Looking at Trouble (7 page)
The other l’nal circled around, touching and admiring the weave.
One of the younger females asked, “What did she dye it with?”
Reeda inclined her head. “It was not dyed. This is a direct weave with no seams, made for me on the occasion of my leaving home.”
The l’nal looked as if they wanted to observe and examine the clothing indefinitely.
“Excuse me, mistresses, but the trade master is eager to begin.”
The younger one snapped at her to intimidate her. Reeda straightened two fingers and jabbed the female on the upper lip between the mandibles. The female shrieked and backed away.
The trade mistress chuckled. “You were indeed raised by one of ours. What was your mother’s name?”
“I am Reeda Rrkra, Guardian of Ryamash III.”
The l’nal skittered back a few steps, and then, they lowered themselves slightly.
“Princess, we honour your attempts to ease our work here.”
“Mistress, I am not a princess.”
“If you are Rrkra’s daughter, and your clothing says you are, you are a princess to those of us who believe that she was and always will be our queen. Our weavers were loyal to her and respected her choice not to eat her mate.”
Surprise ran through Reeda. “Is that what happened? She never mentioned why she left her people.”
“When she refused to agree to his death, they killed him and cut her leg. Based on this work, it did not impede her ability to weave as they hoped it would.”
Tearing up, Reeda muttered, “She always said that raising me made her do a number of things that she had never believed possible. I stretched her limits on a daily basis.”
The female chuckled. “I am Trade Mistress Trralka. It is an honour to meet you, daughter of Rrkra.”
She smiled and gave a l’nal bow, a flexing of knees. “The honour is mine. Now, the locals have requested this meeting, and I believe it should get underway.”
“Fair enough. Let us begin.”
Reeda turned to the trade masters and inclined her head. “Introductions have been made and they are ready to begin.”
The trade masters looked at her in confusion, and she realised that she was speaking l’nal. She tried again, and this time, they were much more enthusiastic.
The trade talks were under way.
It was the mention of Mistress Trralka that got her mother to use the video link on the com unit that night.
“You have met Trralka? Did she look healthy? Was she polite?”
Reeda smiled. “She addressed me as princess and finally settled for daughter of Rrkra.”
“I didn’t want you getting a big head. It is bad enough that your father was a travelling Avatar, to have you known as a l’nal princess... well there would have been no living with you.”
“My father was an Avatar?”
“Not Amdor. His name is Byuth. Now that you are settled in the world and protected, you can seek him out. How is your relationship with Bilro progressing?”
“Um, it isn’t. I think he is not comfortable with me being his commander.”
Mother snorted, a strange sound coming from her mouth. “Some men are that way, or so, I have been led to believe. I found one male that I wanted to spend my life with, but a queen of the l’nal cannot have a living mate. I refused to kill him and consume him to complete my reproductive cycle, so they killed him and maimed me.”
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
“Because it hurt, daughter. It hurt my soul to think of him. Yrmik was an excellent consort, and he would have been a great leader, if tradition had allowed him to. You must not allow tradition to stop you from pursuing the mate you want. I want grandchildren, daughter. Get started.”
“Why are they so surprised at my clothing? They are more interested in my garb than in me.”
Rrkra chuckled. “Nice change of topic. The clothing I gave you is only an option for a queen. We consume the weed and it changes our silk. It leeches the protein from our bodies to create a dense and interlocked honeycomb of threads that can stop anything and insulate you. The black silk is only woven for those we love. That said, Mertwyn is harvesting more weeds now that they have grown back. You need a second outfit. I have been watching your adventures. You are in dangerous territory and need more protection.”
“I thought I was doing well.”
“You are doing very well, daughter, but a mother worries. Trralka can be trusted, and send her my good wishes the next time you see her. She was an excellent courtier, and I had heard that she moved to the colony. I am glad she was the one you met.”
“As am I. One of the younger ones tried to intimidate me, so I poked her.”
Rrkra rarely gave way to full amusement, but she cackled and clacked her mandibles with laughter.
Reeda kept the smile on her lips and went in search of Bilro. He was in the workshop, spot welding a carrying harness for using during rescues.
She cleared her throat, and when he turned, she put her hands against his chest and kissed him.
He wrapped his arms around her and returned her kiss with enthusiasm.
“I didn’t think you would be interested now that you are my commander.”
She blinked. “Why not?”
“You can aim higher.”
