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But the bird-people didn’t seem to care about details like that.
“Oh, Hk-hk was his name, but he’s long gone,” Lm-lm said, shrugging carelessly. “Last I heard he was mated and had a fledging of his own. But that was years ago.”
“But…don’t you want to meet your grandbaby?” Iyanna asked, frowning. “I mean, your fledgling’s fledgling?”
“Why should we?” Lm-lm asked, looking honestly confused.
“We only keep our fledglings for two standard years before they fly the nest,” Tk’tk’tk explained. “Our people grow to adulthood very rapidly.”
“And we place much more value on the relationship between mates than the one between parents and children,” Lm-lm added. “Unlike you mammalian species.”
“Well, it must be nice to be able to travel around together,” Iyanna told them, smiling politely as she ate another miniature cake. This one tasted like a tiny meatloaf filled with some kind of semi-sweet paste—it reminded her of whipped sweet potatoes and was very good.
“Oh, we love it! Lix’dor Prime is beautiful—the art and culture is lovely and the natural world is well protected,” Tk’tk’tk remarked.
“The only downside is all the public breeding going on here!” Lm-lm made a face that centered in her black, oil-spot eyes. “So uncomfortable!”
“Yeah, we noticed that when we took the undertram to get to the hotel,” Dra’vik rumbled, speaking at last. He’d been mostly silent, leaving Iyanna to keep up their end of the conversation as they dined.
“Oh my—you went on their public transport?” Lm-lm’s eyes went wide on either side of her curving beak. “How awful for you my dear,” she said to Iyanna. “Were you molested? I certainly hope not!”
“Dra’vik made certain I wasn’t,” Iyanna said, glancing up at the big Drake. “Though I did have an incident in the scanning room at the checkpoint area of the spaceport.”
Her voice went high and wobbly as she spoke the last few words and she wished she hadn’t mentioned what had happened at all. If the bird couple asked for details, she might break down again.
But Lm-lm only leaned forward and patted her hand comfortingly.
“Oh my dear, I’m so sorry! Nothing too traumatic, I hope?” she asked, eyeing the bruises and cuts around Iyanna’s wrists.
“It was pretty traumatic, but it would have been worse if Dra’vik hadn’t come in when he did.” Iyanna lifted her chin. “And…and I’m getting over it. Trying to, anyway.”
“Good for you—do you want some more tea?” Lm-lm asked courteously, as she signaled the robot attendant to refill their cups. Then she thoughtfully changed the subject and they spoke of other things, making Iyanna feel considerably better.
By the time they reached floor 1999, Iyanna was pleasantly full of tea and the little pies and cakes and pastries. She felt refreshed in mind, body, and spirit and had exchanged addresses with Lm-lm and promised the bird woman she would write or send a vid when she got back to the Monstrum Mother Ship so the two of them could keep in touch.
“For we’d love to go on a tour with you and your mate sometime, if you like,” Lm-lm told her. “Tk’tk’tk and I were thinking of trying Dathia Beta next—they’re said to have waterfalls made of melted foola—so refreshing!”
“That sounds wonderful,” Iyanna said warmly. She could imagine touring around the galaxy, studying all kinds of new plants on different planets with the strange but congenial bird couple. Though she wasn’t sure if Dra’vik would be into the idea or not—after all, they weren’t really married.
They said their final goodbyes as the bird couple stepped out at their floor, smiling and waving and promising to stay in contact.
“Well, I think you made some new friends,” Dra’vik rumbled as the golden doors closed,
“Yes, I did! I really liked them,” Iyanna said, smiling up at him. “But I know you’re probably not into the idea of touring all around the galaxy to different planets like that with me.”
“You never can tell, little girl,” he said winking at her. “I might surprise you.”
Iyanna was about to answer when she was interrupted by the robot attendant whisking the table and chairs and used tea things back into the wall panel where presumably they would be washed for the next passengers. The elevator started moving again and stopped almost at once.
“Floor two thousand,” the attendant said mechanically. “Please help yourself to a foot tram if your room is located more than five hundred doors down on either side. And please allow for at least thirty standard minutes when you call for the lift to go back down to the lobby.”
Then the golden doors slid shut and they were out in a hallway that seemed to stretch forever in either direction.
THIRTY-THREE
“Wow, this is something else!” Iyanna stared at the enormous, long hallway that stretched so far in both directions she couldn’t see the end of it on either side. It wasn’t just the length that awed her though—it was the decoration.
