by J. Naomi Ay
The terminal was jam packed full of people as the Discovery was off loading five hundred and on-loading the same amount for the next cruise. In addition, a bunch of commercial transports had arrived at nearly the same time that we did. Never the less, I pushed my way through the throngs and sprinted to my gate.
Unfortunately it was only one gate over and the plane was not ready for boarding, otherwise I would have immediately jumped aboard it. Instead, I was forced to park myself on a hard plastic bench behind a potted palm and an internet kiosk. I hoped I was safely hidden there.
Stowing my bag between my feet, I attempted to drink my coffee while booting up my tablet so I could pretend to read the news. I couldn’t concentrate, though, not with the way my heart was racing and my blood pounding a drumbeat in my ears.
Instead, I placed my cup on the little insert between myself and the next seat, before sitting on my hands. I forced myself to take a few deep breaths, and tried to focus my nervous energy on a happy place. It didn’t help.
Probably, Senya’s presence had nothing to do with me, I deluded myself. Probably, this was all purely coincidental. I tried to convince myself of this and then without success, got up and went into the restroom.
Splashing water on my face, I washed my hands with lots of soap.
“You can handle this, Golden,” I told the mirror. “You’re a full Commander now. Just get on your plane and pretend you didn’t see him.”
After drying my hands, I returned to the plastic bench behind the palm. Senya was sitting in my seat drinking my coffee, my bag now between his feet.
“You don't like decaf, soy and vanilla,” I said. “Can I have it back?”
“It’s not bad for decaf,” he replied. “Maybe I do like this soy and vanilla?” He drank some more.
“Whatever,” I snapped. “They're calling my flight now. I don't care anymore. You can finish it if you haven't already.”
“Thank you,” he nodded and did so. “Do not hurry. You are not going to take this flight.”
“Oh, I'm not? Sorry, but I am. Good seeing you. Bye.” I reached between his feet for my bag.
“Ach, Katie,” he sighed and tossed the empty coffee cup in the trash. “Come on now.” He picked up my bag himself and tossed it over his shoulder.
“Hey, give me back my bag! Quit screwing around, Senya. I have to go. My parents are meeting me at the spaceport!”
“You will ring to them and tell them you are not coming.” He started to head back out into the terminal.
“I can't do that. They're expecting me.” I raced after him.
“We are expected elsewhere.”
“Oh yeah? Maybe you are but I'm not. Take someone else. Caroline would be thrilled to go to the ends of the galaxy with you.”
He didn’t slow his pace a bit and I was practically running to keep up with his long strides. I shoved two people aside and nearly tripped over a child.
“Sorry,” I called, as Senya entered the moving walkway and was whisked far ahead. “Sorry, excuse me.”
“Quer?” An enormous orange woman bared three rows of shark-like teeth at me.
“Sorry! Senya? Stop, please! I don't care what Shelly says. I'm going home.”
The walkway lurched to a halt causing a one-legged alien guy to completely fall over. He knocked down two other people and all of them started screaming at each other. I slipped between them and then ran to where Senya stood watching, an amused expression on his face.
“Senya,” I begged. “Please don’t screw around. Please just give me my bag and let me go on with my life.”
The walkway jerked back into motion.
“This is your life, Katie,” he replied and turned away from me. “You will come with me now.”
“No,” I said steadily, and in as commanding a voice as I could muster. “No, Doctor. I'm not going with you.”
Senya stepped off at the terminal hub and disappeared into the crowd of bodies pressed against each other trying to get from one gate to the next. I jumped after him, standing on my toes to see over the shoulder of the guy in front of me and around the woman next to him.
“Excuse me. Excuse me.” I pushed until someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.
“Where are you going, Kate?” It was Jerry. “Aren't you flying United? Our gate's back there.”
“I know.” I stepped past Jerry, back into the teeming crowd, hoping to spy Senya and my bag.
“Aren't you coming?” Jerry lurched after me. “I got us seats together.”
