28. Sek’su

28

SEK'SU

I stride through the corridors with my shoulders back and pride swelling my heart. A big action was called for, a testament to how I feel about Wrenlee and I took that action. My smile is so big it hurts, but there is no stopping it. I do not think there is anything under the red suns that could kill this sense of pride and joy that fills me.

I nod to everyone I pass, hoping they too can feel such joy in their lives. I get some strange looks but even that cannot break my mood. I stride towards the station I am to man for the day full of purpose.

Even when I see Dilacs leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and glaring at me it does nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. A human woman is next to him but I do not recognize her. She has blondish hair and fine features. She is talking to another human at her side.

"Good morning," I greet him as I approach.

He growls and shakes his head.

"You are a fool," he says.

I stop but even this cannot kill my joy. I meet his harsh gaze with my own. The female at his side looks in my direction and smiles before returning to her conversation with the other, but they are speaking in the human language so I do not know what they are saying.

"You are not in a good mood," I observe. "That is sad for you."

"I am in a fine mood," he protests. "I am not the one that made a fool of not only myself but embarrassed my female in front of her people."

I frown, the first hint of losing my joy creeping in beneath the happy feelings.

"What do you mean?" He laughs, a deep rumble as he drops his arms to his sides and turns to leave. I grab his shoulder and stop him. "Dilacs. Explain yourself."

He stares at my hand on his shoulder. His long black beard touches my fingers and I'm surprised by how soft the hair of it is. I had expected it to be coarse.

"Move your hand lizard," he growls.

"Khi, be nice," the female says, moving in front of him.

He shifts his glare from my hand to look at her. The change on his face is dramatic. Going from barely contained rage to adoration so quickly it shocks me. A smile tugs at his lips and she smiles back at him with love clearly shining on her face. She rises onto her toes and kisses him.

I want Wren to look at me like that.

"As you command, my dragoste," he says.

Jealousy stabs into my heart as sharp as any blade. It hurts more than I could ever expect and is the final blow to my joy which drains away like sands down a hole.

"Dilacs, I do not understand. Please explain," I say, trying to be nice despite my desire to punch him in the face until he tells me what I want to know.

His eyes narrow and he growls. I take my hand off his shoulder but remain standing close. If he knows something about the humans that I do not, I must find out.

"Stupid," he grunts and turns to move away.

"Khi," the female says, stopping him. "Remember, we are working together. We are all on the same side."

He growls but she stands her ground against him, clearly not intimidated by his attitude. He shakes his head but she arches one eyebrow and gives him a winning smile. He closes his eyes and sighs.

"Fine," he says, then looks at me. "You make big show. Embarrassing a female is no way to win her heart."

"Embarrassing?" I ask, taken aback. "That was a demonstration of my love. Of her claim on my heart."

"That was little more than an animal rutting," he counters.

I swing without taking time to think. My fist smashes into the side of his jaw, knocking him sideways. He stumbles into the female who falls to the ground, crying out. Immediately I feel terrible. I had no intention of hurting the female or, honestly, of hitting him, but the comparison to an animal made me react.

He whirls in a rage. His eyes are bloodshot as his mouth opens and he roars. I take a step back, dropping to a crouch and ready to receive his attack. He gets two steps towards me before the female shouts.

"Dilacs, no!" she yells getting back onto her feet. He stops almost instantly. He's less than a wing away, glaring and growling, but he doesn't continue the attack. The female moves between the two of us, looking back and forth. "Both of you, that's enough."

"He hit me first," Dilacs says.

She looks from him to me.

"Apologize," she orders and it is clear that it is an order, not a request.

My dragon stirs at being commanded by someone clearly my lesser and the bijass surges, but I realize she is right. Right, to demand an apology and right she has the authority. In this case at least.

I unclench my fists, straighten, and keep my tail on the floor. I look past her to Dilacs, meeting his glower without flinching.

"Dilacs, I apologize," I say. "That was not right. It will not happen again."

He narrows his eyes, his lips tremble and for a moment I am sure he is going to reject my apology but the female clears her throat and gives him a pointed look.

"Fine," he grumbles.

"I do wish to understand," I say.

He barks a harsh sound that I barely recognize as laughter. He looks at the female.

"Can you explain in terms he can understand, dragoste? Simple ones. He is Zmaj."

I growl at the condescension in his voice but push the rage down. The female has no part in this and I have already caused her to fall. I should not fight with him while she is so close she could be hurt.

"Be nice Khi," she says, dropping her hands from his chest. He grunts and shrugs. "I don't know if you remember, we met briefly the other night. My name is Wreneth. Please, tell me what happened."

The last she directs to me. I frown, unsure what it is I am supposed to be telling her about. I look from her to Dilacs then back.

"What you just did," he says with a scoffing tone to his voice.

