The next couple of days flew by too fast. I would have put my work on hold to spend more time with my husband before his departure, but his own work and the arrival of first Surtas, then of Clan Leader Oljek, quickly sucked up all of Olix’s time. Even the last play day was cancelled. Therefore, I not only fully plowed and tilled the entire plot, I also planted my corn, wheat, bean, beet, and carrot seeds.
The whole time, an adorable little girl named Nosha lurked around. Despite her very young age, her eyes shone with intelligence and an insatiable curiosity. I could see her desire to come talk to me and ask me questions. I would have loved nothing more than to indulge her, but I pretended not to see her. I was already walking on a fine line, I couldn’t risk offending her parents or the clan with perceived attempts at indoctrinating their offspring.
For the same reason, although Luped had hinted at being able to build me a sprinkler system, I decided to stick to my watering tank. The tank could take 100 gallons and could be programmed to sprinkle the specific amount of water required according to the moisture in the ground and the type of vegetable growing there. With the sink inside the shed and the water faucet outside, I had plenty of sources of water to quickly refill it.
Granted, a proper sprinkler system would have made my life a whole lot easier, but tensions and resentment had grown noticeably since I’d begun working outdoors. The terrible situation with the Inosh Mountains Clan only made things even more tense. Thankfully, the people didn’t have to see me traipsing around the field. The tiller and the water tank did all the work. I only had to refill them with seed and water as needed, which could all be done discreetly in the shadow of the shed.
Still, gathering by the Great Hall to see my husband and more than half of our clan—in an equal proportion of males and females—leave on hunting and fishing expeditions turned me into a real mess. Even Luped left. Only the Crafters, some of the Gatherers, the children, and the elders remained. It was a testament to the peaceful nature of their world that no warriors were needed to protect the village in the absence of the Hunters.
Things hadn’t fully smoothed out with Yamir, but she wasn’t giving me the cold shoulder anymore. The fact that I wasn’t sweating my ass off in the field had earned me quite a few points towards getting back into her good graces. It was all about appearances—a lesson I had properly learned.
By the end of the first week following Olix’s departure, my mother-in-law even expressed a polite interest in visiting the sheds, although I suspected it was more to spy on the extent of my heresy than anything else. Nevertheless, the sight of my mushrooms fruiting on the plastic bags impressed her, not to mention the first sprouts of my seedlings poking their heads out.
With all of this initial work done, I now had very little to do except for checking daily that my seedlings and mushroom beds had sufficient moisture and the right room temperature to thrive. As that was done in a blink, and since I didn’t have to water the outdoor crops daily, that meant lots of free time on my hands. I decided to spend it with the Crafters, learning the basics of their trade as well as familiarizing myself with their products and the unique properties that made them so special.
Ever since hearing about the monthly public market, I’d been doing my homework finding out more about the species inhabiting Xecania, and especially the rich refugees that now dominated the planet’s economy. One of Kayog’s gifts, hidden in my belongings, had prompted this special interest. I hadn’t found the reezia seeds until after the first play day and had been forced to do some research on the knowledge network to find out what they were.
When I realized they produced some sort of berries highly sought after by the Bosengi, I thought Kayog had mixed things up and gifted them to the wrong person. But then I realized how fickle and temperamental they were to grow unless handled by a highly skilled farmer. That’s when I got it.
Part of me was starting to feel used in a game of chess that was far bigger than me. But the other part realized that maybe the Temern was giving me tools and options instead for me to leverage as I saw fit… or not at all. The fact that reezia berries grew very quickly, only 20 to 30 days from first planting, I could have a decent crop for the public market. I’d be cutting it short, but it was feasible. This set a plan in motion in my head that could work even better than my original one.
However, there would be no avoiding some traipsing in dirt as my seedlings began sprouting. Unwilling to antagonize Yamir and the others, especially in the absence of Luped and Olix, I opted for caution and repotted the sprouts ready for transplant into the peat pots I’d had the foresight to bring.
It required a bit of logistics to reorganize everything in a way to give the right access to light to the plants that needed it so they could thrive. But in the end, it worked out. In another couple of weeks, when they were ready to go outside, I’d be able to plant them directly into the ground with the peat pots as they were biodegradable.