I stopped again and stared at Jerry. Jerry Waldman, Space doctor, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger and a goofy sweet smile. It wasn’t a contest between Jerry and Senya.
“Kate? Goldie?”
“I'm…I'm not taking that flight, Jerry,” I said. “Will you tell them they can give away my seat? I’ve got to go now. I'll see you later. Email me when you get home.”
“Honey?” he called.
It was too late. I pushed my way through the crowd walking in whatever direction it led me. I emerged somewhere on the other side, to find Senya standing there, holding my bag and patiently waiting.
“I hate you,” I said, walking right up to him.
“I know,” he replied and pulled me against him. “But you love me too.” He kissed me as the crowd parted around us and I tasted his tobacco and my coffee and his tongue and my body acquiesced and agreed to do and go where ever he meant to take me.
“You know, Jerry will email me the minute he gets home,” I whispered, when he let me catch a breath. “He'll probably send me three or four texts from the spaceplane too. He'll give me every single detail of his day unlike you who doesn't tell me a thing.”
“Not like me at all,” he agreed and taking my hand, he led me toward a lift. “Bay three.” The lift began to move.
“Jerry asked me to marry him. I'm thinking about it.”
Senya smirked as if he didn’t believe me. He kissed me again and moving his mouth along my neck, he whispered, “Jerry will fry his cock trying to consummate it.”
“You did do something to me!” I cried and pushed him away. Senya’s eyes flash brightly. He shoved me up against the wall.
“You tried to fuck him?”
“You don't own me! You didn't call me for an entire year. Let me go!”
“Yes, I do own you.” He kissed me hard and pulled at my clothes. “And I do not share. You belong to me, you understand?”
The lift bounced and stopped abruptly between floors.
“I thought I would never see you again,” I cried and shamelessly clung to him, pressing myself against him, wanting him, needing him, reaching for him.
“I was living like a fucking monk for a year,” he growled. “And you were with that Human.”
“No,” I wept.
He was not gentle. He was not loving. He was rough and harsh but he filled me with what I needed. The alarm in the lift started to sound. I didn’t care. I was where I belonged, melded into his skin, breathing in his breath, my Senya who I had loved since I was nine years old.
“Ma'am?” A disembodied voice called. “Ma'am, are you alright in there?” I caught my breath, my heart pounded. I was soaked in sweat.
“Yes, I'm fine,” I called when I could speak again though my voice didn’t sound like my own.
“We heard screaming,” the lift monitor said.
“I bet you did,” Senya mumbled into my hair. “The whole space station heard that.”
“No one is hurt in there?”
“No, everyone is fine,” I said and tried to lower my voice an octave. “The situation is stable.”
“We'll get the lift restarted in just a moment,” the monitor replied. “Just a short in the electrical system.”
“No hurry,” I called and started to laugh. I clung to Senya like a monkey, my hands griping chunks of his hair, neither of us moving. The lift bounced a little. He held out his hand and it froze again.
“We need a few more minutes,
” he whispered and so we stayed like that stuck to each other, locked in place.
“Just a few more minutes, Ma'am,” the voice called.
“No problem!” I replied. “No problem at all!”
Chapter 13
Rekah
My cousin, the MaKennah, came to us from across the stars with a Spacewoman. My grandfather knew about this and waited for them. People from all over Karupatani knew about this and had camped outside our little village for days. All of the elders were assembled and the grand hall was decorated.
Grandfather ordered me to see to the young warriors. I was to make certain everyone was dressed in their finest and would present themselves proudly before the MaKennah this night at the feast. No one would listen to me though. Most of the warriors from outside our village didn't know who I was or didn't care. Even my friends were busy watching the skies and then when the MaKennah came, they wanted only to see him and his Spacewoman.
