Page 28 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)
Vi nodded, wearily. Yep, nothing like upping the bribe to win friends and influence people . She gestured at the Trallian force around them and spoke to Prag.
“Organize these Trallians into an honor guard around us. Then lead us to the Ophidians. We can’t let them wait any longer.” She looked around at her boys, as she had started thinking of them, and said, “Oz, back to our original places.”
Bobby came forward and put an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him, gratefully. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving her feeling cold and shaky, so she pressed into his warmth. She noticed the Trallian force staring in shock at their half embrace. Acken came over to them and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Little she-beast, you never cease to surprise me. I was resolved that there would be a lot of blood spilled in this hangar, but you kept us from shedding a single drop.” He seemed to take in her weariness before he went on, in a lower voice, “Bobby had already arranged for you to have a little break when we returned home, but I think we shall make sure that it happens here,” he turned his head toward Prag and raised his voice a little, “in our nice, spacious, well-supplied station suite.” Then he looked around at the unmoving Trallians and clapped his hands, booming, “Queen Violet has spoken! Guard formation, NOW!”
She gave Bobby a final squeeze as the Trallians scrambled to follow Acken’s orders and even Jarxtan Prag looked as if he felt urged to comply, though he wasn’t sure how. She understood— she wanted to stop and take more comfort from Bobby; she knew he wanted to give her more, but she didn’t know how to accept it or what to do with it if she did.
So, she moved into her position and took Caussus’s arm, then said to Prag, “I think you should lead the group to the Ophidians, dismiss the guards, then introduce us—the King and me, unless there’s already someone set to handle those protocols?”
Prag shook his head at the question, then nodded in assent at the recommendation, and went to the front of the guard, slowly walking forward and the now much bigger party following. We’re even more impressive now , Vi thought, and wanted to laugh; talk about your major tactical fuckups on Prag’s side . But more importantly, what fresh hell will be next?
As Prag led the guard and royal party towards the Ophidian reception in the lush space station gardens, all Vi could think was: holy shit, those snakes have arms! She was sure they were making a major impression with their entrance, which she had fully intended to observe, but she found that she was too hyper focused on what was to come to take in much of their surroundings or the reaction they were garnering.
She craned her neck and whispered up at Steve, “What’s with the arms?”
He leaned down and whispered, “Neuro-prosthetics. Brain-machine interfaces. They are commonly used on Serpentia. How did you think we became an advanced, technologically sophisticated, space-faring civilization without limbs?”
She hadn’t given it a moment’s thought, in all honesty. “Cool! Do you have an implant?” He nodded. “Then see if they will give you a pair along with that wormhole endpoint device. Never know when those might come in handy.”
Steve only replied, “Careful what you say now. Mind the Ogo recording drones all around us.” Then he rose up again to loom above the party.
Vi glanced around and saw that there were dozens of hummingbird-sized drones recording the event from all heights, vantage points, and angles. She didn’t see any operators, though, so she assumed it was all being directed from somewhere else. On the station? Who knew?
Up ahead, Prag stopped, turned, and spoke to the guard force. They dispersed quickly, leaving just the House of Oz. He proceeded slowly forward toward the pants-shittingly terrifying collection of giant snakes. With arms . Giant snakes with arms.
Vi had time to take in the scene: two giant snakes waited forward of the others. One was banded green and blue, like Steve, and the other was banded orange and yellow. Both wore some kind of golden headpiece, so it was a good bet they were the King and Queen. They sat still, raised high above their coiled bodies, their arm prosthetics held in a clasped hand posture in front of each of them. The 10 or 12 snakes behind them were also raised, lower than the King and Queen, and in various states of coiled and uncoiled. They were all banded, but in an array of different colors. Some wore arm prosthetics, but some did not.
The area they were being led to had an interior circle of comfortable furniture designed for bipeds in sizes ranging from her to Acken. That furniture, chairs, stools, loveseats, tables of food and drink, was all spaced in such a way as to allow an Ophidian to place themselves comfortably between the pieces. Outside that ring of furniture and tables, and covering it, was half of a giant dome of…monkey bars? It reminded Vi precisely of those playground climbing domes from elementary school, but it was open on each end so that it did not enclose the furnished space below. Vi tried to imagine herself sitting there on the loveseat while giant snakes crisscrossed the bars above, occasionally dropping down to “hang out” and join the conversation. She shuddered.
Prag brought their procession to a halt, cleared his throat, and said, “King Kalt and Queen Lala, honored Ophidians, it is my pleasure to introduce King Caussus and Queen Violet, of Oz, and their royal party of Ophidian, Estranian, Garoxian, Trallian, and Trawg.” He gestured at each as he mentioned their species, a collective gasp rising from the onlookers as he said, “Garoxian.”
