Page 8

Titan

Thanks to the industry of the small, fashionable being known as Human Corbin, the east wing of the mansion was unrecognizable as an Earth domicile, as it now resembled a ceremonial venue.

During the night, chairs had been set out in straight rows that branched off on either side from a central aisle, down which guests could walk to take their seats.

Strings of golden lights that flickered like distant stars were strung artfully upon the walls, and for whatever reason, the reproductive organs of several types of plants had been severed from their roots, collected, and bound together into an abundance of macabre offerings which were proudly being displayed on the raised dais where the ceremony was to take place.

Additional plant genitals and many lush green leaves had been arranged on an arch-shaped structure at the back center of the dais.

It was tall enough that even those who sat in the last row would be forced to bear witness to the slaughter.

It was a human warning, Titan was sure, to scare off any who might wish to disrupt the sanctity of the human ceremony. Should anyone dare interfere, these displays of mutilated plant parts promised the interloper’s genitals would be next.

While barbaric, it was likely traditional, and so while the displays made Titan somewhat uncomfortable, he did his best to pay them no mind.

Certainly there had to be aspects of Darvrokian culture which made human beings uncomfortable, and the few human guests in attendance today seemed no more fazed by them than usual, although the mother of the groom—Mrs. Adler—did keep glancing nervously at the Winged Razorbeak perched atop the nearest crystalline arboreal structure.

A foolish gesture.

Winged Razorbeaks mainly preyed on Sand Dwellers, which was why they were a fixture at all bonding ceremonies.

Seldom did one bother with subduing, then devouring a bipedal creature.

Her apprehension would be better off directed at the Burrow Worms, for whom the venue had been filled with sand.

Happily, it appeared they were all dormant—a sure sign the day would be most blessed indeed.

Titan reflected on this from his place on the dais as guests continued to arrive.

As the oldest of the clutch, it was his duty to oversee the ceremony from Al’s side in order to ensure his safety, and while the Burrow Worms’ dormancy was a relief, it meant he would have nothing to do but stand around and think until the events had concluded…

and the more he thought, the more he found himself troubled.

He had not seen much of Al since arriving on Earth, but it had been clear from their brief interactions that Al was not thrilled by his presence, and likely would have preferred it had he not attended the ceremony at all.

But why? He and his brother had never been close, but it seemed his animosity toward Titan had increased since they had last seen each other.

Titan didn’t quite understand it. Al had always acted as though there was competition between them, but this was not the case, and had never been Titan’s intention.

It was not his fault he was more successful than his br other at many things, and it was foolish for Al to hold such a thing against him, especially now that he had surpassed Titan by accomplishing the impossible and finding his True Mate.

His True Mate.

Inexplicably, a feeling of despair descended upon Titan like a shroud.

He had mated with many beings—many more than Al!—and yet…

Titan suppressed a frown.

It seemed different now, for some reason. Hollow. As though he was missing something.

What a useless feeling it was. It would do him good not to linger on it, so to distract himself, he turned his attention from his brother to Ezra, who stood on the dais as well.

He was to play a similar role to Titan in the ceremony as Human Jude’s “best man,” which was a curious but fitting turn of phrase.

Ezra certainly was the best of his kind, both in dignity and physical composition, and looked every bit as radiant this morning in his formal attire as he had last night, flushed and naked, after taking Titan to bed.

In the hopes Ezra might engage him in conversation that would distract him from the prickling discomfort that sat heavy in the pit of his stomach, Titan smiled at him, but Ezra was doing everything in his power not to look Titan’s way.

It was a disappointment, and the prickling feeling intensified.

Still, Titan’s smile persisted. He did not need acknowledgment.

He would smile for the ambassador whether he was perceived or not.

After a short amount of time during which Ezra did not look at Titan once, Human Corbin, who was facilitating the human ceremony, rushed through the doors of the venue looking quite harried.

He hurried down the aisle, almost tripping several times in the sand, then scrambled up onto the dais and took his place behind the central podium.

He was so small, he had to stand on a pink plastic crate a human had mistakenly labeled as “Milk” to be seen .

