Chapter Six

Hmmm… Something doesn’t feel right. I wandered through the Syldrari Sector, feeling oddly disoriented. One of my ears was even ringing. Trying to shake it off just made me feel worse. If the Syldrari noticed my behavior or anything odd going on, they didn’t show it.

I nudged the door of Rel’s cafe open and came face-to-chest with a surprised Syldrari. Though he was in human disguise, his sclera were black and his eyes white. I bowed slightly, “Sorry, sir. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

The man glanced back somewhere behind him when several others burst out laughing. “…did a human soldier just apologize to me?”

“Elara, isn’t it a little late for lunch?” Rel asked.

“You’re this Elara I’ve heard about?” The white-eyed Syldrari’s attention turned to me, though he hesitated to move out of my way. “What’s in the bag?”

“The idiots higher up are too scared to send someone official—read: important—so they have me playing delivery girl. I mean…it’s good news, I think, but…”

“Hmph.” The tall Syldrari crossed his arms and gave me a challenging look, one that made my inner feral want to drag him out onto the street for a brawl. I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re human, back down.”

“I don’t care that I’m human. You back down.” I growled back. That got an outright laugh, which seemed to shock the people in the cafe.

“Fine. Show us this ‘important delivery’ of yours.” He gave me a smug look before placing a hand on my back and nudging me toward the counter. It probably looked rough to others because he didn’t tone down his strength much…but I got the feeling he was holding back. He moved to block the doorway, his arms crossed.

“Don’t mind him,” Rel spoke up, shaking his head slightly before placing a bright purple drink on the counter and nudging it my way.

“Oooh, what’s this one?” I came over, watching as Rel dropped a skewer of what looked like blue cherries into the drink.

“You’re giving the human traditional fare now?” The tall man behind me scoffed.

“She’s been eating and drinking our food each time she comes here. I don’t serve anything else.” Rel shot the man a foul look. “If you’re going to play spectator in my establishment, then behave.”

I ignored their exchange, mostly, and picked up the drink, giving it a tentative sip before downing half the glass and picking up the skewer of berry-things. After popping one in my mouth, I chewed, swallowed, then smiled. “You know, you’re making it difficult for me to pick a favorite.”

“What…” The tall man stalked over, snatched my glass, then drank the rest himself as if he didn’t believe it was actually what he initially thought. Then, he gave me an incredulous stare. “You’re not vomiting.”

“Really? Is that seriously the usual human response to that one?” I glanced over at the sheepish Rel.

“I’ll give you another jar of that candy as recompense…and a new drink.” Rel shot the tall man a foul look at that last part.

“Ohhh, you mean the candy that one of my colleagues described as ‘tasty but painfully spicy?’” I remarked dryly. “I get the impression you’re having fun trying to see just how similar my palette is to yours.”

“Well, yes. It isn’t every day we get to serve a human Syldrari fare,” Rel laughed. “Now, what’s this about a delivery?”

“Right.” I hauled my bag up and pulled a folder out of it, placing it on the counter. “After the broadcasts from last night, civilians started pressuring and threatening the government, so a bunch of departments got together to review the complaints and figure out what to do.

“Even though the citizens are still…” I reread the line a few times then rolled my eyes, “‘Cautious and nervous of all alien visitors,’ they’re displeased with the unfair treatment of the Syldrari, and that this treatment has created a vigilante.”

The tall man snorted at me. “I don’t think delivery girls are supposed to roll their eyes when delivering messages.”

“You want to take this outside?!” I growled at him. He just shot me a small smile, patted my head, then sat at the bar. I reined myself in with a twitch. “…anyway. Starting…ten minutes ago, Syldrari are no longer forced to remain in human disguise, and—”

“Thank the fuckin’ ancestors!” Several similar declarations rose from the customers, and I shook my head faintly as everyone in the cafe immediately dropped their disguises.

Rel back to his dark blue, and the tall man to a pale blue-grey. I wasn’t going to admit the tall, irritating man was also pretty. Nope. Nuh uh.

“—and on top of that, self-defense restrictions are being lifted. Most of the human viewers were distressed that Rel didn’t do anything when a knife was to his throat.” I shook my head faintly. “They don’t seem to realize it doesn’t do anything, but hey. They freaked out so bad that they ‘bullied’ the government into letting the Syldrari defend themselves. ‘For the people’ and all that bullshit. If it works, I guess…”

“Staying for dinner?” Rel gave me an amused look when I started fanning myself with the folder.