After Prag stepped out of the way, Caussus led Violet forward past Friend, as Acken and Mister Beastly stepped farther to the side, and they performed a slow, shallow, sideways dip of the head in unison as Steve had instructed them to do. The Ophidian King and Queen returned the gesture.
Caussus spoke first, also on Steve’s advice, saying, “King Kalt, Queen Lala, it is our most sincere pleasure to meet with you. We are honored that you would travel so far from Serpentia to receive us, and it is our heartfelt wish that we will begin a friendship today between Serpentia and Oz that will last far into the future. I would also like to personally thank you for allowing Prince Steve to travel with our party and serve as a critical ambassador in our understanding of Ophidian culture.”
King Kalt lowered his face to the height of Caussus and Vi, spread his prosthetic arms and hands, then said, “King Caussus, Queen Violet, you honor us by agreeing to join with us here, in friendship, as well as by eschewing clothing—which I understand is not normally your way—in order to show respect for our customs. I am eager to discuss the overlapping interests of Oz and Serpentia, but the Queen and I would first like to take a moment in private with Prince Steve, as we have not seen him in a very long time. I hope you won’t find our need for a brief family reunion unforgivably rude?”
Steve had told them to expect this, and Vi hoped the shit he was in wasn’t too deep. Caussus returned three or four flowery sentences that amounted to “knock yourselves out,” while Vi looked around the reception area. There was a wide array of non-Ophidians waiting to join the reception, too, it seemed. Let’s hope they break out the booze right fucking soon , she thought.
The Oz crew held their positions as Steve came forward and went off with his folks, disappearing behind a decorative, pagoda-like building in the garden and already beginning what looked like would be a rather heated family discussion. That transition broke the hold on the gathering, and everyone started coming toward the middle seating area to mingle.
Vi felt a huge, furry body pressed into her backside and looked up and over her shoulder into Mister Beastly’s eyes. He said, “Ah-hee,” and she understood. Bobby had asked Mister Beastly to stand with Vi as people looked to start approaching her. She was happy to have something, anything, covering her bare ass. She glanced over and saw Acken doing the same for Caussus, but with a little more daylight between them. As she turned back around, a Trallian placed a stemmed glass of something pink and bubby in her hand, tried to offer one to Mister Beastly without meeting his eyes, and quickly retracted the proffered glass.
She grabbed the Trallian’s arm before he could skitter away and said, “Don’t be frightened. None of us will hurt any Trallians.” He just regarded her with wide eyes, as she plucked the other glass from his hand, and backed away. She knocked the first one back in a single gulp, then set the glass down, and held onto the second. It was light, slightly sweet, and mildly alcoholic.
Before Mister Beastly had stepped forward, there had been at least five alien males of unknown species making their way toward her from different directions in the room. She looked around to see that they had all frozen and were staring at Mister Beastly warily. She smiled over her shoulder at him again and said, “Thank you, I was about to be overrun. But we better mingle.”
Vi picked the most innocuous looking of her flash-frozen welcoming party—a tall, muscular, humanoid male that looked slightly elfin, with pointed ears and a shock of electric blue hair—and made eye contact, then offered a small smile. He started forward and, upon reaching Vi, gave her a low bow. She responded with a slight dip of her head, taking in his loose-fitting brown linen tunic and trousers, bare feet, and gold bangles at his wrists and ankles. He was handsome, in an 80s-hair-band-meets-warrior-elf-monk sort of way.
“Queen Violet,” he said, in a deep, sonorous voice that seemed to resonate inside her, “it is my honor to meet you. I am Valis of the Melinor.”
He held firm eye contact, never once allowing his gaze to drift down her almost naked body. She started liking him right away for that.
“Hello Valis, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am not familiar with the Melinor.” They’d decided in advance to not even try to hide their ignorance. This was Oz’s coming out party, for fuck’s sake, they didn’t have to know about every little thing in the galaxy. Then she added a joke for her own entertainment, “But I see we have the same taste in shoes.”
He laughed loudly and warmly, then said, “Yes, I understand that Oz is just now entering the galactic community. May I?” He indicated a pair of vacant chairs nearby and held out his hand for hers, palm up.
Vi nodded, placed her hand on his, and allowed herself to be led to the seat. She wanted to look around for Bobby, to give him a reassuring smile, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that all night. They had discussed her need to mingle like this, and that it would almost certainly include close conversations and occasional touches. She hoped he wasn’t feeling too anxious.
Valis waited for her to seat herself, waited for Mister Beastly to take up a defensive position behind her chair, and then sat with his body angled in toward hers. He showed no anxiety at all from Mister Beastly’s presence.