“All right,” he muttered to himself, fishing several notecards from his jacket’s inner pocket.

“Notes, check. Grooms—” He glanced at one of the side rooms, its door ajar, through which a pink-cheeked Human Jude could be seen.

His tie was undone and left hanging around his neck, and the top buttons of his shirt were open.

It seemed to Titan he was getting dressed…

until four Darvrokian hands grabbed him and tugged him out of sight.

The door swung quietly shut.

Human Corbin pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as though he was experiencing great suffering.

“Accounted for. Witnesses…” He locked eyes with Titan, who only then remembered Ezra had asked him to pretend that they were strangers and that he should, therefore, not be smiling at him, then turned his head to look at Ezra and audibly gasped.

“Oh my god, Ezra, is that a Band-Aid? It is not cute. What did you do?”

“Shaving accident,” Ezra muttered. He tugged self-consciously at his collar.

“You are the worst liar, but whatever. Way to mess up the outfit I meticulously curated for you.”

Ezra’s brows flattened. “There is a guest over there wearing cowboy boots with bicycle shorts and a tank top with an anime girl wearing cat ears that says ‘pussy’ in big block letters. Is that one of your ‘meticulously curated’ outfits as well?”

“I’d like to see you try to wrangle aliens this stubborn into suits and ties.” Human Corbin turned up his nose. “At least none of them are wearing Band-Aids.”

Ezra rolled his eyes. When they became straight again, they landed upon Titan, and Titan was delighted to see him become red in the face.

He fixed Ezra with his most charming smile, only for Ezra to quickly look away as a chorus of small, bright voices cut through the room’s ambient chatter.

A gaggle of young offspring in human disguises—some more accurate than others—had entered the venue and were rushing down the aisle, Titan’s parents trailing behind. “Uncle Ezra! Uncle Ezra! ”

“Good morning, kiddos.” Ezra stepped out of place and squatted down at the edge of the dais, smiling at the offspring with genuine warmth, as though they were his own. “Are you excited for today?”

The offspring cried out in enthusiastic agreement and immediately started talking over each other.

“Our daddies are going to get married, Uncle Ezra!”

“Later there will be a party and Grandma Leon says I can have cake if I am good and do not throw any tantrums!”

“Observe my dress, Uncle Ezra! Do you think I am beautiful?”

“You look different without a t-shirt. Why are you dressed so funny?”

“I feel happiness because Daddy and Papa said that they feel happiness today, too!”

“Do you think the wedding will be boring? I do not feel desire to be bored.”

“Grandpa Adler said that I look very human, but I heard his mind with my mind and I think he was lying! Do you think I look very human, Uncle Ezra?”

Titan observed the offspring without speaking.

Judging by the Darvrokian traits that peeked out from beneath their human disguises and the fact that they occasionally slipped between speaking English and Darvrokian, he deduced they were his nieces and nephews, whom he had yet to meet in person.

They spoke so quickly and with such disregard for one another that it was difficult to pick apart what they were saying, but Ezra seemed to have no trouble.

Even with the occasional Darvrokian word slipped in, he deciphered each of their comments and questions and responded to each individually with unparalleled patience all while the offspring gazed up at him in reverence.

Seeing it, the prickling feeling came back to torment Titan all over again.

“Offspring,” Titan’s mother chided, coming up from behind them. “You have given many words to the ambassador, but have you provided a greeting to your Uncle Titan?”

“Who is Uncle Titan?” asked one of the boys. He was amongst the best disguised and looked passably human, although he still had four arms and was presently covered in scales.

“Do not be foolish. He is standing right here.” She gestured at Titan, and as she did, the offspring all fell silent. Seven sets of eyes swiveled as one onto him.

“Um.” Titan swallowed, feeling strangely intimidated, which was something that did not happen to him with any kind of regular frequency. “Hello.”

The offspring continued to say nothing until Ezra nudged the one closest to him and whispered, “Be polite and say hello.”

After another beat of silence, all seven offspring said, “Hello,” in flat unison. They then mechanically turned back to Ezra and seemed to come alive again, resuming their rapid-fire chatter as though Titan was not there.