“Let me see that.” The tall one snatched the folder away from me, leaving me hot and without a fan. Great.

“Yeah, now that’s done, I’m technically off duty,” I answered as I began the process of unfastening and pulling off my damned jacket. Once it was off, I tied the arms around my waist then perched on a barstool.

“You feeling alright? It’s freezing in here.” Rel swiveled a circular thing on the counter toward me, revealing the temperature was…quite low.

“I get hot when people aggravate me.” I glanced in the tall Syldrari’s direction pointedly, then back at the amused Rel. “You look like you’re up to mischief. Planning to surprise me again?”

“Indeed…any requests?” Rel chuckled.

“Mmm…something sweet and fruity for dessert?” I stretched my arms over my head briefly.

“By human or Syldrari standards?” Rel teased.

“Syldrari, of course. I think I’m just as curious as you are at this point to see if the Resonance altered my palette entirely.” I shrugged. Seriously though, how much did the Resonance change me to be like them, and why? Is this just a weird side effect, or is there more to it?

“The… I see, you are a survivor?” The tall Syldrari’s tone suddenly shifted to something a hair gentler, so I glanced to the side at him—but he was now looking at Rel. “You didn’t tell me she was involved.”

“It doesn’t define her, though it has certainly made her…quirky,” Rel answered.

“Hey!” I pouted.

“Resonance survivors… How odd,” the tall Syldrari murmured. “A supposedly flawless weapon of destruction leaving survivors…?”

“I’m not permitted to go too much into it, but the reigning theory within the military is that destruction isn’t the only purpose.” I shook my head and swiveled my bar stool so that I was facing the pensive Syldrari. “In scientific terms, the weapon quite literally resonated with something in our genetic makeup and altered our cellular structure. Now, some people only survived because they were on the fringes of the blast and were merely hit by flying debris, but others were at the epicenter.

“Due to the rather pronounced cellular changes, the military believes that the R’selkti are intentionally changing people at the price of murdering all the others in the area of the blasts. They’re still working on the, ‘to what end?’ Part of their theories.”

“And you’re allowed to share this information?” The tall Syldrari gave me a suspicious look.

“From what I understand, a lot of this information is available to the public—it’s just that most people don’t want to read research papers or otherwise don’t care.” I raised my hands in a shrug. “There are multiple papers publicly available at the universities both online and off, if you want to verify what I said.”

The man immediately pulled out a data pad and began flipping through it. Since our conversation seemed to be over, I turned my attention back to Rel.

“Any new theories about this ‘Lethe’ woman?” Rel inquired, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

“Not really, they’re all too busy scrambling to try and track her down.” I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. “Which kind of brings me to the less favorable news I bring. I’ve been tasked with attempting to find amiable soldiers to patrol the Syldrari Sector with me. It seems to me that they’re more worried about finding ‘Lethe’ and think she may live in this Sector, than they’re concerned about troublemakers.”

“What, exactly, is a fragile creature like you meant to do as a patrol?” The tall man scoffed, unaffected by the sharp glare I shot him. “You are human. Your kind break far too easily to be entertaining, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those who won’t fight back if you attempt to butt into Syldrari business.”

“Hey, I’m just an imperial soldier. You do realize what that makes my options, right?” I narrowed my eyes at him. To my surprise, he looked to Rel questioningly.

“It means that she can obey, or…” Rel hesitated, then continued in Syldran.

The tall Syldrari bristled, his grip cracking the casing of his data pad. From that reaction, I figured I could trust well enough that Rel had made it quite clear.

“And you would obey despite the physical danger?” The tall man asked dangerously.

“I’d rather die in battle—no matter how little I could do against say, a Syldrari opponent. The other option is…undeath, in a manner of speaking? Losing everything that makes me me, and being tossed into one of those places… I’ll pass on that ‘option.’” I crossed my legs at the ankles as I leaned forward to grab my drink. “I don’t really consider it an option, given how clear the choice is.”

“Die in battle…heh.” The tall man shook his head and grabbed his own mug. “I can drink to that.”

