18. Georgiana

In the morning, a woman in green with shoulder length black hair greets me, “Gods be blessed Madame Georgiana. It’s morning.”

“Good morning,” I say a bit unsure of myself.

“What in the in all the known galaxies are you wearing human?”

“I didn’t want to sleep naked. This is Axl’s tunic.”

“That’s unhealthy and that’s well, that’s just not right. How did you get his tunic? Was he in your bedroom?”

“No, he gave it to me.” She doesn’t look like she believes me. So I continue, “He walked me here last night and gave it to me as I refused to walk through the house naked from the infirmary.”

“Well, you need to take it off, shower and go down to the morning meal. I will wait for you to show you where it is.”

Then she crosses her arms and stares at me as if everything is up to me now.

I saunter out of bed and go into the bathroom. There I pee and then take a cold shower. I can’t figure out how to get the water any warmer, but I’m definitely not going to ask the woman in green. I can’t be giving away any of my pride so early in the morning or I’ll never make it through the day.

When I emerge from the bathroom, she has already laid out a dress, stockings, and shoes for me. Once I’m ready she says, “Your ID necklace, you cannot forget to wear it. People must know who you are at all times.”

“Do you think anyone in this house will forget who I am?”

For the first time she smiles, but still puts the necklace around my neck. “It’s not that we don’t know each other, it’s just that we like to know where we stand with everyone around us and see it in writing. It’s an imperial pleasure.”

“Humans like the mystery of talking to people to find out who they are.”

I follow the woman in green down multiple hallways and stairs until we arrive at a formal dining room with no windows but banners hanging from the stone walls. The banners say ‘House Zu’ on them. I assume this must be an old part of the house. I see that it’s assigned seating and I sit in front of my name. I notice that Axl is sitting next to me and I’m grateful for that. However I’m the only one here. “Am I early?”

“Yes. I didn’t know how long you would take to get ready.”

“How early?”

“Thirty minutes.”

“So I’m just going to sit here alone?”

“I’ve alerted Axl that you are already here. He should be here momentarily.”

“That was thoughtful of you.”

“No, it wasn’t. He instructed me to do it. He wants to know your every move.”

“Do you find that odd?”

“Oh no, not at all. Alliance men want to know everything about the women they are courting. Usually they find out everything they can before even speaking to a woman they might like. You have him at a disadvantage. You’re human and from Earth, he has to talk to you to find out everything and of course as a woman you will hold back.”

“Why would I hold back?” I question but as soon as I do, Axl walks in. He looks as handsome as ever.

“Hold back on what?”

“May you walk in the gods’ light,” the woman in green says and then disappears.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. Then without having any pretense I say, “I couldn’t sleep last night so I watched some videos with you in them.”

“Those must have put you right to sleep. I missed having you in my bed last night too. I missed the taste of you on my lips…”

I cross my legs at the thought of him eating me out every night we were on the Hio. “I missed that too.”

“Tea?” he offers.

“Yes, if there’s no coffee.”

“I know what coffee is as I tasted it when I was on Earth, but it’s not something we have in the Empire.”

“Well, that’s a galactic crime if I’ve ever heard one.”

Axl sets down some black tea in front of me. I pick it up and let the cup warm my hands. The dining room isn’t exactly warm.

“Today you said you were going to introduce me to your hometown.”

“Yes. Our first stop will be the Grand City Temple.”

“Oh fun,” I say sarcastically thinking about how I fell asleep watching videos of historical High Priestesses. But before I can explain myself, Axl’s sister comes in and greets us and the dining room’s temperature suddenly becomes a lot frostier.