By the end of the second week after Olix’s departure, I was truly missing him, but also the life and energy that had reigned in the village with everyone present. Even with all the children around, running and playing—when they weren’t studying or doing chores—Monkoo’s spirit had become subdued, as if the world had paused while awaiting the return of its missing tribe members. Even play days had been very quiet, a majority of people doing personal stuff instead.
To my even greater distress, Yamir informed us that she had received a message from Olix informing her that they would stay away at least another week. By the sound of it, they might even return just in time for the market. That meant possibly up to nine more days before I saw my husband again.
The only mild consolation I drew out of his delayed return was the fact that my period had begun that same morning. Not only welcoming him with a ‘can’t touch this for the next five days’ would have sucked, but I also wouldn’t have been in the mood to explain to him why human females bled for five days every month without dying, and that yes, it was totally normal. While I had brought a year’s supplies of liners and tampons, I would eventually have to look into how to resupply moving forward as one of the extremely rare human females on this planet.
Three days before the public market—and Olix’s presumed return—I began planting my peat pot seedlings in the field outside. My tiller did most of the work, its stinger punching a hole of the appropriate size in the ground so that I only had to grab a peat pot on the hover platform following me and place it in. The tiller’s mechanical arm then covered the pot with dirt before moving on to the next spot.
Despite how little effort it involved on my part, I still ended up spending a couple of hours walking in the field, which drew far too many eyes on me, especially from little Nosha. To my surprise, they weren’t as hostile as I had expected—mostly curious and reserved. Once again, I wanted to believe that seeing me doing this without breaking a sweat might be gradually changing their mind about modern farming.
Had I been richer, I wouldn’t even have had to place those peat pots in the ground. I would have acquired a fancier tiller-planter model that could not only plow or till three rows at the time, remove rocks and weeds, and seed, it could also transplant peat pot seedlings into the ground on its own. If my plans worked out even half as well as I hoped at the upcoming market, I would definitely buy myself an upgrade.
The next morning, Luped and the Fishers returned. No words could express the depth of the happiness I felt at seeing her pretty face and lovely blue scales. How odd that barely a month ago, when I first arrived here, I’d thought the Andturians’ appearance rather freaky, and thought they all looked alike. Sure, they shared genetic features, like humans did, but their faces and bodies were distinct. My Olix and his sister were both on the gorgeous side of the Andturian aesthetic, a beauty inherited from their mother Yamir.
The Fishers’ haul turned out to be pretty good. Although not record-breaking, it had everyone’s spirits up. Not having much to do myself, I happily joined the efforts of fileting and salting the fish and cleaning the shellfish. Everything was then stashed in crate-like cooling units, stacked by category in the huge pantry next to the larder.
The day after tomorrow, I would rise with the sun to harvest my reezia berries and pack similar cooling units with full racks of them. Thinking about it made me a nervous wreck. I had so many hopes pinned on the success of this sale.
Despite all the work we had to do, this day and the next one dragged on forever. It also didn’t help that Olix and the others still had not returned. His last communication with Yamir claimed they would make it back for the market, but they would likely cut it extremely close.
On the eve of our departure, I went back to my sheds to start preparing the cooling units and racks that I would fill with my harvest in the morning. As we would be leaving fairly early, every minute would count. Sure, I could have done it all tonight, and they would still have been fresh enough tomorrow. But the fact that they’d been picked that very morning would play a big part of my sales pitch.
As was her wont, Luped dropped by to see if I needed a hand. I’d barely known her a week before she went on that fishing expedition for three weeks. And yet, I felt closer to the Andturian female than I had ever been with any of my blood sisters. Then again, I had been purposefully raised apart to avoid painful bonds since I would be discarded in the end. Still, my heart warmed watching her take a tour of my lair.
“What you have done here is amazing,” Luped whispered, awed as she stared at the shelves she’d built for me overflowing with ripe purple reezia berries. “Not even four full weeks and you have already produced all of this…”
Although she was complimenting me, Luped appeared to be musing out loud to herself. I didn’t comment, pride swelling in my chest as she continued to prowl around the nursery where a number of additional vegetables would soon need to be transplanted outside. On her way in, the sight of spinach, baby carrots, green onions, and lettuce in the field, ready to be harvested had already blown her away. But coming in to see that, on top of the berries, I also had radish and oyster mushrooms ready for consumption had left her speechless.
In two to three more weeks, I’d have cucumbers, beets, zucchini, tomatoes, and squash. And then another three to four weeks after that, we’d be talking serious business with corn, wheat, and potatoes. God, how I missed potatoes!