“Rel! Keep the human there!” A panicked woman ran into the cafe, drenched in what appeared to be a nervous sweat. “We think we found the queen!”

“Take me there.” The tall man was out of his seat and walking out the door in what looked like the same movement due to his speed.

“Elara,” Rel began.

I shook my head. “I know. I’m planting my ass here until it’s safe to do otherwise. Besides, I haven’t had my dinner yet.”

“Do you think it’s Lethe?” I heard whispers start up in the cafe, though Rel released a low laugh.

“They think that, due to the Syldrari technology and hiding of her eyes, that Lethe is a Syldrari pretending to be a human vigilante.” Rel placed a bowl with some sort of vibrantly colored soup in front of me, then returned to the stove. “With the eyes being something we cannot hide…”

“Even with lenses?” I inquired.

“No…to my knowledge, no such lenses have been created. Given our…edge over other species, hiding in such a manner is not something we tend to do. Our shapeshifting, originally, emerged as a chameleon-like mechanism to trick natural predators on our own planet. Our ancestors later guided that ability to become what it is today, but only because other species tend to find us incredibly startling upon first meeting us. As such, we often observe a planet’s species and approach them in a form they are familiar with, first.”

“Huh. Guiding evolution?” I murmured, intrigued. “That’s something human researchers have been theorizing about but haven’t been able to realize yet.”

“Thus, their interest in Resonance?” Rel nodded in understanding. “As interesting as the concept is, I’m inclined to say the cellular changes are an unintended side effect. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the R’selkti have used such knowledge to enhance their own people?”

“Maybe they have, and we just don’t know it yet,” I countered, shrugging. “After all, it could be another form of ‘guiding evolution,’ right?”

“I see your point, but I don’t like it,” Rel muttered, his tail flicking briefly in agitation.

“You seem rather informed on and interested in the topic for someone who is, ‘just a cafe owner,’” I remarked dryly.

“And the same applies to you, Miss ‘Just an Imperial Soldier,’” Rel countered, shooting me a small smile. “Speaking of, are you certain you shouldn’t be rushing to see what this ‘queen’ commotion is about?”

“I may prefer to die in battle, but I’m not suicidal,” I answered flatly. “Besides, as a survivor of the Resonance, I’m ordered to put self-preservation over solving conflicts or continuing missions. They don’t want to lose any of their precious research samples, abilities or no.”

Rel stroked his chin in thought as I finally dived into my soup. After a moment he spoke, “Let us hope that the queen truly has been found. If she has, she will be returned to our home planet for her own safety and tensions here will fade to a dull noise. I’d had my suspicions that a queen was the cause of increasing…disagreements…but now that we have confirmation, all should be well.”

A Syldrari woman with neon green skin strode over and asked Rel something in what sounded like a concerned tone, to which he nodded, and she trotted out the door.

“Let me guess—she’s going to go check?” I asked when Rel opened his mouth, and he shot me a surprised look. “I heard something along the lines of ‘fis,’ that means ‘go’ if I’m not mistaken?”

“You’re picking up on words you hear?” Rel asked, clearly astounded.

“Well, they’re shouting it in the streets a lot, along with making motions like the ones humans make. Put those together with other context cues…and we arrive at my conclusion.” I motioned vaguely, miming the arm and hand movement people made when telling someone to go first.

“You pay much more attention than most people, human or otherwise, do.” Rel shook his head, then raised an eyebrow when he caught me tilting my bowl around with a frown. “What’s wrong? Finally find something you dislike?”

“All gone.” I pursed my lips and tilted the bowl toward him. “For the record, the only thing I don’t like so far is those things that taste like some kinda medicinal root vegetable. They’re seriously bitter.”

“Medicinal is precisely what they are,” Rel mused, taking my bowl and filling it partway with more of the tasty stuff. “We utilize a great deal of beneficial ingredients in our fare. Some, admittedly, more pleasant than others.”

“Where do you source your ingredients anyway? It’s not like any of this grows natively here.” I happily picked up my fork and spoon to tackle the noodles and other bits in the soup.

