by Amber Stuart
“It’s a start,” I said. “Thank you, Iskirr.”
We talked long into the night, until we reached my planet. I spent some time thinking about what he had said. I wished that Maia could just obey me, like all the Mirrotirik wives, and not for the first time, I wondered why exactly I had sought out a more exotic mate. Maybe, like Maia, I liked a challenge and a taste of the unknown. Maybe it was something we had in common.
CHAPTER FOUR
Maia
A chiming sound woke me up, and with a start, I remembered where I was: on a spaceship, bound for the planet that was to be my new home. I took a moment to straighten out my hair and clothes, wondering why this bedroom was so cramped, then stepped out and went to find Tal.
He and most of the other crewmembers were on the bridge. A planet was visible in the distance, and it was quickly approaching.
“That’s Tirik,” said Tal. “We’ll be landing shortly.”
It seemed that all the crewmembers wanted to watch the landing. They had to have seen it a hundred times, but maybe they never got tired of the incredible way the land and its features zoomed up towards you until the ship glided smoothly to the ground. I immediately noticed how different everything was. The colors were all different—brighter, and less earthy, with shades of pink and blue rather than green and brown. I felt like I was in Candyland. It was going to take getting used to.
When we landed at the spaceport, I could see an enormous structure some distance away. It was shaped remarkably like a medieval castle, but it was more geometric in shape and constructed entirely out of some sort of smooth white material and glass. The combination of aesthetics was jarring but beautiful in its own way.
Well, I was going to have to like it. It was my new home.
“You did get a translator chip, right?” asked Tal.
“Yes, Galactic Matrimony provided me with one.”
“Good. All of the castle staff has them, but when you go out and about in the city, you’ll need one, as not everyone has them.”
Even though I was tired, despite my short nap, and overwhelmed, I was excited to get out and see the castle and the city. I was excited to take my first breath of alien air. It was almost like I was a pioneer, because so few humans had made it to the Tirik home world.
I stepped through the gate and into the castle’s spaceport. It was almost exactly like the one back on Earth, which made sense. It was fortunate, because the familiarity made me feel a little less jarred.
But when I followed Tal and his crewmembers out the door, I was confronted with the air of an alien world. It smelled a lot like the ship had, when I had first seen Tal: fragrant and humid. I almost expected to see a rainforest somewhere, but there was only expanses of dark blue grass as well as tall plants in shades of blue. It didn’t look like there were any actual trees here.
Tal and I and a servant hopped into a car, which turned out to be a hovercar, and started zooming towards the castle. What should have been just a five minute drive was over in thirty seconds. I blinked when the car stopped, startled.
The castle was even more beautiful when I got up close to it. The glass, or whatever the transparent material was (it had a strange sheen to it that made it look decidedly like plastic) had cuts in it that made the light refract and sparkle. It gave the building an overall glittering effect.
“I think we should rest before you get the official tour,” said Tal. “Do you want to rest in your chambers? You can meet your staff as well.”
Wow, I thought. I had my own staff now. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to be a queen in a castle. The whole situation was a bizarre mash-up of medieval feudalism and alien futurism. I would never have dreamed of such a thing happening when I was a kid.
“That sounds great,” I said, still smiling anxiously. I had a tendency to grin and show my teeth when I was nervous.
Tal nodded stiffly. I wondered if he was also nervous, having brought his new bride home. Would I meet his parents? Would they like me? I hoped so—my mother had always warned me that having a bad set of in-laws could make your life hell.
I followed him down a long, sparkling corridor. Various servants were darting to and fro on their errands. They didn’t look like the Mirrotirik, and when I looked closer, I noticed that they were of entirely different species, presumably the ones that the Mirrotirik had colonized. I had never seen so many different aliens in one place before. And I’d be getting to know some of them.
“This is your corridor,” said Tal, “and this is Lisian. She is the head of your staff of servants, so if you need anything, you can ask her. Melisse is your personal servant. She will help you dress and tend to you in your room. I expect you will get to know the others as time progresses.”
I took in everything in a daze and regarded the two figures in front of me. They were much shorter than me, and I was shorter than the Mirrotirik, so they almost looked like children, with their rounded features and soft faces. But the way their glowing yellow eyes shimmered when they saw me belied a certain sense of cleverness. Whatever species these two were, I didn’t want to cross them.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Princess,” said the older-looking one, Lisian. Like Melisse, she was dressed in the same gauzy clothes all the Mirrotirik wore, but the pair also had head scarves with neon colored patterns. It made them look like Russian nesting dolls.
“It’s lovely to meet you too,” I said, startled at being addressed as princess.
“I’ll leave you in the capable hands of these two,” said Tal. “In a few hours, I will be taking you out to see the city. Melisse will help you get ready and dress in your new clothes so that you look suitable. Rest well.”
With that, he strode off as if he was in a hurry. He had been away from his planet for some time, so I expected that he had some catching up to do. His parents were also probably eager to hear about me. At least, I hoped they were. I wanted to marry into a family where I was welcomed.