The horses were anxious too. Tirikla, the MaKennah's old stallion, must have known that his master was near. He galloped wildly around the fields and caused all the mares to scatter. I could not control the young men and they could not control their horses and I was tired from yelling. We put our horses to pasture and snuck back into the village which was filled with our people. Then, we hid behind my mother's house and waited and watched.
“Will he remember you, Rekah?” Turak whispered as they came up the street.
The people grew quiet as they approached and many bowed as they would before my grandfather, even though the MaKennah was still just a prince. My grandfather stood proudly up on his porch.
“I don't know,” I whispered back, anxious to see them.
I was four years when the massacre happened and my memories from that time were confused. I remembered how he let me sit upon Tirikla and how tall I felt when I was up there. I remembered how he would bring me feathers from the black eagle that lived in our skies. I had them still and wore them on important occasions. I remembered how I loved him and missed him more than I missed my father after they both were gone.
“Oh, he's so beautiful,” my sister Lookah sighed when they finally came in to sight. She had snuck out of the back door of our house and was crouched down between Turak and me. “I am in love.”
“I thought you loved me,” Turak declared. “Did you not just say so?”
“Shut up,” I hissed. They were passing right in front of us now going up on the steps to my grandfather’s house.
“She looks Mishnese,” my sister whispered. “She does not look like a Spacewoman.”
“She is fair.” Turak nodded, prompting my sister to hit his arm and pout. “If you like that sort of woman,” he laughed and grabbed my sister. “I prefer this sort.”
I stared at the MaKennah’s woman and decided I preferred her. She was fair with pale skin like a Mishak and hair that sparkled like gold in the light of the sun. Her eyes were a deep blue like the ocean and her lips were red like ripe berries. I watched her as they approached and for the briefest of moments, she glanced at me and smiled.
My grandfather stood regally before them with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking very old and very wise. He wore a crown of feathers in his hair, his finest dress robes and the ornate gold necklace that had been passed to him from the great father Karukan. He looked down upon the Spacewoman and frowned while the MaKennah made obeisance at his feet.
The woman remained standing and watched the MaKennah curiously. My sister tittered behind her hand at this woman’s brazenness but I admired her spirit. Grandfather held his hand out to the MaKennah and my cousin kissed the firestone ring that was also handed down from Karukan and would be his someday. Then the MaKennah rose to his feet and spoke to the woman in her language.
He must have told her to make obeisance for she glared at him with narrow eyes before lowering herself to her knees. She would not lower her head though and she frowned as she watched my cousin. My sister giggled again into her hand.
“Welcome Sehron,” my grandfather said. “I welcome this woman who has come to us from across the stars. Is this the woman you spoke of when last we met more than a year ago?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You have abided by the conditions which were required of you as decided by the King of Mishnah and myself?”
“Yes, Sir, I have done so.”
“Are you certain that you wish this alien woman to be your wife and the people of Karupatani should recognize her as the MaKani and Crown Princess?”
“Yes, Sir.”
My grandfather watched the MaKennah’s face carefully. He looked down upon the Spacewoman and held her eyes for still she refused to lower her head but stared defiantly back at him.
“Why, Sehron?” Grandfather whispered with a shake of his head. “Why this alien? There are many beautiful women of Karuptani who will bear you strong sons and see to all your needs.”
The MaKennah’s face grew hard and his eyes flashed behind his dark glasses. “You shall have to go back to your book, Grandfather. All the answers you seek are written therein.”
Grandfather’s brow furrowed. He sighed heavily. “I will not challenge you, Sehron.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Come, let us finish this,” Grandfather said and waved to me to come forward.
Turak punched me in the arm as I rose to my feet. He did not know I would play an important part in this ceremony.
The Spacewoman watched me as I came from behind my mother's house and mounted the steps to my grandfather's side. Her eyes meet mine again as I stood above her and my heart twisted. My head felt heavy and my neck warm. I looked at my cousin and the silver light was shining upon my face and for a moment I could not breathe.
“Rekah!” Grandfather commanded and I was jolted from my daze.