“Ah, at the center of the sector, that big building you can see from more open spaces? It has floors for…essentially land and sea.” Rel picked up a spherical vegetable that looked like it was covered in scales. With a flourish, he sliced it in half to reveal a glowing orange interior. “This, for example, is a vegetable found deep within the ocean caverns of our planet—with great difficulty, mind you. The difficulty and danger of sourcing ingredients led us to develop ways to farm for them at a very early stage, and now our technology permits us to grow crops at any depth or altitude we wish. “

“Oooh, that’s really cool.” I caught the half of the vegetable he tossed to me. “What about meat, then? Most of what we eat is cloned or lab grown.”

“Bah, we are capable of doing such if we like…but we prefer to raise ‘food creatures’ when we can.” Rel paused, contemplating something. “Though we are thankful for our technological advancements…we also appreciate the natural order. Gathering, hunting, fishing, making things by hand—these are all things we appreciate and don’t wish to ‘lose.’”

“Huh, I guess that’s in line with all the art and graffiti I see all over the district…” I eyed the interior of the veggie, prodding it a little—I was mildly alarmed when I realized it felt like pudding, yet didn’t drip out of the shell when tipped. Rel reached out a hand, waiting for me to give it back. After doing so, I decided to ask another question, “Okay, I have a question I’ve been meaning to ask. With how advanced the Syldrari are, and how much more powerful than humans you are, why haven’t you just…conquered us?”

“That is a very human question,” Rel laughed, returning to the stove yet again. “I hope you take no offense to this, but quite simply, humans enjoy…murder. War. Subjugation. My people do not enjoy those things. We enjoy the arts in all forms, exploration, hunting, gathering, and expanding our knowledge.

“Our conflicts are few and far between. Personal conflicts are settled by debate or duel, depending on the individuals involved and how serious their quarrel. Clan- or species-encompassing conflicts usually only arise when a queen has appeared but gone undiscovered for a long period of time.”

So, humans have a murder boner and Syldrari don’t. Makes sense. I tracked Rel as he carried a rather large plate over to me, complete with some sort of medium-rare blue steak thing, and multiple sides. “I get the feeling this is more than one serving.”

“Indeed, I’m sure you’ll find time to eat the rest.” Rel smiled, then glanced over my head. “Well, what is the verdict?”

“Child queen, she and her family are being returned home immediately.” The bright green woman reported with a faint nod. “She didn’t destroy much; repairs should be done by morning.” The woman paused to look at me, then noticed my empty bowl and the rest of what I was eating. “…Elara, right? You mentioned something about candy earlier?”

“I gave her a jar of the ludrán you make,” Rel answered as I nodded with my fork in my mouth.

She frowned in thought. “You…liked it? And your human friend said, ‘spicy but tasty?’”

“Yeah, he compared it to candied ginger, just a lot spicier. I think if whatever is ‘spicy’ to humans was toned down, it’d probably work. For me, it’s great as-is though.” I glanced over at Rel when I heard him sigh. “What?”

“You finished it all already, didn’t you?” He crossed his arms at me.

“Uh…nooo? Maybe? …yes?” I grumbled, stabbing a black veggie with my fork.

“I can go get some more?” The woman offered, and I glanced back at her. “They’re 900 credits each, and I’ve got other flavors. How many do you want?”

“Oooh, how many flavors?”

“Fifty?”

“One of each, please!” I grinned.

“One of… are you serious? That’s…” She blinked, I nodded. “I, uh, alright then! I’ll be back shortly with your box!”

“Well, I’d wager you made her night,” Rel remarked dryly. “She’s been trying to bridge human and Syldrari tastes with sweets. Sugar is sugar. You probably gave her ideas for tweaks.”

“I’ll make sure to report back to her, then,” I remarked. “So, things should calm down now?”

“Indeed, they should. With the queen relocating, there’s nothing to spur Syldrari into competition.”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Well, I sure hope so. There’s other problems I’d like answers to, and I doubt they’d get addressed when you’re all trying to prove yourselves to a queen.”

“Says the woman who was prepared to brawl with a Syldrari soldier earlier,” Rel remarked dryly.

“Bleh. Sometimes I meet people and their behavior makes me want to beat them until their manners improve, or they prove their superiority complex isn’t just a complex.” I munched on a bit more of my dinner, watching as Rel placed a to-go box to my left. “You’re really good at telling when I’m almost done.”

“You get this look like you want to keep stuffing your face, but also want more for later.” He placed a large glass filled with layers of stuff in front of me. “And, you did request dessert.”

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