“Would you like to rest your eyes, Princess?” asked Melisse. “Or would you care to sample some delicacies?”
I was going to have to get used to the flowery language that these two used. “I think I’d just like to explore my room,” I said. “To get used to the place.”
“Very well,” said Lisian. “Melisse?”
Lisian left as I followed Melisse further down the corridor. She stopped in front of each area to explain it to me. The chambers weren’t set up like I expected them to be, with rooms coming off of a corridor like leaves on a stem. Instead, the whole place had an open layout with some closed rooms, giving it more the appearance of a loft—a loft made out of crystal.
There were not one, but two lounge areas, one of which had a huge wall-to-wall screen. The chairs were very cozy-looking and plush, not at all like how I imagined a Mirrotirik to decorate a place. In fact, they looked remarkably like they were imported from Earth, along with the books on a bookshelf and other decorations that resembled animals and plants from Earth.
“Did you go shopping on Earth for these?” I asked Melisse.
“I didn’t,” said the sharp-eyed servant, “but the Prince sent someone to do so, yes.”
I was impressed. He had really gone all out to please me. Even though he came across as pretty aloof, he had a heart in there. I just had to figure out how to reach it.
I had a small kitchen in my chambers as well, and one of my staff was a personal cook, so the whole place was pretty much like an apartment. It appeared to be midday on this side of the planet, so I could see the sun streaming in. There were a couple of other planets visible as well as bright points of light. Having a sun there in the sky was another familiar feature that I welcomed, even if I knew that it wasn’t the sun of Earth. It at least added some normalcy to the scene.
I had a whole room for my closet, which was already packed full of premade clothes. “Galactic Matrimony provided the Prince with your measurements,” said Melisse. “He had several dresses m
ade for you from the finest silks and satins. The Mirrotirik seem to enjoy the touch of soft fabrics.”
I almost felt like I wasn’t allowed to touch them, but of course, that was silly—they were mine. I walked up and fingered one of the dresses, letting the diaphanous fabric flow out of my hand. It was exceedingly gorgeous, but I was admittedly a little worried that it would be too revealing. That didn’t matter much here, where I was the only human, but it still made me uneasy. I supposed I’d have to get used to it.
I wasn’t at all used to people seeing me in a sexual light. It was just going to take me time to get comfortable. That was partially because I was a virgin. It wasn’t as if any guys had ever showed much interest in me, or me in them.
Though, it made me laugh to think that my first—and only—sexual experiences were going to be with an alien. Not many human women could boast that. Apart from the pairings created by Galactic Matrimony, humans and Mirrotirik didn’t get together that often. Of course, there were plenty of human men who wanted to get with Mirrotirik women, but they were largely unsuccessful.
“You could lie down in your bed for some time if you so desired,” suggested Melisse. “The Prince had it crafted to provide you with the utmost comfort.”
That sounded good to me, so I nodded and followed Melisse into the largest room. There was an enormous four poster bed in the center, against one wall. I was tempted to leap right into it, but a green glow in a room to the left caught my attention. “What’s that?” I asked.
“Oh,” said Melisse. “That would be your pleasure garden.”
I blinked at her. “That’s… nice?” I said.
“Does the Princess not know what a pleasure garden is?” said Melisse, looking concerned.
“It’s a garden for having fun, right?” I asked. “To relax, lounge around in…”
“Having fun,” said Melisse, almost to herself. “Yes, that is appropriate.”
I was puzzled by this exchange and puzzled as to why there was a garden in my bedroom. I wasn’t complaining, though—it was a nice touch. I spotted some flowers that looked like they were from Earth, as well as gorgeous and exotic blooms I had never seen before.
“I think I’ll lie down now,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. The sheets were plush and soft, perfect for wrapping myself up in. Even though Tal’s ship had been luxurious, the bed there had been austere compared to this.
“Please ring the bell if you would like to summon me,” said Melisse, motioning towards a table next to the bed. There was a button built into it.
“Thank you.” I lay back on the bed and heard Melisse shut the door behind her.
I had a lot to think about. I wanted to sleep for a while, but my brain was too active. I was still in disbelief and hadn’t processed the reality of my situation. I decided to just lie down and let my brain catch up.
I could remember the day I found out about the Mirrotirik invasion quite clearly. It was a memory everyone would have burned into their brains, I was sure. I was eight years old and playing outside with my mother. She told me to come inside with a look of concern on her face, and to go play in my room. I listened to her, but she didn’t realize I could hear the TV from my room. I could hear everything.
At first, not that much changed. A few Mirrotirik ships landed in various cities around the world. They didn’t pick world capitals, probably because they wouldn’t have known about those, but they did pick important places. Thanks to their translation chips, they found their way to human governments and explained that they were explorers.
The discussions they had didn’t affect humans for several years. Once relations have been established, the Mirrotirik gifted us their technologies, medicines, and other life improvements. What we didn’t realize was that they weren’t just explorers, they were colonizers—just like the European “explorers” of the Renaissance.
