“I see what you are referring to.Since you can see part of my future, what can you see about Zelda and myself?”
“Hundreds of years of joy, a few loud fights, seven children, and Aretta will make you a grandfather in a decade and a half with a third-gen Hmrain guarding one of your worlds.”She smiled under her silks.“He treats her well, and you scowl at him every chance you get.”
Orex smiled shyly.“I had not thought to get a family all at once.”
“But then you found that Zelda was consort class, and that all went out the window.”
He shrugged.“I was drawn, and when we came together, she understood what I needed.”
“She likes sex when she can trust her partners.Hmrain don’t destroy their partners because they consume energy from them.So she was safe with you, and pleasure was the goal.”
He looked sheepish.“She was so different from the other female of her kind.”
Skylar laughed.“Yes, deluding herself into believing that sex with a human was the same as sex with a Hmrain.It was not something she could have imagined.There is only one other female to be that stupid, and she did not survive the experience.He was hungry, and she was weak.He is now very hesitant to seek another companion.”
He stared.“She died?”
“She had heart failure and had nothing left to support her health.”She followed his gaze and laughed.“Zelda is fine.The first thing you did was heal her.”
He frowned.“What does that matter?”
“Her physical state came before your hunger.That means a lot.”
He smiled.Pleased with himself.
She chuckled, and then Zelda’s mother stood up and came over to her.“Did the others stay?”
“No and yes.When the girls are all together tomorrow, you can stand with them again.”
“Fair enough.Thank you for bringing me to her.”
“I watched you try to fly my shuttle.This is better for both of us.”
She grinned, blew an air kiss to her daughter and granddaughter, and became the data that was contained in Skylar’s pointy head.
She looked to Orex.“Did you want me to get your items off the fabricator?”
He blinked and nodded.“I will come with you.There is a lot of it.”
She snickered.“You just want to see it.”
“Yes.”
She got to her feet and led the way to the fabricator.She removed the items that she had printed and smiled.“This is going to get me into so much trouble.”
Orex gathered the fabric over one arm and the metal over the other.“Why?”
“I am going to show my face and a lot more.If Zoey is alive, she deserves a party.”She sighed.“And so do I.After that, I will meet you wherever you state, and we can negotiate for that vessel.”
They started back to the main hall.
“What do you think will be chasing you?”
“Whatever I avoided on the Education Station.”She shrugged, holding her performing equipment under her robes.She had a night to practice, and that would hopefully be enough.She hadn’t used fire in a few years.
“Did any of the other Hmrain or consorts know you were transformed?”
“Nope.I didn’t know any of them either.There was no reason to show my face.They think I am an alien race with an affinity for Terran souls.”