“Is it true about the touching?”

“What?”

Ssamuin received a puzzled look from his human chambermate Cavan.

“That there are specific guidelines for humans to suppress the urge to touch other sapient species.”

Cavan sat up on his bunk, putting the digital reader away he had been engrossed in before. Ssamuin’s eyes followed his hands, because as always when the human had to think about an explanation for one of Ssamuin’s questions, he played with his forelock and then combed it back to the side once he was ready to speak.

“It’s partly true”, he said carefully. “Back during the time of the first cultural exchanges the topic of animal domestication came up. You probably know that our history with how we treated other life forms from our planet became a big hindrance in us being accepted by your governments.

“Now I don’t want to talk about specifics, I just want to mention that this dark period didn’t last long and by that time we had left it behind us.”

Cavan’s expression had grown ever more gloomy before he clapped one hand on his thigh and brightened up again. “Anyway, humans have one thing I haven’t seen in any other interstellar species so far. We have companions outside our own species - and before you think too hard about this, let me add that I am talking about platonic companions.”

Ssamuin let slip a barely audible gasp when he understood what Cavan was implying.

“So, our reputation for the whole ‘touching other sapients’ thing comes from that. Because your ambassadors back then didn’t understand why we were keeping companion animals even though in their mind we had no reason to need them anymore.”

“Humans had a need for companion animals?”

Ssamuin smirked - the forelock fiddling was happened again.

“Way back when humans were a tribal species - before powered machines, metallurgy and even farming - we were hunters and gatherers. We roamed the lands in search of food and killed other animals to eat them. But there also was another animal that was similar to us in some regards, it is called .

“Through some unknown event, possibly the adoption of some children by a human tribe, became companions to humans. Over many generations they were changed through selective breeding and became a domesticated animal - we call them - and they helped us not only hunt for food but also with protection and safeguarding.

“Of course our lives have changed with our technological development and we don’t really need anymore for these purposes, but we still have them as companions.”

Then Cavan waved his hands. “This was only an example though. We have lots of other species for companions too”, he began counting on his fingers, “, some fish, , , some birds, a lot of rodents, some lizards, snakes, also spiders for some reason,-”

As he held up all ten digits, he stopped himself. “Point is, we don’t have animal companions because we need them. It is because we like them.”

“I don’t understand. Where is the connection to your need for touch?”

“Oh. Yeah, sorry. I got away there, didn’t I?” Cavan gave an embarrassed smile. “The thing is, we them.”

“You them?”

“It means caressing someone. We like to touch our companion animals to stroke their fur or feathers or whatever. And that’s super weird apparently.”

Even just talking about stroking fur, Ssamuin felt a tinge of shame. He looked down at his forelimbs that had a dense coat of silver fur, neatly combed and groomed, and imagined Cavan’s hand ruffling it. There was a mix of feelings in response to that picture he couldn’t categorize, so he quickly thought of something else.

“And these animals, they like that?”

“Yeah. Well, they usually do. Some don’t like it and some do but not always - then they vocalize that or give nonverbal cues and we leave them be.”

Ssamuin paused for a moment.

“I only understand one side of this. Why would a human go and a ? What would they get of that?”

Cavan shrugged. “It feels nice.”

“To feels nice?”

“Yeah. I mean there is - of course - the component of the enjoying it. I love it when they lean into your hand when you scratch behind their ears or roll over so you can pet their tummy. But what I also like is to feel the softness of their fur when I run my fingers through it.

“Then there’s , they have softer fur than dogs and when they are small they have the most heavenly fuzz - I’m not able to stop them. And it’s not only because they enjoy it, but also because I do.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“I don’t know how to explain it, it just feels nice.” Cavan gestured towards Ssamuin. “Like, your pelt - I imagine it is incredibly soft and it would probably be an utter delight to touch.”

The mix of feelings came back and Ssamuin took a deep breath to suppress them. His voice had still become quiet. “You have the desire to touch me because you think it would feel nice to you?”

Cavan’s eyes had become big in response and he stumbled over his words as he replied: “Not that I would really touch you of course.”

A moment later he added, while gesturing wildly: “I know your species only has contact within the family and otherwise only the necessary stuff. ”

“That’s tradition, yes.”

Both of them avoided looking at each other.

“Yeah, okay.” Cavan rubbed his hands together. “So that’s that. Humans and touching, yeah.”

Ssamuin remained silent for a while. Before he could stop himself, he had spoken a question out loud: “So makes you happy?”

“You could put it that way, yeah.”

The next one slipped out with less resistance. “Can I see?”

Cavan had sat up straight and seemingly couldn’t find a good place to rest his hands.

“You want to - see?”

Slowly, Ssamuin lifted one of his forelimbs and held it out towards Cavan, who - wordlessly and holding his breath - stretched out his own hand and carefully brushed his palm against Ssamuin’s fur.

After Cavan only repeated that movement a few times, Ssamuin lifted his forelimb into the human’s open hand on the next touch. He felt the fingers dive into his thick undercoat.

Somehow his curiosity managed to push away those other emotions and he was able to keep his focus on Cavan’s expression. And it was true - though the human displayed a mix of feelings, delight was definitely among them.

He decided then and there that the happiness of a chambermate was a good reason to be somewhat flexible with tradition.

---

To: Cathy

From: Cavan

Hey Cat,

you won’t believe what happened this week. We need to talk real soon, call me when you have time.

A spoiler: Ssamuin surprisingly let me touch him and he is officially the best soft and fuzzy thing ever. Think of a chinchilla the size of a great dane, it’s so amazing!

Give my nephew a kiss.

Cavan