I frown, narrowing my eyes as I struggle to keep the bijass under control. The dragon is rumbling, desiring to put this Urr'ki into his place.

"My treasure was pulling away," I say. "I took action to make sure she knew how I feel. That she is my one."

She frowns but nods. "Okay. Well, what was it you did?"

"I kissed her," I say.

"Okay, that doesn't sound so bad."

"He did not ‘kiss' her. He grabbed her in front of all her friends and everyone in the dining hall and all but mated her," Dilacs says and I cannot keep myself from growling.

"Oh," Wreneth says. "That's a bit… more."

"I wanted her to know, without doubt, that she is my treasure," I explain.

"Well, who is she? Maybe I know her and could help smooth things out," Wreneth says.

"Her name is Wrenlee," I say.

Wreneth's eyes widen to the point it seems impossible that they do not fall out. Her mouth drops open and she gasps.

"Wrenlee?" she asks. "The Wrenlee?"

"I do not know what you mean, the Wrenlee. That is her name, yes."

"She's… I mean… oh… she is… well famous. Probably the only person as famous as Rosalind."

"I do not see how this matters," I say. "She is my treasure. If she is famous with her people, why is it a problem that we are meant for one another?"

Wreneth purses her lips and then frowns. She looks at Dilacs who shrugs.

"I don't think it does, really, except… if I remember right…"

"Remember what?" I ask when she doesn't continue.

Her frown deepens. She chews on her lower lip then shakes her head.

"I could be wrong," she says, still not answering the question. "It was a long time ago and I never really followed along with the stories even on the ship, but everyone knew who she was. Knew who all of them were. They were, you know, kind of, well part of the culture I guess."

I suppress an urge to growl though I cannot keep my tail from twitching and making a loud rasping noise as it drags across the stone floor.

"None of those words make sense," I say.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," she says shaking her head. "It's… well a culture thing, not to overuse the word. Humans, we tend to put certain people kind of… higher? I guess that's the best word for it. They had more standing in society."

"They were better warriors?" I ask but growl when Dilacs snorts.

"Leave it to a lizard to equate everything to muscle. All brawn, no brains," he says.

I glare at him and he smiles. My hands ball into fists and it is all I can do to not strike him again.

"Dilacs!" Wreneth puts all her admonishment into that one word. He shrugs and the smile is gone by the time she returns her attention to me. "No, not based on fighting. It was… well it's complex and I honestly don't know that I understand it either. They had a lot of money. Their families were rich, and most of them were among the founders that created the generation ships in the first place."

"Standing in your society was based on… money?" I ask, unfamiliar with the word. "What is… money?"

She sighs and shakes her head.

"That is too much for me to try to explain," she says. "In simplicity, it's easiest if you think of it like your Al'fa and the elites here among the Zmaj. People know what they are doing, listen to what they say, right?"

"Yes, as long as they prove themselves worthy to lead," I agree.

"Close enough," she says. "Outside, among humans, they didn't have to prove themselves worthy. I know, I know, it doesn't make sense. We, humans, can be weird, what can I say?"

"I accept this," I say.

I'm thinking of all the times I've been with Wrenlee and how most of the time I have not understood what she meant or wanted to do. Such as hiding us. Why? Our love should be celebrated, not hidden.

"Good," she says. "Well, a long time ago, she… I mean they say, which is hard to define because who knows who ‘they' are but everyone kind of knew?—"

I shake my head and hold my hand up.

"You are losing me," I say.

"Right," she says, her cheeks turning a soft pink. "Well, this isn't easy. I'm sorry but… well it's mean, and understand obviously it's not what I think, but supposedly..."

She trails off and moves closer to Dilacs. He puts his arm around her protectively and she avoids looking at me. For only an instant I am angry that he feels he must protect her from me. It irks me but the look on his face when he looks at her, is not only protective, but admiring, passionate, and full of, as much as I hate to admit it, love. My anger is gone and in its place, I feel nothing but bad.

"I am sorry, Wreneth," I say, raising my hands and then dropping them uselessly back to my sides.

"What? Why?" she asks, surprise on her face.

"It seems what you must tell me is bad and this is causing you discomfort. I regret that you are in this position and that I am causing it."

Dilacs raises his eyes, his dark eyebrows furrowing, but I see something new in them too. Could that be respect? Why does it make me happy that it might be?

"I'm sorry, this is really mean, and you have to know I don't think this but…" she trails off, looks up at Dilacs then takes a deep breath and it comes out in a rush. "Supposedly she said that sleeping with a Zmaj was akin to sleeping with an animal. I'm sorry, that's so mean. I don't know if she really said that or not and it was years ago?—"

She says more but I do not hear it. Did Wren really say such a thing? Does she think that? She cannot, can she? If she does then why did she… why did we…

I turn and walk away, all the joy I had felt only moments before gone.