Luped staring strangely at me pulled me out of my wandering thoughts.
“There is magic in what you do,” my sister-in-law said pensively. “Good magic. You have accomplished so much that I didn’t think possible, like growing food out of wet woodchips. You have done the work of twenty with just two strange machines, and without ever straining yourself. You are proof that technology and knowledge can take our people into a better future. I do not know what you intend to do with all of this, but remember that if you need my assistance, you have it.”
“Actually, there is something I wanted to run by you,” I said sheepishly, grateful for this unexpected opening. She tilted her head, the vertical slit of her lizard eyes widening with curiosity. “The Crafters have told me that sales have really dropped over the past year, and especially in the last few months.”
Luped nodded. “That is correct.”
“I have an idea that might help their sales tomorrow, but it is all contingent on how my own sales go,” I said carefully. “I am pretty certain the Bosengi will fight over these berries. If that is the case, I will try to drive them to buy some of the crafted items. But I’m totally going to wing it if and when an opportunity presents itself.”
“Wing it?” Luped asked, confused.
I chuckled. “It means improvise. I’m not even quite sure how that expression came to be,” I confessed. “I just need you to convince the others to play along, even if they think what I’m saying is outrageous. If things work out, everyone will get their full compensation for their goods. I promise.”
“You are sounding mysterious, Susan,” Luped said while lining up a couple more cooling units near the reezia berry racks. “I will tell them, but our people always show a united front in public. So, they would play along regardless, no matter how disturbed they might feel had you done it without warning them. However, see that you hold your end of the deal. Once you lose the trust of an Andturian, your chances of regaining it are slim to none. As our Clan Mistress, you have an even greater duty to uphold.”
“My word is my bond,” I said proudly. “And if all goes well, there will be much to rejoice about tomorrow.”
“I hope you are right,” Luped said. “And I hope your plans come to fruition.”
She was referring to more than just successful sales. I had many plans, and God willing, they would indeed come to fruition.
We wrapped up for the night, gathering for evening meal in the Great Hall. Tomorrow, I wanted to contribute to the communal meal with spinach-lettuce-nuts-and-fruits salad, as well as sauteed oyster mushrooms with green onions. The rich soil and perfect weather here made things grow faster than expected. I would never be able to eat all of my crops by myself—not that this had ever been the plan.
Although individual dwellings didn’t possess a full kitchen, we could make simple individual meals at home using a fire stone or the hot plate found in every house. But the Andturians’ custom of cooking as a group for everyone would facilitate things for me to make them taste the benefits of my work. It was an interesting approach. Meal choices were decided on as a group, although a different person every day had the right to veto said choice—a power rarely used.
That night, my bed felt emptier than ever. Olix had not returned, and my hope of him showing up in the morning had seriously dwindled. I took solace in the fact that there wouldn’t be another great hunt for at least a month. That meant more bonding time for the two of us. And if my plan worked, that could possibly mean a major leap in the right direction to a better future for the tribe. My biggest sorrow about the Andturians not wearing clothes was that Olix didn’t even have a shirt lying around that I could cuddle with just to have his scent around me.
Despite that, sleep came quickly to me, and morning found me in high spirits. Upon exiting my house, I found the Gatherers already up, busy preparing an early breakfast. A few of the crafters were lining up mrakas to carry a lot of the merchandise. At my request, Luped had secured a shuttle for me. The pilot would come in a couple of hours to transport all of my cooling units as they were too large to comfortably sit or hang on a mraka, not to mention the fact that they would poorly travel on the road, carried by giant alien rhino-boars.
It was an expensive service to retain and constituted a major hit to my meager savings. But I had faith my sales would make up for it and then some. Initially, Yamir had frowned upon hearing I wouldn’t travel the traditional way with the clan, but seeing the number of crates I was bringing, she agreed with my course of action. That I offered to carry all of their more voluminous and heavy items aboard the shuttle, as well as a few elders for whom the long journey riding a mraka was becoming challenging, further pacified her. Some elders had not participated in a public market in a few months for that specific reason.
While I didn’t doubt that the clan usually rode those beasts out of tradition and enjoyment, I also believed that they often wished they could use shuttles in specific situations that warranted it, like today. They… We simply couldn’t afford them.
