Page 20 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Val

V al was surrounded by women and they were all talking at once. They were nearly all human, and ranged the gamut of sizes, shapes and skin colors. Some of them bounced green babies as they spoke, but all of them seemed excited to make her acquaintance. They all seemed to speak at once.

“Totally unfair that they’ve been hogging you.”

“How can you live without a beach? What’s the city look like?”

“Are you here for a check up? I thought the doctor would come to you.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“No more chocolate cake! We’ve had the last three baby showers with chocolate. I want strawberry!”

“The fake strawberry is gross. I don’t want that.”

“It’s her cake, she can choose what she wants.”

“What kind of cake, sweetie?”

Suddenly, they were all staring at her.

“Vanilla?” she answered.

Her answer set forth another round of tittering, but everyone seemed satisfied with the answer and no one seemed to care that she wasn’t pregnant.

Val was escorted out of the shuttle and into the camp.

It was a well formed circle of the same white cubicles of the camp she’d begun to think of as home, except on a much grander scale.

There were at least fifty of them set up in two concentric rings that centered onto a large open quad area where there was currently a group of warriors fighting.

Devin was among them, but the other women gathered around her and didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. Out in front of one building, there was a series of picnic tables set up with tarps acting as shelters from the rain.

They settled around her on a bench and demanded her life story. She decided it was best to leave out the part where she’d been in prison but gave a short summary of the rest.

Then they demanded all the news of Humility, Jane and Meadow. Apparently, they were popular here. A bunch of gifts for the three women started materializing around her, as she was made to promise that she would bring them back with her to the main camp.

Val didn’t have the heart to tell them she probably wasn’t going back, that she would be shipped off on the first transport off the planet.

Instead, she took them, smiling with her waitress smile that guaranteed she’d get at least mediocre tips for listening to her customers blabber.

She was sure that one of the warriors would transport the presents back to the other camp for them.

“What’s the city look like?” one of the women asked.

“Well, right now it’s a hole in the ground,” Val said, “but soon the first shipment of structures is going to be dropped in from space.”

“That sounds dangerous,” the woman said.

“I’m fairly certain Devin has everything under control.”

“Is there really going to be a hot tub in every house?”

Val blinked at the woman. She had no idea what specific plans were going to happen, but that sounded like a tremendous luxury, even for a water-drenched climate. Just her look made the other women dismiss it as a rumor.

“I’m told there will be plenty of amenities,” she said, displaying another waitress smile.

A woman approached and the women parted like water before her.

Val got the idea that this was the boss’s wife, Odette, that she had heard so much about.

She’d been the human that had started it all, the one that Kave had tricked Athen into marrying, and the one who was indirectly the cause for her own predicament.

Not that she minded, Val thought, considering if she’d stayed on Earth much longer, she would have been dead or beaten and bloody on the floor of some cell and dumped like trash with no family or loved ones in the world.

“Hi,” Odette said simply.

“Hi,” Val responded.

“I hear he did not put you in a cake. At least he learned that much of a lesson. Come on, why don’t we go put Junior here down for a nap?”

The other wives seemed to get the cue and disseminated. Val followed Odette to the pod closest to the command center. It was quiet but cluttered in a happy family way. It wasn’t the sterile white of Devin’s bachelor pad.

The table was pretty much the same, though it was covered with a large selection of plant samples.

“Oh, don’t mind the biologist mess. Even with Junior, I want to stay active in my field.”

“I’m a waitress.”

“We’ve got plenty of those here, and housewives.

The Mahdfel are happier with the less career-driven ones anyway.

Try telling them you want to go work in the lab while you’re eight months pregnant.

I’m lucky that I was finally able to get Athen to relent but every Mahdfel has his own way of dealing with his mate, sometimes contrary to her own wishes. ”

Val smiled. She’d already seen the way that Zenik tried not to fawn over Jane despite her desire to be self-sufficient.

It was just inherent in her training as a soldier.

On the other hand, Meadow was more comfortable with Goru’s attentions.

Being a librarian was definitely a softer life than a soldier and she appreciated the attention.

Devin seemed to have no interest in taking care of Val on a permanent basis. One little fling seemed to be all that he needed to drop her off with little more than a ‘good luck and happy trails’.

“We’re a happy little crew here, and if there’s anything you need while you’re here, anything you want, I’ll see what we can do about it. I know Jane and Meadow are pretty resourceful, but even they can’t make chocolate appear out of thin air.”

“I’m used to making due with what I’ve got. I won’t be any trouble.”

“It’s not trouble. We’re family now, that’s what I’m saying. And we might have our squabbles and Kave might be a little annoying at times, but in the end, you forgive and forget and move on.”

“There’s nothing to forgive on my end. Leaving Earth was actually a positive change, but it’s hard to be paired with a guy that really isn’t interested in the whole relationship thing.”

Odette looked at her neck. Val rubbed it out of habit. The bite mark he had left there was little more than two little bumps, already having scarred and healed.

“Looks like he was interested enough. Give it time. He’ll come around. I know he doesn’t seem to be all that affectionate, but it will come. My husband abandoned me for most of my pregnancy. I forgave him. His father wasn’t making it easy for him to change his mind either.”

“Honestly, I could stay here or go,” Val said. “I just don’t think I can go back to Earth.”

“Why not?”

“I made some enemies, and I, well, let’s just say that they thought it seemed better if I disappeared forever.”

“Disappeared.”

“That or died.”

“I see,” Odette said, leaving it at that.

The sound of the shuttle taking off was unmistakable in the distance. Both of them noted it with a stare and a pause. Odette didn’t look too happy but Val rather expected it.

“So whatever you need, I can help, as long as I don’t get shipped back.”

“Val, you’re family now. And family sticks together. Let’s find you some quarters,” Odette said with a smile.