“Yes. It is like having your strength recognized. If something is exceptional, it should be valued. It is not offensive.”
They ate in silence for a while, enjoying the artificial sunlight and breeze. Even manufactured, it felt wonderful on her skin.
What Lily said next could not be explained by the pleasant weather or the few lonely chrono-cycles she had endured. Perhaps she just wanted to cheer up her friend, whom she had missed more than she wanted to admit. Or spending so much time without proper social norms dictated by humans and being alone in space completely dissolved her self-control.
“I had a sexy dream about you.”
The table jumped violently as Khar slammed his knee into it.
For a moment he looked as though he might speak, but no sound came. The silence stretched long enough that Lily almost believed they could pretend none of it had happened.
Then he cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his voice was rough.
“What did you say?”
Lily buried her face in her hands so she would not have to see his expression and rushed through her answer. By the end, her courage had evaporated and she was barely whispering.
“It just happened. It was not important. I do not mean it was bad. Or deviant. It was a totally normal sexy dream. Like with a human man. I mean obviously you were bigger and better.”
She peeked through her fingers, already preparing to bolt if Khar looked disgusted or disturbed. She would never have said something like this to a human coworker, and now she regretted every word. Two chrono-years without real social interaction had apparently destroyed every internal brake she used to have on her thoughts and on what escaped her mouth.
But Khar only looked at her with a perfectly neutral expression, his tone calm and conversational, as if they were discussing the weather.
“How did it work?”
Lily blinked.
“What do you mean, how did it work?”
“What is the usual mating configuration among humans? Is it always two participants, or more? One male and one female, or are there other sexes?”
Relief washed through her. Whatever this was, it was not horror or rejection. Khar sounded like he was asking about spiders or some unfamiliar species.
“Usually two,” she said. “Usually one man and one woman. But there are variations depending on individual preferences.”
Khar nodded, then immediately followed up.
“Are the females larger and stronger among humans?”
She stared at him, confused.
“Why would you think that? No. I mean, some women are strong, obviously. But on average men are a bit taller and physically stronger. Women tend to have more endurance.”
She took a sip of her drink, grateful for the shift into statistics and dry facts, far away from the territory of erotic dreams.
“It is because you said bigger and better in your dream,” Khar said. “Do human females enjoy sex? Do they go into heat?”
Lily choked on her drink.
So that was where they were now. Her dignity was gone, her modesty nonexistent, and they were back to her personal preferences. This was entirely her fault.
“I meant that you are obviously bigger than me,” she said hastily. “And you know what? I do not want to talk about this anymore.”
Khar continued eating as if nothing had happened, while Lily endured the seventh circle of embarrassment.
“That is fine,” he said. “I believe humans carry some shame around sexual matters. Then tell me more generally how humans choose their mates.”
At that point Lily would have preferred to discuss the way the paint was wearing off the table, but she accepted this compromise.
