Just a heads up that if you are sensitive to certain topics, be warned that this particular story features two characters who suffered through enslavement.
There are mentions of past abuse and some triggering thoughts.
There are no on-page abusive situations, though there are a few violent ones (as the hero is an ex-gladiator).
It will end happily (of course!) but I wanted to give a warning in advance, in case you need to pass this one on by. <3
— Ruby
1
KIM
Risda III has absolutely got to get a second restaurant, I decide as I take a seat at one of two tiny tables in the cantina. Oh sure, there’s a bar, but you can only stand at the bar if you’re buying a drink, and everything they serve here is far too strong for my human candy-ass. I learned that the hard way the first night I arrived.
Water it is.
I set my datapad down on the table and look around, just in case I’ve missed my contact. So far, the cantina’s empty, but it’s also early in the morning. There’s an alien man at the bar, but the small area reserved for the dining area is empty except for me. The big szzt working in the kitchen comes and thumps a plate of fried rekesh leaves onto my table and refills my water glass, spilling a small puddle onto the table itself.
“Thank you,” I say meekly, taking a plas-film napkin and soaking up the spill when the surly alien stomps away. Service with a smile, I think to myself. Always service with a smile for humans. We’re about as popular here as an outbreak of bedbugs. I nibble on one of the fried leaves and swipe on my e-reader, reading over my most recent chapter. Human language book files are scarce and traded amongst a few of us human “colonists,” and I ran out of books to read a few weeks after landing on Risda. After hearing some of my fellow colonists complain, I decided to take matters into my own hands and started writing stories for the other girls. I post them to a private forum, chapter by chapter, and others read along and comment. It’s a lot of fun and makes me feel connected to my fellow colonists even when we’re a jillion miles apart, thanks to the spread of farms. It helps keep me occupied, too, on the long, quiet nights when there’s nothing to watch but alien broadcasts talking about things I don’t understand. It helps me feel connected to my past. To my people.
And because I’m a particularly neurotic sort, I’m re-reading today’s chapter for the seventh time before I post it later. Just in case there’s typos. I eat fried leaves as I proofread while I wait for my contact to arrive.
“You the one they call…Cheem?”
I glance up. I’ve been so engrossed in my love story of a plucky lady-in-waiting and a kilted highlander that I wasn’t paying attention to the door. I flush with embarrassment because I’ve apparently been SO engrossed that I’ve also eaten all my leaves, my water glass is empty, and the person standing across from my table has probably been there for at least a minute or two. Awkward. “Hi, I’m…what did you call me?”
The hooded figure glances down at the datapad held in a three-fingered blue hand. “Cheem?”
I guess they’re addressing me. “Kim?”
“It says here it’s Cheem. In human language, this letter is pronounced with a chuh, yes?” I can’t see into the hood, but I can practically feel the person glaring at me.
“Actually, no. A K is pronounced…well, just like that.”
“Kay-eem?”
I wince. “Just Kim.”
The figure huffs and drops into the seat across from me, datapad thunking onto the table. “Your human language is ridiculous.”
“Mostly just English,” I say brightly. “Are you Bethiah?”
The hood goes back, revealing an alien woman. Oh. From the tone of the voice, I’d thought perhaps I was dealing with a young man, but no, it’s a woman. She’s about my age, maybe older. Her face is angular, cheekbones pronounced, and she reminds me of one of the Tolkien elves…if they were bright blue and seven feet tall. Her black hair is pulled back in tight braids and she has shiny, capped horns and tattoos covering just about every inch of exposed skin from the jaw down. Under her cloak, I catch a hint of armor and what look to be several weapons strapped to her body. This woman means business.