And it doesn’t really help that Kiahn is in the room pacing in front of us.

He’d taken me back to mine and the girl’s room for me to get washed up and dressed while he waited around to take me to breakfast. But then he’d disappeared for the rest of the day, leaving me in the care of Vel. He returned not so long ago, and has changed into tight, light tan pants, black leather boots, a flowing white shirt that shows off multiple gold chains that match the golden decorations he now wears on his black horns. He’s got those huge, space-gun-blaster things strapped to his thighs again, too, and I wonder if it’s more of a comfort thing for him, or whether he actually thinks he’ll need them?

The cruiser jolts as we dock, and the sudden way in which the engines power-down leaves my ears ringing in an odd way. Ever since we were taken from Earth, there’s been this constant whirring background noise of spacecraft engines, generators, air recycling systems from back at Moon’s Rest. They weren’t ‘noisy’ per se, but they were constant, and I’d definitely gotten used to the always-present hum.

But now, there’s… nothing.

And it feels like my ears are protesting.

“Well, here, we are,” Zalora says with a sniff as she rises from her seat using her cane as support. “I think before we introduce your new bride and her friends to the people, our first stop should be to the collarsmiths, Kiahn, don’t you agree?”

Kiahn pauses, mid-pace, his gaze slicing toward me, but more specifically, my neck. I’m mostly covered by the high collar on the adjusted dress that Vel gave me, but he gives a grunt and a curt nod before he starts his slow walk back and forth again.

Honestly, this Kiahn seems like he’s a million miles away, and far removed from the one who opened up about his parents last night before we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

He’s stressed.

And his stress is stressing me the fuck out.

The doors to the room whoosh open and in walks Az. Az - who apparently is allergic to wearing a shirt. “There you are,” he says, grinning directly at Lois.

“Yep,” I hear her sigh beside me. “Here I am.”

Az walks behind us and leaps over the back of the seating backrest to land on the other side of Lois with a graceful bounce. “I’ve got a tour for you already planned out. First, I’m gonna take you to meet the team, then we’ll stop at Zock’s for the best squirtberry ale of your life, and then we can hop on by to the stables and you can meet Puff and Lady,” he finishes, holding up fingers and pointing at them as he lists off his apparent plan.

Lois opens her mouth to speak but only ends up letting out the odd, confused stilted noise. It sounds like all her questions are currently battling each other for dominance, and the one that wins out becomes evident when she finally spits out, “squirtberry?”

Az nods his head eagerly, somehow scooting closer to Lois so effortlessly, you’d hardly notice it if you weren’t watching him closely. “Yeah, you know, it’s a little green fruit about this big,” Az gestures with his palm out, “and when you eat it,” he says, bringing the imaginary fruit to his mouth, “it squirts its juice all over the place.”

“Reminds me of a Kyraaxi girl I met last year,” Zann injects into the conversation, now deciding to lift his head from where I’d thought he’d been sleeping, his big body sprawled on the seating and his head tipped back on the headrest.

Az rolls his eyes at his brother. Kiahn halts his pacing for just a moment - just long enough to tip his head up to the ceiling and quietly groan to himself. And then he’s back to stalking the room, lost in other thoughts.

“Anyway,” Zann grins, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “Zocks is always full of drak-ball airheads and groupies. Do not take the humans there.”

“But,” Az glances between Lois and his brother. “They love me in there.”

Zann pinches the bridge of his nose and flops back against the seat rest again, apparently done with this conversation.

“It doesn’t matter what any of you have planned for the humans,” Lady Zalora says as she waits by the door. “First, they must be settled in at the palace, and Niska should be fitted with a collar so everyone shall know she is Kiahn’s bride.”

My eyes meet with Kiahn’s as he finally stops pacing to look at me. I can feel my cheeks flush.

I walk with him as we exit the royal cruiser on a long, elegantly carpeted ramp onto the palace dock. He matches my shorter strides so that I’m not rushing to keep his pace, and walks with his hands clasped behind his back. His posture and body language isn’t closed off at all, which is a comfort… but he doesn’t say anything. Not a word. Behind us, I can hear Az rambling on and on about all the places he wants to show Lois while Jaya walks with Vel up ahead and Zann trails far behind our whole exit party.

The dock is a huge indoor area like an aircraft hanger - that was my first impression, anyway, since there were other spacecrafts of various shapes and sizes also parked up in here. But the cavernous space feels a lot less industrial. Walkways on the floors are lined out with plush carpet, the walls have some kind of patterned molding, and above us, high over our heads is a cluster of huge glowing spheres, levitating up there by the ceiling, light giant balloons of light.

“Welcome to Xaavia!” someone cheers as we follow Lady Zalora who heads up our little landing party. In fact, it wasn’t just ‘someone’ who had cheered for us, but several someones. I had been too busy gawking at our surroundings to notice the small gathering of Xavianns banded together to hold a banner that reads; Welcome, Humans Beings!

Lady Zalora turns sharply to glare at Vel behind her.

“Uh… I may have told a few of my fellow Earthophile Club members about our guests,” she says, wincing and trying to hide behind her tablet.

It’s at that moment that one of her human-fan-club-friends lets off something similar to a confetti canon, except, as well as pink glitter shooting everywhere, it also seems to shoot out these bright, twirling lightning bug-type things that dance around us before they fizzle out and disappear.

A piece of pink confetti flutters down to land on Lady Zalora’s shoulder.

Her right eye twitches.

“Uh… you-you said I should send notice that the Prince has entered into a breeding contract so that everyone was aware ahead of our arrival-”

“That did not pertain to your merry band of fanatics, Vel!” Lady Zalora quips, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.

While Zalora is busy cursing under her breath, some of Vel’s friends rush forward, apparently not phased at all that they’re not meant to be here. “Oh, my horns, aren’t they adorable!?” one female squeals. She lifts her hands toward Jaya before pausing. “Would it be terribly insensitive for me to… squish you? Squeeze your cheeks a little?”

Kiahn steps forward, issuing the command that, “no-one is permitted to ‘squish’ the humans,” at the same time that Jaya’s palms come up to cover her cheeks, framing the bemused-looking smile on her face.

All the while, Vel has been apologizing to Lady Zalora a few paces away. But she comes to join us once Kiahn’s Aunt walks off briskly, shaking her head at the whole situation. “You promised you’d be normal about this,” she mutters from the side of her mouth as she sidles up to the Xaviann woman who wanted to pinch Jaya’s cheeks.

Just then, a male Xaviann pushes his way through to us, his hands laden with various objects. He wears a t-shirt several sizes too small that must have come from Earth since it stops several inches above his navel and reads in big, colorful letters, ‘I love DILFs’ stretched across his Xaviann chest. “I have welcome gifts for you!” he announces, his smile wide enough to crinkle his eyes. “These are all very hard to come by, but I have my connections within the black market traders-”