“The Melinor is a society of warriors who spend their entire lives training on Kran until they are ready to pledge themselves to a house or a cause. Any species may train to become a warrior of the Melinor, but they must dedicate their lives to the training and precepts, and they must pass a series of trials before being allowed to go out into the galaxy and find a house or a cause. I have recently finished my trials and am searching for where I belong.”
“Congratulations, Valis, you must be very proud to have completed your training and bested the trials. Where has your search taken you?”
He looked down, “Several places that were poor fits for me.” He looked back up at Vi and smiled, “When I heard there was a meeting of two royal houses here, I came to see if I might find a better fit with Serpentia or Oz.”
Vi looked at him for several moments. He was serious, but…light, as if he carried no heavy weights in his heart or soul. “Can you tell me why those other places were poor fits for you? You needn’t reveal the places or the houses, just tell me why you felt like you could not belong.”
He thought for a few seconds and Vi looked up to see Bobby walking over to her. She was seated on a low, wide, armless chair that could easily fit both of them, so she scooted over to one side and patted the empty side. Bobby sat beside her, crossed his legs, and put his arm across the back of the chair, looking up at Mister Beastly and smiling.
Vi turned back to Valis to introduce Bobby, but she saw a surprised expression on his face. Oh shit , she thought, forgetting and fucking up already . She decided to bluster through it, “Valis, I’d like you to meet Bobby, our royal designer. Bobby, this is Valis of the Melinor. Valis was just explaining to me about the Melinor and his search for a house.”
The males nodded at each other.
Valis leaned in and said, “Forgive me, but did you say that Bobby is your royal designer? He holds such a prominent position as a slave?”
Vi shook her head, “We don’t have slaves. We don’t condone slavery in any form and are actively looking to end its practice in the galaxy.”
Valis leaned back and regarded them, seated side by side, and smiled. He looked up at Mister Beastly, then around at the other members of the party, all engaged in various conversations with the reception invitees. Vi took the opportunity to check if the Ophidian royals had returned. They hadn’t. She hoped Steve wasn’t getting his ass chewed too badly.
Valis said, “Then I have found my place. It is with you, Queen Violet.”
Vi nearly did a spit take on the last swallow of her second glass of the fizzy stuff. Bobby put a hand on her back until she pulled herself back together. She said, “We’re not exactly recruiting warrior elves at the moment, Valis. Why do you believe we would simply accept you in our house?”
He laughed, “You may trial me for as long as you like. The only thing I require in exchange is the basics for life: food, water, a place to sleep. You may reject my placement at any time you wish, and I may retract my offer at any time I wish, until I swear to you. What’s the risk?”
Vi shook her head, “This needs a longer, not-so-public conversation, with more of my advisors present. But I will say, I am intrigued enough to bring it up for consideration. Where are you staying?”
“I’m currently sleeping in a shop on the lower decks. I offered my protective services to a shopkeeper who was having serious difficulties with the criminal elements down there, in exchange for a place to sleep and a meal each day.”
“Let me speak with some of my party. I also need to spend some time with Ophidians. Please don’t leave this reception tonight without finding and speaking to me again. Will you?”
He grinned a charming, boyish grin, “Yes, Queen Violet.” He stood, bowed low, and was absorbed into the mingling crowd.
Vi turned to Bobby, “Do you know anything about the Melinor?”
Bobby leaned in and said, “Yes, they are honorable warriors. I watched a series on the Ogo, ‘A Day in the Life of a Melinor Warrior.’ They train for years and go through awful tests. Then they choose a place to serve for life, one that matches what’s in their hearts. It is considered very prestigious to have a Melinor warrior attached to your house. They vow to never mate.”
“Hmm, he made the offer to join us right after I mentioned our position on slavery.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, too.”
“So, I guess that position must match what’s in his heart? Fighting against slavery?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. The Melinor always stand for something important.”
A yellow and green Ophidian dropped down from the monkey bar framework above right then, lowering itself to be eye level with Vi, “Queen Violet, my King and Queen are wondering if you and King Caussus might meet with them privately, along with Prince Steve?”
Bobby leaned toward her and whispered, “Take Mister Beastly.”
Vi shook her head at him, looked up and nodded at Mister Beastly, and then said, “Certainly. I will collect the King and his guard. Please lead the way.”
She walked over to Caussus and Acken, interrupting a seemingly dull conversation with a green, amphibian-looking alien. She linked arms with Caussus and whispered in his ear, “Time to meet the royals,” gave Acken a meaningful look, and then they all followed the yellow and green Ophidian around the side of the pagoda.