The prickling got worse, but Titan pushed it away.

It was understandable that the offspring would not be interested in him.

They knew Ezra, as they had spent their entire lives with him.

Titan was a new face among the many other new faces they were seeing that day, and they had no reason to know that their uncle was extraordinary.

Al certainly would not have spoken of his accomplishments to them, as wrapped up in his imagined competition with Titan as he was…

which meant that as far as the offspring knew, he was average.

Titan tried very hard not to be upset by this.

He did not succeed.

“All right,” chirped Titan’s mother with a sweep of her arms, herding the offspring away from the dais and toward the distant door through which Titan had seen Human Jude.

“There shall be no more talking, as we must now make forward progress. Your fathers are waiting for you. Come, now, offspring. You shall engage the ambassador in conversation at a later time. ”

“Make sure you knock first,” Human Corbin called out after them, while Ezra promised the offspring—who continued to talk at him over their shoulders—that he would find them after the ceremony.

“They enjoy your company,” Titan remarked once the offspring were out of earshot.

Ezra shrugged. “They’re my nieces and nephews.”

“This is factually incorrect,” Titan countered, feeling argumentative for reasons he couldn’t explain. “They are my nieces and nephews. You do not share relation with them.”

Ezra paused. He clicked his tongue a couple times and then shrugged again. “Family doesn’t always have to be blood, man,” he said, then turned away once more.

Titan’s cheeks grew warm, which was a bizarre sensation he was not used to, and he was not sure why it was occurring.

He placed the back of his hand against his face and found that it was warmer than average.

Was this blushing? While it wasn’t a trait his kind shared, he knew humans blushed for a myriad of reasons, but the reason he heard cited most often was embarrassment. Was he… embarrassed?

No. That was as absurd as thinking that Ezra had rejected him.

Titan didn’t get embarrassed, and even if he did, what had Ezra said that would generate such a reaction from him?

So Ezra had a relationship with Al and Jude’s offspring and he did not—why did this matter?

Titan had, quite literally, been light-years away when they had hatched.

It was not his fault that they did not share a closer kinship.

But still, his cheeks were warm. He felt something about what Ezra had said to him. What if… what if it wasn’t embarrassment? What if it was shame?

Before Titan could dwell on this thought any longer, Human Corbin did something to the electronic device on the podium before him that made a terrible crackling sound throughout the room.

Titan winced, then checked for Burrow Worm activity.

Fortun ately, their dormancy had not been interrupted. Truly, a blessed day indeed.

“Welcome, everybody, for what is sure to be the weirdest wedding ever held on Earth,” Human Corbin announced to the small crowd of Titan’s relatives—and the smaller number of humans present—once the crackling had subsided.

“There was a lot of debate over how to go about executing this event, given the, er…

cultural differences between the grooms, but ultimately we decided on a hybrid wedding-slash-bonding ceremony with a little bit of both cultures sprinkled in.

“Thanks to ten bucks and getordained.org, I will officiate the wedding part of everything, and then Al’s great-aunt, a respected elder in the family, will perform the bonding, which is good because I probably shouldn’t even be in charge of a wedding, let alone something that involves honest-to-god telepathy.

” Human Corbin paused as though awaiting something.

Ezra snorted and Human Jude’s parents let out a couple awkward chuckles, but no one else made a sound.

Human Corbin clicked his tongue. “Wow, tough crowd, huh?”

Ezra laughed at that—not just a snort, but an uninhibited, joyful sound—and while Human Corbin continued to speak, Titan did not hear a word he said, as he became so distracted by Ezra’s easygoing beauty that the world around him seemed to melt away.

Ezra quieted down quickly, but joy remained on his face even after the laughter was over. He grinned at Human Corbin with platonic affection, then allowed his gaze to naturally drift elsewhere and accidentally made eye contact with Titan.

Titan smiled.

Or, rather, kept smiling.

The prickling feeling was gone, and in its absence, he felt light.

Pink rose in Ezra’s cheeks and he quickly looked away, but it did not matter. There would be plenty of time to see the ambassador smile without inhibition after Titan made Ezra his.