sure made their cave a pretty one. Even without windows for light, she keeps her kitchen bright and homey with an assortment of moon globes and sun-bright spheres, most of which are suspended in various heights from the ceiling.
(But kept high enough that horns won’t tangle in them, I note as Bash walks under one without fear, head and horns held high.)
When it could be stark rock and look like nothing better than a dusty mine shaft, his homecave is polished and whimsical and everything has been enhanced with beautiful touches. “This place deserves to be on the cover of Cave Magazine,” I say in awe. I toss a smile to Jyzu. “If you have that kind of a magazine here. You know, like Good Housekeeping. That one features a lot of recipes where readers are instructed to cook their food,” I clear my throat meaningfully, “but they also showcase places like this.”
Jyzu’s ears cock.
Bash pinches the bridge of his nose with the hand that is not clamped around mine. “I believe her comment translates as a compliment on your hearth-keeping. Also, she’s teasing me. She drives me to madness.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Jyzu says. “You’ve needed that so badly.”
“To be driven crazy?” Bash asks in disbelief.
She smiles. “Affectionately teased.”
At this, Bash tightens around me.
“It was a compliment,” I assure them both, peering up at his hard jaw. “And maybe some affectionate teasing. Hearth-keeping?”
Jyzu says, “Rakhii females are hearth and home creatures, through and through. We’re not like males, who thirst for adventure or glory.”
“Neat,” I tell her—and I mean it. I’m starving to see and learn all that I can about Bash’s people. My eyes greedily move to a massive table that’s been built to seat a dozen equally massive aliens. The thing should dominate the room, but it sits off to the right, almost swallowed up by the sheer size of the space. The design of it and its matching chairs, all looking scarred and artfully weathered, is simple but beautiful in that way farm-style type furniture tends to be, with a rough charm. And it is rough. The tabletop looks gouged and scuffed and—if I’m not mistaken—burned in a whole lot of places.
Barrels flank one end of the table, and one of the barrel’s caps rests on the lid of the next container over. Inside, I spy a steel-colored scoop sitting on top of what could be rolled oats.
“Did we interrupt you making dinner?”
“I would never label an arrival so welcome as an interruption,” Jyzu says with a smile that shows all her sharp teeth. She glances at her son. “Especially not when I have been waiting for this day all of my grumpiest son’s life.”
“I wondered if he was your grumpiest.”
Bash pinches me.
“Ouch!”
“BUBASHUU!” his mother chastises, ears pinned flat and a look of shocked censure on her face.
Bash rubs the spot he pinched me. “I am sorry, Isla. Even if you did deserve it.”
Jyzu’s tail makes a snapping noise that has Bash instinctively flinching.
“Just sorry then,” Bash mumbles to me. His hand that’s clamped over my hip gives me a little apologetic squeeze.
“Better,” his mother huffs as she grabs a dish off of her counter and walks to a large metal-looking box along the wall… and opens it.
“Is that a fridge?” I exclaim in wonder. “You guys know what refrigeration is, how cool!”
Turning on me, voice unnaturally high with the strain it takes him not to raise his voice at me in his mother’s home, Bash explodes, “Tevek, human, of course we’re familiar with a process you call ‘refrigeration!’ From now on, simply assume that we—a longtime space-faring people—are always more advanced than you troglodytes! Your people are new to inflatable tires, for crite’s sake!”
“Bash, she’s an alien,” his mother scolds, looking appalled at his behavior. “She doesn’t know any better!”
“She knows,” Bash growls, really squeezing me now—clutching me, actually. Like he’s afraid his mother is about to take me away from him if he can’t play nice with me. “She says these things to incite me. She hasn’t been beaten like she should have been.”
“I hardly think—” his mother starts.
“You don’t know these humans,” Bash interrupts. “Especially this one. She is not at all innocent like she looks. Surely she’s seen fridges at the human’s preserve. She delights in vexing me!”
Jyzu regards me, and I’m not an expert on Rakhii who don’t wear a cranky face 99.9999% of the time, but I’m reading unholy delight and unbridled satisfaction in her eyes. “Isla, I am beside myself