The Mirrotirik didn’t have much interest in governing humans, so they let human governments stay intact. But they did do away with various corporations which were destroying the environment. They wanted to preserve our planet for their own use rather than allow humans to render it useless. Experts were still debating whether this was a good thing or not.
Some peoples’ lives changed more than others. Many humans continued to go about their daily lives, working and playing. Income inequality had dropped a little because the corporations were dismantled. Everyone’s standard of living was raised a bit. Life went on.
I must have dozed off because I awoke to see Melisse’s anxious face peering at me. “You’ll be late for meeting the Prince if you don’t awaken now,” she said.
I was immediately alert, realizing again where I was. How many times was I going to wake up, thinking I was somewhere else? I felt a pang in my heart as I realized that this was it. This was how it was going to be. I was going to have to have several more, no, hundreds more, of those realizations before it really sank in.
“Come to the closet, and I’ll help you dress. We have to get you out of those filthy Earth clothes,” said Melisse, already taking dresses out for me to try on.
Even though she was shorter than me, her nimble fingers quickly stripped me of all my clothes. She was so businesslike that I didn’t feel awkward at all. From behind me, yet another servant materialized who was even smaller than Melisse. She used a device shaped like a hair dryer to go over my body. It seemed to have the same effect as a hair dryer, as it felt warm and didn’t appear to actually do anything.
“This helps moisturize your skin,” said the servant, whose voice was more shy and slow.
I couldn’t feel any moisture at all, so that was hard to believe, but they seemed to know what they were doing. Melisse ran a wand across my body, which made my skin tingle interestingly wherever it went, almost like it was sending dozens of tiny electric shocks through me. The overall effect was that I felt rejuvenated and ready for my date with Tal—could I call it a date?
“Now, which of these dresses would you prefer to wear?” asked Melisse, indicating several options.
They were similar gauzy dresses, sort of like the ones Greek goddesses in illustrations wore, but they were all diaphanous. There was no modesty I could retain with any of them. I would look like a bombshell, but everyone would be able to see way too much. And I was supposed to be royalty.
“Um,” I said, hesitating. They were in different rich colors like plum, crimson, and emerald, and had sparkling stones sewn in. They were really beautiful and I couldn’t decide, but I was also reluctant to change into something so… skanky.
“Ah, I think I understand,” said the smaller servant.
“You do?” I asked.
“You are worried you will be too exposed,” said the servant.
“What?” said Melisse.
“The prince had us do a training about humans, remember?” squeaked the servant. “She thinks she will be too exposed because these fabrics aren’t opaque.”
“Oh,” said Melisse. She looked at me. I was blushing furiously, I knew. “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “The citizens of this world don’t have the same standards as the citizens of Earth. It is something you will have to get used to.”
“And the Prince will be unhappy if you don’t wear the clothes he bought you,” added the small servant.
I sighed. “Let’s get this over with. The crimson one, please.”
They helped me step into the dress. I didn’t really need help, because the design was so simple, but it was nice to be pampered and to not have to deal with all that fabric on my own.
“You look beautiful, Princess,” said the small servant.
I did look good, I thought as I looked into the mirror. I could see the curve of my breasts clearly and my nipples at certain angles, and the fabric brushed softly over my skin, but overall, I looked more like a pop star on the red carpet than a tramp. I noticed the dress was bunched up more around my crotch so I couldn’t see as much, though if
I moved the right way, I would flash myself. I turned around, noting that my huge butt was clearly seen too. Oh well.
Melisse had me sit down at a dresser, where she painted my face. “Mirrotirik women don’t normally do this,” she said. “But we thought you might like a familiar ritual.”
My heart warmed up to them right then and there. Even though the colors and techniques they used were totally unfamiliar, I still looked pretty good when they were done with me. They had added gold patches on my cheeks and swirling patterns on my forehead. I now looked even more like a goddess.
Melisse seemed to know what I was thinking. “Do you like the Mirrotirik style, Princess?”
“I do,” I said. “It’s lovely.”
“It wouldn’t do to have you feeling uncomfortable in your own skin when you are out with the Prince,” said Melisse.
After a few more finishing touches, she pronounced me ready to meet Tal, so I followed her out of my chambers and into the rest of the castle, which I hadn’t seen yet. It was less labyrinthine and more airy than a medieval castle, so it was easy to feel comfortable, though I was still nervous about running into Tal’s parents or some other important people. I could tell some of the other Mirrotirik milling about were giving me looks, wondering who I was—or judging me if they did already know.
We stopped at the entrance to a corridor that appeared to be laid out similarly to mine. “These are Tal’s chambers,” Melisse explained.
We waited for a moment while one of Tal’s servants went to fetch him. He returned a moment later with Tal, who looked insanely attractive in his dress clothes, even better than the first day I saw him. Now that he was on his home turf, it seemed that he felt more comfortable going all out. His face was done up like mine, with gold paint in geometric designs, and he was wearing the same gauzy, drapey fabrics that showed off his muscles, this time with gold embroidery.
