She saw what he saw, and his infant self was attracted to the closest colour of his mate.

This was going to be a weird conversation, but at least she knew part of Agren’s talent. He saw the future, even if it was his own and that was going to take some practice to deal with.

It was a good thing Koara was there to help him get through the weird moments before he wrote a report and redesigned a society. One of those in a family was enough.

Summer has hit in full steam, and there are a thousand things that I want to do and only two of them are writing.

The next book is all about Illuma. Meet her, meet her family, and hopefully, she will locate a partner who can make her genuinely laugh at random.

Thanks for reading,

Viola Grace

Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.