She stroked his cheek. “I aim at my target, even if it upsets people. I find out where I need to be, and I go there. Right now, I need to be here.”
“Your popularity here does seem to be hit and miss.” He kissed her again.
“I am used to it. As long as I help the people who need me, I can’t give a flip for those who want to be rescued because of their social standing.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, her nose and her lips. “I cannot believe they sued you.”
“I can. I am surprised it was thrown out of court, though. That was a nice surprise.”
She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him again and again.
The sound of Kimda clearing his throat got their attention. “About time.” He was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
Reeda sighed but remained snuggled against Bilro’s chest. “What is it?”
“There is a high-priority message for you.”
Reeda drummed her fingers against her companion for a moment before she pushed out of his arms. “Fine.”
Kimda grinned and walked with her to her office. She had been showing him the paperwork and how to manage it for when she went home on vacation, and he was taking turns with being the active com receiver. In rotation, all the guys were going to learn, in case there was a day where they needed to split up and spread out.
Reeda nodded to him. “Thanks. I will get it from here.”
He winked. “Might I say, I am glad to see you and Bilro making progress. He was a pain in the ass after you became our commander.”
She rolled her eyes and waved him off with a grin. Once she was secure, the connecting coms were off and she was alone with her monitor, she accessed the call.
A woman with familiar features and the same dark-brown hair that Reeda saw in the mirror every day appeared.
“Good evening. My name is Ald-Byuth. I am the Avatar of Renning Cross.”
“I am Reeda Rrkra, Guardian of Ryamash III.”
The woman swallowed and nodded. “I guessed as much. I am your father.”
Her surprise must have shown on her face.
“I apologise for the confusion, but the folk of Renning Cross can change their gender at certain points in their lives. I was still male and had just become the Avatar when I met your mother. Byuth prefers to have female Avatars, so I began the transformation into this current gender when I returned home, only learning after the change was complete that I had fathered a child. Byuth was devastated.”
“Why?”
“You are the only child that Byuth has been part of in two eons. Your mother was exceptional, and I lived and loved a thousand years in the four days we spent together.”
There was something in the reference to time that caught Reeda’s attention. “A thousand years?”
“I can stretch the perception of time. A little forward, a little backward. With your mother, I could see all the way to eternity with her in my arms. Byuth regrets not allowing me to remain male, remain with her, but hindsight does no good. We must move forward and act on what we see, not what we feel.”
Reeda swallowed in surprise at the practical words that echoed her own personal beliefs.
“I thank you for making the call, and I thank Byuth for participating in it. I wish you could tell me about my mother. Rrkra saw her through the multifaceted eyes of a friend, not a lover or companion. If your talent is like mine, you saw all that she could have been the moment you saw her.”
Ald-Byuth smiled slowly. “I did. You... you are saying you would meet me? Even as I am?”
“Of course. Personalities don’t change with gender, only your way of looking at the world is altered, and your world has learned its lesson. If you want to come and visit, I would be happy to meet you.” She had a thought and laughed.
“I am glad that you are willing to meet, but what was the laughter?”
“If you ever meet Rrkra, you now have a much larger chance of getting out alive. A father would have been considered food, but a mother can be forgiven almost anything.”
Ald-Byuth smiled. “I will make the arrangements with the Ryamash III government. Thank you for this opportunity.”
Reeda paused. “How did you know where I was?”
Ald-Byuth chuckled. “Rrkra told me. You are correct. A male would have been eaten alive, but she understood what happened and welcomed me to stand at her side as mother if you would have me.”
“I will begin with friend. We will work our way up to mother. You will have some big shoes to fill.”
They laughed, and she smiled into the slightly different version of her own features. The image filled in the blanks left by the single image of her birth mother. She favoured the Avatar of Byuth and that was not a bad thing.
After the call, she sat back and felt a chirp in her ear. She turned on the com and got to her feet, heading for a fire on a vessel at sea.
She grinned the whole way to the disaster with her team behind her. If Bilro thought Mother was scary, what was he going to think of the father that was a mother that carried the mind of a planet in her body? He had no idea what he was letting himself in for way back when he chatted with her on Balen. He was going to pay the ultimate price for flirting. He was in the running to become family.
The fine art of debate is up for discussion when our heroine finds her love for
Arguing the Basics
is an actual talent that can challenge physics and unravel time.
It’s a fun premise, and I think I will enjoy writing it.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.