For the time being…
With time ticking, I frantically picked the reezias and placed them in one-pound berry baskets, which I placed in trays of twelve inside the cooling units. Each unit took five trays secured within by hooks I could clip them onto. Although I had known my harvest would be plentiful, I never expected there would be this much in such a short time, with many small berries still growing. I’d be harvesting again in a few days, and this on a regular basis.
I’d just finished loading the seventh and last cooling unit onto the hovering platform when a commotion in the general direction of the plaza set all my senses on high alert. Setting the platform to follow, I hurried to the plaza—half-walking, half-jogging—my heart pounding in anticipation of what surprise I suspected awaited me.
Even through the crowd gathering around the returned Hunters, my eyes immediately locked onto the tall and muscular silhouette of my husband. The powerful emotion that squeezed my heart made no sense, but I didn’t bother trying to analyze it. My man was home, and I was happy.
I shouted his name, involuntarily drawing quite a bit of attention to myself, and broke into a run. My body had developed a mind of its own, and my brain was just onboard for the ride. Olix stared at me with a mix of happiness, shock, and then worry as I raced towards him. I threw myself into his arms, and he caught me. His powerful arms holding me firmly, and my arms wrapped around his neck, I crushed his lips with a passionate kiss. Although our tongues didn’t join the fray, Olix returned my kiss, brief though it was.
“I missed you!” I whispered before burying my face in his neck.
“I missed you, too,” he replied with that deep, rumbling, and slightly sibilant voice of his.
After squeezing me one last time, Olix put me back on my feet. His darker scales made me realize he was a little embarrassed. Judging by the number of pairs of eyes ogling us like we’d both grown a second head had my own cheeks turning red. The Andturians weren’t big on public displays of affection. They’d also probably never seen anyone kissing. Right now, they were likely all speculating about all the other weird things Olix and I might be doing in private.
If they only knew.
“You made it back on time,” I said, trying to steer the conversation away from me making a spectacle of myself.
“Like he said he would,” Yamir said proudly.
I smiled and nodded, although I silenced the annoyance I’d felt every time my mother-in-law had informed us of the status of the great hunt. Before my arrival, Olix had always relayed information to his mother when he was away so that she could pass it on to the clan. But now, it felt like he should be contacting me, his wife, instead. I shouldn’t find out when my husband would come home from his mother. But that was a discussion for another time.
“We did, my mate,” Olix said with a smile, although the sad glimmer in his golden eyes told me what I’d feared all along. “We must make haste putting away what we have brought back.” He turned to look at his mother. “You should all leave ahead as planned with the few Hunters that are also Crafters. The rest of us will catch up.”
For a brief instant, I wondered if I had misinterpreted his expression. Maybe their hunt had been successful after all, and they had a lot of game to put away. But judging by the large number of cooling units being brought back directly to the common storage room, my first presumption had been right. My heart broke for Olix.
I wanted to ask him how things had gone, how he was feeling, and if there was anything I could do… essentially be a supportive wife. However, with so many of his people around, I feared it would be like poking at a still bleeding wound. He caressed my cheek and started turning away when he noticed the hovering platform packed with crates. He gave me a questioning look. For some silly reason, I immediately felt uncomfortable, as if I’d done something illicit.
“They contain things I grew specifically to sell,” I said sheepishly.
Olix didn’t say anything. An unreadable expression fleeted over his reptilian features as his gaze settled on the cooling units for a few seconds before turning back towards me. He gave me a single nod. My stomach twisted. I didn’t know how to interpret what had just happened. Did he feel betrayed? Did he feel like I was rubbing the failure of his hunt in his face? Did…?
The sound of the approaching shuttle coming to taxi my stuff and me to the market forced my attention away from my husband. This was not the reunion I had hoped for. Our relationship was still too fragile to have already undergone that long separation and for him to return with this much stress.
Now, I didn’t even know how to feel about the market anymore. What if a resounding success only rubbed more salt in the wound?
Distraught, I supervised the loading of my harvest. The shuttle proved even more spacious than I had anticipated, allowing us to pack it with all of the larger items the clan hoped to sell, from big, ornate wooden bowls and plates, to sculpted vases and statues, to low, cushioned benches similar to the ones commonly used by the Andturians, although scaled slightly smaller. On top of all that, there was enough room left for Yamir, me, and five elder Andturians, including Molzeg. I wished Luped and Olix could have traveled with us, but it made more sense for them to ride the mrakas. Since they wouldn’t be burdened with a passenger like me, they’d be able to travel a lot faster.