Taking the ceremonial urn from the shelf near the door, I returned to my grandfather’s side as he chanted words of prayer and thanksgiving. We thank our Heavenly Father that the MaKennah had taken a bride and we wished him peace and harmony in his marriage to her. If the MaKennah was satisfied, then we of Karupatani and all Rehnor would be content. The Spacewoman did not understand grandfather's blessings and she fidgeted on her knees.
Grandfather bid the MaKennah to hold out his arm. My cousin did so, showing to me his right arm with the palm up. I saw there was a thin pink scar running across his wrist as if he had recently been cut in the same manner that I was now to do.
“Rekah,” Grandfather nodded and handed me a small blade with a gold hilt covered in jewels.
I was to take this knife and cut along the pink line on the MaKennah’s flesh and as the blood began to seep, I was to hold this urn below to catch it. Though I had hunted, killed and skinned many animals, I had never cut myself or anyone as this, let alone the MaKennah! My stomach twisted and my hands shook so that I feared I would drop the knife. The Spacewoman spoke as she watched me and then she rose to her feet. I looked at her as she snatched the knife away.
“Rekah!” Grandfather scolded me but an instant later, the knife was in the MaKennah's hand and he cut the line himself.
The woman made a noise, an intake of breath, and then spoke harshly to the MaKennah as his bright red blood poured into the urn. The sight of it made my head swim and I felt for a moment as if I would fall to the ground. When the urn had filled enough, the MaKennah held his left hand upon the cut and the blood slowed.
My grandfather gave me a cloth with which I had to wrap the MaKennah's wrist.
“Make it tighter, Rekah,” the MaKennah said, under his breath as the cloth stained.
I tied it as hard as I possibly could though my hands still trembled and then I stepped back. I had finished my tasks, the duty my father would have had were he here and not dead.
I did not like this responsibility. I did not wish to be the High Priest of Karupatani in my father’s stead. I wished only to ride my horse and tend to the fields, to watch the wheat grow and wave about in the wind,
the corn to pierce the ground and rise in stalks higher than my horse’s head.
The cloth turned darker still and red droplets ran down my cousin's arm and fell to the ground below. Grandfather reached for the Spacewoman's hand. He dipped her finger in the urn and showed her to take the MaKennah's blood upon her tongue. She pulled away from my grandfather's grasp, her face red with anger.
The MaKennah was holding his bound wrist but turned to her with his silver eyes upon her and spoke to her in her language. She shook her head back and forth and tried to walk down the steps.
"Kari-fa!" my cousin said and grabbed her.
He made her put her fingers in the urn and then take them in her mouth. She spat at him and his blood dribbled down her lip. She wiped at it with the back of her hand and turned away, her eyes glassy with tears.
Grandfather closed the urn and handed it to me, rolling his eyes and shaking his head though only I could see this. The urn would go to the ceremony this evening where all the men of standing would be allowed to dip their finger in and enjoy the MaKennah's blood.
The MaKani coughed and made a noise as if she were about to retch. She held her hand over her mouth and swallowed hard.
“It is done,” Grandfather declared and the MaKennah immediately turned and left. He walked down the steps and headed out across the fields behind the village, disappearing into the trees. The MaKani coughed again and then made a step to follow but my mother quickly intercepted her, taking her arm and leading her back to our house.
That night, the MaKennah came to our services but he was late. He was dressed like us in leggings, tunic and dress robes but his hair wouldn’t hold plaits. He passed me on the way to the dais and two long black eagle feathers fell at my feet. I picked them up and tied them into my hair. The feathers were new and fresh even though the black eagle had not been sighted in our skies in many years.
Later that evening, we had a celebration. I had tasted the MaKennah's blood on my tongue and for a few moments, I felt powerful. I felt strong and when the wind came, I felt like I could have lifted my arms and flown upon it. I wondered what it would be like to be full of this blood and feel like this all the time. I would need someone to put a rein on me to keep me on the ground.
