“I—” He paused. Tried again but silenced himself before saying more. I stopped and he looked at me.
“We used to be friends, Ghauro,” I reminded him. “We can pretend for a moment that our argument never happened—I am not even sure I remember what it was about—so you can tell me what is bothering you.”
His face softened, like the little arrogance and animosity left him all at once. “What happens if the experiment does not work?” he asked.
Oh. “What do you mean?”
He looked away, his green skin becoming a shade darker around his eyes. “I mean, if our brides do not get pregnant. What happens then?”
I made sure to keep my tone kind and neutral, as I would if I was treating someone. “If you two are where you are now, it means both of your fertility tests were good,” I stated. “You have only met each other two months ago. It can take a bit of time,” I reassured.
“Even if we…have sex a lot?”
I held a smile. “Yes.” Then, because I was still a healer and I needed to make sure they wereactuallydoing this properly, “You are doing this the right way,right?”
He groaned and looked away. “Of course we are. I had sex with Tauri females before, I am notcompletelyclueless.” His eyes drifted to the book. “AndI read the whole thing.”
I shrugged. “Then give it a bit of time. There is no need to worry about this issue until the time critically runs out. And if you are really concerned something might be wrong, tell the human scientists on the base during one of your visits.”
Ghauro visibly relaxed as we resumed our walk. He did not say anything else until we reached my people’s temporary camp. They all gave us strange looks, probably wondering why he, a Tauri most of them had never met, was here. After all, I had been the one to travel to him most of the duration of our friendship, and only my family had joined me on occasions.
“Alright, so…I will leave you to it,” he said, stopping next to the shuttle.
The humans were outside, leaning against it and fanning their faces with whatever they could get their hands on. Maybe they would handle the dry heat better if they had not been wearing such heavy full body coverage…Ghauro seemed to handle it just fine, although it might have to do with the fact that his planet could also get warm—and the humidity made it way worse.
“Thank you for the book. I will make sure to give it back to you once—”
“No need,” he interrupted. “Just make sure you pass it on to the next. I would have given it to the Gemins but…Well, their bride had gone missing and when they found her, Melanie and I were already back to our homes, and…Well, the occasion did not present itself.”
The Gemins’ bride had gonemissing? Wow, I had missed a lot by skipping the last monthly meetings…
“I have to go now, before my sister has the time to recruit Melanie into any weird activity that I will be forced to do too.”
I could not hold my smile. I would be worried too, if I were him…Zhari, although she was a lot older, had spent a lot of time playing with Juni, Guidy and Tegha when we visited. I had found them all laughing and covered in mud more than once.
“Sure. Please, tell your family I said hi.”
He gave a hesitant nod. “I will. Thank you for…the talk.”
“I wish you to…succeed, so we never have to talk about this again.”
He chuckled and shook his head as he stepped inside the shuttle. I was still standing there when they flew away, lost in the memories of a time, a few years back, where this visit would have felt almost normal.
I missed my friend. I knew my family missed his too.
“Whatare you doing here?”
“Forfuck’s sakes, Juni!” I jumped around, hand on my racing heart. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“Your bride will be here any minute! Why do you still look like you have been avoiding all basic hygiene in the last month?”
I look down at myself. “Ibathed,” I countered. “I even found pants that were clean and not covered in sand! What are you talking about?”
The familiar mischievous smile stretched her lips. “Where is your scarf? Where is your healer chain?”
Seriously? “I do not need them.”
I only had to wear my healer chain while I was on duty, so I would be easily recognized by my peers and called if needed. As for the scarf…Canco males wore them during winter to ensure we could cover our partner or child if they needed warmth.