The riders left shortly before our shuttle took flight. We completed the journey mostly in silence. Yamir kept a neutral expression, but I could feel her pain and worry for her son and clan as a whole. Despite our differences, I liked the older female. She was a devoted mother to her children and her people in general. I’d never been close to my own mother. In this instant, I wanted to pull my mother-in-law into my arms and tell her that all would be well—we would get through this together. But now wasn’t the time, not with the others packed with us in the shuttle and within hearing range.
Still, it took barely fifteen minutes instead of the more than one hour ride on a mraka. This perfectly suited my purpose as we not only got to settle our kiosk early, but it would give me time to do some reconnaissance.
“With your permission, Yamir, I would like to set my stall in the middle, with the furniture and houseware at my left and the weapons and jewelry at my right,” I said carefully.
She slightly recoiled, her eyes narrowing while she pondered. “Luped says you have a plan to help sales today,” Yamir said without answering my request.
I nodded. “If my berries are well-received, I believe it will enable me to help the Crafters sell more.”
“I struggle with understanding your ways, Susan of Meterion,” Yamir said in a slightly tired voice. “It troubles me that you are what you are, but your skills cannot be denied. I believe you have genuine affection for my son and our people. Both are hurting right now. If you think this position could help bring a better outcome to this day, you have my support.”
“Thank you,” I said with gratitude. “I cannot promise what will happen today, but I will try my best.”
Yamir’s expression softened. “Only Seers can predict the future, and even then, it is often cryptic. Your best is all that anyone can ask for. The rest lies in the hands of the Spirits.”
On these final words, she went on to help the elders set up their tables and display their goods on each side of my own humble table—all of which were provided by the venue. Where my companions piled up their goods on the tables, on the floor in front and around them, and had tall standing panels at the back onto which they would hang jewelry once the others arrived, I had a single table. I covered it with a light beige tablecloth and placed my cooling units under it to keep my place clean and uncluttered, but also to hide just how much stock I had left.
As patrons wouldn’t show up for another hour at least, I seized this opportunity of our early arrival to investigate the other stalls being set up at the market as well as take a peek at a few of the tourist shops inside the spaceport. To the extent possible, I’d been doing my homework online, finding out what products the Conglomerate was selling here and at what price points. But nothing beat seeing it firsthand. What I saw further reinforced my determination to carry out my plan. I acquired some overpriced blank tokens at one of the stores which could have a value imprinted on them with a basic com or datapad.
When I returned to my table, I sweet talked Kuani—one of the houseware Crafters—to lend me one of her medium-sized presentation plates made of aldomyan wood. The dark grey wood, with tiny streaks of dark red, was stunning. Smoothly polished and embellished with finely chiseled motifs and luminous stones, it was a beauty to behold. A very thin layer of the same sotomac resin Olix had used to seal my blood into his wristbands and weapon had been applied to the plate so that it would never lose its shine. I made it the centerpiece of my table. I also snagged two small bowls from her in the same style as the plate, and a stunning fork—that seemed taken straight out of a fondue set—with a handle made of sculpted mraka tusk.
I was getting beyond antsy to take out my berries, but it was still too early. As the first of our clanmates started arriving on their mrakas, I busied myself encoding my tokens and placing them inside the two bowls.
Olix arrived at the same time the organizers of the event announced the customers would be allowed in shortly. My heart skipped a beat, excitement, and trepidation warring within me. Forcing myself to focus, I opened one of my cooling units, and took out two pounds of berries that I carefully washed at one of the eight water stations provided for the merchants of the market. I also filled a bottle with water so that I could spray a fine mist on my fruits throughout the day to keep them looking fresh and mouth-watering.
When I began placing them in the center platter, Olix came near my stall, a slight frown marring his face at the sight of my mostly empty station. He appeared to want to ask me what was wrong, but someone calling his name prevented him from doing so. I hated that we hadn’t had a chance to discuss my plan. I only hoped things would go well, and that he would be proud of me.
After displaying my sample tasting berries, I removed the entire contents of my first cooling unit, placing two full trays on each side of the centerpiece, and lining individual one-pound baskets in front of it. Addressing a silent prayer to all the powers that be, I began the waiting game.
