Page 38 of Wayfinder (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #5)
Jala stood watching the gathering of females. They seemed scared, and rightly so. She could only imagine the horrors they’d been through as part of Baron Oappo’s harem. Hopefully, today would be brighter for all of them.
There were fourteen females in all, each a different species, each one purchased as a pleasure slave.
For the most part, they looked healthy and well-fed.
Pearl had made sure of that. The females were well dressed, too.
The Baron liked to show off his wealth and finery.
However, some of the outfits, while made of extraordinarily expensive cloth, barely covered the necessities.
No, Jala couldn’t image what they endured.
Deema and Aqsa stood at the front of the group, silently elected as de facto leaders since they had interacted with Jala previously, although it seemed to do little to allay the trepidation in their eyes.
“Good morning, everyone.” Jala issued her brightest smile and gave a concerted effort to keep her voice upbeat. Still, some of the females shuddered in fear. “Do you know why you’ve been called together?”
Deema glanced around at her cohorts, eyes darkening. “Is it because of what happened to Baron Oappo?”
“Correct.” Again, Jala smiled and nodded. The fear in the female’s eyes made her heart ache.
“Is he… is he dead?” One of the harem girls, whose name she did not know, asked. The female was Romvesian and looked barely older than Priemba.
Jala couldn’t help smiling. If she were in their shoes, she might wish the Baron dead herself. “No.”
A skitter of fear ran through the females, palpable in the way the air in the room seemed to shiver.
“While Baron Oappo is very much alive, he will bother you no more. He is on his way to serving a life sentence on the prison planet Xathem for his part in the conspiracy to murder Duke Ako. The Alliance has stripped him of his title, and forfeited his assets.”
Deema and Aqsa looked pleased with the information. Of course, they had been present for some of the fallout of Baron’s treachery. The other females twittered excitedly, save one: the tiny Romvesian female.
“What’s going to happen to us? Will we be sold again?”
Her question caused a flush of anger to heat Jala’s cheeks.
Of course, it wasn’t directed at the female, but at the idea that a sentient creature would ever have to worry about being sold like a piece of property.
After meeting Pearl, she and Praxxan decided to become more involved in helping liberate captured humans.
And although there were no humans in this group, she couldn’t think of a better place to start.
A chorus of nervous twittering brought Jala out of her thoughts. In her pondering, she took too long to answer, which made the females fear her next words.
“Please calm down, everyone. No one is going to be sold.” She reassured them, using as sincere a tone as possible. While Jala had limited experience dealing with slaves, she knew females like these, subjected to years of slavery and abuse, didn’t trust easily. Not even another female.
Jala took a deep breath and waited until the females calmed before continuing. “The reason I called you here is to discuss your options.”
“We have options?” Aqsa asked, as though the concept was completely foreign to her.
“Yes.” Jala stepped forward and reached out her hand in a comforting gesture. Aqsa’s four fingers trembled, but she placed her hand in Jala’s grip.
“You are no longer a slave. All of you are free now,” Jala told her… told them.
Her gaze met faces reflecting shock and wary happiness." My mate Praxxan and I will help you return to your homes, if possible, but I have another suggestion I would like for you to consider."
“What is it?” Deema asked with hopeful interest, although most of the females regarded her with wariness.
“I understand Pearl has been teaching some of you to cook?” Jala knew of the six females that had been lucky enough to escape the harem for the kitchens, if only for a short time.
“Yes, some of us helped her prepare the Duke’s birthday dinner.” The pride in Deema’s voice made Jala’s heart skip. She would help these females find more things to pride themselves on, so help her goddess.
Jala squared her shoulders and spoke slowly, wanting her next words understood fully.
“My mate and I, along with Pearl, have decided to keep the kitchen and dining area used for the Duke’s dinner in operation.
We plan to open a restaurant that will serve Pearl’s cuisine—something she calls alien-Earth fusion. ”
Excited murmurings crescendoed in the air, and for the first time, Jala noticed true hope and relief on all the female faces.
“Pearl is going to remain on the space station?” Deema asked, looking flummoxed. Pearl had just hugged her goodbye a rotation before.
“No. Pearl mated to my brother, Jutuk. She is traveling with him to the Duke’s citadel.” She watched Deema’s face fall and laid a hand on her slender arm, squeezing tightly. “But she assured me that you females are perfectly capable of running the kitchen in her stead.”
“We only know the recipes from the Duke’s birthday dinner,” Aqsa told her, although her face was alight with excitement.
“I understand.” Jala smiled at the female as she pulled a scroll from the pocket of her robe. “Pearl left me with this.”
She handed the scroll to Deema, watching the females’ eyes widen in excitement as she took in the writing.
It had taken Jala all night to translate the recipes Pearl gave her into a tongue the harem females could understand—Alliance standard.
The recipes plus the list of substitutions for Earth ingredients gave the females dozens of dishes to consider.
“It’s enough recipes to get the restaurant started and Pearl has promised to send more soon.”
Aqsa took the scroll from Deema’s trembling fingers, showing the other females, and the room seemed to throb with happy excitement. Deema cleared her throat, a faint scratchy sound drawing everyone’s attention. One by one, Jala noticed each female issued a nod.
“Thank you, my lady.” Deema’s wide smile made her words slightly stilted. “We would all like to stay and help make the restaurant as successful as possible.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” The laughter that broke from Jala’s lips was deep and sincere.
We have each of you assigned to your own quarters, and I’ll have the work schedule posted by tomorrow.
" Her next words were directed solely at Deema and Aqsa, as Pearl had recommended them to manage the kitchen. There are a few things Pearl wanted to go over with you before the restaurant opens, so I’ll schedule a comm sometime in the next few rotations. "
Bright faces, wearing hope and gratitude so pure it practically made them glow, beamed at her. It was all Jala could do to keep her heart steady, and she laid out the final task, perhaps the hardest one. “There’s only one thing left to do.”
“What is that, my lady?” Deema held the scroll of recipes to her chest, the smile never wavering from her face.
“You have to choose a name for the restaurant.” Jala had thought Pearl might want that honor, but she’d told her to leave it up to the harem.
The females moved into a tight circle, much like the one they’d stood in when Jala entered the kitchen earlier, except this time, the acrid scent of fear had been replaced by something fresh and faintly floral—the scent of happiness.
After no more than a few heartbeats, they turned to her as a group, each one wearing a wide smile.
“That didn’t take long,” she laughed, startled.
“It was easy,” Deema preened.
Her next words made Jala realize just how easy it truly had been for them. Easy and perfect.
“We shall call the restaurant Space Pearls .”