The Breeding Prize - Aya Morningstar Page 0,20
he has been, considering how he grew up. I’m pretty sure that any lesser man—Valittu or human—who grew up in his situation would end up as some kind of deranged sociopath, not a man who swears his life to protect a woman he barely knows.
“So you think Kula will be okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he says.
“We kind of put him in the dog house.”
“No,” Raiska says. “He’s in a hotel room. Remember?”
“It’s another expression. It means his wife is mad at him.”
“Oh, yes. She is.”
“So I didn’t memorize a big list of questions like you did, but I definitely want to ask you some stuff. I don’t want to offend you by asking though.”
“I am not easily offended.”
“Okay, I will ask this open-ended, and you can give me as much or as little information as you’d like. But what exactly happened between you, Kula, and Ellie?”
He stops walking.
I look up at him and frown. “Sorry, was that too—”
“This is a date, and I must answer all of your questions. I used my scythe to cut the bond between Kula and Ellie. The Ulkar ordered me to do this, and my Valittu brothers and I had not yet openly rebelled against them.”
“So...what does that do? Cutting the bond thingy?”
“The bond is a higher-dimensional connection between two mates. It forms during copulation, when the seed is spilled into the female. It joins the mates together on the higher-dimensions. You cannot see the bond on the lower dimensions, but it means that the two beings are physically joined. It’s important for Aparans.”
“And you just...cut it? With your scythe?”
He nods, and I can tell he feels guilty.
“It sounds like Kula and Ellie have gotten over it, as far as I can tell.”
“I don’t feel I deserve such forgiveness, Annabelle. I wanted them to be angrier with me.”
“I mean...Kula punched you right in the face. And Ellie kicked you out. What more did you want?”
“My half-brother didn’t even raise his axe, and Ellie didn’t even call me any bad names.”
“If it helps, she probably called you those names after she kicked you out.”
He smiles. “You are right.”
We find a little stream running through the city. It’s lined with beautiful alien trees of mostly teal and purple hues, and the grass is soft as a blanket. Many different types of aliens are sitting on the edge of the water and relaxing. A lot of couples are sitting together, they’re probably also on dates.
“You want to sit next to the water?” I ask, pointing toward another couple sitting there. The woman is resting her head on the man’s shoulder.
“If you’d like,” he says.
We sit down together. I scoot up next to him, but I don’t go as far as resting my head on his shoulder. Not yet at least.
“Have you finished your questions, Annabelle?”
“Do you have any hobbies?”
“What is a hobby?”
I try very hard not to laugh, because his question more or less answers mine. Still, I’m sensitive to how shitty his life has been. If Raiska is going to be a part of my life going forward, I should help him to find ways to live like a real person rather than some alien warrior.
“A hobby is something you do for fun. For example, on Earth, we all have to work. I work in the library, like you saw, as a librarian. I work forty hours per week, but each day when I get home—and on weekends—I have a good amount of hours free. What I do in my free time are my hobbies.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I like to read.”
“Fortunately you work in a library.”
I laugh. It might be the first joke he told, if it’s even meant to be a joke.
“Yes, that’s very lucky for me. I also like to watch movies, and draw, and take long walks.”
“I see,” he says.
“So...do you have any hobbies, Raiska?”
“I like to practice combat techniques.”
“I guess we could call that ‘working out’ or maybe ‘martial arts.’”
“Explain.”
I’d maybe expect it to be tedious to have to explain such basic concepts, but Raiska is so genuinely interested in learning about my world that he listens intently. He never is trying to talk over me or cut me off and start talking about himself. He listens as long as I speak for, and he never gives me the feeling that he wants me to stop talking, or that he’s bored and wishes I’d talk about something else. He’s a perfect listener.
When I’m finally done talking, he just nods.
“So human men move big